Chapter Seventy-Six: Picking Them Off One by One-Era of the Gods(Dragon Sky)

"Very good—!"

Shadow smiled faintly, put away the soul oaths one by one, let out a long breath, and said, "Let's go, we need to get out of here quickly. Greed Wolf hasn't shown up yet, and I don't want to wait until the medicine wears off and get ambushed by that bastard."

As soon as he finished speaking, Shadow's expression suddenly changed, and the aura around him rapidly weakened.

"Damn it!"

Shadow cursed inwardly. He had never imagined that Seven Kill would have left a trick for him as well—the Three-Fold Golden Pill he had been given wouldn't last a quarter of an hour, but only half that time.

Now, his aura was plummeting.

Early Pulse Opening Realm!

Peak Qi Vein Realm!

Late Qi Vein Realm...

In the blink of an eye, he had already dropped from mid Pulse Opening Realm to late Qi Vein Realm, and his cultivation was still falling fast.

"Hurry, get me out of here, now!"

Feeling his condition deteriorate, Shadow shouted to his subordinates to get him away.

At this moment, he had already fallen to the Qi Gathering Realm. He knew that soon he wouldn't even have the strength to walk.

If they didn't leave now, encountering Greed Wolf would mean certain death!

His mind raced, and he instantly guessed Seven Kill's intention—all those words about cooperating after leaving were lies.

The pill he had been given only had half a quarter-hour's effect, but the one Seven Kill took might really last a full quarter-hour. That extra time was meant to finish him off.

Yet, what baffled him was that Seven Kill had let him choose freely between the two pills, placing them openly in his palm. How had he tampered with them?

He would never figure it out, and the now-dead Seven Kill would never come back to tell him. This would remain an eternal secret...

Hearing Shadow's orders and sensing his waning aura, his subordinates instantly understood what had happened. Their faces changed drastically, and without hesitation, one of them grabbed Shadow, preparing to leave in haste, while the others formed a protective circle around him.

They knew that with Shadow in this state, if Greed Wolf arrived, they would all die!

But just as they moved, a pitch-black thread flashed before their eyes like black lightning. Startled, they had no time to react.

With a sharp whistle, the dark strand shot into the back of Shadow's head, carrying a string of blood droplets, and burst out of his forehead.

Bang—!

Shadow's head exploded like a watermelon, spraying red and white matter everywhere. Fragments of bone and chunks of flesh splattered over his subordinates.

The headless body then collapsed with a thunderous crash!

In that instant, everyone was shocked into stillness.

They had no idea what had just happened!

Swish!

Suddenly, the same sound rang out again!

Bang!

One by one, Shadow's subordinates had their heads blown apart, collapsing into headless corpses just like their leader.

In the blink of an eye, five or six were dead!

"Not good! Run—!"

At this point, two or three remaining men shouted, not knowing who started it, and their figures shot away with all their might, fleeing into the distance.

"Heh, do you really think you can escape?"

Three miles away, hidden in the treetop of a large tree, a young man in white robes, his face pale and eyes silver-white, let a cold smile curl at his lips.

His finger squeezed the trigger again—!

Swish!

Every squeeze was like the grim reaper swinging his scythe, harvesting souls. Each pull unleashed a death ray, nearly invisible to the naked eye, shooting forth with terrifying speed!

Bang!

Three more explosive sounds. The three fleeing subordinates jerked to a halt, headless bodies crashing to the ground, staining the snow crimson.

When the last one fell, Lin Fan glanced around, then dove deep into the snow, hastily arranged a hiding place, and promptly lost consciousness.

In fact, the moment he had stepped into the territory of the fourth-tier beast, he had stopped abruptly and leaped into a nearby tree.

Because he knew that the reason Shadow hadn't caught up was, firstly, fear that he still had hidden cards, and secondly, that whatever caused Shadow's sudden surge in aura was preventing pursuit.

So, he had to take this chance to kill Shadow!

He did not want to wait until he became stronger to hunt Shadow for revenge—by then, Shadow might have disappeared without a trace.

With the opportunity before him, vengeance could not wait for another night!

Even though right now he could hardly hold on—having exhausted himself with soul-attack secret techniques—he still tried to endure, hoping for a chance. If it didn't come, there was nothing he could do.

