In a connected area surrounded by large, tall fences. These fences were six meters tall and linked together tightly. Beast swarms definitely wouldn't be able to charge inside past them. Within the massive wooden fences, there were stone houses, wooden houses, and large numbers of fur-clad men, women, children, and elderly people living their lives here.
This was a very ordinary tribe with several thousand tribesmen.
"My child was captured within these few dozen kilometers!" The black-robed man walked within a mountain forest, heading towards the massive tribal gate. "And this is the tribe nearest the place he was taken from."
"Halt."
"Halt."
The main gate to the tribe was shut, and on each side there were two archer towers. Each archer tower had five powerful, beast-clad warriors within. All of them had their bows drawn and nocked, and they aimed at the distant, black-clothed man who was drawing near.
"Outsider, state your intentions." A warrior atop the archer tower said angrily.
The black-robed man glanced at him sideways, as though looking at an ant. His footsteps didn't stop, and he continued towards the gate.
The ten warriors on the archer tower all grew angry…
"Kill him!" Instantly, ten greatbows shot out at the same time! Beng! Beng! Beng! One arrow after another screamed through the air at the black-clothed man, each of them containing enough force to shatter boulders or make large trees collapse. But when these ten arrows drew near the black-clothed men, they all went, zizizi….
The shafts of the arrows cracked, then disintegrated.
The man continued to walk forward.
"Not good." The ten warriors on the archer tower were alarmed, and one of them grabbed his oxhorn and gave it a mighty blow!
"Wu, wu, wu!" The deep sound from the horn was powerful and penetrative. It quickly spread to the entire tribe, and the men, women, children, and elders of the tribe all grabbed their weapons while assembling. In order to survive in this world…men, women, children, and elders all had to act as battle-hardened warriors.
When the tribesmen assembled and began to roar and charge towards the door….
Shua!
That incomparably thick black ironwood gate suddenly exploded, transforming into countless pieces of splinters that flew away. Every single splinter was more terrifying than the arrows of the tribe's archers, and in the blink of an eye, dozens of warriors located close to the door all died or were maimed. Blood stained the ground, but the warriors weren't afraid at all. Instead, they charged forward with even more furious howls.
"Hold!" A shout rang out.
A white haired old man dressed in beast fur transformed into a blur as he charged towards the empty ground in front of the door.
The enraged tribal warriors came to a halt as they looked at the white-haired old man who wore a grey beast pelt. This old man was the leader of the tribe.
"Mighty hero, might I ask, what can our Goldblade Tribe do to assist you?" The white-haired old man bowed respectfully. Someone capable of shattering their gate just through releasing his internal energy was, without a question, a Xiantian lifeform, and Xiantian lifeforms, even amongst the local hegemon, the Ji clan, were people with extremely exalted statuses.
At this moment, the black-clothed man leisurely strolled in.
"I ask you." The black-clothed man looked at the white-haired elder. "Have there been any serpent monsters in the area recently?"
"Serpent monsters?" The white-haired old man paused, then hurriedly nodded. "There are. Recently, a serpent monster appeared, and many small tribes were devastated by it. The week following that, the tribes sent the news to the Ji clan…and the Ji clan sent their black armored riders to resolve with that calamitous snake monster."
The black-clothed man's narrow eyes flashed with cold light.
So it was indeed the Ji clan!
The Ji clan was a powerful organization in this area. Even an ancient monster like him didn't want to go bother it. He had previously guessed that it must have been the Ji clan which had captured his son Redtip, and now it seemed this was indeed the case.
"Killed or captured?" The black-clothed man continued to ask.
"Taken alive." The white-haired old man said. "The Ji clan sent their black armored riders, who captured the snake monster alive, then went back. Most likely, it is currently in West Prefecture City!"
"West Prefecture City?" The black-clothed man's eyes had a hint of fire hidden within them. The fire of rage.
West Prefecture City, to Diremonsters, was the most dangerous place possible.
That was where the experts of the Ji clan of the Western Prefecture gathered! Diremonsters didn't dare go there. If his child was there…the chance of him being able to rescue his child and bring him back was very, very low.
"Human." The black-clothed man looked at the white-haired elder. His voice was cold. "Do you know who I am?"
When the white-haired elder heard himself be addressed as 'human', his face instantly changed.
Monster!
And it was a terrifying Diremonster who could take human form!
