Chapter 136: Zhao Hao’s Slander

With nothing holding him back, Lu Yan unleashed his full strength. Every move was a killing blow.

“Do not think this old man fears you.”

The grotesque elder snorted coldly and advanced as well. His body was as light as nothingness, moving like a specter.

More precisely, he was a specter.

In an instant, he appeared behind Lu Yan, his palm thrusting forward like a blade.

But Lu Yan stamped his foot, twisted his body, and slipped past the attack. He appeared at the elder’s left side and brought down a fist.

“Your speed…”

The grotesque elder was greatly alarmed. Lu Yan’s speed was actually no slower than his own.

With no other choice, he could only meet Lu Yan head-on.

Boom!

Berserk and sinister forces collided within the courtyard. Invisible shockwaves swept in every direction, filling the air with dust. Several meters of ground looked as though it had been plowed.

The grotesque elder was immensely powerful, possessing cultivation comparable to that of a Fifth-Level Martial Marquis. Yet even he could not withstand the combined assault of Lu Yan’s eight streams of bone force. His body was sent flying more than ten meters, and his expression turned solemn.

“An Innate Martial Body. I miscalculated.”

He turned and fled at once, passing straight through the wall and escaping outside.

“You tried to kill someone and now you want to leave?”

Lu Yan employed Cloud-Step. His body was as light as a swallow; with a tap of his toes, he drifted over the wall like a feather and gave chase to the grotesque elder.

Once outside, Lu Yan unleashed his full strength.

Crack!

Eight streams of bone force erupted from his legs. With one step, he smashed a deep crater into the ground, and his body shot toward the grotesque elder like a cannonball.

He was even faster than the grotesque elder.

After only a few steps, he drew close and threw a punch.

The fist seemed to pierce the air, producing a mournful howl. The grotesque elder’s expression became extremely grave.

Although grotesques possessed peculiar bodies that ordinary people could not injure, no matter how fiercely they struck them with weapons, a martial artist’s vital energy and bone force could still harm them.

Especially bone force as dense and violent as Lu Yan’s—it was practically their natural bane.

The elder could only turn around and gather his strength to resist.

Bang! Bang!

The two exchanged three blows in succession. On the fourth, Lu Yan seized an opening and struck the elder in the chest.

The punch felt as though it had landed on cotton, meeting no resistance at all.

Yet the bone force struck its target and exploded inside the elder’s body.

The grotesque elder staggered backward once more. Gray mist billowed from his body, resembling smoke produced by burning flesh.

Lu Yan keenly sensed that the elder’s aura had weakened slightly.

“Grotesque creature, you dared trespass into Ridge King City. Today, you will surely die and be reduced to ashes!”

Lu Yan’s shout rang far into the distance.

He had done so deliberately, hoping to alert the other Martial Marquises and have them join the hunt. What if the creature had allies?

Taking advantage of available strength was not against Lu Yan’s nature.

After borrowing the force of their clash to retreat, the grotesque elder turned and continued fleeing.

Lu Yan pursued, rapidly closing the distance.

Suddenly, a figure shot out from the side and inserted himself between Lu Yan and the grotesque elder.

“Grotesque creature, prepare to die!”

The newcomer struck down with one palm.

Yet his body happened to block Lu Yan’s path, preventing him from intervening.

With a loud smack, the man’s palm struck the grotesque elder in the back, sending the elder stumbling forward and actually increasing his speed.

“It’s you.”

Lu Yan’s eyes turned cold.

The newcomer was Zhao Hao.

“Move.”

Lu Yan snorted and prepared to bypass Zhao Hao and continue pursuing the grotesque elder.

But Zhao Hao hurried several steps forward and once again blocked his path.

“Slaying monsters and exorcising evil is the duty of men like us. Brother Lu, I will join you.”

Because of this delay, the grotesque elder had already fled more than a hundred meters away.

“Get lost.”

A fierce glint flashed through Lu Yan’s eyes. He seized Zhao Hao by the shoulder and hurled him away with tremendous force.

Crack!

The bones in Zhao Hao’s shoulder shattered. His body flew sideways and slammed heavily into the ground, breaking several ribs.

“Lu Ren, what are you doing?” Zhao Hao roared.

Lu Yan could not be bothered to answer him.

Did Zhao Hao really think he was a fool?

Although he appeared to be attacking the grotesque, he was actually helping it escape. Zhao Hao was clearly in league with the creature. After killing the elder, Lu Yan would hand Zhao Hao over to the Zhao clan for judgment.

If other people had not already rushed onto the scene, Lu Yan would have killed Zhao Hao with a single move.

Lu Yan gave chase at full speed.

By now, several Martial Marquises had appeared nearby and had also spotted the grotesque elder.

“Grotesque creature, where do you think you’re going?”

“Kill!”

Two Martial Marquises intercepted the elder from ahead. Unfortunately, they were too weak. The grotesque elder struck them both with his palms, sending them flying. They collapsed to the ground, twitching and trembling all over.

Still, they managed to delay the elder for a moment, allowing Lu Yan to close the distance again.

Several more figures appeared ahead, all of them Martial Marquises.

One of them was even a Fifth-Level Martial Marquis.

This man wielded a long spear. He leapt more than ten meters into the air and, from above, swung the weapon down with tremendous force.

The grotesque elder was startled and hurriedly dodged.

Boom!

The spear smashed into the street with terrifying force. Bone force erupted, shattering the stone, and tore a five-meter-long groove into the ground.

Whoosh!

When his first strike missed, the man swept his spear horizontally. The grotesque elder countered with his palm, and the two exchanged several blows without either gaining the upper hand.

At that moment, Lu Yan caught up and struck out with a fist.

