The Legend of Fangren

"What is that?!" Chief Wang poured his profound energy into the luminous stone on his inner chest armor, releasing an even brighter light. But what he saw rushing towards him was not a 'monster,' but a clump of rubble, as tall as a person, condensed together!

"Ouch!" The soldier at the front was caught off guard. He hurriedly slashed at it but to no avail. The blade was like a knife hitting a pile of rubble, with nowhere to grip it. Instead, he was pulled into it, and his arms were also stuck in it. As the rubble rolled, he was crushed to the ground. His whole body was rubbed by the sharp pebbles, and he couldn't even scream.

"Get out of the way!" Chief Wang moved quickly and hurriedly dodged to the side, squeezing through the gaps in the pile of rubble. But the others were not so lucky. They all followed in the footsteps of the person in front of them, being crushed and then letting out miserable cries.

Wang Touzi thought he had escaped a disaster, but when he squeezed his hand, he realized that the cloth bag had been snatched away by the ball of pebbles. He hurriedly shouted, "My crystal! Strange thing, give it back!"

The clump of rubble was also a living thing, as if it understood human speech. When it stopped rolling, it scattered and "pounced" towards him. He channeled his profound energy, and the weapon in his hand emitted a dark red light, releasing a high temperature that generated heat.

"Little stone monster! I'll melt you!"

The red blade slashed down, completely unlike the clumsy movements of the soldier. It penetrated the stone monster's body with scorching heat, directly severing what was either a hand or a foot! At the severed point, the broken stone melted away, as bright as blood.

But the stone monster felt no pain. It swallowed the fragments and grew back. Chief Wang was a veteran with experience dealing with mystical beasts and monsters. Seeing this, he knew that the core of the monster had not been damaged. He turned his red blade from slashing to thrusting and leaped forward to stab the stone monster's body. Relying on the feedback from the blade, he slashed hard at the hard spot in the darkness, creating a huge wound.

"Hmph!"

In the firelight, he caught a glimpse of a crystal that had been cut in half and smiled smugly.

Everyone in town said behind his back that he wasn't as good as he used to be, but now it seems that his skills are still there!

Boom... The stone monster, its core shattered, crashed to the ground, turning into a pile of lifeless rubble. The leader triumphantly stabbed his knife into the ground, not even bothering to check the injuries of his men, before climbing onto the pile of rubble and searching for the bag of crystals.

After all this work, we can't let it go to waste.

These useless fellows couldn't even hold back a stone monster, forcing him to shatter the stone monster's crystal, wasting a valuable item for nothing.

However, this stone monster is quite large. Although it seems to be around the second tier, it is really strange that it could have such a size in this small side cave.

Oh well, never mind, finding the crystal bag is the most important thing.

"This guy is really greedy..."

Fang Shi, who was standing nearby, saw his disregard for others and thought that this guy really deserved to be punished.

Regardless of whether a person is kind or not, if they lack loyalty, they will have a hard time getting by in either the legitimate or criminal world.

"That's strange." After searching for a while without success, a bad feeling rose in Wang's heart.

Could it be that those two slashes hit the sack? Oh dear! What a terrible thing to do!

He quickly kicked open the slit he had cut with the knife and found a charred cloth bag. Fortunately, the bag was stuck in the stone and only a small corner of it was burned.

Overjoyed, Wang was about to pry open the stone to take out the cloth bag, but when he tried it, he found the stone to be so tightly packed. Could it be that his skill was so profound that even the stone inside had melted into a lump?

Wang Touzi was still out of practice. Years of being drunk and greedy had made him less wary of the unexpected, and he didn't even notice the pebbles that had quietly settled at his feet.

With a whoosh, the loose pile of rubble suddenly came to life, swirling like waves, trapping his feet, and rolling away as before.

"It's over," he thought to himself, realizing the danger. He glanced at the knife on the ground and saw that he was unarmed. He could only use his internal energy to protect himself from the crushing stones.

The stone monster rolled out of the cave with Wang Touzi in its wake, and Fang Shi, seeing this, quickly followed.

Before long, the stone monster arrived outside the cave, startling Attorney Chu so much that he quickly hid. Looking up, he saw a figure being flung out—it was Headman Wang.

Attorney Chu was surprised, thinking to himself, "Brother Fang is really skilled; he even managed to bring out this stone monster."

The leader landed on the ground, still shaken. In his haste, he didn't even care about Attorney Chu. All he could think about was the shock of the ordeal and fear that he might really die here. Seeing the two soldiers lying nearby, he didn't care why they were unconscious and quickly pulled them in front of him.

When the stone monster reached a spacious area, it transformed into a large, monkey-like hand. It punched the soldier in front of the leader without giving him a chance to breathe—Fang Shi hadn't actually killed him earlier, but now he was definitely dead.

Under the immense force, Wang Touzi, who had been trying to escape to the side, was also thrown out and landed beside the lava lake. Seeing the stone monster in front of him and the dead end behind him, he was at a loss and could only look at the lawyer Chu, whose face was bruised and swollen for some reason.

He wanted to call for help, but dared not. He was punched by the stone monster and sent flying against the stone wall, where he lost consciousness.

"Oh my, so fast!" Fang Shi rushed out from behind and, seeing the situation, shouted to Attorney Chu: Fellow Daoist Chu, make your move quickly!

This is a perfect storm of favorable timing, location, and people; there's no need to fake it, just make it real.

Attorney Chu knew perfectly well. He drew his heavy sword from his back, and before the stone monster by the lava lake could turn around, he leaped high into the air and thrust the Heavenly Punishment sword vertically down, striking the stone monster squarely in the core of its back! He then grabbed the jammed hilt of the sword, landed on the stone monster's back, and kicked it violently into the lava lake, shoving the stone monster completely into the lava, where it fell silent.

"Fellow Daoist Chu, your skills are impressive and decisive." Fang Shi could tell that Attorney Chu's perception and control of Xuan Qi must be extraordinary, otherwise he would not have been able to grab the stone monster's vital point on its back at first sight.

Attorney Chu landed back on the ground and said, "It's just a pity about the stone monster's crystal; it would have been a good material for casting artifacts."

Fang Shili came forward to remind him: "The most urgent task is to save people. As long as you can take people back to the city gate and bring Wang back in front of all the guards and passersby, then you will have the moral high ground. Even Wang himself will not be able to blame you. With righteousness and morality at hand, remember to stay calm and do not speak rashly, lest you give others something to criticize you for. As long as you maintain your usual character, the voice of the masses will be on your side."

"Understood." Attorney Chu's mind also became active. His day of advancement was just around the corner, and he had to seize it.

"Alright, you take the surviving wounded upstairs first, I'll handle things here."

"it is good."

To prevent any investigation, Fang Shi believed it was necessary to eliminate this secret realm. Otherwise, if that leader was truly a heartless scoundrel who, in order to absolve himself of the crime of dereliction of duty and loss of troops, cruelly turned around and falsely accused Attorney Chu of ambushing them while pretending to be a good person, then all of this would have been for nothing.

The stone monster disappeared into the lava, so only the destruction of the secret realm can prove that something happened there—after all, how could a third-tier cultivator destroy a secret realm? Only in this way can Attorney Chu avoid being falsely accused.

And in this way, Fang Shi could then "legitimately" begin his extensive excavation...