You Are Quite Interesting!

The Blood Eye Protector was completely annihilated from body to soul, not a speck of dust remaining.

The golden torrent continued to plow forward, leveling the earth. Where it passed, the ground collapsed, houses, city walls, and all matter vaporized.

Even the heavy black fog that shrouded the entire city was forcefully dispersed by the lingering power of this punch!

Moonlight spilled down, illuminating the city's mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

It also illuminated the tattered figure on the ruins, only half-intact but burning with golden flames.

Xiong Yue, who had been knocked unconscious by the Blood Eye Protector earlier, coincidentally woke up at this moment.

He shook his groggy head, opened his eyes, and saw the scene of the golden torrent annihilating the Blood Eye Protector and breaking through the city walls.

His mouth hung open, unable to utter a single word.

Not far away, Centurion Zhao, Patrolman Li, and other members of the Demon Subduing Division, bound by the Painted Skin Ghost's Human Skin Ribbons, also widened their eyes, forgetting to struggle.

They had witnessed the entire event, from Wang Lang's body being shattered in half to that world-destroying punch.

Was that... the power a Spirit Condensation Realm cultivator could unleash?

Wei Qing's chest heaved violently, her eyes filled with unconcealed shock.

She had thought she was going to die today. While she didn't regret following Wang Lang into danger, she still had regrets.

But this punch...

This punch overturned her understanding of the world.

And the most horrified was the Painted Skin Ghost.

For the first time, her exquisitely beautiful painted skin face showed an emotion called fear.

The Blood Eye Protector was dead, completely and utterly dead.

She had only seen this level of attack a hundred years ago.

It was when a Revered One from the Kunlun God Sect clashed with the State-Protecting Marquis of the Limitless Dynasty.

Both were late-stage Profound Understanding cultivators, and the aftermath of their clash had flattened dozens of mountain peaks.

But that was late-stage Profound Understanding!

Beings standing at the apex of this realm!

This kid... was clearly only in the Spirit Condensation Realm!

After Wang Lang threw that punch, he seemed to have exhausted all his strength, his tattered body slowly falling backward.

Yet, this broken body had just unleashed a blow comparable to a late-stage Profound Understanding cultivator.

A monster.

That was the only word in the Painted Skin Ghost's mind.

But she quickly forced herself to calm down.

The Blood Eye Protector was dead, but the mission was not yet a failure.

The fragments of the Mask of Immortality were about to be drawn out. As long as she obtained the fragments...

She glanced at Wei Qing, her mind instantly making a decision.

To avoid further accidents, it was best for all living people to die.

The Painted Skin Ghost no longer held back. Ghostly energy surged around her, and her beautiful painted skin split open from behind, spewing out countless pale silk ribbons.

The ribbons intertwined in the air, wrapping around her body and transforming into a seventy-foot-tall, exquisite giant.

The giant was entirely stitched together from human skin, blood seeping from the seams, a smile on its face, eerie and terrifying.

The exquisite giant raised a large palm, stitched from countless human hands, and slammed it towards Wei Qing.

This palm strike, though seemingly slow, sealed all space for evasion.

Wei Qing gritted her teeth, her Black Tortoise Dharma Idol's serpent and tortoise coiling, preparing to withstand the blow head-on.

The Black Tortoise Dharma Idol trembled violently, cracks appearing on its surface.

Wei Qing grunted, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.

She was already exhausted from the prolonged battle, at the end of her strength.

If not for the Black Tortoise Dharma Idol's extraordinary defense, an ordinary Spirit Condensation cultivator would have been crushed by this palm.

Just then, the Painted Skin Ghost's other giant hand reached down towards Wei Qing.

At the critical moment!

"Vanquisher Wei, do not panic! This humble one, Wang, has come to assist you!"

A voice exploded from behind the ghostly figure.

The Painted Skin Ghost froze abruptly, her claws suspended in mid-air.

Both the ghost and the person turned back sharply.

At the edge of the deep ruin pit, Wang Lang had somehow stood up.

Not only did he stand up, but the empty left side of his body had completely regenerated.

The new skin was slightly pale, but the muscles were full and the bones intact, no different from the right side of his body.

If not for the complete absence of the left half of his robes, revealing his intact body underneath, no one would have imagined that just moments ago he was a man with only half a body.

Xiong Yue rubbed his eyes.

Centurion Zhao gasped.

Patrolman Li murmured, "As expected... of Young Master Wang..."

Wei Qing's eyes flashed with surprise, which was then replaced by deeper confusion.

Wang Lang's recovery ability had surpassed any healing secret technique she knew of.

And the Painted Skin Ghost...

On her giant face, stitched together from human skin, the terror could no longer be concealed.

"Mon... Monster! What in the world are you?"

Wang Lang raised an eyebrow at her words.

To be called a monster by a heretical demon who performed blood sacrifices... that felt rather peculiar.

He looked down at his newly grown left arm and clenched his fist.

Just now, he had indeed almost died.

Intentional Blast Punch had exhausted all his accumulated 'hao' energy. After that punch, he didn't even have the strength to stand.

But the Ageless and Undying trait possessed a conceptual immortality.

Let alone being blown into a mangled wreck, he could revive even if reduced to a pulp.

Fortunately, he hadn't been turned into pulp, otherwise, reviving would be hard to explain.

