Jiang He retrieved the corpse of the Golden-Crowned Black Eagle with a wave.
Three Blades Lin came to his senses and stared straight at Jiang He for a dozen seconds in disbelief and asked, “That’s the Golden-Crowned Black Eagle! Even if I fought it, I could hardly stop it from escaping… You…”
“How did you manage to kill it?”
It was not as if Three Blades Lin was underestimating Jiang He—they fought just two days ago, and though Jiang He appeared to be powerful, he was not powerful enough to reverse the natural order to slay the Golden-Crowned Black Eagle.
One should know that he, Three Blades Lin, had only slain one Feral King ever since the Revival of Qi.
And here was a rank-nine who killed two in the course of a day.
He was basically divine.
In return, Jiang He smiled smugly. “I’ve actually thought about it on the way there, that it’s a fifty-fifty if the Golden-Crowned Black Eagle tried to flee as fast as it could. That is why I pretended to be weak, dull its wariness before I suddenly burst out and instakill it. It’s never getting away with that.”
That… that actually made a lot of sense.
If I really had the power to kill the Golden-Crowned Black Eagle with a single strike, why would I let it go?
After taking a deep breath to calm his stirred mind, Three Blades Lin said, “Jiang He, I must report this to Minister Wang at once. As for keeping it a secret… did you kill all the Ferals of Mount Tian?”
“Huh?”
Jiang He’s face dropped as regret showed all over his face. “Damn it, I was careless… I’ve only killed a dozen and allowed the others to run off—wouldn’t they report to the Golden-Winged Roc?”
Blade in hand, Jiang He turned around with overflowing killing-intent to massacre the mountain, only for Three Blades Lin to stop him.
“That’s unnecessary, Jiang He.”
No longer blanking out from disbelief like before, Three Blades Lin laughed out loud and said boldly, “It’s fine. So what if the Golden-Winged Roc knows? Just keep calm and head to the Tantra Secret Realm—I’m going back to Jingdu right now to discuss this matter with Minister Wang.”
“You set your mind at ease and cultivate yourself, so that you could reach divine-tier soon.”
“Your killing of the Golden-Crowned Black Eagle is still within the rules. The Golden-Winged Roc would never rule the skies!”
Three Blades Lin’s Blade Qi shot to the air.
With a whoosh, he turned into a blade light and took to the air, disappearing over the horizon.
There was somberness all over his face even as he rushed at top spit in the direction of Jingdu.
So what if the Golden-Winged Roc went on a rampage?
Jiang He must be protected!
So what if they went to war, when it was for the sake of a genius who could slay Feral Kings like chopping vegetables at rank-nine?
The Hua Nation’s present was not traded by being yes-people and compromising with the Ferals, but it was a path carved out by countless martial elites and Awakened!
“He’s gone… just like that?”
There was a look of envy in Jiang He’s eyes even as he stared at the blade light shooting up into the air…
Divine-tier individuals could walk on air.
Him, on the other hand, could not, and must use Royal Sword Flight with his flying sword, even though it seems like he was quicker…
Nonetheless, Jiang He sighed when he remembered about the Golden-Winged Roc. “Whatever—it’s unrealistic for me to kill something as a Feral Emperor with my current abilities. Just like Three Blades Lin said—it’s more practical for me to prioritize improving myself.”
Feral Emperors were equal to Void-tier martial artists, which in turn were equal to True Child on the Immortal Path.
“So what if it’s True Child?”
“According to the usual Xianxia novel plot, the path of Sword Sages which I had taken could kill foes regardless of tier, and it’s a simple matter for me to slay the Golden-Winged Roc.”
Jiang He strode out and sprinted towards Lake Kanas.
Since he had told the others that he would be away for around four hours, and only one hour had passed for now…
Therefore, Jiang He slowed down, taking out the Twenty-Seven Leafed Sword Will Grass from his System Backpack.
He must improve himself as soon as possible!
Focusing his sword will and extending it at the Twenty-Seven Leafed Sword Will Grass, in the next split second…
Boom!
As if thunder clapped in his mind, Jiang He’s figure abruptly froze, and he almost tripped and dropped to the ground.
He promptly sat cross-legged, his expression turning pale-white and cursed through gritted teeth, “What the heck… I guess cultivating sword will while running would never work. Moreover, isn’t this Twenty-Seven Leafed Sword Will Grass I planted a little too powerful?”
The powerful sword will was washing over the sea of swords in Jiang He’s mind.
He focused his own sword will up to maximum to resist the powerful sword will.
As if honed over a thousand times, his sword will became increasingly purer and sharper, even as Jiang He himself closed his eyes in his meditation upon sword will.
