“Here they come again!”
“Fall back, quickly!”
Suddenly, amidst the crowd’s startled cries—
The massive golden statue materialized once more, accompanied by three or four shorter golden figures flickering around the edges of the group.
A tyrannical aura, several times more powerful than before, swept across the entire area like a tidal wave, pushing back everything in its path.
Golden silhouettes emerged from all directions, their gazes fixed unblinkingly on Jiang Tian and the little monkey. Golden light shimmered within their pupils.
In an instant, danger loomed on every side.
The various experts recoiled in fear, terrified that these formidable residual souls might strike at Jiang Tian and drag them down as collateral damage.
Huo Qingtian and Wei Feilong, their faces obscured by black cloth, felt their hearts pounding with dread. Every muscle in their bodies was taut, their fists clenched so tightly their knuckles went white.
They were ready—the moment those golden shadows showed the slightest sign of aggression, they would charge in and fight alongside Jiang Tian.
“The Qi family’s ancestors once passed down an iron staff and golden armor as heirlooms—proof of bloodline, verification of true descent…”
Jiang Tian bellowed out in a sonorous voice that startled everyone. His mannerisms were so theatrical, you’d have thought he was some kind of shaman performing a ritual.
At a single glance from Jiang Tian, Huo Qingtian and Wei Feilong nervously stepped forward and dropped to their knees. One raised the iron staff, the other held up the golden armor.
For a moment, the atmosphere seemed to freeze solid.
Both men held their breath, ready to strike at the first sign of trouble, then break through the encirclement and flee for their lives.
This tense atmosphere persisted for a while.
Finally, as the little monkey swirled the pot of Peach Essence Soup, its aromatic vapors drifted outward. The golden figures inhaled a few breaths of the fragrance before slowly dimming and fading away.
Jiang Tian launched into another shamanistic dance, humming and chanting: “I am the servant of Qitian. Today, by Qitian’s decree, I accompany him in ancestral veneration. I invite the ancestors to taste this celestial soup, bestow the Emperor’s Daughter Flower, and aid him in ascending to the pinnacle of cultivation—to become immortal, to become divine.”
“Great-great-grandson Qitian… hmm, a fine name! Remember this—do not forget to avenge me! Dig up that scoundrel’s grave!”
A majestic, domineering voice rang out, tinged with both relief and sorrow. Then, the golden giant ape opened its maw wide, as if swallowing the rosy dawn, and drew in all the ethereal essence of the Peach Essence Soup.
At that very moment, the heavenly soup manifested astonishing anomalies—dragon roars and phoenix cries echoed from within the pressure cooker. Terrifying images flickered within: glimpses of the underworld, hordes of specters, ferocious beasts surging upward. The soup rippled and churned, as if savage creatures were about to burst forth from its depths…
“This residual soul of mine has endured far too long. I am weary… it is time to fade. Qitian, take the Emperor’s Daughter Flower!”
Finally, the tallest golden statue—the one that had stood guard over the flower—absorbed the last of the soup’s essence. With a final sigh, it too slowly dissolved into nothingness.
In that instant, Jiang Tian blurred into motion. With lightning speed, he uprooted the Emperor’s Daughter Flower entirely and stuffed its roots into a long-necked jade flask engraved with strange runes.
He scooped up the little monkey and raced down the mountain without a backward glance: “Go!”
“What? He just… plucked it out, just like that?”
The crowd erupted in shocked cries, faces painted with utter disbelief.
Huo Qingtian and Zhao Yuankun hurried to catch up, flanking him in a protective stance. Confused, Huo asked: “Sir, how… how did you manage that?”
“This is the territory of the Battle-Saint Ape clan!”
