Chapter 381
At that time, the higher-ups of the Warrior Temple gradually came back to their senses. Everyone’s expression changed from hearing the words Qiu Yonghao said to Long Haochen, but what could they say after this sight? They had all just witnessed what Long Haochen intended to show them. If this youth really becomes the head of the Warrior Temple, then, ten or twenty years in the future, he will undoubtedly add another illustrious page to the history of the Warrior Temple.
The auxiliary chief that stood strong all this time strode forward until he was next to Qiu Yonghao, and right when the latter was believing he would oppose him, this elder declared without hesitation, “I support the decision of Brother Qiu. Child, as long as you are willing, you will be the most important person in the Warrior Temple from now on.”
If Qiu Yonghao’s words could be said to have brought Long Haochen to gain half of the throne of the Warrior Temple, then the words of this veteran auxiliary head could be said to have secured him this position. As long as Long Haochen assented, he would really become the head of Warrior Temple.
“Seniors, I am really sorry, but I cannot accept. I am a part of the Knight Temple. And furthermore, I am now a Demon Hunter and the captain of my Demon Hunt Squad. As such, I am responsible for all my comrades. Moreover, I haven’t failed!”
While this head and auxiliary head were speaking, Long Haochen’s finally regained some of his physical strength. At least enough to have the strength to speak.
He actually refused? The two elders were in a daze. And what did he just say then? He hasn’t failed?
Long Haochen gave Haoyue an eye signal, and his massive body started to move, sweeping his tail at this heavenly meteorite.
With a rumbling noise, at least a third of the heavenly meteorite fell to the ground. The meteorite was very heavy and produced a very loud bang when smashing to the ground. But this stunned everyone present once again.
Everyone here knew how tough the heavenly meteorite was. Let alone its whole, even a portion of it would be incomparably hard to split! So actually, he didn’t fail, and managed to cut down such a large piece of heavenly meteorite. Including those powerhouses of the ninth step, no one present got to clearly see that blow from Long Haochen. When the strike was launched, everything around it had been engulfed in light.
Qiu Yonghao could only feel his throat becoming dry. And this time, he didn’t know what to say.
He was speechless, and the same applied to all the powerhouses from the Warrior Temple present. Right at that instant, Qiu Yonghao’s mind was totally blank.
In this short time, Long Haochen regained more of his physical strength and managed to stand up straight. With the support of Yating’s arm, he slowly advanced in the direction of that heavenly meteorite, and with a glint of gold, the light of the Eternal Paradise enveloped the heavenly meteorite, and a third of that heavenly meteorite disappeared, according to the agreement they made before.
Because of the agreement with the Warrior Temple, Long Haochen directly took the chopped parts of the heavenly meteorite which were his reward for his task. But did the Warrior Temple really suffer a loss? The answer was no.
The staff in Yating’s hands was pointed towards the remaining two thirds of the heavenly meteorite, and with a golden glint, it seemed to emit a buzzing sound. Immediately, a sword intent full of might blossomed from the cut. This severe sword intent reappeared slowly in everyone’s view, and was finally dispersed within a radius of three meters around the heavenly meteorite. Slowly spreading out, it didn’t look as unyielding as before, but this sword intent appeared even more concentrated.
That’s right, with that strike, Long Haochen left the entirety of his sword intent inside this heavenly rock. If that wasn’t the case, he wouldn’t be in such a weak state. Of course, his own sword intent didn’t disappear, and as long as he would be given the time to rest, it would recover in his body. But this heavenly rock wouldn’t run out of sword intent for at least hundred years. With the stimulation from Yating’s spiritual energy, the sword intent was activated.
It was an incomparably precious thing that Long Haochen left to the Warrior Temple. Every one of the warriors present was speechless.
Qiu Yonghao slowly approached Long Haochen, and after letting out a long sigh, declared, “Child, come with me.” Saying this, he slowly strolled towards the side of the hall. He advanced at a slow speed, and in that instant, seemed to have gained a lot of age.
Followed by the attentive gazes of the other powerhouses from the Warrior Temple, Long Haochen followed Qiu Yonghao as he stepped out.
Currently, most of Long Haochen’s physical strength was restored. Right before going up the stairs, he sent Haoyue back to the Tower of Eternity, before following Qiu Yonghao upstairs.
Top floor of the Warrior Temple, office of the Temple Head. Qiu Yonghao pointed to a nearby sofa, “You may sit down.”
Long Haochen sized up the room of the highest leader of the Warrior Temple, full of shock. This was because this place was just too plain and simple.
Inside the room wasn’t any ornament. There were only simply tables, chairs, wooden bookcases, very old-fashioned sofas and a board bed. Nothing more.
Although this room was more than two hundred square meters large, it was devoid of any personal thingsfeelings.
Qiu Yonghao spoke insipidly, “In those years, when Commander Ye led the Warrior Temple, this room was also decorated this way. It remained the same for more than a hundred years, and even the positions of the items weren’t changed in the slightest.”
Since the time he saw this head of the Warrior Temple for the first time, Long Haochen felt his fanatical belief in Ye Wushang.
“You think it’s strange to cherish the memories of Commander Ye that much even as the head of the Warrior Temple, don’t you?” Qiu Yonghao gave a frustrated look to Long Haochen as he voiced this question.
Long Haochen didn’t utter a word, only lightly nodding.
“This is because I was originally the chamberlain of Commander Ye, or perhaps I should say his servant, the partner that grew up with Commander Ye.” Qiu Yonghao’s voice was actually choking with emotions. The appearance of the Aria of the Goddess of Light called had reawakened his extreme grief, but also his most beautiful memories.
“Commander Ye also had great family circumstances. His father was a consul, while my family was poor. When I was five, his parents bought me for the home of Commander Ye, where I was held as a slave. I was two years younger than Commander Ye, thus I was urged to follow him in the mansion, as his little manservant, and his lifelong chamberlain.
Commander Ye treated me very well. Since young, he never treated me as someone inferior to him. I still clearly remember that when he was only seven, he told me the words: From now on, you are my younger brother, and I will be protecting you.”
At this point of his story, Qiu Yonghao couldn’t control his own emotions. Tears fell down, and this old man, already more than a hundred years old, cried bitterly about his memories from a time more than a hundred years ago.
While Long Haochen could say before that he still felt somewhat resentful toward the Warrior Temple, after hearing the proposal of Qiu Yonghao to succeed him as Temple Head and experience their trial, this resentment started to change into sympathy.
“When Commander Ye was training in the sword arts, he let me accompany him during his training. Then, when joining the Warrior Temple, he let me follow him as well. Even right before his decisive battle against the Demon God Emperor, he still didn’t forget to warn me to cultivate well. At that time, I was still merely at the seventh step of cultivation. Without the support of Commander Ye, I wouldn’t be here today, and would have simply lived as a manservant, leading a mediocre life. I really didn’t expect that I would see the brilliance of Commander Ye reappear in front of my eyes ever again. I know that I cannot possibly make you return the divine sword to the Warrior Temple. You were entirely right, it’s only in your hands that this divine sword can regain the bearing it had in those years while it was in the possession of Commander Ye. However, I wish for you not to act as impetuously as Commander Ye did in those days. Before your wings blossom entirely, you have to place your safety as top priority. The reason is that you already do not belong only to yourself, but to the Alliance, as the hope of the entire humanity.”
“Yes.” Long Haochen stood up, giving his agreement with respect.
Qiu Yonghao let out a sigh, “I really envy the Knight Temple! My invitation will be valid forever. The doors of the Warrior Temple will be open for you at any time.”
After reaching this point, his eyes suddenly lit up, suddenly having a thought, “Haochen, what about remaining in the Knight Temple while holding the post of head of the Warrior Temple, how do you think the idea sounds?”
“What?” Long Haochen had a start, “Temple Head, you are overvaluing this junior.”
Qiu Yonghao continued with a gentle laughter, “This isn’t impossible. It’s not that I am overvaluing you, but the ability you showed today simply created the prerequisite for anyone to value you. You definitely have to keep yourself alive. I heard from Xu Zhongliang that you came to the Warrior Temple to handle three matters.
The most important one is already handled. What about the other two?”
Long Haochen said, “I have just accepted some Slaughter Missions with my comrades and am prepared to follow the Yue Ye Caravan to the demon territory. But our cultivation already exceeds the sixth step, so I’m afraid we’ll not be able to cross the inspection when leaving the Southeastern Fort.”
Qiu Yonghao replied, “This will be simple. I will just have someone tell a word to the one in charge. And what about the other one?”
Long Haochen muttered to himself irresolutely, before telling the simple story about what happened in Starseeker City. With no superfluous addition, he only spoke the truth.
“The soldiers in the front are blood soaked and struggle fiercely, while this sort of things happen in the rear. Can you please have Hall Master to pay attention to this?”
Qiu Yonghao wrinkled his eyebrows, “I got it. I will see to it that these matters are solved. Is there anything else you need the help of the Warrior Temple for?”
Long Haochen shook his head.
Qiu Yonghao then revealed a smile, “In that case, please let me offer you a gift.”
“What?” Long Haochen declined with haste, “Senior, there’s no need. The Warrior Temple already gave me a lot. The fact you are permitting me to use the Aria of the Goddess of Light is already the greatest gift I could wish for, to say nothing that I already took a piece of the heavenly meteorite.”
Qiu Yonghao revealed a somewhat mysterious smile, “This is actually a secret about yourself. However, in this world, I am the only one to know.”
Long Haochen glanced curiously at this old Temple Head.
Chapter 382
In the morning, the Yue Ye Merchant Group slowly left the Southeastern Fort, and headed towards the demon territory. After obtaining the directives from the Warrior Temple, the inspection on the road became a lot more relaxed.
Long Haochen and his comrades were seated in a cart in the middle of the caravan.
Finally returning to the demon territory, their mission started anew. But their frame of mind when facing demons was now totally different. If during their last trip, they could be described as apprehensive or excited, now they were a lot more steady, and gained the self-confidence they didn’t have before.
The Yue Ye Caravan was rich and imposing, and the cart in which Long Haochen’s group resided looked the same as the one Yue Ye rode in, the first time they followed the caravan to the demon territory.
The interior was spacious and warm. It even contained a table and a food storage inside, stocked with great quantities of food.
Opening the window curtains, Long Haochen looked outside. Dawn came, and they exited the Southeastern Fort. Outside, the sky gradually lit up, though the weather wasn’t so good, and it was drizzling.
From the Eternal Melody, Long Haochen retrieved a map made of sheepskin, and spread it on the equally shared table.
This map contained densely packed annotations and descriptions of all the circumstances in every demon province, the various demon clans residing in every province, as well as the locations of the demon gods. In all certainty, the officials from the Temple Alliance wouldn’t have such a detailed map.
This map was naturally obtained from Yue Ye, who gave it under the condition that Long Haochen wouldn’t hand this map to the Alliance.
Long Haochen pointed to a town in Nareiks Province on the map, “This is the capital of Nareiks Province, and the place where the Birdy Demons are stationed. It’s where our first mission will need to be completed. Approximately in the evening, the Yue Ye Caravan will reach the demon camp, if everything goes without a hitch. Tomorrow in the afternoon, the caravan will pass through Naduo City, the capital of the Nareiks Province. Since the incident, when the Yue Ye Caravan was ambushed the last time, the check of the demons in the Yue Ye Merchant Group became a lot more relaxed. We should take this chance to go find and kill five Golden Birdy Demons and complete our first mission in Naduo City, before following the merchant group penetrating further inside the demon territory.”
Wang Yuanyuan asked, “Captain, if we assassinate the Golden Birdy Demons after reaching Naduo City, wouldn’t the merchant group become suspect? According to the map, there should be a demon god watching the city.”
Long Haochen nodded, “It will be bound to look suspect. However, even so, they wouldn’t dare search the merchant group. And even if they search it, would they even find us?” Right at this moment, he couldn’t help but reveal a smile.
Wang Yuanyuan immediately had a flash of realisation and nodded in response. The others also had smiles on their faces. That’s right! Spotting Long Haochen’s group wouldn’t be an easy task.
Why was it that Long Haochen dared accepting sixteen missions, even including a challenging mission demanding to kill the 72nd demon god?
The confidence in their strength aside, it was also because they had a survival method other Demon Hunt Squads didn’t have, and that was the Tower of Eternity. When encountering strong enemies, they were easily able to avoid crossing their path.
