Chapter 243

"You are actually this formidable; what kind of martial arts are you cultivating?"

Kong Yu seemed to snap out of the frenzied exchange, his face filled with disbelief.

He had Grade-A innate talent, making it easier for him to temper his physique than ordinary people, but after only twenty-some exchanges with Xu Yang, his arms had actually cracked.

At this moment, his arms trembled slightly, and the heart-piercing pain made his vision go dark; he felt that if they continued to exchange blows, his arms would surely be ground into powder.

Xu Yang ignored him, his expression growing increasingly cold and stern as he stepped forward to strike.

The signs of defeat were already apparent; he had to be careful about Kong Yu escaping.

His fist, covered in Gang Qi and carrying immense power, struck out, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Kong Yu's expression changed drastically; no longer daring to clash head-on with Xu Yang, he sidestepped and struck straight at Xu Yang's temple with a fist like an iron drill.

Xu Yang raised his hand to block, while his other hand reached out like a cold, venomous snake, launching an afterimage toward Kong Yu's armpit.

This punch was exquisite and tricky; from Kong Yu's angle, it looked as if two fists were striking simultaneously, making it impossible to tell which one was real.

He had no choice but to retreat a step while striking at one of the fists.

"Bang!"

His luck was good; he had chosen the real fist, while the other was merely a shadow formed by Gang Qi.

As the two fists collided, blood sprayed; his already cracked arm split further, revealing stark white bone.

Although the Gang Qi instantly stanched the blood, the power he could exert plummeted once again.

"Ah!"

Kong Yu couldn't help but let out a miserable scream, a look of terror appearing on his face as he realized that if this continued, he would be the one to die today.

After such a long battle, Xu Yang's stamina showed no signs of waning; instead, he grew more valiant, the silver color on his body becoming brighter, as if he were turning into an iron man.

"Kong Yu, you aren't going back today."

Xu Yang shouted sternly, stepping forward and launching both fists simultaneously, intending to beat Kong Yu to death.

Kong Yu's hair was disheveled, his expression fearful, no longer composed.

He had never imagined that he would be the one to lose in a fight with Xu Yang.

"Boom!"

Wild Gang Qi erupted like a raging sea; Kong Yu did not hesitate in the slightest, turning and fleeing.

He had fled!

"Weren't you going to kill me? You've been stalking me here for three days, so why are you running?"

Xu Yang's iron fist shattered the Gang Qi, and as he activated his footwork, he caught up in a single stride, his five fingers locking onto Kong Yu's cracked hand.

Muscle-tearing and bone-displacing.

His fingers suddenly exerted force, shaking and tearing; with a squelching sound, a large chunk of flesh was ripped clean off.

"Ah!"

A heart-wrenching scream echoed across the wilderness; Kong Yu's vision went dark from the pain, and he stumbled, nearly fainting.

Xu Yang's offensive was like a tide; he threw away the bloody chunk of flesh in his hand, his iron fist tearing through the air to strike Kong Yu's temple.

In the blink of an eye between life and death, Kong Yu regained his senses, lowered his head to dodge, and used a 'yellow dog lifting its leg' kick to strike at Xu Yang's crotch.

Xu Yang seemed to have anticipated this, his body rising from the ground as he stepped onto Kong Yu's shoulder.

"Crack!"

Gang Qi erupted; Kong Yu's protective Gang Qi shattered upon impact, and he was firmly stepped on the shoulder.

His body stumbled, the mud beneath his feet cracked, his legs instantly sank half a foot into the ground, his shoulder bone was crushed, and he coughed up blood.

"It's over!"

Kong Yu's face was ashen; he knew he was truly going to die here today. He raised his bloody hands, wanting to grab Xu Yang, who was stepping on his shoulder, but Xu Yang leaped away a step ahead of him, and his hands grabbed only empty air.

