“Are those Deluxe Merits?”
“There’s so much of it!”
All of them had their eyes raised in a daze. Some of them even gulped at the abundance of it all.
“It’s the Master’s doing!” Daji and Fire Phoenix’s expressions changed for the worse. In a flash, they started heading toward where the Deluxe Merit was gathering. They were filled with worry, not knowing why Li Nianfan would need to summon so much Deluxe Merit.
Although they were far from him, it did not take them long to reach him.
“Are you alright, Master?” asked Daji with worry.
“I’m fine, don’t worry,” said Li Nianfan with a wave. His heart warmed at the thought of Daji and Fire Phoenix’s concern. “Two men were trying to kidnap Blackie but I arrived in time to stop them. It was also fortunate I had the Double Flying Stone with me.”
‘Blackie was nearly kidnapped by two men?’ they thought with shock. Daji and Fire Phoenix turned their eyes to the bald Blackie. Their hearts were beating wildly at the thought of what kind of person would be powerful enough to kidnap Blackie.
They then turned their eyes to the two ice sculptures, felt the overflowing power, and felt confused. They guessed correctly that those two ice sculptures were the frozen dog-nappers, their features as clear as the day.
It seemed like there was no limit to the Double Flying Stone’s attack power if it was used by Li Nianfan. Daji and Fire Phoenix had the sneaking suspicion that even if they stored the weakest spell they knew into the stone, it would nonetheless become a decimating force if unleashed by Li Nianfan.
By now, they were desensitized to their Master’s power. However, the same could not be said for the group of demons who had just arrived. They all let out a collective gasp at the sight of the shiny ice sculptures. Their eyes became wide, wanting to make sure they were not hallucinating.
If their eyes did not deceive them, then those two should be high-level members of the Heavenly Realm.
“This…this…this…” stuttered Hippo Demon King, hot air madly coming out of his nostrils, causing a little spark. He pointed at the two ice sculptures, his face drained of color. “Is….”
Daji waved her hand discreetly and then, there were three ice sculptures on the scene with Hippo Demon King-mouth wide open-being the third one.
“Master, these demons have been subdued by me. I apologize for their disrespectfulness,” said Daji softly. Then, she turned to the group of demons with coldness in her eyes and said sternly, “Speak only when you’re spoken to! Understood?!”
She nearly made the mistake of giving the demons the chance of ruining her Master’s mood. The group of demons were scared senseless, not knowing what they had done to incur her wrath. They dared not even breathe.
Li Nianfan looked at Daji with puzzlement. In his eyes, she was always as gentle as flowing water, always giving in to him. He had never seen this side of her and he was intrigued, to say the least.
“That’s enough. It’s not a big deal. We’re all friends here. Don’t be too stern toward them,” said Li Nianfan, wanting to soften the atmosphere. “Everything turned out well in the end. The two dog-nappers were nothing to worry about. Blackie might be in shock and need some rest. Let’s leave everything for tomorrow.”
‘Nothing to worry about?’ The group of demons involuntarily trembled all over, not daring to move an inch. Even a fool could tell the man standing in front of them was nothing short of extraordinary, and dare they say-extremely frightening?
At the same time, they solved the mystery of the weak defense at the Ministry’s stronghold. It was because the main fighting force was eliminated here. They cheered at the thought of this. If it was not for Li Nianfan, they would surely have been easily eliminated by the Ministry’s stronghold. Meanwhile, in the crypt in the Demon City, the old green man smiled faintly and slowly pulled out the dagger in his chest. He slid his hand over the gaping wound and was instantly healed. Though there was still the matter of side effects, he felt it was worth it compared to the result he had gotten. So, he did not really mind it much.
He walked out of the crypt, and without hesitation, teleported to a sky above a mountain to patiently wait for the triumphant delivery of Blackie to him.
Suddenly, his expression shifted a little and he smiled in the direction of the woods. “Why not show yourself since you’re here? Are you waiting to see how I’ll make a fool out of myself?”
The Left Messenger walked out from the dense thicket of trees, her silhouette mesmerizing under the moonlight. “From the looks of it, the mission took a lot out of you this time.”
“Yes, you’re right about that,” he said while nodding. Then, he continued in an arrogant tone. “But that’s where you and I are different. I’ve always favored being slow and steady. It’s a good thing I handled this personally, as the dog was indeed very powerful. If not…we would’ve come back empty-handed.”
“Was he really that powerful?” asked the Left Messenger with awe in her voice.
“Yes,” laughed the old green man, stroking his beard. “Capturing him is a great victory for us. He’s very special-as special as the beasts born out of Chaos. I have a feeling that we’ll be able to discover an unimaginable secret from his body. Just wait and see!”
The Left Messenger’s eyes flashed brightly and said nothing. Although both of them were from the Ministry, she could not help but feel resentful of the old green man’s success. It was like pouring salt on her wounds since she had just suffered a defeat herself. She was human after all.
The hot girl wearing a demon mask and the old green man with one eye stood under the moonlight quietly—both silent. Only the sound of the gentle wind could be heard for a long while.
A crow flew noisily over the old green man’s head.
“Right Messenger, what’s taking you so long to come back with the dog?” asked the Left Messenger, expressionless.
“How dare they act so disrespectfully! They must have stopped somewhere on their way over,” scolded the old green man. He thought they must have been distracted by something which caused them to be late-surely they had no respect for him.
“I’m going to give them a signal and we’ll surely hear something from them within three seconds,” he said coldly with a darkened face.
He then raised his index finger to the sky and a beam of light shot up before exploding into a demon symbol. Then, he waited with a knowing smile on his face, as if he had done something amazing. After all, this summoning method had never failed him.
One second
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
30 minutes later.
Still, only the sound of wind could be heard.