With a flicker of light, Long Haochen’s look became ice-cold, “Okay, now the first plan is settled. I will ask for the help of the people from the Yue Ye Merchant Group to make a stop at a certain location in the Golden Birdy Demons territory. To complete the assassination as fast as possible, we will have to act separately. Cai’er and I will both take out one Golden Birdy Demon each. Lin Xin, you are forming a team with Han Yu. You will use the Spiritual Stove of Blue Fire Phoenix to kill one Golden Birdy Demon while Han Yu will be providing support for you. And Yuanyuan, Sima Xian, you two will handle one Golden Birdy Demon each, with Chen Ying’er supporting you.”
“Yes.” Everyone accepted boisterously, showing excited expressions.
After staying in seclusion for a year, they felt eager for action, and welcomed the chance to kill demons. And by facing so many of the Golden Birdy Demons in individual battles, they would all be able to test their progress. This was the first time they didn’t have doubts when facing this kind of strong creatures, which proved their confidence.
The process of entering the demon territory went without a hitch. Exactly as Long Haochen said, the Yue Ye Merchant Group was treated a lot better than in the Temple Alliance upon reaching the demon territory. Many of the demons knew already about Yue Ye’s relationship to the crown prince of the Devil Dragons, the sole successor of the Demon God Emperor, so who would dare inspect their caravan? This was to say nothing about the lesson the three demon gods that had assembled an army against the Yue Ye Merchant Group had been taught. As a result, now no matter where the merchant group went, they were unimpeded.
This was also the reason why Long Haochen regarded the Yue Ye Merchant Group so highly. With this protective cover, they would be saved a lot of troubles. More importantly, the Yue Ye Merchant Group would provide them with a lot of information. At first glance, many of the sixteen
missions looked very challenging, but with the help of the Yue Ye Merchant Group, their troubles were at least lessened by a third, which at the same time reduced the degree of danger.
After smoothly passing the demon checkpoint, in the morning of the following day, the merchant group was already deep in the Nareiks Province, and exactly as Long Haochen estimated, they reached the capital of the Nareiks Province, Naduo City by mid-day. The merchant group temporarily rested here for an hour, before continuing their journey.
To a group of freelance merchants like the Yue Ye Merchant Group, the process of trading wouldn’t lead them to stop at inns, as it would add up a lot to the expenses while reducing their efficiency. Thus, they carried tents in their carriages, making it so that they could rest wherever they stopped. Thus, after entering Naduo City, the pressing need was to replenish their supply of water and food, while providing Naduo City with goods for trading. This process took just one hour. Naduo City in itself was filled with some people from the Yue Ye Merchant Group, who made their preparations and were waiting for them long ago, to optimize their efficiency.
Very quickly, the Yue Ye Merchant Group started their actions in Naduo City, roughly taking half an hour of time. While the merchant group handled their matters, they discreetly handed a ball of paper to Long Haochen’s group residing in their carriage.
Long Haochen opened the ball of paper, finding a simple map of Naduo City, with five red dots marked on it.
Long Haochen unfolded the map and had the whole group memorize it.and everyone quietly got off, heading in different directions.
The manager was the person in charge of the Yue Ye Merchant Group on this trip, and one of Yue Ye’s confidants. Before coming here, Long Haochen asked him to investigate the whereabouts of the Golden Birdy Demons, which he arranged to be prepared in advance. Thus, they immediately got the specific positions of the five Golden Birdy Demons right after entering the demon territory.
This manager Yue Ye chose was originally a human spy placed in the Yue Ye Merchant Group, thus, they didn’t fear encountering problems. Of course, he only knew vaguely about the identities of Long Haochen’s group as Demon Hunters, but he didn’t know clearly which Demon Hunt Squad they were.
Long Haochen’s seven were clad almost identical: every one of them wore a cloak covering their whole body and a hat, concealing their appearance.
These disguises were not rarely seen in the demon territory. On the contrary, they were quite common, because the demon environment would get afflicted by sandstorms a lot more often than the Temple Alliance.
High class demons often chose to clad themselves in those long cloaks. In the meantime, everyone in Long Haochen’s group used the imitation of the Moon Demons’ eyes to turn their own eyes purple.
While preparing their course of actions, Long Haochen’s preparations were ingenious. Cai’er and he would cover opposite directions, while the other three targets were in the center. This way, in case some trouble arose, they would immediately be able to come to their comrades’ rescue. With the existence of the Soul Linking Chains, if one would sustain powerful attacks, they would naturally sense it.
Long Haochen advanced at great speed. This was the first scattered operation of their group, so he was still secretly worried. Completing their own task before providing support to the others was the must-do for Cai’er and him.
Following the map, Long Haochen headed eastwards.
Although Naduo City was the capital of the Nareiks Province, it was not very large, and on the streets, the large majority of the passerbies were demons. Of course, ordinary low rank demons like Dual Blade Demons weren’t permitted to enter the city. When seeing the clothes of Long Haochen’s group and their human-shaped appearances, they kept far away from them, and fundamentally didn’t dare approach.
The reason was simple: only high grade demons would be human shaped, and able to dress the way Long Haochen did. And furthermore, demons’ senses would be most usually sharper than humans’. Although they couldn’t guess Long Haochen’s attributes, they faintly sensed that he was dangerous from him, making them subconsciously unwilling to get close to him.
Very quickly, Long Haochen found his own target.
The place was a simple and crude restaurant, with the signboard outside already crooked. Although demons occupied most areas of Shengmo Dalu, humans left a very deep influence on them, especially regarding human food, of which demons were very fond. The higher the rank of a demon, the more he would indulge in the pleasure of human beverages and food.
Thus, human treatment changed completely compared to the time demons first came to Shengmo Dalu at the beginning of the dark era six thousand years ago. Even the humans from the Temple Alliance who they were able to capture would be treated well, but of course, this was on the premise that these humans would pledge their allegiance. If a cook was seized, some demon nobles would actually appear personally to try to win him over.
Nareiks Province was close to the border, but was extremely impoverished. Otherwise, last time, the three demon gods wouldn’t have dared go against the rules by dispatching an army to ambush the Yue Ye Merchant Group. In this place, even a small restaurant would be a place only powerful demons would be qualified to enter.
For instance, even in front of such a worn out restaurant, four stark black traces were left on the signboard. This signified that only demons of the fourth step or above would be qualified to enter, and that was a symbol of the classes.
Long Haochen slowly walked into the restaurant. Sweeping his eyes over the small room, he found his target in a glance.
A Golden Birdy Demon was seated there, eating and drinking in the best seat of the restaurant. He had four dishes and a pitcher of wine in front of
him. From this alone, one could see his high status and wealth.
Because it was in the afternoon, the interior of the dining room was quite full, mostly with demons at the fourth and fifth step. The only one at the sixth step was this Golden Birdy Demon. And his golden skin made him quite conspicuous.
Chapter 383
Inside the restaurant, the waiters were two humans, busy satisfying the wishes of their guests. Seeing Long Haochen enter, no one called out to him.
Long Haochen advanced towards the Golden Birdy Demon. Arriving at the dining table, he lightly knocked on the wooden material.
The Golden Birdy Demon was startled. He was eating and drinking well, but disturbed in the middle, he became obviously in quite a bad mood. However, when seeing Long Haochen’s face once he raised his head, he appeared shocked.
In fact, Long Haochen had changed into a Moon Demon, making even the clansmen of the Moon Demon Clan unable to spot his disguise, to say nothing of this Golden Birdy Demon.
Purple eyes, an incomparably handsome face, these were all traits of Moon Demon Clan. Seeing the cold glance in Long Haochen’s eyes, he hurriedly stood up and tried to ask, “You are…?”
Long Haochen lifted a hand, showing the viscount Moon Demon insignia before looking him in the eye. He instructed, “Come out with me.”
Seeing this insignia, the doubt in the eyes of the Golden Birdy Demon disappeared. Standing up with haste, he followed Long Haochen out of the restaurant.
Around them, quite a lot of demons saw this scene, and didn’t even dare gasp at the tension of the atmosphere. Although they didn’t see Long Haochen’s face, seeing a great character like the Golden Birdy Demon taken aback, one might well imagine what kind of existence that person was.
Leaving the restaurant, Long Haochen stopped his steps at the door of the restaurant. That Golden Birdy Demon asked very cautiously, “Mister viscount, what do you have to tell me?”
“Come here.” Long Haochen waved him over with a cold voice.
That Golden Birdy Demon hurriedly joined Long Haochen’s side, still feeling resentful from having to part with his meal. He was praying that Long Haochen’s talk would be simple so that he could return to finish his meal soon, otherwise the other guests would surely take advantage of his absence.
Seeing the submissive Golden Birdy Demon before his eyes, Long Haochen revealed a cold glance, lifting his right hand to place it on his shoulder, “Are you aware of your crime?”
“What?” The Golden Birdy Demon raised his head, looking at Long Haochen with shock. Right at that moment, he became alert. Though, everything was already too late.
Long Haochen’s right hand stuck a cold flash of sword intent in his neck, and right then, the eyes of the Golden Birdy Demon diluted.
Was Long Haochen’s right hand so easily touched? It carried the Aria of the Goddess of Light! A surge of sword intent reached out for the brain of the Golden Birdy Demon and crushed it, which caused his sudden death. He didn’t even have the time to scream.
The fact that a powerhouse of the sixth step died like that in the hands of Long Haochen wasn’t so much due to their difference of strength, but the crucial point was his convincing resemblance to a Moon Demon.
His cloak spread out, blocking the line of sight of any passerbies, and with a golden glint, the corpse of the Golden Birdy Demon disappeared into the Eternal Melody.
Not stopping for a bit, Long Haochen headed towards Lin Xin and Han Yu.
Long Haochen’s fight didn’t attract any attention as the battle was already over as soon as it began, but things weren’t as peaceful for his comrades.
Noon was a very good time for Long Haochen’s action, because this was the time when demons had their meal. They were not the same as humans, and would only eat two meals a day, especially high ranking demons.
Thus, all members of the 64th Demon Hunt Squad aimed fundamentally for the time of their meal.
Although Lin Xin’s appearance was inferior to Long Haochen’s, he still had no problem to disguise himself as an ordinary Moon Demon, and at an even more vulnerable state than Long Haochen’s, because he found it right when the Golden Birdy Demon was about to have his meal on the roadside.
From this, it could be seen that although demons were powerful regarding battle strength, in terms of economy and culture, they were clearly inferior to humans, since they were after all strangers to this world. In the Temple Alliance, seeing a powerhouse of the sixth step eating crouched on the street was almost impossible.
The Golden Birdy Demon had a very simple meal, a big wok filled with some kind of meat stew or soup. The ground meat put inside and cooked thoroughly before being eaten. This one was accompanied by four other Great Birdy Demons, eating along with him.
Lin Xin and Han Yu exchanged a glance, and Han Yu nodded to him. A flash of blue light appeared in Lin Xin’s eyes, followed by the resonant sound of a phoenix cry, resounding in the street.
Why were spiritual stoves powerful? This was because ordinary abilities would generally never be able to match one important aspect, their instant burst. Furthermore, almost all the abilities from spiritual stoves would gain in power as long as the user would gain in strength. These were the basic reasons that made people crave the power of spiritual stoves.
When the immense Blue Fire Phoenix abruptly charged at the Golden Birdy Demon, all the demons on the street were stunned. That Golden Birdy Demon was after all a powerhouse at the sixth step, and noticing the danger, he immediately responded, using both of his hands to drag a Great Birdy Demon in front of him. while putting all his force into rushing his spiritual energy, letting a gaudy electric light curl up around him.
However, the arrival of the Blue Fire Phoenix was really too sudden, and this was all he had the time to do.
A cold smile was drawn on Lin Xin’s face, and the blue light filling his eyes became more intense. What followed was the sudden ascending of that Blue Fire Phoenix in the air, before a sudden descent. Actually, he just managed a rapid ascension in the air, before diving down fast.
Bang!
An immense blue pillar of fire descended from the sky, and the Blue Fire Phoenix instantly returned.
In the flames, the four Great Birdy Demons were instantly reduced to ashes, and the Golden Birdy Demon roared as his body twitched violently. His massive body seemed to have almost instantly turned into a scorched black mass. Such a terrible high temperature wasn’t anything his body could withstand. Originally, even the Zombie King of the eighth step had been forced back by the Blue Fire Phoenix.