"Huhuhu…" The temperature suddenly dropped, and a vast layer of frost began to appear. Even plumes of snow began to drift down. The terrifying low temperature began to spread, and the surrounding tribal warriors quickly were frozen into ice, then shattered into small pieces.
"Quick, leave!" The white-haired old man's hair and eyebrows had a layer of ice form over them, and the tribesmen behind him roared, "A Diremonster! Flee, flee!"
"Quick."
"Flee."
All of the tribesmen gritted their teeth, enduring their pain and rage as they began to flee. Many other tribal warriors shouted heroically as they charged towards the black-clothed man like maddened demons, but when they got near him…the layer of frost on their bodies grew thicker, and then they quickly turned into ice statues.
The old man's internal energy was valiantly fighting. He howled out stutteringly, "You dare provoke the mighty Ji clan?"
"Provoke?" The black-clothed man's pitch-black long hair fluttered in the air. His eyes flashed with a scarlet red light. "The snake monster was my child, my most beloved child. I'm not only going to provoke them, I'm also going to break into the West Prefecture City!"
"Roaaaar!"
A world-shaking furious howl.
The black-clothed man transformed into a coiled serpent, an enormous black serpent which howevered in mid-air. The enormous scaled wings of the coiled serpent fully extended, like a massive net which blocked the sun off from the tribesmen. The tribesmen who had scattered in each direction raised their head and saw this terrifying sight, and all of them were filled with utter terror.
"It's Serpentwing!"
"It's the Diremonster of Serpentwing Lake!"
Not a single tribal warrior now had the thought of fighting back. Ever since they were born, they had heard the ancient legends of the 'Diremonster of Serpentwing Lake'. They knew how terrifying Serpentwing was. There was no way their Goldblade Clan could fight against this sort of terrifying Diremonster!
"All die!"
"All of you must die!"
The enormous Serpentwing enveloped the area below with its massive wings, bloodlust in its scarlet red eyes. It suddenly opened its massive maw and breathed. Huuuuuu. An endless, freezing black wind arose, so strong that even a layer of the ground was stripped off, and some stone houses collapsed. The large amount of black wind quickly surrounded the entire area for nearly ten kilometers around.
"Cough, cough." The tribesmen all held their throats, their bodies quickly turning pitch black.
"No." A woman held her child, tears running down her face like a river.
"Diremonster, the Ji clan will definitely avenge us!" A powerful warrior who had reached the peak of power in internal energy stopped his own breathing, but the poisonous gas stilled penetrated through his skin. In the last moment of his life, all he could do was let out this bitter shout.
Soon….
The territory of the Goldblade Tribe turned into a desolate, silent wasteland. Not a hint of life or sound. All of the tribesmen of the Goldblade Tribe had been turned to ice statues, shattered into pieces, or poisoned to death. The entire area for ten kilometers around…had turned into a charnel house. Even poisonous bug-type creatures had been poisoned to death.
The enormous Serpentwing gently flapped its wings as it stared below. After sensing that all life was gone, it casually flew away at high speed, disappearing into the sky.
…..
Night descended. A cold wind blew drearily. The distant, massive West Prefecture City stretched off into the distance.
"Swoosh!" A black shadow easily flashed past the walls, avoiding the patrolling black armored riders and stealthily entering the city.
"My child, where are you?"
The black-clothed man began to search within West Prefecture City.
This was the first time the Diremonster, Serpentwing, had entered West Prefecture City. After investigating for a long time, he discovered, to his pain, "Monsters that are taken alive are all delivered to the inner city. And the inner city is the place where the Ji clan lives. It is guarded very tightly. There are many Xiantian lifeforms living there…there is no way I can sneak in."
Sneaking into West Prefecture City was fairly easy.
Sneaking into the inner city?
That was the place where the clan members of the Ji clan lived. How exceedingly tight did the security of such a place have to be?
"Hu!"
A moment later.
In the air above the West Prefecture City, Serpentwing flew high into the sky while at the same time, using its natural-born ability to control water, it quickly created a large amount of fog and clouds with the moisture in the air. The fog surrounded the nearby area, and he secretly stared down below from the skies, carefully watching every single place.
Past midnight.
Ning was by himself in Dragon Castle. Today was the day for his once every three days cage battle.
"Young master."
"Young master."
The black armored riders and some servants of Dragon castle were all extremely respectful to him.
Ning's father was the number one expert of the Ji clan! And Ning himself was extremely talented, so many people had already begun to believe…Ning would be the next Prefecture Lord. One could imagine how exalted his status was.
