Lord Zhu blocked Wen Yan behind him.

"You go first. Hey, in his prime, I'd really have to run. But now that he's injured like this, don't blame me for standing tall."

Lord Zhu fumbled inside his large sleeve and produced an ancient hand cannon, adorned with numerous patterns and Talismans.

As the hand cannon appeared, it began to emit a palpable sense of danger, the kind that anyone could feel.

Lord Zhu was eager to try; what Old Zhu had accomplished back in the day was, of course, something Lord Zhu also wanted to attempt.

Whether or not it would succeed was one thing; daring to do it was another entirely.

Hu Yuan stood up, his face full of defiance, and cast a disdainful glance.

His figure flickered and vanished on the spot. As he did, the dangerous aura from Lord Zhu's hand cannon began to rise sharply, Power converging within the weapon.

The old man's eyes gleamed with madness. He held perfectly still. The instant Hu Yuan struck, the hand cannon roared furiously, spewing out a jet of dark, destructive Power.

Lord Zhu grunted. His outer clothes suddenly shattered, revealing the glowing Python Robe he wore underneath.

Meanwhile, Hu Yuan, hit at close range by the specially made hand cannon, bent at the waist and slid backward, managing to withstand the blast.

"Hmph. People from Old Zhu's Family."

With a cold laugh, Hu Yuan patted the charred area on his chest; the wound was rapidly healing.

He surveyed his surroundings and then burst into laughter.

"So, this is destiny. The people from Dragon Tiger Mountain, Old Zhu's Family, the Dragon Clan, the Sparrow Cat, and this fellow with strange Divine Skills. So you've all arrived. Good. Very good. Perfect. A chance to settle all our past grudges in one go."

Hu Yuan shouted deeply, the character on his forehead shining faintly. A low growl rumbled in his throat, and his entire body began to vibrate.

Blood gushed from his body. The vibrations inflicted further damage on his internal organs, and blood continued to stream from his mouth and nose.

But in just a few breaths, the bleeding rapidly subsided, and the charred flesh on his chest started to flake away.

Wen Yan didn't rush to escape. When he looked towards the Mountain Lord, he was surprised to notice that the notification had changed once more.

"Mountain Lord."

"The tiger who holds the position of Mountain Lord, the original rank, monarch of all beasts in the mountains. His slaughter is ever-victorious, a pure form of killing, one that aligns with Heaven and Earth. Having reconstructed his flesh, regained his Divine Essence, and purged his inner demons, he will be even more terrifying than before."

"He has noticed you. He considers you a potential major threat and will surely try to kill you. Warning: He possesses the ability to recover even from the brink of death."

"Temporary Ability:

1. Grandma

2. Deprivation"

After Hu Yuan suffered a backlash from his own Technique of Slaughter, the Sparrow Cat ability in his list of Temporary Abilities was suddenly replaced by Deprivation.

Wen Yan glanced at the Sparrow Cat, which had collapsed into a quivering heap out of fear, and suddenly had an epiphany.

The corresponding Temporary Ability isn't fixed, Wen Yan realized. It might not be unique for many targets either. Instead, it's the most suitable one for the current situation. Recalling the previously generated Temporary Abilities, it seemed more probable that they were based on what he could utilize given his current Power and the immediate circumstances. With the Sparrow Cat's strength, there was only one chance to ambush Hu Yuan; a second opportunity wouldn't arise. That's why the prompt for it is gone now. And this new one, 'Deprivation,' might mean he now has a chance to use it. Its previous absence was most likely because even if such a Temporary Ability had been granted, it would have been utterly useless. It's like giving him a gun capable of killing Hu Yuan in one shot; with his marksmanship, he probably wouldn't even be able to hit Hu Yuan.

Thinking of Hu Yuan's explosive speed just moments ago—so fast his eyes couldn't follow, so fast even his instincts couldn't keep up—Wen Yan felt that Martial Training was absolutely necessary, although so far, his Martial Training hadn't seemed very effective.

But now he understood a bit more: the generation of Temporary Abilities was also based on his own Power. It was like at the very beginning when he faced the Soul Devouring Beast. Any ability generated then would have been useless. Even if the Soul Devouring Beast had displayed its health bar and lain there, letting him attack freely, he suspected he wouldn't have been able to make it lose a single drop of blood.

As Wen Yan was pondering this, Hu Yuan suddenly looked up. A helicopter was rapidly approaching from the sky.

Hu Yuan's expression darkened. He felt as if a scorching sun was approaching in the sky, emanating terrifying Yang Energy. Though it hadn't arrived yet, its Yang Energy had already enveloped the area.

He couldn't be bothered to heal his wounds. His figure flickered, and a wild wind abruptly rose around him. He intended to clear the area first to prevent any unexpected developments. His priority was to kill the fellow with that strange Divine Skill—a skill that seemed to specifically counter the Technique of Slaughter.

The moment Hu Yuan moved, the figure standing outside the helicopter also vanished.

As Hu Yuan's palm descended, Lord Zhu stepped in front of Wen Yan, preparing to rely on his Python Robe to forcibly withstand another blow.

Suddenly, a dull THUD sounded from ahead. A blast of wind, like a shockwave, scattered in all directions. Within a tens-of-meters radius in front of them, it was as if a missile had struck; the ground trembled, trees shattered, and dust billowed.

In an instant, the shockwave, carrying debris and dust, radiated outwards.

A bare-chested man, nearly two meters tall and wearing striped trousers, stood barefoot on the spot.

His body was a mass of knotted muscles, forming an inverted triangle shape, and he exuded an aura of burning, masculine vigor.

He stood motionless, his hair blown high by the wind, revealing a pair of scornful eyes.

He glanced down at the palm print on his chest, then at the superficial, spiderweb-like cracks on his skin, and snorted disdainfully.

"Is this all?"

The next moment, he swung his hand back and delivered a resounding slap.

Instantly, Hu Yuan vanished. Almost simultaneously, a thunderous BOOM erupted from the hillside dozens of meters away.

A massive ravine, dozens of meters long, tore through the ground, stretching all the way to the far side of the hillside.

Hu Yuan lay there and WAH—he spat out a mouthful of blood. His eyes quivered, and he stared at the distant figure in shock.

"Martial Artist?!"

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