In the West, on Mount Olympus, in the Hall of the Gods.
The atmosphere was majestic and awe-inspiring, filled with holy light.
A mighty, towering figure sat upon a golden throne inlaid with gemstones, looking down at the many powerful beings below. His authoritative voice spread out:
“This time, Apollo fell in China, but our Hall of the Gods can never take revenge!”
He was the Father of the Gods, the strongest being in the Western supernatural world—
Zeus!
Artemis, also one of the twelve main gods, frowned with boundless hatred and said, “Why not! In a hundred years, this is the first time one of our main gods has fallen! This is a huge humiliation for us! We must launch bloody retaliation!”
“Apollo betrayed the Hall, acted as a thug for the Big Circle, and even colluded with the Blood Clan! This is an even greater humiliation for us!”
Zeus’s majestic gaze flickered with divine light, suppressing the doubts and dissatisfaction of all the powerful beings. Even Artemis was shaken and took a step back.
Zeus said hatefully, “If Jiang Taichu hadn’t killed him, we wouldn’t even have known about his connection to the Big Circle!”
“Immediately contact Ye Zhantian of China’s Dragon Group, express our friendship and goodwill, and internationally express our strong condemnation of the Big Circle!”
“Yes!” Below the stage, all the Western powerful beings responded in unison.
…
Las Vegas, still in that luxurious and grand conference room.
But this time, the atmosphere of the meeting was especially gloomy, filled with a pessimistic and terrifying mood.
“It must be the Chinese military that made a move, or even Ye Zhantian himself. Otherwise, Golden Scorpion and Apollo wouldn’t have fallen!”
Xiao Wu, the head of the North American region, said hatefully:
“Intelligence shows that Jiang Tian has close ties with the Chinese military. He once served as a martial arts consultant for War Dragon and even provided the military with large quantities of special medicines!”
The many giants all fell silent.
If Jiang Tian were merely powerful as an individual, it wouldn’t matter much. After all, no matter how strong one person is, how could they compare to a super organization like the Big Circle? But if he had a great power behind him, that was truly terrifying.
Master Fan Six darkened his face and remained silent for a long time before finally waving his hand dejectedly and saying, “First, withdraw the bounty, and stop all activities in China. All Big Circle members are to withdraw from the Chinese market!”
Everyone nodded silently.
After pondering for a moment, Xiao Wu suggested, “Master Fan Six, shall we activate our Great Turtle Island base in the Pacific? This place… probably isn’t very safe…”
“Bullshit! Great Turtle Island, Great Turtle Island! You want me to be a shrinking turtle!”
Master Fan Six flew into a rage and smashed his most beloved antique purple clay cup, worth millions, heavily onto the ground, shattering it to pieces.
Great Turtle Island was a private island purchased by the Big Circle for a huge sum.
Numerous defensive fortifications had been built on it, and over a thousand private soldiers were stationed there. The base was located deep underground, a hundred meters below, immune to rocket and artillery attacks, and could even withstand Dongfeng bunker-buster missiles.
During the long development of the Big Circle, there had been over twenty years when it was an illegal organization, and its headquarters were set up there for fear of surprise attacks by powerful beings and suppression by great powers.
But later, the Big Circle developed too powerfully and became a legal society and enterprise. Master Fan Six could even lobby the U.S. Congress and drink happily with political dignitaries. Who would want to hide in a sunless underground place?
So they moved out and relocated the headquarters to the Lisboa International Casino in Las Vegas, enjoying the prosperity of the world.
After finally stepping into the light of day, now they actually had to move back and become sunless rats again. How could Master Fan Six tolerate it? He was so angry he was about to explode.
“Master Fan Six, calm your anger! This disciple was wrong!” Xiao Wu was so frightened that his face turned pale. He knelt on the ground, trembling.
This kind of organization was like an independent kingdom, with strict hierarchies and ancestral family rules. If Master Fan Six wanted to kill him, no one could stop it.
“Get out!”
Master Fan Six waved his hand, then immediately began coughing violently. All the giants retreated cautiously.
“Master Six, so are you moving or not?”
At that moment, a seductive Chinese woman walked out from a side room and asked in a sweet, lilting voice.
“Move! Move quickly! Prepare a private plane, we’re leaving now!”
Master Fan Six’s anger dissipated, but the more he thought, the more afraid he became.
He quickly stood up and, under the guard of many powerful beings, rushed toward the private airport like a rat crossing the street.
…
Just like that, Jiang Tian, hand in hand with Qing’er, blood-washed Jinling. With the deaths of more than a hundred powerful beings in twenty-three groups as a signal, he sent the strongest message to the dark world and truly made his name internationally.
“Jiang Taichu!”
These three words finally became a taboo name in the hearts of many dark organizations around the world!
And when the bounty on the dark web was withdrawn, many powerful beings were in an uproar, their hearts trembling with shock.
From the moment the two great experts, Sun God Apollo and Golden Scorpion, made their moves, everyone could basically judge that this was the Big Circle’s bounty.
On one hand, there were only a handful of organizations in the world that could offer a five-hundred-million-dollar bounty, limited to just a few super organizations like the Sakura Society, the Singapore Chinese Association, and the Big Circle.
On the other hand, Jiang Taichu had once killed Lin Zhenyu, one of the Big Circle’s seven giants. There was already enmity between them, and this time two Big Circle experts had made moves, so it wasn’t hard to infer.
Lin Zhenyu could also be considered a super giant, but he had once lost to Ye Zhantian and then went into seclusion for twenty years. His influence in the dark world gradually faded, and his reputation was no longer so resounding.
