Mysterious Treasure Map!

Atop the cliff, fierce winds surged, snapping all grass and trees within a ten-meter radius!

With the boost from Qi-Boosting Powder, Zhao Chou and Wang Tong had almost reached the Eighth Rank!

Then.

When the two struck again, the force on their blades and swords had become incomparably violent. Even the scattered rocks around them burst apart one after another without warning!

"Eh!"

"There's a method like this?"

Seeing this, surprise surfaced in Ding Hao's eyes!

At the same time, he inwardly warned himself that no matter the circumstances, he could never underestimate an enemy, because he had no way of knowing what methods they possessed!

With a thought, Ding Hao waved his hand and drew a blade from the system space!

Its blade was broad and immensely heavy, yet its edge gleamed with a chilling light!

It was—the Mysterious Iron Blade!

The moment Ding Hao gripped the Mysterious Iron Blade, he unleashed the Tyrant Blade Slash without hesitation!

The long blade swept through the air in broad, unrestrained arcs. A force capable of splitting a thousand jun rose abruptly, effortlessly shattering Zhao Chou and Wang Tong's offensive!

The recoil even made their blades and swords tremble and ring as their figures staggered backward again and again!

In the end, Ding Hao leaped into the air, the Mysterious Iron Blade in his hand slashing savagely toward the two!

Pouring down alongside the blade edge was an incomparably domineering momentum!

"Ah!"

"We have to block it!!"

At that moment, both Zhao Chou and Wang Tong let out terrified roars. They raised their blades and swords to block, their Golden Bell Shields enveloping them as they defended with all their strength!

When the Mysterious Iron Blade came down, the blades and swords in their hands snapped in response!

As for the faint phantoms of their Golden Bell Shields, they were even more fragile than paper!

In the end.

Accompanied by two incomparably shrill screams, Zhao Chou and Wang Tong's bodies were cleaved diagonally apart by that single slash—from Zhao Chou's head all the way to Wang Tong's abdomen!

With one slash, the two were split into four pieces, dying violently on the spot!

After killing the two, Ding Hao turned and walked toward Zhang Dahu.

Although Zhang Dahu had suffered grievous injuries, he was not dead yet!

He lay there, having witnessed Ding Hao cut down Zhao Chou and Wang Tong with his own eyes.

His heart had long since fallen into terror!

Before this, he had never imagined that Ding Hao's strength could be so formidable!

Had he known, beating him to death would not have made him dare seek revenge on Ding Hao!

"No, no, no!"

"Ding Hao, I was wrong! I'll never dare do it again—spare my life!"

"As long as you spare me, I can give you anything!"

Seeing Ding Hao approach step by step, Zhang Dahu dropped to his knees and begged for mercy.

His fat body was already trembling madly with fear!

Yet Ding Hao turned a deaf ear. Instead, the Mysterious Iron Blade in his hand dragged across the bluestone cliffside, producing a series of grating scraping sounds that rang in Zhang Dahu's ears like the death god's summons!

Seeing that Ding Hao would not stop, he could only invoke his backing as a threat. "No, you can't kill me! My brother is Zhang Dalong. Do you know Zhang Dalong? He is—"

Splurt!

Before Zhang Dahu could finish, Ding Hao brought his blade down!

Zhang Dahu's threatening voice came to an abrupt halt. His fat body, together with the bronze armor on it, was split cleanly into two!

Only then did Ding Hao reach up and dig at his ear, his face full of puzzlement. "What? What did you just say? I didn't hear you clearly!"

Actually.

Never mind that Zhang Dahu had failed to say it—even if he had, Ding Hao would not have stopped. After all, the two sides had already formed a life-and-death enmity. No matter who stood behind Zhang Dahu, he would not let him go.

He understood principles such as raising a tiger only to invite calamity and cutting the grass out by the roots!

After Zhang Dahu and the other two died, quite a few balls of light dropped from their bodies!

Ding Hao scooped them all up in one go.

Ding! Congratulations, Host, for picking up 60 points of vitality, 20 points of comprehension, and 10 points of spirit!

Ding! Congratulations, Host, for picking up the Gale Blade Technique and the Downpour Sword Technique!

