Chapter 233: Chapter 233: Crushing Deadwood

His expression flickered as he watched Xu Yunfan’s rapidly retreating figure. After a long moment, he let out a breath and glanced toward the distant land saturated with the aura of Demon Fiends.

’If I’m alone here, my chances of survival are too slim. I couldn’t even withstand a single hammer strike from Xu Yunfan back when I was fighting that Elephant Demon.’

’Heaven knows when the Demon Qi will cloud my mind again.’

’Only by sticking close to Xu Yunfan can I fight for a sliver of a chance to survive.’

He looked down at his demonic body. Having made his decision, he strode forward without hesitation, following the trail Xu Yunfan had left behind.

By the time Xu Yunfan’s arch crushed the fifth boulder, his nostrils were already filled with the cloying, sweet stench of Blood Qi.

From the perspective of Seeking Dragon and Distinguishing Veins, a technique akin to mining, the valley ahead was a cauldron of churning Dirt Qi. Every wisp of Evil Qi was wrapped in a purple glow as fine as Floating Threads.

Suddenly, the individual leaves of his Dragon Scale Armor shifted as his muscles tensed, tightening around his waist and abdomen like steel bands. A fierce surge of Red Flood Dragon Mountain Coiling Strength erupted, allowing him to twist his body at a sharp right angle and shift several inches through the air, narrowly dodging a ghastly white bone spike that shot up from the earth.

"CRACKLE!"

The ground rippled like a wave, and all the ancient trees within a hundred-zhang radius collapsed.

A Nine-Ringed Xiangliu burst forth from an Earth Vein, its nine serpent heads spewing a toxic miasma that dyed the morning mist a murky green.

The vertical pupil of its central head reflected Xu Yunfan’s leaping figure. As its scales flexed, they produced the grating sound of metal on metal.

’What a massive beast!’

Xu Yunfan’s pupils contracted, but he showed not a hint of fear.

"Come on!"

With a furious roar, he swung the Thunderfire Qilin Hammer, carving out a Red Gold Full Moon.

Xu Yunfan’s spine arched like a taut Jiao Tendon. Blood as thick as mercury erupted within his vessels, creating twelve streaks of red-gold thunderbolts.

Before the compressed Qi Force from the Thunderfire Qilin Hammer even reached the serpent’s head, the Mystic Iron Scale Armor on the Xiangliu’s leftmost head had already caved in like a giant bowl.

In that instant, three of its heads twisted together into a spiral drill. The Demon Fiend’s Evil Qi condensed into a pitch-black spike, hurtling toward him with the ear-splitting sound of tearing silk!

’So fast!’

Xu Yunfan hadn’t expected this astonishingly massive serpent to be capable of such incredible speed.

In the nick of time, Xu Yunfan twisted his waist and hips at a terrifying angle, channeling his Red Flood Dragon Mountain Coiling Strength from the soles of his feet into the Earth Vein.

The rock strata in a several-zhang radius exploded, and a shockwave like an Earth Dragon Flipping Over knocked the incoming drill of serpent heads three inches off course.

However, the seventh head shot out bizarrely from underground. Its massive, bone-spiked tail swept across like a meteor. The cliff face crumbled with a roar amid the sparks that flew from the surface of his Dragon Scale Armor.

"BOOM!"

Caught off guard, Xu Yunfan was struck squarely by the massive tail. He was shot like a cannonball into the hundred-zhang-tall mountain, the cliff’s rocky surface shattering layer by layer like brittle sugar glass.

The leaves of his Dragon Scale Armor flared up layer by layer at the moment of impact, dissipating the force. The network of fascia in his Profound Steel Hundred-Forged Body writhed like a living creature, vibrating constantly.

Red-gold sparks flew from his body as it scraped against the rock at high speed, tracing a path like a meteor shower through the cloud of dust.

A muffled, thunderous tremor of sinew and bone echoed from within the mountain. The sheer force from his back pressed against the rock, creating a spiderweb of cracks.

Qi Huan, who had just arrived, watched from a distance in utter shock. He had caught the exact moment Xu Yunfan was slammed by the serpent’s tail, sent flying like a meteor deep into the mountainside with a deafening, terrifying crash.

For a moment, the entire battlefield fell completely silent.

The thrashing Nine-headed Serpent slowly lowered its body, slithering closer to confirm whether Xu Yunfan was dead or alive.

Just as venom dripping from the Xiangliu’s fangs began to corrode the rock wall into wisps of green smoke, the pile of rubble suddenly exploded into dust.

"Lin!"

A command, resounding like a temple bell, boomed from within the shattered mountain. Xu Yunfan’s figure burst from the rock, shrouded in a mist of red-gold blood.

