Chapter 97
A cloud made of dust and smoke covered a particular area of the Dark Forest, and from within that dust cloud lays two glimmering red floating orbs. These two fiery orbs are currently bobbing up and down as it floats in the air. If one focuses their sight on them one can notice that they are not really orbs but two glowing eyes. As the demon beast breathes heavily, its glowing eyes are like two fiery balls bobbing up and down.
Outside of the dust cloud covered area a few distances away stood many people with tensed expressions. None of them dared to relax their nerves while they waited for something to happen.
Meanwhile, not too far from the dust cloud, stood two cultivators who are currently vigilantly watching for any movements of the creature inside.
Then, they heard a familiar voice shouting.
"Watch out!"
When Rat Ling and Zen Nian heard this both of them immediately put up their weapons in front of their bodies. In this position, they can immediately adjust their weapons to block any incoming attacks. And just as they did, Zen Nian and Rat Ling abruptly felt a huge force clashing against their swords. Though they have their guards up, the two was still sent flying.
Rat Ling was the one who receives a heavier brunt of the damage as he was already wounded, while Zen Nian has only received some minor ones. Evading is one of Zen Nian's strong points while Rat Ling is endurance, so when they felt the strong force in that split of a second both of them did what they are good at.
Rat Ling braces himself for the impact, hence making his wounds worsen, while Zen Nian immediately shifted his body to minimize the brunt of the force. Although both were still sent flying, Zen Nian was able to preserve most of his vitality, while Rat Ling injuries worsen.
Meanwhile a distance away from them a young man with a sneering face can be seen, the feeling of schadenfreude is making this young man's heartbeat feel excited.
"This is what you get for showing off. Hahaha... Trash would always be trash… Kekeke, I hope that the flood dragon demon beast will kill you to keep me from wasting too much time and effort in dealing with an ant-like you." Wei Qi Nian thought as he saw the figure of his younger brother being blown away, in his eyes Zen Nian is an eye-sore.
This attitude of Wei Qi Nian was engraved upon him while he grows up, and this is due to the pampering of the first elder of their clan. While he grew up and he was groomed with a mentality that he is the next clan head and those who stand in his way should be dealt with and should disappear, whether it is his friends or even kin.
As time goes by, his hands have been soaked in blood as he has already killed countless of people just to get what he wanted. He even would not hesitate to use any underhanded methods or means if necessary.
So it is not surprising that he is feeling elated at the misfortune that Zen Nian is encountering.
Meanwhile, Rat Ling and Zen Nian have already regained their balance as they staggered to stand back up still not giving up in facing the flood dragon hidden within the cloud of dust. But what they didn't know it that there is something occurring inside. It is unknown to anyone when it happened, but suddenly a strong pressure was emitted from within the dust cloud, then a powerful aura exploded out which disperses the cloud into nothingness.
Now, in front of everyone's eyes, a menacing figure of a transformed flood dragon appears. From its huge snake-like appearance before, it transformed into a shorter version of itself. With a head of a flood dragon and a body which looks like a scaly bulky giant human, it now shows its muscles which are brimming with strength and power.
"That's... That's a mutation! How can this flood dragon advance this early?"
"This is really bad, now that it is in its Demi-human form its speed and power would be tripled."
"We have to escape! Even with the safety of the runes embedded on our robes, there is a chance that we would die in this place."
The people who are watching in the area began to discuss with fear as they look at the transformed flood dragon in front of them.
Now that the flood dragon has transformed, its strength and cultivation level is now comparable to a gold core realm expert or a level 4 beast. With this power, the flood dragon can easily toy with all the cultivators but no one dared to run as they are afraid to attract the demon beast's attention.
Meanwhile, Rat Ling and Zen Nian who is directly facing the creature are feeling the brunt of its powerful aura. Then both of them suddenly fell on the ground as they are unable to resist the pressure anymore.
