He was silent for a moment, then finally let out a soft breath.

"Since you didn’t know... never mind."

The man stared blankly for a moment, then his eyes filled with the ecstatic joy of having survived. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

But before the smile could even form, a black gleam shot through the center of his forehead. With a look of bewilderment, he collapsed to the ground.

Qin Fang calmly watched the body fall, then walked over to ’Yan Jun’s’ corpse, preparing to loot it.

But just as his hand reached out, it froze mid-air, and his brow furrowed.

He thought of Wang Hu...

’This thing... it’s not going to suddenly explode and release some kind of monster, is it...?’

Before the thought had even fully formed, an unprecedented wave of heart-pounding dread suddenly washed over him.

Qin Fang’s pupils constricted. Without a second thought, he shot backward.

But in the next instant, there was a deafening BOOM.

The corpse in front of him had exploded!

A tremendous force erupted, instantly blasting Qin Fang away!

As the terrifying power surged toward him, Qin Fang instinctively threw his arms up to block. With a sharp CRACK, agonizing pain shot through his hands!

In the next moment, the force slammed his hands violently into his chest. A sweet taste filled his throat as he involuntarily coughed up a mouthful of blood.

THUD!!!

He was sent flying more than ten meters, crashing hard into the mud outside the thatched hut. He tumbled over and over before finally coming to a stop.

The world spun around him. The force of the impact left him breathless. With great effort, he raised his head in horror and saw...

Inside the hut was a round, fleshy monster, its entire body covered in a grotesque network of vein-like patterns. It opened a mouth filled with serrated fangs and let out a piercing shriek...

’It really appeared!!!’

’The same kind of monster that was inside Wang Hu?!’

Qin Fang’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head.

In the next instant, he saw the monster bounce into a high leap, hurtling directly toward him!

Greatly alarmed, Qin Fang reacted instantly, throwing himself into a desperate roll to dodge.

THUD!

Muddy water splashed high as the monster’s jaws clamped down on the ground, getting a mouthful of dirt. It then began spitting it out with a series of "PTUI, PTUI" sounds.

The sight was almost comical, but Qin Fang was in no mood to laugh. Forcing himself to ignore the pain racking his body, he flipped his hand, drew a handful of Iron Nails, and flung them!

The Iron Nails, imbued with Anjin, flew with incredible speed and struck the monster in an instant!

SQUELCH!

The Iron Nails pierced the monster’s body.

But they didn’t go all the way through!

The monster shrieked in pain—a sound like a wailing infant—and launched itself at Qin Fang again!

Its speed was incredible.

Qin Fang had no time to dodge. He could only turn sideways and raise his arm to block, mustering all his strength for the impact.

THUD!!

Another dull thud. Qin Fang spat out another mouthful of blood as he was sent flying five or six meters, landing in a miserable heap.

The monster, however, was also knocked back by the impact and fell to the ground.

Dizzy and disoriented, his face caked with mud, Qin Fang stared in horror.

He saw several small, bloody holes on the monster’s body, oozing the same dark blood. It smeared across its slimy, vein-covered skin, making it look even more grotesque!

But it only hopped in place for a moment before leaping again, this time snapping its jaws at Qin Fang.

Qin Fang was unarmed. The creature’s teeth were as sharp as Daggers; if it bit him now, he would surely lose a limb!

Fortunately, since he was already on the ground, Qin Fang managed to evade the attack with a few quick rolls.

As he rolled, he reached into his clothes and pulled out another large handful of Iron Nails.

Then, without even looking, he mustered all his strength and hurled them in the monster’s direction!

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

This time, at least a few dozen Iron Nails, all thrown with full force, flew straight at the monster.

The monster’s momentum didn’t slow. Just as it landed, the dozens of Iron Nails were upon it.

SQUELCH! SQUELCH!

In an instant, more than a dozen bloody holes appeared on its ’back’.

Many other Iron Nails flew wide.

The monster shrieked in pain again.

Taking the opportunity, Qin Fang held his breath and scrambled toward the hut. In the blink of an eye, he reached one of the corpses and snatched up the saber that had fallen beside it.

When he turned back, he saw the monster was already leaping at him again.

Its speed was astonishing!

This time, with the saber in hand, Qin Fang instantly unleashed his Gale Saber Technique, bringing the long blade hacking down!

The monster was helpless in mid-air. Imbued with Anjin, the long saber struck true!

SQUELCH!!

"AAAAH!!~~~"

The long saber sank nearly halfway into the monster’s body. The creature let out a shriek so terrifyingly loud that Qin Fang felt a sharp, stabbing pain in his ears. A moment later, all sound around him seemed to dim, as if he’d been plunged underwater!

’My eardrums burst!’

He realized it instantly.

But this was no time to worry about ruptured eardrums.

He looked at the monster. It was practically impaled on his saber, thrashing wildly. Dark red blood gushed from the wound, but its Life Force was terrifyingly potent. It continued to struggle and writhe, trying to free itself from the long blade.

Ignoring the revulsion, Qin Fang’s face twisted into a snarl. He raised the long saber high—with the monster still impaled on it—and, as if splitting firewood, brought it crashing down onto the hut’s wooden floor!

An incredible amount of strength erupted in that single moment. With a deafening CRASH, the wooden floor instantly gave way, collapsing into a huge hole. The monster and Qin Fang plunged through the floorboards together!