It was night, and the crescent moon was as curved as a blade.
There was autumn coolness in the October night.
Several cars were speeding out of Lingzhou City’s Martial Arts Department (MAD) under the night.
Duan Tianhe, Cheng Dongfeng, and Ji Dongxiu were all sitting in the same car, and it was rather silent inside.
Cheng Dongfeng only breathed a long sigh when the car left Lingzhou City, saying, “I’m so adorably foolish that I would be worried of the anomaly that is Jiang He… That said, did that kid really do in the Sentinel of the Right and the Senior Elder of the Sky Demon Cult?”
Duan Tianhe said nothing.
Beside them, Ji Dongxu could not help asking, “Chief Duan, what is the story with this Jiang He?”
He was very curious.
That person had killed the Sentinel of the Right, the Senior Elder, and several of the Grands single-handedly, something which the peerless rank-nines who gained perfect grasp over the Boundary of Wills would never achieve… after all, the Sentinel of the Right was an elite of this same rank, and the Senior Elder of the Sky Demon Cult was not far from that as well.
And yet, through the call…
That ‘Jiang He’ who left him speechless claimed that he was not divine-tier…
Cheng Dongfeng continued the conversation then, and told Ji Dongxu about Jiang He’s feats.
Once he was finished, he sneered, saying, “Didn’t the Blue King Drake say that a human elite killed the Black King Drake two days ago when it attacked Jiangnan? Jiang He might be the one that did it!”
“That’s impossible!”
Although Ji Dongxu had left seclusion for no more than a few days, he certainly knew about something so important. Shaking his head, he said, “The Black King Drake was already a Feral King, which is equal to a divine-tier human. Even if Jiang He is a peerless rank-nine, he would never surpass a divine-tier elite, let alone at rank-seven.”
“Why not?”
Cheng Dongfeng sighed. “He killed rank-sevens as a rank-five, rank-eight as a rank-six. I’ve always thought that turning the tables against a rank-nine is impossible too, but didn’t Jiang He kill them all the same?”
He was simply saying those words casually, but now, Cheng Dongfeng’s eyes lit up.
The more he thought about it, the likelier Jiang He was the culprit.
“I’ve read an article about it, saying that the mysterious elite blew up and scattered over a thousand Ferals before crossing to the island…”
There was a twitch in Duan Tianhe’s expression.
What the hell.
His eyes widened at Cheng Dongfeng.
Others notwithstanding…
Blowing things up for a bit before going to kill some big shot was absolutely Jiang He’s style.
Most importantly, Jiang He was at Jiangnan in those two days. According to the feedback from the Jiangnan MAD, after the two elites Pei Donglai and Wang Hou had shifted the battlefield to the wildlands, and Pei Donglai had returned to Jiangnan City once to personally bring Jiang He to the wildlands…
Cheng Dongfeng had clearly thought of that and calmly said, “Old Duan, could that aura before belong to Jiang He?”
Nonetheless, they soon arrive at Jiang He’s house.
The man himself was standing outside his front gates.
As everyone got down from the car and approached Jiang He, Duan Tianhe made the introductions, “Jiang He, this is Ji Dongxu, or Grandmaster Ji of Xibei’s Ji clan, and he has now come to help guard Lingzhou city.”
“Grandmaster Jiang!”
Ji Dongxu offered him a fist-palm salute, showing respect towards Jiang He in his words. At the same time, he was very curious and could not help casting Jiang He a few more looks while smiling. “I’ve heard of your fame, and it seems that the stories are true.”
Jiang He returned his salute, and they had a little chat when Cheng Dongfeng suddenly exclaimed, “Are you rank-eight now, Jiang He?”
“Yes, I am. Rank-eight pinnacle, in fact.”
“What the hell!”
Cheng Dongfeng was astonished. “Weren’t you rank-seven just a few days ago?”
“A few days ago?”
Jiang he thought about it. To tell the truth, he had just ascended up to rank-seven on Mount Helan, which was around ten days since? Nonetheless, considering that his ‘cultivation career’ was just one month and a few days, ten days was a third of that duration and considered very long, was it not?
Still, following his shock, Cheng Dongfeng found that it made sense.
Did it not make sense if these sorts of things happen to Jiang He?
