Before Shu Lingyu, Huo Yuhao's figure slowly collapsed, a hideous gash appearing on his shoulder extending down to his waist.
The bright red flesh stood out starkly against the snow, and large gushes of blood gushed from the wound.
Shu Lingyu's pupils widened instantly, Huo Yuhao's head tilted to the side, his body swayed, and his legs went weak, causing him to fall forward.
Shu Lingyu quickly turned around, the strange katana in her hand vanished, and she opened her arms to catch him. Feeling the warm touch on her chest, she knew that Huo Yuhao's blood had flowed into her body. However, under the blowing of the wind and snow, the temperature on her chest immediately disappeared, becoming extremely cold, making her heart instantly chill.
"Damn it, where did this piece of trash come from? Shu Lingyu, you're really lucky. I didn't expect someone would save you. Bah!"
The burly man who had been lying on the ground, holding a knife in one hand and stuffing his intestines back into his stomach with the other, spat fiercely in the direction where Huo Yuhao had fallen, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.
"Big brother!"
"Big brother!!"
The underlings were overjoyed. To their astonishment, tiny buds of flesh began to sprout from the burly man's stomach, connecting with the torn skin. In less than half a minute, it was completely healed, as if the fatal knife wound had never existed.
The burly man clutched his neck with his left hand, making a cracking sound as he twisted it. A dark purple skull had appeared between his eyebrows, with six thin, spider-leg-like forks on either side, making it look quite eerie.
"I kill you!"
Shu Lingyu had already put Huo Yuhao aside at some point. The cold light on her right hand was even sharper against the backdrop of the blood-stained snow. The blade seemed to carry a last hope as it stabbed fiercely at the burly man.
However, with her Soul Power already depleted, she could barely maintain her own Martial Soul. With her current speed, how could she possibly harm the burly man in the slightest?
The burly man extended two fingers and caught the dagger thrusting towards him. Then, he twisted his fingers, and a small crack appeared on the blade.
"Ping!"
The dagger shattered instantly, and several fragments flew out uncontrollably, grazing Shu Lingyu's somewhat rough face and leaving a small, narrow wound.
Then, the burly man's left hand, like a vise, suddenly clamped down on Shu Lingyu's right hand. The muscles in his left arm instantly bulged, lifting Shu Lingyu up and throwing her away forcefully.
With a 'bang'.
The snow in the courtyard suddenly burst up and flew into the sky. The stone wall on the left side of the courtyard collapsed, burying Shu Lingyu completely. Only her right hand, which was tied with the hilt of a knife, was left hanging outside, with drops of blood flowing from it, staining the snow red. She was no longer moving.
" Shu Lingyu, I advise you to obediently give up resisting. The Lord's power is supreme; everything you have should be handed over to her."
The burly man's eyes were filled with madness, and blood continued to drip from the machete in his hand.
He stepped on Huo Yuhao and kicked him casually. Seeing that Huo Yuhao didn't react, he turned him over with his foot in disgust.
Seeing Huo Yuhao's deathly pale face and the fact that he had already stopped breathing, he instantly lost interest and cursed, "Damn it, he's dead already. He didn't even have much Soul Power left. What a waste of time."
"Boss, what... what do we do now?"
The Skinny Monkey's legs trembled slightly as he looked at the courtyard, half of which was stained red with blood, and he felt a chill run down his spine.
"Do I have to yell at you? Get your act together quickly, or if this happens again, I might as well kill you too."
The burly man wiped the blood off the skinny man's clothes on the back of his Skinny Monkey and said expressionlessly.
It was as if killing someone was just an everyday occurrence for him.
Skinny Monkey was trembling uncontrollably, especially when he felt the chill down his spine; he was so scared he almost wet himself.
Knowing his boss's style of doing things, he didn't dare to delay any longer and dashed into the wooden house.
The henchmen didn't hesitate either; they went straight into the cabin with their knives and began clearing out the remaining spoils.
"Boss, what should we do with this guy?" one of the underlings asked with some disgust, pointing at Huo Yuhao, who was lying on the ground, already cold.
The burly man casually waved his hand and said, "Take these with you for now; the lord might need them."
"Okay, boss."
As he spoke, the henchman pulled out a wooden two-wheeled cart from somewhere, glanced at Huo Yuhao with his machete a couple of times, and then tossed him onto the cart like a dead dog.
The burly man didn't stop there. He slowly walked towards Shu Lingyu, who was buried there. He grabbed her arm that was hanging down and pulled hard. Countless snowflakes mixed with stones fell to the ground. Shu Lingyu, covered in blood, was lifted up by him.
"Oh? Still alive?" the big man asked, somewhat surprised.
Even though Shu Lingyu's head was covered in blood, her eyes were still fixed on the burly man in front of her. Her lips moved slightly, but she could no longer utter a sound.
"Ugh... Ah!..."
She could only make whimpering sounds, as if in her final protest.
"If you knew this would happen, why didn't you just hand it over obediently? Shu Lingyu, even if everyone in this town were dead, as long as our master is here, it wouldn't matter. You've been here for so many years, don't you understand yet?" The big man dragged her, leaving a long trail of blood on the snow.
Then, a muffled thud came from the wooden cart. Shu Lingyu could no longer bear it and fainted, her eyes fixed on the direction of the wooden house.
One of the henchmen carried Shu Lingxue out, a smile on his face. "Boss, I really didn't expect this brat to still be breathing..."
"That's perfect! I remember the Lord loves these delicate, fair-skinned children the most. Our reward this time will definitely be substantial, hehe." One of the underlings grinned mischievously.
"Alright, brothers, hurry up! Once we're done, I'll treat you all to a few drinks at the tavern." The burly man patted the wooden cart beside him and said heartily.
As soon as he finished speaking, the Skinny Monkey came out of the wooden house, carrying a large bamboo basket on his back, on which the flesh and blood of the Snow Flame Tiger were still Sisi.
"Damn it, Skinny Monkey, can you hurry up? I'm still thinking about drinking!" one of the henchmen shouted.
The burly man, growing impatient, shouted, "Alright, alright, hurry up!"
"Okay, okay, coming right away, coming right away."
Skinny Monkey dared not delay any longer. His originally heavy steps instantly became light, and he quickly loaded everything onto the vehicle, fearing that his older brother might be displeased and kill him as well.
After placing Shu Lingxue and the completely separated Snow Flame Tiger into the car, the Skinny Monkey quickly secured them and skillfully pulled them onto the vehicle.
"Oh right, I remember you said there were two more women?" one of the henchmen suddenly remembered something and asked the Skinny Monkey.
The Skinny Monkey quickly waved his hand and replied, "I don't know either! I guess... I guess he ran away..."
Hearing his vague answer, the underling immediately flew into a rage and raised his hand to chop him up. The Skinny Monkey was terrified at the sight, shrinking his neck in fear and freezing on the spot.
The burly man grabbed his hand and said, "Forget it, two less is fine. Let's present the goods to our lord first."
"Alright, let's go."
Seeing that everything was ready, the burly man didn't hesitate. With a wave of his hand, he led his henchmen away. His practiced movements suggested that this wasn't his first time doing something like this.
The Skinny Monkey shakily pulled the cart up and slowly followed behind.
However, no one noticed Huo Yuhao's 'corpse' at the very bottom of the wooden cart, a faint smile inexplicably gracing his face.