Regenerating half his body like this now could still be passed off with excuses like secret techniques.

"Young Master Wang, your..." Wei Qing landed beside him, her gaze complex.

"It's just a minor family secret technique, nothing to be surprised about."

Wang Lang dismissed it lightly, his gaze locking onto the Painted Skin Ghost.

"Vanquisher Wei, the priority now is to deal with this last remaining menace."

Wei Qing took a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil in her heart, and nodded heavily: "Alright!"

Their auras locked onto the Painted Skin Ghost simultaneously.

The giant form of the Painted Skin Ghost did not actively attack.

She was hesitating, not about how to attack, but about... whether to flee.

The Blood Eye Protector was dead. Even if she obtained the Mask of Immortality fragment, she would face punishment from the sect's Revered Ones upon her return.

Moreover, that brat who resurrected from the dead was too bizarre...

From the moment he first entered Black Stone City, she had felt something was off about him.

And his bizarre resilience during his previous fight with the Blood Eye Protector.

As well as his increasing vigor the longer the fight went on...

Thinking back now, this brat was definitely no ordinary human in the Spirit Condensation Realm!

The Painted Skin Ghost glanced sideways at the Star Gazing Platform. The nine blood-red pillars of light still shot into the sky.

The dim light in the center was becoming clearer, but it was still not enough!

Damn Mask of Immortality fragment, why hasn't it been fully drawn out yet!

If that human brat could unleash the power of that previous punch again...

She couldn't win.

She had to escape immediately!

Failing the mission would result in punishment, but if she stayed here and waited for the opponent to unleash that punch again, she feared not even her soul would remain.

She couldn't return to the sect either.

Thousands of thoughts flashed through her mind in an instant, and she made her decision.

She would go to the endless sea.

As soon as the thought formed, the Painted Skin Ghost let out a sudden shriek, her massive arms swinging.

Countless human skin fragments shot out like flying knives towards Wang Lang and Wei Qing.

At the same time, her massive body rapidly retreated, scattering into thousands of cyan ribbons that flew off in different directions!

It actually fled directly!

"What fast escape arts!"

Wei Qing frowned, his gaze swept around, and he could no longer sense the demoness's aura.

Wang Lang did not pursue either.

Although his condition had recovered, to completely kill the opponent, he would probably have to accumulate more intent, or slowly wear them down.

Moreover, with the opponent intent on escaping, he truly couldn't catch up.

The two then went to find Centurion Zhao and the others, and tore off the ribbons binding them.

The seemingly tough restraints snapped with a single tug in Wang Lang's hands.

Wang Lang then walked over to Xiong Yue, reaching out to help him up, "Brother Xiong, are you alright?"

Xiong Yue's face was pale, and he clutched his chest, smiling bitterly, "I... I'm fine, just still a bit dizzy..."

He looked at Wang Lang, his eyes filled with indescribable complexity.

"Brother Wang, no, Senior Wang! That punch just now... are you really in the Spirit Condensation Realm?"

Wang Lang smiled and didn't answer.

Wei Qing walked over, holding a faintly shimmering talisman in his hand, "The black fog in Black Stone City has dispersed. I've already used a communication talisman to contact the Central Province Demon Subduing Division headquarters to handle the aftermath."

Upon hearing this, everyone relaxed slightly, then fell silent again.

Aftermath.

What aftermath?

Out of the entire city's populace, less than one in ten remained. Corpses piled up like mountains, and blood flowed into pools.

This border town, which once housed tens of thousands of people, had now become a purgatory.

Wang Lang looked around at the corpses of the elderly, women, burly men, and frail children lying everywhere.

Silently accusing this catastrophe.

As everyone was lost in sorrow, a new change occurred at the Star Gazing Platform!

Nine blood-colored pillars of light suddenly contracted inwards, merging into one!

The entire Black Stone City shook violently, and countless cracks split open in the ground.

Dark red mist surged from underground like lava, converging towards the pillars of light.

At the center of the light pillars, a point of dark light finally broke through the restraint and slowly rose.

It was a palm-sized, irregularly edged stone fragment.

It exuded an indescribable aura of majesty.

Immortal, ancient, and carrying a certain sublime dignity.

"Mask of Immortality... fragment."

Wang Lang narrowed his eyes, recalling the Blood Eye Protector's earlier words.

Was this what the Kunlun God Sect had planned in Black Stone City, sacrificing tens of thousands of lives to obtain?

Wang Lang gazed at the fragment, his brow furrowed.

He felt a familiar yet strange aura from it, very much like...

Very much like the terrifying snake eye he had seen in the Ten Thousand Souls Tomb.

The fragment floated in the center of the light pillars, slowly rotating.

As everyone pondered how to deal with this object, a new anomaly occurred where the Blood Eye Protector had been annihilated!

A black light appeared, then rapidly expanded, forming a three-zhang-tall phantom of a vertical black eye.

The vertical eye slowly opened. It had no pupil, only endless, deep darkness.

"Interesting, interesting..."

A deep, distant voice echoed from the void, as if piercing through countless realms.

"You actually killed the Protector of my sect with your Spirit Condensation Realm cultivation..."

Beneath the vertical eye, a palpable sense of dread emanated, as if from an intense gaze.

Wang Lang stared at the black vertical eye and couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

He had only one thought in his mind: No way... there's still a boss?