Poison Maggot was fleeing for his life.
Ordinarily, with his undying body and the combat power of tens of thousands of blood-thirsty maggot-men, even an enemy somewhat stronger than himself couldn’t do anything about him. But this time Poison Maggot had run into eighteen generations’ worth of the worst luck — he had come up against Metal Little Beast, Starfield Sky Scorpion, Taotie, and the Heaven-Devouring Beast. As for Metal Little Beast: it was the utterly-unique Sky-Reaching War Beast, unmatched in heaven and earth. Even in its current infant form — once it matured, it would absolutely be a Sky-Reaching Divine Beast looking down on all the myriad life of the world. Poison Maggot in this life had no hope of ever beating it.
If it were only that little creature, fine.
After all, it was still small.
But Taotie, refined and cultivated repeatedly by Yue Yang, was a super-formidable earth divine soldier, matchless in the power to devour heaven and swallow earth.
Starfield Sky Scorpion was likewise an earth divine soldier — a being standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Taotie. Perhaps in some respects it was slightly inferior to Taotie, but in poison, in runes, and in ambush-kills, it was far superior. Anyone who dared underestimate it had one foot in the coffin.
Among the pack of little troublemakers, only the newly-born Heaven-Devouring Beast was slightly weaker.
Of course, Poison Maggot’s heart didn’t see it that way.
Every attack he threw was swallowed into the Heaven-Devouring Beast’s belly. It was as though this little creature’s mouth, throat, chest, and belly were forged of God-Slaying Mystic Metal — never to be damaged. Poison Maggot would never know: the reason the Heaven-Devouring Beast could swallow the energy of his attacks and ignore all attack damage was because it itself was the scabbard of the Tiger-Prison Divine Sword — an existence that not even a divine sword could harm.
Mere waves of energy attack — how could they possibly damage its body?
Fortunately there were enough of the blood-thirsty mutant maggot-men, throwing themselves recklessly into the rescue and drawing Taotie and company’s attention, otherwise even fleeing would have been quite difficult for Poison Maggot!
By the time the disheveled Poison Maggot fled to the hovering mothership’s exit, standing across from him were a few “familiar faces.”
One of whom was his mortal enemy, Snaggle-Toothed Rat.
Poison Maggot, who normally considered himself the boss of the Five Great Villains, had always kept a state of hatred toward that skulking Snaggle-Toothed Rat, boss of the Five Sense Generals — always looking to kick him when he was down. Snaggle-Toothed Rat felt the same about Poison Maggot: hated him to the bone, always seeking chances to scheme against him. Besides Snaggle-Toothed Rat, there was also Flying Corpse, one of the Five Great Villains but with no respect at all for Poison Maggot… A little further off stood Netherfire, half-hidden and half-present, and the transparent, silent Wraith. Because of their bodies’ peculiar natures, no abnormalities could be seen in the two of them. Flying Corpse likewise didn’t look too bad — only his clothes slightly dirtied. But Snaggle-Toothed Rat looked as though he had crawled out of a corpse pile on the battlefield.
Utterly ragged!
“Hah, what do I see? A rat that’s fallen into a manure pit!” Poison Maggot couldn’t resist the jab.
“Some disgusting worm, no better than me. Just because you filled your gut in the manure pit, you think you can spit filth from your mouth? I, Snaggle-Toothed Rat, at least tried to give my companion a hand — not like some fat worm who ran the moment he saw a strong enemy, only saving himself. And this fat worm still calls himself the boss?” Snaggle-Toothed Rat retorted without hesitation.
In truth, Snaggle-Toothed Rat had not extended a hand to Big-Eared Bat.
The moment he saw Yue Yang’s overwhelming strength.
He’d immediately chosen to run.
But no one else had seen it, so no one could accuse him of abandoning his companion in mid-battle. Poison Maggot, by contrast, was already deeply resented by Flying Corpse, Netherfire, and Wraith — they felt this so-called boss had no honor at all, avoided battle when strong enemies appeared, and even used the mutant maggot-men to block his companions’ path, trapping them…
Hearing all this, Poison Maggot’s expression changed drastically. He felt he’d been terribly wronged.
At the start he genuinely hadn’t known Hungry Ghost would be defeated.
He had merely been greedy for a small advantage.
Using corpses to cultivate mutant maggot-men — then when Flying Corpse, Netherfire, and Wraith fled, he hadn’t been trying to block their path with mutant maggot-men. He was habitually sending them out to scout for enemies. Who could have known that such a formidable enemy would suddenly appear in the Tange? The mutant maggot-men had gone from doing merit as scouts searching for Tange survivors, into the clumsy move of trapping companions. Though it looked awful, it truly wasn’t intentional. It was just an unfortunate accident of overcleverness!
