"Hmm~ mmm~," Monk happily hummed a tune while the baby Black Tounge Eater's tendon in his hand did all the work. All he had to do was provide it Qi and it would find out any spacial anomalies and attack them.
A Black Tounge Eater was a type of rare beast that cultivated death and space laws. It was born in the areas rich with spacial and death energy.
A normal variant had six legs, four in the front, and two in the back. Its face was made up of multiple human-like skulls melded together with hundreds of fleshy tongue's protruding out of every orifice.
With a height of over a 1000 meters, it was a nightmarish creature that was extremely dangerous. (Pic in Authors notes)
But the good thing was that since it was born in places rich with death and space energies, its body parts could be refined into treasures with equally unique properties, like the tendons in the hands of Jia soldiers.
Monk was the spear user that had first found Hao Xuan (Author note for details). He had also lost a couple of his arms to Kuo during that conflict.
His red hair and good looks set him apart from his companions even in the heat of battle. As he inserted another dose of Qi into the tendon the space in front of him rippled and a red door appeared.
"Did they finally decide to stop hiding?" he mumbled to himself with a grin.
"Don't lose focus!" a deep voice reminded him from the right side. It was another four-armed giant with a massive greatsword on his back. This was 'Steel', the leader of the Elite Jia warriors that served directly under Jiang Ling.
Each of these elite warriors was selected after years of training. Only the ones with the purest bloodlines were allowed to enter their ranks, giving them a valid reason to be proud. Other than the Royal family, they had the second-highest concentration of the giant bloodline.
"Tch," Monk ignored Steel's words, not even bothering to spare him a glance. Several veins on Steel's forehead swelled up as he held himself back from beating him up once again.
*Bzzt*
A sudden pressure fell down on everyone present, silencing them at once. Monk's smirk vanished as he looked at the gate. He could feel his cultivation lowering by the second. His heartbeat quickened as he let go of the slithering tendon and held onto his spear with all four arms.
"WHAT THE FU-"
Just as he was getting ready to attack two streams of flames, one black and one white in color, shot out from the gate. It was aimed right in the middle which was where he stood.
*Kuek*
He covered his face and upper body with his arms and released a wave of Qi to create a barrier around his body, but it was utterly useless.
The flames were completely opposite in their nature. The white one was like boiling lava while the black one was a stream of liquid nitrogen.
One froze while the other melted, and their combination burned through the Qi barriers around the warrior's bodies. Not to mention the source of these flames were Divine beasts, capable of reaching the heavens.
"Ahhhh!" ear-piercing screams erupted from the mouths of several of the elite warriors as they backed off swiftly.
All the skin on the warrior's arms and legs was burnt to a crisp. Yet their healing factor was so strong that even before the flames were put out, scabs fell off their bodies and new skin cells quickly replaced the old ones.
Unfortunately, the process was extremely painful and truly tested the soldier's will.
"Oi oi, didn't you get too weak in the little time I didn't see you?"
A voice came from the other side of the flames, startling the Jia warriors.
Monk lowered his arms and glared at the fire with an ugly expression, trying to spot the silhouette.
"Wait…I recognize that voice…." he mumbled doubtfully, not even sure if he believed the words he just spoke.
*Tap*
*Tap*
*Tap*
Sounds of footsteps echoed loudly in the swamp. The soldiers held their breath and raised their weapons, ready to receive another attack.
Monk, Steel, Ox, Dagger, these four were the ones closest to Jiang Ling and hence held a higher rank than the others. They squinted their eyes and moved to the front of the line as vanguards.
The black and white flames seemed to be alive as they waved about merrily.
The spectators watched on with bated breath as a lone silhouette lazily appeared amidst the flame. The flames came into contact with his body but did no damage. He might as well have been out for a leisurely stroll.
Monk tightened the grip on his 5-meter long spear and using two of his right hands chucked it at the silhouette with full power. It cut through the air with such speed that it became invisible to the naked eye.
It passed through the flames but even they didn't have enough time to do anything to it, and reached the silhouette in less than a second. The silhouette made no sudden moves, only raising its hand and waving ever-so-slightly at the incoming object.
An unknown force came into contact with the spear, changing its course by a few inches.
*BOOM*
It passed by the silhouette's head and impacted with the ground behind, creating an explosion that rang loudly for miles.
"Tsk tsk, well that's not very nice is it?"
The silhouette mumbled coldly and finally walked out of the flames.
Monk's eyes widened from shock as he pointed at Hao Xuan, "Its YOU! How?!"
"Yo, did you miss me?" Hao Xuan gave a toothy grin. He then surveyed his surroundings, going over every Jia soldier.
"How are you alive?" Monk inquired confusedly, still not believing his eyes, "And how did you get so big?"
Hao Xuan ignored his query and gave one of his own instead, "Is that b*stard here?"
He couldn't find Jiang Ling among the people in front.
Steel and Ox exchanged glances with one another and nodded once. Ox grasped his spiked club while Steel tightened his grip around the massive block of iron that was his greatsword, ready to pounce at a moment's notice.
"Wait…"
A gentle voice came from behind them, effectively putting a stop to their scheme. Steel's expression crumpled slightly as he turned around and looked at one of the random 200 soldiers behind him.
The soldier put down his sword and took off his helmet, revealing his face.
Hao Xuan raised an eyebrow upon seeing that familiar countenance once again. He was looking right at him but couldn't even notice him decked out in the armor like that. It probably had a few enchantments that made it easier to blend in.
Jiang Ling raised his hand and the entire platoon surrounding him backed off. With one unified motion, they created a path for him to pass through.
He slowly walked out while maintaining eye contact with Hao Xuan.
"Looks like you had a fortuitous encounter or two…" he said looking at Hao Xuan up and down before fixing his gaze on the two little worms on his shoulders.
Hao Xuan smiled in response, "Looks like you've been in a rough patch eh?"
He was referring to Jiang Ling's appearance. It looked like he had lost a lot of weight and his complexion was extremely pale, in complete contrast to the image from a year ago.
Jiang Ling ignored his comment and looked at the red gate behind him.
"Tell them to come out. There is no way you can escape. The 3rd battalion of my army is almost here."
"Ho, is that so?" Hao Xuan's smile widened even more as he closed the distance between himself and Jiang Ling.
****
Authors Notes:
A little Reminder, the Jia are a race of giants with up to four arms and height of between 15-20 feet or 4.5-5 meters.
Tounge Eater:
Normal link: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/eb/09/fa/eb09fa9b965de5531c0b237ecb886a07.jpg
Shorter one: https://urlzs.com/q3Xce
Monk was introduced in chapter 58.
"He had short red hair and well-defined features that could have easily allowed him to become a model back on earth."
