The Man in Wolfskin

Zhao Hong's mind raced.

His body rolled wildly.

Boom!

A violent wave swept in from his side, carrying countless shards of stone that smashed him until his body was covered in bloody wounds, the pain unbearable.

Pfft!

He spat out a spray of blood and lunged away.

Behind him, the giant wolf smashed a massive crater into the ground.

With a powerful spring of its legs, it shot into the air.

"You can dodge, but how many times can you dodge?"

The giant wolf spoke human words as it charged over in huge strides.

"Come on, then. I'm not dodging anymore."

Zhao Hong spat out a mouthful of bloody foam. His arm trembled, and his muscles and bones cracked. He stopped shaking and glared ferociously.

Wasn't it just a fight to the death?

It wasn't as if he had never fought one before.

He was weaker.

He was slower.

And he had no idea what other bizarre methods it possessed.

How was he supposed to fight?

He had to use his brain, of course.

Facing the charging giant wolf, Zhao Hong's entire body trembled.

Deep within his limbs and bones, his blood and qi surged wildly, boiling and burning as they tightly wrapped around his muscles and bones, bursting forth in waves of heat.

At this moment.

His mind was calmer and clearer than ever before.

Dragon-Tiger!

A hazy, illusory outline slowly condensed between the gaps of his muscles and bones.

If I meet it head-on, both my arms will break!

So...

Zhao Hong suddenly held his saber crosswise.

Boom!

The wolf's claw slammed fiercely against the blade. Sparks flew everywhere as overwhelming force crashed down like an ocean.

But at the instant of impact, he released one hand like a ghost.

Holding the saber horizontally with one hand, he slashed diagonally backward.

In that collision of immense force, he had never thought he could hold on to the Black-Iron Ink Saber under such impact, so he simply let go.

Crack!

His right arm twisted grotesquely out of shape.

Better to break one arm than both.

Man and wolf passed each other at an angle, their four eyes meeting.

Zhao Hong even saw a flicker of astonishment and confusion in the giant wolf's eyes.

It simply could not understand what Zhao Hong was doing.

Pfft!

A piercing pain came from his chest.

Rip!

Squelch!

Zhao Hong's left hand hooked like a claw and viciously tore away a huge chunk of flesh from the giant wolf's chest. His fingers ripped through its chest, force penetrating inward and striking straight at its organs.

Awoooo—

The wolf's howl shook the mountains and wilderness.

The giant wolf tumbled headfirst to the ground.

But Zhao Hong witnessed a horrifying sight.

The giant wolf's chest was a bloody mess, flesh and hide clearly distinguishable. Its fur actually shrank and vanished at a visible rate.

In the blink of an eye.

It turned back into a human.

What was strange and terrifying was that the black-robed man seemed to be wearing a layer of skin, loose and sagging over him. A large piece of his chest had torn open, exposing the blurred flesh beneath.

He trembled without stop, howling and convulsing.

That loose layer of skin seemed to possess an indescribably eerie power. It writhed as though it were about to fall off.

"No..."

The skin falling off appeared to carry horrifying consequences. The black-robed man frantically tugged at it and clutched it with both hands, trying to stick it firmly back onto himself, but things did not go as he wished.

Whoosh!

A lifelike wolfskin peeled away from his body. If not for the tear in its chest, it could have been called perfect.

As for the black-robed man, his entire body had no skin, leaving him a bloody blur of exposed flesh.

"Hiss!"

Zhao Hong shuddered violently and instinctively backed away several steps, goosebumps rising all over his body.

He had never seen such a bloody scene in either of his lives.

Compared to this, monsters were child's play.

His mind turned with difficulty as he pondered.

This did not seem to be a monster.

A man wearing wolfskin???

Zhao Hong suddenly recalled some strange tales of ghosts and spirits from his previous life. There seemed to be special techniques that could turn people into sheep, monkeys, and the like.

Wasn't this much the same?

The black-robed man's screams gradually weakened as he lay sprawled on the ground, despair filling his eyes.

The pain seemed so extreme that it had broken him.

He looked at Zhao Hong almost pleadingly.

"Kill... kill me. Kill me."

A chill ran down Zhao Hong's spine.

