Chapter 1 A Glimpse of Hope

It was eight o'clock at night, and the bewitching Yaos guarding the manor were either playing with women or drinking, none of them had rested yet.

Some had already been attracted by the sounds of fighting, grabbing their weapons and rushing out of their rooms. Others didn't realize they were under attack until the Edo swordsman cried for help, belatedly running out of the courtyard to assess the situation.

"Are the official people here to kill us? Damn it, let's fight them! The Changchun branch's manpower isn't enough to wipe us out, is it?"

"Damn it, what is that thing, a werewolf?"

"So, so terrifying aura..."

The bewitching Yaos, who had just rushed out of the house with fierce momentum, stopped in their tracks.

Although werewolves lacked powerful skills, their aura was that of a genuine level 5. Killing level 2 and 3 bewitching Yaos was as easy as crushing insects.

Under the moonlight, the werewolf's limbs moved like the wind. Its strong spine rose and fell as it ran, and the ground its claws stepped on quickly froze over with white frost.

Bloodthirsty Mad Saber was already held back. There was another one outside... The heavily injured Edo swordsman couldn't help but feel despair. He stopped abruptly, and before the rampaging beast arrived, the frost had already climbed up his trouser legs, bringing a bone-chilling cold.

Frost? Restricting my close combat ability! The Edo swordsman's heart sank again. His eyes reflected the werewolf's muscle undulations and movements, discerning its attack. The Edo swordsman didn't retreat but advanced, actively running towards the werewolf. He suddenly knelt down, his body leaning back, sliding with inertia.

At that moment, the werewolf pounced. It desperately stretched out its claws, trying to intercept the sliding human, but the Edo swordsman predicted its attack again and dodged.

Man and wolf passed each other in parallel.

The werewolf missed, falling heavily to the ground. Blood spurted from its abdomen, and intestines dangled precariously from the wound.

When they passed each other just now, the Edo swordsman activated his sword qi, cutting open its abdomen. If the werewolf's fur hadn't been tough and its defense amazing, it would have been cut in half.

On the other side, the Edo swordsman stood up, leaning on the half of his katana, panting heavily. His cheeks, chest, and arms were covered with frost. The freezing eliminated his pain, freezing the penetrating wound in his chest, but this wasn't a good thing.

The cold invaded his body, numbing his limbs, further weakening his combat power.

The werewolf, without pain, pounced again. The wound in its abdomen froze, the blood turning into red ice crystals, and the dangling intestines were also encased in blood-colored ice crystals.

The Edo swordsman gasped, trying his best to inhale oxygen. The veins on his hand holding the sword bulged as he faced the werewolf.

In this round, he had to kill this werewolf, otherwise, when Yuanshi Tianzun and the female swordsman came out, he would surely die.

Just then, as the Edo swordsman was running with his sword, he felt a sharp pain in his chest, like a myocardial infarction. His hands and feet instantly lost strength, and he staggered a few steps, leaning on his sword, half-kneeling on the ground. The werewolf opened its saliva-dripping maw, biting towards the Edo swordsman's head.

At that moment, a window in the distance shattered with a 'crash', and a streak of blood-colored afterimage shot out, bringing a piercing sound of tearing through the air, piercing through the werewolf's waist from the side, pinning it to the ground.

It was a long blade. The blade pierced into the werewolf's body, leaving only half of the hilt exposed.

Seizing the opportunity, the Edo swordsman unleashed the potential in his body, grasped the half of his katana with both hands, raised it above his head, and slashed down suddenly.

With this strike, he condensed all the sword qi in his body.

A blinding arc of sword qi slashed out, cracking the bluestone slabs along the way. The grass was plowed open, revealing the black soil. The sharpness of the sword qi made the hairs of the distant bewitching Yaos stand on end.

"Pfft!"

The werewolf's neck split open, its head and body separated. It stopped struggling and became a corpse.