Qi Force surged around him. The Qi Armor formed by his Pure Yang Inner Breath pierced the demonic miasma. The armor leaves on his back flared, and his Red Fire Dragon-Swallowing Mace erupted with a ferocious, molten aura like a volcano.

Nine lava-like Qiu Long patterns lit up in succession along the mace’s length. The Red Fire Dragon-Swallowing Mace began to hum and vibrate ceaselessly. But in the next instant, a powerful will flowed from Xu Yunfan’s palm into the Heavy Mace, forcibly suppressing the Divine Weapon’s backlash.

The Xiangliu’s main head’s vertical pupil contracted. Its other eight heads spewed forth their life-essence poison fire, forming a Heaven and Earth Net.

But Xu Yunfan charged upward, stepping on the falling rocks. Now that he was in the Blood Exchange Realm, his Red Flood Dragon Mountain Coiling Strength condensed into a physical form, each step creating a molten, red-gold ripple in mid-air.

When the massive tail swept toward him again, he made no move to dodge, letting his Profound Steel Hundred-Forged Body absorb the impact and channel it into the coiled power of his spine...

"CLANG!"

The explosive clang of metal shattering three of the serpent’s fangs. Xu Yunfan used the momentum to spin, his Red Fire Dragon-Swallowing Mace carving nine bloody crescent moons through the air.

Seven concentric shockwaves erupted from the Inverted Scale on the Xiangliu’s main head. While in the Linn Character State, the power of his Blood Qi, infused with the metal-tearing Red Flood Dragon Mountain Coiling Strength, surged along the edge of his mace and into the Demon Fiend’s skull.

The Attribute Panel suddenly flashed wildly in his vision. In an instant, the nine layers of Hidden Force unleashed by his Nine Profound Dragon-Defying Mace Technique had perfectly fused with the ferocious aura of the Red Fire Dragon-Swallowing Mace.

"Break!"

With his explosive shout, the flowing fire wrapped around the edge of his mace suddenly solidified into a razor-sharp blade.

The instant the Xiangliu’s nine heads were severed, Xu Yunfan’s fingers hooked into the main head’s eye socket. He stomped his foot, and the entire cliff gave way. The Earth Vein node where the Xiangliu had been coiled collapsed with a thunderous roar.

The unbalanced Demon Fiend let out a shriek like a wailing infant. Its remaining heads could only watch as Xu Yunfan brutally tore out a massive chunk of flesh, dragging the spinal column along with it!

Xu Yunfan’s expression was serene. His arms, swollen to a near-deformed state, rapidly returned to normal. He seized the opportunity to leap forward, the head of his hammer precisely striking the Inverted Scale on the seventh head.

The battle raged until dusk.

When Xu Yunfan tore off the last piece of flesh from the serpent’s neck, a long string of notifications, nearly filling his entire view, scrolled across his Attribute Panel.

A quick glance revealed that most of them were notifications about his Skill Level increasing for the Thousand-Pound Mountain-Shaking Hammer Technique.

His Skill Level in the Thousand-Pound Mountain-Shaking Hammer Technique had soared by three hundred points. This rapid progress in his Cultivation caused his Profound Steel Hundred-Forged Body to emit a jade-like luster.

After deactivating the Linn Character State, he turned and glanced at Qi Huan, who stood on a nearby peak, his face a mask of terror.

Seeing Xu Yunfan’s gaze fall upon him, Qi Huan slowly approached. He stared down at the silent, twenty-odd-zhang-long corpse of the Nine-headed Serpent, looking as if he were questioning his own existence.

"Out in the world, this Demon Fiend would be comparable to an expert at the Bone Marrow Cleansing Grandmaster Realm."

"It would," Xu Yunfan agreed with a sigh. "I had to use nearly every trick I had just to barely kill it."

Qi Huan fell silent for a long time. His Adam’s apple bobbed with difficulty, and his Cyan Scale-covered knuckles dug deep into his palm.

’I thought that with my half-human, half-demon body and my explosive increase in strength, I could easily defeat him, maybe even kill him. But I’m still just stagnating in the Outer Three Harmonies. At best, I can only rely on this demonic body to fight head-on with a Flesh Refining Realm expert.’

’But Xu Yunfan? He quietly broke through to the Blood Exchange Realm, carries two Divine Weapons, and can fight and kill a Demon Fiend comparable to the Bone Marrow Cleansing Realm, a whole realm above him.’

As Xu Yunfan bent over to butcher the giant serpent’s corpse, Qi Huan’s pupils suddenly contracted.

The veins that pulsed on the young man’s neck now had a jade-like luster. Each breath he took was accompanied by the clearly audible thrum of his heartbeat. His Profound Steel Hundred-Forged Body had clearly reached the Anomaly of "Golden Flesh and Jade Bones."