Thump! Just as Youyue's back hit the ground, he felt a surge of Dou Qi sweep toward him—it was Tuman, whose cyan steel claws suddenly shot out two beams of cyan Dou Qi.
He clearly knew that the kick just now hadn't been enough to kill Youyue, which was why he immediately launched a follow-up attack, determined not to give Youyue any chance to catch his breath!
However, Youyue's reaction was equally astonishing!
His entire body sprung up the instant he landed, like an overinflated ball, and as he bounced upward, the longsword in his hand had already swept out a golden, blazing crescent of fire.
It slammed directly into the two approaching cyan light beams!
Boom! Boom!
The golden, fiery crescent intercepted the two cyan beams with perfect accuracy! What followed was a fierce shockwave of explosion, spreading unchecked!
It was clear how astonishingly powerful those two cyan beams had been!
But Youyue had finally managed to neutralize Tuman's killing move!
The moment Tuman unleashed the cyan beams, Youquan pressed his attack, thrusting his sword forward once more.
Swish, swish, swish! A series of dazzling sword flashes erupted! Youquan unleashed over thirty strikes in rapid succession! They targeted Tuman's chest, abdomen, throat, shoulders, face—every vital spot!
The timing, angles, power, and speed were all impeccably perfect!
It was as if thirty master swordsmen had attacked Tuman simultaneously!
Even Tuman, known for his lightning speed, had to exert his full strength against the relentless barrage of quick sword strikes, forced to abandon his pursuit of Youyue!
The cyan steel claws danced up and down! Each time, with uncanny skill, they struck Youquan's fast sword attacks!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
For a moment, the sounds of metal striking metal rang out like popping beans, as Tuman managed, in the blink of an eye, to block every single incoming sword strike with astonishing reflexes!
Meanwhile, Youyue, having neutralized the two cyan beams, used the cover of Youquan's flurry to flash like lightning toward Tuman's right flank! He, too, launched a stormy series of rapid sword strikes!
The two formed a pincer movement, flanking Tuman left and right! Their coordination was seamless.
In the time it took to blink, both sides exchanged blows at high speed, fighting over a hundred rounds! They were evenly matched; neither could gain the upper hand!
Yet, Tuman seemed to be growing impatient!
Amidst the fierce fight, he unleashed continuous, wild roars that sounded like sharp, rapid wolf howls! Youquan and Youyue felt the sound almost penetrate their very bodies, as if slicing every nerve!
This was Tuman's ultimate technique—the Wolf Howl! Achieved by emitting an extremely high-frequency sonic wave through a specific vocalization method to severely injure the opponent! It was utterly bizarre!
Caught off guard, the breathing and rhythm of both men were instantly thrown into chaos!
Roar! Tuman’s cyan steel claws finally broke through the net of their swords during this opportunity, sweeping across Youquan's shoulder!
A pain that pierced to the bone instantly struck; Youquan felt as if he were being violently torn apart! The agony nearly made him pass out! Having landed one successful blow, Tuman pressed his advantage relentlessly; almost simultaneously with striking Youquan, he launched a flying kick, slamming into Youyue's chest!
Tuman's mastery of close-quarters combat was absolutely terrifying! His steel claws, legs, elbows, knees, and even his head and teeth—every part of his body could become a lethal weapon, combined with his impossibly fast, all-encompassing attack style! Added to that were the sporadic, sharp, high-pitched howls that made him utterly impossible to defend against!
In an instant, both were struck! Youquan took a claw strike, and Youyue took a kick!
Even with Youyue’s formidable defense, he couldn't help but cough up blood, sent flying backward! This injury was serious, but what was truly terrifying lay ahead: Tuman was an opponent who, once he spotted a flaw, would launch into a furious barrage of relentless strikes!
Almost the moment Youyue was kicked away, Tuman chased after him like a shadow! Before Youyue’s body even hit the ground, another kick flew out!
The speed was so extreme that Youyue couldn't even see it! He could only instinctively channel energy for bodily protection!
“Boom…” Mid-air, Youyue’s body was struck again by Tuman’s foot, sending him flying higher and farther!
Pfft, blood sprayed out like a fountain, trailing a scarlet afterimage across the air for a great distance!
This single kick had nearly shattered all of Youyue's internal organs! If the protective Dou Qi he had instinctively summoned at that final moment hadn't activated, this one kick alone would have caused him to explode and die!
But having gained the advantage, Tuman's offensive didn't cease, giving Youyue no quarter! He immediately unleashed another series of sharp, ear-piercing wolf howls and rushed toward Youyue, who was still suspended in the air! If he took another kick, Youyue would surely perish!