On the other side, Bloodthirsty Mad Saber rushed out of the shattered window, one of his eyes blind, and his steel-cast body covered in claw marks and bruises.

As soon as he jumped out of the window, a one-armed girl chased after him, her body like a carrot chopped by random knives, missing a piece here and there.

Strangely, she was still alive, and instead of blood flowing from her wounds, strands of Taiyin power emanated.

"You hide in my mist to recuperate first, and watch me kill this bunch of bastards." Bloodthirsty Mad Saber roared. As he spoke, he opened his mouth and spat out a thick white mist, which quickly spread, engulfing the courtyard, the flowerbeds, and the buildings.

Thick fog was the mist master's most terrifying skill. In the thick fog, the mist master was invincible.

After using the wood demon's props to stabilize his injuries, and then cooperating with Bloodthirsty Mad Saber to kill this group of bastards... Damn it, if only I had a saint-quality healing item...

The Edo swordsman's eyes lit up, seeing a glimmer of hope in despair. He immediately grabbed his short sword and ran towards his teammate.

Suddenly, a brilliant, dreamlike starlight rose, appearing in the thick fog.

"Yuanshi Tianzun..." The Edo swordsman wasn't flustered, because the thick fog shrouded the area. He shouted, "Mad Saber, Yuanshi Tianzun is here. The one who attacked me is Yuanshi Tianzun. Kill him, and you'll get unimaginable rewards..."

"Whoosh~"

A shrill whistling sound rang through the manor, and a hurricane rose from the ground, sweeping grass clippings, soil, branches, leaves, and the heavy white mist into the sky.

The manor, which had just been shrouded in thick fog, instantly cleared up.

The Edo swordsman's expression froze instantly, followed by despair. The word 'reward' stuck in his throat, unable to come out.

Bloodthirsty Mad Saber cursed. The thing he was most worried about had happened.

"Damn it!"

The previous gust of wind made him guess that the enemy might be Heavenly Punishment, but in the subsequent battle, the wind didn't rise again, and the wind mage's skills didn't appear again. This made Bloodthirsty Mad Saber hold a glimmer of hope.

"Yuanshi Tianzun, since you're here, don't even think about leaving! King of Terror will be here soon." Two pairs of arms protruded from Bloodthirsty Mad Saber's ribs, turning into afterimages as he pounced on Zhang Yuanqing.

He never expected that the attacker would be Yuanshi Tianzun.

Amidst the shock, he couldn't help but feel excited. Yuanshi Tianzun was an official genius who had entered the Earth Ranking with a level 4 body, and the evil organization had offered a reward that could be described as astronomical.

Killing him would be enough to support his subordinates and himself for three years.

Zhang Yuanqing turned a blind eye to the enemy attacking from behind, staring at the Edo swordsman, smiling: "I just used star divination to look at your face, you are dead, even the King of Heaven can't save you. Don't believe me? Look behind you."

He wasn't in a hurry at all. Tonight's assassination operation was very smooth, and the task had been completed when he seriously injured the Edo swordsman in the room.

The Chizuru Group lacked powerful props, and it was impossible for the Edo swordsman to have a saint-level recovery item, let alone life essence.

The swordsman was a high-output, low-HP profession, and once seriously injured, he was bound to die.

"You should look behind you!" The Edo swordsman shouted sharply.

As soon as he finished speaking, a buzzing sound arose, very much like the sound of some kind of insect flapping its wings, but the sound waves were amplified countless times.

The next second, a gust of wind swept over, and the Edo swordsman saw Bloodthirsty Mad Saber, who was running straight, flying out to the side, crashing heavily into the wall of the villa.

"!"

The entire villa was shaking.

Pouncing on Bloodthirsty Mad Saber was a tall and sexy bee woman in light armor.

Her face was black and yellow, her pupils were pure black, her facial features were beautiful and妖异, and her forehead had two curved antennae.