Jiang Tian transmitted through divine sense: “This place sits at the intersection of multiple dragon veins—an apex convergence point of unparalleled excellence. No mere feng shui treasure site can compare. How could the Battle-Saint Apes possibly abandon such a prime location? They planted the Emperor’s Daughter Flower here to share in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and they guarded it so their descendants could one day enjoy it once it matured. But their clan is too small, their lineage broken. Little Qitian couldn’t defeat the Green Lotus Great Master—he couldn’t even get close, let alone take the flower. So the Battle-Saint Apes continued their eternal vigil, preventing anyone else from approaching…”
“Just now, in the stone cavern, I saw carvings depicting their clan’s sacrificial ceremonies. To claim the Emperor’s Daughter Flower, four things are indispensable: Peach Essence Soup, the bronze gong, the hereditary tokens, and a direct descendant. By a stroke of incredible fortune and coincidence, we managed to gather all four. Otherwise, with just the three of us, we would never have stood a chance against the residual souls of those War-Ape Immortals!”
Jiang Tian didn’t reveal the full truth. In fact, he had encountered the Battle-Saint Ape clan before, out in the starry reaches beyond this world. Most of what he knew about their sacrificial rites, he had learned back then.
Seeing the Battle-Saint Ape’s residual soul dissolve and Jiang Tian claim the Emperor’s Daughter Flower, the expressions in the crowd underwent a complete transformation.
Gone were all traces of fear and hesitation. In their eyes, there remained only one thing—
Greed.
“Brat, hand over the Emperor’s Daughter Flower!”
Wang Haitao, the lead disciple of Diancang, was the first to lose his composure. He leaped forward, blocking the path, and said coldly: “Or don’t blame me for being rude!”
“Who do you think you are?”
Jiang Tian found it amusing and dismissed him with a wave: “Didn’t we just agree that if I managed to take it alone, it would be mine?”
“I am Wang Haitao, senior disciple of the semi-secluded Diancang Sect! My junior disciple Peng Zhipei lost his life trying to obtain the Emperor’s Daughter Flower. He made great contributions and sacrifices to break the restrictions—how could we possibly not get a share?”
Wang Haitao’s face was full of arrogance, as if his words were the most natural thing in the world. He snorted coldly: “Hand over the Emperor’s Daughter Flower at once. Diancang is a prestigious orthodox sect—we will certainly not treat you unfairly. Wealth, beauties, even martial arts cultivation techniques and divine elixirs—you’ll have an inexhaustible supply. But if you refuse to surrender it, I will never let you go!”
“Heh. What a load of garbage—your so-called Diancang hidden sect, your cultivation techniques and elixirs. In my eyes, they’re worth less than nothing. Get out of my way!”
Jiang Tian sneered with contempt, not slowing his pace in the slightest.
“Senior brother, why waste words with him? Just kill him and take the treasure!”
A female disciple with a face like a flower and a graceful figure—clad in flowing white robes, almost like a fairy—spoke with a venomous, vicious tongue.
Her phoenix-like eyes narrowed as she drew her sword. Like an arrow loosed from a bow, she shot toward Jiang Tian, her blade sweeping down in a cascading waterfall of light, slashing and thrusting at him.
The semi-secluded sects had long, unbroken lineages and no shortage of talent.
She herself was a minor-expert at the Transformation Realm—the kind who could strut through the mundane world without challenge. Her strength was formidable.
Her strike split the wind and snow, sword-light surging in endless waves, blanketing a vast stretch of space. It gave the impression that there was nowhere to dodge, no way to defend.
“Scram!”
But Jiang Tian merely sneered, then delivered a single, absurdly simple slap.
BANG! A deafening impact rang out. The girl didn’t even have time to scream—her delicate face shattered on the spot!
Through the spray of blood, her soft body flew sideways, tumbled more than ten meters across the ground, and came to a stop. Her robes were torn and bloodied; blood streamed down her fair, jade-like thighs and across her full chest. She was dead.
“Heh. Diancang, is it? You talk so big about how formidable you are. From what I can see, you’re nothing more than this.”
Jiang Tian smiled scornfully, handed the Emperor’s Daughter Flower—along with the jade flask—to little Qitian on his shoulder, cracked his knuckles, and said with a cold laugh:
“If there’s anything special about you, it’s the sheer thickness of your faces. For a young girl to have skin tougher than oxhide and thicker than a city-wall corner—why, she actually hurt my hand!”
“This… this guy is terrifying!”
“One slap killed Wang Fang—a minor-expert at the Transformation Realm! That puts him at the level of a Grandmaster!”
