Chapter 580 - 379: Relic Shatters, Mental Projection

Chapter 580: Chapter 379: Relic Shatters, Mental Projection

Lu Hongyan recovered slightly from her shock. Her survival instinct overpowered her fear. She slowed her breathing, feigning submission, while quickly scanning her surroundings from the corner of her eye. Yang Wanli’s exhaustion and the slightly trembling blade against her neck gave her a sliver of hope.

"Old man..." Lu Hongyan’s voice was hoarse, deliberately softening to show weakness. "Wang Yi... what kind of benefits did your boss give you? Black Wind Stronghold can give you ten times as much! Gold? Women? Or... your son’s life?" Noticing Yang Wanli’s advanced age, she intentionally threw out the bait to test him.

"Bullshit!" Yang Wanli spat. He tightened his grip, the blade pressing into Lu Hongyan’s skin, drawing a thin line of blood. "I’m a man of Stone Village! The boss saved my entire family’s lives! Who gives a damn about your filthy stronghold’s—"

This was the moment!

Lu Hongyan was waiting exactly for this instant of emotional agitation, distraction, and unsteady grip! She violently jerked her head back, her neck scraping past the blade by a hair’s breadth. At the same time, she channeled all her gathered strength into her right leg, kicking viciously at Yang Wanli’s unhealed and weakest left leg!

"Argh—!"

Intense pain hit him. Yang Wanli’s left leg gave out, and his tall frame lost its balance, stumbling backward uncontrollably. The broadsword flew from his grasp, landing in a distant pile of fallen leaves with a CLANG.

"Old fool! You’re courting death!"

Lu Hongyan instantly flipped to her feet. Her agile movements were completely at odds with her fragile appearance. A cruel and triumphant glint flashed in her eyes. She did not care whether the fallen Yang Wanli lived or died. She had only one thought in her mind: she had to flee! She needed to escape back to the dungeon entrance or deeper into the dense forest! As long as she could find Lu Junsheng or any of her subordinates, she would still have a chance to turn the tables!

She did not even bother finishing off Yang Wanli on the ground, turning around to dash into the depths of the forest.

However, the moment she turned around, a figure charged out from an angle! It was Pang Damao!

Pang Damao had been the first to exit after the dungeon was cleared. Seeing Wang Yi, the ground covered in corpses, and Lu Hongyan nowhere to be found, he immediately guessed she was making a run for it. He followed her tracks all the way here, just in time to see Lu Hongyan kick Yang Wanli down from afar. He could have hidden in the shadows to wait for backup from Wang Yi or Man Datou, but seeing Uncle Yang—the villagers’ respectful address for Yang Wanli—who had once given him food, warmth, and respect, fall to the ground, a rush of hot blood shot straight to his head.

"Dog! Don’t even think about escaping!" Pang Damao roared. Like a cannonball fired from its barrel, he threw himself recklessly at Lu Hongyan’s back.

Hearing the wind rushing behind her, Lu Hongyan was startled. She instinctively dodged to the side while reaching back with a backhand grab! RIP! Although she failed to completely evade the tackle, she used all her strength to grab the front of Pang Damao’s clothes.

"It’s you, you treacherous traitor!" Lu Hongyan recognized the newcomer as that clever, bootlicking Personal Guard, which only fueled her fury. She twisted her body, using the momentum of Pang Damao’s charge to viciously smash him against a thick tree trunk nearby!

THUD!

With a muffled sound, Pang Damao felt his internal organs shift instantly. The back of his head slammed hard against the trunk. Seeing stars, a coppery sweetness surged up his throat, and he spat out a large mouthful of blood. The agonizing pain left him slumped on the ground, his consciousness beginning to blur. He regretted it; this heroic bravado was truly fatal! He should have waited for the boss to arrive!

Breathing heavily, Lu Hongyan looked down at the slumped, blood-spitting Pang Damao and spat contemptuously. "You overestimating piece of trash! Do you think a cheap bone like you is worthy of stopping me? If it weren’t for the mountain stronghold—"

She suddenly realized she had let something slip and immediately shut her mouth. But those two words—"mountain stronghold"—struck like two bolts of thunder, violently splitting into the depths of Pang Damao’s chaotic consciousness!

Stronghold?

Pang Damao struggled to lift his bloodstained face, staring fixedly at Lu Hongyan’s beautiful yet ferociously bloody visage. A long-dusted memory, one almost carved into his very bones, mixed with terror and boundless hatred, erupted like a surging flood opening its floodgates!