"Prepare the most formidable monster." Ning laughed and called out.
"Recently, we had a powerful monster delivered here. It was brought to us by Commander Blindfish. It has the lineage of the Fiendgods." A one-armed old man called out loudly.
"A monster with Fiendgod lineage?" Ning revealed a hint of delight on his face. "Excellent. Today I'll be able to have a fun fight then. Quick, arrange for it to be sent to the cage."
"Alright."
The one-armed old man went to make the arrangements.
Dragon Castle was divided into the cage and the beast tunnels. Naturally, the beast tunnels was where the monsters lived, all of which were kept in captivity here.
"Roaaar!" The massive red serpent wrapped up in chains, upon seeing the human in the massive cage outside, let out a deep, angry growl.
"Keep shouting." The one-armed old man sneered coldly. "You ate so many humans. Today is the day of your death. Go. Open the door, and then release the chains…let it enter the cage."
"Yes."
The servants who had been installed here for the purposes of taking care of the monsters went to make the arrangements.
"Rumble." After opening the gate between the cage and the beast tunnels, a faint, glimmering light could be seen from afar. The giant red snake instantly looked over and began to let out a growling sound.
"Release the chains." The one-armed elder ordered.
"Clank."
"Clank."
One chain after another was released. Feeling the layers of chains on its body quickly loosen, the giant red snake couldn't help but begin to wriggle, making the chains rattle against each other. After the last one was released…with a clanking sound, the entire chain apparatus fell to the floor with a loud sound.
The giant red snake stared coldly at the one-armed elder, and then slithered its way at high speed out of the tunnel towards the place which had just been opened to it. It quickly arrived in the cage outside.
Within the enormous cage…
A red-lipped, white-toothed, fur-clad young man was staring at it from afar. The giant red snake's saliva instantly began to drool out. Given the extensive man-eating experience it had, it had the sudden knowledge…that this sort of human youngster's flesh was definitely the most tender and most delicious of them all.
Ning stared at the distant giant red snake and he softly murmured, "The entire body is blood red, but the scales around the chest are bright silver, and a pair of red eyes…oh, and it has two claws as well?"
"Slitherslitherslither…" The giant red snake slowly began to move. Its enormous serpentine head raised high as it stared at Ning. Its natural-born arrogance caused it to hold the human youth in front of it in no regard at all. According to its experience, those people in the tribes like this youth were all very weak. Even though this was the lair of the Ji clan, this sort of youth shouldn't be that strong.
Ning let out a light harrumph.
The air in his chest came out as he breathed, shaping into two streams of energy that were visible to the naked eye. His entire body turned slightly red, and a powerful aura began to emanate from him. The distant giant red snake was startled. He could suddenly sense this young man in front of him had a terrifying aura that was no weaker than its own.
"Recently, I haven't had a lot of practice with the [Raindrop Sutra]. I'll use you to train it." Ning suddenly moved forward by several dozen meters, the sharp sword in his hand stabbing out at the giant scarlet snake at lightning speed.
The giant scarlet snake sent its two massive sharp claws at its thorax directly towards Ning in an arcing slash.
"Shua! Shua! Shua!" Sword flashing hundreds of times like a fog of light, one stab after another was delivered towards the giant red snake. The giant red snake only dodged three sword attacks aimed at its vitals, taking the rest of the attacks head on. Only a few white spots appeared on its scales. This caused the giant red snake to unconsciously underestimate the strength of this young human by a bit.
"Wu….."
A strange rumble sound. It was the sound of Ning's sharp sword slashing through the air, instantly slashing towards the giant red snake's chest, suddenly creating a two meter long massive wound. The scales split open, and the muscles beneath were torn apart, and fresh red blood instantly spewed out.
"Roaaar!" The giant red snake was instantly shocked. How was it that the youth in front of him had suddenly become so powerful?
…..
Ning was no longer the callow youth who had battled against the Howling Moonwolf. His constant battles against monstrous beasts had given him much experience. Right now, he was actually only using half of his strength, but because the [Shadewind Steps] and the [Raindrop Sutra] all were quite exquisite in the application of force, he still wasn't at any disadvantage.
First, Ning utilized a chain of attacks, 'Drizzling Rain', but against this giant red snake, it proved useless.
Then, Ning used the vicious, powerful killing attack, 'Rain Line', which was the technique Ning used to leave that massive, large wound on the giant red snake.
Next, Ning used the penetrating 'Raindrop Pierces Rocks' attack.
Following that, Ning blocked the wild attacks of the giant red snake by using the technique, 'Thin Streams Flow Forever'.
The [Raindrop Sutra] had a total of nine stances.
These stances were, 'Drizzling Rain', 'Tempest Curtain', 'Thin Streams Flow Forever', 'Watertight', 'Rain Line', 'Eternally Fresh Waterflow', 'Merciless Waterflow', and 'Raindrop Pierces Rocks'!
Some were attack stances, some were defensive stances.
Even the attack stances, however, included defensive components. The profoundness of this technique constantly caused Ning to sigh in amazement and be mesmerized. After all, he hadn't even reached the level of 'expertise' in this technique, and although his own father, Yichuan, had reached the level of 'mastery' long ago, his father was still studying the [Raindrop Sutra], because the more one reflected on the [Raindrop Sutra], the more one realized how boundless its scope was.
"This technique, 'Thin Unending Waterflow', should be an unrestrained, free-willed attack." Under the attacks of this monstrous beast with Fiendgod lineage, Ning occasionally had some insights with regards to his sword techniques.
But the giant red snake, by contrast, was growing furious!
It could tell that this human youth was using it to train in swordplay. Although there were many wounds on its body already, none of them were lethal. But the youth in front of him had only suffered a few light wounds…which instantly healed in the blink of an eye. The youth in front of it was so terrifying that its heart quailed, while at the same time, it felt fear that it was going to die at the hands of this human youth.
But even if it was going to die, its inborn arrogance and pride wouldn't allow it to be toyed with to death.
"Roaaaaar." The giant red snake suddenly let out a wild, earthshaking howl, filled with rage, unwillingness, and carried with it the knowledge of its death.
…..
The howl split the air.
In the air above the inner reaches of the Ji clan, there were many clouds. Within one of the clouds was the black Winged Snake.
"Roaaaar."
By the time this howl made it to the heavens, it was very weak, but Serpentwing was an extremely sensitive Diremonster. In addition, the roar was the familiar voice of its child.
"It is Redtip! My son!" Serpentwing was instantly certain of this. It had been searching around the inner city the entire time, and from kilometers away, its gaze had clearly made out the building known as the Cage. But because of the fog and because of all the steel chains above the cage, it simply couldn't tell what the Cage actually was.
But just at that moment…
Upon hearing the sound, it immediately knew that the sound was coming from that cage area!
"There it is!" Serpentwing immediately charged down, its body still wrapped by clouds and fogs, shrouding it from view.
….
Within the cage.
Ning, hearing the grief-stricken, enraged howl of the giant red snake, knew how the giant red snake was feeling. Immediately, a sharp sword appeared in his left hand as well. "Since you beg for death, then die!"
Shua!
Ning suddenly transformed into a tempest and charged at the giant red snake.
Sword light flashed!
[Thunderflame Sword] – Thunderflash Flint! Blazing Thunderclap!
[Raindrop Sutra] – Merciless Waterflow! Raindrop Pierces Rocks!
Shua!
The red eyes in the upraised head of the giant red snake slowly dimmed. There was a deep hole in its head now, which had pierced straight through its skull. And then, its massive body collapsed to the ground like a pile of mud, causing the earth to shake. Fresh blood flowed outwards, staining the ground in a river of red blood.
"Mm." Ning looked at the corpse of the massive red snake, then inspected its wound.
He was studying how effective his killing blow had been.
"Blazing Thunderclap truly is a powerful attack. It actually drilled such a massive hole into the snake's chest. It almost split the snake in half." Ning nodded as he continued to inspect the damage. "Merciless Waterflow and Thunderflash Flint can both be described in one word; fast! Merciless Waterflow is both fast and agilely unpredictable, while Thunderflash Flint is fast and explosive."
"Raindrop Pierces Rocks has good penetrative ability. It was easily able to pierce through this snake's skull." Ning nodded.
In the air above the cage, a massive creature was descending through the clouds. Compare to Serpentwing, his child, Redtrip, was nothing more than a tadpole! Serpentwing's scarlet eyes could already see through the chains of the cage to the scene below. It saw the desolate, miserable sight of the blood-splattered serpent corpse lying on the soft earth, and as it saw this, it felt a terrible fire suddenly fill its consciousness.
"My child!"
Serpentwing had gone totally mad. "Human, pay for my child's death!"
