The combatants’ faces were veiled, so only their calm and emotionless eyes could be seen surveying the woods around them as they stood with their backs facing one another.
Two corpses lay some distance away from them while warm blood trickled over the ground. A few moments later, the ground was stained red all over.
Ye Chen had used his Astral Body to lock in on these four top Tenth Level combatants, who seemed like four dead bodies to him as they emitted a strange aura of death. Their emotions remained completely unaffected even though two Earthly Venerable Rank powerhouses had died before their eyes. Furthermore, their means of attack was rather odd. Ye Chen wondered what kind of hidden weapon they were keeping in their sleeves that had allowed them to launch such brutal and vicious forms of attack.
When the four combatants detected no movements in their surroundings for quite a while, they gradually took a few steps and walked around while scanning the dense fog with eyes as sharp as a hawk’s. The moment they had detected the slightest movement, a storm of fine needles would be unleashed.
Tut-tut-tut, tut-tut-tut!
As those fine needles shot out and went through some of the trees, numerous fine holes were left in the tree trunks.
Ye Chen’s Astral Body was capable of sensing their every movement in advance, so he could avoid all of their attacks just in time. With the dense fog that Little Tanuki had created to cover their tracks, these top Tenth Level combatants could not pinpoint his exact location.
When those four combatants had sensed a body of chi locking in on them, they did not dare to let their guard down for even a moment. Their minds were strained to their limits as they seemed to feel cold bouts of wind blowing through the fog. Suddenly, a gold-armored soldier could be seen standing in mid-air amid the thick fog and slashing a saber down at the four of them.
The gold-armored soldier looked like a divine being as it stood in the air, and a hint of fear flickered in the eyes of the combatants.
Ye Chen, who was hidden deep within the forest, released a cold scoff. At last, these fellows were starting to fear him. He initially thought that these people were lifeless beings without any emotions at all!
The gold-armored soldier gave off a mighty presence comparable to that of a mid-Heavenly Venerable Rank powerhouse, so as this powerful presence weighed down on the four combatants, they immediately felt as though a thousand-catty load was hanging off each of their bodies. It became extremely difficult for them to even take one step. As they struggled to raise their heads, they saw a saber ablaze with purple flames slashing down at them from above.
The four of them were sent flying in a loud explosive noise. A terrifying ten-meter-long and two-to-three-meter-deep trench were left in the ground while some of the surrounding trees were instantly devoured and turned to ashes by the purple flames.
The four combatants were unable to withstand the attack from the gold-armored soldier and were killed all at once!
As expected, Astral Externalization could indeed produce formidable combat powers. Ye Chen was just about to send Little Wingsy a message to escape when he suddenly noticed that Little Wingsy had encountered some problem, so he withdrew his Astral Body right away and rushed in the direction where Little Wingsy was located.
It took Little Tanuki only a short while to collect the Heaven-Earth Pouches of the dead combatants and caught up to Ye Chen. This greedy Little Tanuki would never allow any Heaven-Earth Pouch to slip under her radar!
After putting away those Heaven-Earth Pouches, Ye Chen kept a constant watch on Little Wingsy using his Astral Body.
More than ten people were gathered around Little Wingsy’s current location. Among them, there were two Heavenly Venerable Ones, three Earthly Venerable Ones, four top Tenth Level combatants as well as a few other Eighth Level and Seventh Level combatants. These people were scattered all over the area and had secretly surrounded Little Wingsy.
“There should be six more of our people. Why aren’t they here yet?” Dongmen Yingyang frowned and suddenly heard a loud noise echoing from afar. Judging by that fearsome and mighty sound, the attacker was most likely as powerful as a Heavenly Venerable One. Thus, his expression fell as he figured that the other six men were probably dead.
“Let’s seize him first!” Sikou Fengyan huffed. Then, four top Tenth Level masked combatants immediately came together in pairs and pulled out two long ropes before moving toward Little Wingsy.
These two ropes were not very thick and were entirely white as snow. However, it was difficult to tell what material they were made of.
