King of Qin Circling the Pillar

"An Alchemy Furnace?"

The Human-Skin Monster glanced at the nearly four-meter-tall Alchemy Furnace, puzzlement surfacing in his eyes.

That thing wasn't meant for fighting.

What was he trying to do?

Could it be—

"You want to refine me?"

The monster couldn't help laughing.

Xu Yuan said calmly, "You haven't seen enough of the world. You don't know there's a sword technique based on circling a pillar."

Jing Ke pursued the King of Qin; the king fled around a pillar.

"?" The Human-Skin Monster stared at him.

He didn't understand.

Then he didn't need to.

He just had to kill Xu Yuan.

The Human-Skin Monster advanced step by step, then suddenly charged at full speed—

In the flash of lightning and flint—

A Talisman flew from a small opening in the furnace, turned into a bolt of lightning, and struck the monster hard.

It was Yang Xiaobing's Lightning Talisman!

The monster staggered.

Lightning drove away evil.

Fire and lightning both countered him.

"Die!"

The monster roared and swung his fist at the furnace.

Clang—

A muffled impact rang out.

The furnace stood unharmed!

Standing to one side, Xu Yuan coughed lightly and said:

"Allow me to introduce it. This is the Four-Symbol Eight-Trigram Furnace. It possesses powers such as 'Spirit Suppression' and 'Self-Protection.' A mere Qi Refining cultivator like you can't damage it."

Four-Symbol Eight-Trigram Furnace.

Spirit Suppression.

Description: The powers of the five elements—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—and attacks from all kinds of weapons cannot damage the furnace itself.

Self-Protection.

Description: Attacks have a certain chance of rebounding to protect the furnace from damage.

There was also "Divine Might: ???"

This was the foundation of Zhao Afei's household!

At this moment—

Xu Yuan was not fighting alone!

The monster struck several more times, only to find that the furnace truly hadn't suffered the slightest damage.

One blow even rebounded, knocking him back more than ten meters.

This furnace...

Really wasn't easy to deal with.

The Human-Skin Monster slowly turned toward Xu Yuan, low growls rumbling from his throat.

Xu Yuan turned and ran.

He ducked behind the furnace and shouted:

"Come catch me!"

"If you catch me—"

"I'll let you heh-heh-heh—"

His voice brimmed with delight, as though he were reliving some wonderful time from the past.

How could the monster put up with that?

"You're about to die," the Human-Skin Monster said darkly.

He charged at full speed, rounded the furnace in an instant, and reached the spot where Xu Yuan had stood.

But—

Xu Yuan had already run to the other side.

The Human-Skin Monster pursued him again.

Xu Yuan circled around again.

Running around the furnace trapped them in a repeating circle.

A circle made it hard to accelerate!

The moment Xu Yuan had seen the Eight-Trigram Furnace, inspiration had struck. This was the combination technique he'd devised:

King of Qin Circling the Pillar!

"Petty trick."

The monster barked and pushed himself to full speed.

Even if he couldn't sprint flat out, he was still faster than that brat!

The monster sped up. He was just about to touch Xu Yuan's back—

Smack.

A light crack sounded.

The blow knocked the monster's head to one side. He stopped and looked toward the furnace.

A small opening had appeared in its side.

Zhao Afei had just sent a fire spell through it, striking the monster's head.

The moment the spell was cast—

The opening closed again.

Flames caught on half the monster's head, crackling as they burned.

Human skin feared fire.

Fire countered it by nature, so even a low-level fire spell could keep the skin burning.

The monster had no choice but to stop and tear off the burning skin.

Seizing the chance—

Xu Yuan emerged behind him with his sniper rifle.

Duang!

One shot, straight to the soul!

The armor-piercing explosive round blew apart the monster's head.

A small opening immediately appeared in the furnace.

A longsword thrust out, stabbed hard, then darted back inside.

The opening closed.

A new hole gaped in the monster's body, but there was still nothing he could do about the furnace.

"Damn you... you're all... going to die!"

The monster immediately spun around and chased Xu Yuan.

Xu Yuan turned and ran.

They circled the furnace several times.

The monster was stronger and faster, after all. He was about to catch up—

A vine suddenly burst from the ground, wrapped around the Human-Skin Monster's foot, and tripped him hard!

The Human-Skin Monster lurched and lost his balance.

Without looking back, Xu Yuan fired a shot behind him.

Duang!

The explosive round blasted a hole in the monster's chest.

Three openings appeared in the furnace at once.

Jiang Xueyao, Yang Xiaobing, and Zhao Afei attacked together, stabbing and striking the monster all over.

