Sending You to Hell to Report In

At the center of the collapse zone, that heavy, muffled breathing grew louder and louder.

Li Zhengyang ignored the uncle and nephew slumped on the ground and turned toward the aircraft.

Li Zhengyang waved at the pilot. "Take off and circle around the perimeter. Come back and pick me up in half an hour."

The pilot glanced toward the depths of the collapse zone, a chill running down his spine.

He did not ask a single question. Pulling the control lever, he sent the aircraft's engines roaring as it lifted into the air.

Only three people remained on the ground.

Li Zhengyang, Wang Dewen, and Wang Ming.

When the wind blew, the two of them shook like sieves.

"Li Zhengyang! You sent the aircraft away! What are we supposed to do?" Wang Dewen's voice cracked completely.

Li Zhengyang planted the Dragon-Gallbladder Golden Spear into the ground and pointed ahead. "Wait for it to come out."

The moment he finished speaking, a colossal creature crawled out from the shadows of the collapse zone.

Over ten meters long, it was covered from head to toe in dark black scales, its four limbs as thick as pillars.

A Fifth-Rank Magic Beast—the Abyssal Giant Lizard.

The pressure of a Fifth-Rank Magic Beast spread out without restraint. The surrounding rubble was ground into powder by that invisible force, producing a grating sound that set teeth on edge.

With a thud, Wang Dewen dropped to his knees, both knees smashing against the rocks.

Wang Ming clung desperately to Wang Dewen's clothes with his only remaining left hand, his entire body curled into a ball.

"Zhengyang... Brother Zhengyang! I was wrong! I was really wrong!" Tears and snot mixed across Wang Ming's face as he frantically kowtowed.

"Too late." Li Zhengyang rolled his neck.

"Li Zhengyang! You can't kill us!" Wang Dewen tremblingly pulled the letter of introduction from his coat pocket. "We were approved by the Military Region Logistics Department! We were officially dispatched! If we die here, you won't be able to explain yourself when you go back! You won't get away clean!"

"The Military Region Logistics Department approved you to come kill a Fourth-Rank Magic Beast." Li Zhengyang looked at him, his tone calm. "This is the territory of a Fifth-Rank Abyssal Giant Lizard. You only have yourselves to blame for running around recklessly and unfortunately encountering a high-rank Magic Beast. I fought desperately, but still failed to save the two of you. It's just a matter of writing a report when I get back."

Wang Dewen's pupils shrank to pinpoints.

He finally understood. From the moment Li Zhengyang had brought them aboard the aircraft, he had never intended to let them live. Those so-called practical combat assessments had all been death warrants.

The Abyssal Giant Lizard was not idle. Its eyes locked tightly onto the three of them. Its four thick legs kicked off the ground, and it charged forward at breakneck speed.

Li Zhengyang moved.

Cloud-Shocking Steps unfolded, and his body shifted sideways ten meters in an instant.

He avoided the frontal charge, but left the space where he had been for the uncle and nephew.

The lizard's shadow descended over them.

Wang Ming erupted with the greatest potential of his life. He shoved Wang Dewen away and scrambled desperately to the side.

With a flick of his spear tip, Li Zhengyang sent out a streak of Astral Qi that struck Wang Ming's left leg dead-on.

Crack.

"Ah!" Wang Ming screamed as he fell to the ground, his left leg broken.

The giant lizard charged over and stomped on Wang Dewen's back.

The force of a Martial Sect directly crushed Wang Dewen's spine. His broken ribs pierced through his heart and lungs on the spot, and he died without even managing a groan.

Then the giant lizard lowered its head and snatched up Wang Ming, who was still howling miserably on the ground.

Half of Wang Ming's body hung outside the lizard's jaws. His hands clawed wildly through the air, his desperate screams echoing through the collapse zone for two seconds before abruptly cutting off.

Both of them went into its belly, reduced to mush.

Li Zhengyang stood ten meters away, his expression calm.

