Nai Shu rode the royal griffin, circling slowly in the sky as his gaze settled on a man standing below.
He recognised the man almost instantly. It was Lan Ling.
The moment he saw Lan Ling, his pupils contracted sharply. His eyes were already narrow, and now they looked even colder and more sinister.
From Lan Ling, he sensed a unique energy aura, one that he deeply disliked, even hated.
The aura surrounding Lan Ling was mysterious and incredibly powerful, carrying a fatal attraction for women.
Nai Shu hated that.
He possessed an overwhelming desire to possess everything.
Arrogant to the core, he held an extremely domineering belief, every woman should feel desire the moment she laid eyes on him.
That was how narcissistic and conceited he was.
This was the Barbarian World, where people lived closer to instinct than civilisation, relying heavily on unique energy auras to attract the opposite sex.
Nai Shu carried an aura that could make women utterly captivated, one whose attraction was almost impossible to rival.
When the Rakshasa King sought a husband for Princess Sha Yan, the heirs of all Thirteen Banner Lords across Rakshasa territory, along with princes from other Demon Kingdoms, had competed fiercely for her hand, all hoping to become the Rakshasa King’s son in law.
Princess Sha Yan had chosen Nai Shu almost at first sight, precisely because of the unique aura surrounding him.
From the age of sixteen, Nai Shu had indulged himself with countless women. Any woman he desired eventually became his. The number of women who had shared his bed had long surpassed a hundred.
No matter how beautiful they were, he would sleep with each only four or five times before discarding them.
Princess Sha Yan was the sole exception.
Besides her extraordinary charm and unrivalled beauty, her status made her far more than just another woman. She represented honour itself.
Yet now, the aura he sensed from Lan Ling was even more mysterious, even stronger than his own, and carried an even deadlier attraction towards women.
Not only that, Lan Ling’s appearance could only be described as breathtaking.
There had once been a joke among many young men on Earth, any man more handsome than me deserves to die.
To Nai Shu, that was not a joke.
It was exactly how he felt.
“So, you’re Lan Ling?” Nai Shu asked coldly.
“That’s right,” Lan Ling replied. “I am Lan Ling.”
“Then kindly cut off your own head and present it to me with both hands. Believe me, that would be the kindest possible outcome for you.”
At that moment, the Flame Demon Tribe’s warriors surged forward, raising their bows towards Nai Shu in the sky.
Nai Shu sneered.
He drew his sword, slashed through the air once, then instantly sheathed it again, so quickly that the naked eye could barely follow.
The next moment…
It was as though lightning had split the heavens.
More than a hundred Flame Demon Tribe warriors were decapitated instantly.
In less than a tenth of a second, from over a hundred metres away, Nai Shu had slaughtered over a hundred people with a single strike.
Lan Ling’s entire body tensed.
Since arriving in the Barbarian World, this was the strongest opponent he had ever encountered.
His martial strength was so terrifying that it left people breathless.
Nai Shu smiled faintly.
“I told you already. Cutting off your own head and presenting it to me was the best choice. But you refused to listen.”
“Who are you?” Lan Ling asked.
“You wish to know my name?” Nai Shu replied. “Sorry, you’re not worthy of hearing it. Since you refuse to die willingly, I’ll simply take your head myself.”
With that, he dived down like a bolt of lightning, flashing over Lan Ling’s head as he drew his sword.
Swish!
The blade flashed like a rainbow, like lightning itself.
Lan Ling slowed his perception of time by more than twenty times through his spiritual power.
Even so, Nai Shu’s movements remained impossibly fast, too fast to see clearly, too fast to evade.
There was no doubt.
His cultivation completely overwhelmed Lan Ling.
He could kill him instantly.
Lan Ling had no way to dodge.
The gleaming sword was about to take his head.
Then…
Clang!
A deafening explosion rang out.
Nai Shu’s sword struck another blade.
Suo Mo had unleashed the explosive power of his bloodline and rushed in front of Lan Ling just in time.
Nai Shu was astonished.
Someone had actually blocked his sword?
He had never expected that such a remote backwater would contain someone capable of stopping his attack.
Moreover, Near Humans were famous for their weak martial arts.
Yet this middle aged Near Human before him was unexpectedly powerful.
“Who are you?” Nai Shu asked curiously.
“Suo Mo of the Flame Demon Tribe.”
