Lord

A fierce wind swept across the river, rolling up waves several meters high.

Huge black shadows flickered beneath the water, accompanied by faint, deep roars.

Besides Giant Hippopotamuses, many terrifying behemoths lurked within this thousand-mile river that cut across the basin. No one knew what lay beneath the water. The more unknown something was, the more it stirred fear in people's hearts.

Inside the black shuttle-like craft, three young men rowed desperately. In a very short time, they closed in on the riverbank.

A long wake suddenly appeared behind them. Accompanied by a low roar, the water within several meters abruptly bulged upward. A hideous maw opened underwater and savagely bit down at the black shuttle-like craft.

The three young men cried out in alarm and sprang up, leaping awkwardly into the shallows by the river. Dragging mud and water with them, they charged ashore.

With a crack, the black shuttle-like craft was bitten to pieces in a single bite.

The underwater beast vanished. No one saw what it truly looked like. Only fragments of the shuttle-shaped craft remained floating on the river's surface for a short while before the waves swept them down to the riverbed.

On the shore, figures continuously sprang from the black shuttle-like craft that had landed first. Four Ox Tribe warriors carrying great axes, together with eight tough-looking Human Race men carrying weapons, surrounded a girl in black as they fled at top speed.

The three young men held straight sabers and steadily pursued the girl in black and her group with sinister expressions.

Though they held an absolute advantage in numbers, the girl in black and her group were clearly at a disadvantage. They hurried deeper into the basin, not even daring to turn back and confront the three young men.

The young man who had shouted earlier roared hoarsely, "I said you would all die! You can't escape!"

Because they had reached shore earlier, the girl in black and her group had already fled seven or eight miles. The earth here was fertile and soft, covered in moss and vines. They left countless tracks as they passed, making it easy for the three young men to follow.

Not to mention, the vegetation here was not dense. Mushroom groves and fern thickets were scattered thinly about, far from luxuriant.

The Ox Tribe warriors stood around two meters tall. These mushroom groves and fern thickets, only about one and a half meters tall, reached merely their chests. Their burly bodies could easily be spotted from more than ten miles away.

More than ten miles away, several Metal Spiders hid amid a mushroom grove. Their scarlet eyes glimmered with ghostly light as they watched the two groups from afar.

They could only move around the Ancient Divine Weapon Camp. This place lay far beyond their range of activity, but that did not prevent them from monitoring these outsiders here.

Ahead of those Metal Spiders, Wu Tie was covered from head to toe in large fern leaves. He lay carefully prone amid a fern thicket, watching them.

"This armor is really good. It's just that the deathly white color makes it too easy to spot." Lying on the ground, Wu Tie continued grumbling.

This close-fitting armor was excellent. Its defensive power was strong, and it was comfortable to wear, like a second layer of skin. But its deathly white color was far too conspicuous, especially because it was utterly spotless. Wu Tie could not even cover it with mud.

He could only use the method Old Tie had taught him, wrapping fern branches and leaves around his entire body for cover.

The two groups, one ahead and one behind, drew ever closer. Gradually, the girl in black and her group were about to pass diagonally in front of Wu Tie, and he finally saw the girl's appearance clearly.

She wore an exquisite long black dress made of a refined textile Wu Tie had never seen before. It was smooth and lustrous at a glance, clearly worth a fortune.

Jewelry made of green gemstones adorned her neck and wrists. Their faint, elegant green glow made her snowy skin appear even fairer.

Her long, glossy black hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall. Her features were as picturesque as a painting, and her lips had been dyed a pale purple with some unknown material, carrying an indescribable air of enchantment.

Wu Tie inexplicably felt his mouth go dry. This was the first time he had seen such a beautiful female member of his race.

No... this was the first time Wu Tie had seen a true female member of his race.

For no reason, Wu Tie felt his heartbeat quicken and his blood rush faster. His face flushed in waves, while cold sweat seeped continuously from his palms and soles.

A Metal Spider abruptly looked toward Wu Tie. Fine strands of red light from its eyes fell over him, relaying every detail of his physical condition at that moment back to the Ancient Divine Weapon Camp.

As they ran swiftly, the group ahead was somewhat slow because of the girl in black. The three young men behind them held straight sabers and leaped like the wind, darting through mushroom groves and fern thickets like three nimble apes.

Several times, venomous insects and snakes tried to give the three young men a vicious bite. Yet with a flash of saber light, poisonous spiders, venomous lizards, toxic rats, venomous snakes, and the like were all split in two from head to toe.

Wu Tie's pupils suddenly contracted. The saber techniques of these three young men were terrifying!

