Chapter 47

A loud voice echoed through the stronghold.

A golden figure shot up from behind the stronghold, leaping over ten zhang high, crossing several wooden huts, and smashing toward the training ground.

Thud!

The golden figure fell like a meteor, crashing heavily onto the training ground.

Cracks spread from beneath its feet like a spiderweb, expanding in all directions, dust and smoke rising into the sky.

"Chief!"

"It's the Chief!"

"We're saved!"

Inside the wooden huts, a group of bandits shouted excitedly, tears streaming down their faces.

That boy outside is terrifying with his archery—he killed over twenty of us in just a few minutes, truly a god of slaughter descended to earth.

But now it's fine—once the Chief comes out of seclusion, no matter how fierce this brat is, he'll only have death waiting for him!

"Chief, kill that brat—he killed our Second Chief and many of our brothers!"

Someone hid in a wooden hut, shouting angrily, but dared not show his head.

Qin Shuo's earlier ruthless slaughter left them with a shadow; even with Yuan Gang rushing over, they could not fully dispel their fear of Qin Shuo.

As the dust settled, a tall, imposing figure about two meters high was revealed.

His skin was a pale gold, as if cast from yellow bronze, giving an impression of indestructibility, heavy and mountain-like.

His physique was extremely strong, exuding a fierce, domineering yang energy, his eyes sharp and spirited like an angry-eyed Vajra, his aura terrifying.

The newcomer was none other than the Chief of Black Dragon Stronghold, Yuan Gang, the elder brother of Yuan Feng and Yuan Peng.

"Boy, Black Dragon Stronghold has no grudge with you—why did you kill my brothers?"

Yuan Gang roared in anger, his gaze sweeping the courtyard—everywhere lay the corpses of Black Dragon Stronghold brothers shot dead, his killing intent growing fiercer.

Especially when he saw his second brother, Yuan Feng, pierced through the head by an arrow, nailed to the ground, dying with eyes open, his fury instantly reached its peak.

"A pack of inhuman beasts—everyone should punish them!"

Qin Shuo's eyes were icy cold, his killing intent no less than Yuan Gang's.

These mountain bandits who ambush and kill, rob wealth and lust, even spare no twelve- or thirteen-year-old girls—they deserve to die.

"Hah! Thought you were some remarkable figure—turns out you came to uphold justice for this little girl?"

Yuan Gang snorted coldly, his eyes suddenly turning vicious: "Then go down first and wait for her!"

Before his words finished, he stomped hard on the ground, his whole body shooting up like a cannonball, smashing toward Qin Shuo's head.

"This boy is dead for sure!"

"Chief, kill him, avenge our brothers!"

A crowd of bandits hid in the wooden huts, peeking through doors and windows, craning their necks to look out.

"This boy doesn't know life or death, daring to cause trouble in our Black Dragon Stronghold—he hasn't even inquired, just who do you think our Chief is, daring to come here and play hero?"

"Exactly—our Chief's golden body cultivation is unmatched in the world; which bandit in this Erlong Mountain region would dare oppose him? This boy is purely seeking his own death."

Seeing Yuan Gang make his move, the bandits who had just been terrified into losing control of their bowels and bladders now found courage, beginning to comment on Qin Shuo.

In their eyes, Qin Shuo was merely a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old yellow-haired brat, relying only on his superb archery to have inflicted a major loss on them.

Now that Yuan Gang has acted, he will surely destroy this boy with ease, reducing him to a cripple, venting their anger for them.

Yuan Gang shot through the air like a golden cannonball.

He clenched his fists, his entire body surging with power, emitting blinding golden light, like a humanoid violent ape smashing downward.

Clang!

Qin Shuo drew his saber, stepped back with his right foot to gather power, his deep eyes fixed on the golden figure wrapped in howling gang wind rushing toward him.

He did not activate the Burning Blood Secret Technique, but instead circulated the Divine Intent of the White Ape Tiangang Saber Technique, intending to use the blade's sharpness to break through Yuan Gang's golden defensive body.

Earlier, when fighting Yuan Feng and Yuan Peng, he had discovered,

that what the Yuan brothers mastered was an extremely refined external training method, capable of condensing internal strength into refined steel—even Iron-Skin Heavy Arrows cannot pierce it, their defensive ability terrifying.

However, this defense is not unbreakable.

As long as one focuses power to break the surface with a point, this golden body will naturally collapse.

And the final form of the White Ape Tiangang Saber he learned, White Ape Splits the Mountain, is precisely the nemesis of this kind of defensive martial art.