"Stop right there!"
Youquan, forcing himself through the nearly fatal pain, roared wildly and lunged toward Tuman!
"Seeking death!" Tuman sneered, his cyan steel claws suddenly rotating and flashing like lightning as he swept toward Youquan, yet his body's forward momentum toward Youyue remained undiminished!
Youquan rushed in recklessly! He ignored the claw attack aimed at his chest! His only thought now was to save Youyue, even if it cost him his life! Thus, at this moment, he didn't try to parry the incoming steel claws with his sword; instead, he thrust out a single strike with complete disregard!
This strike might not have been fast enough!
But the angle chosen was exquisitely precise, aimed directly at Tuman’s left flank—a vital area exposed when Tuman committed to clawing Youquan! Even if Tuman’s steel claws shredded Youquan’s body, Youquan was confident this sword strike would pierce Tuman’s ribs!
Although the ribcage wasn't a necessarily fatal spot, it was enough to severely wound Tuman, which would give Youyue a chance to survive! This was truly a desperate, all-or-nothing, life-risking move!
Strictly speaking, Youquan couldn't even achieve a trade of lives! But at this moment, he had no other choice!
"Damn it!" Caught off guard by the sheer desperation of this human’s attack, Tuman, midway through his lunge, could only subconsciously shift his move, his body suddenly flickering!
His forward momentum twisted into an impossibly strange C-shaped arc!
Whoosh! Youquan's thrust missed! However, a flash of cyan light crossed his shoulder, spraying out a mist of scarlet blood!
Tuman had used his agility to dodge Youquan's attack, but the shift in his own evasion caused a deviation in his claw strike—the claw originally aimed at Youquan's chest swept across his shoulder instead!
As for the kick aimed at Youyue, it naturally stalled halfway, forced to abort, watching helplessly as Youyue's uncontrolled body continued to fly backward!
All this occurred in the span of a lightning strike!
"Now is the chance!" Youquan, fighting the agony of his shoulder feeling like it was being wrenched apart, yelled desperately: "Go!"
In mid-air, Youyue felt as if his heart had been pierced. In a daze, he saw the fierce determination in Youquan’s eyes—a look filled with affection, but more so, deep trust and hope.
Yes, Youyue was the future of Hanling; as long as he lived, the Hanling Tribe had hope—this was everything Youquan knew!
Tuman’s meteor-like kick failed to kill Youyue instantly, instead sending him flying far away, which ironically created the perfect opportunity for Youyue to escape!
"Great Elder..." Youyue felt a rush of heat, and for the first time, rare tears pricked his eyes. Despite his deep reluctance, he knew the only thing he could do now was flee, to escape at all costs!
This was the Great Elder's final wish. Otherwise, all sacrifices would be in vain!
However, when his gaze fixed on Tuman's claws, now attacking Youquan in a rage, Youyue's heart sank uncontrollably! He could already envision the horrific scene of Youquan's body being ripped to shreds!
"No!" Youyue could only let out a desperate, wild howl in mid-air: "Great Elder!"
Whoosh! Clink!
A scorching wave of heat, so intense it stole the breath, brushed directly over Youyue's head!
Ah! What was that!
In his confusion, Youyue saw a strange light!
A streak of golden light!
Like lightning piercing through storm clouds in a raging gale!
No! Even lightning could not compare to the speed of this stream of light!
Its velocity was too fast, impossibly fast! Even more miraculous was the trajectory of the stream as it moved—even at high speed, it conveyed an indescribable lightness and elegance! It was as if a living, dynamic spirit was guiding this strange stream of light!
And the endpoint of this light stream was not him or Youquan, but Tuman!
Whoosh!
The light flashed, instantly piercing Tuman’s body, and then vanished without a trace! It was as if everything he had witnessed had been an illusion!
No one saw exactly what had happened!
"What was that!" Tuman felt an emptiness in his chest, as if something had pierced straight through him!
He instinctively looked down, only to see a sight he would never believe!
A hole! A bizarre, perfectly clear aperture! As if a master craftsman had deliberately carved it through a template—neatly circular! He could even see the light shining from the other side of the opening!
Yet, such a hole appearing in his own chest seemed utterly sinister and bizarre!
What was happening!
After a long moment, Tuman finally felt a searing, tearing pain that ripped through his core, accompanied by a deeper sense of emptiness and laceration that threatened to make him faint! All the strength in his body seemed to drain rapidly through that pierced void, and soon, he couldn't even feel the sharp pain, only an boundless numbness and darkness!
Was this the sensation of death?
Tuman struggled to lift his head, gazing toward the distant slope ahead!