Meanwhile, a 2-meter long venomous spider had climbed atop the tree over Jiang He’s head.
Its horrific eyes were swiveling rapidly, venom dripping out of its fearsome mandibles.
It dropped off the tree all of a sudden as it lunged at Jiang He. But even before it could get closer, its body abruptly split apart into endless chunks, as if sliced apart by countless swords.
A mist of blood descended, but did not fall upon Jiang He’s body—formless veins of Sword Qi surrounds his entire body, rapidly strengthening.
An entire hour passed when the Twenty-Seven Leafed Sword Will Grass finally withered into a tuft of dried leaves. Jiang He opened his eyes, sword radiance shining from his gaze and smiling in pleasure after feeling around his body for a bit. “Awesome, the Twenty-Seven Leafed Sword Will Grass is truly extraordinary. One tuft is enough to improve my sword will from thirty percent to more than seventy percent.”
Jiang He took out a second tuft of Twenty-Seven Leafed Sword Will Grass with a wave of his hand and thought to himself, “The second one might have a weaker effect and wouldn’t help me gain perfect grasp over sword will, but reaching ninety-percent wouldn’t be a problem.”
Charging his sword word and stimulating the sword will Twenty-Seven Leafed Sword Will Grass and fighting it again, he cultivated his own sword will once again.
Soon, another hour passed.
Shing!
The cry of a blood echoed over Jiang He’s body. At his thought, his Scarlet Flame Sword turned into a Scarlet Longsword and landed on his palm.
He swung it.
Swish!
A terrifying Sword Qi landed, with everything from tree to boulder sliced apart without a sound where it passed.
Withdrawing the sword, Jiang He sensed around his own body to find an ethereal Sword Infant forming in that sea of swords, and was showing signs of materialization.
“My sword will actually turned into a Sword Infant… if it fully takes shape, wouldn’t it mean that I gained perfect grasp over my sword will?”
Jiang He couldn’t help forcing a smile and shake his head at the thought, a look of balefulness in his eyes.
There was no helping it…
Life is hard—he had always been cultivating by himself.
Even if his grasp of sword will was almost perfect, he knew nothing about swordplay, having not even trained basic sword techniques. All he could do was think to himself what the path of sword will was…
Either way, his sword will was probably above ninety-five or six percent now.
“How should I cultivate sword will to perfection now?”
“Train with a sword?”
But he didn’t know swordplay!
Jiang He rubbed his temples, becoming rather upset at that.
He could plant three cultivation manuals after his farm improved to level four. Should he try planting a swordplay after planting the Nine Stars Heavenly Body Formula and the Three Thousand Calamities?
“Forget it.”
“Planting a swordplay would have to wait until after I return. It’s four hours soon—I should go back to Chen Jingzhou and the others.”
“Eh?”
Jiang He was about to head towards Lake Kanas when he suddenly felt something, and looked up towards the horizon…
A gigantic golden eagle was flying towards Mount Tian, both its claws were violet just like a tuft of down on its head, and it appeared no different from a violet crown.
“Is that not the Violet-Crowned Golden Eagle which lives up at Mount Kunlun? What is it doing, going to Mount Tian? Could it have known that I killed the Golden-Crowned Black Eagle already?”
“No, that’s not right. How could information be passed between Ferals at such divine speed?”
“Maybe… it wanted to talk to its sister about the good old days and gossip.”
Jiang He’s gaze lit up thoughtfully.
***
Meanwhile, Three Blades Lin had already returned to Jingdu City.
Once he arrived at the headquarters of the Martial Arts Department (MAD), he sprinted straight towards Wang Hou’s office.
“You’re here, Old Lin?”
Wang Hou, who was resting his feet on his desk with a Thermos cup in hand exclaimed in surprise when he saw Three Blades Lin return. “Aren’t you supposed to escort Jiang He and the others to Tantra in secret? Considering the duration of their journey, they shouldn’t have arrived, have they?”
“Something unexpected occurred.”
Three Blades Lin cut straight to the point, saying, “After Jiang He slew the Red Toad King, he went off to Mount Tian and killed the Golden-Crowned Black Eagle.”
Pfft~
Wang Hou, who was having a sip of tea from his Thermos flash promptly spat it at that, looking utterly incredulous. “Didn’t you tell me he only reached rank-nine yesterday? That Golden-Crowned Black Eagle is one of the strongest Feral Kings…”
“And isn’t it an eight hundred km distance heading from Lake Kanas to Mount Tian?”
“Is that kid that bored that he had to go to Mount Tian?”
