Feng Luotian had seized Mao Quanzhou's head, torn it from his shoulders, and thrown it to the ground.
But how could a cultivator sitting two full levels lower achieve such a monstrous feat against a Seven Fangs Fighter? The answer was simple: he couldn't—not in his natural state.
Now, however, Luotian's body was no longer human. He was engulfed in a corona of golden lightning that crackled and arced wildly, the electrical discharge hissing as it bit into the air. Beneath the amethyst, a sinister, black gaseous flame oozed from his pores, swirling around his limbs like a living entity hungry for nothing but destruction.
His eyes had turned completely black, pupils, irises, and sclerae merging into twin dark voids. Crimson veins spread across the flesh around them, pulsing beneath his skin.
The transformation had twisted his expression almost beyond recognition. Surrounded by black flames, he looked more like a demon than the youth who had entered the village.
This was the cataclysmic transformation that occurred when Luotian activated his ability: Last Dance Curse.
///// [Last Dance Curse] Level 5 : Temporarily increase the user's level by 1 for 9 minutes. However, the user must collect 10 souls within this time. Failure to do so results in a decrease of 2 levels. /////
Wu Neng and the surviving villagers stared at him. The shock of his transformation gave way to recognition as they felt the aura radiating across the battlefield.
"This aura… This pressure… He's really from that clan, after all," Wu Neng murmured, his voice heavy with a profound mix of awe and a deep apprehension.
Although his current form stunned the villagers, the visceral scent of iron and the cooling of the air forced them to refocus. With Mao Quanzhou defeated and the suffocating pressure of his Evil Typhoon dissipated, the tide had turned with a decisive, bloody finality.
Within minutes, the battlefield was cleared of all resistance. Of the fifty-some bandits who had stormed the village with such arrogant intent, only one remained standing—their leader, Jiu Hao.
Despite his brutish demeanor and the callous way he ruled his troupe, Jiu Hao was not entirely devoid of emotion. While he had bullied his men relentlessly, his cruelty had been a crude, distorted form of kinship, born from the rough life of a scavenger. Now, as his eyes swept over the wreckage of his army, a storm of primal fury boiled within his chest. His breathing grew heavy and uneven, each exhale a ragged gust of hot, humid air.
Jiu Hao strained against the strengthened Abyss Bind Array, his boots sinking into the dirt. Unable to break free, he could only stare at his fallen men, his frustration mounting as the minutes passed.
The sight of his men lying in the dust fanned the flames of his hatred, and the obsidian chains holding him down finally began to show signs of structural fatigue.
The black links that had restrained him began to snap one by one, cracking apart with the sound of shattering stone under the sheer force of his swelling fury. His crimson hair and mustache quivered violently as his already massive muscles began to distort, bulging grotesquely beneath his skin.
Finally, with an earth-shaking roar that seemed to pull the very oxygen from the clearing, Jiu Hao broke free.
"Aargh!!"
The sound of his primal howl reverberated through the valley, a sonic shockwave so deafening it forced every villager to clutch their ears in a frantic attempt to block out the agony. Even Feng Luotian and Tu Lingxi were forced to shield their heads as the vibration tore through the battlefield, rattling their bones.
As the dust settled and his initial outburst subsided into a low, menacing growl, Jiu Hao leveled a massive finger at them, his voice dripping with a thick, viscous malice. "You will all die here today!"
///// Eight Fangs Stone Skin Vampiric Vulture /////
///// [Blood Sucker]: Every blood the user draws from their enemy will give vitality and life force to the user, increasing the user's attack and life regeneration rate. /////
Luotian frowned at the information. "Why can't these guys ever make it simple? If I remember correctly, the Stone Skin Vampiric Vulture bloodline has an innate skill too. So troublesome!"
Tu Lingxi turned to him, keeping her voice steady despite the pressure. "How should we deal with this guy?"
"Like before, we must avoid his attacks at all costs. Even one hit will give him an edge. Don't let him draw blood," Luotian instructed. His voice was a calm, resonant bass that seemed to vibrate from the black gaseous flames cloaking his form.
Lingxi nodded, her muscles coiling as she readied herself to charge into the fray, but Luotian raised a hand to stop her.
"Wait," he said, his tone measured and unreadable. "Let me try something first."
She watched curiously as he turned toward Jiu Hao. Their auras filled the space between them, crimson Theríon facing black flames.
A violent zap of lightning crackled, and Luotian vanished. He left behind nothing but a flickering arc of electricity that scorched the dirt where he had stood.
Slap!
A sharp, ringing sound echoed across the battlefield as his figure reappeared directly in front of Jiu Hao. His hand struck the bandit leader's face with enough force to shatter timber. Yet, the moment his palm made contact, the cold, black voids of Luotian's eyes flickered with a grim realization.
To any observer, it appeared that Luotian had delivered a mocking, high-speed slap to the bandit leader. But the truth was far more brutal; beneath the surface of the motion, his intent had been to seize the giant's head and either slam it into the earth or tear it from his shoulders with the same finality as Mao Quanzhou.
However, what met his hand was not yielding flesh or even reinforced muscle. It was like striking the unmoving base of a mountain. Despite the amplified strength of the Last Dance Curse, he could not move Jiu Hao's head even a single inch.
As I thought. It's Stone Hide, Luotian thought, his gaze narrowing as the golden lightning hissed around his fingertips.