“So powerful! He even dared to kill a disciple of the semi-secluded Diancang Sect—absolutely ruthless!”
The Diancang contingent and all the other experts present could hardly believe their eyes. They were stunned by Jiang Tian’s overwhelming cultivation, but even more shaken by his towering, unbridled dominance.
Semi-secluded sects were far more powerful than ordinary martial families.
Diancang, in particular, dominated Mount Wuliang. Its martial heritage ran deep, its teachings unbroken. Its disciples were as numerous as clouds, its experts like a forest. One could say that Diancang alone rivaled the combat strength of the entire Huaxia Dragon Group.
“The Emperor’s Daughter Flower… a young Grandmaster… he’s Jiang Taichu!”
Wu Yingxiong frowned in thought, then suddenly his face twisted in shock. He stared at Jiang Tian in disbelief.
Though he had never met Jiang Tian, the news of his quest for the Emperor’s Daughter Flower had shaken the world. And among Huaxia’s young Grandmasters, there were only a handful. Add in that arrogant, heaven-defying personality, and Wu Yingxiong instantly guessed his identity.
“He’s Jiang Taichu!”
“The one called the number-one martial Grandmaster? The one who killed Lin Zhenyu?” Many present were visibly shaken.
“Didn’t we just agree that if I could take it on my own, it would be mine alone? Now you’re all getting greedy and going back on your word?”
Jiang Tian swept his gaze over the assembled heroes with utter mockery, looking down on them all. He let out a cold, murderous laugh: “Let me make this clear—I’ve been thinking about this Emperor’s Daughter Flower for over a year now. I’m determined to have it. Anyone who dares fight me for it dies! Come at me all at once—I don’t care. I wouldn’t mind slaughtering every last one of you!”
He doted on his wife beyond reason. Relying on the Emperor’s Daughter Flower to transform her constitution was his only hope of setting her on the path of cultivation.
If these heroes insisted on fighting him for it, he wouldn’t hesitate to cut them all down. This heavenly treasure was his by right of single-handed acquisition. If they tried to rob him now, they’d be utterly shameless.
“Jiang Taichu, was it you who crippled my grandson Wu Tiankun’s cultivation?” Wu Yingxiong bellowed furiously.
“So what if it was?”
Jiang Tian sneered dismissively: “If you’ve got the guts, come bite me. I was already being generous by not killing him!”
“Jiang Taichu, you may be strong, but we aren’t afraid of you!” Wu Yingxiong stepped forward, seething with rage.
Arrogant and unyielding, he had heard of Jiang Tian’s reputation but had never witnessed it firsthand. He simply didn’t believe in Jiang Tian’s prowess.
Besides—his grandson’s cultivation was ruined, his mobility destroyed. That was a blood feud. His hatred for Jiang Tian burned like an inferno.
“I hear they call you the number-one Grandmaster under the Divine Realm. I wonder—can you withstand the poisonous miasma of my Shadow Venom Sect?”
Ying Wusheng spoke with a sinister, chilling tone. He stepped forward, black vapor coiling around his fingers, toxic fumes billowing.
“Heh. No matter how great your skills—even if you could match Ye Zhantian blow for blow—the three of us striking together will be your end. Hand over the Emperor’s Daughter Flower now, or I’ll take your life!”
The Young Witch God spoke with a frivolous air, shaking his head dismissively, utterly unimpressed by the name “Jiang Taichu.”
They were all extraordinary talents who had slain Transformation Realm Grandmasters before. Fighting together, they were confident—if not in killing Jiang Tian easily, at least in having the power to seize the flower.
“Jiang Taichu, you’re far too arrogant!”
The three of them had only threatened him. But Wang Haitao chose to act directly. Clang! He drew his sword and roared: “Junior brothers and sisters! Follow my command—form the sword formation!”
Clang! Clang! The sound of swords leaving their scabbards rang out in rapid succession.
In that instant, amidst the cold gleam of steel, all the Diancang disciples drew their blades and assembled into a sword formation.
At the summit of Everest, freezing winds whipped snow and ice, where water turned to solid ice in an instant.
But colder than the wind, colder than the ice, were the sword-light, the killing intent… and the hearts of men.
