Chapter 5

Wu Zhan turned around, watching helplessly as the great axe swept across the backs of his three sons.

Fresh blood spattered in a wide arc, Wu Zhan's eyes widened and he let out a fierce roar. The long sword at his waist trembled and turned into a black light about two meters long, stabbing forward swiftly.

The black light grazed Wu Jin's cheek as it flew past, the great axe was about to strike again when the black light collided with the axe, producing a cracking sound as the axe head shattered; the burly man holding the axe stared as the black light came down upon him, able only to utter a desperate roar.

Wu Jin's long sword tore through the heavy armor that was otherwise impervious, as easily as paper, and the burly man's body split in two.

Wu Jin and Wu Yin had just breathed a sigh of relief when several arrows trailing thin black smoke shot from behind, each striking one of their shoulders or backs.

The arrowheads were coated with a strange substance; upon entering the body they caused excruciating pain that made Wu Jin and Wu Yin's muscles spasm uncontrollably.

The wound on their backs from the axe blow was deep to the bone, muscles twitching, and a more intense pain surged; the two brothers let out an anguished cry, and the fingers gripping Wu Tong's shoulder involuntarily loosened.

Wu Tong was severely injured, and had been relying on his two elder brothers to carry him while fleeing.

When Wu Jin and Wu Yin let go, their bodies, carried by the momentum of their mad dash, surged forward several meters, while Wu Tong suddenly collapsed to the ground.

Wu Jin and Wu Yin turned their heads at the same time and cried out in alarm.

Wu Zhan shouted anxiously, then lunged forward, his burly frame whipping up a gust as he rushed toward the fallen Wu Tong.

Wu Jin and Wu Yin halted their steps simultaneously, turned around, and tried to grab Wu Tong.

A dozen or so figures clad in armor came charging out of the cave behind them.

Seven or eight blades came down heavily; the bald, scar-faced woman, her eyes bloodshot, gripped a serpent‑fang dagger in each hand and shrieked as she charged at the Wu Jin and Wu Yin brothers. She screamed hoarsely, like a madwoman: "You killed the squad leader… you deserve to die!"

Wu Jin swung his long sword, which turned into a black blade of light that slipped past the woman's body and swept toward the seven or eight enemies brandishing weapons.

The woman rushed up to Wu Jin and Wu Yin; the black blade of light barely grazed her chest. Her face twisted in a grim, laughing snarl as she thrust the serpent‑fang daggers left and right at their chests.

Wu Jin poured all his strength into that slash, hoping to block the blades aimed at Wu Tong, but his whole body was spasming, he had lost his breath, and the searing pain in his chest left him unable to dodge.

Wu Yin beside him let out a strange cry, spread his arms, took a sideways step, and placed himself in front of Wu Jin.

Both daggers plunged into Wu Yin's chest; the woman drove them forward with force, the daggers tore open his chest, shattered his ribs, and a half‑blade length protruded brutally from his back.

The corner of Wu Jin's eye burst, two streams of blood spurted out, and he let out a hoarse scream: "Brother…"

Wu Yin spat blood from his mouth, he opened his thick arms—about as thick as the woman's waist—and grabbed her in a fierce embrace. He opened his mouth; the effort tore the muscles at the corners of his mouth, and he opened his jaws like a mad snake.

His mouthful of stark white teeth sank brutally into the woman's slender neck.

With a "crack," just as he would normally gnaw on thick animal bones at home, Wu Yin had a powerful bite; he could always crush the coarsest bones in a single snap.

The woman's neck was not as sturdy as an animal bone.

With a "crack," the woman's head jerked sideways; a large spray of red blood mixed with the pale blue blood from Wu Yin's mouth drenched them both.

The light faded from Wu Yin's eyes; he clung tightly to the woman as they both collapsed to the ground.

Vitality already gone, Wu Yin's body still strained instinctively… straining… straining…

From within the woman came a grating crack; Wu Yin's grip broke and crushed her bones, shards piercing her flesh and pushing out grotesque bumps on her leather armor.

"Brother…" Wu Jin spat another mouthful of blood.

"Brother!" Wu Zhan turned around in an instant, while Wu Tie had just heard the commotion behind him and had only just turned about.

As soon as he turned his head, he saw Wu Yin and the woman perish together!

As soon as he turned his head, he saw Wu Jin vomiting blood in great gulps!

As soon as he turned his head, he saw Wu Tong lying on the ground!

Wu Jin's blade of light slammed into the chest of a heavily armored brute; the armored man grunted, was knocked back two steps by the impact, and a spray of blood welled from his chest.

The blade of light Wu Zhan had just unleashed coiled like a monstrous serpent, sweeping in an arc across the bodies of several burly men.

The blade of light was icy and fierce; five or six of the burly men were cut clean in half at the waist.

