Chapter 32
The godlike crimson eyes descended from above, surveying the stripped forest with an eerie, omniscient gaze.
Ji Wuye advanced forth, each purposeful step causing the autumn leaves beneath his feet to wither and fade as if drained of their vibrant essence by his mere presence.
The distant roars and battle cries of marauding goblin hordes attacking the defenseless village echoed through the trees, yet went unnoticed by the young hero's calm and composed demeanor.
Upon arrival at the heart of the woods, Ji Wuye abruptly halted, his brow furrowing slightly as he noticed the fallen, broken trees revealing an empty clearing in the middle of the forest.
In that vacant gap stood a towering, grotesquely fat, green-skinned creature with a hunched posture.
At first glance, it vaguely resembled an invading goblin, but its staggering 10 chi height, mad crimson eyes burning with feral intensity, curved yellowing fangs protruding from its gaping maw, matted brown hair, and elongated pointed ears set this monstrosity apart.
"It's a hobgoblin," Ji Wuye stated flatly, his expression betraying not a hint of dread or trepidation. Rather, a glimmer of curiosity flickered across his steely eyes as he analytically assessed the situation.
'10 chi tall, possessing an immensely strong physique. Its regenerative abilities will pose a considerable challenge. But those crimson eyes suggest a madness, a weakness that can be exploited,' he thought inwardly.
Lowering his stance, Ji Wuye positioned his calloused hands gripping the jian at chest level, setting aside the flickering torch with a dull thud. He took a deep, controlled breath to calm his mind and center his roiling Qi.
As he did so, the formerly dormant Qi in his Lower Dantian surged forth like a crashing wave, filling his intricate network of Meridians and enveloping his feet and blade in a faint, ethereal glow.
His poised posture and firm sword grip mirrored the precise forms of the Kunlun external martial art.
Meridian March, Third Movement, Meridian Tap!
TAP-!
The jian effortlessly glided through the air with masterful precision, cleaving into the hobgoblin's broad, mottled green shoulder and creating a fist-sized hole that oozed putrid black ichor as large as an adult's head with just a single deft strike.
TAP-!
With a second blindingly fast tap, the sword punctured the already wounded shoulder, creating a pair of ragged holes on both sides that leaked even more of the vile smelling fluid.
TAP-!
Recognizing the inherent lack of finesse and dexterity in the hobgoblin's bulky, cumbersome limbs, Ji Wuye decided to systematically focus his precise sword strikes on hindering the creature's mobility.
With his third tap, he aimed to cripplingly weaken the thick, trunk-like leg that supported the bulk of the monster's immense frame.
TAP-!
TAP-!
The blade sang through the air, slicing into the hobgoblin's leg with a sickening crunch of shattered bone...
In the end, Ji Wuye aimed his final ten precise taps at the powerfully formed arms, protruding abdomen, and elongated ears of the towering hobgoblin.
As the flurry of attacks concluded, the sound of falling water droplets resonated through the clearing, accompanied by a whirling glaze of wind and shadow dancing off his white martial robe in the silvery moonlight filtering through the canopy.
"EKK-?!" The hobgoblin let out a surprised, almost quizzical scream as it squinted its beady crimson eyes in uncertainty at this strange, nimble human that had so swiftly and ruthlessly carved into its flesh.
SPLASH-!
A torrent of thick, vile-smelling green blood suddenly spurted from the hobgoblin's numerous wounds, drenching the surrounding area in foul ichor, including Ji Wuye who now stood behind the staggering beast with his jian sword dripping with the creature's green blood intermingled with flecks of a sickly purple liquid.
Roars of agonizing pain echoed from the hobgoblin's fanged maw.
'As expected, pain fuels its rage over reason. A potent venom and searing flames should counter its formidable regenerative abilities,' Ji Wuye smirked coolly, his slight smile concealed beneath the streaks of drying green blood splattered across his face. 'But this is not yet concluded.'
With those words, two small items suddenly materialized out of thin air, shooting straight at the reeling hobgoblin which somehow remained upright despite the lethal slashes and numerous gaping wounds marring its bulbous body.
CRACK-!
CRACK-!
Two newly acquired bottles of potent mixed rice and fruits alcohol shattered against the hobgoblin's broad chest, bathing its entire torso and wounds in the intense, stinging odor of the fiery liquor.
"GRWAAAH!" The hobgoblin screamed again, but this time the exposed flesh in its weeping wounds began to twitch and convulse unnaturally.
Unlike common goblins, hobgoblins, especially the mutated brute in this case, possessed an accelerated rate of regeneration.
However, the vile purple venom coating Ji Wuye's jian and the alcohol he had thrown would aid in the toxin's rapid absorption into the hobgoblin's bloodstream, drastically accelerating the virulent poison's debilitating effects.
THUD-!
Finally, unable to bear the searing agony any longer, the hobgoblin dropped heavily to its knees on the blood-soaked earth, its broad back turned toward Ji Wuye who was already in the midst of an executioner's slice.
SLASH-!
With a thunderous crack that split the night air, the hobgoblin's head soared through the air momentarily, its mad crimson eyes clenched shut in pain but its fanged mouth still opened in a silent scream of surprise before it plummeted lifeless to the ground, rolling to a stop in the viscera-slicked grass.
[!] You have killed Level 15 - Hobgoblin!
'Hmm, Level 15...' Ji Wuye muttered inwardly, flicking the vile green ichor from his blade as he noted the hobgoblin's strength rating.
Level 15 equated to the martial prowess of a 4th realm martial artist, possessing strength and abilities four times greater than an average person.
Without utilizing these pragmatic but unorthodox methods, Ji Wuye would have undoubtedly faced considerable difficulty in decisively defeating the monstrously powerful hobgoblin.
However, there was no room for hypothetical 'ifs' in the life-or-death crucible of real combat. Although, if word got out that he had employed poison to kill his enemy...
"Well, I would likely be branded as a coward or even labeled as an unorthodox martial artist defying the so-called 'proper' codes," he grinned wryly, shaking his head in mild amusement at such trivial considerations.
Practicality and results were all that mattered on the battlefield. He then crouched down to retrieve the still-smoldering torch and, without a moment's hesitation, tossed it directly onto the hobgoblin's corpse.
SWOOSH-!
The torch, its flames fueled by the highly combustible alcohol still saturating the dead monster's flesh, quickly engulfed the entire hobgoblin's body in hungry orange flames.
However, as the fire grew more voracious, it also began lapping at the surrounding dry grass and gnarled tree roots. Thanks to the alcohol and the hobgoblin's body, the intensity of the fire was fueled.
Eventually, the inferno rapidly spread throughout the clearing, generating thick plumes of acrid purple-black smoke that blanketed the entire battlefield where the marauding goblin hordes and the two Wanderers were still locked in desperate combat.
'The toxic smoke should be more than enough to incapacitate the remaining goblins, while for human… well…' Ji Wuye observed dispassionately as the billowing clouds of violet haze rolled outward.
With that pragmatic assessment, the young hero quietly turned and faded back into the shadows of the smoldering forest without a second glance, leaving the pyre of the slain hobgoblin to burn itself out.
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