Chapter 252 – Slaughter, I Hate It When People Bare Their Teeth at Me

Xie Jun and another Golden Bear stood as motionless as statues, their bodies stiff and immobile.

The pressure enveloping them felt like a tsunami, giving them a strong sense of suffocation, as if they were suddenly submerged in the deep sea.

But these pressures were nothing compared to the waves of horror and shock surging in Xie Jun’s heart at the moment… they were utterly insignificant.

Xie Jun stared blankly at the terrifying figure that had suddenly burst through the crystalline wall of death energy and appeared before them.

The latter was wearing a dark blue combat protective suit, stretched tight by exaggerated muscles, with an emblem on the left chest symbolizing their Golden Bear affiliation.

All of these proved that… this immensely powerful person, capable of shattering the death energy crystalline wall with bare hands, was indeed a member of their Yellow Bear organization.

And combining that with what the person just said, alongside those somewhat familiar calm eyes…

An incredible guess popped into Xie Jun’s mind—

Lu Yuan!

This guy was the “arrogant” and “well-connected” “rich kid”—the Divine Blood Lu Yuan, who had once rejected his invitation to join, chose to enter the Wailing Ruins alone, and had even clashed with their team in a secret realm!

As soon as this thought emerged, it began to frenziedly attack Xie Jun’s mind.

But he forcibly suppressed it, one bit at a time.

“Impossible! Absolutely impossible!”

“That kid had no new martial arts or modifications, he followed the pure martial artist path, and his strength was relatively weak even among Golden Bears. How could he break the death energy crystalline wall that the three of us level S members couldn’t even budge?!”

“It’s just the eyes… just the eyes…”

Xie Jun repeatedly hypnotized himself.

Lu Yuan noticed the flash of shock and disbelief in Xie Jun’s eyes, roughly guessing that the other party might have somewhat discerned his identity.

Without saying anything, he merely tugged at the corner of his mouth slightly, then gently walked past the two and proceeded towards the restricted area he had worked so hard to break into.

“Those inside want out, those outside want in…”

“To push the main storyline to its conclusion, there must be an exhilarating battle to wrap things up…”

Lu Yuan stood on the pale rocky ground.

In his pupils, he reflected the distant figure of the Crowman, whose mouth stretched to its ears.

The Crowman exuded a cold, evil aura that rapidly spread around like smoke.

It tilted its head bit by bit, the bizarre and sinister smile on its face becoming increasingly exaggerated.

It looked at Lu Yuan as if it had found an extremely interesting new toy.

This strange and creepy demeanor and expression made Xie Jun and the other Golden Bear, standing at a distance, shiver uncontrollably. They involuntarily took two steps back.

Lu Yuan, however, remained very calm.

The Crowman was tall and slender, standing over two meters.

But compared to Lu Yuan, who had entered his third rank ultimate transformation, it was still significantly shorter.

Lu Yuan looked down at the Crowman, his face devoid of much emotional fluctuation.

The Crowman grinned, revealing a vast maw filled with rows of downward-spiraling, saw-like teeth.

It silently laughed and then…

The entire figure suddenly vanished from its place.

A black wind whipped up in the area, bringing with it a cold, bone-chilling aura.

This chilling sensation triggered memories in Xie Jun and his comrade of their previous teammates being brutally slaughtered, causing their faces to turn pale and their bodies to instinctively adopt defensive postures.

However, the black wind showed no intention of targeting them.

Instead, it swiftly enveloped Lu Yuan’s body, beginning to spin rapidly around him.

Following this, an utterly unbelievable scene unfolded before Xie Jun and his companion-

They saw that wherever the black wind passed, the white rocks on the ground were effortlessly sliced through like tofu.

Visible wave-like cut marks appeared in the air, resembling constantly interweaving fishing nets as they moved towards the central and unflinching Lu Yuan.

Even just watching from afar, Xie Jun and his comrade could feel the cold, sharp intent within those cuts.

Their previous Golden Bear level comrades had been easily sliced apart by this emissary level Crowman under such power, just like fish fillets pressed upon a chopping board.

However.

Lu Yuan faced such a terrifying and concentrated attack, yet his massive and muscular physique seemed to become as soft and flexible as a noodle.

He always managed to dodge the cutting forces in the most unexpected ways.

In a small area at the center of the Black Wind, he strolled and spun gracefully, reminiscent of an elegant dancer performing a waltz on a tightrope.

This created an extremely stark contrast with his exaggeratedly muscular frame.

And it was this very contrast that left Xie Jun and his comrade watching with parched throats and surging blood.

Skill? No!

It was artistry!

Compared to the incredible combat artistry Lu Yuan displayed, they seemed like infants clumsily stumbling around despite their level S strength.

The Black Wind seemed to sense the failure of each of its attacks, and it began to swirl and dance more and more frantically.

Sharp whistling sounds filled the air.

They sounded like a wail, both mournful and desperate.

The air was increasingly filled with slicing marks, which grew deeper and more numerous, with the residual waves of energy blowing towards the distance.

Xie Jun’s electromagnetic flying sword, made of super alloy, got caught in the turbulence, instantly sparking wildly. It retracted quickly, but he was horrified to find only a broken, jagged piece of scrap metal left in his hand…

Even a super alloy weapon couldn’t withstand this terrifying cutting force. It was terrifying beyond words!

At this moment—

“Swish—”

A slight sound echoed through the area, like something being nicked.

Xie Jun and his companion froze, instinctively looking up.

Then they saw Lu Yuan’s dodging form come to a halt…

Behind him, a strand of silk-like black hair gently floated to the ground.

