The two figures vanished into the dark night, one after another.
That was when the many martial artists and Awakened who were standing outside the villa to spectate the battle slowly approached and arrived at the battlefield. All of them couldn’t help gasping when they saw the carnage left!
“Woah!”
“That blade slash is probably meters deep…”
“Oh my goodness, so this is a battle between elites? It’s like the earth was being turned upside down!”
The strongest amongst them was only a rank-five, which was why they were staying too far from the battle to watch it clearly, although they vaguely heard mentions of ‘Sky Demon Cult’ and ‘Jiang He’.
Still, when they walked up to check, they found two corpses—although they took more notice of Guilty Star’s corpses because of his combat axe.
“Is that…”
“An S-grade alloy combat axe?”
Someone murmured as he tried to take it for himself. However, when he noticed the unfriendly looks around him, he quickly said, “We’re all martial artists of Western Xia—there’s no need to die over one weapon. And even if we really do fight to the death… there’s no telling who actually survives!”
“Moreover…”
“If those guys return, who could take this axe away?”
His voice became somber then as he seethed through clenched teeth. “S-grade alloy weapons are at least worth 30 million bucks, and this S-grade alloy combat axe would not lack in material used compared to the forging of blades or swords. It might even sell for fifty million, and even with everyone here, it would not be a problem for us to walk away with a few million dollars when we sell it…”
Everyone else appeared interested at those words.
But then, someone said meekly, “But… this is a spoil belonging to the elite called Jiang He for killing Sky Demon Cultists. It’s not exactly right for us to take it away, is it?”
He cowered when the others looked towards him, his voice becoming softer at that. “I mean, we would definitely get tracked if we sell it here at Western Xia, and none of us are getting away if that elite decides to pursue the matter. How about we get off this mountain right now and trade it in another province? I heard that there are black markets elsewhere…”
“Rawr!”
A roar echoed then.
And yet, that single bellow left the random martial artists fleeing over every direction like startled birds, with someone crying out, “Run away! I’ve seen that black panther before, it’s a rank-seven Feral…”
???
The black panther was utterly confused.
‘What are they doing?
‘I just suddenly remembered that I could flee with that guy gone from sight, which was why I vented my excitement a bit. Why are you people running?’
***
“The Third Elder of the Sky Demon Cult, hehe… all talk!”
“He was quite good at being dramatic, but it’s now clear that he’s just a piece of trash… A might rank-nine who had grasped the Boundary of Wills, not daring to face me directly?”
Moving like a phantom, Jiang He was in hot pursuit amidst the mountain forest.
At the same time, Third Elder was fleeing with a scowl, and cursing inwardly at every last ancestor Jiang He had.
‘Fight?
‘Fight, my foot!
‘This is outrageous!’
Jiang He was only rank-six… and even if he was not actually that powerful, no one could expect the tricks he was pulling. Not only was his cultivation frightening, he was an Awakened too!
And it had to be Royal Sword…
That one superpower said to be most lethal against individuals of the same tier!
And by logic, Third Elder just had to stay on guard after learning Jiang He’s trump card with the power he possessed. And yet, after four palms, he lost hope!
His attacks had no effect!
At all!
Why was he even fighting when his attacks had no effect?
Moreover, he still had to be wary of that luminous sword at every moment, as well any stupefying gimmick the brat might pull out of nowhere!
That being said, Third Elder’s form technique was not bad and he was familiar with Mount Helan. Jiang He could hardly catch up when he was at top speed, although even if he could not catch up, shaking Jiang He off was rather impossible.
He had run past the vicinity of Mount Helan after dashing sixty kilometers away in a single breath. Then, when he turned to look and found Jiang He still in pursuit, a flash of shock passed through his eyes, although he soon started to laugh coldly.
“Even if he is beyond common sense, he is still a rank-six martial artist!”
