When Tang Peng reached the boundary between the Devil Forest and the outside world, he was utterly shocked. An audible gasp could be heard as he looked at Long City from a far distance.
"You must be kidding me..." Tang Peng could see smoke coming from within Long City's inner walls. The guards outside of Long City were not at their posts. Instead, they were doing completely random things, such as smashing their heads on the floor, or hitting the wall repeatedly.
"Could it be that they were affected by the Demon Emperor's powers too? In that case, wouldn't all of Long City be affected?" Tang Peng felt great sorrow. The first thing he thought of was that he would not be able to continue his plan anymore.
His plan was to let people know about his strength, then slowly accumulate wealth and influence in order to fuel his cultivation. The Mingtian Empire was a place where high level cultivators even feared to touch. By gathering authority, it was the best way for him to survive.
"This is outrageous! Outrageous!" Tang Peng suddenly had an outburst, after he kept quiet for a few seconds. He started slamming the Face Stealing Monstrosities viciously with Yin Qi, taking his rage out on them. With his repeated slams, the monsters soon returned to their true forms, maggots that were bound together by threads.
Even though the Face Stealing Monstrosities Tang Peng has gathered was Firm Foundation, when they exited the Devil Forest, they became severely weakened, unable to resist the blows brought on by Tag Peng.
"A waste of my time!" Tang Peng continued to slam the Yin monsters brutally until they had become nothing but squashed maggots. The black threads that held them together then dispersed, forming Yin Qi.
"At least there was a decent harvest." Tang Peng absorbed the Yin Qi that was released by the deaths of the Yin monsters, which calmed his anger by a bit. It had replenished his Yin Qi levels to barely decent levels.
"Hmm... since I can't turn Yin Qi into spiritual soil any further, I probably need way more Yin Qi to break through!" Tang Peng wanted to break through as soon as possible.
He could guess that his cultivation base right now was in the middle of Qi Absorption Realm, since it had filled up around one quarter of his soul space. He needed it to be higher, in order to be able to defend against the people chasing after his life!
*BOOM!*
"BOOM! Another one bites the dust! Haha! Is that all that the famed Gateway to Hell have? Come on!" Tang Peng could hear an explosion and someone shouting very loud in the area above Devil Forest, so he turned his head to look at that person.
It was a tanned man who had golden dragon robes clothed over himself. His hair was in a crew cut, while his eyes had the fires of war burning deep inside his eyes. Fresh blood could also be seen on his skin, along with dried blood stains.
"A ruthless butcher!" That was the only description that Tang Peng could come up with. The genial smile he had belied the murderous aura radiating off him, which had suppressed even the negative aura coming from within the Devil Forest.
"I, Quanli's Divine General, Zailing, have arrived! Wahahaha!" The man named Zailing did a shark's grin, as he let off another explosion in the vicinity of Devil Forest.
***
"What the hell is going on here!" Howick came out of his lair as soon as he heard the explosions. He could feel the countless distortions in the negative radiation of the Devil Forest. The very existence of this area was being warped!
"Let me tell you what's going on. You're helping me earn more money!" Zailing cackled in mid air, before he descended onto the ground. He took out the giant sabre behind his back, and the dark metal sabre gleamed in the sunlight.
"Just your aura alone was enough to stop the negative aura and let the sunlight in? What kind of monster are you?" This was the first time that Howick had experienced a human that was so strong.
It simply defied every expectation he had. Weren't humans supposed to be weaklings to be devoured for the demons to grow stronger? How did this human become so powerful, and so... menacing?
"Stop talking and start fighting! Yin Yang Split!" Zailing's sabre was originally dark, but a white soul suddenly appeared on it. It formed an Yin Yang symbol on the sabre, swiping down towards Howick.
"Impossible! One of the legendary four beasts of the world, White Tiger?" Howick could see the white tiger that was hidden in the sabre, through the power of the mist that was hovering above him.
"Cut your crap! You better take me seriously, before I turn you into mincemeat!" The man swiped down using his sabre with a ruthless, unforgiving strike. There was no chances for Howick to escape, and the only thing he could possibly do was to defend.
*Clang!"
The sabre that Zailing used was suddenly blocked by another sabre. The force exerted by that sabre could not completely block Zailing's attack, but it nullified most of the damage that would have been done to Howick.
"No wonder you were so confident. A mirror type soul formed." Zailing saw a grey sabre, before he looked to the person that was wielding it. It was an exact copy of himself, except for the fact that the sabre was slanted upwards instead of downwards.
"Not bad, not bad! It's a pity the original is always the best!" Zailing released all of the killing aura in his body. However, the clone of him did not show any reaction at all, until it too released its own version of the killing aura, complemented with cries of departed souls.
"Well, I expected that." Zailing wiped off the sweat off his forehead, before he slammed the crystal ring he was wearing using his free hand. Out of the ring, five sabres of various colours shot out.