The White-Tailed Crocodile King

After a brief conversation, the Fire Hammer Squad members all let their guard down slightly.

"Instructor Ji, our destination is Vanke Dream City, just two li ahead. We can't go any deeper," said Gao Feng, the Fire Hammer Squad leader. "As for Jiabei Country Park, where you're headed, there are far too many Lord-level monsters there."

Ji Yun and Ji Shan exchanged contact info with a few members of the squad. To be honest, as a War God, Ji Shan naturally looked down on these people. But this young man named Luo Feng piqued his interest—he might well become another War God-level powerhouse in the future.

"Instructor Ji."

Luo Feng hesitated for a moment, then spoke.

"Please don't reveal that I'm a Psychic Master."

"Oh? You have some enemies? Need them dealt with? But they don't know you're a Psychic Master."

"Yes." Luo Feng gritted his teeth. "These enemies are from our squad. To get back at me, they fired guns to lure a beast horde, and they caused one of our squad's veteran members to lose an arm and become disabled."

"Alright, I won't say a word." Ji Shan gave Luo Feng a long, hard look. If he hadn't thought Luo Feng had good character and showed promise as a Psychic Master, this wouldn't have ended so simply.

"I'll take you into Vanke Dream City. After that, you're on your own." Ji Shan said. "If you run into danger, contact A-Yun. You young people can exchange ideas with each other."

Ji Yun and the others led the Fire Hammer Squad into Vanke Dream City, then immediately turned and headed toward their own target.

"Who knew a War God could be so easy to talk to," said Chen Gu, the vice-captain.

"That's all because of Luo Feng's face. Otherwise, he'd have brushed us off long ago. An 18-year-old Low-Level War General who's also a Psychic Master—that's worth a War God's attention." Gao Feng chuckled. "But it's also because Ji Shan has a good temper. Other War Gods might not be so accommodating."

"True enough," the others laughed.

"Alright, Senior Ji Shan sent us in. Everyone stay sharp. Don't let yourselves get taken down here."

"Let's go, head upstairs now!"

Gao Feng waved his hand.

On the other side.

The closer Ji Yun and Ji Shan got to the city center, the more cautiously they moved. Twenty-plus li of road, and it took them two full hours just to get near.

Ji Yun and Ji Shan hid in a collapsed basement, speaking in low voices.

"There's a villa complex nearby, very close to Jiabei Country Park. There are no buildings near the park, so it's hard for us to rest and stay hidden. We'll use that villa area as our base."

"I estimate there might be a large number of high-level Beast Generals roaming those villas. I'll take them out directly—don't get tangled in fights." Ji Shan's tone turned serious.

Ji Yun and Ji Shan quickly slipped into an unremarkable house with no signs of life activity, heading straight for the basement. This villa had four floors, the kind that was once extremely luxurious, but now lay in ruin under the erosion of time. The villa's biggest advantage was its proximity to the park—separated by just one road.

They didn't encounter any troublesome monsters on the way. A few Beast Generals were all killed by a single spear thrust from Ji Shan. They harvested the materials and left quickly, not daring to linger.

"A-Yun, this is where we'll rest for now." Ji Shan said quietly. "We're very close to Lord-level monsters here, so every move must be careful."

"I understand, Dad." Ji Yun was also extremely cautious.

After one night, in the early morning.

Ji Yun came out of the basement and stood on the villa's third floor, looking toward the park. The biting cold of winter morning mist touched his face, giving him a jolt of alertness.

Ji Yun cracked open a corner of the window, raised his binoculars, and searched without pause.

But Lord-level monsters rarely left the park easily. This was still the city outskirts, and human martial artists weren't exactly scarce here. The Lord-level monsters, whose intelligence was already on par with humans, deliberately kept their positions hidden.

A whole morning passed, and Ji Yun found nothing.

Still, patience always pays off. After lunch, Ji Yun resumed his watch. In the distance, a faint flash of white tail caught his attention.

"Is that...?" Ji Yun observed carefully.

"A White-Tailed Crocodile?"

The White-Tailed Crocodile was a type of freshwater crocodile, mutated from the Yangtze Alligator before the Great Nirvana. Its characteristic was that when it reached Beast General rank, a white mark would appear on its tail, with a second mark appearing each time it grew stronger.

This White-Tailed Crocodile already had four white marks on its tail, and a fifth was faintly beginning to show.

It was unmistakably a low-level Lord-rank White-Tailed Crocodile King!

Among crocodile-type monsters, the White-Tailed Crocodile wasn't particularly outstanding in strength—far inferior to royal crocodile species like the Emperor Crocodile. But compared to monsters like pigs or cattle, it was still a formidable type.

"Dad, a low-level Lord-rank White-Tailed Crocodile King." Ji Yun quietly alerted Ji Shan.

Hearing the call, Ji Shan hurried up to the third floor, raised his binoculars, and looked. Sure enough, he saw the White-Tailed Crocodile King too.

"Good. Today's target is it. This White-Tailed Crocodile King suddenly appeared at the edge of this wetland park—it probably lost a territory fight with another Lord monster and retreated. This is our chance."

"Let's go, A-Yun. I'll lure it out of the park first. You stop any Beast General-level monsters from interfering. Move out."

Two figures leaped out from the three-story building, closing in on the park in an instant, crossing nearly a hundred meters. Their speed was so fast that only a few high-level Beast Generals could react, but since the two were heading for the park, none of those Beast Generals dared to approach.

With a slight push-off, Ji Yun and Ji Shan charged straight to the White-Tailed Crocodile King's front. Ji Shan slammed his Heavy Mountain Spear into the ground!

Clang!

The immense force made the ground tremble faintly.

Ji Shan's cultivation of Thousand Heavy Mountains was built on raw power, and with his recent breakthrough, his physical strength was now approaching that of a mid-level War God.

The White-Tailed Crocodile King, its body covered in black scales, had red-rimmed eyes. It was resting at the park's edge, its stinking mouth opening and closing, exhaling foul air that hung in the surroundings.

Roar— The monster slowly rose, sensing the arrival of Ji Yun and the others, its scarlet pupils fixed on them.

This White-Tailed Crocodile King stood roughly two meters tall, but its body stretched over ten meters in length, and its tail was also a startling ten-plus meters long! Its build was rather elongated. Its teeth jutted outward, with the fangs used for tearing especially sharp.

"Beast, die!" Ji Shan bellowed, his long spear shifting as immense power transmitted through the shaft, smashing toward the White-Tailed Crocodile King.

Force drove speed, and this strike was extremely swift. The White-Tailed Crocodile King had no time to dodge. Its scarlet eyes narrowed, and it spun around, lashing its massive tail toward Ji Shan's body. Lord Rank monsters all possessed considerable intelligence; it knew this human's spear strike would wound it, but its tail could also injure the human, and a monster's vitality far surpassed a human's.

As luck would have it, Ji Shan's spear struck the White-Tailed Crocodile King's tail, sending the beast flying directly. The thud of its massive body hitting the ground seemed to trigger an earthquake, and the earth sank a meter or two.

"Roar!"

The White-Tailed Crocodile King howled at the sky. It hadn't expected this human's strength to be so formidable, already on par with an ordinary high-level Lord.

This was no surprise. After his physical constitution and Conception breakthroughs, Ji Shan already possessed strength at the peak of a primary-level War God. With his force amplification, he erupted with three to four times that power, crossing the threshold of a High-Level War God's punch force. Though the Conception of Thousand Heavy Mountains was defensive, its boost to strength was terrifying.

"Flee, I can't tangle with him," the White-Tailed Crocodile King thought in panic. If this beast had advanced to a mid-level Lord, its strength would have surged, and it could have fought. But now, at only the peak of a primary-level Lord, its tail had been injured in the clash. There was no chance of victory.

