Beginning with the Ubume Bird

“Hmm?”

Feather Lord raised his eyebrows; one after another, dark red masks began to emerge from his waist, hands, and back. Some glared angrily, some frowned as if about to cry, and some smirked coldly, sending a chill through anyone who saw them.

“Hahahaha…”

The dry, unpleasant laughter of an old man carried far, and even the sinister Nuomu masks could not hide the indescribable, eerie presence of the gaunt figure behind them.

Mask after mask enshrouded Feather Lord’s robust body completely, and with a buzz, black flames leaked through the gaps between the masks, turning Feather Lord into a giant torch.

Feng Yi’s spirits lifted, “Old man, that’s his true body, smelt him to death!”

Hate Parting adjusted his heavy mask, “My Bitter Fire can smelt the Spiritual Five Immortals, but it can’t smelt the Stubborn Five Insects, huh~”

“He hasn’t even used his legacy, we…”

“What’s the rush? Idiot.”

Hate Parting cursed with a regional accent.

Bang!

The flickering black flame surged and finally, several masks fused together cracked open. Feather Lord emerged with smoke rising from his body and smashed through a Nuomu mask with a punch, stepping out with cracking knuckles.

“Your new Bitter Instrument… such fancy stuff.”

“Hmm~”

Hate Parting responded listlessly, pointing to the side.

Feather Lord looked in the direction pointed to, the largest black wormhole had grown to the size of a basin, with someone wearing tall boots already stepping halfway through…

His expression turned cold, but Hate Parting pressed on, grappling with him, four arms locked in combat. Despite appearing frail, Hate Parting gave Feather Lord a tough time disentangling himself.

Behind Hate Parting, there was a cluttered, endless array of dark red wooden carved masks!

“Feng Yi!”

Dressed in a suit, Feng Yi buried his eyes in his short hair, his intact left hand stretched flat, with two fingers snapping crisply.

The sound of ocean waves rolled as a mighty Yellow River tide engulfed the three of them along with the core of the Yan Fu Fruit!

The turbulent waves of the Yellow River and the chaotic Nuomu masks, the explosive power in each movement of the man with a red back in the water, spurts of water shot out, the residuals of Feather Lord’s punches.

Zhao Xin, with her head down, couldn’t see clearly, sometimes glimpsing the towering tide of the Yellow River, sometimes perceiving the ghostly Nuomu masks dancing in the sky, accompanied by the continuous sound of sonic booms from beginning to end.

Feather Lord was merely a little over two hundred meters from the Yan Fu Fruit core, a trivial distance for him, but Hate Parting and Feng Yi had him tightly bound, completely unable to advance.

Fight, the outcome uncertain.

Delay, easily done.

Behind the Nuomu masks, a smile curled on the wrinkled lips of Hate Parting.

As the wormhole next to the core grew larger and was nearly large enough for the remaining people of Sifan to descend, redness flashed in Feather Lord’s eyes.

If it comes to it, I’ll slaughter you all!

On the edge of the residual turmoil, a dark red mask missing a corner was thrown out of the fray, landing right by Li Yan’s feet.

Worth mentioning, Li Yan couldn’t use the Seal Space and weapons, but his pocket carrot was considered part of the basic clothing.

Li Yan lowered his head and found himself face-to-face with the oily wooden carved mask.

Grr~

The thickly painted mask rushed towards him, reminding Li Yan of the facehugger from “Alien”.

The wooden carved mask passed through Li Yan without any hindrance, and the last bit of its energy was spent as it hit the ground, silent thereafter.

In the midst of the fierce battle, Hate Parting yelped in surprise. While he was caught off guard, Feather Lord’s fist landed with a thud on his chest, and all the wooden masks in the sky wore expressions of agony.

Li Yan’s fingertips skimmed the murky waters of the Yellow River, utterly ignoring the earth-shattering aftershocks of the three people’s battle and forcibly joining in.

“A fruit-exclusive artifact?”

Hate Parting felt both shock and rage.

Even the most powerful wanderers must follow some basic rules when fighting over the Yan Fu Fruit.

Feather Lord’s forceful territorial violation involved staking his own inheritance to pry open the entrance to the fruit’s interior. That was the logic.

The same logic applied to fruit-exclusive artifacts: Outside of this fruit, the exclusive artifacts were junk, but within the fruit, they often burst with terrifying power.

However, that didn’t mean there was no solution…

Seeking death, young man. Hate Parting sneered inwardly and called out to Feng Yi, “Ah Feng, where is the ‘Sifan’ power the boss gave you?”

Feng Yi grimaced and said, “Destroyed by Feather Lord.”

“What?”

Feather Lord burst into laughter. Although he did not think Li Yan could be of any help to him, the fact that he could make the old ghost opposite him lose face made him extremely happy.

Li Yan waved his hand back and forth to confirm that neither the mask nor the Yellow River water or even the wind brought about by Feather Lord’s punch, as heavy as a sledgehammer, could hurt him in the slightest.

Without any more hesitation, he took out a carrot, stuffed it into his mouth, and dashed towards the core of the Yan Fu Fruit.

“Dad?”

Feng Yi called out.

“Don’t panic! Without untying his belt, he can’t touch it!”

Hate Parting’s experienced eyes were glued to the soap belt around Li Yan’s waist.

With bare hands, Li Yan rushed straight to the side of the amber-colored walnut shell, as the lights and shadows around him passed through his body like they were fake.

Among the five insect holes, several were already showing vague human faces, and the largest one revealed half of its pitch-black body, watching as a sharp man wearing a black windbreaker and munching on a carrot ran towards them.

Crack.

Li Yan bit off the carrot in his mouth and turned to look at Feather Lord.

He saw a robust face in his thirties; chiseled and rugged. There was a long, dark red scar on his temple, he wore dark green military trousers with a leather belt, and his upper body was bare.

The two men locked eyes for several seconds.

Sss~

Li Yan ripped off the Punishment Division’s soap belt in one swift motion, and it was like plunging into an ice-cold abyss!

Even Feng Yi, the weakest among them, could easily kill Li Yan. The previous struggle with Wushan and the others was just a wait for the Yan Fu Fruit core to appear. Even so, with a little seriousness, he had dispatched both the man with a small mustache and the old man in an instant.

And now, as the three clashed, that faint edge of killing intent nearly overwhelmed Li Yan’s nerves!

“Kill him!”

The one who spoke was not Hate Parting or Feng Yi, but Unobtainable, who was stuck in the insect hole and struggling to morph.

Feather Lord let out a fierce howl as the wind burst towards the two in front of him. His body, tense and ready to explode like a drawn bowstring, grabbed Feng Yi with one hand and Hate Parting with the other.

Li Yan flicked his hand and pulled out the Tiger Head Great Spear, the long spear shaft resting against the amber walnut shell.

“…Fifty percent, I guess,” mused Lady Dan’s voice, still ringing in his ears.

Within the translucent walnut shell, eight purple flames intertwined in error. Amidst the flames, nine items were visible, previously obscured.

One was a piece of scrap iron, spent by the arrival of Hate Parting.

Following that were a Dragon Head violin, a blade handle with a dragon-shaped mouth, a carving of a dragon with a phoenix body, a beast-shaped button, a lion-dragon censer, a big drum with dragon-scale decorations, a stone stele crowned with a dragon, and an eight-headed serpent, all eight strange items.

A droplet of crimson blood fell upon the walnut shell.

Blood Dip.

Down came the Tiger Head Great Spear.

Swallow Through the Curtain!