Bang!!!
The doors to the inn's main hall burst apart, as though a savage beast had rammed straight through them.
A towering figure strode inside, a Great Cleaver in hand!
"Lu Mian!!!"
Zhuang Shen's eyes widened at the sight of him.
He had never expected Lu Mian to appear at this life-or-death moment.
"Captain Zhuang, this time it's my turn to save you."
Lu Mian grinned.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!!
The instant he charged inside, seven or eight white resentful souls came howling at him.
"Die!!!"
Ferocity filled Lu Mian's eyes. His Great Cleaver whipped up a howling gale, like a fierce tiger sweeping through the forest.
Bang, bang, bang!!!
Several evil spirits and weird beings were sent flying by Lu Mian's blade.
One slash fell, and another followed.
The unending flashes of his blade hacked the white resentful souls to pieces, as easily as chopping vegetables.
The white resentful souls attacking Zhuang Shen and the others noticed Lu Mian and shrieked, turning into streaks of white light as they lunged at him.
"Come on!!!"
Lu Mian was getting swept up in the slaughter too!
The Five Tigers Soul-Chasing Blade was an overpowering blade technique made for killing!
His presence grew ever fiercer, like a mighty tiger roaring through the mountain forests!
Bang, bang, bang!!!
One white resentful soul after another screamed as the savage flashes of the Great Cleaver tore them apart!
Not a single white resentful soul could get close to him.
Zhuang Shen stared dumbfounded at Lu Mian's agile, ferocious figure.
Was this really the young man who, two months ago in the Shed Quarantine Zone, had been chased everywhere by a hungry weird being that had only just risen from a corpse?
That terrifying, surging blood vitality, that utterly overpowering blade technique...
Even if Lu Mian claimed to be a cultivator of the first realm: qi accumulation, Zhuang Shen would have believed him.
The others wore much the same expressions as Zhuang Shen.
How was this Falcon Guard so strong?!
The more white resentful souls Lu Mian killed, the more exhilarated he became.
The moves and deeper principles of the Five Tigers Soul-Chasing Blade flashed wildly through his mind.
Roar!!!
Suddenly, a savage, brutal tiger's roar rang through the inn's main hall, striking terror into everyone who heard it.
It was the howling wind produced by the vibrating blade as Lu Mian swung his Great Cleaver.
It also meant his mastery of the Five Tigers Soul-Chasing Blade had broken through to major accomplishment!
"Kill, kill, kill!!!"
Completely immersed in the frenzied slaughter, Lu Mian paid no attention to the changes within him.
He was simply enjoying the killing!
This world was too oppressive, too dark!
Ever since crossing into this world, Lu Mian had done everything he could to grow stronger so he could survive.
He had trained day and night without ever slacking off, bottling up all his emotions.
The moment he released those emotions, he felt an utterly exhilarating relief.
Zhuang Shen could sense Lu Mian's presence changing, growing ever more savage and violent.
"Heeheehee!!!"
The white resentful souls in the inn had completely abandoned everyone else and were charging madly at Lu Mian.
Seeing this, the bearded man was about to help.
"No need."
"This is his fight alone."
"Helping him would do more harm than good."
"Let him kill."
Zhuang Shen stopped him.
Lu Mian was in a special state right now.
If they intervened, they might interrupt that state.
Roar, roar, roar!
Tiger roars resounded wildly through the inn's main hall.
One white resentful soul after another was cleaved in half by the Great Cleaver.
However many came, he killed them all!
Lu Mian brought the Five Tigers Soul-Chasing Blade to its fullest expression.
His immense blood vitality surged like a mighty river tide.
A cup of tea's worth of time later.
Only then did the tiger roars in the inn slowly subside.
Huff, huff...
The madness in Lu Mian's eyes finally faded.
Once the excitement passed, Lu Mian felt an intense ache in both arms.
He had unleashed his strength too many times in succession. His muscles were exhausted, and he had almost lost his grip on the Great Cleaver.
"Lu Mian... are you all right?"
Zhuang Shen stepped forward to ask.
"I'm fine."
"Just a little tired."
Lu Mian waved a hand and returned the Great Cleaver to his back.
"I never thought you'd gotten this strong."
"If you hadn't swooped in out of nowhere, our whole squad might never have made it out of this inn."
Zhuang Shen still found it hard to believe.
It was difficult to reconcile the Lu Mian before him with the skeletal young man from two months ago.
"If you hadn't fired that arrow back in the Shed Quarantine Zone, I'd have died long ago too."
Lu Mian smiled.
He had happened to reach this street and heard Zhuang Shen's voice, prompting him to charge straight inside.
"I never imagined it either."
"That arrow I fired a few months ago didn't just save your life. It saved mine too."
Zhuang Shen sighed with feeling.
Fate was fickle and impossible to predict.
"All right, Captain Zhuang."
"Be careful from here on."
"I'll be on my way."
Lu Mian spoke.
"You be careful too."
"Once we get back, I'll come find you for a drink."
Zhuang Shen nodded.
"Sure."
"I'll make you pay through the nose."
Lu Mian smiled, turned, and left the inn.
Only after Lu Mian left did the bearded man ask in astonishment, "Captain, doesn't he need a rest after killing so many resentful souls?"
Zhuang Shen shook his head. "I don't know either... but I doubt he'd gamble with his own life."
"All right... let's take care of Zhuo Fei's body first, then get some rest."
"Tonight is far from over."
As he spoke, he glanced at Zhuo Fei's corpse.
People can try to teach you, but the lesson won't sink in.
When experience teaches you... you might not get another chance.
Zhuang Shen silently spoke those words to himself.
"To think I've already reached major accomplishment in the Five Tigers Soul-Chasing Blade."
After leaving the inn, Lu Mian took stock of the changes brought by his breakthrough.
Though the muscles in both arms ached intensely, he could feel some clear changes.
His muscle contours seemed to be changing, becoming better suited to exerting force.
So he simply took out a Blood Ginseng Pill he had bought from the Artisans' Hall and swallowed it.
Refined from the special medicinal herb blood ginseng, the Blood Ginseng Pill replenished blood vitality and strengthened muscles and bones.
As his gluttonous stomach digested it, the pill's medicinal power quickly spread throughout his limbs and body.
The muscles in his arms began to writhe on their own, their definition growing exceptionally clear as the muscle fibers became thicker and more resilient.
Before long, Lu Mian had recovered all his strength.
That was the power of the gluttonous stomach.
As long as he had enough vital essence to replenish himself, Lu Mian could keep going tirelessly like a perpetual-motion machine.
"I need to find another evil spirit or weird being to hack at."
"Keeping all this strength bottled up is unbearable!"
After recovering his strength, Lu Mian felt his muscles swell, leaving him desperate to let it all out.
Within the Flying Cloud County Seat, nothing made a better punching bag than evil spirits and weird beings.
Over the next two hours, Lu Mian slew several more evil spirits and weird beings.
His luck that night was also a little better than the night before, and he encountered no more first-tier fierce spirits.
Outside the Flying Cloud County Seat, two mysterious figures quietly appeared.
"Are you certain Xu Yi is in there?"
A woman wearing a bamboo hat, her chin pointed, spoke in a hoarse voice.
"There's no mistake. It's this Flying Cloud County Seat."
The other figure was a man in his thirties, with thick arms and a python tattoo on his face.
"Thousand Chimes Commandery City killed so many of our people. Killing Xu Yi is only returning the favor."
As the woman spoke, her tongue suddenly flicked out.
Her tongue was forked.
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