Chapter 75 - Fiend Decree

“Grandmaster Cheng, Chief Jiang, there’s no more road up ahead!”

The off-road vehicle drove out of the town.

The road towards the mining area was already difficult with its mud puddle and massive cracks, especially after bomb damage and the destruction wreaked by Ferals.

“Stop the car. We’ll proceed on foot from here since it’s less than twenty kilometers from the location Jiang He sent us. It’s not too far.”

Once they alighted, Cheng Dongfeng took the lead and bounded away.

Pudgy Jiang was right behind him, although Bai Feifei and another rank-five martial artist was relatively slower.

When they had reached the spot where both the Tranquil Heavenly General and the Earth Demon Heavenly General were slain, Jiang He was also returning after killing the Leopard Python.

“Master Cheng, Chief Jiang, Sister Bai… Eh?”

Jiang He greeted them, before his gaze shifted and he stared at Cheng Dongfeng, smiling, “You’ve ascended, Master Cheng?”

Cheng Dongfeng nodded, but was inwardly doubtful, ‘I’ve withheld my aura, but this kid could actually see through my cultivation?’

When martial artists ascend from the pinnacle of rank six to the boundary of rank-seven grandmasters, there were two aspects aside from cultivation which they improve in: spirit, as well as an understanding where the individual and the world are one.

At rank-seven, one would achieve the ‘restoration to natural state’, controlling one’s one strength freely. They would appear no different from an average person if they did not show it unless the other person was of a higher realm than himself.

However… did Jiang He stood upon a higher boundary above Cheng Dongfeng?

Meanwhile, Bai Feifei was already in work mode, and had dropped to a crouch before the corpse of the Tranquil Heavenly General. After inspecting it for a while, she concluded, “There’s something weird about this body. A layer of his flesh was already cooked, but there aren’t sign of burns.”

“His veins and nerves were critically damaged and over a dozen bones were broken. All of his internal organs suffered a great trauma and he bled profusely from his stomach.”

“But those aren’t lethal. The blow that killed him was on his chest.”

The group flocked towards the corpse.

Nonetheless, after Pudgy Jiang stared at the Tranquil Heavenly General’s face for a while, he scratched the back of his head and suddenly asked, “By the way, does anyone knows what the Tranquil Heavenly General looks like? The last fight was all Old Duan, and it was too dark, not to mention that it was pitch black after his body was surrounded in Frost True Qi. I didn’t really have a good look on his face.”

“So, is this guy… really the Tranquil Heavenly General?”

Bai Feifei and Cheng Dongfeng shared a glance.

They had not encountered the Tranquil Heavenly General either, just as the Martial Arts Department (MAD) only knew that the Sky Demon Cult had seventy-two Heavenly Generals Fiends, and thirty-six Grand Decans. However, the MAD had no idea what any of them looked like.

Jiang He lifted a brow, promptly feeling upset at that.

With a wave of his hand, a token plate whooshed and stabbed into the Tranquil Heavenly General’s corpse.

Cheng Dongfeng pulled the token out, noticing then that it was a unique token forged from alloys. The word ‘Tranquil’ was sculpted on its face, and ‘Fiend’ on its back.

“A Fiend Decree!”

“This corpse definitely belongs to the Tranquil Heavenly General!”

Jiang He threw out another token plate then, which had ‘Demon’ sculpted on its face, and ‘Fiend’ on its back like the other plate.

“That’s the Fiend Decree of the Earth Demon Heavenly General!”

Cheng Dongfeng accepted the token plate and explained, “I heard the Sky Demon Sect issued the Fiend Decrees and the Decan Decrees, but never seen one before. So, this is what they looked like… oh, and Jiang He, was the Tranquil Heavenly General caught in the blast before he was killed?”

“Yeah.”

Jiang He did not deny it. “I didn’t know their specific location, so I started blasting every spot around this area which could be used for hiding. Then, when I was about to blow up the mine up there, the Tranquil Heavenly General suddenly charged at me from behind, and was caught right in the shockwave being vented out from the mine itself.”

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” Jiang He grinned. “I threw the bomb. Wouldn’t I know enough to dodge?”

And was prostrating while clutching my head not dodging?

Still, Pudgy Jiang sharply caught on to Jiang He’s uses of words and pressed him, “Jiang He, did you just say…’throw’? How did you trigger a fuel-air explosive by throwing?”

“What fuel-air explosive?”