Cheng Dongfeng found that he had gotten used to it. If someone were to say that Jiang He could bring down the moon with a single swing of his blade, he would not be all that shocked.
Meanwhile, as Duan Tianhe instructed the other MAD personnel to handle the ‘battlefield’, Jiang He quickly said, “Don’t go anywhere else. Just clean up the corpses and that’s it—I still have landmines planted under other spots!”
The personnel all shuddered, afraid to even walk an inch.
Jiang He chuckled when he saw that, “Is there a need to be that afraid? Just don’t go anywhere you like. The potato… the landmines I planted are very stable, and they won’t detonate as long as you don’t step in the zone.”
“…”
Two amongst the personnel were Jiang He’s acquaintances: one was the Liu Xue, the Awakened with superstrength and the other was Su Ze, a disciple of Cheng Dongfeng’s fellow pupil.
Unable to decide if he should laugh or cry, Su Ze said, “Don’t frighten us, Mister Jiang.”
“Who’s frightening you?”
Jiang He glared speechlessly. “The landmines I buried are very powerful, and actually blew up a rank-eight… whatever, I’ll lead you.”
Duan Tianhe and Ji Dongxu followed along as well.
They first went behind the mansion, where the Sentinel of the Right struck.
They saw a massive crater immediately.
The crater was up to three meters deep and over a hundred meters wide, and the edge of the crater was less than ten meters away from Jiang He’s mansion. He did not notice it since he was preoccupied with murder and searching the corpses, and he could not help feeling frightened after the fact, wiping cold sweat off his bow even as he said, “Luckily, I did my best to keep the landmines far away when I buried it, or my mansion would be blown sky-high as well.
The scene was rather silent.
Woah!
Someone gasped and exclaimed in shock, “Heavens! Such devastation—could it be a W-35 nuclear mine?”
Nuclear landmines had already been developed years ago, and it was said that there were some with kiloton yields. It was so powerful as an anti-infantry and anti-tank weapon that there would be fireworks once it detonates.
Still, for a person like Jiang He who was uneducated about weapons, he would not know about the existence of such a weapon at all.
“What nuclear landmine?”
“Screw that. This is my homemade landmine. It’s only so powerful… because I buried around thirty of them here.”
Jiang He answered truthfully.
As for landmines or potato landmines…
The difference was just a single word, nothing to be obsessed about.
Soon.
Everyone had pieced together the broken pieces of the Sky Demon Cult’s Decan. His Decan Decree had been blown quite far—Liu Xue found it three hundred meters away.
It had a ‘Noble’ written on it, indicating that he was Noble Star.
After that, Jiang He led the others outside the walls of his farms as well… and after some puzzle work, they counted five corpses.
Liu Xue was holding a small notebook and was writing at a corner, “Sentinel of the Right, Senior Elder, Noble Star, Sword Star, Speed Star, Dark Star, Grace Star, Balance Star, as well as four Fiends.”
An utter look of astonishment showed on the face of the adorable loli as she gasped in surprise. “Brother Jiang He, you’re so awesome! You actually killed so many in a single fight?”
Jiang He on the other hand frowned, saying, “Nope, there’s a mistake. There should be six Fiends.”
“Eh?”
Liu Xiu replied. “Could they be too damaged to be found? Hold on, I’ll ask my colleagues at forensics.”
Soon, she returned and said, “My colleagues did find some extra body parts.”
She looked at Duan Tianhe who stood with Jiang He and asked, “Should we search for more Fiend Decrees, Chief Duan?”
“No need. What for? It’s not worth any money!”
Jiang He spoked before Duan Tianhe could, adding, “By the way, Chief Duan, look at this token plate. I found it from another Sky Demon Cultist, although it looks a little weird—I’ve not seen any with such style.”
Duan Tianhe took the token plate and studied it.
Unlike the Fiend Decree, Decan Decree, Elder Decree, and even the Sentinel Decree, this token plate was not made from alloy, but its material resembled jade and was white.
‘Holy’ was written on its back, and the front was two words: Floating Cloud.
Frowning, Duan Tianhe shook his head and said, “I’ve never seen a token plate like that either… What is his ability like?”
Clearly, he did not recognize the Holy Child Decree either.
There were many Holy Children in the Sky Demon Cult that were groomed at the beginning of the Revival of Qi, but none of them came out to the known world before. It was only recently that they came out to loiter around, and Jiang He actually killed one.