At that moment, he directly sank his mind into the Taotie Cauldron, merging into the Divine Intent of the White Ape Splits the Mountain saber form.

The next moment, thirty-five strands of saber Divine Intent flowed like water in his mind, gathering together, seeking to merge into one, transforming into a mountain-splitting strike.

"Hah! Is that boy scared silly, standing still without moving—does he still want to clash head-on with the Chief?"

Someone in the wooden hut sneered, thinking Qin Shuo overestimated himself—at this moment, not seizing the chance to dodge and flee, simply courting death.

Just look at how hard our Chief's fists are, how great his strength—check the Iron Stone Cliff behind our mountain and you'll know.

That cliff is so tough that even swords and axes struggle to leave marks, yet in just a few months, our Chief smashed it to pieces with his bare body, rubble scattered everywhere.

This boy may have some strength, but no matter how strong, can he be stronger than that rear mountain cliff?

Clang!

The white long saber collided with the golden fist!

Sparks flew, ringing with metallic clashes!

Yuan Gang's fist seemed forged from gold and metal, indestructible, striking the white blade's edge—but suffered no damage at all.

Yet before he could rejoice, a tremendous force transmitted from that white blade's edge, numbing his fist, his body unable to stop retreating.

Thud-thud-thud!

Yuan Gang staggered backward, each step he took caused the ground to sink where he stepped, appearing as fine spiderweb-like cracks.

He retreated again and again, stepping back several meters before finally stopping his stance.

"What tyrannical power!"

Yuan Gang shook his numb, stinging fist, a trace of solemnity appearing in his eyes.

Originally, he thought that with his Inner Strength Great Perfection strength, plus this Longxiang Golden Body, crushing this brat who didn't know the immensity of heaven and earth would be as easy as catching something in his hand.

He didn't expect this brat's physical strength to be equally terrifying, not inferior to his in the slightest.

Qin Shuo likewise retreated more than ten steps, the long blade in his hand humming and trembling, as if he had chopped onto an iron mountain, encountering unimaginable resistance.

"What a formidable golden body!"

Qin Shuo was likewise astonished in his heart.

Although his White Ape Splits the Mountain only combined the first seven forms and could not yet achieve the Three Returns to One, where strength transforms into blade light, it was still enough to split mountains and shatter rocks, easily cleaving trees as thick as water buckets.

Yet such a fierce blade actually could not break through Yuan Gang's defense, which made him develop great curiosity and interest in this external training method.

In the distance, the bandits hiding in the wooden house were all stunned, their faces full of disbelief!

"What's going on? That brat wasn't actually smashed into minced meat by the chief's fist?"

"He actually forced the chief to retreat—could he also be a master of Inner Strength Great Perfection?"

The bandits who had just been excited and excited, thinking Qin Shuo must undoubtedly die, were like having a basin of cold water poured over their heads, their hearts turning chilly.

"This youth is so young, yet already a master of Inner Strength Great Perfection—could he be a heavenly pride of some great clan from the prefecture city?"

A bandit's voice trembled, feeling Qin Shuo's background was extraordinary, very likely coming from some great clan in the prefecture city.

Such clans have masters as numerous as clouds.

Simply dispatching a squad could massacre their Black Dragon Stronghold thousands of times.

If this youth truly is a disciple of such a clan, then their Black Dragon Stronghold today might well invite great trouble.

"Brat, just who are you?" Yuan Gang rebuked.

His eyes flickered, also pondering whether this brat was indeed a scion of those great clans from Songyang Prefecture.

Such clans have ancient lineages, fundamentally not something rootless duckweed like him can provoke.

Even if the three brothers had encountered fortune and learned a Longxiang Golden Body comparable to supreme ultimate arts,

but their own cultivation is too low, and they have passed the optimal age for martial training; if they truly provoked such a clan, they would likely be hunted to the ends of the earth, with nowhere to hide.

"The one who will send your Black Dragon Stronghold to hell!" Qin Shuo coldly smiled.

Although he doesn't know what Yuan Gang is thinking, from the opponent's wary gaze he can judge that the opponent has no confidence in keeping him.

And he still has the Burning Blood Secret Technique as a trump card yet to be unleashed; breaking through the opponent's defense is merely a matter of time.

"Since you refuse a toast and choose to drink a forfeit, since you're bent on seeking death, then I shall fulfill your wish!"

Yuan Gang was originally a fierce sort; upon sensing Qin Shuo's murderous intent toward the Black Dragon Stronghold, he no longer wasted words, brandished his double fists, and again killed toward Qin Shuo.