Translator: E.3.3. Editor: Vermillion

  The golden beams dispersed, revealing a glistening mantis shrimp that looked like it was painted in gold.

  This mantis shrimp floated in the air, with the two sickle-like claws at the top of its head still flicking. It rolled around its stalk eyes and stared at the faraway Liang Kai.

  The emergence of this mantis shrimp exceeded everyone’s expectations. Nobody anticipated a mantis shrimp belittled by others would jump out at a critical moment to give Liang Kai such a fatal blow.

  Ouyang Xiaoyi, with Bu Fang in her arms, turned around to stare agape at the Shrimpy still suspending in the air.

  Xiao Xiaolong slowed down his bolting steps, but still arrived beside Ouyang Xiaoyi.

  With a swoosh, Duan Yun also appeared.

  He pulled Ouyang Xiaoyi and Xiao Xiaolong away from the scene.

  Though Liang Kai was heavily wounded, he was still a warrior of the Divine Physique Echelon. At this point, that mantis shrimp probably couldn’t escape Liang Kai’s slaughter. It was better to get away, as far as possible.

  Liang Kai’s body trembled as he coughed blood.

  His eyes were filled with astonishment. As he struggled to lower his head, he noticed another giant gash on his body spurting out blood. The thick and pungent scent of blood spread everywhere.

  How…… How could he be freaking outplayed by this mantis shrimp a second time?!

  Liang Kai gazed at the mantis shrimp, feeling so enraged that he wanted to puke blood. His entire body shook ferociously, his face as pale as a ghost.

  "Damn it…… I’m going to catch you and have you braised!"

  A savage look flashed across Liang Kai’s eyes as he took a step forward.

  Shrimpy floated mid-air, still waving its sickle-like claws. Seeing Liang Kai take a step forward, it transformed into a golden bolt of lightning. With a swish, its body swooped down.

  Splatter!!

  Liang Kai wailed miserably as his body was pierced once more, leaving an additional bloody puncture.

  The golden lights dispersed. Shrimpy suspended in the air, its body still brilliantly golden, not even tainted by a smear of blood.

  Splatter Splatter!

  After pausing momentarily, Shrimpy turned into a golden beam once more. It drilled through Liang Kai’s body continuously, leaving behind nasty, bloody gashes.

  Liang Kai couldn’t stop coughing blood. His force of energy was quickly waning.

  He wanted to withstand the strikes of this mantis shrimp, but his Scorching Sun Demonic Physique was too weak at the moment to be of any use.

  Thump……

  Oh how Liang Kai resented this!

  Covered with bloody punctures, he felt like he was rapidly losing signs of life.

  There were traces of grief and dejection in his eyes.

  The Grand Barren Sect’s Grand Heir of Heaven, one with potentials to command entire regions, ended up butchered by a mantis shrimp in the training grounds.

  This was unbelievably upsetting.

  His head full of hair hung loose as Liang Kai fell to the floor. He took in sharp breaths but alas, could not stop his life from wearing away.

  His body was covered with injuries. There was even a giant hole in his chest, leaving his heart badly damaged.

  Nothing could save him. It was a lost cause.

  Up on the warship, the disciples of the Grand Barren Sect were utterly flabbergasted. After living through the initial moments of shock, one tends to sink into a state of dread, and their eyes displayed that level of deep fear.

  Dead, another dead.

  The training ground was simply horrifying!

  Two warriors of the Divine Physique Echelon have already fallen here.

  Executive Feng and Liang Kai were both Divine Physique Echelon warriors of the Grand Barren Sect. They should be invincible in the training grounds, yet the reality was always so cruel.

  Both were dead.

  Buzz……

  As Liang Kai’s corpse hit the floor, unseeable ripples of energy spread outward.

  A beam of light shot out of Liang Kai’s corpse and flew towards the warship alongside a floating jade talisman wrapped around a phantom spirit.

  This was a life-saving tactic the Grand Barren Sect issued every Heir of Heaven disciple. Even if their bodies of flesh were slaughtered by the enemy, their spiritual essences could still escape by the jade talisman.

  This jade talisman was very precious, and could only be given to Heir of Heaven disciples.

  The mantis shrimp couldn’t bother with the jade talisman. It hopped up and flew back to Bu Fang, who was still within Ouyang Xiaoyi’s arms.

  Sprawled over Bu Fang’s shoulder, it fell into a deep sleep.

  Buzz……

  The jade talisman containing Liang Kai’s spiritual essence returned to the warship.

  "Sail…… back to the Grand Barren Sect! Quick!!"

  Once back onto the warship, the silhouette of Liang Kai’s body emerged within the jade talisman. He bellowed loudly, ready to leave this damned place immediately.

  The Grand Barren Sect disciples on the metal warship hurriedly set sail.

  The heavy metal warship whirred loudly up in the sky and slowly turned around, heading out of the Imperial City.

  Still on the warship, Xiao Meng pressed a hand against his chest and stood up slowly. He gazed around and, taking advantage of the chaos amidst the Grand Barren Sect disciples, charged forth and leaped off of the warship.

  The Grand Barren Sect disciples were taken aback, but they couldn’t bother tending to Xiao Meng.

  Bei Gongming stood up, rubbing away the streaks of blood at the corner of his mouth.

  He peered at Liang Kai’s barely visible spiritual essence within the jade talisman, his eyes looking indifferent.

  He walked towards the jade talisman one step at a time. The muscles on his face suddenly trembled as he broke into a howling laugh, his chortle getting louder and louder. He was laughing so loud that all the Grand Barren Sect disciples on the warship cast him perplexed looks.

  "Bei Gongming! What are you doing! You loser! Get lost!"