"Young master, I'll… I'll hold it off while you escape. You... You have to survive this clan trial and become stronger... I... I don't want you to get my revenge. I... I just want you to not forget about me and to survive." Rat Ling muttered as he suddenly pushed himself up with great effort.
Though his whole body is currently aching, he didn't mind, he just gritted his teeth and began to sluggishly walk towards the flood dragon who is currently glaring at him. His action shows how determined Rat Ling is in protecting his young master from the enemy.
"Rat Ling come back here!" Zen Nian frantically shouted upon seeing the determined look on Rat Ling's eyes.
"What a loyal brat… it's a pity that he would surely die here." Ya Nian thought as she watches Rat Ling.
Ya Nian had watched how the young orphan boy grew up and became a brave and loyal servant of her younger brother. Unknown to even Rat Ling, one of the reasons why he was able to increase his cultivation is because of her help. In secret, she would put medicinal herbs on her brother's food to strengthen his body and hasten his cultivation. But she discovered that the food would always be given to Rat Ling, so he was the one who slowly improved his cultivation instead of Zen Nian.
At first, she felt a little angry and indignant, but now upon seeing the young boy that has already grown up and is showing his determination, Ye Nian could not help but admire the luck of her brother in finding such a loyal servant, and she felt happy about it.
As Rat Ling sluggishly moved towards the flood dragon it actually showed a contemptuous look on its scaly face. Before its transformation, its expression is not that clearly discernable, but now, one can clearly see its expression just like that of a human.
Without a word, the flood dragon suddenly coalesces something in between the tip of the claw of its thumb and index fingers. Then with a flick, something suddenly darted towards Rat Ling's direction. The speed of the object is extremely fast and with Rat Ling's condition, it is hard to say if he can evade or even defend himself against the projectile.
Even if Rat Ling is in his top condition, he would still have a hard time defending or evading against the incoming attack which looks like a small ball of condensed black spiritual Qi.
Seeing this Zen Nian was dumbfounded, as he felt helpless at the situation. Like him, everyone in the area is now looking at Rat Ling with respect and some with scorn. Though they know he is already a goner but they can't help but admire his determination that even in death he would stand by his young master.
The terrifying speed of the projectile made Rat Ling feel his impending doom. Deep in his heart, he knows that he is already a dead man, but he has no regrets. His young master has saved his life, feed him, and clothe him. He even let him get the cultivation materials so that he can grow stronger, though he was not taught any breathing techniques but the medicinal herbs are enough for him to become strong. Now that he can finally pay his young master's generosity back Rat Ling felt at peace.
Rat Ling stood there unmoving, and then his face showed a contented smile as he slowly closes his eyes.
"This is my farewell gift to you young master. Thank you…" Rat Ling muttered.
When Zen Nian heard this his heartfelt pained. Rat Ling is like a brother to him, no he is more of a brother than his real blood brother. Both of them has gone through thick and thin and has waded through many trials and tribulations in their life. With that strong bond, he is unwilling to just see his friend go down like that without doing nothing.
But what can he do? He can't even move fast enough to intercept the fast approaching projectile. Despair and unwillingness are clearly written in Zen Nian's heart as his feet began to move on their own. Without a word, he uses Shadow steps to their limits then he suddenly feels his spiritual energy being sucked dry.
"This… This is the speed that I needed! This is what I wanted!" Zen Nian shouted in his heart after discovering something.
Right at his desperate moment to save someone, he actually broke through to the next stage of the Shadow step, the Shadow run. This time his speed became 3 times faster than before and he found that he can travel farther. Everything in his surroundings became sluggishly slow as he moves his body forward.
Zen Nian can clearly see the small black ball coming closer to Rat Ling who just stood there to receive it.
"I can make it!... Come on, just a little bit more!" Zen Nian shouted in his mind as he gritted his teeth while his figure went pass Rat Ling.
He then extended his sword with a swing to block the projectile.
