The Three Realms Thief Chapter 33

The monster stopped.

Wait—

What just happened?

It had been knocked flying, crashed into a building by the roadside, but in just a breath, it recovered and charged out again.

—What happened in that short breath?

Outside the alchemy furnace.

Yang Xiaobing, Zhao Ajin, and Jiang Xueyao stood in a line, simultaneously making hand seals for their spells.

Dan Fire – Furnace Burning!

Three spells hit the Eight Trigrams Furnace simultaneously.

The spiritual patterns on the furnace lit up.

Fire.

It blazed fiercely within the alchemy furnace.

The lid suddenly clamped shut.

“It’s a trap!”

The monster’s voice, full of shock and anger, suddenly rang out.

—Earlier, it had been knocked flying into the building. The three of them then jumped out of the alchemy furnace with the children and hid behind it.

In fact,

If the monster had looked a bit more closely, it would have noticed this.

However, Xu Yuan rushed onto the alchemy furnace, pretending to pull people out.

To save time, the monster missed the chance to observe carefully!

This became Xu Yuan’s “match point”!

The next moment—

The lid of the furnace was pushed open with great force.

The monster was coming out!

If it were allowed to escape, it could immediately kill everyone!

“Dream on.”

But Xu Yuan was already standing on top of the alchemy furnace, holding a sniper rifle, aiming into the furnace—

Duang!

One shot, one kill!

The monster’s head exploded, and its body fell back down.

Xu Yuan grabbed the lid and pressed it down hard, stepping on it with his foot. He quickly reloaded his gun, and said calmly:

“Human skin comes from the earth.”

“Now that you can’t touch the ground, how do you expect to regenerate!”

Clang—

The lid was pushed open again, and Xu Yuan’s gun immediately met it—

Duang!

A high-explosive armor-piercing round was fired.

The monster was once again blown back down, falling into the blazing flames.

The lid closed.

Taking advantage of this moment.

Xu Yuan looked back.

He saw his three teammates desperately urging the Dan Fire, refining the monster.

Zhao Afei was exhausted, but still held up one hand, maintaining the spell, releasing the last trace of spiritual power.

Yang Xiaobing swayed, as if she might collapse to the ground at any moment.

Jiang Xueyao, however, stood steadily, maintaining the alchemy fire in her hands, and said calmly:

“The monster fears fire. We’ll refine it for a while longer. You absolutely must not let it escape, or all our efforts will be in vain.”

“Received.” Xu Yuan said, finishing reloading his bullets and raising his gun again.

Boom—

The lid was once again flung open.

The monster crawled out against the roar of the sniper rifle, not caring even if its body was blown open with a hole.

Xu Yuan quickly switched guns.

—Shotgun!

Click—Bang—

The powerful impact knocked the monster downwards.

In the nick of time,

The monster stretched out a hand, gripping the edge of the furnace opening tightly.

“Don’t even think about it—”

It roared, pulling itself up.

Bang bang bang bang!

Xu Yuan ignored what it said, directly fired all five rounds of the shotgun in one breath, tossed the gun, and pulled out a submachine gun from behind his back.

Da da da da da da—

All the bullets were fired.

He also threw away the submachine gun.

He drew his Qiongxia Sword, raised it high, channeled his spiritual power, and slashed down with all his might—

The monster’s hand was severed.

A heavy thud sounded from inside the furnace.

—The monster was finally beaten back down again!

Xu Yuan kicked the monster’s severed hand into the furnace, closed the lid, and propped the Qiongxia Sword against the side of the lid. He closed his eyes and remained motionless.

This posture was like fishing.

Except he had no fishing line, no hook, only a sword laid horizontally.

The furnace fire surged.

Faintly, the monster’s pained wails could be heard.

“What are you doing?”

Jiang Xueyao’s surprised voice came again.

Xu Yuan ignored her, just closed his eyes, continuing to feel the state of the entire alchemy furnace.

In fact, standing on the alchemy furnace, one could feel the vibrations of the furnace.

The series of sounds and vibrations from the human-skin monster hitting the furnace walls, crashing into them, stumbling, falling, and rolling—

As long as one calmed their mind and felt carefully, they could completely perceive it!

At a certain moment.

All the crashing sounds inside the furnace disappeared.

Thump.

With an extremely dull thud, the eight legs of the furnace suddenly sank downwards—

This was the moment!

Xu Yuan suddenly opened his eyes, gripped the sword with both hands, raised it high, and then swung it down with all his might!

“Ah—”

He let out a furious roar.

“Ah ah ah ah ah!” The monster’s roar sounded almost simultaneously.

The furnace lid was struck flying.

The monster, its entire body scorched by flames, rushed up, seemingly about to pass through the furnace opening.

But—

But its movements, and even the flying furnace lid, all seemed to be in coordination with Xu Yuan’s sword strike.

