CHAPTER 45: CHAPTER 45: WOLF BANDIT (3)

The clash shook the ground, sending splinters of rock flying in all directions. Rain hammered down, turning the battlefield into mud and chaos.

The First Brother swung his crimson blade again, but Goldie blocked with one arm, sending him staggering back.

"Is that all you’ve got?!" the First Brother roared, blood dripping down his face. His aura boiled, crimson energy surging from his body, his wolf screaming in fury. In a flash of red shadow, faster than before, he rushed at Goldie, slashing with his blade.

Goldie didn’t meet the strike head-on this time. It sidestepped, turned, and with lightning speed, grasped the red wolf’s tail.

Seeing this, the First Brother didn’t hesitate. He slashed toward his own wolf’s tail, severing it without mercy, and vanished back into the storm. Only afterimages of crimson flickered around Goldie, striking like phantoms.

"...." Goldie stood still and then, as if sensing the fast-moving red shadow, suddenly and quickly turned it fist and smashed toward an empty area next to it. Just a moment later, the first brother appeared there, but with his relentless strength, he bent down on his back and managed to dodge the fist.

WHOOSH—BOOM! The earth shattered, mud and rain exploding into the air.

Sweat slid down his face as he escaped death by a hair’s breadth. His heart pounded. This thing... it’s getting faster? No... it’s adapting to my speed.

The First Brother’s gritted his teeth. He swung his blade once again, faster than before, creating multiple afterimages of red streaks in the rain. Each strike carried the full force of his blood sacrifice, every blow capable of cutting through stone.

Goldie didn’t move immediately. Instead, it stood perfectly still again, it golden eyes tracking every shadow, every movement, every flicker of red. Then, suddenly, with a speed even the First Brother struggled to follow, Goldie vanished from sight, reappearing directly behind him.

WHAM!

A golden fist slammed into the First Brother’s back. He grunted, rolling to the side, mud flying up, but the blow didn’t stop him. Using the force from the punch and the roll, he continued back up and started running back toward Goldie with his blade, releasing a slash.

The Red wolf came from the opposition, slashing down with its sharp red claws.

"...."

Goldie then simply raised it hand to strike the First Brother, ignoring the wolf behind it, and punched.

Seeing the fast-approaching fist with golden light behind it, the first brother placed both hands on the blade and crouched so low that his head almost touched the muddy dirt.

BOOM! The empty direction of the fist created a shockwave that parted the dropping rain.

"Die! You damn thing!" He then slashed upward from below, intending to sever Goldie’s hand.

CLANG! His strike barely dealt a crack because it wasn’t his full-power strike.

Goldie intended to swing down it outstretched hand and smash the first brother under it, but then the wolf behind it struck Goldie’s back with enough force to make Goldie miss it swing.

BOOM! Each of Goldie’s strikes was accompanied by a loud shockwave.

The wolf bit down onto Goldie body, not to crush Goldie but to hold it in place.

The first brother then twisted his body and jumped up, rotating his body with red surging qi on his blade, and slashed down toward Goldie’s bent neck.

"DIE!"

SWING!

A red flash tore through the rain, carving a scar into the earth. Mud and dirt exploded.

To his surprise, the neck part of the slash only showed a deep crack, and then the blade stopped at the area beneath its skin.

"Gold..?" the shocked first brother muttered, but Goldie didn’t wait for his shock to end. Immediately, Goldie turned it attention toward the pestering wolf and used it elbow to strike down on the head of the wolf that was currently biting his torso.

SMASH! The red wolf’s skull shattered with a single strike, releasing its bite.

But it didn’t end there. Goldie grabbed the wolf’s head and raised it knee to smash its lower jaw.

BAMM!

The wolf’s entire skull shattered from the impact, ensuring the wolf’s life was no more.

Releasing the lifeless body of the big wolf, Goldie appeared swiftly in front of the shocked first brother and punched at his chest. The first brother hurriedly blocked it with his blade.