A lofty figure quietly arrived at the back of the struggling Golden Birdy Demon right at that time. Lashing out with a golden red light, he brought the demons’ struggle to an end as his head fell down. The figure first carried and then launched the head of the Golden Birdy Demon towards Lin Xin like a blue artillery shell.
A blue flame leaped up, instantly engulfing the head of that Golden Birdy Demon, before being extinguished, as the head was absorbed into a magic storing device. Lin Xin then turned around and left, followed by Han Yu after he quickly recovered his sword. In a flash, the two of them disappeared into an alley.
From the instant Lin Xin launched the attack to the end of the battle, the whole process only lasted a few breaths. The assassination was carried out neatly, and they returned quickly after the end of the battle.
Right at that time, Lin Xin’s face was extremely pale, and his fists clenched tightly. His whole body actually trembled slightly. However, he clenched his teeth and endured bitterly. Under Han Yu’s protection, he headed back to the caravan. After the constant training he went through in the time of seclusion, his ability to endure the backlash of the spiritual stove actually increased a lot.
The backlash of the Spiritual Stove of Blue Fire Phoenix was different from the Spiritual Stove of Samsara, which was almost impossible to resist. But conversely, resisting the backlash of the Spiritual Stove of Blue Fire Phoenix was a type of training for Lin Xin, and after attempting continuously, and learning through experience, his ability to bear the effects of the spiritual stove improved with time. Only this way would the spiritual stove get closer to its future evolution.
Right when Lin Xin finished his battle, Sima Xian’s side also completed their part.
The enemies Sima Xian was up against were somewhat more numerous than Lin Xin and Han Yu’s: they were six Great Birdy Demons and one Golden Birdy Demon eating together in a restaurant.
Sima Xian wouldn’t ambush the enemy like Long Haochen. After confirming the presence of the target in the restaurant, he entered and took out his evolved Energetic Ball of Light.
Indoors, the dark golden Energetic Ball of Light emitted a terrible pressuring aura. Its thick iron chains had also gained in size, from ten
meters to sixteen and a half.
The massive metallic ball made terrible strident sounds, smashing against the Golden Birdy Demon.
This Golden Birdy Demon felt something was off right when Sima Xian entered: the killing intent on him was just too dense. Thus, when Sima Xian launched his attack, he leapt up and attempted to evade the attack from the Energetic Ball of Light. In the meantime, a golden lightning spear appeared in his hand, and the six Great Birdy Demons threw themselves at him at great speed, attacking Sima Xian from different directions.
Sima Xian’s right hand held onto that metallic chain and shook it in a flash, actually stirring it up this way and making it follow the Golden Birdy Demon.
This was after all a restaurant. While not giving the Golden Birdy Demon much room for flight. All he could do was to incline his body while letting his spear burst out like a golden lightning launched against the Energetic Ball of Light.
However, when the innate lightning unleashed by the Golden Birdy Demon came into contact with the Energetic Ball of Light, it disappeared in a flash, just as if it was sucked in. , the Golden Birdy Demon felt a massive power descend on him, and, left without choice, could only use the spear in his hand to defend himself.
But right at this time, those six Great Birdy Demons launched themselves at Sima Xian, pointing their spears at him.
“Go to hell!” Sima Xian roared loudly, and an immense white pillar of light abruptly burst out against his opponents, enveloping the weapons of those six Great Birdy Demons in its range.
A terrible scene emerged. The Six Great Birdy Demons were immediately set aflame with a white fire, screaming as they fell to the ground. Their spears indeed hit Sima Xian’s body, but only managed to pierce his cloak.
This was Holy Spirit, a technique of offensive armor used by priests of the sixth step. Consuming an enormous amount of spiritual energy, it would come with extra powerful purifying effects. Seeking for efficient cleaning, Sima Xian immediately launched this powerful ability.
At the same time he killed the six Great Birdy Demons, the Golden Birdy Demon was already hit with the Energetic Ball of Light.
Bang.
Without suspense, his spear broke into pieces, and more terrifyingly, the Golden Birdy Demon flew along with the trajectory of the Energetic Ball of Light, directly causing the explosion of the roof. The Golden Birdy Demon was unexpectedly not sent flying by the attack, but was stuck to the Energetic Ball of Light. It could be clearly seen that some purple substance was entangled with the Energetic Ball of Light. Immediately, with the loud Bang bang bang triple sound, three purple balls of light exploded in succession against the Golden Birdy Demon.
And then, nothing was left of him.
A gold colored magical crystal surrounded by electricity was stuck close to the Energetic Ball of Light, and with a pull on the chain, Sima Xian retrieved it. The Energetic Ball of Light returned to his hand as he turned around and left, while not even ashes were left of that Golden Birdy Demon.
Chapter 384
This was the result from the terrible combined power of the Gigantic Ball of Light and the Godly Purple Light. The three brute force focused abilities Crush, Smash, and Absorption erupted.
In regard of raw power, in the 64th commander grade Demon Hunt Squad, as long as Long Haochen wouldn’t use Storing Power and Cai’er wouldn’t use the Spiritual Stove of Samsara, no one could surpass Sima Xian. Even Lin Xin’s Blue Phoenix Spiritual Stove was still below the Energetic Ball of Light regarding instant power.
During this operation, the one who took the longest time was Wang Yuanyuan.
Wang Yuanyuan and Sima Xian had similar battle styles; after she found her target, she attacked with the Divine Soul Shield. However, the Golden Birdy Demon she faced was different from the others; the wings on his back emitted a dark golden luster.
After seeing this Golden Birdy Demon, Wang Yuanyuan memorized his position, turned around and concealed herself. equipped the Divine Soul Shield, before activating the Spiritual Stove of Spatial Gate.
With a flash of silver light, she appeared right behind that Golden Birdy Demon, and violently swept the Divine Soul Shield horizontally, which was embedded with four spatial crystals.
In Wang Yuanyuan’s opinion, this sudden attack should have cut this Golden Birdy Demon in two.
However, the response of this special Golden Birdy Demon was actually incomparably quick. The instant Wang Yuanyuan appeared at his back, launching her attack, the wings on the back of this Golden Birdy Demon were abruptly flapped backwards, colliding with the Divine Soul Shield. Not trying to force her way, she made use of the powerful offensive strength of the Divine Soul Shield to leap back.
“Ka, ka.” That Golden Birdy Demon let out a scream, seeing the two wings on his back being completely broken. In the end, the Divine Soul Shield still had some effect on him, and a mouthful of bluish purple blood started to leak from his mouth. Flying forward, he took out a lightning spear glowing in a faint dark golden color.
Wang Yuanyuan was startled, So it actually didn’t die from this? Still, she obviously wouldn’t stop at such a time. Abruptly spreading out her own spiritual wings, she dashed towards the Golden Birdy Demon, again striking with the Divine Soul Shield.
That Golden Birdy Demon was at a loss because Wang Yuanyuan’s attack was too sudden. Using the instant teleportation of the Spatial Gate Spiritual Stove, she didn’t give him any room for an effective counter- attack. Being a Birdy Demon, having both his wings broken was a large blow to him, because it stripped him from the ability to fly.
“Ding.” The lightning spear hit the Divine Soul Shield with a piercing blow, and the tyrannical electric spiritual energy from it numbed Wang Yuanyuan. If this had been her previous self, she would have lost the impulse to attack from this. However, the current Wang Yuanyuan possessed an external spiritual energy surpassing the Golden Birdy Demon’s by far. How could she be stopped only with a bit of numbness.
The offense from the Divine Soul Shield didn’t change. Bending forward, she kicked her left foot at the spear and struck her shield against the Golden Birdy Demon. However, the Divine Soul Shield ended up with a pierced bit, and glinted with silver light.
“Roaar.” This Golden Birdy Demon was indeed quite out of the ordinary. In such a dangerous situation, with a loud roar, his whole body
erupted with a lightning storm. A tyrannical electric torrent spread in all directions, giving his body a carbonized look. But the strength of this blow still only came from someone at the sixth step.
The Golden Birdy Demon’s Kuli Clan was not led by any demon god, and thus, only belonged to the demons’ middle class. The most powerful clan members were the Golden Birdy Demons. However, for Golden Birdy Demons there only existed a small probability of evolution. With a chance of roughly one out of hundred to reach the seventh step, they could evolve to become Dark Golden Birdy Demons. And in the whole Kuli Clan, there currently wasn’t even a total of a hundred Golden Birdy Demons.
It would be unknown whether Wang Yuanyuan’s luck was good or bad, to have actually met a Golden Birdy Demon who already started evolving, thus making him a lot stronger than ordinary Golden Birdy Demons. But it still didn’t complete its evolution to the dark golden level. Thus, it was still only a powerhouse at the peak of the sixth step.
Speaking of which, this Golden Birdy Demon was also quite out of luck. If they really had a fierce open battle, even though Wang Yuanyuan would have killed him in the end, the battle surely would have taken a long time. And this Naduo City was under the protection of a demon god, so even if this incomplete Dark Golden Birdy Demon ended up being no match for her, he could still possibly have run or waited for reinforcements. But unfortunately, he met with the user of the Spiritual Stove of Spatial Gate. Having lost the ability of flight, even if he really had been at the Dark Golden Birdy level, what could he have done?
The all out burst attack of this incomplete Dark Golden Birdy Demon was indeed powerful, and Wang Yuanyuan felt her whole body become numb. This kind of all encompassing attack couldn’t be evaded by the use of any technique, but at the same time the burst of this Golden Birdy Demon erupted, the silver light from Wang Yuanyuan’s shield also leashed out.
As early as when her shield struck the enemy, the ability was already launched, Space Splitting Sauté.
Backed up by four silver space crystals, the Divine Soul Shield now reached the Legendary Tier. And abilities carried by Legendary Equipment were just as powerful as one might imagine.
Wang Yuanyuan’s body was surrounded by electricity. She stood in the same place, in a state of numbness, while that incomplete Dark Golden Birdy Demon was violently repelled. In his chest was a large hole, and although he wasn’t dead yet, he fell to the ground, unable to fly.
Right at that time, intense light and dark shadows enfolded, and the incomplete Dark Golden Birdy Demon was powerless in front of it. Getting sunk into darkness instantly, it was struck with power.
With a brilliant glint, the corpse disappeared, and a sweet figure appeared near Wang Yuanyuan. She pulled her hand, and the two of them rapidly disappeared in the alley.
An ear piercing strident sound rapidly echoed through Naduo City, and the whole city was flared up. A large battalion of the demon army started to search everywhere in the city.
Even with the Kuli Clan’s status as one of the leaders of the Nareiks Province, four Golden Birdy Demons actually ended up assassinated, and another Golden Birdy Demon went missing.
It only took an instant for Naduo City to react. The demon god in charge of the city immediately gave the order to close the gates of the city and search for human spies.
The instant the order was transmitted to close the city’s gates, the Yue Ye Merchant Group happened to be on the verge of leaving the city.
Given how the Yue Ye Merchant Group ended up being ambushed during their last trip through the Nareiks Province, which had roused the fury of the Demon God Emperor who had yet to be completely appeased, the Yue Ye merchant group was still allowed to leave. They passed the city gates even after the demon god ordered them closed, after being carefully inspected.
It would have been strange if they had found anything. Right after reuniting, six of them immediately hid in the Tower of Eternity, while Long Haochen disguised as a manservant and completely suppressed his presence and aura. His youth became his greatest disguise. After the merchant group smoothly left the city, he summoned his comrades back.
Once they reunited, everyone was on cloud nine, with only Lin Xin looking in a somewhat bad shape due to the backlash of his spiritual stove.
“The first mission is complete. We killed five Golden Birdy Demons and recovered their magical crystals, which will grant us a reward of 30,000 contribution points. If the magical crystals aren’t delivered, the reward will only consist of 10,000 contribution points.”
Long Haochen was also in a very good mood. While trying out their skills, they completed their first commander grade mission as a Demon Hunt Squad. And this was done only two days after leaving the Temple Alliance. Of course, the mission of killing five Golden Birdy Demons could be considered a relatively simple one among the stack they took.
The Yue Ye Merchant Group’s journey was still headed to the southeast, directly towards the Central Province. The reason was that this was the most bustling place, where goods could be sold at the best prices.
