The old man ignored Fang Shuwen, his eyes vicious, a faint red glint shining from within.

His bones popped and cracked without pause.

He lunged forward in a flash, his fingers shaped like a blade as he aimed straight for Fang Shuwen’s throat.

But just as he came within three inches of Fang Shuwen’s throat, he stopped dead.

At some point, Fang Shuwen had caught his withered wrist.

The old man’s eyes flew open. True Qi surged through his body and his bones began to crack again, yet he remained utterly unable to break free from Fang Shuwen’s grip.

"Your bones... They’re quite interesting."

Fang Shuwen squeezed slightly, and a look of terror washed over the old man’s face.

"Impossible! How can you be crushing my bones?"

Fang Shuwen ignored him. As he slightly loosened his grip, he felt the skeletal old man’s wrist bone regenerating at an astonishing rate.

Realization dawned on him.

’I heard from Chen Yan that the Hundred Ghosts Hall has a total of four Ghost Kings.’

’They correspond to Blood, Flesh, Bone, and Life!’

"I wonder, what is your connection to the so-called Bone King?"

"AHHH!!!"

The old man didn’t answer. With a furious roar, the aura around him surged once more.

Fang Shuwen’s brow furrowed slightly. With a sudden flick of his wrist, he released him.

Immediately, he channeled his Palm Power, making his hand as sharp as a blade. Unskilled Palm Technique!

A single up-and-down strike of [Mountain Splitting] sent the old man’s arms flying. Fang Shuwen followed up with a [Broken Stream] palm, and the man’s legs were severed at the hip.

Only his head and torso remained, which tumbled to the ground.

The corner of Zhai Xing’s eye twitched as she watched—not because of Fang Shuwen’s ruthless methods, but because of his Martial Arts.

’Just a moment ago, my [Three Lights White Jade Finger]—though not at full power—was still unleashed in anger. And yet, it failed to even pierce this old man’s skull.’ ’But Fang Shuwen, with a few seemingly casual palm strikes, had severed all four of the man’s limbs.’ ’It’s clear this young man’s Martial Arts are far superior to my own.’

A blood-curdling scream erupted from the old man’s mouth. Fang Shuwen shot him a look, his eyes tinged with disgust.

"Shut up."

For some unknown reason, though the two words were spoken softly, they struck the old man’s heart with overwhelming terror.

An intense killing intent slammed into him, making it difficult to breathe. Despite the excruciating pain from his severed limbs, he subconsciously clamped his mouth shut.

Fang Shuwen’s gaze swept across the area.

With more and more disciples from Yuqing Pavilion arriving, the remaining assailants were now thoroughly overwhelmed.

Fang Shuwen grabbed the old man by the head and casually tossed the limbless torso to Zhai Xing.

"Could I trouble you to stop his bleeding, Senior? We can’t let him die."

"There are still some things we need to ask him."

Zhai Xing said nothing. With a wave of her hand, she first shattered the old man’s rotten teeth. She pried his mouth open for an inspection and, once she confirmed there were no hidden dangers, she called a disciple over to apply Golden Wound Medicine and stop the bleeding.

At the same time, she struck his Dantian Qi Sea with her palm, crippling his Inner Strength.

Lastly, she delivered a heavy blow to the old man’s collarbones, shattering them. To her surprise, however, they regenerated almost instantly.

Fang Shuwen crooked his fingers, and a short blade crafted from white bone flew from the ground into his palm.

He handed it to Zhai Xing.

"You could sever his collarbones and remove a few pieces of the bone."

Zhai Xing’s eyes instantly lit up.

"An excellent method, Young Hero Fang!"

’Young people are so quick-witted,’ she marveled to herself. ’Earlier today, he’d had the brilliant idea to hand those treacherous fiends from Setting Sun Valley over to the Nianhua Zen Temple for judgment.’ ’And now, faced with this old monster whose bones regenerate when broken, he suggests simply removing pieces of them. Even if he could somehow recover from that, his vitality would be crippled.’

Not even waiting for her disciples to act, Zhai Xing took care of it herself. The old man’s piercing screams instantly echoed in all directions.

Fang Shuwen instinctively glanced over at Zhou Qingmei, half-expecting her to be unable to stomach such a gruesome scene.

To his surprise, however, Zhou Qingmei was watching with rapt attention.

"Miss... oh, Qingmei."

Fang Shuwen hadn’t even finished saying "Miss" before he was met with a sharp glare from Zhou Qingmei, forcing him to quickly correct himself.

"Don’t you find my methods a bit... excessive?"

Zhou Qingmei glanced at the bodies of the fallen Yuqing Pavilion disciples scattered around them, then snorted.

"He deserves death by a thousand cuts."

’Fair enough!’

Fang Shuwen said no more. His gaze swept over the old man and his now-defeated subordinates, and he finally shook his head gently.

"This can’t be all of them."

Zhai Xing had just finished carving out a section of the old man’s bone and had tossed it aside.

"What makes you say that, Young Hero Fang?"

"The person who died earlier was frightened to death. That doesn’t seem like this group’s handiwork."

Fang Shuwen said.

"I wonder, did the Yuqing disciples who found this place spot anyone else?"

Two of the Yuqing Pavilion disciples who had survived the initial encounter were resting behind the others.

Hearing Fang Shuwen’s question, Zhai Xing quickly had the two of them brought over.

Both women were in a wretched state, covered in bloody wounds, but they still managed to cup their fists in a salute to Fang Shuwen. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Greetings, Young Master Fang."

Fang Shuwen quickly waved his hand dismissively.

"There’s no need for formalities. If I may ask the two of you..."

He repeated his earlier question.

One of them immediately said:

"When we arrived, there was indeed someone else here."

"But he was wearing a mask, so I couldn’t see his face clearly."

"What kind of mask?"

"The mask was quite ordinary, but it looked like it had... a bird of prey painted on it?"

"An eagle! There was a... a smiling eagle painted on the mask!"

The other one answered.

’So it is the Smiling Eagle.’

Fang Shuwen’s brow twitched.

"Was there only one person wearing that mask?"

"That’s right."

The two nodded in unison, and then one of them said: