Chapter 72: Was That It?
“…”
The Earth Demon Heavenly General’s mouth hung open, unsure what to say just then.
Stab you in the back?
What do you mean, ambushing you? I wanted to kill you, please!Even though he was honored with the nick name of ‘Laughing Tiger’, the Earth Demon Heavenly General had no composure left on his face, only disbelief.
“You didn’t wear an armor?” He growled. “You’re not wearing armor? N-no way! You’re just a rank-five, and would never withstand my flying dagger if you’re not wearing an S-grade alloy armor!”
Whoosh!
He threw up his hand.
The dagger he was fiddling with turned into a ray of cold glimmer, darting towards Jiang He.
“Well done!”
Jiang He cried, bursting with abundant True Qi, just as the silhouette of a sun appeared behind him, illuminating the night sky.Then, stretching out with his palm, a draconic roar quaked the air as two-styles of the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms were released in quick successions, slapping the cold glimmer down into the ground.
“What?!”
The Earth Demon Heavenly General’s face fell.
Even so, his True Qi overflowed like flames around his body. With a charge of the crimson True Qi and a flick of his wrist, he threw out another flying dagger that punched to the air, leaving a fiery tail in its wake.
Jiang He slapped out several times again, and it took him four slaps to bring the dagger down this time.
“No way! He is definitely a rank-five martial artist who did not even reach pinnacle. How is his True Qi so abundant and powerful?” The Earth Demon Heavenly General was dumbstruck.
After all, there were different boundaries between rank-seven grandmasters too.
The Earth Demon Heavenly General himself had ascended as grandmaster for years and had reached pinnacle of rank-seven intermediate. While the flying dagger he unleashed just now was not his killing stroke, rank-seven grandmasters who recently ascended would have a hard time nullifying that move.
“This brat’s power would match rank-seven novices!”
The Earth Demon Heavenly General’s heart was pounding.
A rank-five advanced having abilities equal to rank-seven novices… what does that even mean?
If he rises to rank-six, wouldn’t he be a legend who would kill grandmasters instead?
“A person like this must be rooted out!
“Otherwise, he would be a calamity for our Holy Faith if he develops!
“Moreover…
“Whatever he cultivated definitely hast to be the greatest cultivation there is, the way his palms were conjuring draconic silhouettes is definitely a top-level move. Not only would I accomplish something great for the Holy Faith, I might even gain a top-level cultivation manual!”
After that thought crossed his mind, the Earth Demon Heavenly General opened his mouth and breathed in.
Like a whale gulping down a mouthful of water, he consumed every last of the fiery True Qi around him. His rank-seven intermediate-pinnacle aura burst out, and a dark air of corruption arose behind him.
The air was as black as ink, and darker than the night!
“Jiang He, I would spare you if you surrender!”
The Earth Demon Heavenly General’s voice had become extremely hoarse and sinister. While his aura was not much stronger than before, it now prompted a forbidding sense of danger.
On the other hand.
Jiang He’s visage turned somber as he stared tightly at the Earth Demon Heavenly General!
When the ink-black air arose from the Earth Demon Heavenly General’s body, Jiang He had the illusion that he was no longer human, and had turned into another type of creature.
“How impressive!”
“You are truly powerful, Earth Demon Heavenly General!”
Jiang He took a deep breath, muttering, “I had to release several palms to stop the throwing daggers you let loose in passing, I would definitely not match you in a normal trade of blows.
“And now that you’re casting some weird cultivation, I would be an even less worthy opponent!”
“Hehe!”
The Earth Demon Heavenly General laughed coldly.
Weird cultivation?
This was the Sky Sage Arcanum, a cultivation handed down by the Saint himself. Even if he had cultivated only the bare minimum, he could give most of his peers a beatdown.
And now, he calmly strode towards Jiang He.
Though his pace was slow, the aura around him strengthened with each step he took.
Jiang He was not at all weirded out by that sight, however.
Most novels did write about that after all.
Was that not called… aura convergence or something?
Moreover, the aura convergence that the Earth Demon Heavenly General displayed was quite weak, and he had not reached the level where his feet punched a hole in the ground with each stride.
After a glance at the Earth Demon Heavenly General, Jiang He quietly took out a pepper from his System Backpack and ate it.
Crunch, crunch.
???
The Earth Demon Heavenly General paused in his stride then, his gathering aura left a little flustered.
“Jiang He,” he growled hoarsely, “Are you trying to humiliate me, eating a pepper in my face?!”
“I’ll admit that you’re powerful, and I could only kill you if I take drugs… how is that humiliating you?”
With a few bites, Jiang He finished the thick, huge pepper.
His face hence reddened from the neck up to his head, and he could feel a hot stream instantly surging all over his body. The power of the spicy pepper had left his True Qi bursting even more violently, with white smoke actually rising from the top of his head!