Lu Yuan lowered his head, squinting his eyes to quietly observe the strand of hair cut by the wind at his feet.

Then he looked up, revealing a pair of silver-white eyes filled with calmness and indifference.

“Impressive.” Lu Yuan spoke.

The next second—

“Boom!”

An astonishing aura erupted from Lu Yuan like a volcanic explosion.

The air around him blurred and twisted momentarily.

Even the swirling Black Wind seemed to freeze.

Immediately after, a lifelike figure appeared—part crow, part crane—a demon crane soared upward, expanding continuously.

Twenty meters… Thirty meters… Forty meters…

It expanded to a full forty-five meters in height before it finally stopped.

The enormous Demon Crane’s expansive form covered a wide area, making the very air feel thick and oppressive, causing even Xie Jun and his comrade, standing far away, to feel an overwhelming sense of suffocation.

The Black Wind was also affected, its speed slowing dramatically.

And at this very moment—

“Whoosh—”

Lu Yuan’s long, waist-length hair rose abruptly, despite there being no wind.

He gently raised a hand, making a clapping motion.

The massive Demon Crane above him mirrored this action, lifting its claw in unison.

“Boom!”

Though Lu Yuan’s clap was performed in the air, a heavy, invisible shockwave rippled outwards.

The terrible force of this vibration transmitted through the air, causing the Black Wind to rupture abruptly.

It transformed into waves of surging, ocean-like Black Death Energy, echoing like mountain and sea cries…

Lu Yuan’s expression remained impassive. He formed his five fingers into a claw and reached forward slightly.

The forty-five-meter-tall Demon Crane behind him also extended its claw in perfect synchronization.

“Boom!”

The tsunami-like Death Energy was directly shattered by the Demon Crane’s claw, scattering in all directions.

The dispersed Black Death Energy blocked Xie Jun and his companion’s view.

They squinted their eyes and craned their necks.

They dared not move forward yet were desperately curious to see what was happening.

Until the Black Death Energy dissipated like smoke into the air, the scene at the very center slowly became clear.

In the heart of the dissipating Death Energy stood Lu Yuan, quietly holding a slender and sinister figure by the neck with his iron-like grasp.

The latter’s body was suspended in the air, like a tiny chick held in Lu Yuan’s hand.

“I really hate it when ugly folks bare their teeth at me.”

Lu Yuan took a deep breath, grabbing the Crowman’s body with his other hand.

The massive aura surrounding him began to compress, waves of pure Strength from his arms pressing relentlessly into the Crowman’s body.

The Crowman’s mouth was forced wide open, its long crow-like arms repeatedly trying to rise, only for Lu Yuan to grab and twist them like noodles, wrapping them haphazardly around its own neck.

“Crack, crack—”

In no time, the entire Crowman was forcibly twisted by Lu Yuan into a near-spherical shape.

Then…

“Boom!” The Crowman exploded completely.

It transformed into a large cloud of black fine sand, sifting through Lu Yuan’s fingers…

“Uhh… uhh…”

Xie Jun and his comrade witnessed the entire battle.

Their eyes were wide open, bodies tense, expressions frozen, mouths opening and closing in an attempt to speak, yet no words came out.

It was as if their throats were clenched by Lu Yuan as well.

Massive shock and utter disbelief surged from deep within them.

It was indescribable.

Unimaginable that the Crowman, who had just been chasing them down and slaughtering them like playthings, an emissary level foe, was effortlessly killed within minutes by this “colleague” of theirs, who was at the same Golden Bear Level.

And moreover, it seemed to be through pure Ancient Martial Arts techniques?!

When did such an astonishingly strong individual appear at the Golden Bear Level?

In Xie Jun’s mind, a particular figure and name kept surfacing repeatedly, yet he continuously dismissed it as too preposterous…

At this moment, the black fine sand had completely fallen through Lu Yuan’s fingers, and a bead, almost entirely black and the size of a glass marble, lay quietly in his palm.

He stared at the black bead in his hand, still savoring the process of the recent battle in his mind.

LV2 [Undefeated Instinct], Regal Consciousness activated, stand-in mode engaged.

Before, he could use it to crush an SSS+ Elephant Deity Emissary head-on.

Now, with his agility points, intelligence points, and strength points all having been successively boosted, he had easily dispatched a Crowman whose power was considered weak even among the emissary level…

Reasonable and expected.

Unknowingly, Lu Yuan realized that his strength had entirely ascended to a new level.

What once gave him the piercing sense of a razor-sharp threat at the emissary level had now become mere “minions” that he could obliterate with a flick of his hand, without even needing to reveal his trump cards.

“I have indeed grown much stronger…”

Lu Yuan murmured softly, pinching the black bead in his palm, contemplating whether to absorb it now.

All of a sudden—

From the distance, four columns of evil energy waves shot up like wolf smoke, accompanied by loud “Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!”

Then, an immense cloud of black death energy surged forth.

In an instant, it reached Lu Yuan.

His expression froze, and before he could react, he was directly engulfed by the massive cloud of black death energy.

Four grotesque, twisted figures flashed through the air, slamming violently into the death energy.

“Boom!”

The ground quaked as a massive black mushroom cloud, entirely formed of death energy, slowly ascended.

Not far away, Xie Jun and his comrade, already trembling with fear from the sudden change, were utterly stunned.

They stared wide-eyed at the rising death energy mushroom cloud before them.

Then, to their horror, they saw the monitoring data of evil energy waves on their retinal displays—bouncing erratically, showing a screen full of frantic—”SSSSSS…”

…