Instant Kill

After leaving the official road and entering the forests on the outskirts of the Transverse Mountains, Chen You suddenly accelerated.

He had been traveling leisurely, but now he seemed like a completely different person.

His steps were as light as a ghost's, weaving freely through the dark forest.

His figure flickered in and out of sight as he rapidly approached the Transverse Mountains.

Fang Han followed from afar, always keeping enough distance to avoid being noticed.

His footsteps were silent, his breathing steady, and his gaze locked tightly onto the faint figure ahead.

Watching Chen You's strange behavior, Fang Han felt several doubts arise in his heart.

Why was this bastard heading into this wilderness instead of sleeping at the inn in the middle of the night? What was he trying to do?

Fang Han pondered silently, but his pace did not slow in the slightest.

The forest grew deeper and darker.

More than ten minutes later, Chen You finally slowed down.

Fang Han looked ahead and saw a clearing in the woods not far away.

Chen You stepped into the clearing and stopped.

He did not step out immediately. Instead, he hid behind an ancient tree, completely concealing himself in its shadow.

He wanted to see just what Chen You was secretly up to.

Under the moonlight.

Chen You stood in the clearing with his hands behind his back.

His aura had been steady, his breathing even, and he looked no different from an ordinary Martial Artist.

Yet after only a moment, a sudden change occurred.

Chen You abruptly bent over and began coughing violently.

It was as though he were about to cough up all his internal organs!

His aura became utterly chaotic, his Blood Qi surged, and his face turned as pale as paper beneath the moonlight.

Fang Han narrowed his eyes slightly, staring intently at him.

Chen You coughed violently as he shakily reached into his robes.

After feeling around for a while, he pulled out a porcelain bottle.

The bottle was pitch-black all over and looked rather strange.

With trembling hands, Chen You pulled out the stopper, tilted back his head, aimed the mouth of the bottle at his open mouth, and directly poured its contents inside.

Cold moonlight fell over the mouth of the porcelain bottle.

Fang Han's pupils suddenly contracted.

What slid out of the bottle was not a pill at all!

It was a centipede that glowed with a dim red light all over!

The centipede was blood-red from head to tail, shimmering with an eerie glow beneath the moonlight.

Its hundred legs wriggled and its body twisted, radiating an indescribably sinister aura.

"What?!"

Watching this scene, Fang Han felt a wave of nausea rise in his stomach.

The centipede's writhing form was simply too horrifying!

Yet Chen You swallowed it whole without even changing expression!

What kind of wicked practice was this fellow using?

Fang Han silently considered it, his brows tightly furrowed, but his eyes never left the center of the clearing.

After the strange centipede crawled into Chen You's mouth, his throat visibly bulged.

The outline of the centipede could clearly be seen as it struggled down his esophagus.

His face grew increasingly pale and ugly, veins bulging from his forehead. Clearly, swallowing the centipede was excruciatingly painful even for him.

Yet something even stranger followed.

After Chen You completely swallowed the centipede into his stomach, his violent coughing suddenly stopped.

Not only that.

His previously surging and chaotic Blood Qi visibly began to settle.

His disordered aura became regular once more, and even a trace of color returned to his pale face.

What shocked Fang Han most was...

Chen You's aura actually seemed to improve at that very moment!

The increase was not great, but it had undeniably improved.

It was simply unbelievable.

Fang Han watched it all, his brows knitting tighter and tighter.

Based on his experience from his previous life, he made a bold guess.

Chen You must have cultivated some sort of forbidden art.

Something like insect sorcery—feeding venomous insects with one's own essence blood, then having them nourish the body in return, thereby increasing one's cultivation.

Such evil methods were not unheard of in the martial world, but most people despised them, and cultivating them carried enormous risks.

One careless mistake could lead to backlash and a death without a burial place.

After his aura stabilized, Chen You slowly exhaled a mouthful of turbid air.

He did not leave immediately, instead sitting down cross-legged on the spot.

His left hand pointed toward the bright moon overhead, while his right hand pointed toward the earth beneath him, forming an extremely strange posture.

He closed his eyes and cultivated like that, the Blood Qi around him beginning to surge in an eerie rhythm.

And it grew stronger and stronger!

Fang Han keenly sensed that Chen You's Blood Qi was rising at an abnormal rate.

That speed was several times faster than ordinary Martial Artists could cultivate, even more pronounced than the effects of Fang Han taking a Blood-Qi Pill.

"Something's wrong!"

