Chapter 59: This punch, I just wanted to kill you

As the night grew darker, the originally sultry weather suddenly became like an ice cellar.

A De Ba Yi's already injured body could barely endure it, and he could only return to bed with Luo De's support.

Not long after.

The brightly lit house merged with the outside darkness, and aside from the increasingly biting cold wind, no other sound could be heard.

Just that.

This night, which should have been peaceful as usual, was shattered by a small accident.

A group of uninvited guests arrived outside Luo De's door.

"Sir."

"Confirmed."

"That little girl who ran away from us is hiding here!"

Leading them was an old man with a white headscarf wrapped around his head, currently listening to his subordinate's report.

This old man was tall and thin, wearing standard desert folk attire, his body covered with tattoos similar to the tribe's beliefs; in the dim night, his pair of distinctive golden eyes stood out, and after locking gazes for a while, one would feel his owner like an ancient demon beast, making one shiver involuntarily.

After hearing the subordinate's report.

He curled the corner of his mouth into a smile: "Finally found it, the experimental subject that survived after being injected with the Archon's reagent—this is a rare specimen."

Having said that.

He then asked: "Did you lure away that troublesome woman?"

"Sir, she has been drawn to the downwind erosion zone; she likely won't return for about two hours."

The responder was also dressed as a desert folk, though his skin wasn't that dark, more like a mercenary from the rainforest region.

"Good."

The old man nodded satisfactorily, then drew the snake-shaped short blade at his waist, licked his lips, and said: "Act quickly; before that woman returns, retrieve that experimental specimen for the master, and kill everyone else in this house."

Just as his words fell.

The response was not his subordinates rushing into the house to seize the experimental subject.

But a temperature that plummeted rapidly below freezing, and ice spikes rolling out from the ground in layers.

"Who goes there!"

The old man's pupils suddenly contracted.

Fortunately, he was agile enough; he leapt several times in succession, narrowly dodging this sudden attack.

He did manage to dodge it.

But his subordinates did not have such skill or luck.

The old man who dodged the ice spikes turned his head and saw that most of his subordinates were now impaled haphazardly on the ice spikes.

Those lucky ones were pierced by only two or three ice spikes and could still be heard wailing miserably there.

The unlucky ones were stabbed all over like a porcupine and had already lost all signs of life.

Now, counting himself, those with all limbs intact and still retaining combat ability numbered fewer than ten.

This sight instantly made the old man's eyes split with rage.

However, before he could react, a ghost-like figure silently emerged from the darkness and attacked.

This figure was surrounded by a ring of icy-blue light; wherever it passed, frost spread and cold raged.

Under such extreme cold.

Anyone caught within it would instantly feel their limbs unresponsive, their movements slowed greatly, and could only watch helplessly as the attacker's fist struck their vital point.

In just a moment.

The only one still able to stand here was that old man.

"Well done."

Watching Luo De shatter the last person's throat with a single punch, the old man clapped a few times, clicking his tongue in praise: "Your skills are not bad, and you know how to scatter them, preventing these useless subordinates from supporting each other; then, relying on the slowing domain forged by elemental energy and your agile movements, you pick them off one by one. If you were offered to the master, he would surely grant me another share of divine power."

In response.

Was a corpse flying through the air.

Swish—

A flash of cold light appeared.

One saw the old man waving his snake-shaped short blade, and with one stroke he severed the corpse flying toward him into two sections.

Then.

He suddenly exerted force with his feet, retreating backward to increase distance from Luo De, while continuously waving his short blade, throwing out one purple-black light after another.

The old man's intention was clear.

Luo De is formidable in close combat, so he kept his distance to fully exploit his own advantage.

And as he watched that light easily plow a deep trench into the ground, Luo De's eyes narrowed slightly; he then clenched his left hand, and the icy-blue elemental energy instantly condensed into a crystal-clear giant shield large enough to cover his entire body.

Clang clang clang—

The dark light struck the giant shield, yet it produced the clear ringing sound of metal on metal.

At the same time.

The ice shards cut from the dark light suddenly turned into arrow after arrow, shooting straight at that old man.

!!!

Never expecting Luo De's shield forged from elemental energy to be used this way, the old man had no choice but to swing his short blade again, shattering each of those ice elemental arrows aimed at his face.

But it was precisely this delay.

Luo De was now within ten steps of him.

This time.

Luo De didn't give him another chance to widen the distance, decisively throwing the giant shield that had condensed from a large amount of elemental energy.

Luo De possessed tremendous strength.

The shield he threw suddenly emitted a sharp, piercing whistling as it shot straight toward the old man's face.

The old man who had just shattered the icy arrows had still been preparing to counterattack.

But upon seeing the shield's momentum, he immediately realized he couldn't block it head-on with his strength.

At such a close distance.

He could only perform a lazy donkey roll, barely dodging the attack that could have crushed him.

But just as he lifted his head again, Luo De was already before him.

Boom—

Before the old man could react, Luo De lashed out with a vicious punch that struck his throat.

This punch.

The old man's throat visibly flattened like a cobra's into a sheet of paper, his wretched form tumbling repeatedly until he finally came to a stop after slamming headfirst into a sand dune.

However, surprisingly.

Having taken a punch that could easily kill an ordinary person, the old man not only survived but even managed to stagger to his feet.

Looking at his twisted, deformed face.

Had his throat not been shattered, he would surely have spat out the vilest profanity from Sumeru.

And this punch made the old man clearly see the gap between himself and Luo De.

He understood that well.

With merely this mortal flesh-and-blood body, it was impossible for him to defeat Luo De.

Thus, without hesitation, he immediately tore off his scarf, revealing a strange purple tattoo on his neck.

Pfft—

Just as that tattoo began to glow purple, a large hand shot out from the side, gripping the old man's throat in a vise.

Immediately, surging Ice Elemental Power burst forth, layer upon layer forcibly suppressing the inhuman power about to erupt from the tattoo.

"Is this what you're relying on?"

Luo De's scornful face also emerged from the darkness; he moved his lips and called out the old man's name: "Missionary."

"!!!"

The old man's eyes widened, he made hoarse sounds in his throat, but no voice came out.

"Heh—"

Luo De gave a light chuckle, his left hand locked onto the old man's throat like drawing a bow, his right arm pulled back fully, and he unleashed his full strength in a punch aimed at the old man's face.

"This punch is for your persecution of innocent children!"

Immediately after.

The second punch followed.

"This punch is for your massacre of Ke Lai's parents!"

The third punch.

"This punch is for your human body committing inhuman deeds!"

Next.

Fists fell like raindrops.

With each punch thrown, Luo De would recite one of the missionary's crimes.

"This punch is for your aiding the tyrant!"

"This punch is for your trespassing into my home!"

"This punch is for your intrusion upon the pure land of A Ru Cun!"

"This punch is for Ke Lai!"

"This punch,"

"."

"This punch, I don't even know what to say, but I just want to hit you!!!"

Under the night sky.

Luo De held the missionary aloft, raining blow after blow as if tireless, even though the missionary he gripped had already breathed his last, he showed no sign of wanting to stop.

(End of chapter)