Bang!
The powerful energy vibrations coming from above the cage made Ning raise his head to take a look.
"What?!" Ning immediately saw that hundreds of meters away, within the clouds, an enormous serpent with barely visible pair of giant wings was staring at him. The creature was currently charging downwards at him…its wingspan alone was larger than the entire cage.
The red-eyed snake's eyes were filled with boundless killing intent. Ning was shocked, and he understood…that the creature charging down from above was here to kill him!
"Not good. Flee!"
Ning turned his head and immediately wanted to flee!
But just as he wanted to flee, he realized that the corridor he had come through had been shut. Generally speaking, during cage battles, they would always be shut, to prevent someone from fleeing before the battle was over! Only after obtaining victory would Ning order people to open the tunnel…but he just killed the giant red snake moments ago, and hadn't had the chance to give the order yet.
In addition, as he had started the cage battle, he had forbidden others from watching him. Generally speaking, only his father watched.
After all, his true power was something that had remained a secret all along. For example, the fact that he used twin swords or that he could use ordinary swords to kill a peak Houtian level Godbeast…these were all secrets. The outside world still believed that Ning relied on sharp precious weapons to slay Godbeasts.
"Shua!""Shua!" Ning immediately threw away the two swords in his hands, and instantly, two more swords appeared; the Darknorth swords!
"Break!"
Ning exploded forth with all his power, hacking away at the thick chains above him, while also calling out frantically at the top of his lungs, "FATHER!"
The sound rang out, but the speed of sound was actually slower than the downward charging speed of Serpentwing.
"Dangdangdang!" Ning's Darknorth swords wildly chopped against the steel chain net up above. In the past, his father, Yichuan had said this: "Given your strength…if you are to use the power within the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens] and use your full strength, you should be able to break apart the chains. But a web like this formed from many chains…you will probably need the span of ten breaths before you are able to break enough chains to escape."
But now that Ning had the Darknorth swords. They were indeed sharp. Dangdangdang…one chain after another was shattered, but there were simply too many of them. To break enough to allow him to escape would probably require the span of one breath.
One breath?
The terrifying creature charging from above wouldn't even need a second before arriving!
"No time." Even as Ning was chopping the steel chains, he immediately understood this.
The massive scaled wings sliced through the air, striking against the chain of webs. These steel chains, which were incomparably tough for Ning, were extremely feeble in the face of this attack of a thousand year old monster. With a series of shattering sounds, countless chains broke apart and flew everywhere. And then, the scaled wings swept directly against Ning.
"Pay with your own life for my son's!" Serpentwing's red eyes stared wildly at Ning.
"Dodge."
Twin swords in his hands, Ning quickly dodged while at the same time, using the same technique with both swords; 'Thin Unending Waterflow'. His sword flashed, receiving the scaled wing that came from above.
One layer of sword flash after another intersected, and both swords combined, forming an endless web of sword light. It was as though multiple layers of silk were being wrapped around the opponent's attack, restricting it.
He launched ten of these attacks in a row!
"Bang!" The massive scaled wing smashed down upon the twin Darknorth swords, and the power of this strike caused Ning to instantly feel the bones in his wrists splitting apart. And then, the blade-like edges of the wing cleaved down upon the dodging Ning, slashing straight through the Goldstar Shirt.
Pu!
Fresh blood sprayed out, and his left arm, still clutching a Darknorth sword, went flying. Ning's entire body was sent smashing into the blackwater iron wall, creating a human-shaped impression into the wall. Ning vomited out a large mouthful of blood from his lips.
"Hu!" Serpentwing raised its scaled wings again, preparing to deal yet another cleaving blow.
"This is the moment!"
The now one-armed Ning gritted his teeth, then suddenly scurried out like a massive grasshopper through the broken cage. [Shadewind Steps]. He used this footwork technique to its absolute limits, flashing out like a streak of azure light, fleeing outside.
"Die!" A violent wind attacked.
Looking behind him, Ning saw an enormous black blur sweep towards him. That was the massive serpent tail of Serpentwing. This whipping attack by Serpentwing's tail was even faster and even fiercer than the attack of his scaled wings! The air it passed through exploded with terrifying sonic booms, and the tough marble stones of Dragon Castle began to split apart…
The enormous black tail was everywhere, surrounding Ning. Given Ning's speed, there was simply no way he would be able to dodge this attack at all.
"I'm finished!"
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