The White-Tailed Crocodile King turned and fled toward the park's exterior, its speed astonishing, even reaching supersonic.

Ji Shan was overjoyed at the sight. He had guessed earlier... if he could wound the White-Tailed Crocodile King, it would flee the park. Since its nest had been taken, it could only escape elsewhere. This way, it wouldn't easily attract other Lord Rank monsters, and the chase would be easier.

The White-Tailed Crocodile King and Ji Shan, one monster and one human, burst out of the park's already dilapidated outer buildings one after the other. Ji Yun followed behind, constantly using the wind to maintain his speed. The White-Tailed Crocodile King crashed through surrounding structures, residential buildings, and the like. The concrete walls of those buildings were like tofu, shattering with a roar as they were rammed. Steel and rubble tumbled onto the White-Tailed Crocodile King, causing no small hindrance.

The White-Tailed Crocodile King knew it couldn't flee deeper into the city, as high-level Lords were everywhere there; one careless mistake and it would become prey. Only the outer Wilderness Zone offered a slim chance of survival.

The chase covered only a few li.

Ji Shan suddenly burst with speed, catching up to the White-Tailed Crocodile King in one go. He thrust his long spear with force toward the base of the beast's tail. The crocodile, focused solely on escape, even ignored the powerful wind of the strike behind it.

"Shiiing!"

The powerful spearhead pierced the tail's base, driving the crocodile mad with pain. But Ji Shan's formidable strength locked the spear shaft in place, and the crocodile could only twist its upper body, unable to even turn back to attack.

Ji Shan pulled out the spear. Blood spurted out with a splash, and the White-Tailed Crocodile King's tail seemed half-severed from the root. It immediately fled again, but without half its tail, its speed dropped a tier.

Ji Shan's speed had already broken the sound barrier. He leaped onto the White-Tailed Crocodile King's head and smashed down with his spear. A look of fear actually appeared in the beast's scarlet eyes. It jumped, trying to accelerate, but its head collided head-on with the spear.

"Duang..."

The White-Tailed Crocodile King was smashed straight into the ground. "Boom!" Its entire head burst with blood, and in an instant, it was lifeless.

Only then did Ji Yun arrive, just in time to witness this bloody scene.

"I really don't know how Dad used to fight alongside the military," Ji Yun clicked his tongue in amazement.

"Alright, A-Yun, harvest the materials. We'll rest a few days and then prepare for the second hunt." Ji Shan's face was slightly flushed; clearly, constantly using the secret technique of Thousand Heavy Mountains was no small burden for him.

In just four days, the two of them hunted down another primary-level Lord, an Earth-Walking Dragon.

Called a dragon, it was merely a mutated earthworm. But it excelled at digging, causing the pair no small trouble. Its frequent burrowing left Ji Shan's strength with nowhere to go, until he finally managed to smash the Earth-Walking Dragon's body in one blow, turning the tide.

However, the Earth-Walking Dragon's body was notoriously resilient. Even after being broken, it tried to split into two segments and flee. But gravely wounded, each segment only had the strength of a high-level Beast General. Though their scales remained, their speed and power had dropped sharply. Ji Shan and Ji Yun worked together and chased it down to its death.

"Huff," Ji Yun steadied his heavy breathing.

This was the strongest monster he had ever fought. A weakened Lord, even injured, was still a peak Beast General. Ji Yun had faced danger several times. If not for the Conception of Wind allowing him to dodge repeatedly, he would have been shaken by the Lord monster's massive impact force, lost his combat ability, and let the Earth-Walking Dragon escape in pieces.

"Dad, head back first?" Ji Yun was somewhat exhausted. After the fierce battle, he urgently needed rest.

Ji Shan looked a bit excited. After all, he was about to earn the title of War God—the pinnacle circle of humanity, something everyone aspired to.

"Alright, let's head back. Once I've assessed my battle record, I'll take you to the Wilderness Zone for practice."