Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Thirty miles eastward from Jinyintan Village.
It was past seven in the evening now.
The sun was setting and the night slowly descending.
Near the gully, a short-haired woman wearing spandex and smoky make-up was sitting cross-legged, and lying beside her was a boar over a dozen meters in length and was covered in a layer of pitch-black scales.
The boar’s tusks were long and it also had a single dark horn above its head, and it was as tall as a one-floored building even though it was lying down.
A petrifying aura was emitting from its horn too.
Weirdly, however, there was a vague gray sheet of deathly air around its body.
Upon closer look, one would see a gaping hole in the horned boar’s abdomen. The flesh around it had dried up, however, and its innards were visible, though they had all shriveled into a tangled bunch and showed no signs of life.
It was a rank-eight Feral, slain by one of Sky Demon Cult’s Sentinels, its corpse now awarded to the Decan, Pain Star.
That is, the woman beside the dead boar.
Aside from the horned boar, Killer Star’s corpse was also covered in a layer of gray mist, and standing behind Pain Star like a piece of wood.
Nearby, there were almost a hundred Ferals and 1200 human corpses.
All those Ferals were dead. In fact, some of them had been pierced so thoroughly that black blood was still dripping from their wounds, and just like the human corpses, they were covered in a faint gray mist that had the impression of apocalyptic zombies.
One of the top ranked Decans in the Sky Demon Cult, Pain Star earned her place not because of her physical strength. In fact, she could be very weak in a fight, and a rank-five martial artist would be capable of killing her if they could get close enough.
However, it was her superpower that was exceedingly terrifying: she has the ability to summon corpses to fight for her.
Of course, while her power did have limitations, it remains extremely horrific. She would definitely be a genocidal machine in the battlefield!
“Lady Pain Star. Jinyintan Village has been fully evacuated.”
Nearby, a Fiend whose whole body was releasing a scorching aura spoke reverently. “However, the villagers were being escorted by the military and a grandmaster, which prevents me from attacking. As for Jiang He... I suppose he would have left with the escort.”
The Heavenly General, Earthen Savage was a red-haired man and appeared to be in his thirties. He was an A-class Awakened with fire-type powers who could match a rank-seven grandmaster.
Meanwhile, Pain Star slowly opened her eyes. She extended her hand, and a rat appeared in her palm.
The creature was around three inches long and was surrounding with the faint deathly mist as well. It squeaked even as it crawled around Pain Star’s palm, but when it was done squeaking and the deathly mist around it faded, it became a corpse once more.
A flash of surprise appeared in Pain Star’s eyes then.
Then, she covered her lips with one hand and giggled coquettishly. “Interesting. How interesting... what a stubborn little kid. He is actually so brave that he would remain alone in the village—does he really believe that the Sky Demon Cult is helpless against him?”
That was when the air boomed twice as two other Fiends rushed to the scene.
One of them was the Earthen Majesty Heavenly General, and his hair was all white and had a slight hunch. He was also holding a long alloy staff.
The other man, the Earthen Diction Heavenly General bore a slight resemblance to Earthen Majesty. However, his posture was straight and he appeared spirited.
Both men were rank-seven martial arts grandmasters and ranked high amongst the seventy-two Fiends, boasting brute power.
“You’re back? How did your task go?”
Pain Star asked flatly as she turned to both men.
Earthen Diction forced a smile in response. “The Leopard Python is gone. We checked its lair, but the entire valley was flattened from bombardment, and I fear the snake was killed by the military.”
“Oh?”
Pain Star nodded but was unconcerned, and she slowly rose and continued flatly, “That snake is merely a rank-seven intermediate. It won’t affect the course of the battle much anyway.”
Beside her, the horned boar slowly rose to its feet then.
Behind her, Killer Star’s corpse suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze so still that it would weird out anyone.
At the same time, Pain Star looked out into the distance—night had arrived, but the moon was very bright, so it was not too dark.
Smiling faintly, she said, “Intelligence suggests that a rank-nine elite is stationed at the Xibei area and could reinforce our objective at any time, so let’s avoid dragging this out and dreaming too much. Launch the attack right now—we shall trample over Jinyintan Village, take Jiang He’s head and slaughter our way into Lingzhou City!”
Earthen Majesty’s gaze twitched then, and he said quietly, “My lady, if the rank-nine comes...”
“It’s fine.”
Pain Star smiled. “Sixth Elder has arrived at Mount Dadong three hours ago, representing the Saint as he negotiates with the Graywolf King. When we had taken Lingzhou City, Sixth Elder would arrive to preside over it.”
“When that happens, the fraternities of the Western Frontier and Yungui would come to reinforce us too. With that, our Holy Faith shall use Lingzhou City as our base to slowly devour all of Xibei.”
Then, with a single command from Pain Star, the Ferals and human corpses began to charge rapidly at Jinyintan Village like hordes of zombies.
Some of the corpses had missing limbs or broken skulls, and yet they all ran swiftly, covering mountains and hills at a pace that could match martial artists.
Most of the corpses had been normal humans, but under Pain Star’s control that strengthened them supernaturally in death, each corpse could match a rank-one martial artist in ability. Most importantly, they would never fear death!
Indeed, rank-one martial artists could lose the ability to fight if you stabbed them once.
On the other hand, when it comes to Pain Star’s corpses, you could stab so many holes that they became a sieve, but they would still try to kill you, howling as they did so!
***
Meanwhile, back at Jinyintan Village.
Jiang He stepped out of his yard after digging out all his potatoes.
The whole village was silent, with every villager having moved away.
Stretching out lazily, Jiang He took out an orange bottle gourd and blew into it.
Bang!
A puff of smoke landed on the ground, turning into Second Brother.
“Gramps!” He greeted Jiang He.
“Use your all-seeing eye and all-hearing ears. Check where the Sky Demon Cultists are hiding.”
Second Brother nodded and leaped up the roof, his eyes shooting beams as he looked around. Still, he could not see anything as there were too many obstacles in the distance, and so jumped down, placed his ear on the ground, and listened.
That was when his expression changed. “Gramps, around thirty kilometers eastward, a lot of people are rushing in our direction!”
“Oh?”
Delight showed on Jiang He’s face and he laughed out loud. “Good. And I was wondering where I should start my search.”
Stuffing Second Brother back into his bottle gourd, Jiang He climbed into his car and headed to the east side of the village, and began burying potatoes.
Even as he dug, he said, “Luckily, I’ll probably be rid of most of my problems tonight, or I won’t be able to eat or sleep in peace... still, there’s another wave waiting after this one...”
But that cures the symptom and not the cause!