A bald burly man's upper half flew high into the air; he stared wide‑eyed, locking his gaze on the onrushing Wu Zhan, and gasped: "Gan Xuan? No… half‑step Chong Lou…"

The bald burly man's body crashed heavily to the ground; he dropped his weapon, his hands scrabbled and clawed at the dirt, and he gritted his teeth, muttering resentfully: "This damned, god‑forsaken place… half‑step Chong Lou… I actually died here!"

Wu Zhan's blade of light slew five or six of the burly men; a gaunt old man, about the size of a gray dwarf, who had been hiding behind a large man, suddenly darted out, his thrusting sword flashing with a chill, and plunged deep into Wu Tong's heart.

The gaunt old man lifted his head and, facing the suddenly halted Wu Zhan, snarled hoarsely: "You killed our squad leader… you killed our elder sister… you killed so many of our brothers!"

"Brother!" Wu Jin pulled the two arrows embedded in his back and threw them heavily to the ground.

He retracted the long sword he had flung out, gripped it with both hands, and looked at the rigid, unmoving Wu Tong while letting out a mournful wail.

"Second brother… third brother…" A trickle of blood seeped from the corner of Wu Zhan's mouth; he snatched the long sword that was spinning in the air back into his hand, drew a deep breath, and pointed the blade at the gaunt old man.

"Watch your old man avenge you!" Wu Zhan grinned, and blood began to trickle from the corner of his mouth.

With a "ptui," Wu Zhan spat out a small piece of his tongue tip.

Wu Yin and Wu Tong died one after another; Wu Zhan, his heart ablaze with fury, bit off his own tongue tip.

Wu Tie stood beside that great expanse of water; his vision kept going dark, his knees gave way, and he sank to his knees.

Before him was nothing but blood, all blood, his vision filled with blood…

The shadows of Wu Yin and Wu Tong appeared before him, overlapping again and again…

A pallid, ghastly face mingled in the endless blood, a savage, overbearing presence filling his field of view…

His chest throbbed in waves of pain…

His heart felt waves of suffocating heaviness…

His mouth felt as if packed with bloody, muddy sludge, making it impossible to breathe…

Wu Tie was not lacking in courage; he could even wash the heads of bears and tigers by himself…

But this time, his lower abdomen suddenly twitched, and a warm wetness spread over his leg…

Wu Tie's face twisted, and he screamed hoarsely: "Brother… brother…!"

More armored figures poured into the cavern, standing behind the gaunt old man, each glinting with murderous intent as they fixed their gaze on Wu Zhan and Wu Tie.

The ox‑tribe warriors and azure‑wolf warriors that Wu Zhan had brought into the mine came up behind him, weapons in hand, letting out low growls like angry beasts staring at these formidable foes.

Wu Tie's tears streamed down his face as he cried out again and again, "Older brother!"

He didn't even have the strength to stand up.

He no longer had the strength to swing his sword and fight the enemy.

"Boss, retreat!" Wu Zhan held his sword in one hand, waved his left hand backward, blood continuously dripping from his mouth: "I'm not dead yet, it's not your turn to risk your lives!"

A 'kakaka' strange laugh, Wu Zhan gritted his teeth and snarled: "If this gets back, the old fogeys of our clan will surely be beaten half to death, and that bunch of bastards will laugh at us for a lifetime!"

"I am Wu Zhan's son!"

"You actually dare to do this in front of me!"

"He got killed by someone!"

"If even these two remaining sons can't be protected..."

Wu Zhan shook his head, spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground: "Really enough to disgrace our ancestors!"

The gaunt old man held a thrusting sword nearly as tall as him, pointed at Wu Zhan and snarled: "Our squad leader, our brothers! Aren't they lives?"

Wu Zhan grinned, tilted his head: "Did I invite you guys?"

The gaunt old man said nothing.

That gentle voice came from somewhere unknown: "What nonsense? We've traveled thousands of miles just for wealth. People die for riches, birds die for food… You kill me, I kill you, he kills me again, I kill him back, killing goes on and on—who is innocent? In short… this world."

The gentle voice suddenly turned extremely sharp: "Cut the nonsense! Kill!"

The gaunt old man turned into a wisp of black smoke and rushed at Wu Zhan.

A red wave of light, like flames and about a meter high, surged from Wu Zhan's body; he didn't draw his blade but threw a punch at the black smoke that the old man had become.

From the black smoke a thrusting sword jabbed out, piercing Wu Zhan's fist.

Then the thrusting sword shattered, exploding into countless iron fragments that sprayed out.

The black smoke shattered, and the gaunt old man's body exploded with a bang.

Wu Zhan expressionlessly turned his head and glared at Wu Jin; Wu Jin, gripping his long blade, gritted his teeth and retreated step by step until he reached Wu Tie's side.

Wu Zhan charged forward without a word, his form like the wind as he plunged into the midst of dozens of armored figures.

Blade and sword light swept across a hundred-meter radius, heavy impact sounds continuously rang out.

Wu Tie couldn't see what was happening in the blade and sword light; he could only hear the dense, continuous impact sounds and the piercing cracks of breaking bones. In the chaotic silhouettes, large spurts of blood occasionally erupted, and low groans of pain occasionally sounded.