But then an inconceivable thing had happened, right when he lifted his sword in front of the thumb-sized black ball of Qi, it actually curved pass his sword and body.
The shock on Zen Nian's face was evident as he was stunned. He didn't expect this to happen, but before he could react it is already too late. While in slow motion, the black ball of pure Qi actually returns to its original path and moved towards Rat Ling's chest. Zen Nian's expression is a combination of helplessness and fear. He could not imagine that a demon beast can actually do such a thing, it's like the creature is controlling the projectile itself.
But then before all hope is lost, Zen Nian noticed something.
There is a tiny object which is flying faster than the projectile that the demon beast flicked. The speed of the object which intercepted the black ball of Qi is terrifyingly fast that even with Zen Nian's enhanced speed, he still has a hard time following it.
Then it happened.
Ting!
A sharp loud sound echoed through the surroundings, and what everyone just saw was a spark appearing a few feet in front of Rat Ling's body. No one knew what happened as even the flood dragon has an expression of disbelief clearly written all over its scaly face.
The people in the surroundings could not determine what had happened except for those few who had noticed that silver flash.
Then not far from Zen Nian and Rat Ling stood a figure of a handsome young man. On his hand is a curious artifact with smoke coming out of its tiny hole. No one noticed him before, but now it seems that everyone is looking at him. Even the flood dragon has its furious eyes glued to him.
Seeing this situation, Shin Jiao sheepishly smiled.
"Sorry, I can't let you hurt my young master and my friend." Shin Jiao said with an apologetic look on the creature.
His words and action made all the people in the crowd incensed.
"What are you apologizing at a demon beast for?"
"What the heck is that retard doing?"
"Just a servant and he acts like he can defeat the demon beast."
These are the thought of the people who are currently watching.
Then Shin Jiao's expression turned grave as he looks at the demon beast. With this look, the demon beast felt extreme killing intent suddenly emanating from Shin Jiao's body. As a demon beast king, the flood dragon is sensitive when it comes to its enemies. It could actually perceive how strong its opponent is just by its hidden aura, which it could see clearly. And right now it can see a huge dark shadow rising from behind Shin Jiao. By instinct, the flood dragon actually takes a step back as if it suddenly saw something that can threaten its life.
When the people saw this, they were dumbfounded.
"What is happening?" Zen Nian could not help but ask.
But then he suddenly noticed Rat Ling's body falling down. Though he was not hit by the projectile, his body was already worn out from the injuries that he received. Coupled with the pressure that he forcefully resisted, now he can't hold on anymore and actually fainted.
Seeing this Zen Nian ran towards Rat Ling wanting to catch him. But all of a sudden he found his body feeling very heavy. He then remembers that he had forcefully awakened his potential and is now feeling the backlash. But still, he has enough strength to move and catch Rat Ling.
From his pouch, he took out a couple of healing pills and put it in Rat Ling's mouth as he himself took some too.
Then he drags Rat Ling and himself towards the far distance at the back from the flood dragon who now has his attention taken by Shin Jiao.
He and Rat Ling leaned on a huge rock as he watches the figure of Shin Jiao slowly walking towards the flood dragon. His feelings right now is that of extreme awe and admiration towards Shin Jiao who not only taught them skills and techniques but also saved their lives for the third time now. He now has a clear understanding of how the black bear that they have encountered last time ended up dead with its brain blown apart.
It seems that it was Shin Jiao's artifact.
Zen Nian watches as a man without any spiritual Qi fluctuation faces against a level 4 demon beast. In normal circumstances, this scenery should be impossible as mortals are truly weak and powerless when it comes to beast or cultivators. But who is Shin Jiao? He is the person who taught them the skills they wield making them stronger than normal cultivators.
He is an unfathomable being, which cannot be estimated by normal reasoning or judgment. And right now is one of those things that one cannot explain.
Like Zen Nian, everyone in the area is truly dumbstruck.
In their minds, only one question is asked?
"Who is he?"