The 64th commander grade Demon Hunt Squad followed the merchant group deep into the demon territory, and with the map and information provided, combined with the assistance of the Yue Ye Merchant Group, they completed five successive missions.
Of course, they wouldn’t act every time the Yue Ye Merchant Group would stop, since this behavior would too easily turn the Yue Ye Merchant Group into suspects. They would generally stop at one city with the Yue Ye Merchant Group, and regroup with them after the completion of their mission in the city. This time was filled with more fears than dangers, and they didn’t meet any true difficulties.
A third of their sixteen missions were already completed, when the Yue Ye Merchant Group entered the Central Province also came the time they
would have to part with them.
This wasn’t because they didn’t have any targets in the Central Province, but because Long Haochen made the decision to go by order of difficulty, completing the simpler missions first before heading for the Central Province.
Watching the departing merchant group, Long Haochen said, “For the following course of action, we will only be able to rely on ourselves. Let’s head for our next target, the Jacques Province. Let’s go!”
The Jacques Province was north of the demons’ Central Province, bordering it directly. The area was inhabited by a demon clan known as Jacques Clan, providing the province’s name.
The Jacques Clan was just like the Birdy’s Kuli Clan, without a demon god amongst their ranks, and their clansmen were known as Jacques Demons. The ones in the upper ranks could be considered as powerful close-quarters fighters, but because they weren’t numerous, few would be sent to the battlefield. Generally, they remained in the Jacques Province, surrounding and protecting the Central Province.
Long Haochen’s group was on the verge of starting their seventh mission, entailing the killing a hundred Jacques Demons.
Jacques Demons were rather low rank powerhouses, but often acted as a group. In their clan, the most powerful ones were at the eighth step, and their ranked officers mostly were at the sixth step. Completing this mission wouldn’t be easy; at least it would be harder than the missions they completed so far on this trip.
The Jacques Demons as a whole only numbered five or six thousand. To stay unnoticed from the chief of the Jacques Clans and kill a hundred Jacques Demons without their intervention wouldn’t be easy. The difficulty increased by a level as they wouldn’t have the help from the Yue Ye Merchant Group this time, and had to rely on their own for everything.
According to the map, it would take them less than half a day to reach and enter the Jacques Province.
The area wasn’t much different from the other provinces under demon control, the land was very poor and infertile, and farmland was very rare.
Long Haochen tightened his large cloak, and told Cai’er, “We will be continuing to the south for two or three days before making it into the capital, Major Jacques City, of the Jacques Province. It seemed that all the Jacques clansmen will be concentrated in the city: this is a good thing for our operation, but will make it somewhat more complicated to get away. After the mission is complete, we will turn east, heading for the next mission.”
Chapter 385
Cai’er asked, ”Should we also kill the chiefs of the Jacques Clan? That would be at least a king grade mission. When completing a mission of superior grade, we would receive even better rewards.”
Long Haochen shook his head, “We can’t. That would be too dangerous. We currently have no certainty to win against a powerhouse at the eighth step. And starting from the eighth step, every rank would produce a very large gap. A powerhouse standing at the peak of the eighth step will at least reach 100,000 units of spiritual energy, and is far from what we can take on. We should go for the dependable way and complete the mission as fast as possible before withdrawing from the Jacques Province.”
The others didn’t have any complaints about Long Haochen going for the safe way. Taking the least amount of risk possible unless necessary, even if their strength had taken a qualitative leap, he remained very prudent as a captain.
While they were speaking, rumbling sounds rang out in front of them.
Because of the sand in the air, they couldn’t clearly see what kinds of demons were in front of them, but from the sound, they were only at a few kilometers away and also quite numerous.
“Hide!” Long Haochen lifted his hand, flashing to a side while looking for a dune to hide behind. Without need for any words, Cai’er disappeared calmly, entering the invisible state to scout in the direction of the sound. Scouting was originally the first duty of an assassin.
“Captain, want to scare them witless?“ Sima Xian showed a smile, the Energetic Ball of Light already in his hand.
On this trip to the demon territory, the most dazzling of all was him. With the Energetic Ball of Light, he killed quite a few demon powerhouses including even a demon of the seventh step. Although that demon of the seven step was pinned down by the others at that time, Sima Xian took only one blow to ensure the kill, proving again the terrifying level of power his Energetic Ball of Light currently possessed.
Long Haochen waved his hand, saying, “Let’s see from which clans these demons are and how many they are. No need to rush in blindly.”
Because the sandstorm was too strong, their faces were covered with veils. With the further addition of the sand-colored cloaks on them, after lying low, even from the sky they wouldn’t be found easily.
A short time later, Cai’er returned to them, the spiritual wings on her vanishing. She said in a low voice to Long Haochen, “That’s the Jacques Clan. They are chasing after a Demon Hunt Squad.”
“What? People from our side?” Long Haochen was startled.
Cai’er nodded, “The Jacques Clan dispatched an army of at least one thousand demons. They are led by two powerhouses from the Jacques Clan, and the Jacques Officers number at least thirty or forty. The Demon Hunt Squad they are chasing should be at the king grade, fighting back while trying to retreat. But from their looks, things aren’t going well for them. That’s because none of them uses their spiritual wings. There’s a kind of purple liquid on them, and if this continues, I’m afraid things will not end well for them. I vaguely saw that a kind of purplish black figure was hovering in the sky, following the Jacques Clan from above. That purplish black substance very possibly came from it, and should carry the effect of preventing the use of spiritual wings.”
The gazes of their comrades all fell on Long Haochen, and their current predicament was: To save or not to save.
Without a doubt, the Jacques Clan army was extremely powerful. With two Jacques Chiefs leading them, the other side shouldn’t have any opportunity to fight back. But the enemies were chasing for the kill of a king grade Demon Hunt Squad.
Long Haochen turned around, looking at his own comrades, “By saving them, we will very possibly face a very big danger, but if we don’t intervene, our fellow soldiers will very possibly die here. What do you think?”
“Boss, let’s do it.” Sima Xian was the first to reply, expressing a very strong fighting intent.
Everyone else nodded successively to Long Haochen.
Long Haochen narrowed his eyes, and said, “Cai’er, we’ll leave that one in the air to you. If I’m not guessing wrong, that should be a Demon Holder, an aerial demon powerhouse of the sixth step specialized in support. This Demon Holder isn’t strong by itself, but extremely annoying, because it can spread its mucus over a large area. When infected, purging it is very hard, and it will cause the loss of the ability to release spiritual wings while greatly decreasing the overall speed. They are important supportive forces of the demons. You’ll be getting rid of it before reuniting with us, while ensuring a path for retreat. After killing the Demon Holder, we’ll act from our side. Attacking the enemy from the flanks, we’ll not be meeting them head-on. Giving our fellow soldiers the opportunity to retreat will suffice.
After the matter is over, we’ll be escape by flying away. Within the Jacques Clan, only powerhouses of the sixth step or above are capable of flight. The only ones able to give us trouble would be those two Jacques Leaders at the eighth step. Everyone, listen to my instructions. If need be, I’ll separate from you, and you’ll follow Haoyue. Then I can return to your side later through teleporting. As long as we are given the time to launch the teleportation through the Eternal Melody, we’ll stay absolutely safe. No one is to zealously continue fighting, understood?
Ying’er, you’ll…” Then, he gave specific instructions to Chen Ying’er.
He had no choice but to make his plans clear, otherwise, given the feelings of his comrades and himself, it was unsure whether they’d let him go by himself when he wanted to separate from them.
Cai’er nodded and her black spiritual wings appeared once again. Her figure pierced through the skies in a flash as her body was already in the state of invisibility.
After reaching the sixth step of cultivation Cai’er could make the best use of the Necklace of Invisibility. When she combined its effect with her technique of invisibility, she could remain invisible even at great flight speed. In this state, she would absolutely have no fear when scouting as long as the enemies were inferior to her in cultivation.
Long Haochen had absolute confidence in Cai’er, and the Demon Holder was only a demon at the sixth step. Without any additional assistance, it was quite weak.
Right when Long Haochen finished coordinating their deployment, the distant rumbles were growing more and more distinct, and the air filled with yellow dust. Long Haochen’s group could only roughly see some figures flying forward. Soon, their equipped spears came into sight one after another. In the meantime, ear-piercing splitting sounds filled the air.
The Jacques Demons looked similar to centaurs. Their upper bodies resembled those of humans, but their chests and backs were covered with black scales. Their faces however were only a bit longer than those of humans, and looked very fierce. The lower part of their bodies was very similar to horses, including four stamping hooves. They were experts in using spears, and capable of throwing a spear over a long distance.
The situation of those humans escaping from them looked horrible. A knight acted as their rear guard together with his powerful mount, an Earth Dragon exceeding seven meters in size. One bolt of golden light after another lit up his body, resisting the great majority of the attacks from their pursuers. The others were riding different kinds of magical beasts while advancing. Those were mounts summoned by their summoner. And like this, they desperately kept escaping.
Although the ordinary Jacques Demons were unable of flight, every one of them carried at least four spears, constantly tossing them at the fleeing enemy, before picking them up again . The demons with wings on their backs were Jacques Officers. The ones above them were two extremely tall Jacques Demons reaching a height over three meters, and although they only had one spear in hand, it was exceedingly immense and would create a thundering sound at every blow.
The Earth Dragon of that human knight was already heavily wounded, but he remained really valiant. With the healing from the priest, the backing from the mage and the harassment of the enemy from the flanks, he managed to forcibly block the assault led by those two Jacques Chiefs at the eighth step. At closer look, one could tell that the knight was clad in an extraordinary mythril armor, and every time the enemy’s attack would land, he was unharmed.
That was a Mythril Foundation Armor, making him a Mythril Foundation Armored Knight!
Demon Hunt Squads were the greatest elites among humans, and the king grade Demon Hunt Squads were the cream of the crop. The step from the commander grade to the king grade represented a fundamental leap. Additionally to the need to accumulate a million contribution points to ascend, rising to this grade was very hard.
Although this Mythril Foundation Armored Knight didn’t yet have the strength of the eighth step, he still reached at least the peak of the seventh step. Using the combination of a heavy sword and a heavy shield in his hands, his strength was quite something.
The front line from the Jacques Demons was still chasing after the king grade Demon Hunt Squad as they were close to reaching the dune concealing Long Haochen’s group.
Long Haochen gestured towards Chen Ying’er.
Chen Ying’er nodded her head and immediately sat cross legged on the ground, starting the chant of an incantation. An illusory looking soft white
radiance revolved around her. It spiraled outwards, and in that soft light, Chen Ying’er looked completely immersed into a fantastic vortex.
The reason why she didn’t take the initiative to use her magic before, was out of fear that those two Jacques Chiefs of the eighth step would discover it, but now, no one could stop her anymore.
Meanwhile, with a glint of silver light, Haoyue’s massive body appeared at their side, and Han Yu also summoned his own Demonic Eye.
Long Haochen raised his head and looked into the sky.
With a mournful shriek, a plump figure appeared, belonging to a huge monster with six wings, reaching at least a size of five meters. If not for these six wings, it would perhaps be unable to fly at all, and that massive body would directly fall to the ground upon trying.
“McDull, go.” Long Haochen gave a low shout.
The little pig McDull was extremely fast, swallowing a magical crystal before jumping up. His small eyes glinted and locked on that Demon Holder lying dead on the ground. Immediately afterwards, with a strong purple black radiance, McDull lept to the sky, and rapidly changed appearance, taking the shape of a Demon Holder.
“Go!”
Long Haochen shouted loudly before the four wings on his back appeared. Flapping them once, he charged forward like a bullet. Meanwhile, the others were all on Haoyue’s broad back, with only Chen Ying’er left behind, still chanting. He rapidly approached the army of Jacques Demons from their left side.
The response of the Jacques Army didn’t take long, and upon discovering them, several dozens Jacques Demons swerved to meet the new enemy. Turning to their lateral side, they threw their spears towards Long Haochen.
With a sudden burst of dazzling golden light, Long Haochen accelerated like a golden meteor, and in the meanwhile, wide expanses of golden light burst out from his back, aiming at the Jacques Demons.
Without using the Glorious Holy Shield, the current Long Haochen carried the Rippling Light in his left, and the Aria of the Goddess of Light in his right hand, which pierced the enemies like a golden god of death. Every thrown spear was reduced to dust in front of its domineering light essence.