Due to the formidable power Little Wingsy possessed, these men could not fight him recklessly. Therefore, they had come up with such an idea.
Little Wingsy glared at the four Tenth Level combatants and tried to figure out what these people were planning to do.
As Sikou Fengyan glided through the air over Little Wingsy’s head, a big net descended and trapped Little Wingsy.
“What is this thing?!” Little Wingsy was caught off guard and was unable to avoid getting trapped by the net. However, as he tried to tear the big net apart, the net would not budge no matter how much force he had used.
Soon, the four top Tenth Level combatants started running around Little Wingsy in circles and binding the ropes around him repeatedly to tie him up firmly.
“Let go of me!” Little Wingsy’s face was flushed with anger while he kept clawing at the big net with his small hands.
“Stop wasting your energy. This net is made of Snowfield Gastrodia Roots[1], so it’s incredibly tough. You won’t be able to cut through this net even with a Tier Five spirit artifact. As for this white rope, it’s made of the silver fibers of Snowfield Gastrodia Roots that have lived for centuries. You can never rip it apart that easily!” Sikou Fengyan smirked slightly. It had cost them quite an effort just to capture this child alive. This big net alone was a priceless item.
“Hurry up and release me or I’m going to get angry!” Little Wingsy’s face grew redder as he looked furious.
The four top Tenth Level combatants kept pulling at the ropes but could only manage to move around Little Wingsy in circles while Little Wingsy remained rooted to his spot like an iron pole.
Both Dongmen Yingyang and Sikou Fengyan could not help sighing in amazement at Little Wingsy’s shocking strength. Although he had been tied up firmly, the men were still incapable of dragging him away.
“I believe they still have a Heavenly Venerable One on their side, so let’s knock this kid out first!” Dongmen Yingyang muttered and abruptly threw a small white ball at Little Wingsy. As the small white ball landed on Little Wingsy’s body, it popped and turned into a thick cloud of smog that had enveloped Little Wingsy within it.
After a while, the smog had dispersed.
“Tall guy, what was that thing that you used earlier? It stinks!” Little Wingsy’s face was crumpled with disgust. Then, as he took a step forward in anger, the four top Tenth Level combatants got dragged along by Little Wingsy and stumbled in their tracks.
“Quickly help them!” The three Earthly Venerable Ones rushed forward anxiously to lend them some help so that the four Tenth Level combatants would not end up falling to the ground.
Dongmen Yingyang was stunned to see Little Wingsy looking completely fine and unaffected. What he had tossed out earlier contained the powder of Smoke Soul Flowers. Even a Heavenly Venerable One would lose consciousness right after inhaling a small amount of this powder. When Dongmen Yingyang saw that nothing had happened to Little Wingsy, he thought that he had made a mistake and had thrown the wrong item. However, after double-checking, he was sure that he had indeed used the Smoke Soul Flower powder!
This showed that the Smoke Soul Flower did not affect Little Wingsy! Dongmen Yingyang felt a chill rising in his heart as he watched those three Earthly Venerable Ones and four top Tenth Level combatants stumbling about while being dragged forward by Little Wingsy. If Dongmen Yingyang had been tied up so firmly, he probably would not have been able to use his energy at all!
“Kill him!” Dongmen Yingyang shouted as fear began to settle in his heart while he wondered what kind of a monster this child was.
The four top Tenth Level combatants each raised one of their sleeves. Swoosh-swoosh-swoosh. Numerous fine needles with a faint green glow on them shot out at Little Wingsy. If an ordinary person was scratched by one of those needles, the person would bleed from their nose and mouth, and die a few moments later!
Ding, ding, ding. As these fine needles hit Little Wingsy’s body, they became bent out of shape and fell to the ground.
The combatants raised their heads and looked at Little Wingsy, who was completely unscathed and was furiously tearing at the big net that was made of the incredibly tough Snowfield Gastrodia Roots. At some point, the net began to tear and came apart.
“Let… Go… Of… Me!” Little Wingsy had used all his strength and finally ripped the Snowfield Gastrodia Roots apart with a loud pop.