A piercing wail rang out, and seven or eight shattered bodies spun out from the melee.

Seven or eight armored men collapsed sideways on the ground; one not yet dead stared wide-eyed and muttered: "Wrong… wrong… not half-step Chonglou, but Chonglou Realm… Chonglou… Realm…"

A loud roar sounded.

Wu Zhan, originally two meters tall, swelled to about five meters high in the midst of his roar.

He held the sword in his right hand, his left palm slammed down violently; bone-cracking sounds like popping beans, four or five figures shot up, and he slapped them flying away.

"Chonglou Realm!" the gentle voice turned especially sharp: "This time… we've suffered a loss!"

A mass of lightning suddenly appeared above Wu Zhan's head, the electricity within a meter radius violently jumping; faintly visible was a rectangular object about a chi long and three cun wide, rapidly flickering in the thunderlight.

Wu Zhan's eyes were blood-red, and every pore on his body spewed out heat like flames.

He let out a low growl, completely ignoring the strange mass of lightning above his head; he dropped his unwieldy long blade and hurled his fists like collapsing mountains, smashing wildly in all directions.

Bone-breaking sounds rang out continuously; one after another, human figures like cannonballs were blasted far away by his heavy punches.

As the figures flew out they still screamed, but upon landing they made no sound at all.

Wu Zhan roared angrily in battle; the Blood Light in his eyes grew ever stronger, and his already five-meter-tall body swelled another meter or so.

Wu Zhan suddenly lifted his right foot and stomped down hard on the ground.

With a tremendous boom, the ground within a radius of ten-odd meters trembled.

Vast rock layers shattered, countless stone fragments the size of heads shot out in all directions, breaking the bones and tendons of surrounding enemies; with that single strike, nearly half of the seventy or eighty foes nearby collapsed.

The lightning suddenly flashed, the rectangular object inside shattered, turning into a fist-sized ball of thunder.

Wu Jin and Wu Tie screamed at the same time: "Dad!"

Wu Zhan turned his head and smiled at Wu Jin and Wu Tie; already lost in frenzied battle intent, he grinned and said: "Be good, Dad will kill them all, then…"

The thunder fell; the fist-sized lightning like water swiftly covered Wu Zhan's body, then exploded violently.

Wu Zhan's body instantly turned semi-transparent, so that even his fuzzy bones could be seen through his flesh.

His body exploded, the huge frame up to six meters tall blowing apart.

Among the remaining forty-odd enemies, about half let out a wail and were blown to pieces by the spreading lightning.

Wu Zhan disappeared.

He was utterly obliterated.

Not a single fragment remained.

"Dad!" Wu Tie knelt on the ground, hands braced on the earth, his eyes dazed as he stared ahead.

Wu Jin looked back at the raging, boiling water surface, then gazed toward the spot where Wu Zhan had vanished.

Wu Tie wailed loudly, Wu Jin trembled all over, and stepped sideways to block in front of Wu Tie.

Several dozen wounded men and women, panting, gripped their weapons and stepped toward Wu Jin and Wu Tie.

As for those few cattle-tribe warriors and blue-wolf warriors…

In the melee, they had already been blasted into fragments.

A figure slowly emerged from the water vapor.

His face was pale and beardless, appearing about forty or fifty years old; he wore black leather armor with a gray cloak over it.

Notably, the middle-aged man's leather armor bore a huge emblem on the chest, several times larger than the insignia on his subordinates' chests.

Black mist roiled; a white bone hand reached out from the mist, its palm holding several blood-stained gold coins.

The ferocious and ugly emblem was enough to signify the occupation of this middle-aged man and those behind him.

"This time we've suffered a loss." The middle-aged man gripped a black wooden staff topped with a viper's head in his left hand, stepping closer to Wu Jin and Wu Tie.

He kept shaking his head, speaking gently: "We've suffered a loss, and I don't know how long it will take to earn it back!"

"I'm really angry… you two kids, tell me, how can I let out this anger?"

The middle-aged man smiled, his voice gentle, but his eyes were extremely fierce.

Wu Tie was dazed, showing no reaction at all.

Wu Zhan died…

Wu Yin died…

Wu Tong died…

Wu Tie's head buzzed.

In this situation, comparable to a nightmare, Wu Tie's ability to stay conscious without fainting is already no small feat.

Wu Jin stood before Wu Tie, trembling.

He wasn't afraid; rather, the wounds on his body caused uncontrollable spasms and convulsions all over.

The middle-aged man and his lackeys stepped forward one by one, faces grim, their teeth grinding with a click-click sound.

Suddenly, Wu Jin dropped the long blade in his hand and fell to his knees with a thud.

Wu Tie shuddered in fright, staring in shock at Wu Jin kneeling before him.

The middle-aged man and those behind him were also stunned.

"Kneeling?" the middle-aged man shrieked with laughter: "You actually… knelt!"

"Brother!" Wu Tie shouted hoarsely!