Ding! Congratulations, Host, for picking up one Mysterious Treasure Map!

After integrating all the attributes, Ding Hao's cultivation reached the peak of the Fifth Rank. He was only one step away from advancing into a Sixth-Rank Martial Artist.

In addition, there were two manuals, one for blade techniques and one for sword techniques. Both were intermediate martial arts. The only consolation was that both were area-of-effect martial arts, which could make up for his lack of group attack methods!

"Hm? A Mysterious Treasure Map?"

At last, Ding Hao's attention was drawn to the final item—a map he had picked up from Zhang Dahu's body.

Made of beast hide, it showed a place that Ding Hao had no impression of when he unfolded it. After studying it briefly, he discovered something!

This was not a complete treasure map, but merely one part of it. With only this corner of the map, finding the treasure was utterly impossible!

"A useless thing, like chicken ribs!"

"Forget it. I'll keep it for now and see whether I can find the other parts later!"

Ding Hao shook his head, tossed it into the system space, and paid it no further mind!

"Panel!"

A flash of light and shadow flickered before his eyes, and Ding Hao's character panel immediately appeared!

Host: Ding Hao

Realm: Peak Fifth-rank Martial Artist

Vitality: 890

Spirit: 60

Comprehension: 120

Luck: 0 (currently unavailable)

Talent Bloodlines: Innate Strength, Light as a Swallow, Primordial Barbarian Bloodline!

Cultivation Arts and Divine Abilities: Heavenly Tyrant Body Art (First Layer), Tyrant Blade Slash (Mastery), Stepping Wind (Perfection), Golden Bell Shield (Perfection), Gale Blade Technique (Not Learned), Downpour Sword Technique (Not Learned)

Items Owned: Mysterious Iron Blade, Mysterious Treasure Map (one corner)...

Looking over the panel, his character attributes had become quite dazzling, filling Ding Hao with a powerful sense of accomplishment!

"Ding Hao, Ding Hao!!"

Yet just then, an urgent shout rang out from the foot of the mountain!

When Ding Hao turned around, he saw a large group of soldiers charging up.

At their head was a burly man in silver armor with a blade at his waist—none other than Ding Yishan!

Only when Ding Yishan saw Ding Hao did his expression finally relax. He immediately asked, "Ding Hao, are you all right?"

"General Ding, I'm fine, but..."

Ding Hao shook his head and was just about to explain when Ding Yishan spotted the corpses of Zhang Dahu and the others. His pupils abruptly contracted.

When he looked back at Ding Hao, his face was full of shock. "You did this?"

One had to know.

He knew his subordinates well. Zhao Chou and Wang Tong in particular, the two commanders of a thousand, were among the fiercest warriors under his command!

Even an Eighth-rank Martial Artist would be no match for them if they joined forces.

Yet now, both of them had become corpses.

Looking closer, Ding Yishan was even more shocked. "My heavens, you've actually already reached the peak of the fifth rank! Could it be that you mastered that incomplete cultivation art? What a prodigy!"

"Yes!"

Ding Hao nodded, then cupped his fists and apologized. "General Ding, please forgive me. They set a trap and tried to kill me. Left with no other choice, I could only fight back!"

"I know that!" Ding Yishan waved his hand before continuing, "I was patrolling the surrounding area just now and happened to pass by the Death Row Camp. I thought I'd stop by and see you!"

"But I discovered that someone had used my name to summon you. I knew then that someone meant to harm you, so I brought men to find you!"

"What I didn't expect was that you would resolve the crisis all by yourself!"

Hearing Ding Yishan say this, Ding Hao finally let out a breath of relief inwardly!

After all, he had feared that killing the commander of the Death Row Camp and two commanders of a thousand would infuriate Ding Yishan, who might insist on arresting and punishing him. He had even prepared himself to fight to the death because of it.

Fortunately, Ding Yishan was a remarkably wise and righteous man!

But the very next moment.

Ding Yishan's words made Ding Hao's heart leap into his throat once more!!

Can't find it by searching the book title? Try searching for the author—it may simply have been renamed!

At the request of many readers, VIP membership with ad-free functionality is now available.

Click to view