Jiang He drew a blank, saying, “It’s just some dynamite I cooked up myself; it’s nothing as awesome as that.”

Of course, he could never tell anyone about the pea bombs.

He did offer any explanation with ‘dynamite’ anyway. If he does not admit it no matter who asked, what could any of them do to him?

At the same time, Pudgy Jiang looked weirded out, while Bai Feifei covered her mouth to hide a smile.

“Chief Jiang,” Cheng Dongfeng chuckled then, “I remember something about handstands and what was it?”

Still, Cheng Dongfeng stopped teasing as Pudgy Jiang’s expression contorted. “So, like I said,” he smiled, “how could a rank-five advanced kill grandmasters, no matter how out of this world he could be? By the way, where’s the Earth Demon Heavenly General’s corpse? Was he blown into pieces?”

“Not quite.”

Jiang He pointed towards the other corpse, saying, “It’s over there. He was not caught in the blast, and I thought that he was quite powerful. I had to use some of my special moves to slice through him.”

Yeah.

Special moves…

Eating peppers to boost combat strength counts as a special move, wouldn’t it?

Jiang He led the way forward, chuckling as he walked, “That one was quite cunning. At the time, the Tranquil Heavenly General had climbed underground and was not blown to death immediately, so I had to walk up to him and stomp him to death. That was when the Earth Demon Heavenly General blindsided me with a flying dagger to my back.”

Jiang He pointed behind him where a hole was torn over his shirt, and there were still traces of blood over his skin.

“Please check if my wound is serious… eh? It healed already?”

“….”

Was that not a little too much?

A rank-seven grandmaster backstabbing a rank-five advanced, but not only did that fail, he was actually killed in retaliation?

Cheng Dongfeng, Pudgy Jiang, Bai Feifei, and the rank-five martial artist with them followed Jiang He stiffly, feeling as if their heads had gone black.

It was only after walking three-hundred meters when they finally reacted—that is, when they saw the corpse Jiang He sliced in half and the slash cutting deep into the ground.

Cheng Dongfeng’s eyes widened and could not help exclaiming, “What the hell… Jiang He, the Earth Demon Heavenly General is a veteran rank-seven and more powerful than the Tranquil Heavenly General… how did you kill him?”

“How did I kill him?”

Jiang He considered it, organizing his words, “He was around sixty meters away from me, but failing in his backstab, even slandering me for wearing an alloy armor…”

“Then, he started throwing daggers at me again, which I slapped off with two palms, but then the bastard changed forms… well, not exactly changed forms, but a black air was pouring out of his body and it did not feel human.”

Cheng Dongfeng’s eyes sharpened at that and he exclaimed, “Sky Demon Arcanum!”

“The Sky Demon Sect calls it the Sky Sage Arcanum. It’s a frightening art, and was said to have been passed down from those who came from beyond the skies.”

“The Sky Demon Arcanum?”

Jiang He muttered, before continuing, “So, anyway, after he transformed… I mean, used Sky Sage Arcanum, his aura became exceedingly frightening. So, I had to use my special move and boost my fighting ability, and only then did I cut him down with five consecutive slashes.”

After that…

Jiang He yawned.

“It’s already four in the morning… alright, you guys keep chatting, and just remember how much merit points for those two Heavenly Generals are. I’m going back to pay my sleep debt.”

In a flash, his figure vanished into the dark night, leaving Cheng Dongfeng and the others trading glances.

***

Next morning.

Li Fei’s breeder’s union over at the eastern end of Jinyintan Village.

“Old Su, the lamb here’s not bad, right?”

Li Fei and Su Ze were having breakfast.

It was three in the morning after they finished their last shift, and Li Fei keenly extended an invitation to Su Ze then. After that, they did not stay at the MAD, and instead came straight to Li Fei’s home.

He had to relay Master Cheng’s message anyway, did he not?

The lamb or whatnot was just in passing.

Cleaning his mouth, Su Ze then rose to his feet, smiling. “I still have to trouble you further, Li Fei. Please drive me to Jiang He’s home, and we’ll return to the MAD to submit our mission report after that.”

Soon, Li Fei was in his BMW, giving Su Ze a ride to Jiang He’s front door.

Taking a deep breath and suppressing his fear towards Jiang He, Su Ze firmly opened the car door and got off.

What was he afraid of?

It was Master Cheng who had a bone to pick with Jiang He anyway, not him.

At worse…

He could just show his hand, and tell him that Master Cheng wanted to give him an earful!