’They must be experts who just entered the Blood Exchange Realm, or at best reached Minor Achievement.’

’I haven’t even used my Divine Weapon, Gilded Stream, and yet they dare to rush right in front of me.’

’How foolish.’

’And then there’s the Linn Character State. Ever since I entered the Flesh Refining Realm, the duration I can maintain it has increased dramatically. With my current strength, I can hold it for the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea without harming myself.’

’It just leaves me with some sore muscles and bones.’

Looking at the two, who were beaten by his two heavy hammer strikes until they were barely breathing, Xu Yunfan couldn’t help but marvel at the potent Life Force of Blood Exchange Realm experts. After suffering such a terrifying attack, they could still cling to a breath of life, stubbornly refusing to die.

’For Martial Artists with such freakish Life Force, it seems they’ll only quiet down once their heads are smashed to bits.’

As he considered this, he heard the sounds of someone rapidly approaching from a distance. Xu Yunfan flicked the tip of his foot, sending the old man’s Heavy Sword flying up. The Profound Iron Blade spun three times in his palm before he suddenly threw it southeast.

As the blade tore through the night, the neighing of warhorses came from three hundred paces away, in the direction of Divine Weapon Ridge. The Flying Sword, infused with his Red Flood Dragon Mountain Coiling Strength, had pinned three heavily armored warhorses to an old locust tree by the main road.

The woman lying not far away suddenly tore open her collar, and a silver light burst from the Heart Compass on her chest.

Seven Bone-piercing Needles shot out from her compass, and the Golden Silkworm Threads attached to their ends wove a Celestial Net in the night sky.

This was the woman’s desperate, life-or-death killing move, "Blood-embroidered Mountains and Rivers." Every strand of Golden Silkworm Thread was tempered with Miaojiang Gu Poison, specifically designed to break through Qi Force and Horizontal Training.

"Nice try! I’ve been watching you all along."

He had mainly wanted to interrogate them to find out how they had tracked him. After all, with his Hunting Skill, he was quite confident in his ability to cover his tracks.

But now that his opponent could still unleash a considerable amount of power, he instantly dismissed the idea.

The muscles in Xu Yunfan’s arms suddenly contracted by two inches. The unique "Bone Shrinking and Unloading Power" of his Profound Steel Hundred-Forged Body allowed the Golden Silkworm Silk Net to graze past his skin.

He stomped his right foot, shattering the bluestone bricks on the ground. His feet moved like shadows, and the brick fragments, infused with his Red Flood Dragon Mountain Coiling Strength, shot out like a meteor shower of arrows, pinning the Golden Silkworm Silk Net to the dilapidated Weituo Statue.

The woman’s ten fingers, already twisted and broken by the heavy hammer, flew as she manipulated the threads. The entire ruined temple suddenly trembled like a puppet on strings, and the decaying beams were pulled toward the young man by the Golden Silkworm Threads.

Xu Yunfan’s pupils reflected the shower of splintered wood, and the corners of his mouth curved into a sneer.

"If you were at your peak and used this move, I might have shown you some respect..."

The Thunderfire Qilin Hammer spun in his palm like a pinwheel. He suddenly shifted from the fifth move of his Thousand-Pound Mountain-Shaking Hammer Technique, "Cloud Gate Locking Mountain," to the seventh, "Eagle’s Beak Shattered Rock." The moment the hammer’s head struck the first beam, the Nine-layered Spiral Force exploded along the wood grain, instantly turning the entire beam into thousands of wooden splinters that shot back in reverse.

The woman shrieked and tried to block, only to realize her body was already too broken to muster any Strength. She could only rely on the golden threads shooting from the disk on her chest, but she saw that Xu Yunfan had already leaped into the air, stepping on the flying splinters.

The great dragon of the young man’s spine compressed to its limit like a spring. The power of the Red Flood Dragon Mountain Coiling Strength, accumulated in the fascia of his arches, was released with a bang.

This single leap shattered the tiles on the temple roof. As he descended, Xu Yunfan swung his Thunderfire Qilin Hammer in a perfect arc. Before the hammer even arrived, the wind pressure had already pulverized the bluestone bricks on the ground into dust.

The old man suddenly shot up from a pool of his own blood, his shattered spine making a clicking sound like a viper flicking its tongue.

He bit off the root of his tongue, spitting out an arrow of blood. His right arm, powered by the Northern Land’s Blood Burning Secret Technique, swelled to three times its normal size. He grasped the twisted short sword at his waist and delivered the strongest slash of his life.

The moment the blade tore through the night, it burned the air in the rain, creating a scorched smell. This was the "Blood-Burning Sword Gang," which pushed his entire life’s Blood Exchange Realm Cultivation to its absolute peak.

