Behind the black-robed man, two other black-robed individuals turned to look at their last companion, but he didn’t move, as if he hadn’t heard the words.

"Why not go?"

The black-robed man turned around, staring playfully at the companion with the lowest cultivation, "I killed your wife, and now I offer you an even more beautiful woman. What, you’re still not pleased? This is Yu Haitang, the third-ranked beauty and the direct descendant of the Yu Family. Even I’ve never had the pleasure..."

Deng Ziyang’s blood-red eyes showed no emotion as he silently walked towards Yu Haitang. When he was about a yard away, he suddenly reached out and pushed.

An invisible Gang Qi lifted Yu Haitang, who was sitting on the ground, and pushed her over to Chen Ming.

The black-robed man was somewhat puzzled, "Deng Ziyang, what do you mean by this? You endured when I killed your wife. Why choose not to endure today?"

Deng Ziyang turned around, drew his saber, and spoke in a hoarse voice, "Today is the day of your death, Zhu."

As he spoke, a drop of bright red blood oozed from his brow, instantly spreading a peculiar force field that fixed the black-robed man in place.

"Blood God Pearl!"

The black-robed man’s eyes flashed with intense heat upon seeing the drop of blood, "I knew it; it’s on you! Master Pang didn’t believe me..."

The other two black-robed individuals also looked unmistakably greedy, as if the drop of blood were fatally attractive to them.

Deng Ziyang ignored them, and another drop of bright red blood seeped from his brow, flying directly towards Gao Chen’s corpse on the ground.

After the blood drop entered Gao Chen’s corpse, within moments, the body shriveled and quickly turned into a pile of ashes. The drop of blood became even more vibrant, flying back to Deng Ziyang and quickly merging into his brow.

Instantly, his energy began to surge.

"Two drops!"

The black-robed man looked shocked, and then burst into wild laughter as the space around him distorted, causing the Blood God Pearl to vibrate erratically.

With a whoosh.

The black-robed man finally broke free from the restraint and reached out to grab the Blood God Pearl, which violently trembled, trying to shake off his hand.

"Now, you belong to me!"

The faint red Gang Yuan around the black-robed man kept vibrating, clearly showing that suppressing the Blood God Pearl was proving difficult.

Gradually, the Blood God Pearl was finally subdued by him.

He turned to look at Deng Ziyang, refraining from attacking, eyes full of playful malice.

At this moment, Deng Ziyang’s situation also stabilized, and after the Blood God Pearl plundered Gao Chen’s cultivation and blood essence, Deng Ziyang temporarily possessed the power of Third Grade.

The black-robed man asked him, "Why not directly break through to Third Grade? I can wait for you."

Deng Ziyang’s eyes revealed intense hatred, "Before you kill me, you can’t refine the Blood God Pearl. You have to divide your focus to suppress it and guard against the other two. How much power do you have left?"

The black-robed man laughed, "Cheap trick, trying to sow discord between me and my junior brothers?"

Deng Ziyang softly said, "Senior Brother Zhu, no one knows more than you how important the Blood God Pearl is to disciples of the Blood Demon Sect. Without the Blood God Pearl, we’re just prey for the envoy, at any moment our cultivation can be plundered. With the Blood God Pearl, one becomes a Demon Son. This is their only chance. Do you think they would be tempted?"

The atmosphere at the scene suddenly became strange.

The two black-robed men said nothing, their eyes flickering as if calculating something.

The black-robed man’s smile remained unchanged, "Even if all three of you join forces, so what? I’m First Grade! Killing you would be easy."

...

Meanwhile, Yu Haitang saw these people starting to fight amongst themselves, and without hesitation, took the opportunity to carry Chen Ming and prepared to leave.

Upon touching Chen Ming’s body, she was stunned to discover that incredible changes were occurring within him.

This is...

Her hand was repelled; the scorching aura had reddened her hand.

It was as if lava was rolling inside Chen Ming.

No doubt, this was real Gang Yuan!

Yu Haitang’s heart surged with a tempestuous shock: "How is this possible?"

He broke through to Fourth Grade in just over half a month.

During this time, he had been treating her and Su Zhining’s injuries, leaving no time to cultivate, instead constantly consuming his internal Gang Qi.

Normally, such consumption would harm one’s Primordial Qi.

Not only was Chen Ming unharmed, his cultivation actually grew, skyrocketing every few days. Now, he was directly advancing to Third Grade.

It’s fair to say that he nearly had a foot in Third Grade!

At this moment, the Gang Qi inside him was undergoing an astonishing transformation, turning into Gang Yuan.

Despite her shock, Yu Haitang’s first reaction was to protect Chen Ming.

At such a crucial moment, he must not be disturbed by anyone.

That Celestial Dao Alliance female disciple forcefully attacked while breaking through to Third Grade, resulting in ruptured meridians. If Chen Ming hadn’t been there, she would have died.

Thinking this, Yu Haitang nervously watched the four Blood Demon Sect members who were fighting amongst themselves.

Finally, someone couldn’t hold back and made a move.

A battle was imminent!

It was Deng Ziyang who attacked, borrowing the cultivation he plundered through the Blood God Pearl, possessing Third Grade combat power, and went all out, slicing towards "Senior Brother Zhu" with his long saber.

