"I'm warning you again — this is private territory, the forbidden ground of the Panlong Grand Clan! Anyone who forces their way in is an intruder on Panlong Grand Clan land, and you will bear the consequences!"
Commander Zhang's tone was resolute. There were quite a few on the other side, and their strength appeared to exceed his own. But this was his territory, and he absolutely would not allow anyone to trespass.
Moreover, he was still bearing a heavy responsibility at the moment. This area had been temporarily taken over by Pill King Zhen, and Pill King Zhen was a honored guest of the Clan Master himself.
What mattered even more was that Pill King Zhen had been very amiable and courteous to him. This made Commander Zhang feel both flattered and acutely aware of the weight of his duty.
The group facing him was dressed like hunters. Their leader was a burly, one-eyed man with an arrogant and domineering air.
"Save the tough talk! We were hunting a True Saint-grade spirit beast, and we were on the verge of capturing it when it crashed into this area and vanished. We suspect your people pulled something and are hiding our prey!"
"That's right — hand it over quickly! If you think you can hoard our catch, you'd better check whether your stomachs are big enough to swallow it."
Commander Zhang was furious at these people fabricating charges out of thin air. "I've been stationed here the whole time, and I haven't seen any spirit beast! Enough nonsense — either leave, or die!"
The one-eyed man laughed coldly. "Die? Do you even hear yourself? You think your handful of shrimp soldiers and crab generals can threaten us? What a joke!"
With a wave of his hand, the dozen or so men beside the one-eyed man quickly spread out, each wearing a brazen, predatory grin. It was obvious they didn't take Commander Zhang's force seriously at all.
Commander Zhang roared in fury and swept his arm forward. "Formation!"
Commander Zhang's team had trained together for a long time and shared excellent coordination. Though individually they were far weaker than the opposing group, their ability to fight as a unit was superb.
The one-eyed man let out a savage laugh and clenched both hands. A massive mountain-splitting axe materialized in his grip.
With a flex of both arms, explosive force surged into a torrent of true qi, tearing apart his upper garments piece by piece until they shredded into the air.
His muscles, hard as cast bronze and forged iron, stood out in ridges, radiating an impression of inexhaustible power.
With a single sweep of his arm, the one-eyed man called to his men. "Brothers, hold the line — I'll handle this!"
He bellowed like thunder and swung the mountain-splitting axe, cleaving it savagely toward the ground. The earth immediately split open in a long, deep trench that spread outward at a terrifying pace.
The axe blazed with streams of black qi, charging toward the opposing side like a stampede of massive bulls.
"Break!"
The one-eyed man stomped forward at astonishing speed. His axe swept out, and he plunged straight into Commander Zhang's formation.
Crack! Crack!
The black axe light flickered, impossibly fast.
The warriors beside Commander Zhang barely had time to react. Like wooden stakes being felled, seven or eight heads were swept up by the axe-light and sent spinning into the air, severed clean from their bodies.
The one-eyed man was utterly rampant. He roared with wild laughter. "Break! Break! Break! Break them all for me!"
The giant axe pounded into the empty air over and over, as if crushing garlic. The severed heads flying skyward were struck again and again by the axe, shattering like watermelons being smashed to pieces, flesh and blood spraying in every direction.
This gory spectacle ignited the one-eyed man's feral instincts. He howled with laughter, the bloodthirst in his eyes growing ever more intense.
Behind him, his men were cheering and whooping. "Boss Hong's Heaven-and-Earth Axe is the real deal. This is a massacre!"
"Tsk, tsk — my hands are getting itchy too."
"Boss Hong, leave a few for us brothers!"
Commander Zhang was privately stunned by the one-eyed man's savagery. He himself was a Fourth-Order Saint Realm powerhouse, but judging by this Boss Hong's presence, the man was at least a Sixth-Order Saint — possibly even a Seventh-Order Heavenly Saint.
Watching his men get cut down like wheat, Commander Zhang's heart bled. He drew a silver sword and swept it in an arc. "Everyone, fall back! I'll take him on!"
The silver blade carved a crescent of light as it slashed toward the one-eyed giant, while Commander Zhang simultaneously ordered his subordinates to retreat.
But these men were iron-clad loyalists to the death. Seeing the enemy's brutality, they refused to retreat. And witnessing their comrades decapitated only fueled their resolve to fight to the last.
"Commander, fall back! We'll hold this beast!"
Even as they spoke, these death-defying iron guards did not withdraw under the one-eyed man's onslaught. Instead, they charged at him with frantic abandon.
Each one had gone blood-red-eyed, fierce as mad tigers, fighting with the full desperation of men willing to trade their lives.
"A mantis trying to stop a chariot!" The one-eyed giant sneered. Seeing a cluster of warriors surging toward him, he swept his axe in a horizontal arc.
The force of the sweep whipped up a tornado of true qi, engulfing seven or eight warriors in its vortex.
"Die for me!"
The axe's edge blazed with expanding light, churning wildly — like countless black carp tumbling through shimmering waves.
And at that very instant —
A strange beam of light shot out from the great axe's blade, flickering across its surface.
Struck by that uncanny radiance, the axe suddenly seemed bound by an invisible force. The sweeping momentum slowed dramatically, almost halting.
Between masters, victory and defeat are decided in the span of a heartbeat.
That brief hesitation gave the seven or eight death-defying warriors — who had been moments from certain death — an opening to strike.