By now, the Singapore Chinese Association had long since expanded beyond Singapore itself, radiating its influence across all of Southeast Asia. Numerous shipping magnates, hotel tycoons, and wealthy magnates all relied on his protection.
In Singapore, even the Prime Minister had to yield to him with the utmost respect. He was practically an emperor in all but name.
“But with Ye Zhantian holding down the fort in China, won’t we run into trouble if we go over there?”
“The Sky Walker,” Oyelah, furrowed her brow.
Her appearance was aged and withered, with sagging skin and white hair. Barefoot, disheveled, and hunched over, she wore a black cloak and clutched a gnarled wooden staff. The air around her exuded a chilling, eerie presence.
She was a renowned witch from Malaysia, ranked fourth on the Southeast Asia Power List. A master of dark arts, she specialized in black magic, corpse refinement, worm sorcery, and gu poison.
Legend had it that she could take a life from a hundred miles away using her flying curse technique. In Malaysia, she was treated like a national sage, with a vast following of devotees.
Upon hearing this, Wang Chongyan’s face darkened. He sneered with deep resentment: “What’s Ye Zhantian anyway? If it weren’t for his father Ye Tianren using a magical artifact back in the day, he wouldn’t have even been a match for me!”
He was a contemporary of Ye Tianren and bore a grudge against the Ye family—how could he possibly take a younger upstart like Ye Zhantian seriously?
“And as for that Green Lotus Great Master—building a hermitage and cultivating on Chinese soil, basically squatting right on their doorstep and taking a dump—yet Ye Zhantian just sits back and does nothing, playing the cowardly turtle. Absolutely ridiculous. He’s nothing but a cheap clown!”
As he spoke, his body straightened, and an overwhelming aura surged outward in all directions. A flicker of lightning seemed to flash in his eyes, forcing Oyelah to take a step back.
Wang Chongyan said in a cold voice:
“If I can get my hands on that Catalytic Spirit Spring and consume it, I’ll break through to the Divine Realm. Then, never mind Ye Zhantian—even if that old undying Ye Tianren himself crawled out of retirement, I could kill him with a flick of my finger!”
“As for that newly risen little brat Jiang Taichu—he won’t even last a single exchange!”
“Ye Tianren… is he still alive?” A burly man asked in a deep voice.
Oyelah turned to look at him, a flicker of wariness in her eyes.
Though the man was seated, his head almost brushed the ceiling. His muscles were like cast iron, gleaming with an odd metallic luster.
He was known as “Mammoth” Thaisan, a physical awakener from Cambodia, ranked tenth on the Southeast Asia Power List.
His body was incredibly tough—immune to fire and water, impenetrable to blades and bullets. He possessed monstrous strength and explosive combat power, capable of uprooting towering trees with his bare hands and shattering boulders with a single punch or kick. His prowess was in no way inferior to that of a Chinese grandmaster specializing in external hard-body training.
“Hmph, these old geezers who’ve stepped into the half-step Divine Realm—why would they be so eager to die? They’re just afraid of nuclear weapons, so they hide away and cultivate in silence…”
Wang Chongyan let out a cold snort. With his hands clasped behind his back, he stood by the window, gazing far into the sky, lost in thought.
“Senior Wang, I think we should add some firepower support for this operation!” a sharp-eyed man with a bushy beard and wearing camouflage combat gear asked in surprise.
Oyelah’s sinister gaze shifted toward him. She thought to herself, This guy definitely won’t let such a good opportunity for merit slip by.
His name was “Batu,” the leader of the “Blackwing Mercenaries,” a force that operated freely throughout the Golden Triangle and the Mekong River basin.
The Blackwing Mercenaries were also an external affiliate of the Singapore Chinese Association—a private military organization with thousands of members and legal possession of heavy firepower.
Their influence was immense; they could even sway regime changes in small countries. Even major drug lords like Khun Sa would steer clear of him.