The berserk pepper buffs his fighting power by fifty percent, and increased his rage points to a certain extent!
Boom!
As Jiang He aura shot up by half, his Dragon-Slaying Saber appeared in his hand with a flick of his wrist. The dark golden luster glimmered as his abundant True Qi charged it, and if he aimed its radiance towards someone caught off guard, they would not be having a good time.
“Earth Demon Heavenly General!”
Jiang He bellowed furiously, charging towards the Earth Demon Heavenly General, dragging along his Dragon-Slaying Saber. As his rage points activated, his killing intent surged violently as he coldly taunted, “After I, Jiang He, have cultivated for the eternity of half a month, I’m still a newbie to martial arts despite my fine cultivation.”
“I myself don’t even know how powerful I actually am!”
“So, since you are the first grandmaster who wants to fight to the death with me, I hope you could endure a fuc… I mean, a beating, so that I could earn some combat experience!”
Jiang He couldn’t help being startled when he realized that he had misspoken.
It happened again!
Amongst the side-effects of the pepper was heat at the pit of his stomach and some weird thoughts in his head… as a matter of fact, why did it feel like the ugly Earth Demon Heavenly General had suddenly turned gorgeous?
Even the Earth Demon Heavenly General was left dumbstruck.
What was going on?
Why was Jiang He’s aura suddenly bursting after he ate a pepper?
Was this some unique, mystic art?
And then there was that golden sword he wields…
Was it an S-grade alloy weapon?
No, an S-grade alloy weapon would not boast such a presence…
Moreover, was he hearing him wrong, or did Jiang He really said that he had only cultivated for half a month?
And yet, there was no time for him to think—Jiang He had already shortened the gap between them, and he swung the big sword that he was dragging along the ground, cutting through thin air.
Rawr!
A massive golden dragon-shaped slash hence descended from above!
In response, the corrupted air around Earth Demon Heavenly General’s burst away once again. Since he was good with his fists, he had already slipped on a pair of alloy gloves, laughing coldly as he punched out at the dragon slash, “Jiang He, even if you could boost your fighting power with some secret technique, how long would you actually last?”
“You are definitely going to die today!”
He swung his fists, stiffly crushing the dragon slash Jiang He unleashed, only two find two more of those slashes were coming straight for his face.
Sweating from his brow, the Earth Demon Heavenly General was no longer as composed as he had been before. The dragon slashes were definitely no weaker than his full-powered blows—even though he swung his fists again and managed to block both slashes, he suffered horrific recoil in the process.
Blargh!
He spat out a mouthful of blood.
That was when he heard a faint sigh.
“Isn’t that dragon-shaped slash just so cool?
“What a shame… I could only use it three times each day!”
At those words, the Earth Demon Heavenly General erupted in delight even as he stilled his churning blood and True Qi, even laughing out loud. “Your secret technique must have reached its limit, right? Three mere slashes would never beat me… eh?”
Even before the Earth Demon Heavenly General could finish, there was the resounding clap of a thunder.
A Thunderblade that stretched over ten meters was bearing down upon him.
“What the…”
The thunder slash was even more powerful than the dragon-shaped slashes before. Even though the Earth Demon Heavenly General put out every defensive measure he had, he was still sent flying by the slash over a dozen meters away, where he slammed heavily into the ground as bolts sparkled all over his body.
Jiang He walked up to him and swung his sword again, cutting the Earth Demon Heavenly General cleanly in half.
Only then did he breathed a long sigh and said, “Lucky! Those weird thoughts in my head are finally gone!”
He glanced at the corpse of the Earth Demon Heavenly General which was cut in two and left lying on the dirt, suddenly finding things dull and uninteresting.
Still, was that all a rank-seven grandmaster could do?
Throwing flowing daggers, and using fists to stop his dragon slash and thunder slash?
Did he not have other styles and martial arts that could broaden Jiang He’s horizon, and add to his combat experience?
“Or was I too quick for him to fully unleash his potential?
Nonetheless…
Jiang He stretched out lazily and laughed out loud. “I’m finally feeling relieved now that I’ve killed both the Tranquil Heavenly General and the Earth Demon Heavenly General. I’m sleeping so soundly when I get back.”
***
Around eight kilometers away eastward of Linzghou City.
Joining forces, Su Ze and Li Fei finally managed to kill a rank-two Feral.
Su Ze dropped on his rump, a vague smile suddenly appearing over his tired face.
“It’s been four days since Cheng Dongfeng ascended. Surely his cultivation would have become solid by now?”
“Very well. I could head to Jinyintan Village at sunrise and tell Jiang He about that, and that Master Cheng wants to challenge him. With Master Cheng’s temper, he wouldn’t ask any questions and go straight into the fight.”
Su Ze snapped his fingers.
No wonder his progress with cultivation was so slow.
Because the truth was…
He was simply not adept at martial arts, but at brains and strategizing.
“I am so smart!”