The bee woman's feet were tightly hooked on Bloodthirsty Mad Saber, her full abdomen swelled, and the needles protruding from the back of her tail, emitting a dark luster, stabbed Bloodthirsty Mad Saber in the chest like a dragonfly skimming the water.

As soon as she succeeded, she immediately flapped her wings and flew away, escaping from Bloodthirsty Mad Saber before two pairs of phantom arms could embrace her.

The bee's combat style was like this, relying on terrifying speed supplemented by poison needles, appearing and disappearing without a trace. But she couldn't fight in close combat, close combat would be fatal.

Ah!

~~ Bloodthirsty Mad Saber let out a heart-rending scream. He was like a person who had been splashed with a bucket of boiling oil, leaping up and waving his hands randomly, screaming as he ran towards his distant subordinates.

He had been poisoned with a deadly toxin, and the only thing that could save him now was the bewitching Yao's passive ability—Bloodthirsty Rage.

Plundering life force through killing.

Screams rang out, and three bewitching Yaos were killed by him on the spot. Silver Deputy General and Xiao Yuan chased after Bloodthirsty Mad Saber.

Another, another saint? The Edo swordsman's heart was filled with icy despair.

At this moment, he heard heavy, low breathing, and a chill ran down his spine.

Was the werewolf still alive?! This unbelievable thought flashed through his mind. Relying on the swordsman's instinct, he spun around and swung his broken sword.

A faint sword qi swept out, clanging twice, hitting the sharp werewolf claws, and sparks flew.

The huge force knocked the broken sword away. The Edo swordsman didn't have time to look at the resurrected werewolf. He took advantage of the force to roll sideways, sprang up, and ran towards the outside of the manor.

His body was already on the verge of exhaustion. The only chip he could use to save himself now was to escape the manor and enter a densely populated area, threatening the lives of ordinary people. No Lingjing Xingzhe was willing to fight in the downtown area.

"Edo Swordsman, your death is here!" A figure fell from the sky, blocking his path. Before the person arrived, a clear voice came first: "Frost Descends!"

An overwhelming cold current roared, as if the gates of the arctic had been opened. The soft ground quickly turned into frozen soil, the lawn was covered with white frost, becoming hard and brittle. The moisture in the air condensed into ice crystals, floating in fine fragments.

"Asano Liang!" The Edo swordsman, running wildly, let out an unwilling roar. Then, he froze in place, his grimace also frozen on his face.

His body was stained with frost, revealing the paleness after the passing of life.

This heavily injured, exhausted swordsman had no strength to struggle and returned to the Lingjing.

Asano Liang strode forward, sweeping his Ice Soul Saber horizontally. The Edo swordsman's body was torn apart, without any blood flowing out.

Zhang Yuanqing walked to the side of the corpse, his eye sockets surged with darkness, "Huh, the spiritual body has dissipated?"

"Yuanshi, did you get the thing?" Asano Liang asked expectantly and nervously.

Zhang Yuanqing "Mm" a voice, pointed to the bulging belly: "Here."

The reason why he didn't chase him out immediately was to drive Xiao Doubi to look for the Takamagahara key in the room.

The Takamagahara key was an object passed down from ancient times, not a Lingjing item, so it could not be put into the item column, and the Edo swordsman ran away stark naked.

So the Takamagahara key must be hidden in the villa.

In the end, he and Guan Ya followed Xiao Doubi and found the jade plate in the safe of the wardrobe.

It's a pity that the spiritual body has been annihilated, unable to ask the location of Takamagahara...

Zhang Yuanqing looked at the Edo swordsman's right hand, where there was a black ring, suspected to be a prop.

Did this prop destroy the spiritual body?

He immediately asked Asano Liang to put away the ring, turned around, and roared at Silver Vice General and Xiao Yuan, who were fighting fiercely with Bloodthirsty Mad Saber, "Retreat!"

