“Young Shaman God, what about you? Any objections?”
Suddenly, Jiang Tian turned his head, his indifferent gaze sweeping over the restless Young Shaman God as he unleashed a wave of spiritual pressure.
The Young Shaman God practiced heretical arts and was especially sensitive to spiritual attacks. He felt as if his head was about to explode on the spot—thud!—and collapsed to the ground.
He thrashed and convulsed uncontrollably, his hair disheveled, blood seeping from all seven orifices, looking every bit like a demon clawing its way out of hell.
“Master Jiang, spare me! This disciple has absolutely no objections!”
The Young Shaman God struggled to kneel, managing to force out flattering words despite his shattered spirit and splitting headache: “The Empress Flower is a heavenly treasure—it should naturally belong to a mighty master like you, who possesses both virtue and overwhelming power!”
“Any objections from the rest of you?”
“If anyone has a problem, come and take it!”
Jiang Tian swept his cold gaze across the crowd and barked out.
“This disciple dare not!”
“Master Jiang, this junior dare not!”
One by one, the experts lowered their proud heads, not daring to breathe too loudly. Some of the younger and less powerful ones even dropped to their knees and prostrated themselves before Jiang Tian, paying him the respect of a disciple to a master.
Jiang Tian was satisfied.
He could see that everyone’s faces were filled with fear, caution, and unease—but not a trace of malice or resentment.
No one would dare to covet it anymore…
“Very well…”
Jiang Tian nodded slowly and smiled. “Then this divine spiritual herb is mine!”
“Diancang…” Jiang Tian’s gaze fell upon the Diancang group, and a cold smile curled at the corner of his mouth.
“Master Jiang, please spare us!”
In the end, even the Diancang people no longer dared to act recklessly. They all dropped to their knees.
All traces of arrogance and pride had vanished from their faces. They begged Jiang Tian not to kill them.
“So-called semi-secluded sects, huh? Nothing special after all. You still feel pain when struck, and you still fear death when threatened!”
Jiang Tian said with a relaxed smile:
“Take a message back to your sect leader for me. Your Diancang sect was the one who provoked me today. Do not seek revenge—otherwise, it won’t just be a few Diancang disciples who die. I will annihilate your entire sect!”
“Yes, yes—we will relay your message!” The Diancang disciples knelt on the ground, trembling all over.
“Go!” Jiang Tian couldn’t be bothered to look at them again. He charged down the mountain.
His movement was like lightning, kicking up a swirling blizzard of snow like a white dragon. In just a few flashes, he vanished among the towering peaks.
After Jiang Tian and his companions had gone…
The summit of Everest fell into a deathly silence.
Everyone exchanged blank looks, speechless for a long time. Only the howling wind and the gently falling snow broke the quiet.
“I will go into seclusion and not emerge for twenty years!”
Shadow Wusheng left those cryptic words behind, his expression complex. With a flicker of movement, he suddenly disappeared from sight.
He had always been proud and aloof, thinking highly of himself. But after witnessing Jiang Taichu’s might today, he finally realized that before a true powerhouse, he was nothing more than a clay dog or a straw chicken—the gap was simply too vast.
In truth, with someone like Jiang Taichu dominating the scene, there was no hope for his generation to rise to prominence.
“I must report back to my sect immediately. From now on, whenever I see Jiang Taichu, I’ll have to take a detour!” The Young Shaman God hurried down the mountain, muttering to himself.
Wu Yingxiong still stood there in a daze, silent for a long time. Only now did he snap out of it. He looked up at the sky and let out a heavy sigh:
“After this battle on Everest’s summit, Jiang Taichu was like a deity. Half of Southeast Asia’s martial traditions have been wiped out in a single stroke—I’m afraid the entire region will fall into silence!”
Everyone remained silent, their eyes filled with dread. They all felt that Jiang Tian’s performance in this battle was nothing short of divine.
…
“Pfft!”
Once Jiang Tian descended the mountain, he staggered and collapsed to the ground. The jade bottle rolled away, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood, soaking the front of his shirt.
“Master Jiang! Master Jiang!”
“Are you alright?”
Huo Qingtian and Wei Feilong’s hearts nearly leaped out of their chests. They quickly helped Jiang Tian to his feet, their eyes filled with concern.
“Ah… that heavy machine gun barrage was truly terrifying…”
Only after confirming that the Empress Flower was undamaged did Jiang Tian breathe a sigh of relief. He cradled it carefully in his arms like a precious infant—the sole heir of five generations—brushing off the ice and stone dust. Sitting on the snow, he forced a wry smile and sighed:
“That sustained barrage lasted three full minutes—over ten thousand rounds fired. It nearly depleted all my protective qi defenses. In the end… I secretly swallowed more than a dozen top-grade pills just to keep myself going, pushing through sheer grit. Now that I’ve let my guard down, I just can’t hold on any longer.”
At that moment, a thought flashed through his mind.
It seemed this physical body was still far too frail. Moreover, Earth’s cultivation resources were scarce, and the ambient energy was too thin. Even with repeated tempering using the Chaos Creation Art, it still couldn’t reach a level he found satisfactory.
In the path of cultivation, the physical body, spirit, techniques, and external tools like treasures were all indispensable.
His spiritual power and techniques were formidable, but this weak mortal shell had become a constraint on his ability to wield them. For now, his priority was to find suitable materials to rebuild his body.
With the Empress Flower in hand, he could now resolve Qing’er’s cultivation issues. Next, he would have to turn his attention to this major undertaking…
“Ah, Master Jiang is truly devoted to his wife. If the Mistress were to learn of this, she would surely be moved to tears…”
Huo Qingtian sighed as he followed Jiang Tian’s instructions, retrieving a few pills and feeding them to him.
