Chapter 270: Surrounded by Kings (First Update)
The black-skirted girl’s voice slowly echoed in the ravine, neither loud nor soft, but carrying a strange magic that drew everyone’s gaze. Looking at the ashes and dried corpses on the ground, the entire ravine fell into deathly silence.
There were also many adventurers attracted by the commotion. They stared wide-eyed at the sudden change before them. This girl had appeared like a ghost; moments ago, there wasn’t even a shadow of her.
“You… are you the junior schoolmate from before?!”
Looking at the black-skirted girl who suddenly appeared behind her, Senior Du was slightly stunned, and after a moment, disbelief surged through her. She quickly recognized the girl who had just killed a High-Rank Battle General with a single sword strike.
In response to Senior Du’s exclamation, Su Jiu smiled faintly, about to reply.
“How dare you ruin my good deed?! You’re looking for death!”
As everyone was astonished, the Shadow, unable to discern Su Jiu’s strength, paused for a moment. A fierce glint flashed in its eyes, and it lunged forward again, its gray-white broadsword leaving trails of afterimages.
“Be careful!”
The sudden attack startled Senior Du, and she quickly shouted, knowing that this Shadow was much stronger than the Elder in Blue.
“Slash!”
Su Jiu placed one hand on Senior Du’s shoulder, pulling her back, and smiled calmly. With a flourish of her sword, she slashed at the attacking Shadow. The swordplay resembled the shadow of a flame phoenix soaring, both domineering and dazzling.
“Sizzle sizzle…”
As the shout ended, a low muffled sound suddenly erupted. Then, Senior Du, with a look of shock, saw that the Ancient God Sect’s Shadow, who had been evenly matched with her, was directly sliced across the waist by the fiery phoenix shadow.
Scorching flames erupted from the wound at the waist. The Shadow looked at its own severed gray broadsword, which was now dancing with crimson flames, its eyes filled with horror. The opponent’s flames were peculiar!
The next moment, this Shadow, like the Elder in Blue before, suddenly burst into flames, quickly turning into a charred corpse.
Casually killing a High-Rank Battle General, Su Jiu did not lower her crimson flaming sword. She looked up at the Patriarch of the Coldstream Crow and the Lin Family Patriarch, Lin Heng, who were already watching her. Under their puzzled gazes, she lightly flicked her sword and said calmly, “The Lin Family colluded with the Ancient God Sect. The leader is to be killed without mercy. Other family members will await trial by the Law Enforcement Hall.”
The surrounding adventurers, including Senior Du, turned back to look, somewhat confused. They had just cleared out the troublesome Ancient God Sect and Lin Family members; why weren’t they leaving now? Instead, they were provoking the Lin Family Patriarch, a Battle King level expert. Wasn’t that sheer recklessness?
Ignoring the onlookers, Su Jiu’s sword edge was enveloped in a crimson flame. The pressure of her aura caused her long dress to ripple slightly, and her black crow feather cloak fluttered…
Hearing this, Lin Heng of the Lin Family quickly distanced himself from the blue giant bird. His expression was uncertain as he looked down at Su Jiu, not knowing her intentions. He recognized Su Jiu and knew her strength was slightly superior to his. Then, to everyone’s astonishment, he cupped his fists and said, “Miss, the action taken against that Dragon Hunter just now was the will of that retainer himself and had nothing to do with our Lin Family. I hope you will not implicate the good people of my Lin Family.”
If the black-clothed girl and the blue giant bird joined forces, he would be no match for them. It was better to yield for now.
“I am not explaining to you… but informing you.”
Su Jiu said faintly, her long sword pointing directly at Lin Heng. Scalding air currents surged from her feet, and crimson flames rushed towards the surrounding ice walls, instantly revealing their original earthen appearance. Her aura alone seemed to suppress the two battling in the air.
“Another Monarch?!”
Many gazes turned to the figure with casually fluttering gray-white hair, their hearts jolting. Senior Du, recalling her previous actions and her disdain for Su Jiu’s methods, felt her face grow slightly hot.
“She… the big sister of Little Feng and the others, is actually a Battle King level expert?!”
A sense of absurdity followed, and a feeling of relief after escaping calamity quietly arose in her heart. She could feel that in terms of aura alone, Su Jiu could contend against and suppress both the giant blue bird and the Lin Family Patriarch.
The blue giant bird blocked the heatwaves with icy airflow. It glanced at the Lin Family Patriarch, its bird eyes flashing briefly, and then flapped its wings to the side. An ancient voice calmly issued from its beak: “Human, I will not participate in your conflict.”
With that, it landed on a cliff, its eyes watching the Lin Family Patriarch with interest, as if it had forgotten to explore the ancestral land. It wanted to see how the Lin Family Patriarch, who had fought it to a draw, would deal with Su Jiu.
It was happy to see these invading humans turn on each other.
“I can pay money! As long as you don’t interfere with the Lin Family’s affairs.”
Seeing that Su Jiu showed no signs of backing down, the Lin Family Patriarch’s expression darkened. He stared intently at Su Jiu, angered by her attitude of wanting to put him to death.
He had already humbled himself at the alchemy shop; couldn’t she just let it go? Shouldn’t Battle King level experts not easily fall out?
“Since you’re so aggressive, don’t blame me for being impolite!”
