Chapter 40: Ruthlessly Crushed

“Cardiron, Carl, is it you, is it you?” The Minotaur barely opened his eyes and struggled to get up, but unexpectedly, a slight movement of his chest brought a wave of severe pain.

As a burly Minotaur warrior, his body was exceptionally tough, covered in shocking scars, and he had no idea how many serious injuries he had endured over the years. Helplessly, the injury this time was too heavy; the bowl-sized wound on his chest simply would not stop bleeding. As blood drained away, his body grew weaker and weaker.

“It is me, Udely, it is me!” Looking at the dying Minotaur, Cardiron’s eyes were blurred with tears, and his hands helplessly pressed against the wound on his chest. “I’m sorry, Brother Udely, I’m sorry. After wandering in the Underground Passage for so long, I still couldn’t find the Underground Castle or your tribe.”

Watching his only brother about to die before his eyes, Cardiron felt panic and helplessness, as well as deep guilt.

Entering the Underground Passage this time, on the surface, was to help Udely find the Minotaur tribe, but in reality, he had spent more time and energy searching for the treasures of the Underground Castle, ultimately accomplishing nothing. After returning to Cold Moon City, he had been thinking about how to explain it to Udely and find an excuse to brush it off; unexpectedly, before he could even lie, Udely was dragged into the Underground Arena like a dead dog, on the verge of death.

As an orphan, Cardiron had no relatives in the Wasteland; only the Minotaur Udely, whom he had known since childhood, was the most familiar to him. One was a thief, surviving on petty theft since childhood for a bit of food; the other was locked in the Underground Arena since childhood, spending days in either arduous training or fighting with cold and cruel gladiators—both pitiful souls.

“It’s okay, I am just happy you came back alive!” The Minotaur Udely smiled, coughed up a mouthful of blood, then suddenly sat up with force, his face flushed. “Carl, I really can’t make it this time. After I die, please take my ashes back to the Underground Passage. So that when I am buried alone underground, I can still kiss the soil of my hometown and breathe the air of my hometown.”

“No, Udely, you won’t die, you won’t die!” Looking at Udely in his final moments of lucidity, Cardiron wept like rain. His thin body struggled to hoist the burly Minotaur onto his back, turned around, and walked away. “Let’s go, we’ll go together. As long as we find Lord City Lord, no matter how severe your injury is, it will be no problem!”

At the critical moment, Cardiron thought of Hu Feng, whose strength was unfathomable. A generation of the Lich King, a Lord City Lord commanding thousands of troops—as long as he was willing to act, what injury could not be healed?

In Cardiron’s heart, Hu Feng, this unfathomable Lich King, was omnipotent!

“Lord City Lord?”

The Minotaur Udely muttered to himself, his breathing becoming weaker and weaker. As his consciousness faded, he seemed to return to the distant Underground Passage, standing on a high hill, looking out at the majestic Underground Castle. The ancient legend passed down by his tribe for generations, about the Minotaur ancestors unifying the Underground Passage, surged into his heart.

“Udely, you won’t die, you won’t die!”

Feeling the Minotaur brother’s limbs growing colder, Cardiron nervously quickened his pace, using all his strength to carry him through one dark alley after another. He did not know where Hu Feng, the Lich King, was, nor did he know how to find him; he only knew that the only thing he could do now was to take his dying brother away from this dark Underground Arena.

In his nervousness, Cardiron moved faster and faster, wishing he could instantly fly away with his brother who had been imprisoned here since childhood. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned; before they reached the back door of the Underground Arena, their path was blocked by a group of people who had been prepared for a long time.

“It’s him, it’s him!” Bald Wolf, whose lower body was wrapped in white blood-stopping bandages, revealed a fierce look in his eyes. He jumped out from the darkness first, pointed at Cardiron, and continued, “Young Master Lasalle, it’s him, this thief owes you two hundred thousand Contribution Points. Not only did he not pay them back, but he and his accomplice also suddenly attacked us while we were unprepared, attempting to flee Cold Moon City!”

After being ruthlessly humiliated and severely injured by Hu Feng in public, the once-arrogant Bald Wolf hated him to the bone. He immediately sought out the backer behind him, swearing that he would not rest until he killed Hu Feng.