"Stop."

Xu Yuan suddenly shouted and retreated several meters.

The openings closed at once.

Dozens of human skins surged up from the ground and wrapped around the monster, instantly restoring his body.

"You humans certainly have plenty of little tricks, but what good are they?"

The Human-Skin Monster slowly stood up.

Xu Yuan's voice came from the other side of the furnace:

"Come hit me if you can! You haven't touched a single hair on your grandpa's head, and you're still this arrogant?"

Laughter rumbled through the Human-Skin Monster's whole body.

He seemed utterly contemptuous.

"Catching you is simple. I only need to stand up there."

As the words fell—

He leaped lightly, landed halfway up the furnace, and began to climb.

Soon—

The Human-Skin Monster stood at the very top and looked down.

That man was gone!

"Is that all you've got? Sorry, but now you can't even see me."

Xu Yuan's voice came from beneath the furnace.

The Eight-Trigram Furnace stood on eight legs, leaving a gap of about a meter beneath it.

Xu Yuan could crawl under it.

The monster's body was too large to squeeze inside.

So climbing high enough to see over the furnace and attack Xu Yuan wouldn't work!

"I told you. Humans only have a little cleverness."

As the monster spoke, he reached for the furnace lid.

"I'll slaughter your companions before your eyes, then eat them!"

Once the lid was open, he could catch them like turtles in a jar and kill everyone inside at once!

"No!"

Xu Yuan cried out in panic.

It was too late.

The Human-Skin Monster heaved with both hands and lifted the heavy lid—

He peered inside.

Meeting his gaze, Jiang Xueyao activated the formation disk in her hand.

Surging spiritual energy took the shape of a giant hammer and smashed straight at the Human-Skin Monster.

A burst of Pill Flame and several streaks of lightning followed.

Boom!!!

Half the monster's body exploded into flying fragments, and he spun far into the sky.

"It's no use!" he roared furiously.

All around, human skins rose from the ground and stood half a meter tall, waiting for the monster to fall.

"Who said it was no use?" a woman's voice suddenly sounded behind him.

High in the air—

At some point, Jiang Xueyao had appeared behind the Human-Skin Monster.

The wind stirred her robes, drawing a faint rustle from the overlapping plates of her skirt armor.

She held a crimson sword, frost settling over her gaze, and said softly:

"Swan Song of Yan."

Her sword—

Danced soundlessly.

The Human-Skin Monster's expression changed drastically. He reached into his body, pulled out a long spine, and met the sword's edge.

In that instant—

A smile touched Jiang Xueyao's lips. Sword in one hand, she formed a sword seal with the other, like an immortal descending to the mortal world.

This was the battle she'd longed for!

At the fifth level of Qi Refining, she was fighting a ninth-level monster head-on, trying to bring him down alongside her companions.

Nothing could have satisfied her more!

"Fire Spirit, Twin Flying Swallows!"

She held back her excitement and gave a low shout.

The sword split in two. Both blades slipped past the spine guarding the monster and struck him at the same time.

Boom—

Violent flames roared from the sword's edge and plunged into the monster, blasting it apart until only half its head remained. It flew far away and landed in a nearby building.

Crash—

Dust billowed high.

One breath.

Two breaths.

Three breaths.

A dark figure leaped from the ruins and lunged through the air toward the alchemy furnace.

It was the monster!

Thanks to the human skins that had been waiting nearby, it had rebuilt its body in an astonishingly short time!

"Get out, now!"

Xu Yuan scrambled up the side of the alchemy furnace, shouting anxiously.

Thud.

The monster landed on the furnace, blurred, and plunged inside like a bolt of lightning.

It had burrowed into the pitch-black furnace!

"Too late. Your deaths are about to begin."

In the darkness,

Its voice brimmed with cruelty and excitement it could no longer contain.

Xu Yuan's voice came from outside the furnace:

"So you can't die. As long as you keep replenishing your human skins, no injury can hurt you."

"You only just figured that out?" the monster laughed, its voice full of mockery. "Even stupidity has its advantages. Take you, for instance—"

"Only now have you learned what despair tastes like!"

It would wait no longer.

Flesh.

I need flesh!

I'll chew great mouthfuls of these humans' flesh, listen to their screams, and crush every last bit of them into mince!

Only then can I vent this fury and frustration!

The Human-Skin Monster reached out to grab someone beside it.

In the darkness,

Its hand closed on empty air.

It grabbed again.

Empty again.

No—

There were so many people here just now.

Where did they go?