Chapter 386
Yating already appeared behind Long Haochen, and launched her light magic just like before.
The Jacques Demons deserved being called a powerful demon type at close range, still, no matter whether it was at close range or at a distance, they were tough opponents. Ten Jacques Demons immediately met Long Haochen.
Long Haochen was aiming to get this resolved quickly and even hoped to complete their mission right here. Therefore, he naturally didn’t have any reservations.
He swung the two heavy swords, launching Ripples of Light with Light Thorn.
Right at this moment, one could see that the two swords were different, yet had the common point of possessing a very intense sword intent. However, the Light Thorn from the Rippling Lights in his left hand only killed three Jacque Demons, while the Aria of the Goddess of Light in his right hand emitted a ten meters long terrifying blade of light, sweeping the enemies like the wind. At least a dozen Jacques Demons were cut off by this mere blow.
Let alone the enemies, even Long Haochen himself didn’t expect the Aria of the Goddess of Light to have such a great burst power.
During their latest missions, they didn’t get caught into any crowded battles like this, thus Long Haochen only got to learn now that the divine
sword actually reached such a terrifying level of power.
In normal times, the Aria of the Goddess of Light could release a blade of light of two meters length, but this was without the help of the pure light element inserted by Long Haochen.
After this divine sword got sealed, many people had tried to undo its seal without success. Even a powerhouse of the ninth step had failed and left in low spirits, but why was that? This was because the requirement for the release of the seal was not a massive amount of light elemental spiritual energy but an incomparably pure spiritual energy of the light element.
With the backing from the overflowing sword intent, Long Haochen was like a tiger among a flock of sheep. Once again flapping the wings on his back, he made his way into the enemy lines and immediately burst out like a tyrannical golden spiral in the midst of the Jacques Demons.
Retribution Knight skill of the seventh step, Storm of Blades.
Although Long Haochen wasn’t yet at the seventh step of cultivation, his capacity as a god’s chosen one still permitted him to use reasonably powerful skills of the seventh step, because his spiritual energy was backed by Yating with her full strength.
Right now, if one paid careful attention, they would see that at the back of the rapidly whirling Long Haochen, Yating was keeping herself close to him, absorbing great amounts of the spiritual energy in the air before pouring it inside Long Haochen’s body.
Storm of Swords was a powerful ability which affected a large area. It could be called an upgraded version of the warriors’ Tornado Strike. With a stronger spiritual energy and a stronger weapon, it would gain in power as well.
When using this ability, Long Haochen turned everything in an area of thirty meters into an ocean of gold, instantly reducing two dozen Jacques Demons to broken pieces, entangled in the golden light.
With a resonant bellow, Haoyue’s massive figure was dashing forward. Sweeping his massive tail, he brazenly sent several Jacques Demons flying to the sky. Then, his fourth head acted in the same way as the Great Magic Cannon from a fort, continuously launching one spell after another, all bursting in succession.
Han Yu, Sima Xian, and Wang Yuanyuan jumped from Haoyue’s back. Sima Xian was in the front, blocking the enemies in front of Haoyue to let him launch a smooth magic assault. Han Yu and Wang Yuanyuan were on his left and right side.
Lin Xin didn’t use any powerful offensive spell, and acted as a defender, creating one fire shield after another with a lightning speed, helping everyone to resist the attacks from the enemies.
This was their first crowd battle ever since entering the demon territory this time, and seeing Long Haochen’s intense bursts of power, everyone was filled with confidence.
This was also the first time they burst out with their whole power. Even without the use of the Spiritual Stove of Purple Thunder, Sima Xian’s terrible golden ball shattered everything into pieces with even more power than Long Haochen’s Storm of Blades. And furthermore, don’t forget that he wasn’t using any abilities! The Energetic Ball of Light and his own brutal strength were all he relied on.
In Wang Yuanyuan’s hand, the Divine Soul Shield swirled all around. There was no need to embed any of the spatial crystals, because none of the Jacques Demons could resist the blows from her Divine Soul Shield.
On the other side, Han Yu also showed an intrepid performance. Everything in the range of his Wild Scarlet Blood sword at the Legendary Tier collapsed, immersed in blood colored light.
Only a short time right after they attacked the enemy ranks, more than a hundred Jacques Demons died. In other words, their mission was successfully cleared.
Long Haochen’s group made an extremely sudden appearance, and it was only now that the Jacques Demons retaliated.
The two Jacques Chiefs leading them shouted. Behind them, the dozen Jacques Officers of the sixth step led the army back to regroup and attacked Long Haochen’s group, while these two Jacques Chiefs kept pursuing the king grade Demon Hunt Squad.
Undoubtedly, these two Jacques Chiefs were very quick to react, and pretty good in adjusting to battlefield conditions, but they were also underestimating Long Haochen’s group.
Actually, they were not the only ones to underestimate the 64th commander grade Demon Hunt Squad: even Long Haochen’s group was underestimating themselves.
In their minds, powerhouses of the fourth step would at least withstand one of their attacks, but after the real start of the battle, they discovered that these Jacques Demons of the fourth step were like paper in front of them
Their one year of seclusion brought a lot of changes to the 64th commander grade Demon Hunt Squad. With the great strengthening of their external spiritual energy and the steady advance of their internal spiritual energy, as well as their steady attitude and the spiritual stoves acquired by everyone, they were now comparable to a new Demon Hunt Squad of the king grade.
Little Flame belched out an Exploding Fireball of one meter diameter. He aimed at the distance with a loud bang, and bathed one more dozen Jacques Demons in an ocean of fire.
Without pause, Little Green kept puffing out one Wind Edge after another. But the difference from Little Fire was that although Little Green’s launched spells weren’t really that powerful, they had the size of eyes, and every Wind Edge would find a Jacques Demon and aim at their vitals.
Little Light was releasing golden light, connecting himself with Long Haochen to constantly pour his light element energy into Long Haochen’s
body through Brilliant World.
Little Blue raised his head with some pride, the horn on his head glinting in faint white light as he spouted large numbers of Ice Cones at the surroundings. This was not only effective in killing and wounding the enemies, but also reduced their speed.
It could be said that at his current state, Haoyue could be considered the same as four mages, all of them at the sixth step.
Under these circumstances, while awaiting the dozen Jacques Demons of officer rank, the casualties among the ordinary Jacques Demons already surpassed two hundred, and were increasing fast.
After rushing in to kill the enemy, Long Haochen was now back at the side of his comrades. Seeing the dozen of Jacques Officers charge at them, he let out a cold snort and met them head on at large strides.
A black figure appeared at his side right then. Turning his head, Long Haochen saw Cai’er and lightly nodded to her. The two of them went almost hand in hand, to kill that dozen Jacques Officers.
Purplish black liquid suddenly scattered in the air, but this time, it was not directed against the members of the Demon Hunt Squads. It accurately landed on those two Jacques Chiefs of the eighth step as well as the Jacques Officers whose numbers exceeded twenty.
Their speed declined rapidly, and their wings lost their functionality. The original advantage of speed of those powerful Jacques Demons disappeared in a flash.
“Houu.” Filled with disbelief, the Jacques Chiefs raised their heads to look at the sky, seeing that an immense purplish black figure was preparing a second batch of mucus spray.
This was naturally the little pig McDull in transformed shape, who gained the ability of the Demon Holder through his adaptability, and launched this attack from the air.
The Jacques Chief on the left side pointed his hand to the sky, and a pitch-black radiance soared upwards, aiming directly at the little pig McDull. But an instant later, disturbing effects were produced in the sky, and with an ear-piercing hissing sound, the sky became all dark.
With a sudden burst of gaudy golden light, a tough Holy Fire clashed against that black shot, and although it didn’t annihilate it completely, it caused the loss of its locking effects. The one launching it was that knight from the king grade Demon Hunt Squad.
McDull originally became all stiff from being locked on by that Jacques Chief of the eighth step, and transformed back, running off, but suddenly sensed the pressure disappearing. His fat figure twisted in the air, and immediately dodged the attack. This evading ability was acquired through training by the red skeleton known as the Twelfth Holy Guard.
With a puff, another thick dark liquid was directed this time at the Jacques Army on the other side.
Stamping on the ground with his left foot, Long Haochen lept at flying speed and aimed a thrust with the Aria of the Goddess of Light in his right hand against a Jacques Officer, clashing against his spear.
An overwhelming scene occurred: right when the Jacques Officer was resisting the Aria of the Goddess of Light, the pearl on its tip produced a sound of destruction and immediately afterwards, a myriad of glints erupted towards this Jacques Officer.
Even with the scales on him and the strong backing of his darkness spiritual energy, when the Aria of the Goddess of Light launched a Demon Wiping Flash, how could he resist it? His body became a sieve of blood a second later.
Soaring in the sky, Long Haochen lightly flapped with the spiritual wings on his right side, turned in the air, and flashed through this Jacques Officer. Waving the two heavy swords in his hands, he launched Asura Strikes from both swords.
After such a long time of cultivation, he could finally launch the powerful ability Asura Strike with only one hand.
While launching this blow, a severe white glow spread out from the midst of his body, enveloping more than a dozen Jacques Officers in it.
However, this ability wasn’t launched by Long Haochen, but came from Yating who had been chanting for a really long time.
Light spell of the seventh step, Holy Intimidation.
For the light fairy Yating, launching a spell one rank above was nothing much, only required a little more time. If this spell was directed at ordinary enemies, it would only temporarily put them in a state of shock while causing light elemental damage, preventing them from moving for two seconds and no more.
However, when Holy Intimidation was aimed at enemies of the darkness element, its might would increase severalfold, especially against enemies of inferior strength, producing extreme effects.
One could clearly see that all the Jacques Officers were ignited with a white fire, and their group that was about to encircle Long Haochen and Cai’er shrieked. Their bodies twitched violently as they sunk in a dizzy state due to the extreme effects of intimidation.
If one looked down from a certain height, he would see that right after the eruption of the white glint, a golden and a black figure passed through the crowd like shadows, and next, one corpse after another fell to the ground.
All the thirty Jacques Officers of the sixth step were wiped out.
The golden and the black figure met, and Long Haochen and Cai’er stared at each other. Perfectly mirroring the shock on their counterpart’s face.
Although they had complete confidence in their ability of getting rid of those Jacques Officers, they didn’t actually expect it to go that smoothly. Even without the magic assistance from Yating, they wouldn’t have faced much difficulty. But with her spell, killing these Jacques Officers became as simple as to kill ordinary Jacques Demons.
For any army who lost a quarter of their troops while the enemy didn’t suffer any losses, preserving the will to fight wasn’t easy.
Against the tyrannical offensive from the 64th commander grade Demon Hunt Squad, the army of Jacques Demons was finally routed and started escaping in all directions.
At this time, the two Jacques Chiefs of the eighth step were in a state of shock, while getting caught in an inescapable predicament.
Of course, Long Haochen’s group wouldn’t go chase after these ordinary Jacques Demons. From the beginning, they only went after the powerhouses from the Jacques Clan to rescue their fellow mates.
However, against their expectations, they defeated the army of Jacques Demons, to the point that those escapees didn’t even pay heed to their chiefs, solely being preoccupied with their escape. Situations like this would actually almost never occur for soldiers of the Temple Alliance.
On the other side, the king grade Demon Hunt Squad stopped their escape, and faced the attacks from these powerful Jacques Demons.
In this team, the most powerful ones were the Mythril Foundation Armored Knight and the summoner. Thanks to the summoner who spent great expenses of spiritual energy to bring forth all those summons, they withstood the attacks from these Jacques Demon powerhouses, and made a pincer attack in cohesion with Long Haochen’s group.
The two Jacques Chiefs of the eighth step let out snarls after snarls without pause, gathering the routed army, while one of them led six Jacques Officers to face Long Haochen’s group.
“Firm formation!” Long Haochen shouted loudly, about to face the powerhouses of the eighth step. This was his second time facing a powerhouse of the eighth step, so they obviously didn’t keep a scattered formation like before.
Yating floated in the sky right over Little Light’s head, chanting an incantation along with him, and poured powerful spiritual energy of the light element into Long Haochen. Meanwhile, the whole 64th commander grade Demon Hunt Squad acted. Their eyes only reflected a single target, the Jacques Chiefs. As for those Officers at the sixths tep, what were they in comparison?