“I heard he went there for payback.” Three Blades Lin replied at that.
“Payback?”
Wang Hou muttered to himself, the corner of his lips twitching when he remembered the golden light that the Golden-Crowned Black Eagle breathed at Jiang He to prove his power…
What the hell.
‘The kid is even pettier than I am?
‘That… calls for payback too?
‘Fine.
‘Even if it was called for, how many days had it only been? You ran eight hundred km expressly for payback?
‘When the kid said that he did not want to go to the Tantra Secret Realm, and then specified that he would go there afterward… could he had been prepared to kill the Golden-Crowned Black Eagle then?’
Wang Hou rose to his feet, completely unconcerned by that matter as he grinned. “It’s just the Golden-Crowned Black Eagle. Dead is dead, and Jiang He is only rank-nine so it’s not breaking the rules. Even if the other Feral Eagles are that powerful, are we humans short of elites now?”
Three Blades Lin kept impassive as he replied, “Both the Golden-Crowned Black Eagle and the Violet-Crowned Golden Eagle are the Golden-Winged Roc’s consorts, and the Golden-Crowned Black had laid two eggs.”
“By the way, Jiang He has the eggs.”
Wang Hou: “…”
After staying quiet for a long time, he laughed out loud and slammed this Thermos cup on his desk, smashing it into pieces. “Wonderful, good job!”
“I’ve been saying that the kid had limitless future. Now it seems that I’m right.”
“Minister Wang…”
Three Blades Lin was at a loss for words and blue with shock. “Shouldn’t we be thinking about how to handle the Golden-Winged Roc’s rampage? And after Jiang He had slain three Feral Kings—the Black King Drake, the Red Toad King and the Golden-Crowned Black Eagle in a single week, I fear the Feral Kings would not agree to it.”
“Hoho.”
Wang Hou smirked. “Old Lin, send word to every divine-tier elite within the nations to prepare for war. Also, contact the martial clans and have them send their old founders hiding to cultivate to step out for some monster hunting.”
“Old Zhou!”
He barked, and as Zhou Yu entered, Wang Hou said, “Old Zhou, send word to the five Holy Grounds and say I want to borrow their people. Each faction shall loan us a Void-tier individual aside from the elites who left to defend each of their stations, and I’ll personally go with the Void elites to set a blockade on the Golden-Winged Roc’s nest. We’ll see if it would make a fuss then…”
“If it does, then it’s war!”
In that very moment, Wang Hou appeared absolutely overwhelming!
Aside from ability, the reason he gained his position today is his attitude… Wang Hou was overbearing and charismatic, able to declare war even against Feral Kings at the drop of a hat.
He might have been milder before, but after reaching an agreement with the five Holy Grounds, would he still be pushed around by those vermin?
“That’s not right is it, Minister Wang? Going to war after several months of stability?”
“Yes!”
Wang Hou cut to the point, saying, “It’s cool if the Feral didn’t act, but it’s war if they do. Anything could wait until we killed a bunch of them—if we can’t get rid of this bunch of vermin, how are we supposed to deal with the enemies from beyond?”
“Alright!”
Three Blades Lin was a bold person too, and he promptly laughed. “I’ll be taking vanguard if we really are going to war, Minister Wang…”
His phone rang before he finished.
Taking his phone out from his pocket, Three Blades Lin blinked when he saw the caller ID and asked in confusion, “It’s Jiang He. Why would the kid call me after we just parted ways?”
Nonetheless, he answered the call.
Wang Hou gave him a look then, and understanding his intention, Three Blades Lin put the call on loudspeaker.
Jiang He voice spoke from the other end, and he appeared rather meek with embarrassment, “Old Lin… uh… the Violet-Crowned Golden Eagle was headed to Mount Tian.”
“Eh?”
Three Blades Lin’s expression twitched, but before he could say anything, Jiang He quickly added, “But don’t worry, I always resolve the problems I caused—so, to avoid the Violet-Crowned Golden Eagle from tattling to the Golden-Winged Roc ahead of schedule, I killed it…”
Thud!
Three Blades Lin’s hand shook, dropping his phone on the ground.
What the hell!
Why were the best Feral Kings cabbages turning to cabbages at Jiang He’s hands?
How was he slaughtering them as he liked?
Jiang He’s voice could still be heard from the dropped phone, saying, “Hello? Hello? Are you listening, Old Lin? Weren’t you going back to meet Minister Wang? Please help me pass the word to him, see if he could give me a few thousand Orirocks and several dozen tufts of Sword Will Barrenwort as reward. When I get back from the Tantra Secret Realm, I will kill a Feral Emperor for him!”