He instinctively judged that with his current spear technique, he likely could not even receive a single strike.

Suddenly, the girl in black gave a soft grunt. Her foot slipped, stepping onto a round stone covered in thick moss. Even from several miles away, Wu Tie heard the crisp crack from her ankle joint.

Her ankle dislocated, and the girl in black fell hard to the ground. Great swathes of tiny mushrooms were crushed beneath her, while her body was splattered with fluorescent juices left behind by ruptured luminous mushrooms. She was a complete mess, utterly bedraggled.

The fleeing group ahead abruptly stopped. They did not help the girl in black up. Instead, at the barked command of a burly Ox Tribe man with a gold ring set in his nose, the twelve quickly formed a small defensive formation, shielding the girl behind them.

Seeing the girl in black fall, the three young men pursuing from behind immediately let out excited, piercing whistles. Their speed suddenly surged. Every step carried them more than ten meters, and they raced over in three gusts of wind.

They covered the short distance of seven or eight miles in only a dozen breaths.

The three young men stopped while still around two hundred meters from the girl in black and her group. This wild dash had clearly cost them considerable strength as well. They panted in great gulps, and sweat soon dripped heavily from their chins.

"You will all die!" The young man who had shouted earlier swung the straight saber, which was more than half his height long. The saber light spun, shredding three highly venomous little funnel-web spiders dropping from the air.

The girl in black struggled to rise. Her face twitched as she looked at the filthy juice covering her body, then at the black mud and grime on her hands. Her slender body trembled slightly as she said sharply, "You have already killed so many people... you..."

The young man raised his straight saber and assumed a strange stance, leaning forward at an angle. His bloodshot eyes stared straight at the girl in black. "One is still missing. Only after killing you will this be complete... Shi Lingqing, you're the only one left!"

Shi Lingqing gave a bitter laugh. "Do we truly have such a blood feud? You... and your companions have already slaughtered all my clansmen."

None of the three young men's expressions shifted. Shi Lingqing said in a deep voice, "My father, my mother, my brothers and sisters, my clansmen... and so many servants... all were killed by you. I took enormous risks to escape into the underground dark river, yet you still refuse to let me go..."

Wu Tie's heart pounded fiercely. Instinctively, he felt an inexplicable disgust and hatred toward those three young men.

They had already killed all of Shi Lingqing's clansmen!

Damn bastards.

They had slaughtered her entire clan, yet they had pursued her all the way here... The dangers of the underground dark river needed no explanation. They had actually chased into it just to exterminate them all.

What grudge? What hatred?

Wu Tie inexplicably developed intense hostility toward the three of them.

He clenched his spear in both hands. Several dozen fist-sized stones that he had deliberately placed beside himself rose lightly into the air.

"Enough nonsense. Die!" The young man let out a long howl. His body abruptly turned into three overlapping afterimages, and all three afterimages swung their sabers at once, bringing a fierce gust as they slashed forward.

Two Ox Tribe warriors roared loudly. Swinging their great axes, they strode three huge steps forward, then fiercely brought their axes crashing down upon the three afterimages.

Two afterimages vanished. Only the one on the right solidified, and with a flash of saber light, it reached one Ox Tribe warrior's ribs in an instant.

A long spear thrust sharply from behind. A tough man beside Shi Lingqing drove his spear forward, a glimmer flashing on its tip. The rapidly spinning spearhead actually spewed out a burst of flame, blasting forward seven or eight feet in a blazing torrent.

The young man howled. His body bounced, twisted, and retreated sharply toward the diagonal rear.

The instant he moved, an arrow streaked past his shoulder with a shrill whistle.

The sound of flesh and bone shattering rang out. The Ox Tribe warrior who had escaped the saber strike gave a muffled groan as a thumb-thick arrow pierced his right chest. The terrifying force contained in the arrow made his body sway repeatedly, forcing him back four or five steps.

Of the two young men who had remained behind, one had planted his saber in the ground. He gripped a longbow that had originally been slung across his back with both hands, its bowstring still trembling violently.

The young man who had attacked returned to his two companions. Raising his straight saber, he sneered at Shi Lingqing. "Are you afraid yet? The people around you are becoming fewer and fewer... I could spend one year and five months assassinating your clansmen one by one, wiping out the rest of the Shi Family. I don't mind spending another year slowly killing you and everyone around you!"

Shi Lingqing clenched her teeth tightly and shouted sharply at the young man, "What grudge? What grievance? Tell me your name. Even if I die, I want to know what this is all for!"

