Chapter 76

"Letting you live, I can't rest easy. Let's end this, boy!"

Yang Buji gave a sinister laugh and instinctively tightened his grip on the knife, ready to twist it and tear the opponent's insides to shreds. At that moment, he inadvertently saw Xu Dong's eyes. What kind of eyes were they?

Distorted by pain, fierce with anger.

Like a dying beast, even in death... he wouldn't let you off easily!

Yang Buji felt a chill run down his spine, his hair standing on end, and goosebumps breaking out all over his body. He was a ruthless man, gritting his teeth and about to twist his arm.

But just as he was about to, there was a sudden *snap*.

A sturdy hand suddenly appeared, gripping Yang Buji's wrist tightly. The immense strength from the hand gave a sense of unbreakable solidity, making one think of handcuffs that had been fused by scorching flames and then cooled. At the same time, Xu Dong's hoarse, dry voice rang out: "Without your speed and the sleeve sword, what do you have left?"

A strong sense of danger surged!

Yang Buji instinctively tried to draw his sword, but a fist rapidly enlarged before his eyes, the wind whistling, the punch heavy.

Xu Dong seized this hard-won opportunity; how could he hold back?

A powerful skill was activated!

The fist *thud* hit Yang Buji's eye socket, the force penetrating, and a faint sound of something soft and glassy shattering could be heard.

Ah! Yang Buji let out a惨叫, a large amount of thick blood splattered from his eye socket, soon covering half his face. He was already extremely ugly, and now he looked like a demon from hell, even more terrifying and grotesque.

It turned out that Xu Dong's punch had directly burst one of Yang Buji's eyeballs.

The intense pain stimulated Yang Buji's nerves, and the power of his flesh armor suddenly erupted, the muscles and joints in his arm trembling violently. Xu Dong immediately felt a fierce force surge from beneath the skin of his opponent's arm. His hand, which was tightly gripping the opponent's arm, shattered, and his five fingers were severely deformed.

This level of intense pain could directly cause unconsciousness. In fact, newspapers had reported cases of bus accidents where victims fainted from the pain of their toes being crushed. When pain exceeds the human body's tolerance, the brain forces a state of shock to protect the nervous system.

Faced with such intense pain, even Xu Dong, with his willpower, felt a darkness cloud his vision. At this critical moment, he knew he couldn't faint, so he bit his tongue hard and took a step back!

*Pfft!* Blood spurted!

The blade was withdrawn from his abdomen, the bright edge covered in blood, a drop of blood sliding from the tip. From Xu Dong's mouth, pink blood foam dripped uncontrollably from the corner of his lips.

In a brief moment, the two engaged in a brutal, bloody fight.

But at this moment, Xu Dong, taking advantage of the opponent's shock from the intense pain, suddenly roared in a fit of rage, like a thunderclap. In the next second, he bent his waist, and in his empty hand, a triangular dagger appeared. Holding the dagger, he thrust it horizontally, *pfft*, piercing through the leg armor and deeply into the gap in the opponent's left knee.

However, the opponent, being a two-star Awakened, had strong muscles, and his body instinctively clamped down. Xu Dong felt he couldn't advance any further and quickly withdrew the dagger.

Xu Dong's movements were too violent, causing a spray of blood from his abdominal wound. After withdrawing the dagger, he struck the opponent's chest with his elbow, making him stagger back, covering his eyes. Seizing this moment, Xu Dong suddenly activated the Small Quick Steps skill and turned to run.

Only then did Yang Buji, regaining his senses, feel a deep chill, as if he had fallen into an ice pit. It wasn't because of the opponent's tenacity, but because... this boy had been planning from the start to slow him down, layer by layer, step by step, and finally stab his knee, then use his speed ability to escape!

What a deep mind, what a ruthless heart, what a decisive spirit!

"If his goal wasn't so clear, if he had hesitated even a little, or if he had even a fleeting thought of killing me, he would never have escaped! How could such a person end up in a place like Blood Helmet City?"

Yang Buji muttered to himself. He opened his palm, and a pill emitting a fragrant aroma, containing dense life energy, appeared in his hand. If experienced adventurers saw it, they would recognize it as a Blood Restoring Pill, which quickly heals injuries.

He was shocked, angry, and afraid, unsure whether to continue the pursuit or give up.

After a long while, Yang Buji slowly raised his head and looked far in the direction Xu Dong had left. "He must be planning to enter the Ghost Forest. With the strength of a one-star Awakened, going alone is a death sentence!"

However, he was cautious and didn't leave immediately. Instead, he pulled out an item from his pocket. It looked like a compass, but instead of pointing north or south, it indicated the direction and approximate distance to a target. This item, made from the tongue of a green-mouthed lizard, was a Blood Tracker, a crucial tool for adventurers hunting powerful and rare creatures in the wild.

