Chapter 128: Exotic Species

Since the awakening of E-Li, Ye Ran had not known defeat. His combat prowess could no longer be measured by mere levels of Qi. The only way to gauge his strength was through battle itself.

Beneath the gloomy moonlight, a figure stood atop the treetops, clad in a long white robe. His face was a ghastly, cyan hue, and a white python coiled around his left arm, its jaws clamped onto Ye Ran’s heavy Cleaver spear. The flesh on the creature's right arm writhed and shifted; in a blur, Ye Ran saw it morph into the shape of a blade, only to instantly transform into a sharp awl. It was likely the same hand that had claimed the heads of the hunters moments ago. A tail, roughly two meters long, extended from behind him and wrapped tightly around his waist.

At the first sight of this "man," Ye Ran felt a wave of suspicion, while the bear-headed hunter beside him gnashed his teeth, his face a mask of rage and terror.

*Thud.*

Ye Ran let out a cold grunt and forced the heavy spear forward, taking a step. Even though the white python’s strength surpassed that of any human, it still paled in comparison to his own.

The cyan-faced man’s eyes gleamed as he grinned, "This strength that transcends the limits of humanity... Hahahaha! I am very interested in your body."

*Rumble.*

A massive roar echoed as the trees behind him collapsed one by one. The once-dense forest cleared into a bald patch of earth at a speed visible to the naked eye. Only then did Ye Ran realize he was not alone.

A monster with a human face and a frog’s body leaped down from the treetops. It was vastly different from the frog-faced creature he had encountered in the swamp behind the Blood Stele; a pale, human face was fused onto a massive, warty, deep-green amphibian torso. Behind them, gust after gust of chilling wind blew, and faint, sinister shadows could be seen lurking in the woods. The sound of hissing and the dying cries of beasts mingled, making the pitch-black night feel exceptionally terrifying.

The trolls and sprites were already paralyzed with fear.

"A forbidden zone for new species?"

Ye Ran struck the white python’s head with a savage punch. The giant serpent hissed in pain and released the spear, but immediately lunged at Ye Ran’s head. Ye Ran parried with his spear, thrusting it not into the serpent's maw this time, but driving it deep into its throat.

"Roar!"

The giant serpent’s hiss turned into a shrill, agonizing shriek. Ye Ran showed no mercy, pulling his spear free to strike at its eyes. But the behemoth above descended; the human-faced frog leaped ten meters in a single bound, hovering over Ye Ran. It opened its mouth to inhale, and its massive body instantly swelled like a balloon. Below, air currents surged with a deafening, tearing sound, shattering the very ground.

In this moment of peril, instead of retreating, Ye Ran snatched the injured bear-headed hunter by the neck and hurled him to safety before leaping backward himself.

The cyan-faced man curled his lips. With a mere thought, the white python latched onto a tree trunk, pulling him forward like a gale. His white robe carved an arc through the air as he circled behind Ye Ran. His right arm writhed into a blade, slicing through the air and severing Ye Ran’s ankle.

*Huh?*

Ye Ran plunged his spear into the earth to steady himself. Blood gushed from his ankle, and he staggered, finding it difficult to keep his footing. The cyan-faced man’s strike had precisely severed his tendon.

Speed, precision, lethality—combined with the feral rage of the python and the frog monster—it was a style of combat Ye Ran had never witnessed before. Yet, he felt no fear. With a crack of bone, he forced his left foot deep into the ground.

The human-faced frog had finished gathering its strength. Its cheeks puffed out, and with a guttural "croak," it charged at Ye Ran. The wind howled; the creature was so fast that the pressure of its movement hit Ye Ran’s face before it even arrived. The cyan-faced man let out a low laugh and attacked from behind.

Caught in a pincer movement with a severed tendon, Ye Ran was at a clear disadvantage, but his fighting spirit only burned brighter. He unleashed all the Qi within his body, sweeping his hand in a circular motion to draw in the surrounding air. All the energy coalesced before him, followed by a thunderous shockwave that caused the ground beneath his feet to collapse entirely.

He curled his four fingers, drawing the powerful currents into his body, channeling them through his limbs to his right hand. He thrusted his spear backward; the air detonated twice, followed by a muffled groan from the cyan-faced man.

With the momentum of a dragon coiling and a snake striking, Ye Ran channeled the Qi from the frog into his spear. The strike obliterated the white python’s head and pierced through the cyan-faced man’s chest, exiting through his back. A flick of his wrist sent the man’s upper body into a spray of blood and gore, and he went flying backward with a shriek.

*Boom.*

Only then did Ye Ran turn to press his hand against the oncoming human-faced frog. Blood surged from his own mouth, and his feet left deep craters in the earth as he was pushed back five meters before finally coming to a halt. The frog’s momentum was spent. Ye Ran let out a cold grunt, raised his Cleaver spear, and brought it down with crushing force, pinning the gargantuan frog into the soil.

Another thunderous crash shook the ground. Dust billowed as Ye Ran drove the spear through the frog before turning to the heavily wounded cyan-faced man. "Is this what you call a 'successful creation'?"

"I once saw two beast-men; they said those were your 'failed creations.' And there were crows with red eyes—those were your masterpieces too, weren't they?"

The cyan-faced man stood up, let out a harsh laugh, and watched as his mangled torso rapidly regenerated. "Sigray's red-eyed crows and his failed experiments... Hahahaha! Compared to my masterpieces, the things he makes are rejects among rejects, trash among trash."

"Sigray? Is that his name?" Ye Ran sneered. "Compared to him, your power is hardly worth looking at."

Though they hadn't clashed directly, Ye Ran knew that the man in the white coat he had encountered by the Blood Stele possessed strength far beyond his own. As for this cyan-faced man, Ye Ran glanced at him; even with his formidable regenerative abilities, Ye Ran felt no fear.

"Kid, your ignorance truly exceeds my expectations," the cyan-faced man said, looking down on him. He pulled a syringe from his robes, injected a blue serum into his body, and smiled. "A Life-Shaper capable of creating powerful Strange-Species is a true Life-Shaper. Only barbaric warriors view one-on-one combat as the standard for strength."

*Strange-Species? Life-Shaper?*

Ye Ran looked down at the slain frog-monster. Was this what he called a Strange-Species? And what kind of person could truly bear the title of "Life-Shaper"?

He looked back toward the distance, where the roars grew louder and the chilling winds grew more intense. The depths of the Green Demon Forest must already be teeming with these Strange-Species.

Ye Ran thought for a moment, then lowered his spear. "Go. You are no match for me. I can defeat you, but I cannot kill you."

"And this is no place for you to linger. No one will tolerate madmen like you."