"Luolin!" The young man bluntly gave his name. "Of course, you've surely never heard of it."

The bloodshot color in Luolin's eyes grew increasingly dense. He ground his teeth, forcing each word out from between them with difficulty. "What for? Because you killed my little sister. It's that simple!"

"Little sister?" Shi Lingqing's face turned somewhat pale. Clearly, she had thought of something.

"Remembered now?" Luolin raised his straight saber again.

The guards beside Shi Lingqing nervously tightened their grips on their weapons. The Ox Tribe warrior who had been shot swayed unsteadily, struggling to straighten his body.

The thick arrow shaft was embedded in his chest. A thin trickle of blood continuously ran down the shaft, and soon a large patch beneath the Ox Tribe warrior's feet had been dyed red.

"You have already killed so many people from my family!" Shi Lingqing gritted her teeth, her pale purple lips trembling uncontrollably. "Is that still not enough?"

Luolin slowly shook his head, pointing his straight saber at Shi Lingqing. "Every grievance has its source, every debt has its owner. I heard this matter was handled by your own hand. Your clansmen were merely extras. The one I truly want to kill..."

Before he could finish, Luolin and his other companion holding a long saber both lunged forward at once.

Luolin turned into three afterimages again as he pounced forward. His companion followed close behind, then suddenly flashed his long saber. Six foot-long throwing knives silently traced strange arcs as they shot toward the four Ox Tribe warriors blocking the way.

The four Ox Tribe warriors simultaneously raised their huge battle axes across their chests. The throwing knives struck the axe blades with piercing crashes.

Luolin pounced forward, cold light glimmering on his saber.

A lean man in a long robe beside Shi Lingqing suddenly stepped forward. With a flick of his right hand, three thin wooden staffs six feet long flew from his sleeve and plunged into the ground.

Electric light flickered at the staff heads as piercing thunder rang out. The three wooden staffs sprayed out vast arcs of lightning, covering an area more than ten meters ahead.

Silver-white lightning jumped wildly, crisscrossing and striking one another. Violent electric light twisted and interwove throughout a radius of more than ten meters. The current blasted the ground, leaving deep scars and continuously sending up wisps of pale green smoke.

Luolin and his companion retreated sharply. The moment the three wooden staffs flew from the lean man's sleeve, they had already withdrawn dozens of meters.

Lightning raged, yet it failed to strike them.

Luolin laughed loudly. "We knew there was still a hidden expert beside you. Did you think we would fall for it?"

Amid his laughter, Shi Lingqing let out a shriek of fury and shock.

The lean man who had attacked staggered, retreating several steps in a sorry state.

While the raging lightning drew the attention of nearly everyone, the young man holding the longbow behind them attacked. Concealed by the electric light, a long arrow tore through the air and struck the lean man.

Unlike the Ox Tribe man, who wore heavy armor and had solid flesh and bones, this lean man wore only a long robe and had a frail body.

The same arrow had merely embedded itself deeply in the Ox Tribe warrior's chest, but it pierced through this lean man's right chest. The arrow passed clean through him, leaving a transparent hole the size of a fist in his chest.

Blood sprayed everywhere, splattering the face of Shi Lingqing, who stood behind the lean man.

Shi Lingqing screamed and hurriedly pulled a black stone jar from her sleeve. She poured out some black medicinal liquid and smeared it over the lean man's wound, then fed him several mouthfuls of the medicine.

The lean man's wound immediately closed, and not a trace of blood flowed from it.

But the injury was far too severe. He sank to the ground, barely clinging to life, without the strength to move or speak again.

"You... deserve to die!" Shi Lingqing screamed hoarsely, smashing the empty black stone jar hard onto the ground.

Luolin swung his straight saber, its tip aimed at Shi Lingqing. "The one who deserves to die is you! I will cut off your head and use it to sacrifice to my little sister!"

Wu Tie could no longer restrain himself. He sprang up fiercely, shooting more than ten meters into the air, then gliding lightly forward as though flying.

The hundred-meter distance vanished in an instant. Wu Tie leaped again and glided forward once more like a great bird.

Both Shi Lingqing's side and Luolin's side were startled by Wu Tie's movements. They turned around at the same time and warily faced him.

Wu Tie landed atop a small hill more than a mile away from both sides. He pointed his spear at Luolin and shouted sharply, "This is my territory... no matter what grudges you have, you are not allowed to fight here!"

"Whoever makes another move will be my enemy!"

Wu Tie swept out a hand. Several dozen fist-sized stones shot out from behind him, smashing a fern thicket dozens of meters away into pieces.