Chapter Two: Beat Them Up If They Pick a Fight

"Come on, let's go see what the big clumsy dragon looks like now!" Xue Han said, her figure drifting gracefully as she flew toward Maximus.

Tu Maomao wore a look of utter skepticism. He watched Xue Han and Guoguo fly off one after the other, and finally turned his gaze to the Vixen sisters, scratching his head with a silly grin. "Muxue, Milan, tell big brother, what is a Holy Beast?"

The two little girls stared at Tu Maomao for a long time before speaking in unison, "We are not country bumpkins..." With that, they transformed into two streaks of pink light and departed, leaving behind a bewildered Tu Maomao standing in place, repeatedly muttering to himself, "What even is a country bumpkin? It doesn't sound like a compliment at all!"

Upon hearing Maximus's roar, Leng Tian had already teleported to the scene in a flash. Gazing at Maximus, who was bathed in brilliant golden light, and its massive body that had now swelled to over a hundred zhang in length, Leng Tian threw his head back and laughed heartily—a laugh so loud it echoed throughout the entire Purgatory Space.

"Awoo..."

Seeming to sense Leng Tian's mood, Maximus let out another earth-shaking dragon roar. Yet instantly, the dazzling golden light enveloping its body retracted, replaced by pillars of raging purple flames surging from deep within it. The scorching temperature caused thick white smoke to rise throughout the surrounding space.

"The energy contained within that lotus seed is truly immense. I expect Maximus's strength will advance yet another step!" Leng Tian murmured inwardly, gazing at the towering pillar of fire.

"Brother Tian, what's wrong with the big clumsy dragon? Is there a volcanic eruption? Did you feed it some sort of treasure? I can sense the faint Law of the Fire Element!"

As soon as she arrived, Xue Han rushed to lock her arm around Leng Tian's, firing off a string of questions.

"I fed it a seed from the Purple Flame Companion Lotus!"

"Ah... Won't the big clumsy dragon be burned alive?! That's the Law of the Fire Element! The big clumsy dragon just broke through to a Holy Beast, it's probably going to suffer some unbearable torment!" Worry was thick in Xue Han's voice.

"There shouldn't be any problem. I had it consume the Azure Sea Divine Spring beforehand. With the divine spring assisting in absorbing the lotus seed's energy, I imagine it won't be too difficult," Leng Tian said with absolute confidence. Afterward, he led the others who had just hurried over back to a safe distance, waiting for Maximus's successful breakthrough.

Everyone gathered together, sitting upon the soft grassy meadow, staring in unison at the blazing purple flames surging across the giant dragon's body. Suddenly, Leng Tian's sleeves were tugged on simultaneously by the Vixen sisters.

Not knowing what the two little girls wanted, Leng Tian smiled and asked, "Muxue, Milan, is something the matter?"

Seeing Leng Tian inquire, the cute little faces of the two sisters flushed slightly. In tiny, timid voices, they said, "Big brother, our tummies are rumbling... we want to roasted meat..."

"Haha..." Leng Tian looked at the adorable expressions of Muxue and Milan, his heart overflowing with indulgence. "Gurgle... gurgle..." The bellies of the two little girls chimed in quite uncooperatively.

Only then did Leng Tian remember that not long ago, the last roasted suckling pig in his storage ring had been given to the Heaven-Slaughtering Leopard, and he currently had no food left on his person.

"Big Brother Leng, Muxue and Milan are still in their growing years, you should go outside and rustle up some roasted meat! Hehe... actually, all of us are a little hungry, truth be told." Guoguo used the excuse of the Vixen sisters' growth spurt to prompt Leng Tian into action, though in reality, she herself had been unable to forget the taste of Leng Tian's roasted meat ever since she first tried it.

Leng Tian glanced around at everyone present. Even Li Dongqing, who had arrived not long ago and was hiding off to the side, wore an expectant look on his face.

A wave of bitter resignation washed over Leng Tian. He had somehow transformed into a babysitter. Confronted by those multiple pairs of eager, waiting eyes, Leng Tian was rendered speechless. With a flash, he slipped out of the Purgatory dimension to go procure some roasted meat.

The moment Leng Tian left, cheers erupted from the group, and even Li Dongqing, who usually remained aloof from worldly matters, revealed a triumphant smile.

Emerging from the Purgatory space and hovering mid-air, Leng Tian gazed down at the desolate landscape below—choked with tall weeds and scattered with sparse ancient trees—and couldn't help but recall the scene of seizing the Purple Flame Companion Lotus.

"By leaving Purgatory to drift on its own, it has actually floated all the way here!"

