Eternal Heavenly Emperor

The Big Stockade Leader's expression changed involuntarily.

Although Miao Pusong's strength was somewhat inferior to his, it was not weak by any means! And why would Miao Pusong reveal the location of the Seven Wolf Stockade without good reason? He must have been subjected to severe torture!

Is it this young man?

Possibly strong enough to defeat Miao Pusong, this strength... very strong!

He thought to himself and said, "Could you be Ouyang Qiang from Purple Rain City?" Such a young powerhouse, aside from Ouyang Qiang, there seemed to be no other possibility.

Ouyang Qiang!

Chu Hao had heard this name for the second time. Was this guy really that formidable?

He had no intention of explaining himself, for all these bandits were as good as dead in his eyes! What's the point of wasting words on the dead!

"Ouyang young hero, I know you want to make a name for yourself, but isn't life all about wealth and beauties?" the Big Stockade Leader laughed, "From now on, we at Seven Wolf Stockade will give you ten thousand taels of silver as a tribute every month, plus a stunning beauty to ensure she's untouched, what do you say?"

Are these really bandits?

Chu Hao felt they were more like businessmen, playing the game of bribery so smoothly! He did not speak, but his figure suddenly moved, and pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, four sprays of blood appeared, and instantly four bandits fell to the ground dead.

This was his reply.

The Big Stockade Leader's face turned gloomy, it seemed that the trouble couldn't be resolved without bloodshed. He coldly watched Chu Hao and said, "Ouyang, you are alone, do you really think you can overcome so many of us?"

"Even a horde of sheep is but a meal in the eyes of a lion!" Chu Hao said indifferently.

"Hahaha, let's see who is the sheep and who is the lion!" The Big Stockade Leader reached out with his right hand, and immediately, three men carrying a giant axe about five meters long arrived.

Each displayed an immensely strenuous expression; clearly, the axe was too heavy, weighing down all three carriers.

The Big Stockade Leader merely reached out his right hand and picked up the giant axe, instantly, all the bandits retreated, they were well aware of the extensive damage their leader's axe could cause once swung.

However, they didn't remain idle, quickly climbing to higher ground, their weapons switched to iron bows!

More people meant leveraging the advantage of numbers!

"Die!" The Big Stockade Leader cried out loudly, swinging his gigantic axe at Chu Hao!

This iron axe alone was estimated to weigh thousands of kilograms, and when swung, it generated a wind as if trumpets were blowing, whooshing loudly!

Chu Hao ducked down, let the axe pass over, and boom, a wooden house was cleaved into two halves!

Such great strength!

Chu Hao smiled and said, "You really know how to hide your strength. According to the bounty task data, you're just fifth-tier Great Mahayana Realm, but your real strength must be seventh-tier, right?"

"Hahahaha, outsiders who know this secret are all dead ends!" the Big Stockade Leader said ominously.

"It's just seventh-tier anyway!" Chu Hao said dismissively.

"Quite the bold words!" The Big Stockade Leader swung another axe at him.

Shoo, shoo, shoo, at the same time, arrows flew chaotically from all around, raining down on Chu Hao like droplets.

Chu Hao's Derivation ability was strong, even able to completely anticipate the landing points of each arrow, but limited by his own speed and attack speed, he definitely couldn't intercept every arrow nor dodge them all.

Standing in place to defend was a foolish idea!

Chu Hao immediately sprang forward, charging towards the Big Stockade Leader.

Under the powerful analysis of Derivation, he easily dodged the Big Stockade Leader's axe and pushed forward rapidly. Long weapons were powerful once they swung, their own weight and inertia making even Chu Hao unwilling to face them directly; but their drawback was also obvious, the attack frequency was extremely low!

Once the axe was swung, it couldn't stop immediately, and one had to wait until the momentum died down before being able to strike again!

In that span of time, Chu Hao had more than enough room to close in!

"Hahaha!" When Chu Hao reached him, the Big Stockade Leader surprisingly let go of the iron axe casually and shook his hands, suddenly thrusting out two cold glints from his sleeves.

Sleeve Swords!

Very cunning!

Looking at his previous use of such a heavy, bulky weapon, anyone would think he was a type to strike with great force, but who would expect his real weapon was the agile, cunning Sleeve Swords!

Swish! Swish!

The two Sleeve Swords, like venomous snakes, lunged towards Chu Hao.

The corner of Chu Hao's mouth curled up in a smile. Although he hadn't anticipated his opponent's real weapon to be Sleeve Swords, he was well prepared!

Seeing how cautious and careful the Seven Wolf Stockade was, could their Stockade Leader be someone who fought with big swings and heavy axes? Thus, he had early predicted that the real weapon his opponent was skilled with was never the iron axe but a mere diversion!

Chu Hao swung his sword, ding ding, two notes, these two Sleeve Swords were both parried by him.

"Hmm?" The Big Stockade Leader visibly started, failing to expect that his meticulously laid trap had not deceived Chu Hao's eyes! Was this young man really just in his seventeenth or eighteenth year, how come his experience seemed as rich as that of an old hunter!

Chu Hao thrust his sword, his wrist quivered and produced 40 blossoms of sword moves, the Izumo Sword Technique was fully unleashed, one sword faster than the next.

