Boom!

  The barren mountain split in two, its two fragments falling to both sides and causing a resounding rumble, while dust kicked up all over the heritage site.

  Jiagn He flung his sleeves, blowing away the dust.

  “Die!”


  Swish!

  That was when the Graywolf King took to the air as a black shadow, lunging at Jiang He and swinging its claws through the air down at Jiang He’s head. Laughing in response, Jiang He unleashed both his physical strength and True Qi, slapping the Graywolf King and sending it flying a thousand feet away.

  Finally coming to a stop, the Graywolf King glanced at its bleeding right paw, a wariness flashing upon its blood-colored gaze.

  Jiang He was much stronger than it thought!

  “Not bad, not bad.”


  Nonetheless, Jiang He did not press his attack after repelling the Graywolf King, but instead studied the Graywolf King with interest. “I didn’t expect that you would become stronger when you turn black,” he chuckled. “You must be pinnacle Feral King now, aren’t you?”


  “Still, you would now have more moves and combat ability after gaining daemonic cultivation. You should be standing between the level of Feral King and Feral Emperor now, aren’t you?”


  Jiang He was very delighted with the Graywolf King’s developed abilites.

  After all…… Dumbo and Trumbo sorely needed the daemonic cultivation method.

  And since his willow tree and Cloudscraper Vine could use it as well, it would be better the stronger they get.

  Hence, with a point of his finger, Jiang He’s Scarlet Flame Sword turned into light as it shot towards the Graywolf King. Now that things had come to this, there was no need for words—he just had to kill the Graywolf King.

  With White Foal Crosses the Rift, the Scarlet Flame Sword almost instantly cut down on the Graywolf King’s body. Even though the blow sent the Graywolf King flying backwards over a thousand meters, it did not inflict any actual damage.

  A silver combat armor appeared over its body then.

  It covered almost all of the Graywolf King’s body, only exposing its facial features, its claws and tail.

  “Oh?”


  “A mystic armor?”


  Jiang He was surprise.

  Daemons could use mystic treasures?

  Huh……

  I guess they could?

  The armor was very cool, and if he took it for Dumbo…… would it not look awesome?

  As Jiang He imagined that sight despite his surprise, the Graywolf King appeared even more surprise.

  The sword did not hurt it, but the Daemon Mystic Armor almost did not manage to stop that cut, and might fall apart after another handful of blows.

  After all, mystic treasures were divided between tiers too.

  Jiang He’s Scarlet Flame Sword, being a premium soul weapon, assuredly outclassed the silver armor in tier.

  Be that as it may, neither the Graywolf King nor Jiang He knew that. After all, the Graywolf King had just inherited its legacies and did not even have the time to read the daemonic cultivation method written on the jade scroll.

  Likewise, how would Jiang He, one who learnt immortal arts by ‘farming’ have knowledge about refining items?

  Nonetheless, as Jiang He moved his Scarlet Flame Sword and was about to attack a second time, the Graywolf King suddenly whipped out a pitch-black bottle gourd.

  It took to the air, rapidly enlarging as the Daemonic Qi within shot out. The Graywolf King then breathed, spitting Daemonic Qi and its essence onto the bottle gourd—with a shake and a hum, a blood-colored blade slash shot out towards Jiang He.

  Caught off guard, Jiang He was slashed by the blade on the shoulder. With a dull grunt, he looked down to find it bleeding profusely, with a five-inch wound cut into it.

  “Woah!”


  Jiang He inhaled sharply.

  That bottle gourd……

  Was that a daemon treasure too?

  Not only could it release blackened qi, it could fire blade slashes at him too?

  Well, at least now it felt like a Xianxia novel……

  The Graywolf King’s eyes tightened, its mind churning in astonishment……

  What the hell?

  It had already offered a blood sacrifice to the bottle gourd, and certainly knows of its power. Logically speaking, a full-power charged blade was a pinnacle-level blow even for Feral Emperors, but it only managed a skin-deep cut on Jiang He?

  And being the owner of the bottle gourd, the Graywolf King had a clear sense of what happened: When the blood-colored slash cut through Jiang He’s flash and landed on his shoulder blade, it could not even budge forward……

  Huff!

  Not one to believe in bad luck, the Graywolf King widened its maw and breathed even more Daemonic Qi and essence into the bottle gourd.

  Another blood-colored slash, one which was horrific than the strike before tore through the air, and there were three slashes this time!

  Swinging his Scarlet Flame Sword, Jiang He cut down two of the slashes, but the last one landed squarely on his chest, splitting it open and bleeding him from on high.

  Keeping the bottle gourd on his head, the Graywolf King growled, “Jiang He, you would never best this king, and the opposite holds true too. Let’s call a truce and never cross paths again, and this king will never intrude upon Lingzhou. What say you?”


  “What do you mean, I can’t best you?”


  Jiang He was rather surprised.

  What was that vermin talking about?

  Was it belittling him?

  He tore his shirt open to look at his chest and the scar on his shoulder—both were merely flesh wounds, although his recover might prove slow if the wound was a little too large and he did not put on a little countermeasure.

  In the very least, he would need a good night’s sleep to heal those.

  “This king[1] had obtained treasures of a senior wolf. With this armor that you could not pierce protecting me and the blade gourd slashing at you, my full power strike would not take much to…… eh?”


  The Graywolf King was suddenly stunned before it could finish.

  It saw Jiang He draw out two weird objects……

  They were rectangular and half a foot long, and it appears as if something was pasted on it. After tearing that off, Jiang He pasted it on his wound.

  In fact, it actually was…… a supersized band-aid.