BAMM!

The blade shattered as it helped absorb the impact, but the rest of his body flew and destroyed a few trees before finally coming to a stop.

Cough, cough. The first brother’s mouth filled with blood as he stared at Goldie, who was currently walking slowly through the rain towards him. The piercing golden eyes lit up brightly in the cloak of the rain.

"Ha... to think I would lose everything like this... here..." The first brother laughed a bit, then suddenly, with a determined face, he decided to break through to the Foundation Establishment here and now. The chance might be low, but it was still better than nothing.

The Second brother, seeing the grim situation and noticing the first brother’s intention, gritted his teeth and mounted the wolf, ordering his terrified subordinates, "STOP staring and help big brother buy some time!"

The shocked bandits still couldn’t move, and seeing this, the Second brother shouted again, his voice piercing through the rain.

"You idiot! If big brother is lost, we will be sure to die soon too! So help big brother so we can have a slimmer chance of survival!"

As if moved by the speech or under the threat of death, the surviving bandits grasped their swords and wolves, and rode toward Goldie with their eyes open and loud shouts.

Under the rain, their charge felt like plunging into a bottomless abyss of death.

Goldie, seeing this, simply killed them all with a punch, one by one.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Despite telling his subordinates to charge, the Second brother simply chose to hover around Goldie, not daring to go near.

And soon, all screams and shouts faded away, silenced by the rain. The bandits were all dead, their bodies lying around Goldie in the mud, blood flowing and making the surrounding mud red.

After smashing the head of the last remaining bandit, Goldie sensed something and turned toward the area where the first brother was.

A pressure soon released from there.

"AHAHA! I actually broke through! Heaven really blessed me!" The delirious shouts of the first brother echoed through the quiet forest.

Hearing his brother’s shout, the tension in the Second brother’s body finally relaxed, and he almost wanted to cry.

"Ah, so this is the Foundation realm..." Feeling the surging power from his body, he clenched his fist, also noticing something else faintly connecting to him. "Is this... the Dao?"

Even though he could barely sense it, it still managed to bring an awe out of him. Now he kind of understood why those Sect cultivators seemed to obsess over chasing the Dao and Immortality.

Goldie, sensing the strong pressure coming from the first brother, suddenly saw the first brother vanish from his spot and appear in front of him in a flash.

BAMM!

Goldie blocked the punch but was sent flying, smashing many trees along the way before finally coming to a stop.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

That attack almost destroyed Goldie’s arm, with even the chest showing signs of cracks. Fragments of its body cracked and fell into the muddy puddles.

"Oh? As expected, you are not a normal puppet. To even manage to survive a strike from a Foundation Cultivator shows that you are special..." The first brother couldn’t help but frown even more, wondering where this puppet came from. Even though he had just broken through and still haven’t consolidate his realm yet, he was still a legitimate Foundation Realm, and he hadn’t held back with that strike.

"...."

"Hmph, it doesn’t matter. Once I destroy you, I will make sure to find out who is behind this and make sure they suffer a death worse than this," the first brother said with a chilling tone.

Hearing this, the kneeling Goldie paused for a bit, then as if it had decided something, it stood up straight again.

Just as the first brother was wondering what the weird puppet was up to, he saw a golden liquid dripping from the puppet’s body.

DRIP! DRIP! DRIP!

"It’s a useless struggle, no matter what you do..." The first brother didn’t seem to care about the sight and sneered, but then...

His grin slowly faltered. His eyes went wide as he caught sight of the thing standing before him.

And he muttered in disbelief, "... Just what in the hell are you?"

Then, with a flash of golden light, the newly risen Foundation Establishment Cultivator...

A realm that qualified them to create their own Cultivation Family...

A realm that marked the true start of an immortal journey...

A realm that many had yearned for...

And yet...

The first brother’s head.... exploded.

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"Ha...! Ha...! Ha...!" The Second Brother’s frantic breathing echoed through the rain-soaked forest.