Batu had received guidance from Wang Chongyan and could manifest black wings that moved at lightning speed, much like the legendary Leizhenzi from mythology. He was ranked sixth among Southeast Asia’s top powerhouses.
Wang Chongyan nodded and said in a sharp, measured tone: “This time, Oyelah will lead the Blackwing Mercenaries on the mission. Make sure you bring back that divine herb and the spirit spring—as much as possible…”
Jiang Tian, meanwhile, was completely unaware of all this.
The four of them flew into Lhasa, Tibet, then traveled light in a rugged off-road vehicle, heading toward Everest.
“Seems like Everest isn’t much of a mysterious place anymore—anyone can come here now. How does the Green Lotus Great Master keep the Empress Flower hidden from view?”
When they arrived at the foot of Everest and parked the car, the four of them got out and surveyed the surroundings. Jiang Tian couldn’t help but frown.
Spread out at the base of the mountain was a sprawling cluster of tents, with trash scattered nearby—human waste, discarded climbing gear, and the like.
By now, Everest had become a global magnet for climbers, attracting huge numbers of adventurers.
They wore windproof one-piece down suits, insulated climbing boots, headlamps, and carried ropes—even oxygen packs.
Everest is the tallest peak in the world, a place of extreme cold, low oxygen, and treacherous terrain. The mortality rate for climbers stands at 4%—extremely perilous.
“He built a monastery called Green Lotus Temple over there and set up a small concealment formation around it!” Huo Qingtian replied. “From the outside, it looks like a dense, impenetrable fog. It took us a long time just to find our way in.”
“Oh, I see…” Jiang Tian nodded slightly.
Though Jiang Tian’s alias “Jiang Taichu” had become renowned across the Chinese martial arts world, no one here could recognize him.
Still, as soon as the four of them appeared, they drew a fair share of surprised looks and murmurs.
“Whoa, he’s only wearing a long-sleeved shirt—isn’t he afraid of freezing to death?”
“No gear at all—does he want to suffocate from altitude sickness?”
“Four idiots, coming here to die!”
At an altitude of 2,000 meters, the temperature had already dropped below freezing—water froze instantly. Yet Jiang Tian wore only thin cotton clothes, and the three grandmasters were only in ordinary hiking attire, relatively light by comparison.
For a moment, the other climbers stared at Jiang Tian as if he were a fool, their faces full of ridicule and mockery.
“Huh—isn’t that Zhang Yilin’s cousin, Jiang Tian?”
Suddenly, a girl sitting on a rock, cooking with a pressure cooker, caught sight of him. She froze for a moment and muttered under her breath.
Behind her sat an elderly man, around sixty years old, looking a bit frail. He was wearing an oxygen mask, breathing heavily.
“Hm?”
Jiang Tian instinctively turned his head and glanced at the girl. Her voice had been soft, but there was no way it could escape his divine sense.
He also found her vaguely familiar, though he couldn’t quite place her at first.
Seeing Jiang Tian look her way, the girl became even more certain of his identity. She walked over quickly and said with a smile:
“Jiang Tian, I’m Gu Qingcheng, Zhang Yilin’s classmate. I came to Linzhou to see you before—have you been feeling better?”
“Oh, it’s you…” Jiang Tian tapped his forehead and laughed in realization. “What are you doing here?”
Zhang Yilin was the daughter of his fourth maternal uncle in the Zhang family of Yanjing. They had always shared a close bond.
As a child, she had suffered from a serious illness and was sent to the Jiang family for several years of care under Jiang Zhixing’s meticulous treatment.
Once she recovered, she returned to the Zhang family. She should still be studying at Yanjing University by now.
Zhang Yilin had always been close to Jiang Tian since childhood. It could be said that, within the cold and heartless Zhang family, only Yilin and her immediate family had ever shown him any warmth.
After Jiang Tian caused trouble and fled to Linzhou, she had even asked Gu Qingcheng to visit him a few times and left behind several tens of thousands of yuan.