The shockwave from the collision of the hammer and sword shattered every window lattice inside the ruined temple.

The web of Xu Yunfan’s thumb split open, but before the blood could even drip, his Profound Steel Hundred-Forged Body had already forced the muscles of the wound to close.

He suddenly released the handle of his hammer, allowing the Thunderfire Qilin Hammer to be sent flying by the Sword Gang. His palms, however, clamped onto the old man’s wrists like iron pincers.

His Red Flood Dragon Mountain Coiling Strength surged up the enemy’s meridians in reverse, shattering the old man’s arm bones into seventeen pieces.

At that exact moment, the woman’s Golden Silkworm Silk Net wrapped around Xu Yunfan’s neck.

She tugged on the threads with a savage grin, only to find the muscles on the young man’s neck glinting with the luster of Profound Iron. The Red Flood Dragon Mountain Coiling Strength surged back at her along the Golden Silkworm Threads.

Xu Yunfan’s neck suddenly twisted to the right. The instant the Golden Silkworm Threads cut a third of an inch into his flesh, he used his brute strength to fling the entire poisonous net into the air.

"HUP!"

With a fierce shout, Xu Yunfan grabbed the Golden Silkworm Threads around his neck, his waist and hips rotating and vibrating like a millstone.

As the woman was flung off the ground, the young man took three steps, pulling the Golden Silkworm Threads wrapped around his body taut like the strings of a harp.

When he took the ninth step, the vibrational frequency of the threads resonated with the tremors of his footsteps, and the remaining pillars of the ruined temple exploded in unison.

The old man struggled to throw half a broken blade, but Xu Yunfan easily caught the flying sword between two fingers.

The Red Flood Dragon Mountain Coiling Strength erupted from between his fingers, forcibly crushing patterns into the Profound Iron Blade.

His counterattack, flinging the sword back, was as fast as lightning. The Broken Sword pierced the woman’s Scapula, pinning her to the Demon-Slaying Pestle held in the hand of the mostly shattered Weituo Statue.

The night grew deeper. Xu Yunfan picked up his Thunderfire Qilin Hammer. Dragging the hammer head across the ground and kicking up sparks, he strode proudly toward the two of them.

"Wait, wait! I know the Daqian Army’s tactical maps, and why they’re here..."

"I have a map to an unknown Secret Realm in the Northern Land! There’s a high chance it’s a blessed land inside..."

Before the words were even finished, two heavy hammer blows fell upon them.

THUD! THUD!

Looking at the two piles of bloody pulp that were once the pair, Xu Yunfan let out a soft breath.

’If you can survive this, I’ll kowtow and call you both my godfathers right now!’

’So, I can now hammer a Minor Achievement Blood Exchange expert to death without even using the Divine Weapon Gilded Stream. If it were someone at the Great Mastery of Blood Exchange, though, I’d need the help of a Divine Weapon and the Linn Character State to fight, win, and kill.’

’You have successfully killed a powerful enemy. Your Thousand-Pound Mountain-Shaking Hammer Technique Skill Level has increased.’

’You have successfully...’

Not bad. The two notifications had raised the Skill Level of his Thousand-Pound Mountain-Shaking Hammer Technique by eight points.

As Xu Yunfan flicked the blood and gore from his hammer’s head, his ears suddenly caught a strange sound on the wind.

A northwesterly wind carried a scorched smell past his nose—the distinct odor of burning lamp oil mixed with pine resin. He turned his head. Thirty li away, in the direction of Divine Weapon Ridge, the night sky was stained a dark crimson.

"Senior Brother!"

That sound, coming from Divine Weapon Ridge—a roar that could pierce clouds and shatter stone—tore through the night sky, causing Xu Yunfan’s pupils to shrink.

He shouldered the Thunderfire Qilin Hammer, and its mechanism unfolded in layers, locking it securely onto his back.

The unique power-unloading technique of his Profound Steel Hundred-Forged Body now became a method for rapid assault. Combined with the Light Body force emission from Flying Leg, the fascia in the arches of his feet vibrated thirteen consecutive times like a powerful bow. Every step he took resounded with the sound of wind and thunder.

The bluestone road cracked and exploded under his feet, and the flying debris kicked up a huge cloud of dust behind him.

A watchtower on the main road five li away suddenly lit up with torches. Before the Crossbowmen of the Daqian Army guarding the roadside checkpoint could even nock their arrows, Xu Yunfan had already smashed through the wooden barricade like a war chariot.

As if rampaging across a battlefield, Xu Yunfan used his shoulder as an arrowhead. With a shift of his shoulder blades, he sent three soldiers in Heavy Armor flying.

Fragments of broken Chain Armor embedded themselves in the pillars of the gatehouse, jamming the descending portcullis.

"Enemy attack!!"