He hesitated for a moment, then picked up the Black-Iron Ink Saber and cautiously walked over.

"What exactly are you?"

"Kill me."

The black-robed man let out a hoarse growl from his throat, a clump of bloody foam bubbling from his mouth.

"Tell me everything, and I'll kill you."

"I absolutely won't let you feel any more pain."

Zhao Hong's eyes flickered. He said word by word, "I promise."

"You..."

The black-robed man bit through his lips and glared fiercely at Zhao Hong. The next moment, he began speaking at rapid speed.

As though he feared wasting even a second.

Zhao Hong listened as if hearing a story.

This man had originally been a bandit in the mountains. When the authorities wiped out the bandits, he had luckily escaped.

During that time, he encountered someone who claimed to be from the Divine Skin Holy Church.

That person gave him a wolfskin. Once he put it on, it fused with his flesh, gradually wearing away his original skin and merging perfectly with him.

This skin could turn him into a demon wolf and greatly enhance his strength.

It could also devour the essence of blood and flesh, continuously strengthening the wolfskin's power.

But its flaw was that once the wolfskin was damaged, it would fall off, and he would suffer inhuman torment.

As for Clear Creek Village.

He had wandered into the area by chance and happened to witness Lu Hong arriving that day, as well as the scene of him killing the Cold Blade Sect remnants at the village entrance. Deeply frightened, he had not dared approach.

He knew there were powerful people in the village, but he did not know just how powerful they were.

That was why he had intended to investigate before deciding what to do.

As for the first attacker, he had captured that person and controlled him for use in scouting.

Zhao Hong did not doubt any of this in the slightest.

This fellow was simply too miserable.

Pain twisted his face, his eye sockets split open, and his eyeballs looked ready to pop out. Beneath the blurred flesh, veins throbbed violently as though they might burst at any moment.

Just looking at him made Zhao Hong's scalp tingle.

"Quick."

"Kill me!!"

The black-robed man screamed in collapse. A vein in his neck burst, spraying blood everywhere.

Zhao Hong bared his teeth. Just as he was about to strike, he suddenly asked, "What kind of monster was that little snake?"

"Ahhh! Blood Candle, Blood-Candle Demon Snake, Flesh-Crest Candleblood—it can help people break through. Hurry, I'm begging you."

"Blood-Candle Demon Snake, able to help people break through?"

Zhao Hong's eyes lit up, and he hesitated no longer.

He brought his saber down.

Pfft!

The black-robed man's life faded away.

Yet more than a dozen breaths passed, and his body was still twitching faintly.

The pain had been so severe that even after death, his muscles retained the memory.

"Divine Skin Holy Church? This is clearly the Evil Skin Demon Cult."

"Fuck."

Zhao Hong cursed under his breath. The goosebumps all over his body had yet to subside.

It was too horrifying.

He had barely left the village, and he had already been given a colossal scare.

Glancing to the side, he found the corpse too disgusting.

He could not even bring himself to loot the body. In the end, he kicked it into the large pit he had smashed out earlier, then used his saber to toss up clumps of dirt and grass, covering it carelessly.

After finishing all this, Zhao Hong slumped against a tree, gasping heavily.

His entire right arm had nearly lost all feeling. Even the slightest movement sent piercing pain through his heart.

There was hardly an uninjured spot left on his body.

At this moment, he was immensely grateful for the life-and-death sparring Zhao Yang had forcibly arranged for him in the village.

Without those two life-and-death fights, encountering this wolfman so suddenly would have gone terribly for him.

After a long while.

Having barely regained some strength, he twisted his arm and gave it a hard wrench.

Crack!

The bones slipped back into place.

Then he mobilized the faint blood and qi within him, directing it into his right arm to slowly nourish it.

Once he could clearly feel the pain and sensation returned, he let out a slight sigh of relief. Leaning on his saber, he forced himself upright and looked toward where the blood snake had fallen.

Something that could help someone break through was simply a treasure.

The black-robed man had reached the peak of Internal Strength, yet he had not harvested or used it.

He had probably been saving enough to break through into Blood Gang.

Now that it had fallen into Zhao Hong's hands, he had the resources to break through Internal Strength.

I hope it didn't get away.

He had no idea whether the blood snake had died from that strike.