A Mere Crocodile—It Won't Be Leaving Alive

Three days later, with a wave of the three instructors' hands, the Life-and-Death Trial officially began. In half a month, at most thirty people would emerge alive.

The moment Ye Kong stepped into the Teleportation Array, he appeared alone in a forest. Towering trees and ancient boulders surrounded him, while a wide, rushing river lay not far away. From time to time, the roars of Spirit Beasts drifted over from afar.

Just like in the original story, everyone is randomly teleported to a location after entering. I don't need to worry about those two. I should kill a few Spirit Beasts and earn some points first.

Following the river downstream, Ye Kong spotted traces left by Spirit Beasts in the mud and along the bank, and came to a stop.

To prepare for any unexpected situation, he cautiously took a white jade Monk's Staff from his Mustard Seed Bracelet and held it across his chest. Twelve Golden Dragon Rings hung from the staff, producing faint, delicate dragon roars whenever it moved.

"Brother Lion, it's your turn. Come out and sniff out where those Spirit Beasts are. We'll be ready to move at any time."

Before making his move, Ye Kong summoned the number one guide and gold-medal partner of the entire Spiritual Road from his Mustard Seed Bracelet.

With a familiar "Awoo!" the glittering golden-furred dog made his grand entrance. He strode to the riverbank with an utterly arrogant gait, sniffed around, and pointed with a front paw.

"There are quite a few crocodiles in this river. Judging from the aura they left behind, they should be Black-Armored Crocodiles. The strongest one, the Crocodile King, should be a High-level Spirit Beast."

"Follow me, bro. I guarantee I'll help you deal with their whole family properly. Their hides look pretty tough too, but that won't affect the texture of the meat."

Swallowing hard, Jinjiu Master, in his Lion Dog form, shook his head and raced downstream, swift as an arrow loosed from a bow and brimming with ferocity.

Under his lead, Ye Kong quickly found their target—a group of crocodiles black from head to tail. They were powerful, and were currently tearing apart the corpses of several Spiritual Road youths by the riverbank.

"Damn, these crocodiles move fast. From the looks of it, those unlucky guys were killed the moment they got near the water. Little Kong, need my help?"

Seeing the miserable sight, Jinjiu Master narrowed his eyes and looked toward Ye Kong, who was swinging his Monk's Staff through the air, producing booming blasts.

"No need. They're just a dozen or so crocodiles. Since they came, they don't need to leave."

Ye Kong shook his head, his voice calm. His body shot into the air and hovered there through sheer physical strength as intense, dazzling golden Buddhist light erupted from within him.

The white jade Monk's Staff burst with power the instant the Buddhist light entered it. Before Ye Kong, it transformed into an enormous phantom staff dozens of times its original size, like a blade that could cleave the heavens.

At the same time, as a resounding dragon roar rang through the clouds, a sacred platinum dragon appeared around Ye Kong, blotting out the sky and tearing through the air with its claws.

"In the Great Thousand World, strength reigns supreme. You can eat people, and I can kill you. I've been studying this move recently, so you'll do nicely as test subjects. Great Majestic Heavenly Dragon!"

As Ye Kong raised his staff and smashed it heavily toward the crocodiles in the river, the platinum dragon circling in the sky dove down as well. Its sharp claws split heaven and earth, instantly tearing apart the entire stretch of river. All living things were reduced to nothing beneath the descending golden staff and giant dragon.

Several water spouts over a hundred meters tall erupted from the ground, sending water spraying across the sky.

"Holy crap, Little Kong must really be pissed. Those crocodiles were something I could have handled with a few swipes, but he actually unleashed such a fierce attack. With that move alone, those instructors would be dead even if they had ten lives."

Jinjiu Master, who had fled far away long ago, wiped the water splashed onto his face. His dog eyes were somewhat unfocused as he muttered to himself.

In his view, those three instructors were only at the Heaven Melting Realm. With Ye Kong's staff strike, let alone Heaven Melting Realm cultivators, even three Heaven Transformation Realm experts would be dead beyond doubt.

When Ye Kong descended from the sky without a drop of water on him, Jinjiu Master rushed over in great strides, reached out a paw to rub Ye Kong's head, and said with a grin, "Little Kong, I'd say you've become quite adept at using the Heavenly Dragon Meteor Demon Staff Divine Art. As expected of the cultivation genius Great Spiritual Mountain sees only once in a thousand years. You've already gotten the hang of the offensive Divine Art Vajra King gave you."

Naturally, Jinjiu Master was no longer in the mood to ramble about stewing crocodiles. Comforting Ye Kong was the serious business.

"Don't worry, Brother Lion. I'm fine."

Seeing Jinjiu Master practically about to leap onto him, Ye Kong suspected that after getting splashed, this fellow wanted to get him wet too. He hurriedly slapped his paw away.

"You're really fine?" Jinjiu Master's eyes widened into perfect circles, his chubby dog face filled with suspicion.

"I'm fine. The Great Thousand World has always been a place where the strong prey on the weak. Every day, who knows how many people are killed by those stronger than them? If I went mad with anger every time I saw it, wouldn't I anger myself to death? That isn't how one cultivates Buddhism."

"The Spiritual Road is already full of dangers, and the Life and Death Trial Ground has made it clear that out of more than a hundred people who enter, no more than thirty can leave alive. The rules are this cruel. It's not wrong to say life and death are determined by fate, so why make things difficult for myself?"

Ye Kong took out a large towel and wiped Jinjiu Master's fur. Tilting his head, he let out a breath, and the hand gripping the towel gradually steadied.

"Of course, seeing people get eaten by Spirit Beasts still makes me unhappy. It just so happened that I could test my Demon-Falling Staff on those crocodiles and wipe them all out at once."

"Phew, then I'm relieved."

Only after hearing this did Jinjiu Master finally relax. Back then, Mountain Lord Shi Zhen and Vajra King had both told him to pay attention to Ye Kong's state of mind. He did not dare be careless about something so important.

If he failed in his duty, forget about continuing to eat meat and drink soup—those two might throw him into a pot and stew him into lion's head meatballs.

In their eyes, Ye Kong was pure-hearted and kind by nature, with extraordinary talent. He was a born Buddhist cultivation genius. But before he had fully matured, the one thing they feared most was that excessive kindness would affect his reason.

Ye Kong's entire family had died at the hands of the Outer Domain Evil Tribe. It was a true Blood Sea of vengeance. Every time Ye Kong entered the Demon Suppressing Pagoda, he fought with bloodshot eyes. In the early days, he had even torn apart Evil Tribe members with his bare hands.

Although Ye Kong had always fought very cautiously when killing Evil Tribe members in the Demon Suppressing Pagoda, who knew whether he would suddenly lose his head after leaving and seek out several life-or-death battles with powerful Evil Tribe experts?

If he encountered certain ancient monsters of the Evil Tribe, even Mountain Lord Shi Zhen might not make it in time to save him.

"But, Little Kong, you wiped them all out. What about our soup?"

Now that Ye Kong was fine, Jinjiu Master's stomach naturally had a problem. Ever since Ye Kong's soup had awakened his cravings, he had lost count of how many times he had repented to Buddha.

Ye Kong shook his head at how quickly this fellow changed moods and said with amusement, "Your nose is sharp. Go sniff around again."

Jinjiu Master chuckled and crossed the now-dried riverbed, wagging his tail as he strutted like a lion.

"There seem to be several wolves over there, and I can smell Little Wen too. Let's go."

A new book—please recommend it, add it to your collection, and keep reading.