Chapter 387
Right at this time, in the little hills nearby, three different beasts appeared. Two were at the fifth rank and one at the seventh rank, and these three magical beasts arrived in a mad rush at the same time. Closing in to this side of the battlefield, Chen Ying’er was seated on the back of one of the magical beasts of the fifth rank.
Before, it was for the sake of creating a diversion that Long Haochen urged her to use the Creature Summoning Gate. In case they managed the rescue, Chen Ying’er’s summons would create a diversion for Long Haochen and the others to escape, relying on McDull who transformed into a Demon Holder to restrict them from flying away.
However, no one expected the battle to turn out this way. The army of a thousand Jacques Demons crumbled under their attacks, causing rapid changes on the battlefield. Since Chen Ying’er clearly saw the situation of the battlefield, she naturally didn’t fall behind and brought her summoned beasts to regroup with the others, joining the battle.
The eighth step was still the eighth step, and although the Jacques Chief was affected by the mucus from the Demon Holder, his response remained very quick. Galloping on his four hoofs, he directly rushed towards Long Haochen’s group of six.
While he advanced, a black halo spread under his feet. One black halo after another spread, and his scales gained a pitch-black layer of gloom. Tiny black flames started to burn on his body, igniting that annoying mucus, while increasing the vigor of the Jacques Chief.
In his hand he carried a pitch-black spear. Once his distance from Long Haochen’s group was close to fifty meters, the Jacques Chief let out a snarl towards the sky. A faint black shade spread from his back, widening just like a black hole that engulfed everything.
Turning halfway, he lunged his right arm with the spear backwards, before throwing it at Long Haochen’s group fiercely.
Strangely, this black spear clearly flew towards them, yet that Jacques Chief still kept the main body of the spear in his hand.
“Be careful, that’s Tyrannical Extermination.”
From afar, the knight from the king grade Demon Hunt Squad shouted loudly, but he didn’t have the time to look after someone else and was unable to provide aid to Long Haochen’s side.
To avoid getting injured, the two Jacques Chiefs actually didn’t go all out before, but the situation changed when their subordinates got crushed that easily. These two powerhouses of the eighth step were both set on fire by that sight. Although their position among demons was not as majestic as that of demon gods, as the first and the second chief of the Jacques Clan, they almost ruled the whole Jacques Province.
Although the Jacques Province was the smallest province in the demon territory, it was still one of the twenty four provinces. To be reduced to such a sorry state by a dozen humans, and with the great amount of casualties among their subordinates, it would be rather strange to see these chiefs stay calm.
The instant that pitch-black spear was thrown, the sky suddenly darkened, and even the sandstorm was dispersed. It felt as if it had the might of Asura Strike while it affected an even larger area.
The terrifyingly intense pressure gave everyone the chill, and created the threatening feeling that this Tyrannical Extermination was directed right at themselves. This technique, launched by a powerhouse of the eighth step,
was as terrifying as expected. What followed was the launch of the twisted black spear and its indistinct flight trajectory.
However, right at this moment, Long Haochen proudly rushed forward, with a white light emerging from his back. It was the Saint Spiritual Stove’s Attraction ability, aimed accurately at the Jacques Chief of the eighth step.
When facing a powerful enemy, be the first to face him. This was the courageous pledge of a Guardian Knight, no matter how strong the enemy was. The Guardian Knight of the team needed to always be the first to rush in. Long Haochen handed the Rippling Light from his left hand to Yating, and took the Aria of the Goddess of Light with both of his hands, abruptly stopping his dash in midair. Immediately, his whole body entered a bizarre state, raising his hand at a deceivingly low speed.
This was a one against one fight, where Long Haochen wanted to rely on his own strength to face the powerful attack of the Jacques Demon at the eighth step.
Right now, the changes on him reflected clearly on Aria of the Goddess of Light. The original strong radiance of his sword vanished, and it again turned dark gold. Along with that mysterious raising motion, Long Haochen gave the feeling of treating this divine sword the same way as a new bride in a veil.
If a true expert of the sword had been present, he would definitely recognized that scene as shocking in a glance. What Long Haochen showed wasn’t as simple as fusing with his sword, but rather like fusing with nature. Accumulating sword intent, without letting any scatter, he grasped the real essence of the use of a sword. Perhaps, he wasn’t able to show some magnificent swordplay, but ever since getting the Aria of the Goddess of Light, his understanding regarding swords had already vastly increased.
“Pop”
Darkness and dark gold clashed with each other, and Long Haochen’s whole body was shaken, before being sent flying several meters back. He
was stopped by being knocked against Haoyue’s massive body. However, that shadow spear was forcibly repelled to the sky.
Right, this wasn’t a strike aiming to meet force with force, but aiming to send the enemy flying high.
Long Haochen was after all only at the sixth step, and although his internal spiritual energy was already not far from 10,000 units, he was still after all only a Radiant Knight of the sixth step. Even with the most amazing Legendary Equipment, beating a powerhouse of the eighth step with pure force was impossible. However, he managed to repel the enemy using an ability such as Tyrannical Extermination with his own strength.
Looking at it, this attack was very simple. Long Haochen had simply changed the trajectory of the enemy’s attack, and cut off the connection between his intentions and technique. But was it really so easy to pull that off? His move was exercised with the perfect co-ordination between his strength and his sword intent. This simple-looking attack was however the result from Long Haochen’s fusion of his sword intent with the battle skills from the ancient times.
That Jacques Chief was also shocked when seeing his own attack being repelled by Long Haochen in such a way. He absolutely didn’t expect this knight with fluctuations of spiritual energy far from equalling the other knight, to actually push him back. And this was while he was using such an astute technique as Tyrannical Extermination.
Filling the air with intense killing intent, the Jacques Chief roared once again, spreading the wings on his back. Stepping on the ground, he launched a full strength charge. Since long distance attacks weren’t going to work, going for close-quarters battle was better. And under the effects of the Saint Spiritual Stove, his only available target was Long Haochen.
Taking a deep breath, Long Haochen calmed his boiling blood. The great increase of his external spiritual energy indeed had some good benefits. The resilience of his body was now a lot better than in the past. Else, even if he deflected the enemy’s attack, he’d probably also have ended up wounded.
Spreading the wings on his back, and giving a sudden flap, Long Haochen set his own body in motion, dashing forward. On his back, Yating conveniently turned back, transforming into a ball of light chasing after Long Hoachen. In some sense, she was a part of Long Haochen’s body, and thus kept up with his speed with ease. The others from the 64th commander grade Demon Hunt Squad also followed at high speed.
Cai’er once again became invisible, and Sima Xian’s Energetic Ball of Light was circling above his head. His chest was glinting purple, and exuded some scorched smell. This was the backlash of the Spiritual Stove of Purple Thunder.
Wang Yuanyuan quietly embedded four spatial crystals in her Divine Soul Shield, and Han Yu recovered his shield, taking the Wild Scarlet Blood in both of his hands.
They were already prepared for this challenging battle, which was the first time they confronted a powerhouse of the eighth step while relying on their own strength.
If they were in Major Jacques City, Long Haochen couldn’t possibly make this choice. But this place was in the wilderness, and if they really weren’t a match, they had the possibility of escaping. Since things were like this, why shouldn’t they try to go all out against a demon of the eighth step? Only this kind of powerhouse would enable them to measure the level of strength they now reached.
Ree With a wild roar, the Jacques Chief lifted his two front hooves, before landing back onto the ground. With a loud bang, strong black streams of air were urged towards Long Haochen, meanwhile, the spear in the right hand on the demon turned into myriad of black rays, going straight for Long Haochen.
With a distance of ten meters between the Jacques Chief and him, Long Haochen immediately felt the air becoming sticky, and the strong darkness element completely repelled the light element. Furthermore, that Jacques Chief released a strong pulling force, dragging his counterpart towards him.
His strong demeanor and powerful attack were as pressuring as a tall mountain.
That was the eighth step! The last time they faced a Moon Demon at the eighth step, Long Haochen had used the Conjoined Spiritual Boosting Pill, and thus had had an entirely different feeling. But this time was not the same, and he was now facing the Jacques Chief of the eighth step on his own. That immense pressure affected his willpower enormously, and this was due to the gap in strength, and the absolute suppression of his spiritual energy. If not for the fact that Long Haochen’s spiritual energy was of the purest light type he would hardly have had even the idea to battle against a powerhouse at the eighth step.
His two lower wings flapped, while the upper ones stayed motionless. Long Haochen’s body was suddenly raised several meters up into the sky, fortunately avoiding the breath of darkness released by the Jacques Chief below. Meanwhile, Long Haochen’s whole body shone once again in that eerie golden light, forming one entity with his sword. When the shadow spear of that Jacques Chief was rushing at him from all directions, the Aria of the Goddess of Light in his hand kept resisting attack after attack, as if he was a boat in the midst of violent waves.
The Jacques Chief, having an extremely profound perception, felt that this human should have died the moment his attack landed on him. However, every time he felt that he was about to kill the enemy, the enemy’s heavy sword would briefly touch the spear at a crucial location, and by borrowing force from his spiritual wings, he’d escape the danger by a hair’s breadth.
Currently, Long Haochen was just like a shadow. Resisting against the shadow spear, he still didn’t fight hard against that Jacques Chief, completely relying on technique and agility. This left the powerhouse of the eighth step unable to launch his irresistible offensive power at him.
Chapter 388
No matter for whom, this feeling would be extremely painful. The Jacques Chief roared and abruptly pointed his spear downwards. Immediately, vortexes of darkness kept surging out. His inwardly thought were: Let me see how you’ll escape from this.
In front of this kind of omnidirectional attack, Long Haochen was unable to dodge completely. But right at this moment, his body suddenly halted in midair. Grasping the Aria of the Goddess of Light with both hands, he chopped downwards. The dark golden sword emitted a glowing white light, and right at that instant, Long Haochen’s two hands turned a transparent golden color.
In a flash of golden light, a black glow spread, smoothly wrapping Long Haochen’s body in it. Right at this moment, Haoyue’s immense figure appeared behind him.
Not only that, but with a limpid dragon chant and a golden glint of light, that figure clashed against the Aria of the Goddess of light.
It was Haoyue that appeared suddenly under him, and his figure, which hovered at ten meters height, kept rushing forward, carrying a threatening aura. Meanwhile, both him and Long Haochen had their whole body surrounded by purple light, especially their eyes. That bewitching purple color caused even the Jacques Chef of the eighth step to shake at its sight.
While Long Haochen’s body was shaking severely, the strong purple glow filled him, and the mysterious power from an ancient beast erupted from his body.
The Jacques Chief felt his demeanor being shaken. He found himself unable to keep attacking even with his cultivation at the eighth step and even drew a few steps back, filled with shock. Right then, the six Jacques Officers that were charging along with him felt their whole bodies going stiff.
A black figure appeared at their backs, and one black line after another pierced them, conveniently taking their lives. This was the act of Cai’er who arrived just at the right time.
Some rapid changes appeared on Long Haochen’s body, his whole Glorious Holy Armor turned purple. Not only that, but earth-shattering variations occurred with his armor at the same time. The originally very concise plate armor gained gorgeous features, the shoulder plates expanded like dragon wings, while the back of the plate armor gained some sort of scales. Layers upon layers of thorns continuously emerged from his armor, forming elegant designs, close to the advanced fairy style or the relicts of some antique tribes from the past.
The most distinct feature appeared on Long Haochen’s chest. Nine purple lines extended from there, enveloping his shoulders, chest and a large area of his front armor. One could faintly see that at the end of the nine purple lines were nine purple balls of light, appearing the same as nine faces, radiating a tyrannical and bewitching aura.
On Long Haochen’s forehead, the purple golden glint became incomparably bright, and his black hair turned purple. His originally handsome face lost its pure and holy look to gain charisma. Even the divine sword Aria of the Goddess of Light was shining in his hand, immersed in a deep purple color.
This was the fusion between Long Haochen and Haoyue, but compared to the last time, earth-shattering changes appeared.
If the last time, their fusion could be called a semi-finished product, it could be said to have become complete this time thanks to the increase of Long Haochen’s strength. The aura spreading from Long Hoachen’s body was a lot stronger than in the past.
His armor turned purple, but the spiritual energy emanating from his body was still golden. The combination turned the spiritual energy exuded by him a magnificent purple gold.
