The weakened Tooth Blade, after losing much of its force, slammed into Huang Wuguang Earth Armor—and left no mark at all.
The trio looked down at what they believed to be Gu Zhen lifeless body, momentarily speechless.
But before they could dwell on it, the Iron Fang Wolves attacked again in a frenzy, leaving the three no time to grieve or think.
They were forced to fight on, fending off the relentless assault.
Witnessing how easily Gu Zhen had fallen to the Iron Fang Wolf King strike, the three newcomers who had just arrived began to waver.
Life is fragile—there only one. What use is all the money if you're dead?
At that moment, the Iron Fang Wolf King turned its gaze and launched a vicious assault toward the very same newcomers.
One of them failed to dodge in time and was sliced clean in two by a Tooth Blade, collapsing in a pool of blood, barely alive.
Seeing their companion fall so swiftly, the remaining two were overcome by fear.
Without hesitation, they turned tail and fled.
Huang Wuguang watched, seething with rage. They finally came to help, and now they're running away? Cowards!
With the escape of the last support, the remaining three could only rely on themselves.
Having lost all retreat, they had no choice but to go all in.
It was a do-or-die situation.
Each of them drew upon their deepest reserves, unleashing their full potential to take on the remaining Iron Fang Wolves.
With their strength at its peak, the dozen or so wolves were quickly reduced to mangled corpses. But the toll was heavy—every potion, every resource they had was completely exhausted.
Then, the Iron Fang Wolf King began to charge another Tooth Blade.
Liu Kong, utterly drained, couldn't react in time.
The razor-sharp energy slash cut his body in half.
Blood soaked the ground beneath him.
"Damn beast!" Huang Wuguang roared, eyes bloodshot with rage. He and Liu Kong had been teammates for years, sharing life-and-death struggles and a deep bond.
Seeing Liu Kong die at the hands of a beast, his fury was uncontainable.
With a bellow, Huang Wuguang squeezed out the last of his star power. Thick Earth Armor formed around him as he broke through the wolf pack, charging straight at the Iron Fang Wolf King.
Facing just two opponents, the Wolf King no longer dodged, meeting Huang Wuguang head-on.
As a star beast, its natural strength was immense. It feared no one in close combat.
Meanwhile, the remaining five or six Ironfang Wolves surrounded and attacked Zhang Yirong.
But Zhang Yirong, too, went all out.
Desperately channeling her remaining strength, she activated a terrifying fire-type star skill.
A ring of blazing fire erupted from her body, instantly consuming the surrounding wolves.
"Fire-typeStar skill – Self-Immolation Blast"
All the wolves around her turned to charred husks in the blink of an eye.
But the skill drained her completely.
Zhang Yirong collapsed to the ground and lost consciousness.
From afar, Gu Zhen—still very much alive—watched everything unfold.
He didn't move in immediately. Instead, he quietly reattached his severed limb and waited.
He had one more target left.
The Iron Fang Wolf King, using its brute strength, overpowered Huang Wuguang and shattered his Earth Armor.
The man fell to the ground, barely breathing.
The Iron Fang Wolf King slowly approached, jaws wide, ready to end him.
Just as the wolf lunged to tear out his throat, Huang Wuguang abruptly wrapped both arms around the beast neck in a death grip.
A stone spear erupted from the ground, impaling the Wolf King belly.
Wounded and in pain, the beast roared and thrashed violently. It flung Huang Wuguang aside, then pounced again, this time sinking its fangs into the man's throat.
A gruesome snap echoed.
Huang Wuguang body went still.
But at that precise moment, a severed hand emerged from the side, gripping a short alloy dagger.
It stabbed deep into the Wolf King belly wound—and viciously sliced it open.
The Iron fang Wolf King guts spilled onto the earth. Its massive body shuddered, then weakened to the brink of death.
Only then did Gu Zhen stand.
His body was intact once more.
He calmly walked forward and retrieved his severed hand.
The dying Wolf King looked up and saw him, completely unscathed.
Its eyes blazed with hatred.
It roared and struggled, trying to pounce one last time and take Gu Zhen with it.
But Gu Zhen moved first.
An invisible force seeped through its tough skull, condensing into a single point that pierced its brain.
The Wolf King, mortally wounded, collapsed dead, its body hitting the ground heavily.
Gu Zhen immediately followed up, severing both the Wolf King and Huang Wuguang heads to ensure they were dead.
With those two handled, he approached Zhang Yirong.
But she suddenly opened her eyes, staring in terror at Gu Zhen, blade in hand.
"You...how...?" she whispered, weak and breathless.
But before she could finish, Gu Zhen clamped a hand over her mouth.
In her eyes—fear, panic, pleading.
Gu Zhen didn't flinch.
Without a word, he drew his blade across her throat.
Blood sprayed outward, painting the ground crimson.
Still, he wasn't done. He severed her head, then stabbed through her heart for good measure.
If that didn't kill her, he'd have to burn her to ashes.
He knew how to fake his own death. With his split-superpower, even being halved couldn't kill him.
As for the blood—he had simply hidden a bag of fake blood under his shirt. It had burst at just the right time.
In the heat of battle, no one had paid close attention to a "corpse."
Now that all witnesses were dead, Gu Zhen moved fast.
He crouched beside the Wolf King corpse and carved out a light blue, irregular crystal—roughly the size of a baby fist.
The Star Beast Core
Without delay, he pocketed it, then yanked out the Wolf King fangs before harvesting the star beast cores of the regular Iron Fang Wolves.
Their tusks were too troublesome to carry, so he left them behind.
Soon, his backpack was half full of star beast cores.
But his work wasn't over.
He rifled through Huang Wuguang and Zhang Yirong belongings. Their storage cards were useful but unusable by him.
Then, Gu Zhen entered the Ironfang Wolves den.
The cave was large enough for him to walk upright.
A short way in, he found a few wolf pups, whining and helpless.
Without mercy, he killed them all. If it had been Huang Wuguang group, they'd likely have taken the cubs to sell for extra resources.
They had used a special potion to draw out the adults wolves, leaving only the pups behind.
This was a common hunter tactic—leave no survivors, ensure no future threats, and maximize profits.
After cleaning up, Gu Zhen searched the den thoroughly.
In a shadowy corner, he found a silvery-gray herb, about the size of a grown man palm.
This was Iron Wolf Grass, which could grow in the dens of metallic wolf-type star beasts like Iron Fang Wolves, useful for enhancing body realm.
Judging by its size, this Iron Wolf Grass was at Realm 1, Peak, potent enough to push Gu Zhen body realm to Realm 1, Advanced.
He collected it and searched further, leaving only after confirming nothing was missed.