But that was not exactly true, since it was the Cloudscraper Vine that had done it.
Jiang He had not even met the Flowing Cloud Holy Child, which was why he shook his head when Duan Tianhe asked him about it, saying, “I don’t know.”
“Eh?”
Duan Tianhe asked, taken aback. “Didn’t you say you killed him? How could you not know his ability?”
“I killed him, but did I kill him personally?”
“Doesn’t my pets killing him equals to me killing him?”
Jiang He’s eyes suddenly lit up even as he spoke. “Hold on, maybe someone knows what this token plate represents…”
He strode out of his farm, and soon dragged out the mage-robed Fourth Elder of the Sky Demon Cult.
Duan Tianhe, Cheng Dongfeng, and Ji Dongxu were all left taken aback, and could not help asking, “This person is…?”
“No idea.”
Jiang He simply dumped Fourth Elder on the ground, saying, “My pet caught him, but he’s quite strong and could match a rank-nine, so he’s probably an Elder… Chief Duan, does the MAD have any torture tools? Loan me a few sets for now—I’m ready to interrogate him for a bit to see what I could find out.”
Duan Tianhe shook his head.
Jiang He muttered ‘what a pity’, before suggesting, “How about this, borrow me that old blacksmith of yours. I’ll design a dozen torture tools myself. I’ll never believe he won’t talk if we test it on this buster then!”
“…”
On the ground, the Fourth Elder who was playing dead finally could not bear it.
Opening his eyes, he seethed through his clenched teeth. “You might be young, but you are very vile, Jiang He.”
???
“You weren’t unconscious?” Jiang He exclaimed in surprise.
And was he not speaking the most terrified words with the harshest attitude?
Shaking his head, Jiang He said, “I would never believe you… You Sky Demon Cultists are all a bunch of brainwashed zealots who would scream ‘for the Holy Faith’ before you die, that the Saint would revive them and whatnot… would you tell the truth without my torture?”
Jiang He raised his hand and gave him an almighty slap, before drawing his Dragon-Slaying Saber and running it through Fourth Elder’s thigh.
Only then did he say, “Alright, you can talk now.”
It was night, and the crescent moon was as curved as a blade.
There was autumn coolness in the October night.
Several cars were speeding out of Lingzhou City’s Martial Arts Department (MAD) under the night.
Duan Tianhe, Cheng Dongfeng, and Ji Dongxiu were all sitting in the same car, and it was rather silent inside.
Cheng Dongfeng only breathed a long sigh when the car left Lingzhou City, saying, “I’m so adorably foolish that I would be worried of the anomaly that is Jiang He… That said, did that kid really do in the Sentinel of the Right and the Senior Elder of the Sky Demon Cult?”
Duan Tianhe said nothing.
Beside them, Ji Dongxu could not help asking, “Chief Duan, what is the story with this Jiang He?”
He was very curious.
That person had killed the Sentinel of the Right, the Senior Elder, and several of the Grands single-handedly, something which the peerless rank-nines who gained perfect grasp over the Boundary of Wills would never achieve… after all, the Sentinel of the Right was an elite of this same rank, and the Senior Elder of the Sky Demon Cult was not far from that as well.
And yet, through the call…
That ‘Jiang He’ who left him speechless claimed that he was not divine-tier…
Cheng Dongfeng continued the conversation then, and told Ji Dongxu about Jiang He’s feats.
Once he was finished, he sneered, saying, “Didn’t the Blue King Drake say that a human elite killed the Black King Drake two days ago when it attacked Jiangnan? Jiang He might be the one that did it!”
“That’s impossible!”
Although Ji Dongxu had left seclusion for no more than a few days, he certainly knew about something so important. Shaking his head, he said, “The Black King Drake was already a Feral King, which is equal to a divine-tier human. Even if Jiang He is a peerless rank-nine, he would never surpass a divine-tier elite, let alone at rank-seven.”
“Why not?”
Cheng Dongfeng sighed. “He killed rank-sevens as a rank-five, rank-eight as a rank-six. I’ve always thought that turning the tables against a rank-nine is impossible too, but didn’t Jiang He kill them all the same?”
He was simply saying those words casually, but now, Cheng Dongfeng’s eyes lit up.
The more he thought about it, the likelier Jiang He was the culprit.
