Both the human features atop his head and his crane face were contorted in a ferocious, twisted mask of agony.

If he could just hold on for a single moment, he would have a chance to escape.

As long as a shred of his flesh and blood could get away—even a single drop of blood—he could one day recover.

And to do that, he had to use the power of the Earth Spirit Stele!

In the throes of extreme pain, Elder Life Crane suddenly opened his crane beak, spewing a massive cloud of black smoke.

The black smoke billowed out, rapidly spreading to envelop his entire body.

Invisible barriers manifested in the space around him, forcibly expelling all the tentacles that had already burrowed into his body.

But at the same time, clearly visible cracks began to appear on the barriers.

The Earth Spirit Stele was already damaged and not yet fully repaired, but Elder Life Crane could no longer afford to worry about that.

As long as he survived, he would sooner or later find a chance to repair the Earth Spirit Stele.

He watched as more and more cracks spread across the barriers, but at the same time, a large number of tentacles were being forcibly stripped from his body.

'Now's my chance!'

Seizing the opportunity, Elder Life Crane tore his flesh from the mass, even though many tentacles had yet to be detached. It was his only choice.

"AHHHH!!!"

A pained roar erupted from his mouths, as if the screams of He Tou and the Life Crane had overlapped into one as he forcefully broke free.

One meter... five meters... ten meters...

Elder Life Crane broke free from all the tentacles and charged outward. By the time he was completely clear, less than half of his flesh and blood remained.

His internal organs, bones, and meridians had all been ripped out and torn apart, falling away piece by piece. He was mangled beyond recognition.

But he had succeeded!

He was about to escape the area enveloped by the tentacles. Freedom was within his grasp!

'I will get out of here! And I will be back!'

"Yang An!!!"

He spat out the name, his every thought consumed by vengeance and killing intent.

'If only I had killed him back then instead of taking him as my disciple, none of this would have happened!'

'But it doesn't matter. One day... I will kill him! I'll plunder everything he has! I'll flay him alive and suck his marrow dry!'

BOOM!

As the last tentacle tore free, it ripped the Heart from Elder Life Crane's body.

'Finally...'

Elder Life Crane was ecstatic!

But in the next moment, a figure bathed in light suddenly appeared before him.

It was a well-proportioned silhouette carrying a Longbow. The figure's face was obscured, and the light radiating from their body was too blinding to look at directly.

The instant Elder Life Crane saw this figure, he froze.

"Master! Were you just calling for me?"

A familiar voice issued from the figure of light.

He wasn't sure if it was a figment of his imagination, but though he couldn't make out the person's face through the blinding light, he could have sworn he saw a smile.

A sinister... ruthless smile.

Once upon a time, he had been just like that. He saw his former, contemptuous self in that smile.

But now, he was the one standing here, reduced to the kind of person he used to look down on.

A sudden sense of foreboding washed over Elder Life Crane. He had never felt this kind of... panic before?

'Panic?'

'No!'

'I would never panic!'

'Who am I? I am the Life Crane! The Life Crane!!'

Elder Life Crane suddenly began to laugh. The boy had delivered himself right to his doorstep.

'I'll kill you!'

'If I kill Yang An, all of this will go away. I can turn the tables. Everything will be fine.'

Elder Life Crane attacked without hesitation, even though he couldn't muster a tenth of his usual strength and hadn't yet fully escaped the tentacles' reach.

He no longer cared about any of that.

Vicious flames carrying dense, pitch-black smoke instantly formed a storm, seeking to kill Yang An in a single blow.

'This isn't a Technique; it's the Power of Rules, originating from my Xianyuan Forbidden Artifact Fragment! Yang An's Activated Forbidden Artifact Fragment is useless before my Xian Origin Rules!'

'Die!'

The firestorm coalesced into a gigantic, black-and-red crane that grew larger and larger.

But before it could strike, Yang An had already raised his hand and clenched his fist.

'Qi Guang Technique!'

'Celestial Gnomon Body!'