Back then, for two hundred thousand, they had trampled him toward death. They had signed a Liability Waiver in the arena and tried to take his life.

Today's outcome was only fair.

"Full?" Li Zhengyang raised his spear and walked toward the Abyssal Giant Lizard.

The giant lizard spat out several scraps of cloth it could not chew, then turned to stare at Li Zhengyang. It could sense that this human was completely different from the food from before.

Hiss!

The giant lizard opened its bloody maw and sprayed out a ball of dark green venom, so fast it left an afterimage.

Li Zhengyang did not dodge.

The upper-grade Earth Rank Indestructible Golden Body circulated, and a layer of pale golden radiance shimmered across his skin.

The venom ball struck his chest and exploded. The highly toxic liquid ran down his clothes, burning the fabric full of holes. Yet when it touched the skin beneath, it merely gave off wisps of white smoke, unable to corrode even his outer layer of skin.

The giant lizard froze for a moment. Venom that would rot a Fourth-Rank Magic Beast to the bone from the slightest touch was something this human had endured as if it were bathwater.

"That's all you've got?" Li Zhengyang stamped his foot.

The ground cracked. Cloud-Shocking Steps erupted, turning his entire body into a golden phantom as he crashed head-on toward the giant lizard.

The Dragon-Gallbladder Golden Spear swung in a full arc and smashed down.

Collapse Formula.

The spear shaft slammed heavily into the giant lizard's forehead.

Bang!

Its thick, dark scales exploded on the spot, and dark red blood sprayed half a meter into the air.

The lizard's several-hundred-ton body was smashed flat onto the ground by that blow, its jaw shattering the rocks beneath it.

The pure physical strength of a Fifth-Rank Martial Sect, enhanced by the Indestructible Golden Body, utterly crushed it in a head-on clash.

The giant lizard went completely berserk.

Its thick tail swept horizontally with a shrill whistle through the air, snapping more than a dozen stone pillars beside it with that single sweep.

Li Zhengyang neither dodged nor retreated. Clenching his left hand into a fist, he met the sweeping tail with a straight punch.

Boom!

Airwaves surged. Li Zhengyang took two steps back. The giant lizard's tail visibly bent at an angle, the bones inside shattered by the blow.

"I'm done playing with you." Li Zhengyang gripped the spear with both hands.

The dark golden patterns of the three blood grooves shone to their utmost brilliance. The Blood Qi of a Fifth-Rank Martial Sect poured into the spear like a river bursting through its banks. The vortex at the spear tip expanded to the size of a water vat, twisting the surrounding air.

The giant lizard sensed a lethal threat and struggled to rise and flee.

Too late.

Li Zhengyang leaped ten meters into the air. The Dragon-Gallbladder Golden Spear transformed into a golden meteor as it descended, plunging directly into the giant lizard's neck.

The spear tip pierced in at the junction of its head and neck, and the Twisting Formula detonated within its body.

Its spine and heart were instantly twisted into minced flesh by Astral Qi. The enormous body convulsed twice before collapsing with a thunderous crash, kicking up dust that filled the sky.

Li Zhengyang pulled out his spear and shook the blood from it. Then, with practiced movements, he used a Short Blade to cut open the giant lizard's skull.

A black Beast Core the size of an apple rolled out, radiating dense spiritual energy.

A Fifth-Rank Beast Core—worth a considerable sum.

He stuffed the Beast Core into his Space Ring, then cut off several of the toughest back plates and scales and packed them away as well.

Right on time, half an hour later, the sound of engines came from the sky.

The aircraft slowly descended, and Li Zhengyang jumped into the back seat.

"Back to the fortress."

The pilot glanced down.

He did not see Wang Dewen and his nephew. He saw only the corpse of an Abyssal Giant Lizard like a small mountain, along with bloodstains scattered across the ground in a horrifying sight. He swallowed hard, not daring to ask a single question, and pulled up the control lever as they flew toward Fortress No. 7.