This saber contained Gang Yuan identical to that of Gao Chen earlier. Yu Haitang felt a chill, the Blood Demon Sect’s methods were truly evil, Gao Chen was dead, yet his cultivation was stolen by them.

No martial artist could tolerate having their painstakingly cultivated power forcibly taken.

Blood Demon Sect members deserve death!

"Senior Brother Zhu" faced the saber strike without dodging, simply raised a hand and lightly slapped.

With a loud bang.

The massive Sword Gang was shattered by him.

He said calmly, "You simply don’t understand the power of the First Grade."

As he spoke, he raised his hand for a strike.

Deng Ziyang wanted to dodge, but as he moved, a palm formed of Gang Yuan imprinted on his chest, slamming him against the wall.

The stone wall was shattered all over the place.

A complete and utter crush.

Senior Brother Zhu’s eyes revealed a hint of satisfaction, he said, "How’s that?"

Hmm?

Suddenly, he dodged to the side, and a long sword silently stabbed out from behind, slicing his shoulder, finally wounding him.

He said with a hint of anger in his voice, "Junior Brother Wang, Junior Brother Zheng, why must you court death?"

The two companions behind him were the ones who attacked; their strength far surpassed Deng Ziyang’s, one Second Grade, one Third Grade.

The two remained silent, only attacking Senior Brother Zhu frantically.

Normally, with his strength, killing these two would be easy. But at this moment, most of his power was used to suppress the Blood God Pearl, and crucially, his Primordial Spirit was affected, making many techniques unusable.

For a moment, he couldn’t kill the two of them.

He angrily rebuked, "Fools, Deng Ziyang has already escaped."

Even so, the two still showed no intention of stopping.

Both of them knew that if they stopped now, this ruthless Senior Brother Zhu would never spare them. Once he recovered, he would use the most brutal methods to torture them to death.

Just like how he had driven Deng Ziyang into a desperate situation step by step. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

...

[You killed an LV73 enemy, gaining 350,000 experience points.]

After Chen Ming killed Gao Chen, without any hesitation, he increased the proficiency of the Five Elements True Skill (Missing) to the seventh level.

Immediately, the Gang Qi within his body transformed, changing into Gang Yuan.

The entire process lasted several minutes.

Fortunately, Deng Ziyang bought him time, allowing him to successfully break through.

[Level: 70]

[Current Points: 174,896]

[Cultivation Technique: Iron Horse Stance (Fifth Level Perfection), Five Elements True Skill (Missing) (Seventh Level 1/10,000,000)]

[Martial Skill: Three Talents Fist (Great Success), Eight Trigrams Saber Technique (Great Success), Zhuang’s Flying Knife (Great Success), Swallow Returning Sword Technique (Great Success), Vermilion Bird Swordsmanship (Great Success), Phoenix Dance of Nine Heavens (Third Level 1,322/300,000)]

[Secret Technique: Disguise Technique (Great Success)]

"Finally Third Grade!"

As Chen Ming opened his eyes, he saw Deng Ziyang embedded in the stone wall.

Not good!

He raised his hand, using Gang Yuan to pull Deng Ziyang over. With a slight probe, he found his injuries were severe, leaving him barely clinging to life.

Chen Ming immediately pressed onto his back, inputting Gang Yuan of the Profound Wood True Skill to heal him.

With the other hand, he picked up Yu Haitang and made a swift escape.

He knew very well that having just broken through to Third Grade, he was still far from being able to handle a First Grade.

Everyone who reaches the First Grade realm is no weakling. They are all geniuses among geniuses. Even in the Blood Demon Sect, known for shortcuts, it’s the same.

Even if he were lucky enough to kill a First Grade, the price would be unimaginable. Right now, in this cave abode, there are too many experts, and many with hidden motives, this was not the time to fight to the death.

Chen Ming continued to heal Yu Haitang and Deng Ziyang simultaneously.

However, after reaching Third Grade, the power of the Mystic Wood Gang Yuan was incomparable, and it didn’t take long for him to pull Deng Ziyang back from the gates of hell.

Soon, he found that the injected Gang Yuan in Deng Ziyang’s body was being absorbed by him.

Deng Ziyang woke up, looking at him with a somewhat sentimental tone, "It’s been years, I didn’t expect we’d meet again here."

Chen Ming said, "When you turned on them earlier, I knew you were still the chivalrous Deng Ziyang."

Just now, if it weren’t for Deng Ziyang buying time, he might not have succeeded in advancing to Third Grade.

Even with the advancement, facing a First Grade, a Second Grade, and a Third Grade, escaping with Yu Haitang seemed almost impossible.

In such a situation, what Deng Ziyang did was hopeless, akin to courting death. But he still stepped up without hesitation.

"A true spirit of chivalry!"

Suddenly, a mocking voice came from the front.

Is there someone everywhere?

Chen Ming cursed in his heart, stopping to look ahead, seeing a young noble with a face as handsome as jade standing there, both his appearance and aura gave a sense of familiarity.

Soon, he remembered who he resembled, Jiang Shihua!

PS: Achieved Third Grade, asking for monthly votes.