Peerlessly Valiant

Hong Shou raised his head, fiery red light streaming from the corners of his eyes.

He watched the female corpse's black hair rise and blot out the sky, her aura growing ever more terrifying.

He bent at the waist!

He gathered strength!

He drew his blade!

Clang—

A crimson streak surged up from the ground. Wherever it passed, the earth shattered and collapsed, heaving like furious waves, while the tiles of the surrounding houses clattered and rang.

"Hong Shou, if we're truly talking about who lives and who dies, then I will live, and you will die!" As the ground shook without end and countless bricks and stones burst apart and flew through the air, the female corpse took the challenge head-on, transforming into a black meteor that smashed through the air.

In midair, the black blade collided with sharp claws!

Clang—

At the instant of impact, a tremendous shockwave exploded like thunder, its roar shaking the surrounding lands. The sparks it produced were even more dazzling, illuminating the night sky.

Bang!

Li Fang landed and staggered back, plowing a trench more than ten meters long through the earth.

Looking at his split hands and crushed claws, his expression shifted slightly as he stared gravely at the burly, powerful figure slowly emerging from the thick dust.

With all kinds of power augmenting him, he was now no different from a Fierce-grade eerie monster. Moreover, because he could circulate human qi and blood, a martial artist's attacks were weakened against him by more than a degree. Yet even so, his palm had still been cleaved in two, and the black strands of hair were healing it at an extremely slow pace.

"Shouldn't this old bastard be frail with age?" Li Fang's serene human face twisted into a vicious grimace. "How is he still so valiant!?"

Whoosh!

A fierce wind howled as the figure within the dust suddenly accelerated. Like a flood beast, he burst through the haze and reached Li Fang in an instant.

"Roar!!"

A sinister wind shrieked, and a furious roar exploded beside Hong Shou's ear.

"Bare your fangs and snarl all you want—you're courting death!"

Li Fang's waist was suddenly bound by tremendous force. His entire body was swept along by it, and like a green onion planted upside down, he was brutally smashed into the ground.

Bang bang bang—

Fiery red iron fists rained down in a mad tempest. Li Fang was suppressed so thoroughly that he had no chance to strike back; he could only shield his head with both fists and desperately block.

"Why aren't you fighting back? Get up and hit me!" Though Hong Shou's body was aged, he remained peerlessly valiant. With tiger eyes glaring wide, he said, "Isn't this what you've always wanted to prove? Come! Prove it to me!!"

"Get away!!"

Li Fang bared his fangs and could only vent his unwillingness through a howl.

At that moment, Hong Shou's back suddenly sank, and his limbs were bound.

Turning his head, he saw that strands of hair had somehow wrapped around the joints of his limbs. He frowned, and the qi and blood throughout his body surged. The threads immediately burned away upon meeting the fire.

But in that brief opening, Li Fang finally caught his breath. He blasted Hong Shou away and used his unique physical strength to launch a counterattack.

"Heh, arrogant!!"

Hong Shou bellowed, and his large hand, flowing with red light, struck out in an instant!

The two threw punches at each other, locked in a savage struggle and roaring without pause. The commotion grew ever greater as they smashed through courtyard walls and destroyed the nearby homes.

Elsewhere, Han Zhong swallowed down the churning blood in his throat, swiftly adjusted himself, and suppressed every injury on his body.

But as time passed, his steps grew unsteady and his face increasingly pale. Even the wounds he had sealed began to seep thin traces of blood.

Blood from his neck had already flowed down to his chest. The broken blade was still lodged in his neck; he wanted to remove it, but feared that the wound would gush blood.

In the end, he could only settle for the next best thing, breaking off the hilt and tip and leaving a short piece of blade plugged into the wound in his neck.

After doing all this, Han Zhong was so exhausted that he saw double.

His injuries were too severe.

His qi and blood had already run dry. If he found no way to remedy this soon and simply allowed the blood within him to continue draining away, he truly might die here!

Damn it, how had the plan ended up like this?

Everything had clearly been prepared...

Han Zhong was unwilling to accept it. The accumulated gloom pressed against his chest until he could barely breathe.

With his allies standing idly by and his master returning to the village ahead of schedule, the plan he had imagined had been pushed in an irreversible direction.

"Han Zhong?!"

Suddenly, a door creaked open in the distance. The old physician, wearing a felt cap, poked his head out and immediately spotted the grievously injured Han Zhong.

At the sight, joy appeared on Han Zhong's pale face.

"Master Zhang, I was just looking for you. Hurry and save me."

The old physician looked around to make sure no ghostly thing had followed him, then cautiously stepped outside and helped Han Zhong up.

"How did you get hurt like this... Hiss, these injuries are serious!"

Upon taking a closer look, the old physician sucked in a sharp breath.

"The eerie thing in the ancestral hall was too strong, but fortunately, I've already slain it. I was just injured rather badly..."

Han Zhong gave a bitter smile, trying to put on a gentle expression. But his throat, scratched raw, made his voice hoarse and unpleasant; paired with that smile, it was inexplicably chilling.

Not understanding the reason, the old physician was filled with solemn admiration.

"You actually slew the eerie thing in the ancestral hall? That's truly incredible. Come, come, hurry inside with me. I'll stop the bleeding first!"

He hurriedly helped Han Zhong into the house and began rummaging through jars and bottles, gathering every herb he had that could quickly stop bleeding.

As he applied medicine and wrapped Han Zhong's wounds, he said, "For now, these herbs can only ease your injuries. As for fully curing them, I'm afraid..."

"Can my hand still be reattached?"

Han Zhong looked at the wound where his hand had been severed at the wrist and hurriedly asked.

"Alas, unless you can find the severed hand, even a divine physician returned to the world would be helpless." The old physician glanced at the wound and spoke bluntly. "I'm merely a barefoot doctor. Being able to stabilize your injuries and keep them from worsening is already the limit of my ability."

Han Zhong's heart sank at those words.

Then he gave a weak smile. "It's fine. Just do the best you can. I'll go to the town for treatment later. Oh, do you have any medicinal herbs that replenish qi and blood? Give me a few doses to restore my qi and blood."

Han Zhong had no intention of staying in the village for long. Hong Shou had already returned, and it was only a matter of time before the lie was exposed. Once his injuries were stabilized and he had recovered some qi and blood, he would leave immediately and flee this place, Misty Forest.

After all, he had seen every step of Li Fang's transformation into an eerie creature with perfect clarity. He could find another place, conceal his identity once more, and plot in secret.

Once the time was right, he might yet become the second person to undergo eerie transformation. By then, this crippled body would no longer matter so much.

As for the old physician and the others who knew where he had last been seen...

A thread of killing intent hid beneath Han Zhong's gentle face.

The old physician clapped his hands together, and his white brows relaxed. "What a coincidence. The people in the village have suffered a loss of vital essence, so I've brewed several portions of medicinal soup that replenish blood and transform essence. I'll go see whether they're ready."

With that, the old physician opened the wooden door to the inner room. A complicated scent of mixed herbs wafted out on the breeze and struck them full in the face.

Orange-yellow tongues of flame licked the bottom of the medicine pot. Its lid held down the steaming heat, producing popping sounds as water vapor collided against it.

A dull-looking figure mechanically fanned a bamboo fan. Even when the medicinal liquid splashed out, he showed no reaction at all, as though he were a walking corpse.

Han Zhong frowned, recognizing who was tending the fire and brewing the medicine.

"Why is he here?"