“With strength like yours, staying in this rubbish place has no future,” Nai Shu said. “Follow me instead. Kill that piece of trash behind you as your pledge of loyalty.”
The trash he referred to was naturally Lan Ling.
Suo Mo answered coldly, “I was born a member of the Flame Demon Tribe, and I will die as one. Chieftain Lan Ling is my lord. If you wish to harm him, you’ll have to step over my corpse first.”
“Three moves,” Nai Shu said. “If you survive three of my attacks without retreating, I’ll spare that piece of trash today.”
He hovered in the air, gathering energy before bringing his sword down.
Clang!
The first strike landed.
The earth beneath Suo Mo cracked violently as his body trembled.
Clang!
The second strike descended.
Flames burst from the ground beneath Suo Mo’s feet.
His sleeves exploded apart, while the skin on his arms split open inch by inch, blood pouring from the cracks.
Still, he refused to move.
Nai Shu looked genuinely surprised.
This middle aged Near Human was far stronger than expected.
Drawing a deep breath, Nai Shu gathered even greater power.
His bloodline erupted.
His sword roared with the sound of thunder as it slashed down.
Boom!
An earth shattering explosion erupted.
The ground beneath Suo Mo exploded into a massive crater, sinking him almost two feet lower.
Yet he remained standing without taking a single step back.
Nai Shu stared at Suo Mo in astonishment before glancing once more at Lan Ling.
At that moment, Gou Li and Duo Duo arrived at top speed, with Gang Tuo following close behind.
Nai Shu frowned.
Killing Lan Ling today was no longer possible.
“Trash,” Nai Shu sneered. “You’re lucky today. You don’t have to die. Though that may not be a good thing.”
Riding his griffin, Nai Shu circled above the Flame Demon Tribe.
“Listen carefully, everyone of the so called Flame Demon Tribe. You dared stop me from killing Lan Ling. That has made me extremely angry, and the consequences will be severe.”
“I’ll give you one month. Cut off Lan Ling’s head and deliver it to me.”
“Otherwise, not a single person or animal in the Flame Demon Tribe will survive. I’ll slaughter every one of you.”
“Remember, one month. Bring me Lan Ling’s head, or all of you will die.”
“When the deadline passes, I shall lead an army of one hundred thousand and wipe out the entire Flame Demon Tribe, leaving neither man, beast, nor blade of grass alive.”
His voice rolled like thunder across dozens of miles, echoing above the entire tribe.
Tens of thousands stood silently, staring into the sky.
Nai Shu’s overbearing presence crushed everyone into silence.
As he continued circling overhead, his eyes landed on Gou Li.
Her stunning face and alluring figure immediately caught his attention.
His eyes lit up as he stared openly at her generous curves.
“Beauty, I am the heir of the Black Demon Banner Lord and the Rakshasa King’s prince consort. Why not come with me?”
Gou Li’s beautiful eyes trembled, her chest rising and falling rapidly.
In the end, she remained silent.
She was selfish, greedy, and hardly loyal, but her life rested entirely in Lan Ling’s hands.
She did not dare betray him.
“Hahaha…”
Nai Shu burst into loud laughter before riding away towards the western horizon.
His final words echoed endlessly through everyone’s ears.
“Remember, deliver Lan Ling’s head within one month, or the Flame Demon Tribe will be exterminated!”
“Pfft…”
At the very same moment, Suo Mo spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed backwards.
…
Half an hour later, Suo Mo finally regained consciousness.
His face was as pale as gold paper.
“I’m fine…” he croaked, his voice rough like sandpaper.
After coughing violently, he spat out more blood.
“Nai Shu has already reached the peak of Demon Martial Grandmaster. He’s only one step away from becoming a Demon Master,” Suo Mo said. “Even at my peak, I was still half a level below him. And after exhausting myself previously, I still haven’t fully recovered. The gap between us is even greater now.”
Lan Ling remained expressionless.
Inside, however, he felt humiliation unlike anything before.
Even when Tu Ling Duo had captured and tortured him until he wished for neither life nor death, he had never felt humiliated.
Even when his wife, Zhi Yan, had killed him with a single sword strike, he had not felt ashamed.
Because in the Human Kingdoms, battles were often fought with intelligence.
But now, he truly understood humiliation.
He finally realised the cruel truth of the Barbarian World.
Might ruled everything.
Nai Shu alone had charged through tens of thousands of people, standing above everyone.
