All three Ice Spike Talismans missed their mark, exploding into deep pits on the riverbank and releasing waves of bone-chilling cold.

Zhou Kai stood in place, his brow furrowing slightly.

It just ran away?

His talismans had been all bark and no bite, purely for show. Was such a drastic reaction really necessary?

“Trying to run?!”

The tall, thin cultivator and the short, stout one roared in anger, immediately urging their respective Yin Corpses to give chase.

But the black monster was astonishingly fast, moving across the rugged riverbank as if it were flat ground. Its figure flickered several times, quickly opening up a significant distance. In the blink of an eye, it vanished deep into the miasma.

“Damn it! That thing is fast!” The stout cultivator panted, stopping in his tracks.

The tall cultivator also halted, his expression grim. “Forget it. Don’t chase it. That thing has no intelligence, only acting on instinct. Having it clear the path ahead for us isn’t bad. If we encounter strange beasts, it can help us wear them down first. Once its Yin energy is exhausted, it will stop on its own. We can deal with it then.”

As he spoke, he turned to look at Zhou Kai, a flicker of confusion in his eyes.

“Junior Brother Su, weren’t you assigned to the Geng Gold Mysterious River to collect the corpses of Blade Arm Strange Beasts? What brings you to this Green Disaster Sunken Abyss?”

Hearing this, the grave expression on Zhou Kai’s face slowly faded, replaced by a hint of a playful smile.

“Of course, I came to kill you.”

Before his words even finished, he moved.

The river water beneath his feet seemed trampled by an invisible, immense force, exploding with a roar. Zhou Kai’s figure shot forward like lightning, instantly crossing several zhang to appear right in front of the stout cultivator.

The warhammer forged from coffin wood felt weightless in his hand. With a whistling sound, it came crashing down toward the cultivator’s head.

“You—!”

The stout cultivator’s pupils contracted to pinpoints in terror. He only managed to utter a single word, unable to make any other reaction.

THUD!

A dull, wet sound. The stout cultivator’s head, along with the terror etched on his face, transformed into a spray of red and white mist. The headless corpse swayed for a moment before collapsing limply to the ground.

“Junior Brother!”

The tall cultivator felt his guts twist and his soul nearly flee his body. Without a second thought, he turned and fled, desperately urging the Yin Corpse beside him to attack, trying to buy himself a sliver of a chance to survive.

Zhou Kai didn’t even glance at him.

With a backhand swing, he smashed the charging Yin Corpse aside as if swatting a fly. The corpse shattered into pieces mid-air. Immediately, he pushed off with his feet, and his figure vanished once more.

“No—”

The tall cultivator sensed a malevolent wind at his back. His choked roar stuck in his throat.

CRACK!

Another sickening sound of bone shattering echoed. His world instantly plunged into eternal darkness.

Zhou Kai shook the blood and gore off his hammer and, without changing expression, collected the two men’s Storage Bags. The entire process had taken no more than a snap of the fingers.

He sneered. “Really thought you were something special, asking this and that.”

He continued piloting the Spirit Boat, following the river deeper into the abyss. Along the way, he encountered several more groups of Three-Eyed Crocodile Beasts, all of which he casually smashed to death, storing the corpses to serve as rations for his mantis babies.

After flying for roughly the time it takes an incense stick to burn, the sounds of fighting once again came from the miasma ahead.

Zhou Kai stowed the Spirit Boat and stealthily approached.

Ahead, on a wide stretch of riverbank, the black monster was locked in combat with seven or eight Three-Eyed Crocodile Beasts.

It was ferocious beyond measure. As its sharp claws swept through the air, black light flickered. The tough scales of the crocodile beasts were like paper under its claws, easily torn apart.

However, the moment Zhou Kai drew near, the black monster—which had been reveling in the slaughter—suddenly froze.

As if sensing something, it fiercely swiped a claw to force back the beast in front of it, turned, and fled, plunging headlong into the dense forest to the side and disappearing.

Zhou Kai stood still, stroking his chin, the doubt in his eyes deepening.

Once could be a coincidence, but twice?

This thing… it didn’t seem to be avoiding the fight. It was avoiding me!

What about him made it so wary? Was it the aura of the Cicada Raiment Art?

No, he had to catch it and get to the bottom of this.

Having made up his mind, Zhou Kai hesitated no longer. With a flicker of his figure, he also pursued into that ancient forest where towering trees reached for the sky.

