Three Swords, Six Holes was a punishment that the Small Swords Society had invented for members of their guild who broke guild rules. They would be pierced with three blades in penance, with each piercing the victim’s body all the way through, creating two holes from each side. That was how it earned the name of ‘Three Swords, Six Holes’.
Of course, the Small Swords Society’s blades were small and they only stabbed their members in the thigh. At worst, the victim would end up a cripple.
On the other hand, the Sky Demon Cult actually cut their meter-long knives into their victims’ chests. Once the first blade pierced them and was pulled out, rarely anyone would survive to receive the second blade.
Old Liu checked his mobile phone.
It was a minute to one.
Huffing two mouthfuls of smoke, he cried, “Let’s go. We stick to the schedule!”
He leapt atop a rank-six Feral. It was gray wolf that was up to eight meters in length. Rearing its head and howling at the heavens, all of its four paws clawed through the air as it bounded forward.
As a matter of fact, all the hundred-over Ferals there were gray wolfs. They were the strongest pack in these mountains, and had mutated after the Revival of Qi into an even stronger collective. Now, aside from the nest of snakes over at the mining area, no Ferals could stop the pack.
Beside Old Liu, the other seven members of the Sky Demon Cult all leapt on to their assigned wolves as well.
If they had dared to do so on any other day, the wolf pack would have attacked them, tearning them into pieces. However, this pack now obeyed the Sky Demon Cult—it was none of their concern how the Tranquil Heavenly General achieved that.
Howl!
The cries of the wolf pack echoed as each wolf dashed away. They moved rapidly, covering a hill in minutes.
***
“Who the hell are you?” gasped the golded-headed Awakened in a hysterial but weak voice.
He was lying prone on the ground, his head a little lopsided and his nose bleeding. It didn’t look like he would make it.
“Are you alright in the head?”
Jiang He was a little speechless. I was just standing in front of you, and you would headbutt me? Did you really think that you have the Iron Head Technique?
Granted, he was a superstrength-type Awakened and had a body of steel, with his skull evolving in the process. It was much stronger than your usual Iron Head Technique, but because his Awakened standard was quite low, once his head knocked into Jiang He…
Jiang He’s Indestructible Diamond was simply unaffected, while he himself ended up like that.
Watching as the man was about to die, Jiang He dropped to a crouch and asked with a frown, “Do you really not know me?”
Nonetheless, Jiang He himself came to a realization at those words.
Perhaps…
He really did not know him.
The reason the Sky Demon Cult was able to attack him in Jinyintan Village was not because they had identified him. The beast-tamer had merely used smell, tracking abilities, and whatnot to locate him.
And before he could give his cult that information, Jiang He had already killed him.
It ought to have been a good thing.
‘But why do I get the feeling that I’m being belittled?’
Jiang He growled. “Talk. What is the Sky Demon Cult planning? Did you come here in the middle of the night to kill me?”
Who the hell wants to kill you?
Li Si was about to cry.
That was when…
Hooowl!!!
Waves of unusual cries echoed from the distant night, growing louder by the moment. Whatever it was, it was clearly getting closer.
‘That howl sounds like Dumbo’s when he loses it… no, it’s a wolf’s howl!’
Even as Jiang He came to a realization, the Awakened beside him suddenly broke into laughter. As if time reversed for him, he sat up, his dented skull shining in golden light once again as he roared, “The holy faith lives eternal!”
After that, he promptly croaked.
Is he crazy?
Jiang He was a little speechless. These lunatics from the Sky Demon Cult were really heavily brainwashed. If you are dying, just die—what would you achieve by saying something before you die?
Passing a message?
Still, as the man’s roar resounded into the distance, waves of echoes returned. In the next split second, the distant wolf cries reverberated over the mountains. With his night vision, Jiang He could vaguely see waves of massive figures darting towards him from the faraway mountaintops.
“Wolf! No, wolf pack! Though I can’t see how many wolves there actually are.”
Jiang He appeared somber. Having night vision didn’t mean that he was omnipotent, not to mention that he hadn’t eaten enough carrots yet… But why had that golden-headed man called out before he died? Had he drawn the wolves here?
“Well, it’s good. Saves me the trouble of searching for Ferals over the mountains.”
The saying ‘things are further than they really look’ was quite appropriate here. As quick as the wolf pack was, it would still take another eight minutes for them to reach Jiang He. Incidentally, he could take that time to seach the two Sky Demon Cult idiots to see what valuable items they had. It was spiritual reparation for trying to intimidate him with guns and that headbutt.
“Two alloy weapons, probably D-grade and worth around two hundred thousand. Just over ten thousand dollars in cash. Bank cards… but they are useless if I can’t make a withdrawal! Begone! Are Sky Demon cultists that poor? These two are worse than Cordo—they don’t even have qi pellets!” complained Jiang He.
Looking up, he saw that the wolf pack was getting closer. They were already at the foot of the mountain and still charging towards him rapidly. The wolves in the lead were over eight meters long and three meters tall, each of them striding powerfully forward like a truck.
And they were actually rank-six!
“Rank-six Ferals? Doesn’t feel like it. Why do they feel weaker than Cheng Dongfeng after he suppressed his cultivation? Eh? There are people riding the wolves too?” Jiang He narrowed his eyes. “These animals from the Sky Demon Cult… they can control the wolves now? Wait… what are they packing so much heat for?”
With a flip of his hand, Jiang He promptly took out over twenty pea bombs with a single grab, and threw them all in their direction with a swing of his hand.
Who cares what they want?
Bomb first, talk later.
And he would follow up on any who survived.
***
Beneath the mountain.
Riding a wolf, Old Liu yelled, “Li Si’s voice came from here… Eh? There’s someone on the mountain!”
He had no night vision, and could only vaguely make out a figure when he reached the ledge of the mountain. That was when a shower of peas tore through the night sky.
“Careful! He’s armed!” bellowed Old Liu.
But even as he uttered those words…
Boom!
Dazzling fireworks erupted ten meters away from him! The world shook right then, and more fireworks erupted in the dark night as a dozen peas blew up instantly!