“I’ve read an article about it, saying that the mysterious elite blew up and scattered over a thousand Ferals before crossing to the island…”
There was a twitch in Duan Tianhe’s expression.
What the hell.
His eyes widened at Cheng Dongfeng.
Others notwithstanding…
Blowing things up for a bit before going to kill some big shot was absolutely Jiang He’s style.
Most importantly, Jiang He was at Jiangnan in those two days. According to the feedback from the Jiangnan MAD, after the two elites Pei Donglai and Wang Hou had shifted the battlefield to the wildlands, and Pei Donglai had returned to Jiangnan City once to personally bring Jiang He to the wildlands…
Cheng Dongfeng had clearly thought of that and calmly said, “Old Duan, could that aura before belong to Jiang He?”
Nonetheless, they soon arrive at Jiang He’s house.
The man himself was standing outside his front gates.
As everyone got down from the car and approached Jiang He, Duan Tianhe made the introductions, “Jiang He, this is Ji Dongxu, or Grandmaster Ji of Xibei’s Ji clan, and he has now come to help guard Lingzhou city.”
“Grandmaster Jiang!”
Ji Dongxu offered him a fist-palm salute, showing respect towards Jiang He in his words. At the same time, he was very curious and could not help casting Jiang He a few more looks while smiling. “I’ve heard of your fame, and it seems that the stories are true.”
Jiang He returned his salute, and they had a little chat when Cheng Dongfeng suddenly exclaimed, “Are you rank-eight now, Jiang He?”
“Yes, I am. Rank-eight pinnacle, in fact.”
“What the hell!”
Cheng Dongfeng was astonished. “Weren’t you rank-seven just a few days ago?”
“A few days ago?”
Jiang he thought about it. To tell the truth, he had just ascended up to rank-seven on Mount Helan, which was around ten days since? Nonetheless, considering that his ‘cultivation career’ was just one month and a few days, ten days was a third of that duration and considered very long, was it not?
Still, following his shock, Cheng Dongfeng found that it made sense.
Did it not make sense if these sorts of things happen to Jiang He?
Cheng Dongfeng found that he had gotten used to it. If someone were to say that Jiang He could bring down the moon with a single swing of his blade, he would not be all that shocked.
Meanwhile, as Duan Tianhe instructed the other MAD personnel to handle the ‘battlefield’, Jiang He quickly said, “Don’t go anywhere else. Just clean up the corpses and that’s it—I still have landmines planted under other spots!”
The personnel all shuddered, afraid to even walk an inch.
Jiang He chuckled when he saw that, “Is there a need to be that afraid? Just don’t go anywhere you like. The potato… the landmines I planted are very stable, and they won’t detonate as long as you don’t step in the zone.”
“…”
Two amongst the personnel were Jiang He’s acquaintances: one was the Liu Xue, the Awakened with superstrength and the other was Su Ze, a disciple of Cheng Dongfeng’s fellow pupil.
Unable to decide if he should laugh or cry, Su Ze said, “Don’t frighten us, Mister Jiang.”
“Who’s frightening you?”
Jiang He glared speechlessly. “The landmines I buried are very powerful, and actually blew up a rank-eight… whatever, I’ll lead you.”
Duan Tianhe and Ji Dongxu followed along as well.
They first went behind the mansion, where the Sentinel of the Right struck.
They saw a massive crater immediately.
The crater was up to three meters deep and over a hundred meters wide, and the edge of the crater was less than ten meters away from Jiang He’s mansion. He did not notice it since he was preoccupied with murder and searching the corpses, and he could not help feeling frightened after the fact, wiping cold sweat off his bow even as he said, “Luckily, I did my best to keep the landmines far away when I buried it, or my mansion would be blown sky-high as well.
The scene was rather silent.
Woah!
Someone gasped and exclaimed in shock, “Heavens! Such devastation—could it be a W-35 nuclear mine?”
Nuclear landmines had already been developed years ago, and it was said that there were some with kiloton yields. It was so powerful as an anti-infantry and anti-tank weapon that there would be fireworks once it detonates.
Still, for a person like Jiang He who was uneducated about weapons, he would not know about the existence of such a weapon at all.
“What nuclear landmine?”
“Screw that. This is my homemade landmine. It’s only so powerful… because I buried around thirty of them here.”