All of the combatants including those Earthly Venerable Ones, the top Tenth Level combatants, Sikou Fengyan, and Dongmen Ying Yang, felt their hair standing on end and were covered in cold sweat. Could it be that this child was the reincarnation of a heavenly warrior? How could he possibly have such a terrifyingly tough body?
That net was made of Snowfield Gastrodia Roots and yet he had managed to forcefully rip it apart!
Little Wingsy had been wrapped and tied up like a sticky rice dumpling[2], but no one here was capable of doing any harm to him!
To prevent Little Wingsy from breaking free, Dongmen Yingyang and the rest of his men immediately brought out more Snowfield Gastrodia Roots ropes and tied Little Wingsy again.
While Little Wingsy was being tied up, Ye Chen had rushed over at full speed and had been laden with anxiety when his Astra Body had noticed that Little Wingsy had been captured. However, upon seeing that neither the Smoke Soul Flower nor the fine needles could do Little Wingsy any harm, Ye Chen was able to stop worrying. Indeed, Little Wingsy’s body was too tough. These fighters from the Nanman Kingdom probably could never guess that Little Wingsy was a Daemon King. For them, a Daemon King existed only in legends and they could not even know for certain if Daemon Kings existed in reality.
Ye Chen moved his right hand and formed a Celestial Chi Flying Dagger. After he aimed at the back of an Earthly Venerable One, the Flying Dagger shot out of his hand with a swoosh sound.
Blood spattered all over the place.
The Earthly Venerable One had been training all his attention on Little Wingsy, so by the time he had realized what was going on, it was already too late. He collapsed to the ground.
“We’re being attacked. Be careful!” Dongmen Yingyang yelled furiously and launched a punch in the direction where Ye Chen was hiding.
Upon sensing Dongmen Yingyang’s approaching internal energy and chi, Ye Chen dashed out of his hiding place and dodged Dongmen Yingyang’s attack.
Boom!
As Dongmen Yingyang’s punch created a deep pit in the ground, a thick strong tree toppled over with a loud crash while bits of wood were sent flying everywhere.
“Little Wingsy, return to your original form!” Ye Chen sent a message to Little Wingsy using his Astral Body. Given their current situation, they would not be able to actively attack their enemies if Little Wingsy remained in human form. If Little Wingsy returned to his original form, he would be capable of Dongmen Yingyang and the rest of his men! Ye Chen’s gaze slowly grew cold. After all, Ye Chen did not want Little Wingsy to draw too much unwanted attention to himself. Therefore, they should not allow anyone else to find out that Little Wingsy was a Daemon King.
Any Daemon King had the power to wreak havoc in the human world. However, since Ye Chen had never heard of a Daemon King causing trouble in the human world so far, this was something worth scrutinizing. Ye Chen guessed that those Daemon Kings were most likely bound by some kind of rules. Otherwise, not all Daemon Kings could behave so well.
Ye Chen knew quite a number of powerhouses that had surpassed the Daemon King rank including Leo King, Wolf King, and Tantai Ling. Thus, Ye Chen was certain that there should be a significant number of Daemon Kings. At times, he even wondered if there was already someone in the human world that was powerful enough to keep those Daemon Kings under control and that was why the Daemon Kings did not dare to create chaos in the human world.
Of course, this was just a guess. In any case, it would be best to not let anyone else find out that Little Wingsy was a Daemon King. If news about this got out and those super strong powerhouses got involved, the situation would become too tricky to resolve. Before they had obtained absolute power, they should be careful in everything they did.
Nonetheless, it was too difficult for Ye Chen to deal with two Heavenly Venerable Ones at the same time when Little Wingsy had been captured by them. Thus, he was left with no other choice but to have Little Wingsy return to his original form. Then, Little Wingsy would be able to free himself.
[1] May be referring to Gastrodia elata, which is a type of herb used in traditional Chinese medicine
[2] A traditional Chinese dish that is made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves before being cooked by either steaming or boiling