"Boom!" The nearly ten-meter-wide waterfall was shattered into pieces with that single punch.

The waterfall, which had been roaring down just a moment ago, suddenly went silent, and the cascade up to ten meters high seemed to vanish into thin air, creating a vacuum!

"The fifth punch!" A flash of surprise crossed Tang Yan's eyes as he realized that during his training, his strength had made a miraculous breakthrough!

Stepping out of the waterfall, Tang Yan took a deep breath and stood on the shore, beginning to practice his Thousand Mountain Fist. He wanted to test how much power he could unleash without the constraints of the waterfall.

"Boom!" As the first punch was thrown, a dull, explosive sound echoed through the air. The force released by his punch, now at the Yellow Rank Ninth Stage, was impressive.

Feeling the power of the first punch, a smile curled on Tang Yan's lips. It seemed his days of training beneath the waterfall hadn’t been in vain.

"Boom boom boom boom!"

The punches kept coming, and after a series of four strikes, each punch seemed to build on the last, with each one packing more power. Without the resistance of the waterfall, every punch was noticeably more forceful.

After the fifth punch, Tang Yan wasted no time. He twisted his body, using the momentum to throw another punch forward.

"Boom!" The air around him distorted as his fist tore through it, the force causing a deafening explosion.

Tang Yan’s momentum didn’t stop. His body spun again, delivering yet another punch.

This time, Tang Yan felt his vortex dantian rapidly depleting. His arm felt as though it was carrying a bomb as it charged toward the target.

The seventh punch!

"Boom!" A massive sound rang out, and dust flew in all directions.

Tang Yan stared in shock at the ground in front of him. He had actually blasted a pit into the ground!

"Damn!" After a long moment, Tang Yan muttered to himself.

Calming down, he began estimating his current strength. He was now confident that he could go toe-to-toe with any expert at the Xuan Rank First Stage.

Having just broken through, Tang Yan was eager to find a sparring partner to test his newfound strength. As the sun began to set, a grin appeared on his face.

The Wolf King, tonight, I’ll take you down.

As the sun set, Tang Yan, eating some roasted wild boar to replenish his strength, suddenly heard a wolf’s howl in the distance.

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"Why is the wolf pack showing up so early today?" Tang Yan thought to himself with curiosity.

"Awwoo—"

"Awwoo awwoo—" The howls grew more sorrowful and vengeful.

Tang Yan’s expression shifted as he tossed the boar leg aside and rushed toward the sound.

He had been hunting the wolves for days, but he had never heard such anguished howls. It seemed the wolf pack was in trouble.

Moving silently through the mountains, like a shadow, Tang Yan’s ears picked up the increasingly mournful howls.

When he arrived, he parted the dense foliage to peer inside. In the dim moonlight, he saw five or six bodies lying on the ground, and two people were engaged in a fierce battle with the remaining wolves.

Tang Yan sniffed the air and his heart tightened. He detected the scent of poison powder.

Holding his breath, he took a detoxifying pill from his pocket and quietly observed the situation.

When Tang Yan first encountered the wolf pack, there had been around 1,300 wolves. After many battles, only about 700 remained, with nearly half of the second-tier wolves slain by Tang Yan.

Analyzing the situation, Tang Yan deduced that these people were likely well-prepared, and their target was probably the Wolf King.

It seemed they had attempted to use a poison called "Scattering Yuan Powder" to weaken the mighty wolf by making it too weak to fight back.

However, from the looks of things, their plan had only partially succeeded, and some of the wolves had lost their combat ability.

Tang Yan wasn’t sure about the strength of the dead, but the two surviving combatants were likely powerful. The woman appeared to be at the Xuan Rank Second Stage, while the man was at the Yellow Rank Ninth Stage.

Among the remaining wolves, Tang Yan counted over a hundred, mostly first-tier with a few second-tier giant wolves. The Wolf King, with its silver-white fur, lay nearby, clearly affected by the poison.

"Long Ying, cover me! Deal with the first-tier wolves, and we’ll take down the Wolf King quickly!" the woman shouted as she waved her longsword and charged forward.

"Understood!" the man shouted back, brandishing a heavy blade as he began hacking away at the first-tier wolves.

As the number of giant wolves dwindled, the two were quickly closing in on the Wolf King.

"Awwoo—" Several giant wolves guarding the Wolf King let out anguished howls.

Suddenly, Tang Yan’s attention shifted to the side.

An arrow flew through the underbrush, heading straight for the Wolf King.

Having already been poisoned, the Wolf King was too weak to fight back. The arrow came closer, but before it could strike, one of the wolves jumped in front and took the hit, saving the Wolf King.

"Awwoo—" The Wolf King howled in pain, barely avoiding the arrow.

Before it could react, several more arrows came flying, targeting both the Wolf King and several nearby wolves.

The arrows, infused with powerful true qi, pierced through the vital points of the wolves, and the Wolf King took an arrow to its throat, collapsing onto the ground, convulsing as it bled out.

The sudden turn of events left the surviving man and woman stunned, their weapons tight in their hands as they turned toward the new arrival.

"Who!" the woman, now identified as Wan Fei, shouted.

"Hehe, Wan Fei, long time no see," a rough voice called from the shadows, making both the man and woman’s faces freeze in anger.

As the voice faded, six figures emerged from the forest.

Tang Yan’s eyes sharpened as he recognized the lead figure—a burly man with a large knife strapped to his back and a bow in his hands. He had clearly been the one to shoot the arrows.

Tang Yan’s senses further revealed that the leader was at the Xuan Rank First Stage, while the others ranged from Yellow Rank Seventh to Ninth Stage.

A group like this was not something Tang Yan had heard of in Cloud City. Were they from somewhere else?

"Qing Lang, what are you doing here?" Wan Fei demanded coldly.

"Wan Fei, you're a smart one. You should know why I'm here," Qing Lang grinned, showing a mouthful of yellow teeth.

"Are you trying to steal my prey?" Wan Fei sneered.