Bones All Pretty Hard?

"It would definitely satisfy that lord's requirements."

Hearing this, the other two suddenly understood, and their gazes toward Zhao Hong immediately became fervent.

"I remember now. When that lord left, he told us to collect high-quality skins for him."

"They have to be skinned alive, while they're still living. Tsk." As the man spoke, even he could not help shuddering. Just thinking about it was horrifying.

Zhao Hong's scalp prickled, and he could not help cursing inwardly.

What a pack of beasts.

And their acting is pretty damn good, too.

They want to skin me alive?

Still, there was one thing he did not understand.

"If that's the case, why didn't you stop me when I let the White Tiger go? Isn't tiger hide valuable?"

In his view, the hide of a tiger beast was even more valuable.

Could this young man have another trick up his sleeve to deal with Big White?

"A beast is useless alive. That lord only wants human skin." The young man gave a sinister smile.

"Besides, none of us know how to skin anyone. Which means you get to live a few more days," another added.

A gleam flashed through Zhao Hong's eyes, and he wore a bitter smile. "My luck really is terrible."

"Actually, it's pretty good. Clawfang Mountain is a complete mess right now. If you fell into the hands of those vicious bastards, you wouldn't even get to leave a whole corpse behind." A burly man grinned broadly.

Good my ass.

Zhao Hong's gaze turned cold. "Looks like we'll have to fight again."

"Hm?"

Zhao Hong arrogantly crooked a finger at the leading young man. "You little bastard think you can fool your grandpa? If I dared to come with you, do you think I don't have some skills? Get over here and die."

"What did you say?"

"I said, little bastard, come on." Zhao Hong continued provoking him, even more arrogant than before.

All three men froze.

Had this little brat eaten shit?

The leading young man's facial muscles twitched, his eyes widening in fury.

"You're courting death."

Whoosh!

Having been provoked so thoroughly, the young man could no longer endure it and vanished from where he stood.

Boom!

Blood Astral was worthy of Blood Astral. The moment he attacked, his presence was terrifying, surging like a tide as it brutally pressed down on the surrounding space.

The sky seemed to sink as wild waves shot upward.

A mass of nearly burning crimson astral force surged violently, as if it meant to crush the entire forest.

He was going to kill Zhao Hong.

This little brat simply did not know the meaning of death.

All thoughts of premium skin and that lord's demands had been flung beyond the clouds.

Under the terrifying pressure, Zhao Hong's flesh trembled, but rather than fear, flames of excitement rose in his eyes.

He did not move. Only his foot turned ever so slightly, cracking the ground beneath it into deep fissures.

His flesh pressed against his bones as they rumbled within. Inside Dragon Tendon and Tiger Bones, blood mist and internal force boiled wildly, like a volcano charged to its limit and on the verge of eruption.

"Damn it, this brat's gone crazy."

"An idiot who doesn't know his own limits."

"Moron!"

The other two snapped back to their senses and cursed furiously.

Zhao Hong acted as though he had heard nothing, watching the young man rapidly close in.

Blood Astral?

You're Blood Astral, huh?

I'll make you regret putting on that act.

Less than ten feet separated them.

Boom!

The ground beneath Zhao Hong's feet exploded, sending dirt flying everywhere. His body spun fiercely in place as vast blood mist, carrying fierce power, burst from his body with the force of a mountain collapse and a tsunami.

Within the blood mist, two indistinct beastly silhouettes could vaguely be seen.

Cloud-Breaking Flash!

Zhao Hong held nothing back. He compressed everything to the absolute limit before unleashing it in an ultimate burst. His fleshly body swelled, his muscles knotting as he radiated savage, domineering might.

His strike crashed down mercilessly.

He neither dodged nor evaded, meeting force with force.

With less than five feet between them, his figure flickered, leaving even the young man seeing a dense string of afterimages.

At that moment, Cloud-Breaking Flash had reached the beginner stage.

Boom!

The young man's expression changed drastically.