  Seeing Bei Gongming inching closer to himself, the Liang Kai enclosed within the jade talisman emitted a shrill shriek. The piercing shriek contained a trace of dread. He bawled angrily. As he screeched, the jade talisman began to shake violently.

  Two Grand Barren Sect disciples blocked Bei Gongming, asking coldly: "What are you going to do?"

  Bei Gongming’s eyes rolled and landed on the two disciples. He curled his lips in a savage way.

  "What am I going to do? Of course, revenge…… I’ve waited all these years…… and finally got a chance for revenge. Anyone who hinders me shall die."

  Boom!!

  Surges of true energy burst out of Bei Gongming body and landed on the two Grant Barren Sect disciples.

  His body charged forth like a ghost and he thrust out two palms, striking the two disciples on their foreheads.

  The two Grand Barren Sect disciples fell to the floor with bewildered faces. They were killed just like that.

  Bei Gongming hooted with laughter, his entire body shook fiercely.

  Nobody else dared to block Bei Gongming.

  Liang Kai, within the jade talisman, also emitted a frightened screech.

  "You can’t kill me! If you kill me…… the sect will never let you get away!"

  Seeing the quivering jade talisman, Bei Gongming exhaled a long breath. This jade talisman belonged to him anyway. He should’ve have become the Grand Heir of Heaven. But all of this was snatched away by Liang Kai.

  "This no longer matters. As of today, everything will be returned back to me, Bei Gongming."

  Bei Gongming curled his lips.

  He lifted up his hand and grabbed the jade talisman.

  The Liang Kai within the jade talisman struggled ferociously, bellowing, howling furiously. He even humbly begged for mercy, but Bei Gongming remained completely unmoved. Once the jade talisman was crushed, Liang Kai would truly be dead.

  Liang Kai didn’t want to die yet.

  "Who else should die…… if not you……" Bei Gongming snickered softly. He pressed harshly with his hands as true energy fluctuated. With a loud explosion, the jade talisman was utterly destroyed by the true energy, smashed into smithereens.

  Liang Kai’s complexion contorted amidst the true energy and shattered.

  His face was filled with a scathing resentment as he glowered at Bei Gongming, screaming nonstop.

  Without the jade talisman, his spiritual essence would scatter very soon.

  The Grand Barren Sect Heir of Heaven, Liang Kai…… had fallen.

  The rest of the Grand Barren Sect disciples on the warship didn’t dare to emit a noise. They didn’t think Bei Gongming really dared to kill Liang Kai. This was an Heir of Heaven, a disciple intensively trained by the sect, dead just like that.

  Suddenly, these disciples shuddered. They detected the gaze that Bei Gongming shot their way. It was cold and bloodthirsty. Bei Gongming planned on killing them?!

  "You can only blame it on…… seeing something you shouldn’t have seen." The forces of energy on Bei Gongming condensed. His figure stormed out with the gushes of true energy.

  Splatter!

  How could the rest of the Grand Barren Sect disciples survive against Bei Gongming. They were all slaughtered. Blood splattered everywhere, staining the warship, filling it with a dreadful lifelessness and a pungent stench of blood.

  Bei Gongming’s entire body was covered in blood. He walked to the deck slowly, grabbing onto the rail. Up from the warship, the Light Wind Imperial City below turned smaller and smaller. He gazed down intently until the entire Imperial City faded from his eyes……

  Within the Light Wind Imperial City.

  Everyone sighed in relief seeing the metal warship steer away. That warship was like a murderous weapon hovering above their heads. Once it vanished, everyone felt pacified.

  This battle…… was a wretched sight.

  Ji Chengxue walked down from the city walls with a pensive expression and began to handle the follow-up work. He had actually become very experienced with cleaning up the mess after a battle.

  Within the store, Bu Fang rested on a chair, taking in deep breaths. He slowly opened his eyes, feeling like his eyelids were made of lead. Whitey was also carried in by the crowd, with the only difference being that everyone fell silent.

  Nobody had ever seen Whitey in such a wretched state.

  Whitey’s body was badly punctured, on which electric sparks flickered. The once almighty Whitey was now motionless and badly torn.

  Bu Fang’s hair hung loose.

  "Today’s business hours are over…… everyone, please leave now."

  Bu Fang said quietly, ordering for his guests to leave.

  Ouyang Xiaoyi and the others still wanted to say something, but seeing Bu Fang’s current state and hearing his order to leave, they sighed and cleared out.

  The doors were pulled shut.

  Bu Fang’s entire person leaned against the shutters, feeling completely drained of energy. He didn’t want to move at all. This was the hardest battle he had to fight so far. He used all the tricks up his sleeves and still failed to completely slay the enemy.

  If it weren’t for Shrimpy drilling holes through Liang Kai’s body, he couldn’t imagine how things would end.

  Bu Fang felt helpless. This was all because he had too weak a cultivation level. Even after activating the Gourmet Array, his personal abilities was still only at eighth grade War-God. To defy a warrior of the Divine Physique Echelon was already a miracle. In this battle, Shrimpy was key.

  However, Bu Fang also knew that the main problem was still his weak cultivation level. He suddenly realized that to live as a chef peacefully…… he needed to have an impressive enough cultivation level. Or else, he could never be left alone.

  He scratched his disheveled hair.

  Bu Fang leaned on the shutters and asked the system silently:

  "System…… is there any way to accelerate my cultivation level?"

  After a moment of silence, the system finally spoke up.

  "The host’s cultivation level rests on the store’s business income. A rise in business income is required to increase the cultivation level. Or else…… the host could open an additional branch. But once the tasks of the extra branch are activated, the host may not return to the main store until completion of such assignments."