"No...! This can’t be real! This has to be a nightmare!" Panic twisted his voice. He ran blindly, slipping in the mud, rain soaking through his clothes, his heart hammering. Every shadow seemed alive. Every branch snapping sounded like something hunting him.

Even the rain couldn’t hide his terrified face, as if he had just seen a ghost.

Forcing his legs to carry him away, he wanted to escape from... that thing... as far as he could.

After running for a while, he leaned against a tree, out of breath, no longer caring about his dirty appearance.

"Ha..!Ha...!What... what is that thing...?" His mind kept replaying the first brother’s death.

His body continued to shiver, unsure if it was from fear or the cold brought on by the rain.

Then he suddenly heard a noise behind him and quickly turned his head back, "Who’s there!?"

His fearful eyes glanced at the surrounding forest, leaves rustling with rain, and then he saw a snake slithering by into a tree.

"Haaaaa..." Relief poured from him, shaking from head to toe. "I must be imagining things... I’m just paranoid. I... I have to get out of here..."

SPLURCH!

Before he could finish his sentence, pain erupted in his chest like fire. He froze, his eyes widening in disbelief, slowly lowering his gaze to see a pure Golden hand through his chest.

"H-how...?" His voice was barely a whisper, gurgling as blood filled it.

Then his body fell onto the wet mud.

He tried to scream, but only a gurgle came out.

His legs twitched.

His hands clawed at the mud desperately.

But slowly, his body went limp.

"..."

Silence then fell.

Only the sound of rain remained in the forest.

--

Meanwhile, Li Feng was on his way back to the sect with Lin Yu.

As if sensing something, Li Feng suddenly turned his head and looked into the distance.

Lin Yu noticed and asked, "What’s wrong?"

"Nothing..." Li Feng answered casually, then lifted his gaze toward the sky.

The rain had finally stopped, and the clouds were starting to break apart, letting the light shine through.

Lin Yu followed his gaze and chuckled. "Oh, the rain stopped. It a good sign. Come on, let’s hurry back to the sect."

Li Feng gave a faint smile and continue walked on beside him.

--

Inside the Outer Sect of the Azure Moon Sect,

The door of Li Feng’s residence, which had stayed closed for days, slowly opened.

And a cold fairy stepped out, it is Yue Lan.

Her silver sect robe moved gently with the wind as she looked up at the clear sky. After days of stabilizing her realm, she was finally ready.

Her golden eyes shone with calmness, but her mind drifted for a moment to the shameless man who had been with her these past days. But she quickly shook her head, pushing the thought away, and walked gracefully toward the place where the tournament would be held.

--

Meanwhile, in another part of the Outer Sect of Azure Moon Sect,

"Why!" Fen Ziyan’s furious cry rang out as yet another priceless vase shattered against the floor.

She stood in the middle of the mess, her big chest rising and falling rapidly. Her silver robe clung to her curves from the sweat of her failed attempt, the fabric outlining the sharp lines of her body, plump yet toned, proud and untamed.

Her lips, stained red from biting too hard, trembled as a drop of blood traced down her chin.

Her long, black silky hair was disheveled, strands sticking to her flushed face as she gripped it hard in frustration.

Even in this wild, unrestrained state, her beauty only grew more dangerous, more tempting. Her chest rose and fell with each heavy breath, the thin fabric straining against her curves, doing little to hide the way her body shook and jiggled with her rage.

"Just what is wrong with me!?" she hissed, her voice hoarse, and desperate.

She trembled, her crimson eyes burning with unwillingness, but no matter how alluring her figure looked at this moment, the pressure crushing her chest was unbearable.

Today was the day of the tournament, and yet she still couldn’t break through.

Her mind, unwilling yet restless, drifted again to that shady, shameless man.

Her teeth ground together, her lips glistening faintly as she whispered to herself, "...Fine."

It was as if she had made a decision.