Chapter Twenty-Five: Ghost Shadow

  Shi Yan carried a dagger, first carving out rough butterfly patterns on two large trees, then quickly climbing up one of the trees and cutting off branches as thick as his arm with the dagger, dividing them into five sections, sharpening them hastily, and smearing "Seven Snake Slime" on the tips.

  He spent two minutes on this string of events.

  Two minutes later, Tu Mu and Jin Mo, the two men from the Langya Mercenary Group, arrived as scheduled.

  Tu Mu and Jin Mo didn't take him and the two women seriously, and while shuttling through the forest, they were still talking with a lustful smile on their faces, discussing how to humiliate Diya Lan later.

  "Hiss! Hiss!"

  Slender branches of trees pierced through layers of leaves, like stubborn sunlight, casting onto Tu Mu and Jin Mo.

  Tupu Manbu didn't care, and with a casual swing of the battle-axe in his hand, he knocked down the two tree branches. He laughed loudly: "This group of people is really stingy, actually using tree branches to greet us, it's too much of an insult."

  "Poor guy." Jinmo also shook his head and sneered.

  "Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!"

  Again, three sturdy branches shot over.

  Tu Mu's patience was wearing thin, his long-handled battle axe drew a semicircular arc, and in the midst of the flashing silver light, three branches fell to the ground once again.

  Shi Yan emerged slowly from the cluster of tree leaves, his cold eyes fixed on the two people as he asked, "You two, are you coming up one by one, or together?"

  Tu Mu narrowed his eyes, looked up at Shi Yan and shook his head uninterestedly: "Just a young kid who has just entered the Xiantian realm, with an attitude that's not small, but unfortunately, his power is limited. I'm not interested."

  After that, Tu Mu didn't look at Shi Yan again, turned around and left. His voice came from afar: "Jin Mo, I'm leaving it to you, hurry up and deal with it. Try to catch up quickly, or else I'll do those women a second time, hahaha!"

  Jin Mo let out a cold hum, and the huge wolf-toothed club in his hand slammed into the ground, burying itself deep in the mud. "Come down, kid! I won't use any weapons, and don't make me climb trees to chase you. I'm in a hurry, so speed it up!"

  "Ah, I'm in a hurry too." Shi Yan's eyes were calm and tranquil, devoid of any fear for life or death. With a swift leap from the ancient tree, he landed on the ground, his dagger shooting out of his hand and stabbing into the mud beside the wolf-toothed club.

  "Hmm!" Shi Yan stopped ten meters in front of Jin Mo, stretched out his empty hands and shook them, saying: "I don't need any weapons either."

  "Hey, kid's got guts." Jin Mo licked his lips, his face full of pimples piled up together, his eyes gleaming with ferocity as he charged towards Shi Yan.

  Jin Mo's two hands suddenly swelled, and the green veins on his fists wriggled about. After he clenched his fists and struck out, a "whooshing" sound of breaking air came from the empty space. Suddenly, many fist prints appeared in the void, and these fist prints grew stronger as Jin Mo advanced.

  Five steps later, in front of Jin Mo's waving arm, dozens of fist prints had already appeared in the void.

  "Common martial art, Chaotic Star Fist!"

  Shi Yan's eyes narrowed slightly, and he suddenly concentrated his spirit, throwing away all the distracting thoughts outside his body. His eyes only had the image of the vast fist prints in the sky, and his heart only had the single thought of killing Jin Mo!

  "Boom!"

  His mind was suddenly electrified, as if he had been baptized with a magical elixir, and he was transported to a strange and wonderful realm.

  His eyes, ears and bodily sensations suddenly became several times more sensitive. Everything around him suddenly became crystal clear. He stared at Jinmo and could clearly sense the speed and frequency of the energy flowing through his arm.

  Fists filled the sky, and in an instant, everything was swept away. All illusions were dispelled, leaving only Jinmo's two fists dancing before his eyes, their trajectories clearly visible.

  Taking a deep breath, Shi Yan suddenly let out a loud roar, his two arms shrinking at a speed visible to the naked eye, wisps of misty white smoke swirling around his arms.

  At the same time, starting from his neck, his skin began to petrify and turn into a greyish-brown rock-like state, hard as iron.

  A burst of black light also emerged from his body surface, enveloping his lean physique.

  Jinmo's iron fist, carrying a powerful force that could split rocks, fiercely struck the stone rock in front of his chest.

  The dark shield distorted and shattered into tiny spots of darkness under Jinmo's iron fist, exploding with a loud crash. Jinmo's fist pierced through the dark shield, its power slightly diminished, heavily striking Shiyan's chest.

  "Boom!"

  "Crack!"

  The sound of heavy impact and the cracking of joints almost occurred at the same time.

  Jinmo's face turned extremely ugly in an instant.

  The excruciating pain on his fist made him realize that the cracking sound of bones wasn't coming from the rock's chest, but from his own fist!

  With a pained expression, Jin Mo stared at Shi Yan with a shocked face, suddenly remembering something and loudly asked: "The 'Petrification Martial Spirit' of the Stone family! Are you from the Shang Alliance's Stone family?"

  "Really clever." Shi Yan sneered with a smile, his expression icy and cold.

  Jin Mo An cried out in alarm and hastily tried to dodge, but he found that he and Shi Yan were too close together, and it was already too late.

  Shi Yan's hand shot out like lightning, grasping Jin Mo's neck, and his arm was mixed with negative emotions such as fear, madness, ferocity, despair, etc., which instantly penetrated into Jin Mo's body.

  Jinmo was like falling into an abyss of despair, his face filled with terror, his whole body trembling as he shrieked: "No! No! Don't!"