That night of rivers of blood... his parents’ agonizing screams... his baby sister’s silent little face in swaddling clothes... the burning thatched cottages... and the wildly laughing faces of those beasts... The leader, the Second-in-Command, was wearing a Mask, but he remembered that unique, piercing female voice, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue... as well as the plea the Mountain Bandits had shouted, "Mercy, Second-in-Command!"... It was exactly this voice! Exactly this tone!

"You...!" Pang Damao struggled to sit up, his voice hoarse like grinding sandpaper. "Black Wind Stronghold... You’re the Second-in-Command of the Black Wind Stronghold?! You’re the venomous woman who led the slaughter of our village that night!"

Lu Hongyan was startled half a step back by the sudden eruption of monstrous, overwhelming hatred in Pang Damao’s eyes. She had not expected this seemingly slippery and cowardly fellow to share such a blood feud with her! Her eyes flickered, then turned into an even deeper viciousness. "You little brat, you sure are lucky to be alive! That’s right, I am Blood Swallow, the Second-in-Command of the Black Wind Stronghold! Consider your village unlucky for getting in the way of our search! What, you want revenge? Wait for your next life!"

It was confirmed! The person before him was the sole reason he was still alive—the target of his revenge!

His last shred of hesitation, his last shred of fear, and his last shred of survival instinct were all incinerated by the roaring flames of hatred in this instant!

"Next life?! I’ll drag you down to hell with me in this life! Pay for the lives of my parents, my sister, and the folks of Stone Village!" Pang Damao roared, his voice as shrill as a ghost. An unimaginable strength burst from his heavily injured body. He actually sprang up from the ground like a dying, ferocious beast experiencing a final flash of lucidity, lunging at Lu Hongyan once more!

This time, he didn’t charge at her back; he aimed for her throat! His arms became like iron bands, locking tightly around Lu Hongyan’s neck! It was a completely suicidal method of fighting!

"Agh...!" Caught off guard, Lu Hongyan was tackled to the ground. With her throat death-gripped, she immediately found it hard to breathe. She struggled in panic, her nails scratching madly at Pang Damao’s face and back, leaving trails of bloody marks. Her legs kicked wildly as she tried to break free.

But Pang Damao had long forgotten the pain. Only one voice roared in his mind, "Strangle her to death! Avenge Mom and Dad!" The strength in his arms was so immense that it nearly snapped her neck! No matter how Lu Hongyan scratched or kicked, he refused to let go!

Lu Hongyan’s struggles gradually became futile. Lack of oxygen and intense pain blurred her consciousness. In the final few seconds of her slipping life, she saw Pang Damao’s eyes burning with blood and fire. There was no joy of victory within them, only endless blood vengeance and a resolute drive for destruction.

"Uh... heh heh..." Lu Hongyan eventually stopped struggling. Her body went limp, her pupils dilated, and she completely lost her breath. Even in death, her face remained frozen in disbelief and deep terror.

Feeling the body in his arms go limp, Pang Damao finally slowly loosened his tightening grip. The agonizing pain throughout his body rushed in like a tidal wave. The dull ache at the back of his head, the burning pain of the blade scratches on his back, the severe pain in his internal organs, and the feeling of total exhaustion from spending all his strength overwhelmed him instantly.

He raised his head and saw Yang Wanli beside him, who had just managed to prop himself up into a sitting position. On that wrinkled, pale, and bloodless face was deep shock and a trace of indescribable, complex emotion.

Wang River adjusted the Flying Light Arrows for pursuit. THWACK, THWACK, THWACK, THWACK. The guards were shot down one by one, although because the distance was too great—

Meanwhile, a sudden change occurred!

The scheming confidence on Lu Hongyan’s face froze instantly! The sudden roar of engines and the rumbling of an Earthquake, along with the giant scorpion monster that abruptly appeared a hundred meters away and the formation of Crossbow Carriages flashing with the light of death, made her soul tremble!

The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind! She had just sent her main force into the dungeon, and the deadly hunter bared its fangs!

"Enemy attack!! Defen—Ahhh!"

The guard captain’s shrill warning cry had barely torn through the air before it was completely drowned out by an even sharper, denser barrage of shrieks Breaking the Sky!

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH! SWISH! SWISH! SWISH, SWISH, SWISH—!