But by then, Jiang Tian had been suffering from alcohol poisoning caused by Wu Zhaohui, so his memory of Gu Qingcheng was quite hazy.
“Oh, I’m here with my dad on an archaeological project—we’re looking for some ruins. What about you? Here for sightseeing or climbing?” Gu Qingcheng asked.
She was in her early twenties, petite and delicate, with refined features, fair and clear skin, and still a touch of youthful innocence. She looked at Jiang Tian with surprise, wondering if his madness had truly faded.
But coming to Everest in such light clothing and with no gear at all… maybe it hadn’t…
“Yeah, yeah. Just taking a look around…” Jiang Tian nodded, thinking to himself, Do I really look like I have time for sightseeing?
“W-why are you all wearing so little…?”
Gu Qingcheng ran into her tent and pulled out a down jacket, handing it to Jiang Tian. “This is my dad’s—it should fit you! Put it on, and come have something to eat.”
Given Jiang Tian’s physique—though still mortal, it had been tempered by the Chaos Creation Art—this level of cold and low oxygen wouldn’t affect him in the slightest.
Still, seeing Gu Qingcheng’s good intentions, he didn’t want to refuse, so he put it on.
“There’s some yak stew here—have a bowl. If you’re planning to climb Everest, you need plenty of energy and nutrition!”
Gu Qingcheng opened the pressure cooker and ladled out bowls for the four of them. Jiang Tian, touched by her warmth and thoughtfulness, felt a fondness for her and sat down on a rock, eating and chatting.
“Sir, what’s your name?” Jiang Tian asked between hearty bites of yak meat, which was quite tasty, smiling broadly.
“Not at all, not at all. I’m Gu Boxian, from the Gu family in Yanjing. I’m a professor of archaeology at Yanjing University.” Gu Boxian, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, his face pale and wan, gave a weak salute with his hands clasped.
“Gu Boxian? How are you related to Gu Canghai?” Huo Qingtian suddenly perked up and interjected.
“That’s my elder brother—do you know him?” Gu Boxian was equally surprised.
The Gu family was a minor martial arts clan with no real standing in China, but his elder brother Gu Canghai associated mainly with martial artists. Could this old man be from that world? And he seemed to be Jiang Tian’s attendant—just who was Jiang Tian, anyway?
“Oh, I’ve heard of him, but never met him…” Huo Qingtian furrowed his brow.
If the Gu family was a martial clan, why would one of its members choose to become an archaeology professor?
And what’s more, this man’s energy was so weak—he showed no signs of cultivation whatsoever. It was quite strange.
“Mr. Gu, you seem to have a rather weak constitution,” Jiang Tian said, looking at Gu Boxian, who was wrapped in a sleeping bag and leaning against a rock, smiling gently.
“Yeah, I’m getting old—not much use anymore. I’ve been in archaeology my whole life, crawled through countless famous mountains and underground caverns. I’ve climbed Everest five or six times. But this time, I haven’t even started the climb—I’m already at the foot and I nearly bought it.” Gu Boxian wheezed and let out a bitter laugh.
“Mr. Gu, let me take a look at you.”
Before Gu Boxian could refuse, Jiang Tian gently grasped his wrist and swept a strand of divine sense over him.
“Mr. Gu, you likely fell ill about five years ago, yes? You feel cold all over, your qi and blood don’t flow smoothly, and whenever it’s overcast, rainy, or snowy, you get a dull ache in your chest, dizziness, blurred vision—and in severe cases, you even faint.”
Jiang Tian said calmly.
“Jiang Tian, how did you figure that out? Your medical skills are almost miraculous!”
Gu Qingcheng beamed with delight, clutching Jiang Tian’s arm, then suddenly realized: “Of course, of course—your family’s always been a medical lineage, so you must know medicine. Does that mean… your madness is really cured?”