  Of course, the Graywolf King never seen one before, which was why its blood-colored eyes looked utterly bewildered.

  What on earth was that?

  It had clashed more than a few times against the divine-tier elite of Yuzhen. Even when he had been injured by its claws, he never used that!

  Meanwhile, after Jiang He put on two band-aids, he felt apprehensive…… He was so hurt and the wound was not disinfected, so wouldn’t it be unhygienic to put on band-aids directly?

  Could it……

  Get infected?

  He took out to Amoxicillin capsules and took them just in case, before smiling. “Daemonic mystic armor? Blade bottle gourd? Some nice mystic items you have there, and it would certainly fit my dog……”


  “You wish to claim my treasure?”


  The Graywolf King smirked, saying, “Delusional, unless you have what it takes to kill this king!”


  “Alright!”


  Jiang he nodded and replied seriously. “Then I’ll kill you!”


  Summoning with an extended hand to withdraw his Scarlet Flame Sword, Jiang He pointed out at the Graywolf King.

  In the next split second, the sea of swords in Jiang He’s mind hummed.

  A illusory sword light materialized in the blink of an eye, and Jiang he imbued a part of his spirit into it. Controlling it with his mind, it cut towards the Graywolf King.

  Shing!

  The hum of his sword resounded throughout the heritage site.

  Veins of blinding sword light erupted, instantly consuming the Graywolf King. The beast was devoid of life when the light eventually faded, and it dropped out of the sky with a loud bang.

  Having used the Twenty-Three Swords, Jiang He’s face went pale, although there was a look of delight just beneath his gaze.

  With a part of his spirit wounded, he finally felt drowsy.

  Well, he was done fighting anyway.

  Time to collect the spoils of war, go home and sleep!

  ***

  At the same time.

  Back at the Martial Arts Department of Jingdu City, Wang Hou was scowling. “Could you reach Jiang He yet?”


  “No, his phone is not getting network coverage.”


  “What about Yan Dehao?”


  “It’s not getting through either. Moreover, it’s usually him contacting me, and I don’t have any way to reach him—for the sake of his safety.” Zhou Yu replied, pondering a while before saying, “That said, Yun Dehao would be alright with Jiang He around, Minister Wang.”


  “Did you reach out to Lingzhou City then? Does anyone know Jiang He’s whereabouts?”


  Wang Hou pressed. “We at least could get an idea what the kid is actually doing, can’t we?”


  Zhou Yu shook his head. “They have no idea what Jiang He is doing over there…… although Cheng Dongfeng of the Eight Trigrams School had mentioned that Jiang He told him about guarding Mount Dadong when they met in the afternoon. Could Jiang He have lost his cool and ran off to blow up Mount Dadong?”


  Wang Hou: “.……”


  He was rather astonished even though he was a Void-tier elite, but he soon shook his head, saying, “That can’t be, could it? I only told him to guard Lingzhou City and prevent the Graywolf King from stirring a Feral rampage, there’s no need to blow up Mount Dadong…… is there?”


  Zhou Yu mused to himself for seconds, nodding and then shaking his head.

  Reasonably speaking, Jiang He would not do that……

  But was reason applicable to Jiang He?

  Still, there was no need to fuss over that question. Yan Dehao would not have problems with Jiang He around anyway, and so Zhou Yu cut to chase, “Minister Wang, the military just sent a message saying that the Dragoncroc Emperor had visited Beihu Base City, saying that it does not wish to wage war against human over what happened with the Golden-Winged Roc……”


  “It also added that it would pacify all the Feral Kings so that they did not attack humans on purpose, but the condition for that is that we continue keeping the agreement we had before, especially Jiang He—he must not kill any other Feral King from now on.”


  “Oh?”


  Amused, Wang Hou smiled. “The Dragoncroc Emperor is caving?”


  Still, his smile soon faded.

  The Dragoncroc Emperor’s power…… was inscrutable!

  Most importantly, it was very discreet, but being discreet did not mean it was agreeable.

  A Feral Emperor of their level, caving?

  At that, Wang Hou could not help rubbing his temples and remembering what the Dragoncroc Emperor said back at Mount Golden Roc……

  The number of daemonic eminences were not as many as it looks.

  “But the question is…… did those eminences that the Dragoncroc Emperor spoke of came to be after the Revival of Qi, or before?”


  Wang Hou thought.

  It was possible that they were born after the Revival of Qi, although that was not very likely. All known Feral Emperors across the globe were horrific creatures that exist even before the Revival of Qi, and while they were not as powerful then as they were now, they became intelligent decades or even centuries ago, hence assuming the path of evolution!

  Rising to his feet, Wang Hou walked to his window.

  He looked out somberly at the distant night scene of Jingdu City, and then spoke quietly, seemingly to himself and to Zhou Yu, “Are those daemon eminences Feral Emperors themselves, or stronger than Feral Emperors? If they existed even before the Revival of Qi, how long had they actually existed?”


  A hundred years?

  Three hundred years?

  Five hundred years?

  Or……

  Even longer?

  Wang Hou turned around to look at Zhou Yu and smiled. “Old Zhou, get that military elite stationed at Beihu Base City to talk to Dragoncroc Emperor, and tell it that I want to meet.

  Was the Dragoncroc Emperor unwilling to fight?

  Or was it the daemon elites backing it unwilling to fight?

  It did not matter now either way, since a discussion would reveal all intentions.

  Naturally, it would be best if they did not fight since that gives humans the chance to develop. But if they want to fight…… the humans would fear nothing, or at least those in the Hua Nation.

  [1] the king is referring to itself