The Big Stockade Leader faced the attacks, ding ding ding, the Red Shadow Sword and the two Sleeve Swords continuously struck each other, sparking flashes of fire, and with each collision, the Sleeve Swords accumulated pebble-sized notches!

Certainly, the material of these Sleeve Swords wasn't on par with Red Iron!

And because Chu Hao had closed in, the bandits also stopped shooting arrows, otherwise it wouldn't be helping but would likely include the Big Stockate Leader in the shooting range.

Ding ding ding!

The two were locked in intense battle, their sword Qi sweeping across the area with destructive force, hissing sounds piercing the air as deep gashes appeared on the surrounding wooden huts.

Who had the upper hand?

The bandits watched transfixed, but the speed of the combatants was so fast that they couldn't make out the details.

"Look at the Stockade Leader's clothes!" a bandit suddenly exclaimed.

Look at the clothes? What did that mean?

Many still looked as instructed and saw that the Stockade Leader's clothes were already torn quite a bit, but in comparison, Chu Hao's clothing was completely intact, unharmed!

What did that imply?

The cleverer bandits had figured it out—Chu Hao was stronger, thus he could completely dodge the Stockade Leader's sword Qi, but the Stockade Leader couldn't avoid Chu Hao's sword Qi, resulting in his clothes being slashed and shredded!

This was bad. If things continued like this, it wouldn't end well!

Even the bandits watching knew this, and how could the Stockade Leader not understand, especially since the notches on his sleeve sword were increasing in number, more densely packed—it wouldn't be long before they broke!

By then, his situation would clearly be even worse!

What to do?

"Kid, you forced me to do this!" the Stockade Leader roared, retracting the sleeve sword in his left hand and quickly pulling a pill bottle from his bosom; he smashed it, and suddenly held a bright red pill in his hand.

He swallowed the pill without hesitation, and in just an instant, his eyes turned blood-red. Like a formidable beast at the dawn of battle, he emitted an unbelievably dangerous aura.

Was this like injecting chicken's blood?

"Die!" The Stockade Leader jolted his hands, striking with both sleeve swords again.

Ding!

Chu Hao swung his sword to meet the attack but felt a numbness in his grip; the Red Shadow Sword nearly slipped from his hand!

The opponent's strength had suddenly surged, at least to the Ninth Tier of the Great Mahayana realm, maybe even stepping into the Vajra Realm!

The pill seemed to be of the explosive type, temporarily boosting the user's strength massively, its effects similar to a Treasure Artifact but equally short-lived!

For Chu Hao, the safest strategy right now was to rely on his powerful Derivation skills to dodge and battle until the pill's effect wore off. This type of forced strength enhancement pill definitely had terrifying destructive effects on the body; soon, he could win without fighting!

But Chu Hao didn't want to wait that long!

His offensive momentarily halted as he prepared to execute the final form of the Izumo Sword Technique.

Just three seconds needed!

"Haha, now you see how powerful I am, huh?" the Stockade Leader bellowed, determined to finish Chu Hao in one go. Otherwise, once the effect of the pill passed, he would face a three-day period of extreme weakness, where moving even a finger would be difficult.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Chu Hao dodged repeatedly, causing the Stockade Leader to laugh heartily, now clearly dominating.

"The Stockade Leader is mighty!"

"Kill the kid!"

"Take this kid's heart to commemorate our fallen brothers!"

Seeing that the Stockade Leader had the upper hand, the other bandits began shouting as well.

It was time!

Chu Hao bellowed and swung the Red Shadow Sword, tracing a beautiful yet arcane trajectory.

The Stockade Leader immediately displayed an expression of utter panic; now in his eyes, there was only the fierce blaze of sword light heading his way, splashing towards him. And the timing of this strike was exquisite, precisely when his previous strength was exhausted, and before he could gather more, leaving him totally defenseless!

Puff!

The sword light dissipated, and the Stockade Leader staggered back, Ding ding, both sleeve swords falling to the ground in succession. Staring blankly at Chu Hao, he suddenly collapsed backwards, blood gushing wildly from his chest, quickly staining the ground red.

"The, the Stockade Leader is dead!"

"Run!"

With the leader killed, the remaining bandits first stood frozen in shock, then, panic-stricken, they scattered in all directions, utterly devoid of any fighting spirit.

Chu Hao caught his breath; executing the sixth form of the Izumo Sword Technique had drained his strength completely for a moment. Fortunately, it only lasted three seconds. With the Stockade Leader dead and the other bandits in disarray, no one took the chance to shoot arrows, which would have caused him considerable trouble.

"Ah—" The fleeing bandits screamed suddenly because right as they ran to the exit, they encountered Little Leopard guarding it. With one pounce—well, either their skulls were smashed by a paw or their throats were bitten clean through!

Chu Hao pursued with his sword, this band of bandits was utterly ruthless, and he did not need to be merciful—otherwise, he would only harm others!

Suddenly, the valley was filled with screams.

Chu Hao relentlessly carried out the slaughter; some of the bandits died under his sword, some desperately tried to break through the exit and were killed by Flying Fire, the rest scattered into the wooden huts, hoping against hope to hide until Chu Hao left and then escape.

"Don't come any closer, or I'll kill her!" When Chu Hao stepped into a two-story wooden house, he saw a bandit holding a woman, his sword against her throat.

The house also contained a dozen young women, each with an expression of terror.