# CHAPTER 8: BLOODY BATTLE AT THE TOXIC MIST FOREST EDGE > *"When darkness falls in exile, hunter and prey are only an inch apart."* --- ### I. PURPLE TWILIGHT OVER THE ROTTED FOREST The sunset at The Savage Deadlands does not have the brilliant red light of late afternoon. The sky just gradually changed from a gloomy lead gray to a dreary dark purple, like a giant bruise weighing down on the ground. The pouring rain had stopped, but instead there was a thick, wet poisonous mist that began to crawl up from the turbid lagoons and crept through each leafless ancient mangrove trunk of the Toxic Mist Forest. This forest is the last buffer zone separating The Outcast Encampment and the vast depression of The Putrid Fens. The trees here have all died a long time ago, their trunks are black and hollow, and their roots emerge from the mud and writhe like giant, twitching pythons. On the dry, spindly tree branches, flocks of three-eyed mutated crows with ragged feathers were perched silently, occasionally making mournful *ow...wow...* cries, tearing through the eerie silence of the twilight. Chu Ye walked in the purple mist, each step he carefully stepped on the floating tree roots to avoid being swallowed by the mud. He reached into his pocket, took out a **Qingluo Poison Pill** that Jin Wanruo had just offered, stuffed it into his mouth and swallowed it in one gulp. A stream of cool medicinal power like ice and snow immediately spread from the throat to the stomach, forming an invisible barrier to prevent miasma from corroding flesh and bones. He bent down to check his equipment: - The **Black Bone Dog-Beater Staff** weighs thirty pounds and is wrapped in rusty iron, firmly held in the right hand. - The sharp **Short Bone Cleaver** bar is stuck on the left hip. - The iron-thorned wild boar leather armor hugs the chest tightly. - And half a broken ceramic bowl firmly placed in front of the shirt, where the Bloodstone tablet is radiating heat to warm the whole body. The guy is ready. But right at the moment Chu Ye just stepped across a rotten wooden bridge across a black canal, a flock of three-eyed crows above his head suddenly flapped their wings and soared into the sky, emitting terrifying squawks! Murderous intent! A cold, murderous aura like the smell of frozen blood suddenly came from all directions! --- ### II. SOUL-BINDING CHAINS: PENG LEI'S SWORD-SLAVE LEGION — *SHOW! CRASH!* The sound of iron chains scraping against stone screeched loudly in the purple mist. From behind the rotten old trees, seven dark figures slowly stepped out, forming a closed circle blocking Chu Ye's entire path. These were no ordinary exiles. They are **Mutated Sword Slaves** under Peng Lei's command! All seven men were shirtless, their skin was gray like a corpse soaked in water for a long time, and an iron nail as big as a thumb was hammered into the back of each man's neck - a sign of cruel death control techniques. Their eyes were dull, without any human intelligence, and the corners of their mouths dripped with toxic green drool. In each sword slave's hand is a rusty sword four meters long, his wrists are wrapped tightly with thick iron chains, the ends of the chains are attached with scythe-shaped hooks used to lock the prey's limbs! The leader was an unusually tall sword slave, his right bicep was bulging three times larger than a normal person's, black and shiny as ebony. What's most terrifying is that on his forearm there is a sharp animal bone that emits a red light - a piece of original **Wild Bone Raw** that hasn't been carved yet! The sword slave leader stared at the crockery bowl on Chu Ye's chest, the iron nail on the back of his neck twitched, emitting a hoarse voice like a devil's voice: — "So... Yes... Master Peng ordered... to chop... to behead..." No unnecessary threats! — *WASH! WOW!* As soon as he finished speaking, the three sword slaves on the left side simultaneously waved their hands! Three wind-breaking iron chains rushed through the mist like three black snakes, sharp hooks aimed straight at Chu Ye's throat, shoulders and ankles! --- ### III. DUAL BLADES UNLEASHED: SHATTERING CHAINS TO SEIZE DESTINY The sword slaves' coordinated attacks were extremely rhythmic and precise, completely a classic prison tactic for capturing death row prisoners! If wrapped tightly by these iron chains, even an expert with profound internal strength would be pulled to pieces in the blink of an eye! But Chu Ye never took a step back! — "Dog-Beater Toan Phong!" Chu Ye roared. His feet were firmly planted on the surface of the rotten tree roots, and the Blackbone Staff tree in his right hand swung into a black hurricane! — *KANG! KANG! KANG!* The tip of the iron-covered staff collided violently with the three iron chains in mid-air, sparking dazzling sparks in the twilight! The rusty nail hook at the top of the Dog-Beater stick precisely clasps the link of the chain in the middle. Chu Ye gritted his teeth, borrowed the ferocious heat of the Bloodstone in his chest, used all his strength to rotate the staff around three hundred and sixty degrees, and then jerked it backwards! — "GET OVER HERE!" The sword slave on the left didn't expect a beggar to have such terrible arm strength! His entire skinny body was thrown into the air by the powerful pulling force, rushing straight towards Chu Ye like a sandbag! While the sword slave was flying in the air, Chu Ye's left hand pulled out **Short Bone Cleaver** from his waist! — *WASH!