Although everyone could work together to kill Bloodthirsty Mad Saber, it wasn't necessary.

On the one hand, the mist master's combat power and endurance were stronger than the swordsman, and on the other hand, who knew when the King of Terror would come?

The King of Terror coming meant a total annihilation.

The thing had already been obtained, the task was completed, and there was no need for everyone to take risks.

Although the star divination showed that everyone was free from bloodshed, it was still unknown whether the star divination was useful against demigod-level powerhouses, and whether it would be interfered with.

Xiao Yuan quickly soared into the sky, disappearing into the night in the buzzing sound of flapping wings.

Silver Deputy General turned into starlight and disappeared.

Zhang Yuanqing grabbed Guan Ya and flew away with the wind, and the latter threw the night cloak to Asano Liang.

The group retreated quickly.

Above the clouds, in the Gulfstream cabin.

Everyone gathered around the table, examining the bowl-sized jade plate. The jade plate was dark cyan, with a dull and smooth surface, carved with cloud patterns, flames, and a black bird resembling a swallow in the center.

"There's no item information. Can this thing really open the legendary Takamagahara?" Xie Lingxi looked at the island country's contemporary.

Asano Liang shook his head very honestly: "I don't know."

Because of the monitoring not long ago, everyone knew about the existence of Takamagahara. After Zhang Yuanqing obtained Asano Liang's consent, he told the truth to his teammates.

Li Chunfeng was excited after listening, but he was not excited about the treasures in Takamagahara, but believed that this matter was worth studying in depth and writing a paper that would shock his peers.

"Okay, I'll keep the thing for now, and I'll take it out when I get to Takamagahara." Zhang Yuanqing domineeringly put away the jade plate.

The Queen was worried: "Now I just hope we can return to Songhai safely, and not be intercepted by the King of Terror in the air."

"Bah, bah, crow's mouth!" Xie Lingxi turned her head and spat at her.

After everyone retreated, they didn't return to the hotel, and immediately went to the airport to take Fu Qingyang's private plane back to Songhai.

Xiao Yuan said calmly: "The King of Terror is a demigod-level powerhouse. What's the use of escaping back to Songhai? Can Fu Qingyang and the five elders stop him?"

Zhang Yuanqing nodded: "This is indeed a problem. When we return to Songhai, we will discuss it with Fu Qingyang. Liang, what do you think?"

"B-but... you promised us not to tell the Five Elements Alliance." Asano Liang said weakly.

"Don't worry, I'll only say that I provoked the King of Terror, and I won't reveal any information about Takamagahara." Zhang Yuanqing said sternly: "Don't you believe me? I'm a warrior with noble character."

"Okay, okay..." Asano Liang could only agree, and then became happy: "The task is completed, I want to report the good news to the leader."

Grabbing his phone, he walked towards the lounge at the back of the cabin.

Zhang Yuanqing took the opportunity to get up and said, "I'll go see Silver Deputy General."

Silver Deputy General was seriously injured. She was currently recuperating in the lounge. Her sword and gun-proof zombie body could not withstand the bewitching Yao's armor-piercing. She had delayed Bloodthirsty Mad Saber for a long time, and her body was already riddled with holes.

The most troublesome thing was that Deputy General belonged to a rootless duckweed. Her spiritual power only went out but didn't come in, and she used a little less.

Zhang Yuanqing's plan was to take this opportunity to refine Silver Deputy General into his own zombie, warm her body, and send her to Takamagahara.

A win-win situation.

Away from the countryside of Changchun City.

In a bungalow, Bloodthirsty Mad Saber, who had fled here, sat under the dim light, eating the wine and dishes offered by the owner of the house.

The owner of this house had become his servant.

The long journey had exhausted his physical strength, and the toxins in his body had not been completely eliminated. He was extremely weak now.

"Ding ding ding..."

The phone rang, and Bloodthirsty Mad Saber took out his phone. The caller ID showed: King of Terror.