The False Truth

Before the two could decide whether to go provide support, one of the young men in the distance had his arm severed by the monster's sharp claws.

"Not good. Stay here, I'll go help!" Blue Bird's expression changed slightly when she saw this. She immediately spoke to Yu Xian, then transformed into a blue bird and flew out of Bubble the next second.

After Number Five Zhou Tai consumed the Blood of the Death Curse, he gained a simple yet brutal ability: an extraordinarily powerful body covered in bony blades suited for slaughter.

"Is that all you can do?"

"So weak, so overconfident. Who gave you the courage to come here and die?"

Number Five Zhou Tai caught up to one of the fleeing young men, opened his enormous mouth, and roared. Then he tried to bite down from above and crush the man's head in a single bite.

Boom!

But just as he opened his mouth to bite down, Blue Bird swooped over at high speed.

She slammed her beak heavily into Number Five Zhou Tai's cheek, producing a terrifying sonic boom.

Number Five Zhou Tai's defense was incredibly strong. Layers of ripples spread across his cheek from the impact, but his defenses were not broken. He only paused briefly before a vicious gleam appeared in his eyes. He immediately grabbed the man by the shoulder and hurled him at Blue Bird.

Blue Bird had originally intended to punch straight through Number Five Zhou Tai's head in one strike.

However, she had not expected his skull to be so hard. Unable to pierce it, she could only use the recoil from the collision to turn back, preparing to circle around and launch another attack.

But one wrong move ruined the whole game.

Blue Bird had not expected Number Five Zhou Tai to react so quickly.

She had flown less than five meters when the man Number Five Zhou Tai threw struck her in the back.

Her maximum speed truly was ten times the speed of sound, but after attacking Number Five Zhou Tai, her speed had instantly dropped. Turning back also required time to accelerate.

Now that the man had struck her, her body stalled even more.

"All of you, die!!!!"

Number Five Zhou Tai gave Blue Bird no chance to catch her breath. Taking advantage of her reduced speed, he kicked off with both legs, sending his sharp bone blades slicing toward the two of them.

He was clearly preparing to kill the man together with Blue Bird.

It was over.

Blue Bird turned to watch the bone blades close in, and her heart sank.

She had not expected Number Five Zhou Tai's actions to appear mad and reckless while actually being so calculating. One move had driven her into a dead end.

At the critical moment, two Bubbles flew past Number Five Zhou Tai and directly enveloped Blue Bird and the man. Number Five Zhou Tai's bone blades struck the surface of the Bubbles, sending countless ripples spreading across them.

"We're saved!"

Blue Bird returned to human form and looked down at Number Five Zhou Tai below, letting out a heavy sigh of relief.

For one brief instant, she had truly thought she was doomed. Number Five Zhou Tai's strength was likely at the upper level of Snake Rank, far stronger than her.

"Blue Bird, are you two all right?"

Yu Xian floated over through the air while sitting inside a Bubble, looking toward Blue Bird in the neighboring Bubble as he asked.

Blue Bird shook her head. "I'm fine. Thank you. Otherwise, this time..."

"All right, we're comrades. There's no need for formalities. I'll go deal with him next!" Yu Xian interrupted, then looked at Number Five Zhou Tai.

On the ground, Number Five Zhou Tai roared and turned to kill another team member, only to discover that the man whose arm he had cut off had also been rescued.

"Ahhh! Who was it? Who? Come out!!!"

He roared furiously, only to be struck by a Bubble that appeared out of nowhere. His entire body was rammed into the rocky mountainside by the Bubble.

Yu Xian descended from the sky and controlled the Bubble like a wrecking ball tearing down a house, repeatedly smashing it into Number Five Zhou Tai's body. Number Five Zhou Tai's body was frighteningly hard. Even the rocky mountain was dented several meters inward, yet he remained largely unharmed.

But Yu Xian then created another Bubble, controlling the two Bubbles to strike alternately in a V-shaped pattern. Gradually, the bone blades on Number Five Zhou Tai's body broke apart, and his body began to deform severely.

Even steel could not withstand repeated hammering, much less flesh and blood.

A few minutes later, Number Five Zhou Tai no longer looked human.

After confirming that Number Five Zhou Tai had lost the ability to resist, Yu Xian walked over and asked, "Which Number Zhou Tai are you?"

"Kill you... I'm going to kill you," Number Five Zhou Tai muttered weakly.

Yu Xian nodded and said calmly, "Got it. So you're Number Five Zhou Tai."

With that, he used Bubbles to imprison Number Five Zhou Tai, intending to ask the captain later how this thing should be handled.

Wait.

Yu Xian turned to leave, then suddenly realized something belatedly.

Although Number Five Zhou Tai was not particularly strong to him, he was already a monster-level threat to many others.