The change wasn’t only on his body, but also on the Aria of the Goddess of Light in his hand. It appeared that Yating entered the divine sword.
Soul Ignition. This ability belonged to both Long Haochen and Yating and was revived with Long Haochen’s awakening as a god’s chosen. Yating’s Soul Ignition was like supportive equipment, while Long Haochen’s Soul Ignition affected his own body.
At this moment, right when Yating fused with the Aria of the Goddess of Light, the terrible might of this divine sword emerged, contrary to the Bright Vengeance that was unable to bear Yating’s Soul Ignition.
An overwhelming terrible sword intent burst out from Long Haochen’s body, and immediately, a gaudy purple golden color surrounded Long Haochen.
Right at this moment, Long Haochen entered his most powerful battle state, making use of a double Soul Ignition after his fusion with Haoyue.
To say nothing of the enemy, even his comrades felt terror at this moment, because even they were unable to sense the level Long Haochen’s strength now reached.
Having gained a purple golden color, his four wings abruptly flapped, and like that, Long Haochen rushed at the Jacques Chief like a purple meteor. In his series of probing attacks, he found out that this Jacques Chief still had a gap in cultivation compared to that young Moon Demon.
After entering his most powerful state, it really became possible for him to kill this enemy with the help from his comrades.
Bang!
Long Haochen attacked the Jacques Chief by meeting force with force for the first time.
The Aria of the Goddess of Light fiercely struck against the pitch-black spear of the Jacques Chief, and both sides were simultaneously repelled, with no one holding the advantage. In other words, Long Haochen’s current attack strength and physical strength were on par with a Jacques Chief of the eighth step.
Lowering his head to give a glance to his own spear, the Jacques Chief abruptly noticed that the thickest central part of his spear was unexpectedly split in two. And to his shock, there was a deep gash from his right shoulder to his left rib, which pierced his scales pierced and caused strong bleeding. And moreover, an extremely strange energy was flowing inside. No matter how he urged his spiritual energy, he found himself unable to scatter it in any way.
That was not simply light spiritual energy anymore, but it also carried a terrifying presence filled with a devastatingly destructive power.
What wounded the Jacques Chief was of course not Long Haochen’s heavy sword, but the sword intent coming from the Aria of the Goddess of Light infused with Long Haochen and Haoyue’s powers.
When the divine sword regained a soul, its might reached the Epic Tier, even surpassing the Legendary Tier. As a piece of Epic Tier Equipment, it could undoubtedly change the outcome of a war. If Long Haochen wasn’t in a fused state with Haoyue, even while letting Yating fuse with the Aria of the Goddess of Light, he wouldn’t be able to wield its power.
“Go to hell!” Long Haochen gave a shout and stepped forward, launching an Asura Thrust.
With a drizzling purple golden color, some bizarre warped gloss appeared in the air, and the strong purple golden light seemed to engulf the whole surroundings in an instant.
Bang!
The spear broke and the enemy was sent flying. Although the Jacques Chief spared no effort to resist, the Aria of the Goddess of Light was just too terrifying after reaching the Epic Tier. The terrifying destructive power and the sword intent that seemed to pierce through the heavens destroyed his weapon almost instantly, and struck his body directly.
At the crucial moment of danger, the Jacques chief still had time to bend his head, avoiding a wound to his head, but half of his body was cut with this blow. Including the shoulder, left arm and a large part of the ribcage, his left side was sent flying upwards, while the two hoofs on his right side burst from the explosion of purple golden light.
A massive golden ball also covered the sky right at this time, inflicting a perfect cut to the falling body of the Jacques Chief. The three destructive abilities Crush, Smash and Absorption burst out at that time.
Pitifully, the strong and brutal Jacques Chief was ripped to pieces like that, not even leaving a corpse.
However, after this strike, Long Haochen was unable to maintain this state. With a flash, Haoyue’s massive body separated from his. Being terribly pale, Long Haochen gasped for air.
In his most powerful state, Long Haochen was actually at the threshold of the eighth step. Nonetheless, he could only preserve this state for a very short time. Afterwards, he was extremely weakened Especially after the use from Soul Ignition, he needed at least three or four days of rest to recover entirely, despite the improvement of his cultivation level and his understanding of Soul Ignition compared to the last time.
Yating also separated from the Aria of the Goddess of Light.The purple golden color on the divine sword had already disappeared. Yating looked really out of energy, and directly disappeared into Long Haochen’s chest.
At this moment, the members from the 64th commander grade Demon Hunt Squad stopped moving, gathering at a very fast speed. Then, a dazzling pure golden colored barrier enveloped everyone, including the
curled up Haoyue. In this barrier of five meters in diameter, everyone was affected by this pure golden radiance.
The ability Blessing of Light from Han Yu’s Spiritual Stove of Light Blessings was launched.
Everyone affected by the heavy and multi-elemental energy recovered from their consumption at a fast pace. And that carefree and revitalizing feeling relaxed everyone’s breathing greatly.
The Spiritual Stove of Light Blessings had great utility. Bathed in that pure golden light, except for the weakened Long Haochen, everyone returned to their peak state in a very short time, even recovering from their physical exhaustion.
On the other side, although still resisting, the king grade Demon Hunt Squad was still in a very difficult situation, and this became all the more true after the Jacques Chief was killed by Long Haochen. The Jacques Demons became frantic, and launched attacks without any restraint. After seeing his comrade get killed, even the second Jacques Chief of the eighth step wasn’t filled with fury, but with fear.
That was a fact! From the time the Jacques Chief attacked to his death, the whole fight had only lasted several seconds. The counterpart killed was a powerhouse at the eighth step, so they could naturally kill a second one. These humans who came later were visibly even more powerful than the ones they chased.
Chapter 389
After recovering his spiritual energy, Haoyue rushed out with Lin Xin. Haoyue wasn’t in the same kind of weak state as Long Haochen, and furthermore, with his evolution, his recovery was greatly strengthened. At least until now, Long Haochen had yet to see Haoyue’s limits.
During their fusion, he felt his own body’s limits, and thus couldn’t maintain the fused state with Haoyue.
The reason why Haoyue and Lin Xin rushed out was naturally to reap magical crystals. Lin Xin’s speed of reaction was very fast, but compared to Haoyue, he was still lacking.
Haoyue’s movements were very simple. Rushing ahead, he’d tread on the Jacques Demon corpses to crush them, before engulfing the demon crystals in his mouth.
Although Lin Xin simply recovered the whole corpses, it was still at an inferior speed.
Nonetheless, Haoyue was still generous and left Lin Xin the magical crystal of the Jacques Chief of the eighth step. These things would be very useful to the team, no matter whether used directly or exchanged for contribution points. These were the greatest items they gained ever since getting into demon territory.
The powerful show of strength of the 64th commander grade Demon Hunt Squad left these scattering Jacques Demons even more in fear, and the
several hundred corpses on the ground were very rapidly looted with the joint efforts of Lin Xin and Haoyue.
On the other side of the battlefield, the recovered Sima Xian, Wang Yuanyuan, Han Yu and Cai’er joined the ongoing battle, providing support for the king grade Demon Hunt Squad. Although they were unable to kill the second Jacques Chief, the demons were already out of fighting spirit and quickly retreated in defeat.
The battle was finally over, and the king grade Demon Hunt Squad’s consumption was far greater than that of Long Haochen’s team. They didn’t even have the strength left to thank Long Haochen’s group, and one after another fell to the ground, unable to move even one step further.
Long Haochen was sitting cross-legged on the ground, summing up the process of the previous battle. Deep inside, he felt that they had really gained in strength.
When facing an enemy at the eighth step in the past, they were left without choice but to use the Conjoined Spiritual Boosting Pill. But this time, they killed the opponent grandiosely, and did that even more easily than that time against the Zombie King. Perhaps even without my most powerful state, we could have killed that one with our own strength. And I really didn’t expect the Aria of the Goddess of Light to become such a terrifying divine sword after fusing with Yating.
Although Long Haochen only got to sense the power of a piece of equipment at the Epic Tier for a split moment, it still left a very deep impression in him. Even a powerhouse of the eighth step was unable to resist against its power. If not for the strengthening from the Aria of the Goddess of Light, killing the enemy in one blow like that wouldn’t have been possible, not even in his most powerful state. At the same time, he sensed that when the Aria of the Goddess of Light would become a weapon of such level, it would be powerful enough by itself, without adding any ability. Such an overwhelming sword intent would be so that even if one resists it using their physical resistance, he would still get wounded by the sword intent.
The eighth step, just when would he become a true powerhouse of the eighth step too?
Long Haochen quietly took out the internal spiritual energy measuring gem from his Eternal Melody and poured his spiritual energy inside. Seeing the number which came out gave him a nice surprise.
9,782.
Whah, it’s already above 9,780? So it’s no wonder that my fusion with Haoyue combined with the use of Spiritual Ignition already broke through the eighth step. So my strength had already gotten that close to the seventh step.
It was already a long time that Long Hoachen didn’t checked the value of his own internal spiritual energy. From this, he immediately rejoiced greatly. His cultivation rate as a god’s chosen one was one of the benefits that he felt were bountiful.
This time, it was for a simple goal that all he chose were Slaughtering Missions. He wanted to help Cai’er to find the opportunity to complete her awakening as a god’s chosen one too. Without a doubt, for she who was the Saint Daughter of Samsara, only through Slaughter Missions would a possibility of awakening appear.
In a private room of moderate size, roughly ten square meters, if one took particular attention, he would see that all parts of the room, be it the roof, the walls or the floor, were pitch-black, like a dark crystal. More accurately speaking, this room was like an immense black crystal cut into a suitable shape.
In the middle of this private room, a deep purple light was faintly visible. If one paid an attentive look, he would find out that it was released by a man.
A soft purple glint kept spreading out, in the midst of going extinct.
Suddenly, that purple glint looked more real, and with two substantial- looking purple glints, all the darkness inside of this space was controlled.
And! The look coming out from these eyes seemed able to pierce the earth and the heavens.
The substantial look of the light coming out from the eyes was reflected onto the black crystal in front of him, actually letting out a series of ‘buzz’ sounds.
A lanky figure floated, sitting upright, and hidden from view by the purple light. One could faintly see that this very handsome face had clearly a pale look. It was merely due to strong surprise that this face showed such an expression.
“Is it his aura?” Feng Xiu murmured, talking to himself, and a severe look flashed past his eyes.
“Huang Shuo!”
“This subordinate listens.” From outside, this response could be heard echoing.
The Demon God Emperor Feng Xiu coldly instructed, “Give my order to dispatch ten groups of Demon Hunters Removers from the Central Province to be gathered mainly in the Jacques Province. There, any magical beast with three or more heads found are to be killed, and their corpse brought back to me.”
“Yes, Your Highness. Do you have any other instruction?”
After pondering for a short time, Feng Xiu replied, “Please tell the Star Demon God to meet me.”
“Yes.”
Shortly later, quiet footsteps resounded, and an orange figure approached with quick steps, getting closer to Feng Xiu’s before stopping exemplarily at ten meters from him, bowing slightly, “Boss.”
His voice was very soft, touching and let out a special charm at when hearing it, as well as an unreal feel.
This man was entirely clad in orange, and his build looked close to the Demon God Emperor Feng Xiu. However, he was more slim, and his handsome face made him look closer to the Moon Demon God Agares. Only, he had a somewhat look, which gave a feeling of extreme delicateness. His orange colored eyes seemed to carry a layer of hazy mist, and his supple-looking orange hair was draped out to his back, just like an orange waterfall spreading out until reaching the level of his knee. The most peculiar was that on his forehead appeared a symbol of orange hexagon.
If Lin Xin were to see his hair, he would absolutely be jumping with envy.
“Vassago, has your body already recovered?” Feng Xiu asked. He visibly entertained a very good friendship with this orange man.
If someone were to underestimate this orange man on the basis of his external appearance, he would definitely be out of luck. That’s because, despite having a weak, beautiful and rather pitiful look, this was the one praised as demon prophet, their Great Prophet, Star Demon God Vassago, whose existence ranked third amongst all the demon gods.
From the human point of view, the Star Demon God Vassago was viewed as the top demon mage, being a rare kind of demon god purely focused on magic among all the seventy-two, and there was no room for doubting his power. In some sense, his position amongst demons made him even more important than the Moon Demon God Agares. His Great Prophecy Technique would make even the Demon God Emperor cautious towards him.
