Chapter 357: Chapter 357: Why Is It Her Again?
A giant crocodile, mountainous in size with a frightening countenance, came charging from afar, shaking the very ground beneath it. The surrounding mountains swayed as it roared furiously, spreading an intimidating aura of ferocity.
It was terrifying.
Only Hei was barking loudly. It was tiny compared to the giant crocodile, its barks drowned out by the rumbling.
"Master, rest assured. As we journey deeper, I will definitely not allow any ferocious beast to approach you," Chen Pingping said, stepping forward swiftly, his robes billowing, leaving only his silhouette for Wen Yuqing to see.
ROAR!
Another furious roar echoed as the crocodile stepped into the area.
It was unclear whether it was due to the Ancient Ferocious Beast’s lower Spiritual Intelligence compared to that of other Ancient Ferocious Beasts, or for some other reason, but the crocodile didn’t notice Hei right away.
It wasn’t until Hei made a move, opening its mouth to emit a razor-sharp sword beam that slashed forward, that the crocodile reacted. It looked terrified, its massive body trembling as it tried to stop. But alas, it was moving too fast to come to a halt.
Spiritual Beast!
Damn it, there’s actually such a small Spiritual Beast here!
A powerful Divine Might enveloped the area, leaving it no room for resistance. The beast’s heart and Divine Soul felt an urge to submit, and it could only watch helplessly as the Sword Slash fell upon it.
AWOOO ROAR!
The sword cleaved the crocodile’s body in two. It was a bloody sight. The crocodile shrieked in pain, trying to flee, but Hei’s second killing move had already descended.
Behind them, Wen Yuqing was stunned. What breed of dog is this? It has even cultivated the Sword Dao!
Chen Pingping turned around, grinning.
This silly boy, Wen Yuqing mused. At that moment, Chen Pingping looked just like a fool, as dense as he had been years ago.
After slaying the giant crocodile, he did not relax. On the contrary, his nerves grew even more taut. His Divine Sense perceived a large group of powerful ferocious beasts awakening, and another large group was rushing towards them.
Chen Pingping lowered his eyelids, looking at Hei. "Lao Huang isn’t here," he said. "This must be hard on you."
WOOF WOOF WOOF!
Hei barked a few times, as if to say something, then boldly charged out ahead.
The Abyss Sword Tao within it emerged, slashing out myriad Sword Dao streaks across the expanse of the sky...
In this moment, it was sacred.
In this moment, it was like a Demon God—no, a War God of the Demon Race.
Its small body seemed to infinitely enlarge, casting a shadow as big as a mountain. Its eyes grew eerie, exuding a chilling murderous intent as it brandished thousands of sword beams toward its enemies.
Wen Yuqing was breathless, shocked by Hei once again.
Even Chen Pingping was taken aback. An 8th-level Hei is truly extraordinary, he thought. Hmm, it really does have a bit of a Demon Emperor’s air about it now.
Hei’s Sword Dao slashed out in a dense barrage towards the oncoming beasts—in the mountains, by the lakes, across the plains...
All the Ancient Ferocious Beasts that charged at them met their doom at that moment, pierced by Hei’s Sword Dao and dying tragically there.
They had no chance to resist.
Its Sword Dao was just too powerful.
It wasn’t long before peace returned to this region. However, the stench of blood wafting from the distance let Wen Yuqing know that those beasts were all dead. Mm, slain by the Sword Dao of the little black dog, she confirmed to herself.
She took a deep breath, looked at Chen Pingping, and then towards Hei, who was walking out.
How big is it, really?
"What breed of dog is this?" Wen Yuqing couldn’t help but ask.
WOOF WOOF WOOF!
Hei barked discontentedly at her.
Chen Pingping gave Hei a pat, laughing as he said, "Just a family dog."
Wen Yuqing: "..."
Who would believe such a ridiculous story?
However, since Chen Pingping clearly had no intention of elaborating, she didn’t press the issue.
"Master, we need to hasten our pace," Chen Pingping whispered.