A warning suddenly flared in Fang Han's heart.

He did not know exactly what evil art Chen You was cultivating.

But his instincts told him that if Chen You were allowed to continue, the consequences would likely be unimaginable.

Strike while he was weak and take his life.

Fang Han's gaze turned cold as he made his decision without hesitation.

Chen You was currently immersed in that strange cultivation, his mind fully focused.

His perception of the outside world was bound to be at its lowest.

This was the best possible time to strike!

Fang Han no longer hesitated, and the force within his body instantly erupted.

He drove hard with both legs, shooting out like an arrow released from the bow as he charged straight at the cross-legged Chen You.

His right hand gripped the short blade tightly, while his left held the porcelain bottle containing Boiling Blood Powder.

The wind howled.

Fang Han's figure flashed beneath the moonlight, moving at a terrifying speed.

He judged the distance, and when he was less than ten feet away from Chen You—

He suddenly exerted force with his left hand and scattered the Boiling Blood Powder from the bottle toward Chen You.

The white powder drifted through the moonlight like a cloud of eerie mist, descending over Chen You.

Almost at the same moment.

Fang Han kicked off the ground, his body erupting forward once more.

He charged in to kill at even greater speed!

He wore a water-soaked cloth over his face, so naturally he did not have to worry about inhaling the Boiling Blood Powder.

Though Chen You was immersed in cultivation, his sense of danger was exceptionally sharp.

The instant Fang Han scattered the Boiling Blood Powder, Chen You abruptly opened his eyes.

Those eyes were filled with an eerie red, and something seemed to writhe deep within his pupils, making them look utterly sinister.

"Who are you?!"

Seeing the short blade stab toward his face, Chen You had no time to rise and could only let out a low shout.

He suddenly struck out with his right hand, sending a palm straight at Fang Han's chest, intending to trade his life for Fang Han's.

The palm strike was heavy and powerful, its force howling through the air. He had clearly used all his strength.

Yet what Chen You never expected was—

The short blade stabbing toward his face abruptly stopped in midair.

Fang Han suddenly withdrew his hand, lightly tapped the ground, and drifted half a step back, maintaining precisely the right distance from Chen You.

Chen You seized the chance to rise quickly, his eyes incomparably cold as he stared at the masked man before him like a venomous snake.

He wanted to see exactly who was bold enough to come assassinate him in the dead of night.

But just as he stood and prepared to silently circulate his Blood Qi and mobilize the force in his body, Chen You's expression abruptly changed.

To his utter horror, he discovered that his Blood Qi had begun boiling uncontrollably for some unknown reason.

The scorching heat instantly spread through his limbs and bones.

His aura became increasingly chaotic, his Blood Qi surged wildly, and he could not even steady his mind.

"You... what did you do to me?!"

Chen You demanded in terror, panic appearing in his voice for the first time.

Fang Han said nothing.

His eyes were calm as he silently calculated the effective duration of the Boiling Blood Powder.

Ten breaths.

From the moment the Boiling Blood Powder was scattered, he only had ten breaths to act.

A swift battle was the best course of action.

He struck decisively, directly using the strongest technique he had currently cultivated: Nine Flood Dragon Palms.

The force within his body surged toward his right palm, and his muscles, tendons, and bones let out faint explosive cracks.

He kicked off the ground and rushed forward.

His right palm carried a fierce gust of force as it shot directly toward Chen You's chest.

There were no flashy feints in this strike.

Chen You wanted to defend himself, but his Blood Qi churned within him and he could not gather any strength at all.

He only had time to raise an arm, but it was utterly incapable of stopping Fang Han's overwhelming blow.

Fang Han's palm struck Chen You squarely in the chest. Its force penetrated his body and directly shattered his heart meridians.

Chen You opened his mouth as though he still wanted to say something.

But the moment his mouth opened, great mouthfuls of blood poured from his throat.

The light in his eyes rapidly faded. His lips trembled twice, his legs gave out, and he fell stiffly backward.

Chen You's life force was extinguished. He was dead beyond doubt.

Instant kill!

Fang Han stood before Chen You's corpse, lowered his head to look at his right palm, and wore a somewhat stunned expression.

Had he become this powerful already?

Could he instantly kill Chen You with a single palm strike?

He looked at his palm in disbelief, then at Chen You on the ground, his eyes still open in death.

An indescribably strange feeling welled up in his heart.

Or was it...

That the Boiling Blood Powder he bought for thirty coins was really this damn effective?