One man alone had intimidated an entire tribe.
One man alone had humiliated Lan Ling before tens of thousands, trampling his dignity beneath his feet.
In the Barbarian World, strength was everything.
And this was only Nai Shu.
How terrifying, then, must the Little Rakshasa King and the Great Rakshasa King be?
At least in terms of martial strength, Lan Ling truly was insignificant.
“Mirror,” Lan Ling said, “I want to kill Nai Shu.”
The Mirror Demon King’s voice echoed inside his mind.
“Master, I have studied your cultivation path. You possess the supreme Golden Demon Body and Golden Bloodline. Following the normal path of cultivation, you will be able to kill Nai Shu in at most three years.”
Three years later, Lan Ling would only be twenty seven.
By then, Nai Shu would almost certainly have broken through to Demon Master and become one of the Barbarian World’s greatest experts.
The Mirror Demon King’s words meant that Lan Ling could also reach the Demon Master realm within three years through ordinary cultivation.
But three years later, the Flame Demon Tribe would already have been reduced to ashes.
Everyone would long since be dead.
“I can’t wait that long,” Lan Ling replied.
“You already know the answer,” the Mirror Demon King said. “If you wish to increase your cultivation dramatically in a short time, your only hope lies in the Ghost King’s Tomb and the Ghost King’s Sword.”
…
Time returned to two years earlier.
Following Lan Ling’s orders, Queen Yan Chuo’er of the Rock Tribe led twenty thousand Rock Bandit troops towards the Royal City.
Originally, they had been summoned because the capital lacked loyal troops capable of suppressing possible unrest.
Unexpectedly, before Yan Chuo’er’s army could reach the city, Solon had already crushed the rebellion and resolved the Rage Wave Kingdom’s financial crisis.
Even so, Yan Chuo’er continued marching towards the capital.
On the very day Solon was killed, her army was still several hundred miles away.
After Solon’s death, the Sky Legion of the Divine Dragon Temple first entered Sky Water City and carried out a massacre, capturing all of Lan Ling’s wives and children.
Another force then headed directly towards Yan Chuo’er.
She remained completely unaware.
Nearly twenty thousand Rock Bandit soldiers had made camp, feasting on meat while singing and dancing.
They were celebrating their supreme lord Solon’s wedding.
Although the wedding had taken place the previous night, the celebrations were meant to last three full days.
As always, Queen Yan Chuo’er sat quietly in meditation.
At that moment, the Divine Dragon Temple’s flying army was only a little over three hundred miles away.
In just over half an hour, they would arrive.
Once they did, Yan Chuo’er would almost certainly die.
Suddenly, a black shadow appeared.
Yan Chuo’er instantly found her entire body completely immobilised.
The shadow became a black whirlwind, sweeping her away and disappearing without a trace.
Without offering any explanation, the Headless Knight abducted Queen Yan Chuo’er.
As for the twenty thousand Rock Bandit troops, there was nothing he could do.
Besides, had he explained the situation, Yan Chuo’er would never have left.
She would certainly have chosen to stay and die alongside her army.
After rescuing her, the Headless Knight raced five hundred miles.
Using a special form of energy, he completely paralysed Yan Chuo’er’s nervous system before hiding her inside a coffin within a secluded tomb.
Then, like a gust of wind, he departed once more, heading straight for the Divine Dragon Temple.
Yes.
The Guide of the Hell Knights had actually entered the Divine Dragon Temple in Zhi Capital.
Such audacity was beyond belief.
…
When the Headless Knight appeared before Luo Ge, the Grand Inquisitor was completely stunned.
He could hardly believe his own eyes.
This was the Divine Dragon Temple.
How could a Hell Knight dare come here?
The Headless Knight looked directly at Luo Ge.
“I only have one question. Where is Ashi Luo’s soul? Or rather, where are the fragments of his soul? I know he died by self destruction, but I’m certain you wouldn’t have let his remaining soul fragments escape. Tell me. Where are they?”
Ashi Luo had died so completely that not even his body remained.
Only a tiny fragment of his soul had survived, captured by the Divine Dragon Temple through a secret technique at the very moment he was annihilated.
If he was ever to be resurrected, those soul fragments had to be found.
Both Luo Ge and Ge Li had been present at the time.
Therefore, Luo Ge knew exactly where Ashi Luo’s soul fragments were.