“Indeed. True depth of love is bound to bring great loyalty. To be able to follow a master as devoted and righteous as Jiang Tian is truly a blessing we’ve earned over three lifetimes!” Wei Feilong also remarked with a sigh.
It could be said that most figures in Huaxia’s martial arts world held themselves in high regard—keeping mistresses in hidden chambers, taking concubines, or surrounding themselves with women, enjoying a life of indulgence.
In the eyes of these towering martial figures, women were merely playthings to relieve boredom.
Who else would show such devotion as Jiang Tian, risking life and limb to fight off an army of Southeast Asian experts for the sake of his wife’s cultivation, teetering on the edge of life and death?
“Whatever you do, don’t tell her…”
Jiang Tian’s lips were stained with blood, his face pale, his breath weak. After taking the pills and feeling a bit better, he said calmly: “It’s my own lack of skill—just a few lousy monks and witches from Southeast Asia, and they still managed to wound me!”
Wei Feilong quickly brought the off-road vehicle over.
They helped Jiang Tian into the car. He closed his eyes slightly, refining the healing pills, and waved his hand: “Let’s go. Back to Linzhou. I want to go home.”
At this moment, Jiang Tian was filled with an urgent longing to return. He wanted to see his beloved wife’s smiling face, to witness her awakening to her immortal physique and soaring progress!
“Master Jiang, don’t worry—we’re heading home right away!” Wei Feilong started the engine.
Still, waves of dizziness washed over him. Jiang Tian immediately sat cross-legged, closed his eyes to rest, and continued refining the medicinal pills.
…
As Jiang Tian made his way back to Linzhou…
A piece of earth-shattering news swept through Huaxia like a hurricane, and then rippled across the global martial arts world, sending shockwaves everywhere.
Jiang Taichu, atop the summit of Everest, had clashed with numerous Southeast Asian experts—and emerged victorious in every single battle, sweeping through them all!
“The Transcendent One, Oyela, was said to be able to command many forces, but even he fell to Jiang Taichu’s hand!”
A Western strongman, the leader of a “Crimson” assassin organization, posted the news on the Dark Web.
The Dark Web was the most mysterious site in the global underworld, where many martial artists and supernatural beings gathered. Of course, it was also used to post bounties for assassinations or to conduct all sorts of shady transactions.
“Impossible!”
“That was the fourth-ranked powerhouse in Southeast Asia—an old-school shaman with profound arts and abilities! In that region, probably only Wang Zhongyan could have suppressed him!”
Upon seeing the news, some experts cried out in utter disbelief.
“Exactly. I remember ten years ago, the ‘Sword Tiger’ assassin organization—ranked seventh globally at the time—assassinated a wealthy man in Malaysia. What they didn’t know was that he was a follower of Oyela, under his protection. When Oyela found out, he flew into a rage and stormed their headquarters in the city of Oron on the Apennine Peninsula. In just thirty minutes, he slaughtered over a hundred fully armed Sword Tiger operatives—some of whom even carried large-caliber heavy weapons—leaving no trace of their bodies. And that’s how Oyela earned his fearsome reputation, with the title ‘Transcendent One’ echoing across the world!”
Even now, many experts still shuddered when recalling Oyela’s brutal achievements.
That was precisely why they couldn’t believe that a young man from Huaxia had actually managed to kill Oyela.
“I saw it all with my own eyes!”
The Crimson leader had been watching from a distance at the time and bore witness to part of the battle. He immediately said:
“Not only him—Blackwing Batu, the great Tianzhu yoga master Singh, the number one monk Green Lotus Grand Master, Master Gurkar in his gray robes, and even the titan Thesan—were all slain by him as well. Jiang Taichu fought them all alone and did it in about half an hour!”
The moment those words dropped, the entire Dark Web went silent.
No one posted anymore. It was as if the servers had crashed.
Everyone was utterly stunned.
“Blackwing Batu? You mean the head of the Blackwing Mercenaries? Are you sure about that? They had heavy weapons!”
“Yeah, ‘Crimson,’ don’t talk nonsense!”
“Green Lotus Grand Master was ranked fifth in Southeast Asia! And Singh was in the top ten too!”
A full five minutes passed before someone dared to voice their disbelief.
“It’s true. I saw it too. Jiang Taichu is simply too strong!”
At that moment, another expert emerged to corroborate “Crimson’s” account.
This expert’s ID was “The Observer,” and according to his registration date, he had been on the Dark Web for twenty years.
“‘Observer’ has appeared!”
“Tell us! What exactly happened?”
“Who is this Jiang Taichu, really?”
The forum instantly exploded with excitement.
“Observer” was the top intelligence broker in the global underworld and held tremendous prestige on the Dark Web.
His background was shrouded in mystery. He had operated in the underworld for over a decade, yet no one knew whether he was male or female, nor had anyone ever seen his true face.
“Observer” possessed astonishing information-gathering capabilities and was renowned for providing intelligence that was accurate, detailed, and highly reliable.
There was scarcely any hidden secret in the underworld that he didn’t know about. He was hailed as the “Encyclopedia of the Dark Web” and the “Walking Dark Web.”
But in truth, “Observer” didn’t belong to any organization or faction, nor was he affiliated with any country’s intelligence agency. He never involved himself in underworld conflicts, remained completely neutral, and always kept the secrets of his clients.
As a result, almost all major martial organizations around the world enjoyed dealing with Observer—inquiring about news, purchasing intelligence, and even consulting him as an external advisor for strategic advice.
Among these clients were even intelligence agencies from some superpowers.
“This Jiang Taichu—he’s the same man who killed Lin Zhenyu of the Big Circle! No wonder you’re confused—Chinese names are always a bit hard to remember.”
“Observer” posted a grinning emoji.
