Chapter 127: Chapter 33: Who Knows What’s Going On?
The Wood Centipede was still struggling. The Life Force of such a Spirit Plant Beast was especially terrifying; even the Red Land Demon Poison could only damage its bodily fluid circulation and couldn’t kill it outright in a short time.
But that didn’t stop Su Zhou from prying open its carapace, extracting the Spiritual Liquid from within, pouring it into a portable plastic bag, and then hanging it on his waist as a trophy.
’No Evil Demon Crystal, huh... Right, this is just a local, ordinary creature. Evil Demons are the materialization of information projected from an Otherworld into the real world. According to a certain game theory, if the former is a human, then the latter is at least a candidate for a Heroic Spirit.’
Of course, even a Heroic Spirit wasn’t much if it hadn’t grown into its complete form. Su Zhou was just disappointed to have one less prize.
Just then, he noticed Zhou Buyi and the others approaching in the distance.
’Couldn’t those Demon Wolves stop them? After all, they’re the ’suspected protagonist group’ of this world. Dealing with a Demon General might be tough for them, but a few Wood Armor Gray Wolves won’t hold them back.’
Su Zhou was actually paying very close attention to Zhou Buyi’s group.
It wasn’t just because they were the first locals he had met in this world, nor was it just because of their ideals. He could faintly tell that if he hadn’t appeared, this three-person team would have been at the center of this world’s storm. They were supposed to have their own ’storyline,’ and the world’s ultimate fate would have been tied to their actions.
Information related to this storyline might even be projected into the minds of certain people on Earth, becoming the inspiration for games or the driving force for creative works...
But his arrival had completely wrecked the whole plot right from the start... God knows what kind of impact it would have on the original Earth World.
"Maybe the *Dark Wolf* series will get another sequel now?" Su Zhou said to Yara with a chuckle. He was just speaking offhandedly, but he received a surprisingly serious response from the Snake Spirit.
"Without a doubt, the changes you make in this world will have a huge impact on your original world."
Peeking its head out slightly from Su Zhou’s hair, Yara’s tone was very serious. "Setting other things aside, if you truly have Divine Soldiers forged and sever the Divine Wood Inheritance of this world, then the faint connection between the *Dark Wolf* series and the *Divine Wood World* will likely be severed completely."
"In other words, either the creator will have to rely on their own skill to continue writing their ’imagined story world,’ or the series will end here. The Divine Wood World will also escape the influence of the Great Being, becoming just an ordinary world among the myriad others, no longer connected to yours."
—Perhaps one day in the future, our world will ’connect’ with the changed Divine Wood World again, but that would be for other reasons, and no longer because of the ’Divine Wood’.
Just how complex were the relationships between worlds? Su Zhou was still far from being able to comprehend such things, but he still nodded thoughtfully, as if he understood something.
But thinking about these things wasn’t the priority right now. Su Zhou leaned over and pulled his green-bloodstained iron spear from the wound on the back of the dying Demon General, Beast Taming. As he did, bringing with it a trail of Wood Liquid, he also yanked out the equally limp Undying Root from inside its body.
"Take this. Find a chance to kill it completely later."
With that, he tossed the Undying Root to the dumbfounded Zhou Buyi and his group, who had finally caught up, and let them handle it. He, on the other hand, took a deep breath, feeling the increasingly active Spiritual Power within him.
’I’m about to advance to Awakening Peak—the realm of a top-tier Grandmaster in this world.’
Su Zhou wasn’t surprised by this result. After Yara’s ritual of Perfect Awakening, he was already at High-level Awakening. He then spent several months cultivating with single-minded focus. His foundation might not have been profound, but on top of his excellent Talent, he had put in solid, down-to-earth effort.
Normally, Su Zhou would have needed more time to reach the upper limit of his overly talented and powerful body before advancing.
But after coming to the Divine Wood World, he had obtained numerous Spiritual Materials that would be considered quite rare on an Earth that had only recently undergone its Spiritual Energy Revival. The rapid absorption ability from Refining Essence and Transforming Qi had allowed him to reach this stage already.
Just then, distinct Spiritual Qi fluctuations emanated from the snowy forest nearby, coming from both the direction of the Taibai Fire Mountain Area and the location of the earlier battle with the Demon General, Beast Taming.
The second Demon General of the Demon Army involved in the encirclement, "Hunting Life," and the reinforcements from the mountaintop fortress, Grandmaster Li Daoran, arrived at almost the same time.
To be honest, when Li Daoran led his team out, his heart was filled with the resolve to die. He had already made up his mind that even if he had to stay behind alone, he would ensure that Su Zhou and his own disciple, Zhou Buyi, could return safely to the mountain fortress.
Although Su Zhou’s Talent was the most genius... no, the most monstrous he had ever seen, he was an exception among exceptions, an existence that defied all reason.
But Zhou Buyi was a fine disciple, jointly educated by the combined power of many Elites from the Hundred Schools. He was a genuine genius who, in theory, could reach the Innate Realm, a feat no one had achieved in centuries. He was a product of their own making.