“On the other hand, I am a rank-nine who had grasped the Boundary of Wills. I possess endless True Qi and could continuously absorb the Universal Force from the world around me, using it as my own strength. Running for hours like this wouldn’t be a problem, and when he’s almost exhausted, I’ll turn back and catch him off guard, and I’ll definitely be able to kill him.”
However.
Third Elder soon realized that something was wrong.
The distance between them seemed to be widening.
“Could he have used up his True Qi?”
As the idea struck Third Elder, he slowed down as was ready to turn around to counter-kill Jiang He, when he felt a chilling sense of danger…”
***
To the rear.
Jiang He was cursing.
“I can’t catch up, I can’t… and running at top speed like this really burns my True Qi. I would have to start taking drugs if we keep this up for another dozen hours.”
Still, as their speed were almost reaching the sound barrier, they would probably have run out of the country in a dozen hours.
Therefore…
He slowed down, and watched as the distance between them reached 300 meters.
Then 500 meters.
Then 1 km.
Then 2 km.
At that, he took out his Dragon God-Type Nuclear Rocket Launcher, and loaded it with a 100-ton nuclear warhead.
[Dragon God-Type Nuclear Rocket Launcher]
[Effective Range: 6km]
[W-55 Nuclear Warhead]
[Yield: 100 tons]
[Range of Explosion: 6km]
With the warhead loaded, Jiang He was about to fire when Third Elder got further away, but he was surprised to find that Third Elder had slowed down…
Good. He could get a better bead on his target now.
Gritting his teeth, Jiang He promptly fired!
Bang!
Nuclear warhead, launch!
And almost at the same instant he fired, he turned and ran.
Pushing himself to run as fast as he could and reaching the speed of sound, he covered over a mile in just two seconds.
Boom!
Behind him, a terrific explosion echoed. Even as Jiang He dashed away, he could feel a tremendous shockwave behind him… and then…
Nothing.
???
Jiang He froze where he was.
He turned to look at the epicenter, only to find a small mushroom cloud rising into the air.
“What the heck,” he muttered in surprise. “It’s a lot less powerful than I’ve thought.”
Not only was the carnage limited, but the range was also questionable too, wasn’t it?
Be that as it may, the corner of Jiang He’s mouth twitched as he came to a realization. “So I’ve misunderstood. The six kilometers range of explosion refers to the diameter of the blast, which is why the blast would at most reach three kilometers… Eh? I didn’t kill Third Elder yet?”
From afar, he could see a figure struggling to rise from the edge of the explosion.
The Third Elder of the Sky Demon Cult was coughing out blood profusely, appearing dazed and almost blacking out.
He was not dead, but he was definitely maimed.
In the instant that Jiang He fired his rocket launcher, he had sensed the danger and fled the epicenter at once. Even so, the shockwave from the 100-ton nuclear warhead instantly tore through his protective True Qi, setting his body and qi on fire while dislodging his True Qi, bursting a lot of his nerves and veins too.
The worst of it was the nuclear radiation.
It was leaving him bleeding through his mouth and nose, but while it did not kill him immediately, he could not muster his True Qi to heal himself.
In the distance…
Jiang He was uncertain.
What should he do?
Even though the radiation of his nuclear warhead was not too powerful and has a short half-life… what if he could not withstand the radiation?
“Better safe than sorry. It’s better if I don’t go over for the double-tap!”
Hence, Jiang He fired his launcher again.
He did not have to be wary about the radiation when he was merely going for the double-tap from a long distance away.
“No!”
Third Elder screamed shrilly in despair. Right now, he could not even direct his True Qi and his entire body felt like jelly from fatigue. How was he supposed to run?
Boom!
The nuclear warhead detonated beneath his feet. Meanwhile, Jiang He had turned around and was dashing back to Mount Helan, not even bothered to collect his spoils of war!
“It’s late… it might even be dawn soon. I’ll have to deal with the big willow tree sooner so that I could get some sleep!”
