If only Great Qian could have a prodigy like this too. What worry would there be, then, that it couldn't rise again.

Chen Zhong slowly retreated into the dense grove. No wonder Senior Shen had been unwilling to leave all this while — it turned out he'd had his eye on that wild boar. Not only could he slay a Thousand Demon Den king, he could shrug the responsibility off cleanly besides. Never mind how rich the harvest — this was no deed an ordinary man could carry out. To strike boldly and slay an extreme-peak demon king before three Spirit-Transformation-realm cultivators — such nerve was enough to shame common men.

"Finally we can leave..."

Chen Zhong let out a breath in his heart. Truthfully, had he gone on watching, his heart really couldn't have held out much longer.

Just then, he suddenly went wide-eyed. He saw Shen Yi put away the wild-boar demon's corpse in passing, and then Red Cloud spread beneath his feet. In an instant, he swept, of all things, toward the Zhang Mingyang in the air!

"Gah!"

Chen Zhong clutched hard at his chest.

Aqing's mouth fell wide open, the white jade in his hand dropping with a clatter.

Could it be the one Grandmaster Shen had his eye on wasn't the wild-boar demon... but a true Spirit-Transformation cultivator?! Between the two realms lay a gulf as vast as clouds above mud.

If, facing an extreme-peak demon king a moment ago, Aqing could still think up a method — lay out some grand formation to lend a little help — then facing a true Spirit-Transformation cultivator, he could rack his brains dry and still not think of a single thing he might do.

If he couldn't work it out, then he'd stop trying...

He stood obediently in the grove and looked up at the sky.

The scales on the golden dragon were lifelike, its whiskers streaming; were its whole body, eyes included, not entirely golden, it would have been near indistinguishable from a living thing.

And Zhang Mingyang, who had to face it head-on, felt it…