Rob's Death

When Mu Chen unleashed Blazing Prairie Hundredfold Slashes, he charged forward several steps, stomped the ground, and precisely controlled a burst of force with his soul power, sending the two Ink Shadow Swords straight into the air.

The crescent blade aura collided violently with the two fire pythons, their terrifying force carrying far into the distance.

Countless "experts" who had already been drawn by the battle between the two held their breath. Without even blinking, they stared at the duel, watching the terrifying clash of Dou Qi techniques in the street with utter shock.

Everyone in Stone Desert City recognized the middle-aged man. They knew he was Rob, a four-star Da Dou Shi.

But his opponent, that young lad, was completely unfamiliar. Under normal circumstances, if they encountered him, they might have mocked him as some yellow-haired brat.

Yet in the current situation, that young man had actually fought Rob to such a standstill. With such formidable strength, no one in all of Stone Desert City dared claim they could defeat him with certainty.

"Who is he? He possesses such strength at such a young age. There must be an extraordinary teacher behind him, perhaps one of the empire's ten greatest experts! How did Rob provoke such a terrifying youth?"

The belief that a powerful genius would have an equally powerful teacher behind him was widespread throughout the Dou Qi Continent.

After all, no matter how talented someone was, without a teacher devoted to guiding them wholeheartedly, becoming an expert would require heaven-defying luck.

"No idea, but Rob has truly humiliated himself today. That boy hasn't formed Dou Qi Armor, so he clearly hasn't reached the Da Dou Shi realm."

"Heh, Rob's reputation is in ruins. Then again, he's old and useless now. It's about time Stone Desert City's rankings of top experts changed."

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The two powerful Dou Qi techniques remained locked in midair, but before long, several strands of dark yellow flame suddenly ignited upon the fire pythons. They were the Xuan Huang Flame Mu Chen had secretly summoned.

The instant the strands of Xuan Huang Flame appeared, they burned away the crescent blade aura. Then, carrying the might of the fire pythons, they rushed toward Rob, whose expression drastically changed.

"Impossible! I'm a four-star Da Dou Shi! How could I lose to some brat?"

Rob roared madly. The endless mocking voices around him had already left him panting like a bull. Now, even his signature Dou Qi technique had been defeated. His eyes reddened like those of a gambler who had lost everything. Facing the incoming fire pythons, he neither dodged nor retreated, instead raising his nicked broadsword and fiercely chopping at the two fire pythons.

The broadsword in Rob's hand shattered into fragments across the ground, yet he burst into frenzied laughter. The two fire pythons had finally been dispersed by that all-out strike, but blood poured from his hands, and even the Dou Qi Armor covering them had been blasted away.

However, Rob did not rejoice for long. Suddenly, the sky above him darkened. He sharply looked up and saw the Ink Shadow Swords Mu Chen had sent flying into the air press tightly together, merging into a domineering heavy sword nearly two meters long.

Mu Chen leaped into the air and accurately seized the massive Inkshadow Heavy Sword. He spun several times in midair before bringing it down upon Rob, whose pupils suddenly contracted, with the overwhelming force of a mountain-splitting, earth-rending strike.

"Slash!"

Rubble flew everywhere as savage force tore through the street. The massive explosion made the distant onlookers suck in cold breaths and instinctively retreat several steps.

Unfortunately, Mu Chen's savage strike did not hit Rob. At the critical moment, Rob twisted around and leaped backward more than ten meters, evading Mu Chen's seemingly certain killing blow.

"Huff... huff... What a wicked brat. I need to leave, I have to leave. If this goes on, I'll lose my life here."

Looking at Mu Chen rising from the rubble with slightly reddened eyes, Rob felt a deep chill well up within him. The wariness in his eyes grew increasingly intense, gradually turning into fear.

"What a lunatic! I can't afford to provoke him. That mixed-blood employer is still in a nearby city. I have to join forces with them before I stand a chance of killing this madman."