Su Jiu acted as if she hadn’t heard Lin Heng’s cold shout, her gaze calmly fixed on him. Seeing this, her heart sank. She suddenly slashed down fiercely with her green sword, a nearly hundred-zhang green sword energy striking down towards Su Jiu’s head.
“Be careful, this is the head of the Lin Family of Yunpu City. According to the information from the Dragon Hunters, he is a veteran Initial Stage Battle King. Junior Schoolmate, you must be careful!”
Seeing that Su Jiu still maintained her sword-pointing stance, Senior Du behind her urgently warned her. Although she could feel Su Jiu’s power, she was still a little worried seeing her act so carelessly.
As soon as Senior Du’s warning fell, the sword energy, charged with wind elements, fiercely struck Su Jiu, stirring up ripples of energy. However, the next moment, a flash of fire appeared, and a sword qi slashed horizontally, instantly annihilating the wind sword. With a “slish,” it was severed, revealing Su Jiu’s still calm figure.
“How is this possible!”
Witnessing this, not only Senior Du but also the blue giant bird looked astonished. Even an Intermediate Battle King would not dare to face such an attack without defense, right?
“Impolite? Heh heh… you choose to be a dog for the Ancient God Sect instead of a decent person?”
Draw Sword Slash!
Su Jiu lightly flicked her crimson flaming sword, a playful quirk of her brow. She raised her sword and waved it at Lin Heng in the distance. Accompanied by a dragon’s roar, a terrifying scorching gust instantly pulled out several afterimages.
Then, as fast as lightning, a massive crimson dragon head condensed in front of Lin Heng. The crimson dragon head opened its huge mouth and fiercely bit into Lin Heng’s waist. The currents of heat instantly surged throughout the ice ravine.
“Sizzle!”
With the fire dragon’s bite, the external qi shield surrounding Lin Heng’s body was like thin paper, instantly destroyed. The terrifying scorching airflow poured onto his body. He immediately spat out a mouthful of blood, his clothes exploding into ashes. His body split in two, turning into two fireballs, and he was sent flying backward, crashing heavily against the cliff wall.
His appearance was utterly miserable, completely devoid of the arrogance of a Battle King level expert. His mouth was slightly open, only exhalations escaping.
“Slaying a King with one sword?!”
Seeing that the Lin Family Patriarch, a Battle King level expert, couldn’t even withstand a single sword from Su Jiu, everyone, from the onlookers like Senior Du to the blue giant bird, gasped in shock.
Casually killing the Lin Family Patriarch with one sword, Su Jiu’s gaze shifted downwards slightly. She grabbed Senior Du’s shoulder from behind, turned into an afterimage, and in the next moment, appeared on the steep rock wall. Sensing something, her gaze suddenly focused on the distance.
Just as Senior Du was puzzled and about to ask Su Jiu what had happened, a violent explosion occurred where they had just stood. A figure clad in earth yellow suddenly emerged. It was Huang Ling, the Patriarch of the Huang Family. His eyes were filled with anger as he looked at Su Jiu, and he couldn’t help but shout, “Do you want to monopolize that treasure all by yourself? With your strength, barely able to fight me to a draw, you don’t have the ability, do you?!”
Hearing this, the onlookers looked at Huang Ling strangely. Some of them were locals and naturally knew his level. Su Jiu, who could slay the Lin Family Patriarch with one sword, couldn’t possibly be at the same level as Huang Ling, an Initial Stage Battle King—of course, these onlookers wouldn’t speak up to remind him.
As Huang Ling spoke, a fiery red figure also flitted past him. It was the strange bird from before. It looked at Huang Ling with considerable caution, then fixed its gaze on Su Jiu, flapping its wings vigorously to land beside the blue giant bird and whispered a few words to it about the situation inside.
“Did you take the feathers of the two Monarchs?”
After hearing the strange bird’s words, the blue giant bird looked at Su Jiu with both surprise and anger. It hadn’t expected her to have already taken those feathers—although they were not direct descendants of the Flame Phoenix Sparrow and the Ice Phoenix, and they knew they were once merely pawns of those two War God level demonic creatures.
However, with the death of the two great demonic creatures, the feathers on their corpses were crucial to the development of their two clans. After absorbing their essence for years, they were finally on the verge of evolving into higher-grade species. They already regarded the skeletons as their own, so how could they readily hand over the most critical feathers?!
“Mister Priest, are you trying to be a profiteer?”
Ignoring the questioning from the Huang Family Patriarch and the two bird patriarchs, Su Jiu smiled faintly, raised her head, and looked towards the misty distance. Her faint voice, like thunder, echoed at the bottom of the ravine.
“Crow Feather Attire… Heh heh, Elder, I didn’t expect an enforcer of this level to show up.”
As Su Jiu’s cold retort echoed throughout the ice ravine, the frost mist in the distance rippled, then spread out. A black figure slowly stepped out of the mist, and with a few flashes, appeared on the opposite bank of Su Jiu.
“But Elder, your strength doesn’t seem to have reached the invincible stage of a Battle King. I, the Priest, am an Intermediate Battle King, and with the assistance of three other Battle Kings, I may not be afraid of you.”
The young Priest stared coldly at Su Jiu in the distance and sneered. With a leisurely stride, a dark blue dagger appeared in his hand, and a dark blue aura permeated the frost around him, seemingly a Battle King level poison domain.