In fact, Number Five Zhou Tai's combat strength surpassed that giant ape from before. If the other Zhou Tais had also survived, they really might succeed in breaking through the encirclement.

Realizing the severity of the problem, he quickly took out his phone to contact Jin Sheng and informed him of the situation.

Jin Sheng immediately responded, ordering Blue Bird to patrol the surrounding area. If she found any Zhou Tai, she was to immediately notify everyone nearby so they could provide support whenever possible.

At this point, both Yu Xian and Jin Sheng mistakenly believed that Zhou Tai's sudden increase in strength was an unforeseen variable resulting from their mastery of the ability to excavate extraordinary creature bloodlines.

While Jin Sheng adjusted their strategy, Number Three Zhou Tai crouched in the shadow of a boulder atop a mountain at the edge of the area, watching Yu Xian in the distance.

Thanks to Plato's warning, the few of them had naturally stayed as far away from the Metal Lotus as possible. Therefore, Zhao Yi's attack had only destroyed the Metal Lotus and a large number of Aberrant Insects that could not escape. All the Zhou Tais had gotten away.

"Yu Xian, what kind of monster are you?"

From Number Three Zhou Tai's perspective, Yu Xian resembled a bloodthirsty beast madly devouring everything.

Number Three Zhou Tai had originally thought Plato's "truth" was terrifying enough, but after seeing Yu Xian's "truth," he felt Yu Xian was even more terrifying.

It was a beast whose form could not be described, its entire body made of countless vortices. Anything that approached seemed destined to be drawn into it.

Even more frighteningly, it was feeding at every moment. Its body was like a bottomless pit, and no one knew how much it would take to fill it.

Still, an opponent who posed a challenge was far more interesting!

Number Three Zhou Tai was eager to try. In any case, even if he did nothing, this body would die in a day. He might as well have some fun and see just how strong Yu Xian had become.

He leaped swiftly down from the mountain, jumping from one peak to another as he rapidly closed in on Yu Xian.

After reporting the situation, Yu Xian had not remained idle. Instead, he continued killing more beasts.

The place where they were standing by happened to be one of the few paths animals could take down the mountain. Everywhere else was either sheer cliffs or deadly terrain thick with thorns. Any animal that entered would only die.

"Big brother, I've come to play with you again!"

Suddenly, a wild bull rose into the air in the distance and smashed directly toward Yu Xian. At the same time, Number Three Zhou Tai's voice rang out.

Yu Xian sat inside a Bubble. Seeing the wild bull hurtling toward him, he immediately changed the Bubble's properties, turning it from hard to highly elastic. At the same time, the Bubble expanded from two meters in diameter to five.

The wild bull slammed into the Bubble and was bounced back the next second.

"You're that Zhou Tai from the school before? Number Three?" Yu Xian looked at Number Three Zhou Tai, who caught the wild bull and quickly leaped out of the herd, then asked.

Number Three Zhou Tai opened his mouth and took a heavy bite out of the struggling wild bull. With blood all over his mouth, he smiled. "Looks like you investigated us thoroughly. That's right, I'm Number Three. You can call me Little Three-Three."

After saying that, he suddenly spat out a lump of wild bull flesh and blood, which shot toward Yu Xian like a cannonball.

However, his attack was still easily blocked by the Bubble. The flesh and blood even bounced back at him, forcing him to shift slightly aside to avoid it.

"Then where did the remaining Zhou Tais go?" Yu Xian looked around and continued asking.

Number Three Zhou Tai's mood changed quickly. He said unhappily, "Big brother, you're clearly playing with me right now. Why do you keep thinking about other people?"

"All right. Then I'll deal with you first, and find the other Zhou Tais afterward," Yu Xian said calmly.

In an instant, countless Bubbles gathered from every direction, then shot toward Number Three Zhou Tai like a dense barrage of bullets.

After Mutated Blood Energy gained Bubble as its exclusive skill, Yu Xian's fighting style had shifted from a close-combat fighter toward that of a noble mage. Much of the time, he did not even need to move to easily defeat his enemies.

Number Three Zhou Tai's dynamic vision and reaction speed were both extremely fast. He quickly retreated, then after opening up some distance, jumped left and right, constantly dodging the incoming Bubbles.

These Bubbles looked hollow and gave off a light, airy impression, but their movement speed and attack power were unexpectedly formidable.

As he evaded the Bubbles' attacks, the surrounding grass, trees, and rocks suffered instead.

The rocks were instantly shattered into pieces by the Bubbles, while the flowers and grass looked as if they had been gnawed by countless insects, their leaves covered in semicircular and round holes.

Compared to when they were at school, Yu Xian was far stronger now.

His rate of growth was simply astonishing.