[Third Boss Beheaded!]

Wang Bao's saber ultimately did not come down.

Because at that moment, he heard a shout. Following the sound, he saw a youth appear beside the official road, accompanied by a thunderous roar.

The veins on the youth's wrist bulged like coiling dragons. He abruptly seized a millstone-sized boulder from the ground, turned it into a stone projectile, and hurled it fiercely toward them.

A huge rock came whistling through the air.

Wang Bao's expression changed again and again. What kind of monster was this? What terrifying strength—he had turned himself into a long-range catapult.

At that moment, he faced two choices.

One was to ignore the boulder and kill Li Yongnian and his son. The other was to give up and first deflect the boulder.

Between his own life and his prey's lives, Wang Bao made his choice in an instant.

With a flick of his wrist, the saber descending toward Li Yongnian traced a half-arc and slashed at the menacing boulder.

The boulder howled through the air, smashing branches to powder halfway through its flight. Following an arc, it hurtled with unerring accuracy toward Wang Bao's blade!

With a thunderous boom!

Shattered stones sprayed through the sky, the fine horse neighed, and Wang Bao's body was struck by the boulder's overwhelming force, knocked straight off his horse.

Only then did Wang Bao's gaze pierce through the dust filling the sky, finally making out the young face beyond the boulder, slowly approaching with a Hundred Refinements Saber in hand.

A flash of astonishment.

Appeared on his face at precisely the right moment.

Manor Lord Li was equally dumbfounded. Having survived the calamity, he took advantage of Wang Bao being unable to attend to anything else and dragged his son to the manor gate.

Only then did he see the youth who had spared him from death.

He saw that not entirely familiar, yet deeply memorable disciple of Golden Rainbow Martial Arts School.

The Town Guard from Wind Thunder Martial Arts School was also utterly bewildered when he saw the newcomer. He could not imagine who could be so ferocious.

Yet while they stood stunned, Wang Bao's eyes had already met Shen Xiu's.

The moment they looked at one another, both felt they had met the right opponent.

Wang Bao's face immediately twisted into a savage expression. Carrying his great saber, he charged swiftly in this direction.

Seeing the burly man's imposing, menacing appearance.

Li Yongnian immediately recalled the methods of the Crimson Fire Stronghold's Third Boss, and his face instantly turned pale.

Third Realm Bone Marrow Cleansing strength—even at the initial stage—how could they little rookies possibly withstand it?

What was more, he felt that Shen Xiu's earlier outburst must have consumed a great deal of strength.

Before they had escaped danger, he could not help worrying for the youth.

At this moment, Shen Xiu also noticed the scar-faced man rushing toward him from ahead.

The man's attire matched the figure in his memories, and Shen Xiu immediately understood that this was Wang Bao, Third Boss of Crimson Fire Stronghold.

Watching the other man bear down on him with mounting momentum, Shen Xiu felt eager to test himself, as though every cell in his body had begun to stir.

Third Boss Wang Bao moved as swiftly as if he had wings. His Third Realm Bone Marrow Cleansing cultivation brought him there in the blink of an eye.

Upon drawing close, the dark great saber in his hand suddenly rose, and he delivered a heavy chop at Shen Xiu without any flourish.

Thunder roared within the bones of his entire body.

The force was so immense that it seemed to tear the air with a whistle.

Shen Xiu also held a Hundred-Refined Saber forged from green steel. Saber against saber, neither could gain any advantage from their weapons.

But Shen Xiu was not the least bit afraid.

What he relied on now was a physique far stronger than that of ordinary Second Realm martial cultivators, as well as the Dragon Subduing Qi that had long been gathering within him.

But Third Boss Wang Bao was far beyond the comparison of ordinary lackeys. Discovering Shen Xiu's strength, he did not retreat in the slightest, and a cruel smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Clang!

The two blades collided!

A piercing crash of saber edges rang out.

The surrounding people could not help covering their ears.

Shen Xiu's great saber remained unscathed, while a notch had been knocked directly into Third Boss Wang Bao's blade.

Their weapons were comparable, both being signature Hundred-Refined Sabers forged by Hundred Refinements Hall. Yet Shen Xiu had forcibly gained the upper hand through strength alone.