He had not taken Zhao Hong seriously at all.

No matter how strong Zhao Hong was, he was only at the middle or late stage of internal force.

Even in anger, he had merely unleashed his astral force casually.

Yet at the instant of collision, every hair on his body stood on end, and ice ran down his spine.

This is bad!

The Blood Astral in his palm was struck as though by lightning.

Crack!

It shattered completely.

At such close range, that mountain-collapsing, tsunami-like divine strength gave him no time to react at all.

The young man's features twisted. It felt as though he had been caught completely unprepared and brutally rammed, trampled, and ravaged by a ferocious wild boar.

His flesh split, and his sinews and bones screamed.

The Blood Astral within him seemed to be torn apart by two savage beasts, rampaging backward through his body. His organs shook violently, nearly bursting apart.

Pfft!

He screamed miserably as he crashed down, blood spraying from all five of his facial orifices.

Zhao Hong's body swayed, but he planted his feet firmly.

The blood mist and force around him had diminished by more than half, trembling and churning without end. Yet he still radiated savage ferocity, like a primordial beast.

The two men in the distance stared with eyes wide, their minds blank.

T-Third Brother had fallen?

In one move?

Third Brother lay on the ground, twitching continuously. His arms hung at odd angles, and half his body seemed numb and impossible to control.

"How is this possible?"

"Third Brother!"

Zhao Hong sneered and shot forward.

"Run!"

Boom!

Smack!

Zhao Hong charged over. The two men had only just turned around in confusion and panic when his palms smashed toward the backs of their heads.

Bang! Bang!

Two perfectly good heads rang like drums.

Then miserable cries pierced the air as they toppled to the ground.

The battle was over.

Zhao Hong panted lightly.

This battle had been the most dangerous, yet it had ended the fastest and been the easiest.

His arrogant provocation had only one purpose: to make the young man lose his head.

He dared guarantee that the man could never have imagined he possessed such terrifying strength.

See? Hadn't he fallen for it?

One strike had severely wounded him.

Still, Blood Astral cultivators really were tough.

Half of Zhao Hong's body ached fiercely from the collision. He did not even need to look to know it was badly swollen and red.

Defeating the strong while weak came at a price.

Rubbing his shoulder, Zhao Hong strode over to the young man and looked down at him with a grin.

"Little bastard."

"You... pfft!"

The young man was so furious that he spat blood.

He was shocked, hateful, regretful, and afraid.

Bang!

Zhao Hong stomped hard on the young man's arm and ground his foot down.

Crack!

The arm bone snapped completely.

Then he stomped on his chest.

The young man screamed and vomited blood. His aura withered completely, and the pain left him wishing for death.

Only then did Zhao Hong finally relax.

Now, even if he was a Blood Astral cultivator, he had no strength left to resist.

"I ask. You answer."

"Argh! I won't let you off!"

The young man howled hoarsely in pain.

"Stubborn bones?"

"I'd like to see just how hard your bones are."

Zhao Hong revealed a sinister smile and glanced at the skin hanging from the locust tree.

"This skin is truly perfect, lifelike, just like a living thing. You mentioned nourishing it earlier. You wouldn't want to become its nourishment yourself, would you?"

Though he did not know how the skin was nourished, from what they had said and the pile of shriveled white bones beside the locust tree, Zhao Hong could infer quite a bit.

As soon as those words fell—

The young man's agonized cries abruptly stopped. His mouth hung open as he trembled uncontrollably, endless terror flooding his eyes.

Scenes of the brutal acts he had personally committed flashed madly through his mind, impossible to dispel.

Gulp!

His throat bobbed, and a layer of cold sweat emerged on his deathly pale face.

Seeing the young man's reaction, Zhao Hong smiled.

He knew he had guessed correctly.

Clearly, the man knew exactly how terrifying it was to become nourishment for that skin.

"You..."

Meeting Zhao Hong's icy gaze, the young man shuddered. The crude words instantly died in his throat. "I'll talk. I'll talk."