The Blood Wolf Ancestor was dead.
The news grew wings, spreading across the entire Crouching Dragon Mountains in a single day.
For decades, that veteran Grandmaster had dominated the northwestern Crouching Dragon Mountains. He had reached the second step of the Heavenly Ladder, and he had stormed toward an obscure little stronghold in the southeast with two formidable fighters, Poison Granny and the One-Eyed Maniac. The result: one dead, two surrendered.
The death was swift. The surrender was absolute.
At first, no one believed it.
Who was the Blood Wolf Ancestor?
He had been a notorious brute on Great Yan's northwestern frontier. Before coming to the Crouching Dragon Mountains, he had even dared challenge Great Yan's own experts.
And who were Poison Granny and the One-Eyed Maniac?
One wielded poison with uncanny skill; the other was overbearing and ruthless. Each had ruled his or her own corner.
With the three of them joining forces, they could have attacked one of Great Yan's border cities with strength to spare, let alone a tiny place like Eastern Splendor Stronghold.
How could one have died while the other two surrendered?
Yet the more the news spread, the more certain it became.
Someone had seen the Blood Wolf Ancestor's corpse carried out of Eastern Splendor Stronghold, his eyes wide open and a crazed grin still fixed on his face.
Someone had seen Poison Granny and the One-Eyed Maniac kneeling in Eastern Splendor Stronghold's square, kowtowing to a young man and calling him "Chief."
Others had learned that the young man was only in his early twenties.
The entire Crouching Dragon Mountains were shaken.
The Grandmasters, who usually held themselves above everyone else and had little to do with one another, could no longer sit still.
Deep in Myriad Poison Valley, in the northeastern