* A jet-black semicircular blade of light tore through the mist! The sharp blade slashed smoothly through the sword slave's throat. Stinky black blood gushed out, the iron nail on the back of his neck broke, his body fell into the mud, struggled twice and then became completely motionless. One move to win your life! The perfect combination of a long control stick and a short melee knife — the beginning of the ultimate technique **Double Arms Swap** — immediately exerted its destructive power! --- ### IV. MORTAL DUEL WITH THE FRENZIED SWORD SLAVE The death of their own kind did not scare the remaining six sword slaves. The iron nail on the back of their neck takes away all their emotions, leaving only the instinct to kill frantically. — *BOO!* The leader of the Crazy Sword Slave let out a wild roar. He did not use the iron chain, but held the heavy long knife with his giant mutated arm, slashing the mountain and sea, aiming straight at the top of Chu Ye's head! At the same time, the remaining five sword slaves rushed in at the same time, five shining blades stabbing from the five most dangerous corners! Hell! One life for one life! In that moment, Chu Ye was not confused at all. The experience of hundreds of bloody battles on the battlefield told him that if he wanted to break this battle, he had to take the leader's head! — "Savage Dodge Roll!" Chu Ye suddenly slid across the black mud, his whole body tilted at a forty-five degree angle, slipping through the gap between the enemy's two blades. — *WASH!* The blade of the Crazy Sword Slave grazed his shoulder, the sharp spikes on the wild boar leather armor were broken and cracked, tearing off a piece of skin on Chu Ye's shoulder blade, fresh blood oozing out profusely! But that slash also caused the Crazy Sword Slave to reveal a deadly gap in his chest! Chu Ye turned around, holding Blackbone Staff in his left hand and stabbed him in the knee joint, forcing him to fall to one knee in the mud! The monster's eyes widened, his mutated arm with Uncarved Primal Bone stuck in it swung out to crush Chu Ye's skull. At this moment, the faint moonlight had just emerged from behind the toxic clouds, shining straight into the swamp. Chu Ye leaned slightly, placing **half of a broken ceramic bowl** on his chest to catch the moonlight! — *SHOCK!* The sharp, broken ceramic surface reflected a dazzling white light straight into the dull eyes of the Crazy Sword Slave! Even though he was a mutated zombie, his visual reflexes were still instantly blinded by that sudden beam of light! The arm that swung down slightly missed by half an inch! Just that half an inch is enough to determine life and death! - "DIE!" Chu Ye put all of Bloodstone's strength into his right arm, Short Bone Cleaver swung out a slash across the sky! — *POP! WOW!* The blade severed the giant mutant arm of the Crazy Sword Slave! The arm bone and piece of Uncarved Primal Bone fell into the mud. Before the monster could roar in pain, Chu Ye's Blackbone Staff hit his forehead like a steel drill, driving a rusty iron nail into his skull! — *BOOM!* Broken skull. The leader fell backwards, sinking into a puddle of black mud. --- ### V. END OF ACT I: GATE TO THE MIRE OF DESPAIR Losing their leader, the remaining five sword slaves immediately lost their rhythmic control. To Chu Ye right now, the five disoriented zombies were like moving meat targets. — *Pop! Whoosh! Crack!* In just ten short breaths, the sound of metal colliding and bones breaking echoed crisply in the poisonous mist forest. One by one, the sword slaves fell under the brutal combination of sticks and swords, black blood staining the entire lagoon. The battle is over. The forest returned to its eerie silence, leaving only the sound of Chu Ye's heavy breathing and the sound of blood dripping from the blade into the mud: *Thing...thin...* Chu Ye stood in the middle of the battlefield, his whole body covered in blood. The wound on his shoulder throbbed, but the Bloodstone in his chest was throbbing, emitting a magical warmth that soothed the pain. He bent down and picked up the leader's severed mutated arm. Using Short Bone Cleaver to pry open the layer of black flesh, Chu Ye pulled out a sharp animal bone about an inch long, emitting a flickering red light like coal. That is a precious piece of **Wild Bones**! When his fingers touched the animal bone, a stream of savage, brutal fighting memories of ancient giant beasts suddenly flowed straight into his mind - the feeling of flesh-tearing pounces, rock-breaking tail swipes! He realized: in The Savage Deadlands, there are no martial arts secrets written on tissue paper. To learn the most brutal moves, one must manually carve these animal bones into **Martial Bone Relic** to implant into the body! Chu Ye put the precious animal bone in a leather bag, then lifted half of the broken ceramic bowl and washed the black blood stains under the clear stream of water before putting it back on his shirt. He raised his head and looked forward. Through the last row of trees of the Poison Mist Forest, a vast lowland, engulfed in purple miasma and endless black mud appeared before his eyes. That is The Putrid Fens — the seat of Savage Warrior Crypt, where the brutal prison guard Peng Lei is waiting for him with Wu Huasheng's sentence. The night wind blew through Chu Ye's torn shirt, bringing with it the bitter cold and the smell of death from a thousand-mile mud puddle. But in the eyes of the beggar carrying the broken bowl, the fire of freedom and the will for revenge have never burned so intensely! — "Peng Lei... Wu Huasheng... Clean your necks and wait for me!" Chu Ye carried the Blackbone Staff tree on his shoulders, strode decisively into the knee-deep black mud puddle, officially closing Act I and opening the door to enter **Act II: Humiliating Mud Puddle**!