The former was certainly powerful, but they couldn’t expect him to fight a bloody battle for the peace of the Human World. They also didn’t have the gall to preach about the greater good to someone they had just met. The latter, however, was different. He was from the most direct lineage of the Hundred Schools, the designated future leader of the Hundred Schools after the Three Saints of Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism!
The thirty-five men led by Li Daoran were all Swordsmen from the Daoist School, and they cultivated the Wind-controlling Swordsmanship of Li Daoran’s lineage. As this group sped in from the distance, bringing a Gale with them, their momentum was like that of an entire cavalry unit charging. They kicked up clouds of scattering Ice Crystals in the Snow Mountain District, a spectacular sight tinged with grim determination.
However, when the impassioned Grandmaster Li, leading a group of Swordsmen who shared his willingness to die a noble death, found Su Zhou, Zhou Buyi, and the others in the snowy forest at the foot of the mountain—the very people they were supposed to be rescuing—that group of young people, who should have been fleeing in disarray, were instead laughing. Right in front of the approaching Demon Army, they used the fire of their Inner Strength and Medicinal Fire to forcefully extinguish the Spiritual Energy within a Demon General’s Undying Root, then burned it to ashes!
"What is this?!"
"How did Beast Taming die?!"
Not only was Li Daoran confused, but the Demon Army was also utterly bewildered.
The Demon General Hunting Life, who had followed the Mark of the battle between Su Zhou and Beast Taming, was a tall, three-armed General skilled with an Iron Cannon Longbow. He stood a full two meters tall. One of his left hands had been modified into a True Qi Cannon, while his second left hand and his right hand could easily draw a ten-dan greatbow. The True Qi Cannon Team from before was under his command.
When Hunting Life arrived with several hundred Demon Soldiers and saw Li Daoran and Su Zhou’s group starting to gather, he decisively ordered his troops to fire their arrows and launched three volleys from the True Qi Cannons. But the thirty-five Swordsmen, led by Li Daoran, immediately gathered their Inner Qi to form a semicircular Gale Armor Formation with a fifteen-meter radius!
Both arrows and cannonballs were deflected to the sides by a suddenly appearing, raging Wind Shield, kicking up a great deal of snow and steam.
This was clearly a derivative application of the ’Innate Technique: Whole Body Wind Armor’!
Of course, both Hunting Life and Li Daoran knew that if the True Qi Cannons continued their suppressive fire, this Gale Armor Formation would soon be broken. But if that happened, the Rebel Army’s top-tier experts would likely take advantage of the cannons’ charging time to leap over and cut him down.
As for the Demon Soldiers... there were many of them, it was true, but who could expect an artillery unit to chase down lightly armored swordsmen who knew Qinggong? Even if the soldiers also knew Qinggong, it wouldn’t work. They were meant for assaulting the Taibai Volcano Fortress, not for fighting agile Martial Artists who specialized in Qinggong.
So, even with the main force of the Demon Army, Hunting Life could only watch helplessly as the Undying Root of the Demon General, Beast Taming, was burned away by Su Zhou’s group with Medicinal Fire. Then, while chanting a nonsensical Buddha’s Mantra—"This one is no Buddha, this one will not save you, go find Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva in Hell"—Fang Hui smashed it with an iron staff, grinding it with the snow into a thin paste of ash...
Honestly, when Hunting Life saw this, a chill ran down his spine, and he hid among the ranks of Demon Soldiers as best he could, not daring to step out.
Even though he was facing ’just’ a young Grandmaster with a spear, three young people who weren’t yet Grandmasters, and a Grandmaster and thirty-odd experts who had just rushed down from the mountain and weren’t considered that strong, he still didn’t dare to initiate an attack.
Both sides were in a standoff, each wary of the other. One side was wary of the organized True Qi Cannon Team, the other of their opponent’s ridiculously strong individual martial prowess.
And so, the two sides faced each other as they slowly retreated.
—The Hundred Schools’ Righteous Army’s goal was to forge the Divine Soldiers, not to kill these remaining Undying Demon Generals. Even if they had to fight, it was better to do so at the fortress. Why bother clashing head-on with a True Qi Cannon Team in the wild?
And so, Demon General Hunting Life could only watch with a grim face, listening to the loud laughter of the young man who called himself Su Zhou as he departed, as if mocking his weakness and cowardice.
’This is about preserving our strength... Damn it, wasn’t he said to be a Grandmaster? This power is clearly at the level of a top-tier Grandmaster!’
’Where in the world did he come from?! Both Red Land and Beast Taming were defeated by his hand—you could even say they were free kills! How many times did I say to wait for everyone to gather, not to be reckless? Each of them thought they had everything under control, insisting on fighting for merit. They deserved to die!’
No amount of angry cursing could reverse the defeat. Gazing up at the distant Taibai Fire Mountain Area, Demon General Hunting Life muttered with a face full of anger and helplessness, "I can’t handle this matter anymore. The army has completely lost its ability to attack the mountaintop fortress."
"I must report this to the Celestial Palace."
