Overlord of the Wilderness

Trees snapped, and leaves flew everywhere.

The moment Zhaang Ye drew his Long Whip, the dark figure had already crossed a distance of three li. The fierce wind from its incredible speed snapped countless branches, sending leaves raining down.

But strangely, Zhaang Ye heard no sound at all.

The man’s speed was far greater than that of sound. He had arrived before the noise of the snapping trees even reached Zhaang Ye’s ears!

”HAHAHAHA!” After a chase spanning twenty to thirty thousand li, he had finally caught Zhaang Ye. The man in black couldn’t help but roar with laughter.

’This brat Zhaang Ye killed the Fifth and the Sixth a day ago. All of their belongings fell into his hands. That means he must know our identities by now! If he makes it back alive and says even a word or two to the True Hall, our entire Jiang Family will be finished! Zhaang Ye must die!’

A deep killing intent filled the man’s blood-red eyes, his murderous aura so thick it felt tangible.

When he was still over twenty zhang away from Zhaang Ye, the man in black thrust out his palm. It descended like a mountain, striking straight for Zhaang Ye.

The moment the man’s palm shot out, a thick killing intent enveloped Zhaang Ye. He felt as if he had been plunged underwater; even lifting an arm became difficult!

Death was at his doorstep!

RUMBLE—

The Long Whip in Zhaang Ye’s hand suddenly glowed red. An exquisitely brilliant light radiated from its length. In that instant, the entire whip seemed to come alive, exuding a mysterious, primal aura of the Wilderness!

”Kill!”

Zhaang Ye’s gaze was cold and merciless. With a wave of his arm, the Long Whip streaked across the sky like a beautiful rainbow, lashing straight at the man in black!

AHHH—

As Zhaang Ye’s whip lashed out, a chilling aura of the Wilderness instantly locked onto the man in black. The cold killing intent in his eyes vanished, and a terrified scream escaped his lips.

”An aura of the Wilderness! This Long Whip is a True Artifact from Ancient Times!” The man in black felt his soul about to shatter, and his face went deathly pale.

The might of a True Artifact was far beyond what a Mortal Artifact could compare to. Even the most common True Artifact could easily kill a Martial Arts Ninth Layer expert. And a True Artifact left over from Ancient Times was far more powerful than an ordinary one!

Faced with the lashing whip, the man in black wanted to dodge, but he was in mid-air, moving faster than sound. At such a speed, dodging was impossible, no matter how much he wanted to!

Immense fear enveloped the man in black. He frantically circulated the True Qi in his body, channeling it to his palms. An extremely dense amount of True Qi gathered before his hands, forming a True Qi Ball as wide as an embrace.

BOOM!

Zhaang Ye’s whip viciously struck the True Qi Ball. The immensely powerful ball of True Qi was forcibly dispersed by the blow. After shattering the True Qi Ball, the brilliantly colored whip slowed slightly before continuing toward the man in black.

SLASH! The brilliant whip flashed across the man’s body like lightning. This gorgeous whip was a hundred times sharper than a blade. He was sliced in two before he could even let out a scream!

”ARGH!”

Though sliced in two, the man in black was somehow not yet dead. A flicker of regret and deep resentment flashed in his eyes as he shot a hand toward Zhaang Ye like lightning, intending to use his last ounce of strength to kill him.

Although this man in black had the strength of the Martial Arts Seventh Layer, he couldn’t even exert thirty percent of his power now. Facing this palm strike, Zhaang Ye didn’t even blink. The Heavy Saber in his other hand swept out in a flash of black light, severing the man’s hand.

THUD! THUD!

The two halves of the man’s body fell to the ground. He died with his eyes open.

Having killed the man in black so cleanly, Zhaang Ye let out a slight sigh of relief.

’That man was at the Martial Arts Seventh Layer Middle Stage, and his speed was astonishingly fast. With his strength and speed, if he had been a little more cautious, I probably couldn’t have killed him even with the True Artifact in hand.’

’True Artifacts are powerful, but my Cultivation is too low to use them at will. With my strength at the Late Fifth Layer of the Dragon Elephant Skill, it takes me a moment to ready each lash of the whip.’

’That bit of time doesn’t matter normally, but in a battle as fast as lightning, it’s a fatal weakness. Against an incredibly fast expert, an attack can land in the blink of an eye, leaving me no time to use the True Artifact.’

’In other words, if he had been more careful, he could have easily dodged before I unleashed the whip. But he was too arrogant, too confident in his own strength. He charged straight at me the moment he saw me, making it impossible for him to evade. As a result, he was killed by a single lash.’

SQUAWK SQUAWK SQUAWK—

Zhaang Ye looked down at the Five-Colored Long-Tailed Pigeon at his feet. Many of its feathers had been stripped away by the Powerful Qi released during the fight. It had now buried half its head in the ground, its body trembling nonstop as it let out pitiful cries. It had clearly been terrified by the battle.

Zhaang Ye laughed in spite of himself, then jumped off the Five-Colored Long-Tailed Pigeon and began to take stock of his spoils.

Zhaang Ye had killed three people in total. None of them had simple identities. The middle-aged man and the man in black were both experts at the Martial Arts Seventh Layer. As for the long-haired youth, his status was even higher than the middle-aged man with a Martial Arts Seventh Layer Cultivation. Zhaang Ye searched their bodies and immediately found a large pile of items.