Muttering to himself, Leng Tian lowered his altitude, gliding forward just a meter above the towering weeds. He cast out his divine sense, scanning the surroundings for any movement within the grass.

Yet before he had flown far, Leng Tian's expression changed drastically. With a tremor of his protective astral qi, he instantaneously teleported far away. The exact moment his body vanished, a pitch-black slender rapier materialized out of thin air, slashing straight through the space where he had been standing.

A mysterious figure shrouded in dark demonic energy manifested in Leng Tian's previous spot.

"Who goes there?" Leng Tian reappeared in the distance, turning around to demand.

"The one who will kill you. Dragon Warrior Leng Tian, right? I never imagined you still harbored so many secrets. Today, I, Dark Night, shall execute you and claim every single treasure upon your person!"

The mysterious assailant who had ambushed Leng Tian was none other than Dark Night, the gold-rank assassin of the Blood-Swallowing Alliance. He had been lying in wait in the vicinity for some time. When Leng Tian was roasting meat on the hill and later witnessed Zhuang Jinlian being hunted down, Dark Night had already spotted him. He had been on the verge of making a move back then, but Leng Tian had suddenly vanished within a flash of crimson light.

Ever since, he had roamed the surrounding area, searching for traces of Leng Tian. The reason he was so fixated on Leng Tian was not only because the latter was a target designated for assassination by the Blood-Swallowing Alliance, but more importantly, because Dark Night had witnessed with his own eyes Leng Tian seizing the divine spring.

Dark Night had come to this Ancient Realm specifically to secure the divine spring for his master—the Blood-Swallowing Alliance Leader who styled himself the God of Death. Yet all of that had been ruined by Leng Tian.

Moreover, he had been severely injured by him, nearly perishing at the claws of fierce beasts. But fortunate twist of fate or not, the demonic nature within his blood had been stimulated, triggering a demonic transformation that ultimately forged his acquired demonic physique. His cultivation had surged dramatically, showing clear signs of a breakthrough to the Mortal-Shedding realm.

While his soaring cultivation naturally brought him immense joy, the primary objective of his trip had fallen through. Thus, he needed to track down Leng Tian and wrest the divine spring back from his hands.

Ever since leaving the Azure Sea Jade Firmament, he had been wandering this boundless Ancient Realm in search of Leng Tian. Had he known of Leng Tian's display of terrifying divine might against demons within the Azure Sea Jade Firmament, he certainly would have reevaluated his plans.

"The one who will kill me? I, Leng Tian, pride myself on never having offended an individual of your caliber. What reason could you possibly have to kill me?" Leng Tian spoke, though his eyes flashed with a tri-colored luster as he locked his gaze onto the mysterious figure wrapped in demonic energy.

"It's you..." Though Dark Night's body and features were obscured by pitch-black demonic energy, Leng Tian easily pierced through the disguise, instantly recognizing him as the man covered in a black cloak whom he had knocked down on Fenglan Island.

"So you've seen through it. That makes it all the clearer why I must kill you! Hand over the divine spring, and I might consider sparing your life!"

Dark Night's tone was now incomparably ice-cold, his aura overbearing and aggressive.

"So you're here for the divine spring in my possession. However, you've arrived too late; every last drop of the divine spring has already been used by me! Even if I were to stick my neck out and let you kill me, you wouldn't get a single drop of it. I advise you to leave while you can, rather than waiting here to be humiliated by yours truly."

Leng Tian crossed his arms over his chest, his tone dripping with shameless nonchalance.

"You're courting death..." Dark Night roared with rage. His body streaked across the sky like a black lightning bolt, and sweeping trails of sword light instantly enclosed Leng Tian within their radius.

Leng Tian narrowed his eyes and smiled coldly. "The person who can kill me, Leng Tian, hasn't even been born yet!" Instantly, a multicolored light burst from his chest, and behind him, the phantom of a towering mountain standing hundreds of zhang tall soared straight into the clouds.

The moment the mountain momentum manifested, it carried a crushing, overwhelming pressure that instantly shattered Dark Night's overlapping sword lights. Even Dark Night himself was forced back several zhang by the heavy, primordial pressure.

Dark Night steadied his retreating form, his eyes brimming with shock as he stared at the phantom of the hundreds-of-zhang-tall black peak behind Leng Tian, a sense of unshakeable dread blooming in his heart.

"Well? Didn't I tell you that the person who can kill me hasn't been born yet? I still don't know what a fellow who strayed into the demonic path like you calls himself, or which faction you hail from!"

