Finally Striking to Kill: A Lesson in Life and Death!

His body flew sideways out of the cave. Qingyang Huan thrust out his hand and planted the stone spear against the ground, carving a deep furrow as he slid more than ten zhang before finally coming to a halt.

"You little bastard of the Qingyang Clan."

An icy voice rang out, followed by a burly man emerging from the cave. He was one of the Yanshan Clan soldiers Qingyang Huan had knocked unconscious and tied up earlier.

As his words fell, the tribal soldier flung a plume of blood smoke into the air!

"What a surprise. A little bastard like you actually brought down several of my brothers." The burly man immediately charged at Qingyang Huan.

At that moment, he could no longer spare a thought for why the Inkstone Mountain tribal soldier was not unconscious. He raised his stone spear to meet the attack.

"Rock Mountain Fist!"

The burly man thrust his large hand forward. The blood-red sheen over it turned a mottled grayish white as it hurtled viciously toward Qingyang Huan, aimed straight at his head!

"Break!"

Qingyang Huan likewise thrust his stone spear across. He, too, was using a spear technique, called Severing the Void, one of the Qingyang Clan's ancestral spear techniques.

The stone spear collided with the fist. In this head-on clash, Qingyang Huan did not budge, while the man opposite him staggered back several zhang, flecks of blood appearing on his mottled fist.

"You little bastard, you..." Shock filled the burly man's eyes. He was at the peak of Body Forging. Having feigned unconsciousness earlier, he had not sensed Qingyang Huan's actual strength. This single exchange had truly shocked him!

The peak of Body Forging!

He was clearly only a boy in his teens!

In a mere instant, the shock in his eyes turned into killing intent!

A young genius of the Qingyang Clan-if the Qingyang Clan rose, it would inevitably squeeze the Inkstone Mountain Tribe dry. This little bastard could not be allowed to live!

Whoosh!

Suddenly, a chill ran down Qingyang Huan's back. The next instant, he leaped aside. A cold streak of arrow light brushed past him and plunged into the ground ahead, leaving a hole of unknown depth, its fletching completely out of sight.

Before he could react at all, another whistle tore through the air. This time, it grazed his left arm, sending flecks of blood flying.

"To think the Qingyang Clan produced a little bastard with such outstanding talent. Heaven truly favors Qingyang!"

Two figures appeared behind him. The black-robed man holding a large ox-horn bow had a sharp gleam in his eyes. Though he was praising Qingyang Huan, the killing intent made him shudder!

"Big Brother, this bastard has already reached the peak of Body Forging. We can't let him live!"

Seeing the newcomers, the man who had fought Qingyang Huan hurriedly shouted.

What!

The peak of Body Forging!

The black-robed man swept his gaze over Qingyang Huan once more, the killing intent in his eyes concentrating into a single line. He had only reached the peak of Body Forging in his prime. Compared with the Qingyang Clan boy before him, the difference was like clouds and mud.

"Big Brother, for someone in the Qingyang Clan to have such cultivation at his age, his identity must be..."

The Yanshan Clan soldier beside the black-robed warrior spoke hesitantly, but the black-robed warrior stopped him.

"A little bastard with this much potential-what will he become in a few decades? Won't our Inkstone Mountain have to bow beneath him? Since we've run into him, we can't let him live. Besides, dead men tell no tales!"

"Kill!"

The man who had just hesitated struck the next instant, and the burly man from before attacked alongside him. Meanwhile, the black-robed man raised his great bow again and prowled outside the fighting, his bone arrow gleaming coldly.

His eyes were cold as the bone arrow nocked to his great bow took aim at Qingyang Huan's chest and head.

Bang!

Fighting the two Yanshan Clan soldiers, Qingyang Huan had to grip his stone spear and hold it across his chest. But the bone arrow struck with tremendous force, catching him unprepared and sending him flying sideways. Naturally, the two Yanshan Clan soldiers would not let such an opportunity slip.

He was battling three veterans who spent years hunting in ancient forests. Although Qingyang Huan surpassed them considerably in strength, their experience in life-and-death combat was enough to bridge that gap.

Every strike from these veterans pierced toward a vital spot, seeking to unleash the greatest killing power in a single blow, leaving him beset by danger.

"I have to take out the black-robed man first."

The bone arrows slipped through every opening, wearing him down as he fended them off. At that moment, he used a collision with a tribal weapon to retreat from the fighting and lunged at the black-robed man. He had to deal with this man first!

