Chapter 132: The Ruthless Nanling

“A king of the Ghost Path. How interesting. I remember fighting a Ghost Path king once before. I never expected to encounter another king-level expert here today. It certainly brings back memories,” Leng Tian murmured wistfully.

“Who won back then?” Judas asked.

“What do you think?”

“Of course it was you, our wise and mighty leader. How could a mere Ghost Path king dare act arrogantly before you?”

That was what Judas said aloud, but inwardly he sneered, “Hmph. That was then. Why don’t you try beating one now?”

Leng Tian had no idea what Judas was thinking. He continued watching the three brothers of the Southern Ridge tear one another apart below.

Nanling walked around Xue Han and Ming Feng twice with measured steps before finally speaking.

“I truly cannot understand what makes the two of you so special that the Supreme Emperor would look upon you with such favor and teach you two of his greatest techniques. I have followed that old bastard for so many years, yet he has never once mentioned teaching me anything. In what way am I inferior to you? Tell me…”

By the end, Nanling had become almost frantic. Pointing at Xue Han and Ming Feng, he roared furiously, “That is why I lured you here today. Once you become offerings to the Ghost King, I will be able to claim the spirit fungus and jade spirit stone for myself. Then I refuse to believe that old bastard still won’t teach me his techniques! As for you, you can remain here forever!”

“Oh, and before you die, let me tell you one more important thing. Before long, the imperial family of the Tianluo Kingdom will be replaced, and your clans will cease to exist. I will slaughter every last one of them and send them to the God of Death, where they can reunite with you. Hahahaha…”

After another fit of wild laughter, Nanling glanced at the two men and said regretfully, “Gentlemen, this is where we part forever. I hope that in our next lives, we can be friends!”

He bowed toward the gigantic beast beneath the pit, then laughed loudly and strode away.

“Nanling, you traitor to this country! Your scheme will never succeed! Even if I die, I will never let you off…”

“Wait until my clan has its revenge! You will not meet a good end…”

Xue Han and Ming Feng cursed him with bloodshot eyes. No matter how hard they struggled, they could not break free of their restraints. Even the true essence within their dantians had been sealed.

Just as they were about to continue hurling abuse at him, streams of intensely concentrated deathly energy surged from the pit and instantly wrapped around them. Their minds were brought under control, while wisps of vital energy were drawn from their bodies by the deathly aura and sent into the gigantic beast.

“Leader, what are you planning to do?” Judas asked with a sly grin.

Leng Tian smiled brightly, a smile so eerie that Judas felt a chill run down his spine.

“Since he wants these two dead, I refuse to let him have his way. I’ll make sure that, at the moment of his greatest happiness, he learns that every one of his schemes has come to nothing. I really want to see the look on his face.”

“Damn, Leader. You’re even more sinister than he is.” Judas openly expressed his contempt for Leng Tian’s plan.

“Heh… To deal with a despicable villain like him, one must repay him in kind—and then double the amount.”

Leng Tian’s smile was perfectly natural. He did not harbor much hatred toward Nanling. But Nanling had been willing to offer two friends to the Ghost King for the sake of his ambitions, and for that alone, Leng Tian intended to teach him a lesson he would never forget.

After waiting a while, until Nanling had left the valley and flown deep into the mountains, Leng Tian revealed himself. His aura surged instantaneously. Behind him appeared the illusory image of a peak hundreds of feet tall, while platinum-colored energy flashed around his body. His figure streaked through the air like a white line and reached the sky above Xue Han and Ming Feng in the blink of an eye.

Opening his mouth, he released a deep roar toward the gigantic beast in the pit.

“Ha!”

An invisible wave of sound, carrying the full force of his explosive power, crashed down upon the beast’s body.

Boom!

The space between them emitted a heavy hum. The powerful force of the impact formed a turbulent current that howled wildly through the pit, sounding like waves of evil spirits wailing. Its shrill cries were unbearable to hear.

The instant Leng Tian struck, he released a crimson radiance and drew Xue Han and Ming Feng into Purgatory. He himself followed with several more attacks of sheer force against the beast’s body before retreating into Purgatory as well, bringing Judas with him.

Purgatory transformed into a tiny mote of dust, so small that even a probe by spiritual sense could detect nothing unusual.

“Damn it! What kind of power is this? It has weakened my energy body so severely! Brat, how dare you oppose me! I have memorized your appearance. Once I completely control this beast’s body, your death will come! Damn it… The spirit body I accumulated through countless hardships has been consumed so greatly!”

“And you demons—just wait for my revenge!”

His voice was filled with hysterical rage. He had remained in the burial grounds of the demon race for three hundred years, hiding there to absorb the deathly energy and recover from his injuries. He had never imagined that the burial grounds would contain the corpse of a gigantic beast.

The moment he discovered the corpse, he resolved to occupy the beast’s body and bring it entirely under his control. Once he succeeded, he would be able to rely on the beast’s formidable physical strength to slaughter his way across the world, crushing beneath its massive hooves all the human and demon experts who had once gravely wounded him.

His plan had been excellent. Unfortunately, the strength of the beast’s body far exceeded his expectations. With cultivation equivalent to the Mortal Transcendence stage of martial practice, his spiritual soul was simply not powerful enough to control it.

He had therefore decided to abandon the physical body he had spent years cultivating and instead devote himself to refining a Ghost Spirit body—a cultivation based purely on the soul. He would continue until his soul had grown strong enough to control the beast’s body. For the past three centuries, he had done everything in his power to absorb the souls of dying beasts from the demon race that came here on their own to be buried.