“No need to explain. We believe what our own eyes have seen.” Flying Corpse snorted coldly. If the situation weren’t still unclear, he would already have turned his face on Poison Maggot.
“Boss Poison Maggot, you certainly have decisiveness!” Netherfire had never before called Poison Maggot “boss.”
Her saying it now.
Was sarcasm.
The more she smiled sweetly, the greater the fire inside her heart!
Poison Maggot let out a long sigh. “I know saying anything is useless — but I truly didn’t intend it. The situation right now is unfavorable. We must join hands to face the enemy. I hope you’ll set aside your prejudices for the moment. Let’s finish this battle first.”
Netherfire’s half-visible face showed a hint of mockery: “Naturally. With your cunning and your strength, we have no choice but to call you boss and follow your lead!”
Flying Corpse laughed heartily and clapped: “Agreed.”
Wraith didn’t speak.
Nor did she express any position.
But Poison Maggot felt the one least likely to forgive him was this most-silent, most-powerful Wraith!
Snaggle-Toothed Rat had already been terrified out of his wits by Yue Yang. On top of that, he had just crept back into the ship and quietly discovered that Long-Tongue Lizard and Slug were locked in a bitter fight. He’d hurriedly retreated. Snaggle-Toothed Rat was now waiting for only one person — his superior, the Western Divine Nation’s Right Marshal, Wan’e. If even Lord Wan’e could not stand against these enemies who had appeared out of nowhere, then he would absolutely not linger — this place was a death-trap!
Big-Eared Bat was done for, Evil-Eye Monkey was also finished… The Five Sense Generals had already lost two.
How was this battle supposed to be fought?
Not to mention, Flying Corpse had just said Hungry Ghost of the Five Great Villains had also died. Hearing that chilled a man’s heart!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
A gust of heaven-shaking laughter erupted from inside the ship, shaking and echoing on and on. Those familiar with that laughter knew this was Wan’e, Right Marshal of the Western Divine Nation. Infamous, notorious Wan’e, killer of men without count, blood-thirsty to a frenzy — but that didn’t mean he outwardly looked like a man-eating demon frenzied. On the contrary, Wan’e was handsome. In the Western Divine Nation he was famously good-looking, a name that had spread widely thousands of years ago, and now — with a little maturity added — his handsome, gallant appearance was scarcely diminished. If anything he had gained a certain wise stability from long weathering.
Whenever Wan’e laughed openly with abandon, that was when he was most manic, most murderous.
The happier his laughter, the more people he’d kill.
Snaggle-Toothed Rat, as his subordinate.
Knew this notorious superior of his best of all.
What was making Lord Wan’e laugh this “happily”? Had Lord Wan’e run into that unfathomable young man?
“Brother Wind Ear, long time no see. This younger brother has been thinking of getting together with you — didn’t expect to have the chance today. Ha ha ha — as the saying goes, better a chance meeting than a formal invitation. Why don’t we sit down and have a proper drink together?” Snaggle-Toothed Rat heard this from the corridor inside the ship.
“Brother Wan’e’s invitation is heartfelt. If Wind Ear refuses, that would be too disrespectful — and I do very much wish to duel drinks with Brother Wan’e till we’re both drunk. But regrettably I have a mission — I’ve come to the Tange to fetch a few old friends home. With the task from above uncompleted, how could I, Wind Ear, indulge myself in the cup? So — I ask your understanding!” Another voice rose — refined and elegantly polite, courteously declining Wan’e.
Then two figures came walking side by side out of the corridor. A middle-aged man in a white robe, and a man in a blue-green robe.
The one on the left in the white robe — the handsome older man — was Snaggle-Toothed Rat’s immediate superior, the Western Divine Nation’s Right Marshal Wan’e. The one on the right in the blue-green robe, Snaggle-Toothed Rat and company recognized as well — the Eastern Divine Nation’s “Wind Ear Marshal,” famed for his Thousand-Li Hearing. This Wind Ear Marshal’s strength was not below either Wan’e or Guhai; if anything, slightly above. If Wan’e and Guhai teamed up they could just about press Wind Ear down. But with only Wan’e alone, how could he defeat this Eastern Divine Nation Marshal who was said to be able to hear people’s inner whispers?
Some tens of meters further back, three battered, blood-drenched men were staggering along, supporting each other.
They were exactly Winged Tiger, Wind Demon, and Flamingo — the ones Wan’e had gone to kill.
Unexpectedly, they had been saved by Wind Ear.
They hadn’t been killed after all.