The light inside the forest was even dimmer, and the miasma grew denser. Relying on his profound cultivation and the protection of his Miasma-Repelling Pills, Zhou Kai was unafraid. He followed the faint trail of Yin energy left by the black monster, tracking it all the way.

After chasing for roughly half an hour, the path ahead suddenly opened up, revealing a circular valley surrounded by steep cliffs.

The black monster was pacing back and forth anxiously within the valley, seemingly having discovered this was a dead end with no escape route.

Seeing Zhou Kai catch up, it let out a threatening growl from its throat. A pair of crimson eyes, hidden beneath disheveled hair, fixed intently on him, filled with savagery and… a trace of despair that was difficult to perceive.

“This time, let’s see where you run.”

Zhou Kai gave a cold laugh, his hands forming seals. Several Array Flags shot out, embedding themselves into the surrounding ground and cliff walls.

Hum!

A layer of transparent light instantly rose, completely sealing off the area.

“ROAR!”

Sensing something amiss, the black monster frantically charged at the light barrier, its sharp claws raking against it.

Zzzap!

Electric light flashed across the curtain with a sharp, grating sound. The black monster was thrown back by a tremendous force, letting out a pained roar as wisps of green smoke rose from its claws.

Seeing it couldn’t break the array, it went completely berserk.

It turned around, no longer attempting to flee. The pure Yin Shroud energy around its body surged skyward, condensing into a tangible form.

A terrifying Aura Pressure, far exceeding that of an ordinary Qi Condensation Great Perfection cultivator, descended with a crash!

“Oh? There’s a bit more to you.”

Zhou Kai’s eyes narrowed. This aura was infinitely close to Foundation Establishment.

“This is no ordinary Yin Corpse. It actually knows how to wield Mana. Let’s see what tricks you—this thing that’s neither human nor ghost—have up your sleeve!”

“Heh… heh…”

The black monster snarled, its figure flickering as it took the initiative to attack.

It was no longer the mindless, chaotic claw-swiping from before. Its five fingers pressed together, and its pitch-black claws became wrapped in a layer of condensed, tangible black Mana, stabbing straight for Zhou Kai’s chest!

Its speed was so fast it left a series of afterimages in its wake.

Zhou Kai didn’t retreat. He advanced.

Swinging the warhammer in his hand, he infused it not with Mana but solely with the raw power of his physical Vitality, meeting the claw head-on with a mighty smash.

He wanted to test just how strong this thing was.

CLANG!

A metallic crash, like iron striking iron, reverberated through the valley.

Zhou Kai felt a cold, domineering force travel up the hammer’s shaft. It numbed his arm slightly, churned the Vitality in his chest, and sent him sliding uncontrollably backward several zhang, plowing two deep furrows into the ground.

“I underestimated you!”

As for the black monster, it only grunted, its body swaying as it took two steps back before steadying itself. It shook its slightly numb claws, the ferocious light in its eyes intensifying.

“ROAR!”

It let out an ear-splitting scream, pushed off the ground with its legs, and shot into the air. Mana condensed into a giant palm that came smashing down toward Zhou Kai’s head.

So strong!

For the first time, a look of gravity appeared on Zhou Kai’s face.

“This strike is enough to threaten an ordinary first-layer Foundation Establishment cultivator. I can’t hold back any longer!”

Not daring to be overconfident, he madly circulated his Heavenly Script, simultaneously channeling both Mana and Vitality into the warhammer. The Myriad Forms Hammer Technique manifested the power of the Golden Shard.

With an explosive shout: “Break!”

In that instant, the warhammer erupted with a blinding golden light. An indomitable, evil-shattering power of the Golden Shard spread out, actually dispersing some of the surrounding Yin energy.

Zhou Kai, holding the golden-light-wreathed warhammer, met the hill-sized palm with a fierce smash.

BOOM—!

The giant hammer and the palm collided head-on.

A visible shockwave exploded outward from the point of impact. A violent gust of wind swept through, whipping up sand and stones, uprooting ancient trees, and sending boulders tumbling.

The black monster’s disheveled hair was violently blown back by this gust, exposing a face before Zhou Kai’s eyes.

It was a face scorched black by Yin fire, features twisted, the corners of its mouth stretched to its ears, revealing ghastly fangs.

Ugly. Ferocious. Horrifying.

Enough to make children cease their crying and haunt the nightmares of grown men.

However, Zhou Kai’s gaze froze completely.

Those eyes… Despite being filled with nothing but savagery, madness, and chaos, their shape, their brow…

Li Youci?!