Xu Yang's figure flashed, disappearing from Kong Yu's body and appearing at his side; a thunderous roar of tendons and bones erupted from his body, his spine rippled like a dragon, and his fist thrust out like a great spear.

Kong Yu wanted to dodge, but his legs were stuck in the ground; before he could pull them out, Xu Yang's fist had already struck his temple.

"Bang!"

"Crack!"

Kong Yu's swaying figure paused, his eyes rolled back, and accompanied by the sound of cracking bone, his temple caved in, his head covered in dense cracks.

"Crack!"

Before he could even scream, Xu Yang's second punch struck the same spot, and white brain matter was blasted out.

Mud splattered as Kong Yu's body slammed heavily onto the ground, already twitching unconsciously, his dim eyes looking at Xu Yang with fear and unwillingness.

"Thought I would definitely die at your hands?" Xu Yang understood this look in an instant.

With a single stomp, blood and brain matter splattered; Kong Yu immediately became a headless corpse, so unrecognizable that even his mother wouldn't know him.

The restless Gang Qi gradually calmed down; Xu Yang squatted to loot the corpse, finding over two hundred taels in silver notes and more than twenty contribution points.

Li Xu also had two hundred taels in silver notes, and his contribution points were actually more than Kong Yu's, nearly forty; it was unknown how many months he had been saving them.

Adding what he had looted from Fang Wei earlier, he had obtained nearly ninety contribution points and nearly six hundred taels of silver.

"Not bad!" Xu Yang couldn't help but smile.

Eight or nine Ziyang Sect disciples lived in one courtyard, which meant everyone carried their valuables with them; every time he killed a Ziyang Sect disciple, he could obtain contribution points.

Nearly ninety contribution points would take him two or three months of honest task-doing to earn.

Crushing their identity tokens, Xu Yang spent half an hour destroying the corpses and erasing the evidence.

If an ordinary disciple died, the Ziyang Sect might not care, but Kong Yu's talent was too high; he was ranked third among the Ten Elites and was a member of the Qunying Society, so he couldn't be careless.

Even these contribution points shouldn't be touched for now; he would wait a few months.

Carrying Kong Yu and Li Xu's corpses, he ran a dozen miles into the deep mountains, found a bottomless cave to dump them, and only then returned to the Ziyang Sect.

"Junior Brother Lu Ren, why have you disappeared without a word for several days again? I thought you had met with harm."

Just as he returned to the courtyard, he was scolded by Sun Tao.

"Senior Brother Sun Tao, I went down the mountain to handle some matters and stayed in the city for a few days."

Xu Yang was moved, knowing Sun Tao truly cared about him, but he had left in such a hurry that he hadn't had time to find Sun Tao to explain, lest he be targeted by others.

"You should hurry to the Task Hall. You haven't done any tasks for a long time, and the people from the Task Hall came looking for you yesterday, saying they had arranged a task for you," Sun Tao said.

Already arranged a task for him? Xu Yang's face darkened; could it be that old dog Xiao Hua again?

Sun Tao said: "Don't overthink it; it wasn't Xiao Hua's doing. It seems the Fire Peak has another task for refining black iron."

Xu Yang cupped his hands: "Many thanks for the information, Senior Brother."

He was now at the Gang Qi cultivation level; refining black iron again would allow him to earn contribution points even faster.

Putting down his blade and the Eight-Treasure Body-Strengthening Pill, Xu Yang immediately rushed to the Task Hall. It was indeed the black iron refining task, and it hadn't been arranged by the Task Hall, but specifically assigned to him by Gao Lin.

He successfully obtained the task slip, but as it was already approaching evening, he didn't rush to the Fire Peak, planning to go tomorrow instead.

After eating in the dining hall, Xu Yang returned to the courtyard and learned the aftermath of Jiang Fan's affair.

Jiang Fan hadn't retaliated against Lu Ren, nor had he gone to find A-Ya again, but Lu Ren had left the Ziyang Sect.