Fortunately, his patience paid off!

Soon enough, Shadow's aura began to plummet. Lin Fan seized the moment, drew the Godbreaker Crossbow from his spatial ring, and shot Shadow without hesitation.

Of course, he would not let Shadow's subordinates go either—he killed them one by one.

After all this, Lin Fan's body and soul were both pushed to the brink of collapse; unable to hold out any longer, he had no choice but to hide on the spot.

He believed that his hiding place was safe!

Because this was the edge of the fourth-tier beast's territory; no other beasts would enter, and Pulse Opening Realm experts wouldn't dare trespass either.

As for the fourth-tier beasts themselves, they usually stayed at the center of their territory, seldom venturing out. Even if they did, they would head to the edge only occasionally.

Suppose the fourth-tier beast territory was a circle—no matter which direction you left from the center, you could exit. He refused to believe his luck was so bad that one would pass right by him!

In fact, if one did, it would be beyond bad luck; it would be true misfortune.

If that really happened, it could only mean that in his past life he was the sort who would call people incessantly while they were playing King of Glory, or yank someone's network cable just as they were about to destroy the enemy's crystal in League of Legends...

That level of wickedness and bad karma would be the only explanation for such rotten luck!

Because outside this direction lay only the territory of second- and third-tier beasts. Not only did fourth-tier beasts seldom leave their domain, even if they did, they would not head toward the lower-tier beasts' range.

As for the Godbreaker Crossbow, he had bought it before entering the Cang Python Forest.

After all, having taken over Panlong City and become sworn brothers with Jiang North Tiger of Jiangbei City, with the Jiang family looking after him, and countless people jealous, he had racked up four million six hundred thousand negative emotion points from their resentment.

He had spent two million six hundred thousand on lottery draws and one million six hundred thousand on buying Godbreaker Crossbows for his clan, leaving him with four hundred thousand negative emotion points!

He had considered buying Primordial Energy Fruits with the remaining forty thousand, but that would only get him eight, enough to increase his Primordial Threads by eighty.

He was still at mid Qi Gathering Realm, and that wouldn't be enough for a breakthrough!

Nor would his battle power increase much—he currently had 173 Primordial Threads; with eighty more, that made 253, and even if he used Wind and Thunder Force to multiply his energy, he would only reach the level of a five-orifice Qi Vein expert.

But even without those eighty extra threads, using Wind and Thunder Force would still boost his power to the Qi Vein Realm—albeit only at the three-orifice level, but still formidable.

Once he invoked his intent, he was an unbeatable presence among Qi Vein cultivators.

Moreover, his physical strength was barely a step behind Pulse Opening Realm experts; eighty more Primordial Threads would make little difference.

Thus, he did not exchange those forty thousand points for Primordial Energy Fruits!

Instead, he spent twenty thousand on a Godbreaker Crossbow for himself, in case of emergencies.

After all, it was common to run out of energy during trials, and the Godbreaker Crossbow’s element of surprise could decide a fierce battle.

Just like just now...!

The remaining twenty thousand points, Lin Fan didn't use; he planned to save them until he accumulated enough for a breakthrough.

He was determined to rely on himself in his cultivation, to keep fighting, and to help Thousandfold Snow gather souls!

Now, after killing so many people, along with the beasts he’d slain earlier, and the vengeful thoughts of those who had failed to catch him, not to mention the continued jealousy from Panlong City, his negative emotion points were soaring daily!

Tens of thousands more each day...!

Of course, he knew this wouldn’t last forever. Once those hunting him were dead, they would no longer add to his points; and those who envied him would eventually get used to it and stop feeling jealous.

It was like winning five million in the lottery—at first, everyone around you, relatives, friends, colleagues, even acquaintances, would be jealous.

Eighty percent would envy you!

A few days or months later, people might still mention it, but few would still feel jealous.

People are contradictory like that. When a friend or someone else wins a sudden fortune, they may offer congratulations, but inside, everyone wonders, "Why not me?!"

There’s always a touch of resentment, even secret hope to take their place!

Yet, over time, as people get used to it, they return to normal—because, in the end, it has nothing to do with them.

Even if someone occasionally wonders, "Why wasn’t it me?" it’s only a faint trace of regret, no longer envy.

[End of Chapter 76: Killed One by One]