Yet Leng Tian’s sudden attacks today, infused with that overwhelming force, had severely weakened the soul body he had accumulated over many years, causing much of his painstaking effort to go to waste.

Even so, his soul was now powerful enough to completely control the beast’s body. He merely needed some time to merge with it and adapt. Although Leng Tian had weakened him considerably, his foundation had not been injured. Given a year or two, he would recover completely.

Leng Tian stood on the grass and watched Xue Han and Ming Feng meditate. Their complexions were gradually improving, and a hint of color had returned to their faces.

“Leader, you’re really generous. You actually let the two of them consume the divine spring!” Judas said from the side, drooling.

“You don’t need to be jealous. When you are about to advance, I’ll give you some divine spring as well.”

Leng Tian smiled and reassured Judas, lest it keep brooding over the thought that there would be none for it.

In the distance, Xue Han, the two fox-demon sisters, Guoguo, and several other girls were playing together. They appeared to be having a wonderful time.

Li Dongqing remained absorbed in studying his formations. His ears were deaf to everything outside, and his whole mind was focused on his formation manuals. From time to time, bursts of laughter rang out, suggesting that he had once again overcome some difficult problem.

Tu Maomao had been ordered by Guoguo to make a kite. At that moment, the demon prince was busily working with sweat covering his face. Every so often, he would hurry over to the great tiger Qiongqi to compare this and inspect that.

It turned out that the girls had ordered him to make a kite shaped exactly like Qiongqi. If it was not identical, they would not allow him to stay with Guoguo.

The poor prince had no choice but to grin obsequiously and scurry about making his tiger kite.

Leng Tian controlled Purgatory as it slipped out of the valley and drifted slowly across the sky above the mountains, heading toward the place marked on the map as containing the jade spirit stone. He did not notice Nanling anywhere.

About an hour later, Xue Han and Ming Feng, who had been meditating with their eyes closed, simultaneously exhaled a breath of stale air. When they opened their eyes, they saw Leng Tian, dressed in white, smiling at them.

“It’s you…”

The two cried out together. Neither had expected their rescuer to be Leng Tian, and both wore awkward expressions.

“Heh… It is rare that the two of you still remember me. I was merely passing through. When I saw that your friend had betrayed you, I felt indignant and decided to rescue you.”

When Leng Tian had first saved them, their minds had already been hazy. After bringing them into Purgatory, he had not appeared before them. He had simply left behind a bottle of divine spring and sent them a voice transmission, telling them to use it to recover their lost vitality.

At the time, the two men had realized that someone had rescued them, but they had not thought much of it. After drinking the divine spring, they had entered meditation. Only now, upon awakening, did they discover that the person who had saved them was Leng Tian, whom they had met once before. Both were deeply astonished.

“So it was Brother Leng. I, Xue Han, thank you for saving my life. If you ever need my help in the future, just say the word. I, Xue Han, will never hesitate!”

“I never imagined that when we fell into danger today, the one who would save my brother and me would be Brother Leng. I will not say much more in thanks. If you ever need anything in the future, just ask. Whether it is climbing a mountain of blades or descending into a sea of flames, I will not utter a word of refusal!”

Xue Han and Ming Feng now understood perfectly that Leng Tian’s cultivation had far surpassed theirs—perhaps by a great deal. Otherwise, how could he have rescued them so easily from certain death?

Seeing the sincerity on their faces, Leng Tian said, “There is no need to be so formal. I merely happened to save you along the way. If I ever encounter trouble and seek your help in the future, it will be enough if you are willing to assist me.”

“As long as Brother Leng asks, the two of us will do everything in our power!”

“With those words, Brother Leng has not saved you in vain.”

Leng Tian glanced at them before continuing, “To be frank, I came here for the jade spirit stone. In a while, I will take it from Nanling. What do the two of you intend to do?”

Xue Han and Ming Feng exchanged a glance. After communicating briefly through spiritual sense, they reached a decision, and Xue Han spoke.

“Our lives were saved by Brother Leng, so we will not compete with you for the jade spirit stone. We only hope that afterward, Brother Leng will help us capture that traitor Nanling. My brother and I will be eternally grateful.”

Leng Tian saw that the two understood when to advance and when to retreat, so he said in a deep voice, “I will not let Nanling off either. But after I capture him, I will cripple his cultivation and hand him over to you. You may deal with him as you wish.”

“Good. Even with his cultivation crippled, once we return to Tianluo, the Supreme Emperor can search his soul and learn everything he has done. I refuse to believe he will still refuse to confess.”

Leng Tian nodded, then turned and left Purgatory. He stood atop a towering tree and gazed at the snow-white mountain of bones stretching all the way to the foot of the mountain, his heart filled with countless emotions.

“Leader, are you really going to spare Nanling’s life?” Judas asked unwillingly.

“Crippling his cultivation will be enough. The rest is for the two of them to handle. His fate is destined to be tragic anyway. As for his soul, you will not be able to devour it.”

As he spoke, Leng Tian stepped across the treetops and flew toward the mountain. Along the way, the surrounding terrain matched the sketch drawn by the Heaven-Slaying Leopard exactly.

“Heh… That black leopard must have been thoroughly beaten into submission by Xue Han. It was probably afraid that Xue Han would settle accounts with it later, which is why this map is so detailed.”

Hearing Leng Tian mutter to himself, Judas grumbled unhappily, “Who wouldn’t be afraid of a tigress? That black leopard wasn’t very tough to begin with. It was probably beaten so badly that it wet itself.”

“Heh…”

Leng Tian could only smile helplessly before saying, “This should be the cave where the jade spirit stone is produced.”

Martial Path: The Pinnacle, Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Two—The Ruthless Nanling. End.