'Nine Forces Shocking Dragon!'

A majestic power erupted from within Yang An's body. The air around him pulsed, and dust and stone were kicked into the air.

This one punch was his everything!

'And while I'm at it...'

"Bow Lady! Hit me again!"

BOOM!

As extreme pain coursed through his soul, Bow Lady gave him a vicious jolt.

In that instant, an invisible, terrifying Power erupted from Yang An's body, shattering everything within a hundred-meter radius behind him.

'Die!'

Fueled by hatred, by killing intent, by the will to live.

Fueled by everything...

Yang An roared and threw his punch.

All the power in his body was unleashed without reserve.

A terrifying power that had long been accumulating erupted from his fist, along with a blazing white and multicolored light.

The giant storm crane, woven from fire and black smoke, had grown to be dozens of meters tall, but under this punch, it let out a sorrowful cry and instantly dissipated.

Doubt and disbelief filled Elder Life Crane's three eyes, but in the next second, he was struck as if by a colossal blow.

What little flesh he had left was rapidly disintegrated by the power erupting from the punch.

BOOM—

The power and light blasted through Elder Life Crane's torso, shattering the invisible barriers behind him one by one.

Traveling through the tentacles, the force struck the mountain peak itself.

Instantly, the earth shook and the mountain trembled. Everything in the path of this power was pulverized, turning to dust.

It pulsed and surged like a great tidal wave, tearing apart and destroying everything.

A deafening roar echoed between heaven and earth, so powerful it blew apart the clouds in the distance. Fleeing birds exploded into a bloody mist before vanishing into nothingness.

In the blink of an eye, the several-hundred-meter-tall mountain peak had completely vanished.

This punch was like one thrown by an ancient giant—its power was immense, its devastation absolute.

And yet, even under the force of that mighty punch, some of Elder Life Crane's flesh and blood still remained.

Half of his crane face even survived, its expression frozen in place.

Just then, with the barriers shattered and nothing to stop them, a swarm of tentacles surged forward and plunged into Elder Life Crane's remaining flesh.

The tentacles wove together, enveloping what was left of his body and compressing it layer by layer.

"No! If you kill me, you'll never get the Mystic Path Decoded Cultivation Technique, and you'll never learn the secrets of the Earth Spirit Stele! Your life will go no further…"

The half-crane face and the mass of flesh struggled within the cocoon of tentacles, making it impossible to tell if it was the Life Crane or He Tou speaking.

But Yang An was unmoved, his expression cold.

He was still reeling from the power of his own punch, but he had heard Elder Life Crane's words and dismissed them with contempt.

'If I kill Elder Life Crane, I live. Even if I get stuck at the Zombie God realm, there's still hope of finding other possibilities.'

'But if I don't kill him, I won't survive at all.'

'Even an idiot knows that life and freedom are the prerequisites for hope.'

'So...'

"Master! Allow me to call you that one last time!"

"Now, you can just die!"

Yang An managed to lift his hand and give a small wave, a final smile at last spreading across his face.

"NO!!! You'll regret this! You'll regret this!"

Hearing Yang An's reply, the voice grew hoarser and fainter.

It struggled desperately to break free with its last remnant of a body, but the tentacles had already fused with its flesh.

Tighter and tighter they coiled! Tighter and tighter!

From hundreds of meters... to dozens... to just a few...

Finally, it was compressed into a silver, fist-sized sphere, seemingly crushed to its absolute limit.

A crane's cry emerged from within, as faint as the chirping of a cicada.

VMMMM!

The sphere compressed one last time, shrinking to the size of a thumbnail and becoming a single silver bead, which fell to the ground with a CLINK.

At the same time, an ordinary-looking, slender arrow also fell to the ground.

Watching this from a short distance away, Yang An was suddenly filled with suspicion.

He had been about to let out a sigh of relief, but now a series of confused questions ran through his mind.

'What's the meaning of this?'

'Is it over?'

'That old bastard should be completely gone now, right?'