With that, the man from Hua Celestial Sect turned to leave.
’What fucking bad luck.’
’Getting robbed twice in a row.’
’Who am I supposed to complain to?!’
The Cyan-faced Lion called out to the man from Hua Celestial Sect, "Kid, don’t be so ungrateful. If that lord hadn’t given the order not to kill any of you, we would’ve ganged up and wiped you humans out long ago."
"So you’re saying I should thank this ’lord’ of yours?"
The man from Hua Celestial Sect frowned.
The Cyan-faced Lion said nonchalantly, "You shouldn’t just thank him; you should be burning incense and praying to him. With our lord’s power, forget about you—even if you brought all those old geezers from the Holy Spirit Manor here, he could kill them all with a single slap."
"What did you say?"
The man from Hua Celestial Sect was utterly horrified.
’The Saint Spirit Manor Master is an Early Stage Martial King!’
’Someone who can slap the Manor Master to death?’
’Doesn’t that mean this person is...’
The man from Hua Celestial Sect cried out, "Don’t tell me... there’s some powerful Ancient Fierce Demon in this Holy Spirit Secret Realm?"
In an instant, his heart sank.
’If that’s true, then forget the Holy Spirit Manor—the entire Northern Profound Domain might be doomed.’
’Damn it, who the hell is that person?’
Not far away, Xiao Fan, his face covered in blood, glared at the five Demon Beasts across from him.
Originally, these five were only Tier Three Demon Beasts, but they had all burned their Inner Cores to fight him to the death.
"Hahaha! One against five! Even if I lose, I’m still coming out ahead!"
Xiao Fan laughed, exhilarated.
One of the black tigers said, "Not bad. To be able to fight the five of us on your own after we’ve burned our Inner Cores to gain the power of Tier Four Demon Beasts... in a way, you’ve already won. It’s just a shame that you’ll have to leave your treasures behind."
"And if I say no?"
Xiao Fan’s voice was cold.
The black tiger gritted its teeth. "Then we’ll just have to cripple you, step over your body, and take your treasures anyway."
"Fine. Let’s keep fighting!"
Xiao Fan began to channel his power again.
Just then, a White Elephant approached them. "That’s enough," it said.
"A Tier Four... Demon King."
A cold sweat broke out on Xiao Fan’s back.
If it were an ordinary Tier Four Demon Beast, he wouldn’t be afraid; he could have put up a fight.
But a Demon King was a different story entirely.
A Tier Four Demon King was equivalent to a human at the Grandmaster Great Perfection realm, a full major realm higher than him.
The gap between them was an insurmountable chasm.
The White Elephant said, "Kid, do you really intend for this to be a fight to the death?"
"Are you saying I have a choice?"
Xiao Fan asked, confused.
The White Elephant nodded. "Hand over your Storage Ring, and you can leave in one piece. After all, we’ve ganged up to rob everyone participating in the Holy Spirit Competition this time. There’s no shame in it for you."
"Huh..."
Xiao Fan asked in surprise, "Then what about the guy from Hua Celestial Sect and Bai Luoxue? You ganged up on them and robbed them too?"
"That’s right," the White Elephant said.
Hearing this confirmation, Xiao Fan finally breathed a sigh of relief.
’If he could live, he certainly wasn’t going to fight to the death.’
’Besides, it’s not like he could win anyway.’
Xiao Fan took a deep breath. "Fine, I’ll hand over my Storage Ring. But first, you have to answer a question for me."
"What question?"
the White Elephant asked.
Xiao Fan asked curiously, "Since you’ve robbed all of us, you should know who’s the strongest among the three of us—me, Bai Luoxue, and the man from Hua Celestial Sect."
The White Elephant shook its head. "Sorry, but none of you three are the strongest."
At these words, Xiao Fan froze.
’Besides the three of them, are there other top-tier geniuses here?’
Xiao Fan demanded, "Tell me, who is the strongest?"
"No comment."
the White Elephant refused.
It didn’t mention Su Mo’s name, afraid of angering him.
The White Elephant said calmly, "I can’t tell you our lord’s name, but I can tell you this: compared to him, the three of you are worlds apart. You aren’t even worthy of carrying his shoes."
"This..."
Xiao Fan wondered, ’Could it be Wang Xuan? Or maybe Ye Langtian?’
’Although Wang Xuan and Ye Langtian weren’t as famous as him, Bai Luoxue, or the man from Hua Celestial Sect, they were both considered geniuses among geniuses.’
’Ye Langtian was known as the most prodigious Sword Cultivator in the Northern Profound Domain.’
’Wang Xuan, on the other hand, was unfathomable, said to be an even match for anyone he fought.’
’It couldn’t be Chen Ge.’
’He was certainly a master of arrogance, but his strength was nothing special. He’d even been slapped into the ground by someone. He couldn’t possibly be the strongest.’
At that very moment, Ye Langtian was fleeing for his life.
A pack of Demon Beasts was hot on his trail.
"Sword Cultivator, your sword is broken!"
one of the Demon Beasts yelled.
Ye Langtian ignored them, continuing to flee for his life. In just a few breaths, he had covered dozens of miles.
’That guy doesn’t even want his sword?’
’Forget it. Even though this sword is broken, it’s still a Treasure. Let’s take it back to that Elder.’
’Right. At least this proves to Elder Su that we were trying.’
The Demon Beasts turned back.
Hiding in the hollow of a tree, Ye Langtian panted, completely spent. "Shit, what the hell is wrong with these Demon Beasts? They chased me relentlessly and even took my Broken Sword."
He looked down and saw that his clothes were in tatters.
His Storage Ring had been taken, too.
’What the fuck...’
’Which son of a bitch put them up to this?’
"ACHOO..."
In his cave, Su Mo suddenly sneezed, waking from his slumber. He wondered aloud, "Am I getting sick?"
’Impossible!’
’Ever since I started my Cultivation of the Nine Dragon Invincible Technique, my body has been in peak condition. I don’t just not get sick; I haven’t even had a common cold.’
’Whatever. Back to sleep.’
「On the third day.」
The Ink Flood Dragon carefully woke him. "Elder," it said respectfully, "your time is almost up."
"Already?"
Su Mo asked, "How did that business I gave you go?"
The Ink Flood Dragon produced a Storage Ring. "All the Treasures are in here. Would you like to take inventory? If it’s not enough, we can go look for more."
"Forget it, there’s no time!"
Su Mo put away the Storage Ring and strode out of the cave.
The Ink Flood Dragon called out hastily, "Elder, let us see you off!"
All the Demon Beasts voluntarily followed after him.
Just as Su Mo was exiting the Demon Beast cave, he came face to face with a couple of grimy-looking youths. They were the very same fat and skinny lackeys who had been mining with Ren Fan.
"We finally escaped from that hellhole."
"Yeah, I never thought I’d get captured and forced to mine. Got a taste of what it’s like to be at the bottom."
"A taste of life, my ass."
the fatty complained. "This is all because you’re blind! You got us captured by those Demon Beasts to be miners, and Young Master Ren Fan got so angry he abandoned us."
"How can you blame me? You didn’t see that Tier Four Demon King either!"
The skinny one looked aggrieved.
Suddenly, the skinny one’s eyes lit up. He pointed toward the cave. "Look! It’s that Su Mo guy."
"It really is him."
the fatty said, overjoyed. "If we capture him and present his head to Young Master Ren Fan, what do you think he’ll do?"
"He’ll definitely forgive us and let us be his followers again."
"Let’s go. We’ll kill him."