What met his eyes was a hazy, purple silhouette!
"You—you—who—are—you!"
Perhaps he would never know! The proud Were-man collapsed backward with a dull thud!
His cyan wolf eyes remained wide open, fixed in disbelief! There was anger and unwillingness, but more than anything, there was an inexpressible bewilderment and hollowness!
Everyone present was stunned by what they had witnessed!
Youquan even thought it was all an illusion! He instinctively rubbed his eyes!
Thud! Only then did Youyue’s falling body slam heavily onto the ground. Pain flooded him, but he ignored his physical agony, staring instead with utter disbelief at the fading, slowly approaching brown figure on the hillside!
"Jiuyao Shenzhen!" In that instant, Youyue almost thought he was hallucinating: "It's really you."
"Ah!" Elder Daron Daji Tianmu, and Dawang Dajia were equally stunned by the scene!
No one could believe that Tuman, so vibrant and imposing just moments ago, was now a corpse in the blink of an eye, and they didn't even know how he had died in the fight!
"What terrifying sword energy," even the usually unflappable Daji gasped, sucking in a sharp breath!
"I never imagined such a master was hidden among humans," the Beast Emperor Daron showed shock for the first time!
"Protect His Highness and the Princess," Dawang Dajia became instantly vigilant, staring intently at the figure in the distance! None of them were clearer than he about the terrifying implications of that sword energy just now!
If that sword energy had targeted the Emperor and the Princess, Dawang couldn't imagine the consequences!
In terms of speed, there were very few, perhaps none at all, faster than Tuman in the world, especially in the eyes of the Beastmen. Yet, the sword energy emitted by this human completely surpassed the imagination of everyone present!
All words describing speed and power seemed pale, hollow, and weak before that strange stream of light!
"Is he Jiuyao Shenzhen?" Youquan, having narrowly escaped death, murmured to himself: "Such a terrifying aura, far stronger than the rumors suggest." As a warrior, Youquan’s intuition easily registered the horrifying power contained within that aura! Even at his peak, he knew he would never be his match!
The wind and clouds shifted instantly, killing intent wavered, and the previously clear sky seemed to be draped in a bizarre, indefinable veil by this sudden appearance, growing darker and heavier, as if a powerful storm was brewing, impacting the minds of everyone present.
Even the Demon Dragon Warriors, who seemingly knew neither fear nor death, let out uneasy growls and roars!
"I never thought it would be you who saved us," Youyue suppressed the excitement and confusion in his heart, staring in disbelief at Jiuyao Shenzhen, who now stood beside him.
"Go," Jiuyao Shenzhen said.
"..." Although he had no idea why Jiuyao Shenzhen had suddenly intervened, he knew for certain that their lives were spared, and this was no time for idle chatter: "These Beastmen are strong; you must be careful."
"..." Jiuyao Shenzhen ignored Youyue, instead darkly scrutinizing Daron, who wore the Beast Emperor's feathered hat on the war chariot!
"Let's go."
In a flash, Youyue, Youquan, and the remaining Hanling warriors retreated out of the encirclement!
Strangely, the Demon Dragon Warriors made no move to intercept them! They just glared as they left!
"Who are you?" The Beast Emperor Daron squinted, examining the human before him. For some reason, he had a strange feeling that he had seen this human somewhere before!
"Jiuyao Shenzhen!" The human opposite him scrutinized the Beastman seated on the throne, inch by inch.
"Jiuyao Shenzhen," Daron said gravely: "I feel like we have met before." Daron was certain his intuition was correct, and when he saw those black pupils!
He nearly jumped up as if struck by lightning: "It's you, it's actually you."
"It is I," Jiuyao Shenzhen seemed slightly puzzled: "Of course, it is me. But who exactly are you!"
"Hahahaha." Daron's rough laughter echoed to the heavens, filled with a strange sense of wild joy and excitement! No one knew why the Beast Emperor was so agitated: "It is fate, destiny!"
"Destiny," Jiuyao Shenzhen was bewildered: "Do you know me?"
"What do you think," Beast Emperor Daron gritted his teeth: "You stinking black-haired, black-eyed brat, you almost killed me! Do you remember the Woma Forest thirty years ago?"
"Woma Forest," Jiuyao Shenzhen seemed shocked, almost jumping up, staring at the Beast Emperor with equal disbelief: "So you are that persistent, foolish giant."
"What foolish giant?" Beast Emperor Daron's voice became unnervingly deep and somber, as if forcefully suppressing the excitement and anger boiling within him: "I am the current Beast Emperor of the proud Beastman race!"