Pan Ya flinched under that icy glance, as though jolted awake from a nightmare.
His survival instincts, along with the overwhelming fear, grief, and rage brought on by his teammates' grisly deaths, instantly swept away his reason.
He lurched half a step forward, tears and snot streaming down his face, his voice hoarse and trembling.
He pleaded with the old man:
"S-Senior! Save me! My squad, my brothers-they're all dead!"
"They were old friends who fought at my side through life and death for years!"
"I'm begging you, for the sake of a fellow warrior, join forces with me and kill this little beast."
"Avenge my brothers and wipe out this hatred! Afterward, I, Pan Ya, will give you every last bit of my personal savings!"
The old man's gaunt face showed no reaction.
His voice was hoarse and dry, like sandpaper scraping, but his tone was resolute.
It carried undisguised detachment and contempt.
"Join forces? Revenge?"
He gave a scornful laugh, full of indifference.
"Your Tiger Tooth Squad brought this colossal disaster on yourselves. You have no one else to blame!"
"If you hadn't had an old grudge with Luo Feng, how could you have brought such calamity down on yourselves?"
"If we hadn't reacted quickly just now, the young master would nearly have been dragged down with you! You deserve to die!"
He paused, his tone growing even colder.
"Whether you live or die is none of my concern. It has even less to do with the young master."
With that, the old man paid no further attention to the utterly despairing Pan Ya behind him.
He instead took a few steps forward to face Luo Feng, who stood with his blade in hand.
The fierce bearing of a top-tier warrior swiftly receded from his face.
He even managed to put on an expression that could be called gentle, though it looked rather strange on his withered face.
He nodded slightly to Luo Feng and softened his voice, making a deliberate show of distancing himself from the others.
"Young friend, I am not well acquainted with the Tiger Tooth Squad."
"We merely happened to take the same protection assignment and teamed up temporarily."
"I witnessed what happened today with my own eyes."
"The Tiger Tooth Squad had the misfortune of encountering this ferocious Black-Line Snake."
"After a fierce battle, the entire squad... tragically perished. It is truly a cause for lament."
He spoke evenly, as though stating an established fact.
His gaze swept over the Tiger Tooth Squad members' corpses on the ground and the enormous Black-Line Snake.
Finally, he looked back at Luo Feng and cupped his fists.
"Young friend, your skills are remarkable, and you are also a rare Spirit Reader. Your future is boundless."
"I still have duties to attend to and cannot stay long. I shall take my leave. If fate permits, we shall meet again."
Before the last words had faded, the old man's figure blurred.
Like a wisp of gray smoke, he sped away in the direction Li Wei and the burly white man had retreated.
He was extraordinarily fast, vanishing around a corner of the ruins in just a few leaps.
He left cleanly and decisively, without even looking back.
Seeing the old man tactfully withdraw and even volunteer an explanation for the Tiger Tooth Squad's deaths,
Luo Feng's gaze flickered, but he did not pursue him.
His primary target was Pan Ya; there was no need to stir up trouble.
There was no need to provoke an old man whose strength was clearly formidable and who had already made his position clear.
His gaze returned to Pan Ya, pinning him in place like an icicle as his face turned deathly pale.
At the same time, Gao Feng swiftly moved to Luo Feng's side and stood shoulder to shoulder with him.
Gao Feng's gaze likewise locked coldly onto Pan Ya.
Now that things had come to this, there was no longer any room to turn back.
Since Luo Feng had already made his move and displayed the terrifying power of a Spirit Reader,
Gao Feng, as his captain and his brother, would naturally face it alongside him.
Besides, the Tiger Tooth Squad was Gao Feng's mortal enemy too!
On the other side, the three Indian warriors exchanged glances.
Each saw deep wariness and resolve in the others' eyes.
The young Chinese warrior before them was not only an Advanced Warlord, but also a terrifying Spirit Reader.
He killed decisively and possessed formidable strength.
Even the mixed-race youth with a mysterious background and the old man at his side had chosen to give him a wide berth.
The Black-Line Snake was valuable, but their lives mattered more!
Without the slightest hesitation, the three lunged at the enormous Black-Line Snake's corpse in perfect unison.
They moved as swiftly as the wind, their sharp blades flashing.
They were clearly highly skilled at dissecting monsters for materials.
They were not greedy, working as quickly as they could.
They precisely cut several of the most easily carried materials from the Black-Line Snake.
They quickly packed the snake's gallbladder and two venomous fangs into their backpacks.
The entire process took only a dozen or so seconds.
Once they were done, the three did not even dare spare Luo Feng and Gao Feng another glance.
Like startled rabbits, they headed in the opposite direction from the one Li Wei and the old man had taken.
They fled at top speed without looking back.
They were terrified that if they were a step too slow, the three of them would be disposed of as well.
In the blink of an eye, on the open ground amid the ruins, thick with the stench of blood,
only Luo Feng and Gao Feng, standing with weapons in hand, and Pan Ya, his eyes vacant as he awaited death, remained.
Luo Feng carried his Blood Shadow Battle Blade, still dripping blood, and walked toward Pan Ya step by step.
His footsteps sounded especially clear in the deathly silent ruins.
Each step seemed to tread on Pan Ya's heart.
Gao Feng followed close behind, cutting off any possible escape route for Pan Ya.
Icy killing intent engulfed Pan Ya like a tangible wave of cold.
At that moment, driven by his survival instinct and extreme terror,
Pan Ya let out an inhuman roar from his throat.
Using every ounce of strength he had, he sprang up from the ground.
A poisoned short blade in his hand darted like a venomous snake's flickering tongue, carrying the madness of one determined to take his enemy down with him.
It stabbed toward Gao Feng, who was closer to him!
"You're courting death!"
Gao Feng's eyes turned fierce, and his massive war hammer smashed precisely into Pan Ya's short blade.
The tremendous force numbed Pan Ya's arm and knocked the blade from his hand.
At the same time, Luo Feng's figure appeared at Pan Ya's side like a ghost.
Luo Feng raised his leg and kicked Pan Ya viciously in the knee!
"Crack!"
A sharp, clear sound of breaking bone rang out!
Pan Ya screamed as his left leg bent at a grotesque angle.
He lost his balance and toppled sideways.
Before he hit the ground, Gao Feng's war hammer came down with a dull rush of air.
It slammed heavily into his right shoulder!
"Bang!"
Another sharp crack rang out, and Pan Ya rolled over, screaming.
Next, Luo Feng and Gao Feng crippled his one remaining arm and leg!
The joints in all four limbs were shattered!
Pan Ya lay sprawled in blood and dirt.
Apart from twitching uncontrollably in agony and gasping hoarsely for breath, he could no longer move.
The excruciating pain twisted his face.
Cold sweat, blood, mud, and dust smeared his face, and nothing remained in his eyes but endless pain and despair.
Just then, several figures arrived at the scene of the battle.
They were the remaining members of the Fire Hammer Squad.
After receiving Gao Feng's signal, Chen Gu and the others
had rushed over as quickly as possible.
They arrived just in time to witness the final moments of Pan Ya's crippling.
They looked at the enemy on the ground, who had once been arrogant and overbearing, who had schemed to frame them,
and whose hands were stained with their comrades' blood.
Now he lay there like a puddle of mud.
At last, the flames of vengeance fulfilled ignited in the eyes of the Fire Hammer Squad.
Their long-suppressed resentment and grief turned to satisfaction.