But the Star Demon God Vassago would appear very rarely in the battlefield. He was mainly acting as the brain of the demons, or perhaps the brain of the Demon God Emperor. Among all demons, few people could call the Demon God Emperor brother, and the only ones the Demon God Emperor Feng Xiu acknowledged as little brothers were Agares and Vassaga.
“Bro Feng looks to have recovered to eighty percent of his strength.” The voice of the Star Demon God Vassago was still as gentle and pleasant to listen to.
The face of the Demon God Emperor looked stagnant, “You should have sensed that right before right? Your perception isn’t far from mine, but should be even more detailed. Was that really him?”
The Star Demon God’s expression seemed to become very pale, but he nodded without any hesitation.
Feng Xiu’s two eyes shrank, and it appeared as if a bolt of purple lightning flashed in his eyes, “He actually came. But shouldn’t he be unable to leave from there due to the regulations placed on that space?”
The Star Demon God let out a light sigh, shaking his head, with the orange hair on his back moving back and forth like waves, “I don’t understand clearly how this could happen either, but I’m sure that in his current state, he’s still far from comparable to back then. Otherwise, I’m afraid he would have come to find us long ago. Also, I am sure that he knows that we are now in this world. Boss, destroying him is our absolute priority.”
Right then, the Demon God Emperor actually became hesitant just because of hearing the words from the Star Demon God. Unconsciously clenching his both fists, he murmured aloud, “I cannot possibly doubt the prophecies you are making at the cost of your own lifespan, but it’s just that he seems to be able to block us from locating him accurately, so we can only accidentally spot him sometimes. This way, how could we look for him?”
The Star Demon God replied with an indifferent look, “A sun-like meteor has descended in the human world, carrying a faint hint of purple. This sunshine should be related to the God of Light, dispersing gradually the darkness. At dawn, its presence glints in the northwest, ruling over with the brightness of that purple hint. Then, whether the seventy-two cages can resist the light from the sun, and destroy these purple hints in
its early stages, or whether the cages are destined to fall against it is up to fate.”
This was the prophecy that the Star Demon God made at the cost of his lifespan.
The Star Demon God continued, “According to my predictions, among the two who are going to bring a catastrophe upon upon us, there’s naturally him, but I still cannot guess the identity of that sun-like meteor. It’s very possibly a human that is going to emerge suddenly; we have to pay further attention to the human’s circumstances. That young human that Ah’Bao met in the Illusory Paradise is very suspicious. If we get the opportunity, we have to kill him at any cost. And according to my predictions, that human is very possibly related to him, and extremely closely. If things are like that, our target is now a lot easier to find.”
Hearing his words, the Demon God Emperor was shaken, “Him? Can it really be him?”
“Boss, were you thinking of something?” The Star Demon God gave the Demon God Emperor a surprised look.
The Demon God Emperor shook his head slightly, carrying a pondering look on his face.
Chapter 390
-Temple Alliance, Holy City, Great Auction House-
A very delicate looking girl was sitting in the backyard of the Alliance’s Great Auction House. Her perfect white long skirt could not hide her moving figure. Her looks were picturesque, extremely tender and carried a hard to describe aura of purity. Only by sitting there, she seemed like a fairy, with all the surrounding scenery seemingly striving to only emphasize her beauty.
A girl clad in a red skirt discreetly came from behind her, suddenly shouting, “Just what are you thinking about, pure little flower?”
“Wah!?” The girl clad in white was startled, suddenly straightening her posture. She turned her head in the direction of the girl in the red skirt, immediately murmuring, “Big sister Weiyang, what’s up with you giving me such a fright? And I said already, I don’t want to be called pure little flower. What an annoying guy, hmpf!”
This girl was the young princess of the Alliance’s Great Auction House, Feng Ling’er. And the one who gave her a fright was naturally the head auctioneer of that same place, the gracious Ye Weiyang.
Ye Weiyang replied with a smiled, “That’s right, I shouldn’t call you little pure flower, but rather little hot pepper. To be so harsh with that person every time, it’s as if you won’t be happy if you don’t drive him out with curses.
And that fool is still coming back every day. However, things are becoming closer to how you’d want it now. Since that person left, he’ll no longer be bothering you.
Ever since Lin Xin got Sima Xian acquainted with Feng Ling’er, Sima Xian became extremely clingy to her out of his feelings of love. He would have come visit her everyday at the Alliance’s Great Auction House if it didn’t affect his cultivation, of course with good help from Ye Weiyang who’d let him at least have a sight of Feng Ling’er every time. But then, as Ye Weiyang just said, he would simply get cursed and driven out every time.
As for the appellation little pure flower, it stemmed of course from Lin Xin who sold out this bald priest as the bad friend he was. Naturally, it became a source of laughter for Ye Weiyang who’d use it to tease her.
Of course, Lin Xin gave Sima Xian quite a lot of help from the shadows, at least with the good food he’d arrange for Sima Xian to bring Feng Ling’er every time. As for her preferences, it was of course Ye Weiyang who told them secretly.
On the night before their departure, Sima Xian brought packets of good food as a gift for Feng Ling’er, and until now, Feng Ling’er still remembered that scene.
That guy was quite robust, bringing at least fifty kilograms of food, carrying all of it on his back. When she’d curse at him, he would show a foolish smile, never answering back. And then, when she’d stop all that cursing from tiredness, he would finally leave.
“Calm your tone, and have a little drink. Otherwise your throat will start hurting from all this shouting,” he had said.
“Starting from tomorrow, I’ll be unable to see you. And this will last for quite some time. Take good care of yourself. I know that you don’t really like me much, but it doesn’t matter, because you at least permitted me to know the feeling of deep love. You can either one day secretly start loving
me, or let my feelings remain unrequited, but at least you can’t stop these feelings I have for you.
Thank you, really. This period of time was very happy for me. I never knew that looking forward every day to see one person was such a happy thing. Just from hearing your voice every day, I was content.
Actually, you’re right. I am not fit for you, at least as I am a Demon Hunter. Every time I’d be heading out on a mission, I’ll be in mortal danger. How could a man such as me give you a sense of security? I understand all this, yet I cannot help but have these feelings for you.
Please don’t stop me now, and let me finish to say all this before parting. Perhaps, this will be an eternal parting. I don’t know whether I’ll come back alive, and my only cherished desire is to tell you the words I have kept in my heart with sincerity.Only then can I leave without regrets and let myself kill the enemy without distraction. May I?
Please don’t throw all this food, okay? At least, don’t let it go to waste. Actually, Lin Xin was the one to tell me about your liking for snacks. I’m stupid, right? See, just from telling you all this, I’m already sweating. Today, I’m speaking so much more than in the past.
You… Just consider me as a passing traveler in your life okay? I hope all this entangling from me around you didn’t bother you too much. I just hope that you will stay safe.
Thank you for letting me say all this, I’m leaving. Though you are very fierce to me, I know that it’s because I’m no good. In my heart, you will forever stay a pure and fully occupied little pure flower.
Goodbye.”
“I… Love you!”
Even after so many days, Feng Ling’er remembered clearly about that scene. When Sima Xian left, he suddenly turned back his head, and shout these three words, before turning his head and running off. From this, Feng
Ling’er had a throbbing feeling in her chest for the first time in her life, seeing his strongly satisfied appearance.
“Hey, what are you thinking about? Losing all yourself in your thoughts. You can’t really have fallen for that bald priest?” Ye Weiyang asked with a pleased look.
“Who has fallen for him?” Feng Ling’er reacted unhappily.
Ye Weiyang showed a happy smile, “Right, he’s not fit for our little princess. All those chasing you can be thrown out of the city by us. He’s neither tender nor gentle in the slightest, and isn’t any good at courting. The idea of bringing you nice food every day was mine. Right, he brought you those dried fish before leaving right? If you’re not eating these, give them to me, just like those from before. Hehe, helping you finishing these is so good.”
Feng Ling’er gave her an empty glare, “Sis Weiyang, how bad from you! It’s clearly the things you like to eat, that you’re placing on me. Could it be that there’s no one willing to buy these for you?”
Ye Weiyang suddenly let out a soft sigh, “Aren’t you a strange one? Why do you think I’d let that bald priest get close to you? In the past, I’ve been helping you to drive away all these nasty beasts.”
Feng Ling’er unconsciously nodded with attention.
Ye Weiyang continued, “It’s because I’m very interested in their captain, and really want to meet him and get to know him better. That’s why I tried to get in contact with the ones by his side, and learn more about him. As the one who succeeded the divine sword of great-grandfather, I really want to know what kind of person he is.
However, both Lin Xin or that bad priest aren’t willing to say much. All they said was that their knight stayed in secluded training all this time, and I have never succeeded in my plans. Ling’er, your big sister has been using you, would you blame me for that? However, Lin Xin and that Sima Xian aren’t bad people. At least they’d make very good friends.”
Feng Ling’er asked, “Can’t you just go see him directly when he will be out of seclusion? Why would you drag me in all this?” These words carried some anger, with a hint of resentment.
Ye Weiyang showed a bitter smile, “That’s because I’ve lost all self- confidence. I still clearly remember the scene from that day. That a man’s eyes could be that bright..”
“You can’t be interested in him?!” Feng Ling’er asked in alarm.
Ye Weiyang nodded without concealing anything, “I am. However, I’m afraid I don’t have the slightest chance. Lin Xin told me that he already has a very close female friend, and that it’s their vice-captain.”
Feng Ling’er reacted with the words, “So what, they aren’t married, are they? With the many wiles of my Sis Ye Weiyang, can’t you snatch him away?”
Ye Weiyang shook her head, “That’s impossible. I have the very strong feeling that I will never be able to manipulate this man. And it’s not love that I feel for him, but interest, or rather curiosity. After all this time passed, you should have realized that both Lin Xin and Sima Xian are extremely outstanding. In the young generation of the Temple Alliance, they are all among the elite. I don’t really know Sima Xian, but I’ve known Lin Xin for a very long time. His grandfather is an auxiliary head of the Mage Temple, and he’s the most outstanding alchemist of the young generation. He’s now a Demon Hunter, and I already checked for his cultivation; he’s actually already at the sixth step!
And just like that, I don’t know if you realized this, but every time Captain Long is mentioned, their expressions change and hold deep respect, right, deep respect. They haven’t been Demon Hunters for long, and thus, Long Haochen’s age should be close to theirs. But even such a young person actually gained the deep respect of two of the young elites of the Alliance. From this, we can well imagine how outstanding that Long Haochen is. For this reason alone, I felt all the more curious about him. I say without shame that when I saw him lift the divine sword, I felt that I was no match for him.”
Hearing her say this much, Feng Ling’er felt dazed from listening. She knew the best how arrogant she was to the core, but such an arrogant Ye Weiyang actually felt inferior to a man? This was simply inconceivable.
“Ye Weiyang, tell me, can they make it back alive?” Feng Ling’er asked in a low voice.
Ye Weiyang nodded lightly, “I don’t know either.”
Feng Ling’er knitted her eyebrows, “Didn’t you say they were extremely strong? And about that mysterious captain, he indeed looks really out of the ordinary.”
Ye Weiyang mused, “That’s really a double-edged sword. Because of their strength, the choice of missions they take are out of the ordinary. Lin Xin is only a little more than twenty, and if the others are close to him in age, their whole team should be under twenty five of age. But I heard Lin Xin said that they are already a commander grade Demon Hunt Squad. This means that they are all at least at the sixth step, thus the missions they take are also at this grade.”
For some reason, when hearing Ye Weiyang’s words, Feng Ling’er suddenly felt a pain in her heart, blurting out the words, “Sis Weiyang, don’t take the things that guy brought for me. I’ll be eating those.”
“What?” Ye Weiyang gave her a monstrous look.
As if she didn’t see that, Feng Ling’er continued, “I hope they’ll make it alive.”
The battlefield was already cleaned, and after getting a short time of rest, the two Demon Hunt Squads were in a better shape. In particular, the king grade Demon Hunt Squad really looked to be in a bad shape.
“Hello, I am the captain from the 17th King grade Demon Hunt Squad, Guardian Knight Tian Qing. Thank you for your help.” The Foundation Armored Knight already took off his helmet, and a very resolute face
appeared. He looked about thirty five or six, and had thick and broad arms, looking strong.