Relying on his ghostlike movement, the grotesque elder dodged the spear-wielding Martial Marquis’s attack, but he could not evade Lu Yan’s blow. He had no choice but to take it head-on.

Fist and palm collided. The grotesque elder was driven backward, his arm trembling violently as gray smoke poured from his body.

The other Martial Marquises also closed in.

The grotesque elder’s expression turned ugly. He knew that he would certainly die today.

“Everyone, I am Zhao Hao of the Zhao clan. Do not be deceived by that man with the golden hands! His name is Lu Ren. This grotesque creature entered by possessing him!”

At some point, Zhao Hao had also come nearby, and he shouted loudly.

The other Martial Marquises were startled and instinctively widened the distance between themselves and Lu Yan.

“Pure nonsense. If I have been possessed by him, why would I be trying to kill him?”

Lu Yan answered while maintaining his assault. He continued to batter the grotesque elder, striking him again after several moves. An even thicker gray mist spread from the elder’s body.

“Because I discovered that you were possessed, you are trying to silence me! You want to kill not only me but that grotesque creature as well, so you can conceal the truth completely. But justice is clear, and you have finally exposed yourself!”

Zhao Hao shouted. When he finished, he cooperatively spat out a mouthful of blood.

“That’s right, Lu Ren! I was the one who possessed you and entered this place. That day, you were so afraid of death that you begged me repeatedly to spare you. Yet today you dare to kill me? One day, my people will certainly kill you!”

The grotesque elder also began shouting.

He hated Lu Yan to the core.

If not for Lu Yan, he would never have been driven into such a desperate situation.

Even if he had to die today, he intended to drag Lu Yan down with him.

After hearing this, the Martial Marquises surrounding them looked at Lu Yan differently.

Their gazes held suspicion, wariness, and even hostility.

“What fools.”

Lu Yan cursed inwardly, afraid that these people might lose their heads and attack him.

“With my strength, how could I have been possessed so easily? This grotesque creature was originally possessing Zhao Hao. They attempted to assassinate me but underestimated my strength, which is why I injured them. Now that they are trapped in a desperate situation, they are trying to frame me and sow discord among us.”

“No matter who it possessed, the grotesque must be destroyed first,” someone said.

“That’s right. Whoever it possessed, it must still be killed. Destroy the grotesque first. As for the two of them, the various Grandmasters can determine the truth themselves.”

The Fifth-Level Martial Marquis’s gaze hardened, and he once again thrust his spear at the grotesque elder.

With him joining the battle, the grotesque elder was overwhelmed even more completely. Lu Yan struck him with a single punch and split his body in two.

Even so, the grotesque elder did not die. His body had merely grown weaker, and thick smoke rolled from it like burning timber.

“No… no…”

Not far away, Zhao Hao’s body trembled faintly, his face filled with terror.

The reason he had continuously defended the grotesque elder was that the creature had left a strand of foul energy inside his head, allowing it to control him at will.

As long as the grotesque elder activated that foul energy, it could twist his brain into mush.

His life and death were entirely in the elder’s hands.

He feared that if the grotesque elder could not survive, it would activate the foul energy before dying and drag him into death as well.

Yet there was nothing he could do. He wanted to stop them, but his cultivation was too weak for him to intervene. He could only watch in despair.

“Tell me. Who did you possess?”

Lu Yan seized the grotesque elder by the throat.

“You, of course. You. Even if you kill me to silence me, you are still the one I possessed. Heh heh…”

The grotesque elder let out a sinister laugh.

Bang!

Splurt!

The Fifth-Level Martial Marquis thrust his spear through the grotesque elder’s skull, blowing it apart.

Lu Yan exerted all his strength and tore the elder’s body into two halves.

This time, the grotesque elder could no longer recover. His body continued burning, and in the blink of an eye, it dissolved into smoke.

“I’m safe!”

Zhao Hao was ecstatic.

He had originally believed that the grotesque elder would drag him down with him at the moment of death.

He had not expected the elder to refrain from attacking him.

Instead, the elder had wanted to frame Lu Yan.

Zhao Hao understood the elder’s reasoning. Killing him before death would have amounted to killing nothing more than a human at the Second Martial Marquis level.

But framing Lu Yan could provoke suspicion among the humans. For the monsters and evil spirits, that was undoubtedly more advantageous.

“What are you so happy about?”

Lu Yan fixed his gaze on Zhao Hao. After taking several steps, he appeared in front of him.

“What are you trying to do? Kill me to silence me? Everyone here heard what happened. Do you think you can kill all of them?”

Zhao Hao roared at the top of his lungs.

“I’m curious.”

Lu Yan stared at him. “Why did you help that grotesque creature? It had clearly already left your body. Once we killed it, you would have been free. Why did you help it again and again instead of wanting it dead?”

“When the grotesque was about to be killed, you were terrified. But after it died, you were ecstatic. Your state of mind is truly difficult to understand.”

Zhao Hao’s expression remained calm.

“Even now, you still want to slander me. The thief cries ‘Stop thief!’”

“I am wondering whether the grotesque left your body but did something to you, which is why you were so afraid.”

Lu Yan did not answer him. Instead, he continued analyzing the situation aloud.

A trace of panic flashed deep within Zhao Hao’s eyes. Though it disappeared in an instant and was quickly concealed, Lu Yan still caught it.

“My elders once told me that when a person is possessed by a grotesque, the creature will leave foul energy inside the body. Unless that foul energy is removed, the person’s life and death remain under the creature’s control.”

The Fifth-Level Martial Marquis stepped closer and added this explanation.

He stopped five meters away, long spear in hand and ready to strike. Clearly, he trusted neither Lu Yan nor Zhao Hao.

By now, more and more martial artists had gathered around them.

There were Limit-Breaking Martial Artists, as well as Martial Marquises.