Jiang He answered truthfully.
As for landmines or potato landmines…
The difference was just a single word, nothing to be obsessed about.
Soon.
Everyone had pieced together the broken pieces of the Sky Demon Cult’s Decan. His Decan Decree had been blown quite far—Liu Xue found it three hundred meters away.
It had a ‘Noble’ written on it, indicating that he was Noble Star.
After that, Jiang He led the others outside the walls of his farms as well… and after some puzzle work, they counted five corpses.
Liu Xue was holding a small notebook and was writing at a corner, “Sentinel of the Right, Senior Elder, Noble Star, Sword Star, Speed Star, Dark Star, Grace Star, Balance Star, as well as four Fiends.”
An utter look of astonishment showed on the face of the adorable loli as she gasped in surprise. “Brother Jiang He, you’re so awesome! You actually killed so many in a single fight?”
Jiang He on the other hand frowned, saying, “Nope, there’s a mistake. There should be six Fiends.”
“Eh?”
Liu Xiu replied. “Could they be too damaged to be found? Hold on, I’ll ask my colleagues at forensics.”
Soon, she returned and said, “My colleagues did find some extra body parts.”
She looked at Duan Tianhe who stood with Jiang He and asked, “Should we search for more Fiend Decrees, Chief Duan?”
“No need. What for? It’s not worth any money!”
Jiang He spoked before Duan Tianhe could, adding, “By the way, Chief Duan, look at this token plate. I found it from another Sky Demon Cultist, although it looks a little weird—I’ve not seen any with such style.”
Duan Tianhe took the token plate and studied it.
Unlike the Fiend Decree, Decan Decree, Elder Decree, and even the Sentinel Decree, this token plate was not made from alloy, but its material resembled jade and was white.
‘Holy’ was written on its back, and the front was two words: Floating Cloud.
Frowning, Duan Tianhe shook his head and said, “I’ve never seen a token plate like that either… What is his ability like?”
Clearly, he did not recognize the Holy Child Decree either.
There were many Holy Children in the Sky Demon Cult that were groomed at the beginning of the Revival of Qi, but none of them came out to the known world before. It was only recently that they came out to loiter around, and Jiang He actually killed one.
But that was not exactly true, since it was the Cloudscraper Vine that had done it.
Jiang He had not even met the Flowing Cloud Holy Child, which was why he shook his head when Duan Tianhe asked him about it, saying, “I don’t know.”
“Eh?”
Duan Tianhe asked, taken aback. “Didn’t you say you killed him? How could you not know his ability?”
“I killed him, but did I kill him personally?”
“Doesn’t my pets killing him equals to me killing him?”
Jiang He’s eyes suddenly lit up even as he spoke. “Hold on, maybe someone knows what this token plate represents…”
He strode out of his farm, and soon dragged out the mage-robed Fourth Elder of the Sky Demon Cult.
Duan Tianhe, Cheng Dongfeng, and Ji Dongxu were all left taken aback, and could not help asking, “This person is…?”
“No idea.”
Jiang He simply dumped Fourth Elder on the ground, saying, “My pet caught him, but he’s quite strong and could match a rank-nine, so he’s probably an Elder… Chief Duan, does the MAD have any torture tools? Loan me a few sets for now—I’m ready to interrogate him for a bit to see what I could find out.”
Duan Tianhe shook his head.
Jiang He muttered ‘what a pity’, before suggesting, “How about this, borrow me that old blacksmith of yours. I’ll design a dozen torture tools myself. I’ll never believe he won’t talk if we test it on this buster then!”
“…”
On the ground, the Fourth Elder who was playing dead finally could not bear it.
Opening his eyes, he seethed through his clenched teeth. “You might be young, but you are very vile, Jiang He.”
???
“You weren’t unconscious?” Jiang He exclaimed in surprise.
And was he not speaking the most terrified words with the harshest attitude?
Shaking his head, Jiang He said, “I would never believe you… You Sky Demon Cultists are all a bunch of brainwashed zealots who would scream ‘for the Holy Faith’ before you die, that the Saint would revive them and whatnot… would you tell the truth without my torture?”
Jiang He raised his hand and gave him an almighty slap, before drawing his Dragon-Slaying Saber and running it through Fourth Elder’s thigh.
Only then did he say, “Alright, you can talk now.”