  It was as if everything had become invisible, Jin Mo let out a sharp cry there, two iron fists waving aimlessly, as if resisting some terrible ghost approaching.

  Shi Yan had already let go, the white mist on his arm disappearing, his expression returning to normal as he silently calculated the time in his mind.

  One, two, three, four, five...

  He counted in his heart, Shi Yan didn't rush or slow down as he arrived at the position where the dagger was inserted, pulled out the dagger from the mud, and tiptoed to Jin Mo's side.

  When he counted to seventeen, Jinmo seemed to have adapted to the terrifying scene, slowly stabilizing his emotions, and his eyes also seemed to be gradually recovering clarity, looking like he was about to wake up.

  Seventeen seconds is enough time to kill a person several dozen times.

  He nodded slightly, Shi Yan had counted in his heart, and suddenly flashed forward like lightning, the dagger in his arm accurately swept across Jin Mo's neck.

  When the blood spurted out, Jinmo's eyes finally cleared up, staring at Shiyuan with hatred, unwilling to fall back and die.

  Shi Yan crouched down, first using Jin Mo's clothes to wipe the bloodstains off the dagger, then searched Jin Mo's body and found some food, several hundred purple crystal coins, and two sharp fangs of a "Fire Cloud Demon Python".

  Without hesitation, Shi Yan put these things into his backpack, took a deep breath, and felt the pure energy of Jinmo rushing into his meridians. He then stood up, muttering to himself: "The First Heaven of the Pre-Heaven Two Heavy Heavens realm, under the negative power of 'Violent Walking', will also get lost for seventeen seconds. This martial skill is indeed abnormal. Perhaps the more negative power gathered, the stronger the power that can be unleashed..."

  After muttering to himself for a while, Shi Yan gathered his emotions, held his breath and focused his mind, then suddenly rushed towards the direction where Tu Bo was chasing.

  ……

  "The stinky girls are really quite spicy! Haha, but I like it!" Tu Mu laughed loudly as he clashed with Diya Lan, axe in hand.

  Mu Yu's eyes sparkled with a cold light, as she held an ancient zither in her arms, her pretty face clouded with uncertainty, seemingly making some difficult decision.

  Tu Mu grasped a heavy battle-axe that seemed as light as a feather in his hand.

  In the flash of axe shadows, Diya Lan's short sword often couldn't withstand it. As soon as it touched the battle axe, Diya Lan's slender body would tremble slightly. It was clear that Tupu Jingyuan's vitality far surpassed hers.

  Tu Mu's battle axe was like a wheel, swinging and rolling with an axe shadow. It wrapped Diya Lan around like a car wheel, and the sharp axe head shone brightly as Diya Lan's long hair flew about, her short skirt at her waist and hips revealing several openings, spring light bursting forth suddenly.

  "You stinky girls, now you know how formidable I am? Don't be in a hurry, soon I'll let you know that the most formidable thing about me is not my martial skills, haha!" Tu Mu sneered with a strange smile, seemingly not planning to finish off Diya Lan so quickly, and intentionally teasing her.

  Diya's eyes were about to bleed, but she had no strength to retort, and could only barely defend herself.

  "Sister, want some help?" Shi Yan's lazy and teasing voice suddenly came from the woods.

  The next moment, Shi Yan, holding a dagger, appeared. He glanced at Di Ya Lan's beautiful and radiant face and exclaimed: "Smooth and plump, upright and round, great, great!"

  Diya Lan's face was filled with surprise, and for the moment, she forgot about their argument. She took a step back and shouted: "You bastard, you're actually still alive."

  Tu Mu's face changed, his expression suddenly becoming serious. He didn't counterattack Diya Lan, but instead turned his head towards the stone cliff and said in a low voice: "Is Jin Mo dead?"

  "What do you say?" Shi Yan held up his dagger, smiled at him, and walked step by step towards him.

  As he moved forward, Shi Yan's two arms withered again, and a strand of mixed negative forces emanated from the pores on his arms, lingering around his arms, unable to be shaken off.

  Jinmo's vital energy hadn't been purified, but when Shiyue used "Berserk", Jinmo's despair and resentment before his death suddenly surged out of the acupuncture points, condensing into a ferocious and sinister illusory shadow of Jinmo in front of him, vividly lifelike.

  "Golden Whip!" Tu Mu's face was shocked, his strong body couldn't help but tremble.

  Too weird!

  In front of Shi Yan, Jin Mo's illusory shadow was like a fierce ghost, baring its teeth and brandishing its claws, light as if it were nothing. A pair of dark, resentful eyes contained a hatred that cut to the bone, as if he couldn't wait to destroy every person in the world.

  Diya Lan and Mu Yutian were also shocked, their slender bodies trembling as they couldn't help but scream: "What kind of ghost thing is this?!"

  Not only were others stunned, but Shi Yan himself was also shocked and bewildered, staring blankly at the virtual shadow that had appeared in front of him, unsure of what to do.

  "Jinmo! Jinmo! What's wrong with you?" Under Jinmo's gaze filled with hatred, Tupu took a step back and exclaimed: "We're partners! Your enemy is behind you!"

  A loud cry from Tu Mu woke Shi Yan up, and with a stir in his heart, the only thought in his mind was to kill Tu Mu. The various negative powers wrapped around his arm suddenly burst out, like a pale white snake, eerily wrapping itself around Tu Mu.

  Jin Mo's shadowy figure seemed to be driven by those negative forces, and lightly floated past, grabbing towards Tu Mu with a fierce ghostly grasp.

  "Kill!" Shi Yan shouted coldly and suddenly charged out. Di Ya Lan was caught off guard and also raised her sword to slash at Tu Mu.

  ……

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