Yang Buji patiently waited, and once he confirmed that Xu Dong was indeed heading towards the Ghost Forest, he let out a sigh of relief. This sigh, which he himself didn't notice, seemed to instinctively deny a feeling called fear.

He touched his eye socket, gritting his teeth, and said, "With such severe injuries, you won't come out of the Ghost Forest alive. Hmph, now I'll go find your friends. You can reunite in death!"

As he spoke, he smeared a bit of blood on the Blood Tracker, which the item absorbed, before taking the Blood Restoring Pill to heal his injuries. As for the missing eyeball, this level of medicine couldn't repair it.

※※※

Xu Dong felt his body growing weaker. He staggered forward, blood streaming from his body, leaving a trail of bloody footprints. Due to the massive blood loss, he began to feel dizzy, and his limbs were almost numb. If not for the determination in his heart, he would have already collapsed.

However, subjective will couldn't change objective reality. His injuries were too severe. An ordinary person would have died long ago, but the vitality of a Warrior allowed him to persist.

Finally, his foot hit a tree root, and he fell heavily to the ground, covered in dirt and leaves.

The Winding Gear, sensing Xu Dong's weakness, struggled out of the backpack. Its fur, stained red with Xu Dong's blood, made it look like a red-furred dog. The Winding Gear licked Xu Dong's face, and he seemed to regain some strength, supporting himself to sit by the tree and catch his breath.

The puppy's eyes, black and lively, darted around, making Xu Dong smile.

Reaching out to pet the Winding Gear's head, Xu Dong forced a smile. "Don't worry, I won't die. As long as I have enough food, I can use the Devouring skill to recover." He then sighed, "If you were a big dog, you could at least bring me food, but you're just a puppy..."

He sighed again, "It's not anyone's fault, just my own carelessness. I never expected this to happen. If I can't gather the three qualification cards by dawn the day after tomorrow, even if I escape Yang Buji's clutches, I won't escape the punishment of mission failure, which is still a dead end."

At that moment, a strange smell wafted over from a distance.

The Winding Gear immediately gave a low, warning growl, indicating that someone was approaching.

This situation made Xu Dong draw a sharp breath. It was truly a case of misfortune piling up! His only hope was that the approaching person hadn't noticed the trail of blood he had left.

However, reality was always cruel. The footsteps from a distance seemed to have noticed something and quickly disappeared. They weren't leaving but were likely tiptoeing, moving silently to approach.

The newcomers were not friendly!

Whoever they were, it was enough to stir Xu Dong's killing intent.

"Boss, do you think this person is a candidate for the entrance exam?" one of them asked in a low voice.

"Depends on luck. If we're lucky and encounter a candidate... well, people die for wealth, and birds die for food. I can't be blamed for my Iron Fist not recognizing anyone."

Fate is cruel. One of the newcomers was actually Iron Fist, who had a conflict with Xu Dong. Iron Fist had been publicly humiliated and then beaten by Xu Dong. Now, seeing his enemy, would he bow his head? They seemed to be certain that the injured person was too weak to pose a threat, so they spoke carelessly, not realizing that the wind carried their words to Xu Dong's ears, where he heard the name Iron Fist.

The two tiptoed to where Xu Dong had been sitting. Instantly, Iron Fist's subordinate, also a one-star Awakened, saw a shadow under the tree and, without hesitation, drew a long sword and lunged, aiming to strike first.

*Clang!*

A pile of dry branches flew in all directions, like a rain of twigs and leaves.

What?! A sense of foreboding flashed through his mind.

Suddenly, a gust of wind came from above, and a figure, enveloped in a thick, pungent smell, descended from the sky!

Xu Dong's skills had greatly improved over the past two days, having experienced two battles against higher-level opponents. Now, he set a trap and launched a surprise attack, with a fierce and overwhelming momentum.

The man reacted, turning to strike with his sword, but Xu Dong dodged and, in a strange move, slashed from the side, tearing through the man's throat with a *rip*.

The forest was dark, with only a faint moonlight. The man hadn't even seen his opponent's face when he felt a chill in his throat, followed by a surge of blood and a rapid loss of strength, then he fell to the ground.

A single, decisive strike!

Landing, Xu Dong's feet kicked the ground, but the pain made him stagger. He supported himself on the tree trunk, enduring the weakness and pain, and activated the Small Quick Steps skill, leaving a trail of blood as he burned the last of his strength.

Iron Fist, terrified, launched a full-force punch in the direction of the wind, the wind whistling as if it could cut through the air and injure his face.

In the next second, a figure appeared below his punch, moving so fast that Iron Fist