Several wounds in such a short time made him understand that he was no longer fighting fierce beasts of the Great Wilderness, but human warriors whose every move sought to take his life.

Seeing Qingyang Huan charge at him, a savage gleam flashed in the black-robed warrior's eyes. He drew his bow, nocked an arrow, and aimed straight at him!

Whoosh!

Propelled by ten thousand jin of force, the arrow tore through the air with a sonic boom. At that moment, the sight of blood brought a vicious edge to Qingyang Huan's eyes as well, like the fierce determination with which he had refused to let go when he first saw the stone spear.

"Kill!"

A faint killing presence wreathed the stone spear. Its originally scattered killing aura actually began to flow, gathering at the spear's tip.

Hum!

The bone arrow came to a complete halt a foot from the stone spear, then eerily shattered into powder!

The stone spear advanced without retreat. In the instant the black-robed warrior froze, it pierced straight through his chest. In that same instant, as though lured by something, a faint bloody tint surfaced in Qingyang Huan's eyes, and he became incomparably frenzied.

Pulling the stone spear from the black-robed warrior's chest, he charged at the two Yanshan Clan soldiers behind him amid their startled cries. Beneath that faint haze of bloody light, he became somewhat crazed. Even though the two soldiers blocked, he blasted them straight back, then pounced after them.

Thrust! Thrust!

The stone spear tore open the two tribal soldiers' chests, and they fell into pools of blood.

Hah!

At that moment, it was as though he could no longer hold up the stone spear. It plunged into the ground as he gasped for breath.

Looking at the three figures lying in pools of blood, without the slightest trace of life remaining, he fell into a daze. Although he had hunted so many fierce beasts and had even taken part in hunting the Wood Race, he had never thought of killing these soldiers of the Inkstone Mountain Tribe.

Otherwise, he would not have knocked them unconscious and tied them up in the cave. Killing fierce beasts and other races was an imprint the tribe had left on him through everything he had heard and seen since his earliest memories. He had felt nothing wrong with being ruthless in that kind of slaughter.

Yet killing his own kind seemed never to have entered his mind, as though he had unconsciously overlooked it.

The Inkstone Mountain Tribe's intent to kill him was entirely genuine, all because of his talent. If they knew he had actually only just entered Blood Refining, the third step of Body Casting, would they not be even more intent on killing him?

Just then, a figure staggered out of the cave, a mass of blood-red light shooting skyward from his hand. This plume of blood smoke rose into the air and turned directly into a blood-red mountain, visible for a hundred li around!

"Not good!"

Qingyang Huan was instantly alarmed. Qingyang had such things too, used to summon the tribe's experts. Even a single Divine Treasure Realm expert was not someone he could easily withstand.

He had been careless in trying to seize this native copper mine. These men who roamed the Great Wilderness hunting were not easily deceived. Just how that tribal soldier had fooled him by feigning unconsciousness was enough to teach him a lesson!

Of course, if he had struck to kill from the beginning, perhaps things would not have turned out this way!

"Others want to kill you, and you're just going to walk away?"

At that moment, the stone spear flashed with violet light, and icy words flashed through his mind.

"But...!" Even so, Qingyang Huan still hesitated.

"There are no buts. Either you die, or they die!"

Between life and death, Qingyang Huan made his choice without hesitation!

They would die!

Gripping the stone spear, he headed toward the cave!

Thrust! Thrust! Thrust!

The stone spear pierced down, driving through the Inkstone Mountain Tribe soldiers' chests and shattering their hearts. The soldier who had just awakened and released the blood smoke wore a savage expression, his eyes nearly bulging from their sockets as both hands clutched Qingyang Huan's stone spear.

"My... Inkstone Mountain... won't... let... you... off..."

Looking at the savage-faced Yanshan Clan soldier, he was strangely unafraid, right up until the man fell and did not rise.

He looked toward the mineral vein. Clearly, taking this native copper mine quietly was no longer possible!

"Do you want the opportunity, or your life?"

As though sensing the hesitation in Qingyang Huan's heart, the stone spear's voice rang out again.

His life!

Without hesitation, Qingyang Huan made his decision once more!

He left the cave and sprinted madly toward the Qingyang Clan. That blood smoke was enough for Inkstone Mountain Tribe warriors hundreds of li around to see. If he did not leave now, he would be the one lying on the ground!