He wasn’t afraid of the ferocious beasts, not even the Ancient Ferocious Beasts. With Hei present, the Spiritual Beast’s Divine Might was enough to deter them all, not to mention Hei also possessed the Abyss Sword Tao.
However, he feared the Golden Raven Clan, recalling the Golden Raven at the bottom of the sea—a creature of the Saint Realm. The Divine Might emanating from such an existence, even a single strand, was enough to suppress him.
His master’s realm seemed to be higher than his, and she wielded a Heaven Tao Divine Weapon, but she was heavily injured now and unable to act.
We need to pick up the pace, he thought.
"Alright!" Wen Yuqing nodded.
"Emperor Spirit!" Chen Pingping issued the command.
"???"
Upon hearing these two words, Wen Yuqing’s mind filled with questions. The more she looked at the Emperor Spirit, the more familiar it seemed, as if she had seen it somewhere before.
ROAR!
The Emperor Spirit let out an angry roar, full of vigor and Divine Might.
Those who didn’t know any better might think it was extremely formidable. In reality, it only acted this way when there were no strong enemies around.
Chen Pingping rolled his eyes, settled his master and Jiang Ni’er on the Emperor Spirit’s shoulders, and he carried Hei in his arms as they proceeded at great speed.
In all these long years, this was the first time Wen Yuqing had felt what it was like to be protected. This feels good, she thought. I like it very much.
Looking ahead at Chen Pingping, she lowered her eyelids, thinking, Wait for me. When I return invincible, we’ll watch the sunrise and sunset together. I’ll teach you how to cultivate and tell you stories about the Wen Dynasty... and about me.
At that moment, she possessed a different kind of conviction.
I must survive.
...
「In the depths.」
The slumbering mighty warriors of the Golden Raven Clan were roused by this.
Dozens of elderly Golden Ravens gathered. Among them was an ancient bronze mirror, not very large, only about washbasin-sized.
At that moment, the mirror was displaying the scene of Chen Pingping severing the Fusang Tree’s branches—a breathtaking sight.
After a long while...
The images in the mirror faded. An old man’s eyelids twitched. "How is it her again?" he murmured. "The last blood descendant of the Wen Dynasty’s imperial family. After so many years, she’s still alive."
The elites of the Golden Raven Clan were speechless.
The elder continued, "I’ve lived for 8,000 years and have seen her eight or nine times..."
This was only the number of times he had seen Wen Yuqing while he was alive. The Wen Dynasty had been gone for hundreds of thousands of years now, hadn’t it?
How many times had Wen Yuqing died and been reincarnated?
No one knew.
She was too persistent.
If it weren’t for her constant pursuit of that path, she probably would have achieved Tao Verification by now, wouldn’t she?
"How can she live so long?" a Golden Raven exclaimed, coughing up blood.
"She must have entered Reincarnation."
"Can she succeed every time?"
"..."
"Damn it, is Reincarnation her Wen Dynasty’s backyard?"
No one contradicted this statement.
The number of times Wen Yuqing had entered Reincarnation probably exceeded the count of Great Emperors over the past several hundred thousand years.
At this time, an old Golden Raven on the left opened his golden pupils and said, "This time, it seems a bit different. In the past, whenever Wen Yuqing intruded here, she was always alone. But now, Chen Pingping is by her side."
Heh.
The old Golden Raven chuckled. "When she’s alone, we really can’t do much against her. But now she has attachments."
"That kid?" One Golden Raven narrowed his gaze. "He seems to have some strength. The sword in his hand must be the Giant Que from the Wen Dynasty, right?"
"A Quasi-Emperor Divine Weapon."
"No wonder he could cut off the Fusang Tree branches. But... no one has ever been able to take a piece of the Fusang Tree from Soup Valley. He won’t be able to either."
"Let’s play with them then."
"Let Jin Ling fight!" the old Golden Raven declared. "This is the world of the young; let them have their fun. We old folks won’t bother anymore."
「Below!」
A young man who had taken human form nodded. "Please rest assured, esteemed Elders. Jin Ling will surely bring back the heads of those two."