“There’s no reply from them,” said the Left Messenger. “Looks like something unexpected had happened,” “Impossible!” said the old green man coldly, still in denial. “I’ve made sure everything went according to plan and saw with my own eyes how they captured the dog. What could’ve gone wrong? Maybe something happened to them on their way back here.”
He finally had to accept that something unexpected had derailed his plan. Without saying anything further, the old green man and Left Messenger flew toward Dog Mountain.
They stopped when they felt the residual power of the spell lingering in the air. They had arrived at the scene where the fight took place.
“There are signs of a battle everywhere!” said the old green man in a raspy voice. Then, he squeezed a lever and a surge of green current began to gather the Qi there.
“I’ve planted some Witchcraft spells on them beforehand so I can sense their strongest thoughts here,” explained the old green man. Then, his face became stern as he uttered a word softly, “Solidify.”
Wave after wave of strange air currents transformed into sound and floated into the old green man’s ear. “Deluxe Merit Saint…too powerful!”
The old green man and Left Messenger both frowned at the same time.
“Deluxe Merit Saint again?” said the Left Messenger with a shock. “How did they cross paths with a Deluxe Merit Saint? Did they start the fight?”
The old green man’s face became even greener. “How could they be so stupid?” he said vehemently.
He paused slightly and the look he gave was enough to freeze someone. Then, his whole body shook with the absurdity of it all. “I knew it! I knew we should’ve eliminated the Deluxe Merit Saint when we had the chance. As long as he’s alive, he can derail our plans anytime! I mustn’t waste any more time. I need to take him out this instant!”
Compared to the loss of the Left Messenger, the old green man had lost much more. It was not every day one could come across a high-level member of the Heavenly Realm. The thought of their senseless deaths made his heart filled with sorrow.
“I agree with you,” said the Left Messenger while nodding her head. She too had been at the receiving end of the Deluxe Merit Saint’s power. She shuddered at the thought of it.
Their mission had repeatedly failed because of him. What a series of bad luck.
The Left Messenger turned to look at the old green man. “How do you plan to eliminate him? I don’t think I’ll be able to help you.” She knew there would be hell to pay if she were to go against a Deluxe Merit Saint.
“You? As if I’ll need your help,” said the old green man cockily. “We’ve been assigned the posts of Left and Right Messenger ever since joining the Ministry and have worked together for countless years. So, I’m sure you’re familiar with how I work. My Immortal Weaken Spell can strike down an opponent from anywhere. It’s a spell that no one will ever be able to escape from!”
“Meaning to say…” said the Left Messenger with a thoughtful look.
“He’s obviously a Deluxe Merit Saint from the Area of the Gods and is under their protection. There’s no way I can do anything to him there. But if I were to cast an Immortal Weaken Spell on him from somewhere outside of the Chaos, then…the Natural Punishment from the Area of the Gods would not befall upon me!” He paused and roared with laughter. “The Deluxe Merit Saint’s power is nothing to me. I’ll only need to raise my little pinky to take his life.”
“That’s great!” said the Left Messenger. She conceded to the usefulness of Witchcraft. “How’s everything at the stronghold?”
“Everything’s fine. There is prey all over the Demon City. We capture them by the dozens every day,” answered the old green man. “I’ve always completed my missions successfully. I’ll never tolerate any mistakes.”
The Left Messenger involuntarily raised her eyebrow and shook her head. “It concerns me to hear you say this…”
If she remembered correctly, he said something similar just now, but lo and behold! Things did not go according to plan. She would forever feel a sense of dread if the same words were ever uttered again.
The old green man harrumphed at her concern. “Truth be told, there’s been some progress on my experiments which have yielded some interesting results. I’ve even managed to find out the whereabouts of Taotie.” He wanted to rebuild his image after his embarrassing loss just now.
“Taotie?!” cried out the Left Messenger with shock.
“Yes, the one and only Taotie,” crowed the old green man with a proud smile. “It’s the Chaos Beast that can devour anything and everything. This phagocytic ability’s perfect for our experiment. We’ll be able to progress in our mission given by the Ministry once we’ve captured Taotie!”
The Left Messenger nodded her head and said gravely, “It’s not easy to deal with Taotie. If the intel’s true, we’ll need to prepare ourselves accordingly.”
They had arrived at the Ministry’s stronghold. The old green man’s smile disappeared when he saw the mess left behind by the battle. The Left Messenger’s expression was indecipherable. She never expected her sense of dread to be confirmed by this. She blamed the old green man for ever opening his big mouth.
It took a long while before the old green man broke out of his trance. The only thought playing in a loop in his mind was, ‘My home’s destroyed.’
With a sudden roar of fury, he started to puke blood and his eyes became bloodshot. “Who did this? How did this happen? How dare he!” He must be in a state of huge shock to have puked blood. He had lost count of the number of times he had lost his temper today. It was as if he had encountered a streak of bad luck ever since the arrival of the Deluxe Merit Saint.
First, he had to abandon the plan on the Demon City. Then, Blackie was saved even though he had to go through the backlash of his ultimate spell and the loss of his four mer The destruction of his home was the final straw!
He suddenly aged 1,000 years. Where was the justice in all these? Were there no laws anymore? One misfortune after another, there was no way anyone could withstand all these.
The Left Messenger looked at the old green man with pity in her eyes. She was wallowing in self-pity and yes, it was true, the old green man did mock her, but she did not have the heart to gloat at his misfortune which was definitely worse than hers.
Karma was a b*tch.
“That Deluxe Merit Saint!” The old green man trembled furiously. His face became distorted and his eyes flashed with a vengeance, sending a vapor of murderous rage into the sky.
Although he did not know what happened exactly, he knew without a doubt that it had something to do with the Deluxe Merit Saint. “There’s no time to waste. I must go and get ready. I won’t rest until he’s dead!”