Mu Chen's face was drenched in sweat. Seeing Rob preparing to flee, he froze briefly, then immediately felt awful. It was as though he had just watched a powerful secret technique grow legs and prepare to run away.

"Where do you think you're going? You're mine!"

Eyes red, Mu Chen dragged the black heavy sword in his hand. Its broad blade scraped rapidly across the ground, and the surging killing intent made Rob feel as if his soul had left his body, his scalp going numb.

"Stop fighting! I surrender!"

"You think we stop just because you say so? No. You must die today. You're mine."

Stop fighting? What kind of joke was that? If he did not chop Rob down, would his secret technique not go down the drain? For that reason alone, Rob had to die.

"Did I hear that right? A Da Dou Shi actually chose the shameful route of surrendering to a Dou Master, and now he's still being hunted down? If I were Rob, I'd just find a wall and smash my head into it."

"Exactly, exactly."

"Such cowardice. He's worse than a dog. How could he have the nerve to lead a mercenary group?"

"Ah... damn it! Brat, I'll fight you to the death! Today, either you die or I die!"

The comments from the people around him, who spoke as if they commanded the world, drove Rob nearly insane. White vapor sprayed from his mouth, nose, and even his ears. He was exploding with rage. His mind was now a complete mess; all fear had been forgotten, leaving only the thought of killing Mu Chen.

"Now that's more like it. Just stick your head out and let me chop it off. Wouldn't that settle everything? Why run?"

Holding the heavy sword, Mu Chen roared. The weapon in his hand turned into a bolt of black lightning, carrying unstoppable momentum as it viciously slashed down at Rob.

Though Rob struggled to block it, Mu Chen's strike still sent him flying backward with blood spraying from his mouth.

The taste of blood in his mouth instantly woke Rob up. Cold sweat covered his body. Just as he tried to flee, Mu Chen's second slash arrived.

"Still not dead? Then slash again!"

The sword came down upon his head. As it fell, armor shattered, and an arm flew through the air in a burst of blood before crashing onto the ground. Rob's body was sent flying heavily away, scraping and rolling across the ground for over ten meters in an utterly miserable state.

"Still not dead? Then I'll slash again!"

Mu Chen gritted his teeth, raised his aching arms, and brought the sword down once more. His fierce, violent aura crushed the entire area, forcing the onlookers to retreat again and again, afraid that Mu Chen might lose control and chop them up like radishes.

"Ah... Brat, I'm not made of clay either! If you want to kill me, you'll have to pay a price!"

The pain of losing his arm made Rob understand that if he wanted to survive today, he had to kill this madman.

Mu Chen said nothing and only brought the heavy sword down viciously. But after fighting for so long, his stamina had been greatly drained, and this strike was slower than before. Rob seized the opportunity, dodging the blow and taking the chance to injure Mu Chen's arm, causing the heavy sword in Mu Chen's hand to fall to the ground with a clang.

"Die!" Rob threw a vicious punch into Mu Chen's body, sending him staggering backward. Even his Dou Qi Veil dimmed.

However, Mu Chen gave a chilling smile. The yellow-green veil around him suddenly shifted into dark black, and he immediately slammed a heavy punch into Rob's chest. Without the protection of Dou Qi Armor, the fierce poison naturally seeped into Rob's body.

"Pfft! You actually used poison!"

Spitting out a mouthful of blood streaked with black, Rob hurriedly used his abundant Dou Qi to suppress the poison that had entered his body, preventing it from reaching his heart.

"It isn't just poison."

Mu Chen smiled eerily and staggered back several steps, finally coughing up the blood he had been suppressing. Yet after several healing pills entered his stomach, his injuries were swiftly brought under control.

Rob had still been wondering what Mu Chen meant when, in the next instant, he felt a dark yellow flame erupting within his body. In merely a moment, Rob turned into a blazing human torch. His miserable screams made everyone's scalps tingle and sent chills through their bodies.

"Heavenly... Heavenly Flames! You actually possess Heavenly Flames!"