The Eight Fangs Fighter had not even flinched. The skin of his face felt like cold, polished granite, immune to the shearing force that should have decapitated him.
Jiu Hao sneered, the corners of his mouth curling upward as his face now gleamed with a dull, stone-like sheen. "Is that all you can do, brat?!" he mocked, his voice dripping with disdain, the sound like grinding gravel.
Feng Luotian stepped back slightly, the black gaseous flames around him flickering as he recalled the details of the skill from his past life. Stone Hide… similar to Wuji's Stone Transformation, but instead of transforming the entire body, it only hardens the skin to maximize defense. No wonder he didn't even flinch.
Even as he processed this tactical data, Jiu Hao's massive hand shot upward, aiming to seize the arm that had dared to strike him.
Luotian's eyes flashed with a vibrant, electric blue as he activated Momentum Eyes, his gaze locking onto the kinetic path of the incoming grab. With pinpoint precision, he twisted his body, his movements fluid and effortless, slipping just out of reach like a shadow dancing through fingers.
In one smooth motion, he retreated, reappearing beside Tu Lingxi. His posture remained calm, but his eyes gleamed with a sharp focus as he reassessed the situation.
"You think you're the only one who's fast?!"
A chilling voice rang out from directly behind them, causing both Luotian and Lingxi to whirl around in shock. Standing just a foot away was the hulking figure of Jiu Hao, radiating a suffocating malice that terrified anyone within range.
Luotian reacted at once, but Jiu Hao's attack was coming too quickly. He backed away, trying to put enough distance between them to evade the grab.
But it was too late.
Jiu Hao's massive hand shot out with frightening, explosive velocity, clamping around Luotian's right leg like a crushing iron vice.
With a primal roar that shook the surrounding huts, Jiu Hao swung his captive through the air and slammed him into the ground with bone-crushing force.
Boom!
The earth beneath Luotian cracked and splintered into a web of debris as his body was pounded into the soil. A spray of blood spurted from his mouth upon impact, staining the dirt a dark, fresh crimson.
But the bandit leader didn't stop there.
With every successive slam, his strength surged, the crimson aura around him growing darker and more intense. His bloodlust was being fed by his ability, Blood Sucker, which greedily absorbed the leaking life force of his opponent.
Each drop of blood spilled by Luotian only made Jiu Hao stronger, his vitality replenished and his power amplified with every brutal impact.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The ground trembled under the weight of the relentless assault. Luotian's body grew weaker with each hit, his golden lightning flickering toward extinction, while Jiu Hao's crimson aura burned brighter and fiercer, fueled by the very life he was beating out of his foe.
Tu Lingxi finally snapped out of her paralyzing shock and sprang into action. Retrieving a handful of shimmering sakura petals from her pouch, she flung them into the air, the pink storm swirling as she prepared to repeat the same devastating onslaught that had dismantled Mao Quanzhou.
However, Jiu Hao was a far more seasoned monster.
With a guttural roar that vibrated through the soil, he activated Stone Hide, his skin instantly hardening into an impenetrable fortress of grey, textured mineral.
The defense was so absolute that even as Lingxi unleashed a frantic torrent of dozens of slashes, none of her strikes managed to pierce the granite-like surface. The blades merely sparked against his flesh, the metallic shriek of steel on stone filling the air.
Jiu Hao's sharp eyes tracked her relentless movements through the flurry, each ineffective strike helping him to coldly anticipate her rhythm.
Then, with a sudden, violent burst of strength, Jiu Hao flung Feng Luotian aside like a discarded ragdoll, the boy's body tumbling across the uneven ground in a cloud of dust. Without wasting a heartbeat, Jiu Hao turned his full attention toward Lingxi, lunging toward her with a speed that defied his massive bulk.
Mid-air, his massive hand closed around her slender throat like a crushing vice, lifting her effortlessly until her body dangled helplessly, her boots kicking at the empty air.
Lingxi gasped, her eyes wide with a primal panic as the iron grip around her neck constricted her airway, the scent of his sweat and the cold grit of his skin filling her senses. Her hands clawed desperately at his arm, but the stone-like texture made any resistance feel futile, like scratching at a mountain.
The gleaming Bone Claw Gauntlet on his other hand caught the morning light, its deadly, ivory blades poised for a final strike. With a cruel smirk that stretched his stone-grey features, Jiu Hao raised the weapon high, preparing to drive the claws deep into her vulnerable chest.
But just as the gauntlet's claws were about to pierce her skin—
Thunk!
A heavy wooden spear tore through the air and struck Jiu Hao's shoulder with a sickening, wet crunch. He howled in raw pain, the impact jarring his massive frame and causing his grip on Lingxi to falter. The sudden shock forced him to drop her, her body collapsing to the ground in a heap.
The spear had been hurled by Wu Neng, the village head, who stood several meters away with fierce, unyielding determination. His chest heaved as he prepared another projectile, ready to protect his people at the cost of his own life.
Lingxi hit the ground hard, gasping for breath. Her face was pale, and she couldn't stop trembling. The claws had come so close to her chest that she could think of little else. She was in no condition to continue fighting.
She staggered back, retreating to the sidelines with wide, glassy eyes as she tried to steady her breathing. But the cold shadow of the near-death experience lingered, leaving her paralyzed and unable to rejoin the battle.