From that instant of exchange, Wang Bao finally understood that although the other party's cultivation realm was inferior to his, in terms of combat strength, Shen Xiu seemed evenly matched with him.

Perhaps even stronger.

Yet for people like them, who licked blood from saber edges every day and had become addicted to bloodshed, encountering a rival evenly matched in strength only made them more excited.

Wang Bao licked his lips bloodthirstily and stared at that young, immature face. "You really have grown quite capable."

As he spoke, the long saber in his hand drew another streak of white.

It was incomparably vicious.

Shen Xiu's expression did not change. He sidestepped the strike, then chose to meet force with force.

For a time, clashes continued across the field, the sound of saber striking saber ringing without end.

After several exchanges, Shen Xiu seized an opening and swept the great saber aside with one slash. He closed in, leaving the other man's great saber with no room to be used.

At the same time, his five fingers curled into a tight fist. As they passed each other, his fist, which had been poised to strike and concealed boundless qi, smashed accurately and coldly toward Wang Bao's chest with terrifying force.

Yet Wang Bao merely grinned savagely, excited and cruel. He decisively abandoned his saber and blasted out his right fist in response!

Like a fierce tiger descending the mountain, thunder roared within his body, while the sound of bowstrings rang out unceasingly.

Bang!

The two fists collided.

The surging fist force mixed within Shen Xiu's blow burst forth.

With a whoosh.

The powerful fist force swept outward.

Wang Bao's sleeve exploded into shreds, his wrist knocked aside by that irresistible power. Shen Xiu's fist, wrapped in peerless fist force, struck the Third Boss directly in the chest.

Seeing the fist's savage force and qi shooting in all directions.

Wang Bao instinctively sensed that something was wrong. He staggered back several steps, but still could not evade in time.

The heavy fist slammed into his chest.

In that instant, it felt as though a massive boulder had struck his chest directly. Qi force swept over him, and his body jolted violently.

Feeling the immense power contained in the other's punch, he froze for a moment before violently coughing up a mouthful of blood.

That punch had directly injured his heart meridian. The fist force contained within seemed ready to tear all five of his organs and six bowels apart.

Though they were separated by an entire realm, to Shen Xiu, there was no difference at this moment.

Seeing his opponent injured, Shen Xiu pressed his advantage. He closed in again and drove another fierce punch directly into the other man's chest.

The layered fist force surged like raging waves, one layer upon another.

Seeing the Third Boss fall into a disadvantage, the Crimson Fire Bandits around them, who had been seeking a way to intervene, finally found their chance and rushed forward with sabers in hand.

They intended to stop Shen Xiu's offensive.

But Shen Xiu's attacks had now reached their finest rhythm. How could these lackeys, who had only just entered the realm—or had not even entered it—compare to his cultivation and strength?

One punch for one little friend, one saber splitting two little friends. In the blink of an eye, he had hacked and hammered them all clean away.

After suffering heavy blows one after another, Wang Bao's eyes nearly split with rage. He threw punches to defend himself, but it was still not enough. He could only watch helplessly as Shen Xiu raised his saber and severed his head.

Until his death, he could not understand one thing: how, in such a short time, had the other's cultivation reached the point where he could kill him?

Having succeeded, Shen Xiu finally let out a breath. Before this, he had anticipated that his cultivation was no ordinary Second Realm martial cultivator's, and that he could stand shoulder to shoulder with Third Realm Bone Marrow Cleansing cultivators.

But what was it truly like?

He could only know after fighting a life-and-death battle.

This battle had already left the few people at the gate of Li Family Manor shaken to their cores, standing there blankly in a daze.

Ferocious—too ferocious.

One had to know that the Third Boss of Crimson Fire Stronghold was a Third Realm Bone Marrow Cleansing martial cultivator, yet Shen Xiu had hammered him to death by force.

The Town Guard from Wind Thunder Martial Arts School looked at the youth before him, his entire face flushing red.

He felt that the youth before him was simply too formidable. At this age, with this talent, Shen Xiu reminded him of Han Li, the genius who had once joined their school midway.

If Shen Xiu joined their martial arts school, its return to glory would be just around the corner.