Among the items, the most valuable were the Essence Stones. Zhaang Ye found two small pouches of Essence Stones on the three men, totaling over fifty stones.

The Essence Stones were a bit smaller than a little finger, faintly green, and wreathed in a pure Heaven and Earth Essence Qi. Seeing more than fifty of them together was quite a spectacular sight.

Besides the Essence Stones, another of Zhaang Ye’s gains was Qi Gathering Pills. The three of them were carrying two bottles of High Grade Qi Gathering Pills and two bottles of Middle Grade Qi Gathering Pills. This left Zhaang Ye overjoyed.

Zhaang Ye didn’t think much of the Middle Grade Qi Gathering Pills. The High Grade Qi Gathering Pills, however, were truly valuable.

As an elixir commonly used by Martial Artists, Qi Gathering Pills had four grades. Low Grade Qi Gathering Pills could be used by those at the Martial Arts Third and Fourth Layers; Middle Grade ones could be used by those at the Martial Arts Fifth and Sixth Layers; and High Grade ones could be used by those at the Seventh and Eighth Layers.

High Grade Qi Gathering Pills were refined from the fruit of a Pseudo Spirit Tree, combined with various other medicinal ingredients. A single High Grade Qi Gathering Pill was worth over three hundred thousand taels of Gold, several times more valuable than an Essence Stone.

In addition to the Essence Stones and Qi Gathering Pills, Zhaang Ye also found a Martial Arts Secret Manual. This manual was taken from the long-haired youth. The cover bore the sharp, imposing words: ”Linghan Sword Skill.”

Zhaang Ye flipped through it and saw that the Sword Techniques inside were none other than the ”Three-Flower Plum” and ”Five-Flower Plum” the long-haired youth had used earlier. And after ”Five-Flower Plum,” there was another technique: ”Seven-Flower Plum.”

’This Swordsmanship uses a marvelous method to transform sharp Essence Gold Qi into plum blossoms. It’s quite unique. I’ll keep it and study it carefully.’ Zhaang Ye put the Martial Arts Secret Manual away.

There was also a large pile of other miscellaneous items from the three men, including three or four Golden Tickets. Their combined value reached over six million taels, which was a huge fortune.

The three men’s weapons were also valuable. Their quality was even better than the Heavy Saber in Zhaang Ye’s hand; he estimated they were likely Mortal Artifacts of the Second Grade. If sold at a weapon shop in a city, these Second Grade Mortal Artifacts would fetch a good price. However, they were too inconvenient to carry. With no other choice, Zhaang Ye had to give up on this small, readily available fortune.

”There’s too much stuff. If I had some kind of storage space, I could take it all with me. For now, I can only abandon it,” Zhaang Ye sighed in frustration. He then secured the Martial Arts Secret Manual, Essence Stones, Qi Gathering Pills, and Golden Tickets, walked over to the Five-Colored Long-Tailed Pigeon, and said, ”Alright, it’s over. Pull your head out of there and take me to Python Marsh.”

The Five-Colored Long-Tailed Pigeon cautiously pulled its head out of the dirt and looked around. Seeing that all was calm, it let out a few SQUAWKS and stood up.

Zhaang Ye landed on the Five-Colored Long-Tailed Pigeon’s back and shouted, ”Let’s go!”

The Five-Colored Long-Tailed Pigeon was quite intelligent. Hearing Zhaang Ye’s command, it gave a soft cry, then abruptly spread its wings and soared into the sky on a fierce wind.

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE—

The Five-Colored Long-Tailed Pigeon had just taken to the sky when a long whistle echoed from the forest. The sound was low yet focused, spreading out in all directions and revealing the newcomer’s extremely profound Cultivation. A moment after the whistle, a ruddy-faced old man suddenly appeared atop a large tree.

The ruddy-faced old man squinted at Zhaang Ye on the pigeon’s back. A sharp glint suddenly flashed in his eyes as he bellowed, ”Hold on! I have something to say!”

When Zhaang Ye heard the whistle, he knew another expert had arrived. ’This ruddy-faced old man is probably the Jiang Family’s Fifth Elder, with a Cultivation at the Martial Arts Eighth Layer Middle Stage.’

An expert at the Martial Arts Eighth Layer was far more formidable than one at the Martial Arts Seventh Layer. How could Zhaang Ye possibly dare to stop now? He slapped the Five-Colored Long-Tailed Pigeon twice, and it flew even faster.

Seeing Zhaang Ye fly away even faster, a flash of anger crossed the old man’s eyes. He hooked his foot, and an arm-thick, ten-foot-long branch instantly fell into his hand. With a WHOOSH, he threw it.

The old man’s strength was truly formidable. Zhaang Ye was already flying over two hundred zhang high, but the branch crossed that vast distance in an instant, about to pierce the Five-Colored Long-Tailed Pigeon.

SQUAWK SQUAWK SQUAWK! the Five-Colored Long-Tailed Pigeon cried in alarm.

Zhaang Ye snorted. He swung his Heavy Saber, sending out a long flash of blade energy that squarely intercepted the branch. By then, the Five-Colored Long-Tailed Pigeon had reached its top speed, turning into a five-colored rainbow as it vanished over the horizon. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for Recommendation Tickets and monthly passes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)