Everything was just right.

The furnace lid was struck flying.

The sword slashed down.

The monster charged up to meet the sword’s edge.

This was simply a perfect coordination!

Then, the long sword flashed.

“Divine Might: Chuixue” was instantly activated by Xu Yuan’s spiritual power!

Eight white sword qis, overlapping, cut out, erupting in dense slashing sounds on the monster’s burning body.

Swallows in succession!

—Qiongxia Sword Sharpness +5!

What a terrifying number that was.

It could easily cut through other swords, let alone a human-skin monster whose strength was greatly reduced and whose entire body was scorched?

“No—”

The monster roared in despair, its entire body scattering into several pieces, and it fell back into the alchemy furnace again.

The Dan Fire shot up into the sky.

Burning again and again.

After a full seven or eight breaths.

The monster didn’t appear again.

But Xu Yuan remained completely focused, continuing to hold the sword level by the furnace opening, his eyes slightly closed, quietly observing the situation inside the furnace.

After a while longer.

The commotion inside the furnace gradually ceased.

Xu Yuan suddenly opened his eyes and said reluctantly:

“Are you going to die?”

The sword drooped, stood upright by the furnace opening, but received no response.

Still not satisfied.

Xu Yuan sighed and looked into the alchemy furnace.

He saw that most of the monster’s body had been incinerated into ashes, with only a head connected to a neck, staring directly into his eyes.

“In terms of strength, you’re far inferior to me,” the monster roared unwillingly.

Flames were gnawing at its remnants.

It was almost completely consumed.

Xu Yuan looked at the monster, a thoughtful expression on his face.

This monster could continuously regenerate, and its strength and agility were sufficient. The chase had been very exciting.

He had protected the civilians all the way, ridden a flying car, used various firearms, and employed various tactics.

It was very thrilling.

Even at the end, he had to use tactics like “King Qin Circles the Pillar,” circling the alchemy furnace and using attacks within the furnace to exhaust it.

Very dangerous, very stimulating.

But—

You only have one phase?

No second-stage transformation?

No third-stage resurrection, weapon buffs, and epic plot changes that alters the entire battlefield?

…Forget it.

Be a person, then.

It’s normal to have high expectations for oneself, but not for others.

At this point, the fierce flames in the alchemy furnace had climbed onto the monster’s face.

“Let’s analyze this battle together,” Xu Yuan said.

The monster looked at him, its gaze sinister.

“Don’t look at me like that. Set aside your emotions; let’s discuss this technically—”

Xu Yuan spread his hands, continuing in a post-battle analysis tone:

“In fact, you were too impatient.”

“With your strength, you didn’t have to chase us so frantically. If you had merely harassed us from time to time, preventing us from calmly replenishing our spiritual power, you would have won 60 percent of the battle.”

“—Because our total spiritual power was too low.”

“That’s also why you saw me fighting with firearms.”

Xu Yuan said with sincere words.

“I just fell for your trick in the end,” the monster said unwillingly.

“Didn’t you hear what I just said?”

“You were too impatient! If you weren’t impatient, and just kept trailing us, then we would have been the ones to become exhausted eventually. At that point, we would have had to seek you out for a decisive battle,” Xu Yuan said seriously.

“In that case, the initiative would have been mine,” the monster said.

“The initiative in the battle was always yours, because you were far stronger than us—but you never used it,” Xu Yuan said.

The monster fell silent.

It drooped its eyes, seemingly recalling the battle.

Correspondingly, the anger, unwillingness, treachery, and resentment on its face disappeared.

“If—you were me—”

It said finally.

“If I were you, I would hide, lurking in the background, trailing without a trace, until the moment these students relaxed, then launch a full-force attack to kill them,” Xu Yuan said.

“A ninth-layer Qi Refiner killing a second-layer Qi Refiner requires so many twists and turns?” the monster couldn’t help but ask.

“A lion fights a rabbit with all its might—if you don’t have that professional attitude, then don’t bother doing the work.”

Xu Yuan said.

The monster was silent for a few breaths before asking:

“How much did you use just now—”

Its words trailed off.

The flames had burned away its neck and jaw, leaving only half its face, unable to make a sound anymore.

But it still stared at Xu Yuan.

—It was waiting for an answer.

This was the final farewell.

Xu Yuan first praised it:

“You fought very hard and desperately;”

“You also knew how to use words to threaten the enemy, to mentally shake their will;”

“In these two aspects, your performance is still very commendable.”

He lowered his head, looking at the remaining half of the face in the alchemy furnace.

It was still waiting for an answer.

Oh well.

“My victory was not easy—”

“I even broke a sweat.”

Xu Yuan said with a sincere expression, raising his hand and waving it into the furnace, as if saying goodbye.