Wan’e didn’t so much as glance at Winged Tiger and the others, as though the man who had beaten them into gravely-wounded near-corpses moments ago hadn’t been him at all. Instead he bowed his farewell to Marshal Wind Ear with a chuckle: “In that case, we’ll set a time, meet again another day, and drink to our heart’s content — drink until we drop!”
Snaggle-Toothed Rat knew what Lord Wan’e meant. The plan had changed. The Eastern Divine Nation had inserted itself. So for now they were dropping this Tange and this plan.
“My Lord, we…” Snaggle-Toothed Rat now understood a bit — the unfathomable young man from before was of God-Slayer’s clan of the Eastern Divine Nation, no wonder his aura and bearing were so distinctive. The Five Sense Generals had lost Big-Eared Bat, then Evil-Eye Monkey, and now Long-Tongue Lizard and Slug were in dire straits. As the boss of the Five Sense Generals, Snaggle-Toothed Rat had no choice but to force himself to report to his immediate superior.
“Hm? Is that so?” Hearing Snaggle-Toothed Rat’s report in coded whisper, Wan’e’s expression didn’t change at all. He remained smiling.
Retaining his gentlemanly demeanor.
He showed no reaction whatsoever to Long-Tongue Lizard and Slug being on the brink of death.
Snaggle-Toothed Rat couldn’t figure it out. He could only bite down his frustration for now — the ones in danger weren’t him anyway. If they died, he’d have that much less competition ahead of him… Wan’e didn’t even glance at Flying Corpse, Netherfire, or Wraith, as though the three of them didn’t exist.
He bid farewell to the blue-green-robed Wind Ear and drifted off.
Snaggle-Toothed Rat hurried after him.
Even Flying Corpse, Netherfire, and Wraith — the three of them — seeing Wind Ear appear, quickly tagged along behind Wan’e. They walked a long stretch together before parting ways.
Wind Ear watched Wan’e’s retreating back with a complex expression, shook his head, and sighed softly: “This battle isn’t happening. Even without that young man appearing, it wasn’t going to happen. Western Divine Sovereign Hei Zhou is too cautious. But what background does that young man come from? Chiqiu couldn’t possibly cultivate a young man like that. And my Lord God-Slayer doesn’t have such kinsmen either… It’s been so, so long since Mountain Beyond the Mountain has seen a young man this outstanding. Could he have come from Human Valley? How could there be no word of him at all?”
“Marshal Wind Ear, are you taking us back to the Eastern Divine Nation?” Winged Tiger scanned the distance for signs of his companions. He couldn’t speak for the rest, but Raven and Pelican together — one careful and detailed, one bold and decisive — should not run into serious trouble.
“No. I have no interest in you.” Wind Ear Marshal smiled faintly. “I really was just passing through. I didn’t know the situation beforehand — I only saw the situation deteriorating and couldn’t stand by while the Western Divine Realm smeared their black soot onto our Eastern Divine Nation’s face. And that young man — what is he to you? Never mind, I won’t ask. Everyone has the right to keep secrets. I’m curious, but I won’t force you!”
“…” Whether Winged Tiger, Wind Hawk, or Flamingo — inwardly they all breathed a sigh of relief.
What they feared most was that Wind Ear would be interested in Yue Titan.
With the Eastern Divine Nation’s conditions.
If they wanted to draw Yue Titan into their fold, it was practically a lock. Fortunately this good-mannered Eastern Marshal voluntarily gave up the recruitment…
From afar, a mighty boom shook the sky. A streak of golden light broke space like a shooting star — while flying at extreme altitude, that streak of golden light let out a distinctly frustrated shriek. From the sound, it seemed to be the Western Divine Nation’s Left Marshal Guhai!
Even Guhai — who had been intercepting Griffin Marshal and Golden Eagle General — had withdrawn?
Winged Tiger and the others were overjoyed.
The plan to hijack the Tange had indeed failed, but at least they hadn’t been completely wiped out. Especially when Winged Tiger and the others saw Raven and Pelican, blood-soaked, bringing out the still-trembling Flower Duck and the others — they were so moved they clasped hands in celebration… Because of that young man’s appearance, the Western Divine Nation’s plan had failed. Even the Eastern Divine Nation, which had originally not planned to intervene, was moved to step in — inserting a foot into what should have been an irreversible defeat, and, incredibly, twisting it around into a stalemate — neither loss nor win.
The Eastern Divine Nation’s Wind Ear Marshal certainly deserved credit for this battle.
But the one who truly played the leading role.
In truth.
Was that seemingly-rookie yet unfathomable young man!
(End of Chapter 1155)