But Golden Scorpion and Apollo were different. They were powerful beings of the present age, very active, with brilliant battle records, and could be said to be world-famous.
Especially since Apollo was also one of the twelve main gods of the Hall of the Gods, his reputation even surpassed Lin Zhenyu’s.
Yet these two giants of the dark world died at the hands of Jiang Taichu, slain with a single blade, their heads even exploding. Every powerful being who had seen the photos of Apollo’s corpse felt their heart palpitate uncontrollably.
What was even more terrifying was that now the Big Circle had not only failed to increase the bounty and retaliate again, but had instead chosen to withdraw the bounty and even moved its headquarters to Great Turtle Island. This invited speculation and was deeply shocking.
“It can be said that Jiang Taichu alone suppressed the famous Big Circle! With such a powerful being, which organization would dare provoke him or stand against him?”
“From now on, any contract involving Jiang Taichu must not be accepted. No, don’t even go to China again!”
Such discussions spread everywhere on the dark web, and after the Big Circle withdrew the bounty, they became even more rampant, reaching a peak.
For a time, many dark powerful beings changed expression at the mere mention of the three words “Jiang Taichu.”
…
At this time, a day and a night had passed since the blood-washing of Jinling. The Jiang family mansion, which had been like a typhoon passing through, had been renovated and restored to calm.
In the study, Jiang Tian sat in a rocking chair.
On the coffee table were the Heavenly Court Black Sword, the Gengjin Iron Mother Staff, that set of armor, and Apollo’s golden longbow, all obtained from the Fighting Saint Ape.
“Qing’er, these are all supreme treasures. Which one do you like?” Jiang Tian asked with a smile.
He had continuously taken great medicines for healing and nourishing qi, and coupled with the killing during the blood-washing of Jinling, the great medicines circulated throughout his body, nourishing his organs. His true essence was abundant, and his physique and cultivation had completely recovered.
“Can’t I have them all?” Qing’er snuggled beside Jiang Tian and said with a playful smile.
“Haha, of course you can!” Jiang Tian laughed heartily.
He joyfully sensed the earth-shaking change in Qing’er.
This change was not only in strength, but also in mindset. She was more cheerful and confident than before.
It was as if a life that had been curled up had completely unfolded.
“Just kidding!”
Qing’er smiled beautifully and touched the top of Jiang Tian’s head, saying, “Little baby, you’re too weak. These armors and weapons, better keep them for yourself to protect yourself. Your big sister is so awesome, I don’t need them!”
“…” Jiang Tian wanted to cry but had no tears.
But he also knew Qing’er was telling the truth, so he didn’t stand on ceremony.
He summoned flames and spent a whole day of hard work, using various materials to carve many formations on the blade, including a flight formation, a body-protecting astral wind formation, a transformation formation, and more.
The flight formation could convert the vast spiritual energy between heaven and earth into kinetic energy for the sword, and could even break the sound barrier.
The body-protecting astral wind was even more necessary. It could protect the rider from airflow interference. Otherwise, it would easily create an explosive hairstyle like a punk rocker’s.
The transformation formation was Jiang Tian’s makeshift solution for not having a storage treasure. When the formation operated, he could shrink to the size of a needle tip, invisible to ordinary people, and could even evade X-rays and pass through airport security.
After all, in modern society, walking around with a sword on your back in broad daylight would look too edgy.
If enlarged, it would be a sword one zhang long, convenient for riding and flying.
In addition, there were concealment formations, sound-dampening formations, and so on.
…
In the end, he imprinted his own divine sense mark and forged the Heavenly Court Black Sword into his own flying sword.
When the divine sense imprint was completed.
Jiang Tian immediately felt a sense of spiritual connection with the Heavenly Court Black Sword.
The black sword fluttered around Jiang Tian like a butterfly, joyful and extremely agile.
“Wow, it can fly by itself!” Qing’er exclaimed in wonder, deeply impressed by the profundity of cultivation.
“Go!”
Jiang Tian’s divine sense stirred!
With a sharp screech!
The black sword traced a streak of light, shot into the sky, and instantly turned into a small black dot and disappeared.
It completely exceeded the speed of sound.
“Return!”
Jiang Tian gave a soft shout, and the black sword seemed to appear out of thin air, instantly flying back before Jiang Tian.
“From now on, I’ll call you Little Black Sword!” Jiang Tian held the hilt, and a heroic spirit surged in his heart.
It could be said that with this flying sword, his combat power would increase tenfold. Even a half-step divine realm expert would not frighten him.
Afterward, Jiang Tian also forged and refined the Gengjin Iron Mother Staff.
The way of the staff emphasizes domineering majesty, fierce rigidity and intensity. As the saying goes, a staff sweeps a thousand soldiers, a staff sweeps a large area.
But Jiang Tian preferred an elegant, transcendent style of fighting. So he sharpened both ends of the iron staff, thickened the middle, and formed a black iron flying shuttle, on which he also engraved countless small formation runes.
…
When Jiang Tian finished all this and carved divine sense imprints on the many treasures, turning them into treasures belonging specifically to himself and Qing’er, it was already early morning the next day.
What surprised him was that Lin Menghan, the busty policewoman he had once encountered at a gas station, barged in aggressively with several police officers.
“Jiang Tian, you are suspected of organizing illegal gang activities and multiple murders. You are under arrest!”
As soon as she entered the living room, Lin Menghan said arrogantly, her face like frost.
