Three Days of Toying with the Bandit Chief, and Today the Reckoning Battle Finally Arrived

The pursuing youths hurriedly stopped, their gazes grave as they watched the five people and one dog that had appeared so abruptly before them.

Yu Zhutou gripped the man's head in one huge hand and lifted him up, applying a slight squeeze.

A scream rang out, and the Red Dog Zheng in the man's arms dropped free, caught steadily by Yu Zhutou's other hand.

He casually tossed the Red Dog Zheng to a subordinate behind him. The Mountain-Tracking Hound before him barked furiously in a certain direction.

A trace of a smile squeezed onto Yu Zhutou's face. His laughter gradually grew louder, until he finally threw back his head and laughed without restraint.

As he laughed, his emotions surged wildly. Strength from his hand penetrated the man's skull, cracking his cranium thread by thread, while the screams continued without end.

"Noisy." Yu Zhutou exerted force, and the man's entire head burst apart like an overripe melon.

Such a bloody scene thoroughly terrified the youths. Quite a few turned deathly pale and staggered straight backward.

At the same time, he no longer concealed his aura. The full might of a peak Tendon Forging Realm martial artist erupted with a bang!

Their faces filled with horror. Whenever Yu Zhutou took one step forward, they involuntarily retreated three steps.

Liu Tianlin remained composed, as though the sight before him had not frightened him in the slightest.

"Who are you? This is a hunting ground organized by Green Grain Martial Academy. Our instructors are all outside Azure Radiance Mountain. How dare you slaughter people so wantonly?"

Yu Zhutou paid Liu Tianlin no heed. He swept his gaze about freely, pausing for a moment on the Golden Radiance Lion, a satisfied look appearing on his face.

"I never expected an unexpected gain as well."

Tao Xiaoyun's brows drew tightly together. These martial artists who had suddenly appeared were of unknown origin, and their leader radiated a cold, vicious aura from head to toe.

The others also carried a heavy stench of blood. They were clearly veterans who had weathered countless killings.

There were very few forces in Verdant Grain County capable of producing such fiends. Outside the city, only mountain bandits fit the bill.

Yu Zhutou led the Mountain-Tracking Hound and headed straight in a certain direction, his subordinates following closely behind.

For a moment, no one dared stop them.

Liu Yunche watched the cold middle-aged martial artist draw ever closer, quietly shifting backward step by step.

Shi Qingyue did the same. Those people were obviously mountain bandits; the bandit air about them was far too obvious to conceal.

Many people around them were retreating, so their movements did not draw Yu Zhutou's attention.

On the other side, Liu Tianlin saw that no one was paying him any attention, yet he did not immediately fly into a rage.

He was arrogant, true enough, but he also knew when to advance and when to retreat. This man's aura was deep and powerful; at a glance, he was no ordinary person. Sometimes, yielding to one's heart was also a kind of courage.

At last, the Mountain-Tracking Hound pounced at a crack in the rocks and began digging wildly with its paws.

Before long, a strange pellet rolled out.

Yu Zhutou bent down and picked up the Demon-Luring Incense with his fingertips, fury blazing in his eyes.

Again!

Just who was it, to be this cautious!

He ground out, "Good! Good! Good!"

His voice carried a hysterical release of pent-up frustration.

He Chaoyang watched the man laugh one moment, then suddenly shout for no reason the next, and muttered to himself,

"Could this man suffer from some madman's affliction?"

He had no intention of provoking this man, after all. His injuries were not light.

After putting away the pellet, Yu Zhutou did not stop. He led the Mountain-Tracking Hound onward in this direction.

At this sight, Liu Yunche's heart sank completely to the bottom.

Sure enough, Yu Zhutou's sinister gaze fell upon Liu Yunche and Shi Qingyue.

"You two, come out!"

For a moment, everyone present turned their eyes toward Liu Yunche and Shi Qingyue.

Yu Zhutou narrowed his eyes, dangerous light glinting within them. Lowering his voice, he slowly asked, "Where are the clothes you two were wearing?"