Leng Tian had completely been corrupted by Judah and the mysterious man; before he knew it, his tone carried an air of extreme arrogance, practically asking: *I'm invincible, what can you possibly do to me?*

"Dark Night, assassin of the Blood-Swallowing Alliance. Do you remember the Profound-Entry assassin you killed in the Skylark Kingdom? Today, aside from the divine spring, I am also here to avenge the fallen elder!"

With that, Dark Night's black rapier flashed, executing dozens of sword strikes in the blink of an eye. Dozens of demonic astral sword qi descended upon Leng Tian from mid-air, hurtling toward him with ferocious momentum and violent pressure, closing the distance in a heartbeat.

Leng Tian stood firm in mid-air, steadfast as a mountain. The mountain phantom behind him flickered slightly, and he vanished from his spot, reappearing directly in front of Dark Night with a smile on his face, delivering a punch wreathed in power.

Dark Night's eyes constricted sharply. He hadn't expected Leng Tian's speed to be this terrifying. As the punch closed in, Dark Night felt an immense wave of pressure bear down upon him, causing his mid-air stance to plummet downward.

"What kind of technique is this!" Shock gripped Dark Night's heart. Turning fierce and decisive, his unoccupied left hand thrust horizontally toward Leng Tian. A surging wave of black astral qi billowed forward like a raging torrent, its terrifying momentum crashing toward Leng Tian's chest.

Leng Tian's expression shifted slightly. He hadn't anticipated that Dark Night's palm strike would possess such formidable might. Instantly, he altered the trajectory of his fist, redirecting it to smash directly into the surging black astral qi.

"Boom!"

A muffled explosion echoed out. Dark Night was blasted backward by Leng Tian's punch. The giant peak phantom flickered repeatedly as Leng Tian closed the distance, latching onto Dark Night's retreating form with a wild laugh, his fists raining down like a violent storm.

Dark Night felt completely stifled. Having achieved a massive breakthrough in his cultivation, he had anticipated thoroughly ravaging Leng Tian. Yet he was not the only one blessed with a fortunate breakthrough; Leng Tian no longer held peak Profound-Entry martial artists in any regard, and even a warrior who had merely stepped into the Mortal-Shedding realm could do nothing to him. Ever since his battle with the demon, Leng Tian's mindset regarding experts had fundamentally transformed.

"Boom! Boom!"

The crushing pressure of the mountain momentum bore down upon Dark Night's body, rendering his movements sluggish and preventing any effective counterattack. He could only resort to passive defense.

Platinum-gold fists left behind a blur of afterimages. Leng Tian leveraged the mountain momentum, looming from above as he clung to Dark Night's body and pounded him relentlessly. The two of them resembled a black-and-white shooting star, plummeting to the ground amidst rolling shockwaves.

The earth was blasted into a deep, massive crater by the pair. Just how deep it would go depended entirely on when Leng Tian decided to halt his fists.

The ground within a radius of several hundred meters trembled violently. The dull, explosive thuds reverberating from the expanding crater sounded utterly thunderous, accompanied by Leng Tian's mocking taunts: "If you're looking for trouble, I'll beat you until you're a cripple! Oh my... your astral qi has quite a bit of hardness to it, let's see if I don't shatter it and smash that punchable face of yours!"

"Bang, bang, bang..."

"Damn it, you still have the strength to fight back..."

"Son of a bitch, why aren't you vomiting blood yet..."

As Leng Tian's relentless fists pounded into Dark Night, the two of them sank deeper and deeper into the earth. At this moment, Leng Tian was straddling Dark Night's chest, a pair of platinum-gold fists raining blows down upon Dark Night's face.

The giant peak phantom behind Leng Tian had shrunk to around a dozen zhang in size, yet the torrent of oppressive pressure had not diminished by even half. It continued to suppress Dark Night, rendering him utterly incapable of mounting an effective counterattack, forcing him to flail with his own unoccupied fists, desperately striking Leng Tian's upper body—though his attacks possessed plenty of momentum but lacked sufficient force.

"Boom!"

With a heavy blow, Leng Tian finally shattered Dark Night's protective demonic astral qi, following up in a flash with a dozen punches landing squarely on Dark Night's face, sending crimson blood splashing in all directions.

"Look at you, coming looking for trouble with me..." Leng Tian had somehow withdrawn his own protective astral qi, leaving only the giant peak phantom hovering behind him to pin Dark Night down so firmly he couldn't even twitch.

Using only a pair of bare fists, he relentlessly battered Dark Night's handsome face. By now, the deep crater in the ground had reached a depth of over a dozen zhang. Low-tier spirit beasts whose intelligence had just awakened gathered at the edge of the crater, mustering the courage to peer down, only to be so terrified by the brutal scene before them that they turned tail and bolted.