Behind Bald Wolf stood a group of burly Demon Hunters. There were ferocious warriors, cold and ruthless archers, and Magicians with profound Magic Power, crowding around a young man with a pale, beardless face, wearing brocade clothes. The group had an imposing manner, standing coldly on the road, scaring the unprepared Cardiron until his legs went weak.

“Speak, where is your partner, where is he hiding?” Lasalle, dressed in brocade, had a calm demeanor and looked indifferently at the terrified thief before him. “I already know what happened; the main responsibility lies with your companion. Tell me everything about him clearly, and you can live; you just need to cut off one of your own shoulders!”

Relying on his father’s identity as the City Lord, Lasalle was second only to one and above ten thousand in the city, able to command the wind and rain. For a small fry like Cardiron, he could not be bothered to give him a second look; if he was in a good mood, he would let him go, and if he was in a bad mood, he would directly order him to be dragged out and beheaded. The only thing that interested him was Hu Feng, who had caused a sensation in the teahouse.

After so many years, someone actually dared to openly violate the laws of the castle and fight in the city, beating his own subordinate—how rare!

Lasalle was full of interest in Hu Feng’s identity. Accustomed to commanding the wind and rain, torturing an ordinary person was no longer interesting to him; ruthlessly torturing and killing a true Stronger was exciting—the stronger the opponent, the more worth looking forward to it was.

“I don’t know, I don’t know anything!” Cardiron shook his head, looking at the naturally tyrannical Lasalle, and retreated a few steps in terror.

As a well-informed thief, he had heard countless stories in Cold Moon City about how tyrannical Lasalle was. It was said that the prisoners who died at his hands were more numerous than those who died under the executioner’s blade, each one dying without a whole corpse. This fellow looked polite on the surface, but in secret, he was a veritable Great Demon Head; falling into his hands was truly a fate worse than death!

“You don’t know anything?” Looking at the terrified thief, Lasalle smiled coldly. “I am in a good mood today and don’t want to kill anyone. However, if you don’t want to live, I don’t mind there being one more dead dog in the city. I will count to ten; if you don’t want to die, speak quickly!”

Cardiron sweated like rain, his whole body drenched in cold sweat. “Young Master Lasalle, I really don’t know, I…”

Looking at the murderous Lasalle and his group, Cardiron was burning with anxiety. The Minotaur Udely on his back was growing colder and colder; if he didn’t break out soon, even if the Main God personally descended, he probably couldn’t save his life. To make matters worse, the exit was close at hand but tightly blocked; trying to kill his way out with his own strength was no different from a fool’s dream!

“You, do you really want to see me that much?”

Just as Cardiron didn’t know what to do, a cold voice suddenly came from the Void. Hu Feng, wearing the Ghost King Cloak on his head, appeared soundlessly before everyone. With a grab into the Void with his left hand, he captured the once-arrogant Lasalle, pinching his throat; his five fingers were like iron, instantly choking him so he couldn’t breathe, his face turning red.

After secretly sending Ophelia to the Monastery to rest, Hu Feng rushed over quickly, relying on his Soul induction to Cardiron.

“Quick, quickly put down our Young Master!”

“You are courting death; if you hurt a single hair on the Young Master, Lord City Lord will personally act immediately and cut you into eight pieces!”

…

It was only after Hu Feng grabbed Lasalle by the throat that the guards beside him reacted, both shocked and angry. While sending out Magic Messages to alert others, they scattered and surrounded Hu Feng tightly, shouting sternly. As the only son of the City Lord, if Lasalle died here, every guard present would probably find it hard to escape death.

“Oh, cut into eight pieces?” Hu Feng pretended to look surprised and loosened his fingers slightly, letting the nearly suffocated Lasalle take a breath. However, just as everyone breathed a sigh of relief, his five fingers suddenly exerted force. With a ‘crack’, he ruthlessly crushed Lasalle’s throat bone, smiling faintly, “Sorry, today, I am in a very bad mood!”

Ruthlessly crushed!

In the eyes of the many guards, Young Master Lasalle was a precious darling who couldn’t be harmed even a single hair, but in Hu Feng’s eyes, he was no different from a dead dog! After crushing his throat bone, a massive Demon God Phantom suddenly appeared behind him, performing the Great Devour Technique to swallow his power and Soul in public.