Liu Yunche remained unflustered in the face of danger and answered steadily,

"They were torn apart by demonic beasts during the hunt."

Shi Qingyue said reluctantly, "Mine too."

Only then did the others notice how strangely the two were dressed. One wore tiger hide, while the other wore snakeskin over half his body and cowhide over the other half.

They exuded a strong scent of the wilderness, looking every inch like heroes of the wilds.

Compared to these two, the others seemed as if they had come on holiday.

Yu Zhutou nodded slightly and turned his body aside, as though he were about to leave.

Then, without the slightest warning, Yu Zhutou struck. One instant he had still been ten paces away; the next, he had closed in before the two of them.

His hands were like vicious tiger claws, lunging straight for their faces.

Liu Yunche had kept his eyes fixed on Yu Zhutou the entire time. In that flash of lightning, he drove his Divine Movement Gift to its limit, suddenly unleashing a terrifying speed no Iron Skin martial artist should possess.

He twisted aside and evaded that powerful claw strike, not daring to pause as his body continued to shoot backward.

Shi Qingyue did not possess such speed, but he was experienced and remained on guard throughout. He turned both arms into copper pillars and raised them before his face to block.

Yet the sharpness of that claw exceeded all expectations. Three bloody claw marks appeared across Shi Qingyue's pair of copper arms.

Still, he borrowed the force of that strike to retreat backward.

Shi Qingyue looked at the bloody marks on his arms, his expression grave and his face darkening. He shouted, "Yunche, run!"

Liu Yunche did not run. The speed he had displayed just now was already the utmost limit he could currently reach.

And even such speed had only barely allowed him to evade one of Yu Zhutou's claws. There was no path to survival if he fled. Their only hope now was to hold him off and release a signal flare.

Without a moment's hesitation, Liu Yunche shot backward again while pulling out a signal flare and setting it off.

A silver streak of light exploded in the sky with tremendous force, enough to draw the attention of Tendon Forging martial artists nearby.

"So it really was you." A flicker of surprise crossed Yu Zhutou's eyes. The speed that tiger-hide brat had unleashed in an instant was truly astonishing.

Tao Xiaoyun watched that orange figure, surprise flashing through her eyes. That was a Tendon Forging martial artist, yet Liu Yunche had actually managed to evade his blow.

Even a Copper Muscle martial artist like Shi Qingyue had failed to dodge it.

The gap between them was far too great, stirring a thread of curiosity within her.

"Not only did you kill my subordinates, you even dared toy with me like this!"

"Three days! Do you know how I spent these three days?!"

As he spoke, Yu Zhutou did not stop moving. His eyes were filled with resentment. Over these three days, he had led the Mountain-Tracking Hound all across the outskirts of Azure Radiance Mountain and found fifteen scraps of clothing.

A full fifteen pieces!!!

On tree branches, beneath rocks, in the dirt.

During that time, Thornspike Beasts had shot him, weasels had leapt at him... There were simply too many such incidents to count.

His gaze was sinister, and the killing intent in his eyes spilled forth without restraint. He wanted to see fear, terror, shock, and every other such emotion in the two men's eyes.

Yet the tiger-hide brat's eyes were calm as a stagnant pool. The other brat was gritting his teeth, as though Yu Zhutou owed him something.

This stoked Yu Zhutou's rage even further, making his attacks faster and several degrees more vicious.

He had to finish this quickly. In a moment of carelessness just now, he had allowed that tiger-hide brat to release a signal flare.

If this dragged on until the Martial Academy's Tendon Forging martial artists arrived, things would become troublesome.

Yu Zhutou stretched his tendons and fascia, his arms suddenly lengthening several inches. Both palms shot out, carrying a cold, hidden force.

This was his signature martial art, the Tendon-Sundering Bone-Misplacing Hand. Anyone struck by this hidden force would suffer twisted tendons and dislocated bones, and would live thereafter in endless regret.

However, the Martial Academy's Tendon Forging martial artists arrived even faster than he had expected.

"Stop!"

A thunderous shout rang out.