Chapter 469: Chi Ni Zi

The sound accompanying the red light was so abrupt and loud that it shook Shi Mu and the three Windstrider Hou* into a jump.

[Hou is a mystical creature in Chinse folklore which most resembles a dog. It has a pretty crappy temper and loves to have fun (on other beings' expense). Some people say that Hou is the natual predator for dragons, 'cause they eat dragon brains; Some say Hou is the posterity of dragons, and is exclusive with the job of supervising the Emperor of China.]

"Ehh?" A soft quizzical exclamation escaped from the red light, which made a sudden hairpin turn before descending. Once the light receded, a towering silhouette about several yards tall and a skin as red as a jujube emerged.

"That's the guy!" Shi Mu's eyes flashed in recognition. This man had left quite an impression on Shi Mu—after all, he was one of the muscular, Earth-rank men who had left on his own.

Those around him recognized him as well, and as they caught the muscular man's aura, they felt a lot more relaxed.

The large man with jujube-red skin shot a scornful scan around them before averting his gaze away from them altogether.

Then, his attention landed on the three Windstrider Hou, and his eyes brightened.

"Aha! Three Later Earth-stage Windstrider Hou, huh? Lucky me. Guess it's all for I, Chi Ni Zi, thank you!"

The large man laughed boisterously as his body let out an explosive boom while red light pulsated from him. Then, behind him, a ten-yard-tall apparition of a harrowing, crimson-golden chimera blazing in flames manifested behind his back. The creature looked like an enormous lion protected by a full body of crimson scales, giving off a mighty countenance the instance it appeared.

"Roar!"

The three Windstrider Hou were naturally cruel and bestial, and upon seeing a threatening enemy in Chi Ni Zi, they let out a defiant, furious roar and ignored Shi Mu and everyone else, charging straight towards the large, jujube-red skinned man as if their hooves were winged.

True to their name, the Windstrider Hou were beasts of the winds; AS they galloped, wild gales had gathered around them, turning the three of them to look like three gigantic, green tornadoes destroying everything they had crossed!

Chi Ni Zi sneered in contempt. The Ablaze Lion Energy Construct behind him roared in dazzling lights before it shrunk quickly and merged into the man's body—

Boom! Chi Ni Zi's body exploded into a large burst of searing flames, turning him into a sort of crimson-golden human torch. The flames were so hot that even the air around him was distorting and twisting.

Whoosh!

Chi Ni Zi made his move and dashed towards the leftmost Windstrider Hou, who had already resembled a green typhoon rushing towards him.

The air was filled with piercing shrieks as countless green blades made out of wind shot out from the green typhoon into a river coursing towards Chi Ni Zi.

Seeing what lay ahead of him, the ablaze figure did not even slow or change his direction; Instead, he charged even faster, turning himself into a single dart of crimson-golden comet bracing towards the enemy.

The bystanders, watching them, were already taking a large gasp of breath. Shi Mu himself could feel his own eye twitching.

He could tell that the attack the Windstrider Hou had unleashed packed a great deal of punch that he himself would not dare to brace through headfirst—he would have opted to evade the attack however he could!

He still pondering how why Chi Ni Zi did what he did when the blazing figure flared brightly before merging into the green deluge of wind blades.

Then something out of everyone's expectation occurred—these frightening winds blades melted into Chi Ni Zi's body and disappeared completely, like a shadow sinking into the darkness!

"Huh?!" Shocked, Shi Mu's eyes quickly shone in golden lights. He could see—through his magical eyes—that every single wind blade had been consumed and suppressed completely by the crimson-golden flames around his body before they could even singe a single hair on Chi Ni Zi's body.

Boom!

Like a stream of crimson light, Chi Ni Zi sped and melted seamlessly into the Windstrider Hou's body before piercing out from its back, burning a large flaming gap on the creature's body that was still burning after Chi Ni Zi left.

The green typhoon around that particular Windstrider Hou dissipated in an instant while its humongous body slammed over ten-odd yards away while being completely engulfed in that sinister crimson-golden flames. The next time anyone could see the creature's body again, they could only see a big pile of charred, unrecognizable black coal-like substance before it tumbled to the ground.

With a flash, Chi Ni Zi made an abrupt U-turn and slammed himself into the second Windstrider Hou with a speed too fast for the latter to dodge. Just as easily, he went through the creature and turned it into charred remains.

The typhoon around the third Windstrider Hou ceded unceremoniously as it cowered back in fear. Then, in a blink, it had scrammed to an exact opposite of where Chi Ni Zi was in an eye-blurring speed—it took only a few milliseconds for it to have escaped to twenty or thirty yards away.

"Where'd you going?!" Chi Ni Zi taunted, his body pausing only very briskly before he lifted his arm and the flames on his body gathered upward into his palm to accumulate into a single burning pole.

—Whoosh!

He hurled his arm forward, and the pole was like a golden snip in the fabric of sky before the fleeing Windstrider Hou's neck was bore through by the flaming pole twenty- to thirty-yards away.

The creature tumbled downwards on the ground without any single sign of resistance. Pa-tat! Kaboom! The flame pole exploded and consumed the body of its prey with its fiery, golden appetite.

This last Windstrider Hou let out a bloodcurdling shriek, but its voice turned softer and softer by the seconds until it was no more.

And that was all—three Late Earth-rank Windstrider Hou, all nailed dead in a blink of an eye!

Unsurprisingly, it left everyone, including Ji Jiang, tongue-tied. On a distance, the crimson-golden flames on Chi Ni Zi's body sputtered and rolled as they gradually receded back into his body, revealing his original look once more.

Shi Mu's eyes glinted. The power of the crimson-golden flames that Chi Ni Zi had unleashed was at least as powerful as the one stored within the white flames in his left hand.

Just as Chi Ni Zi bent to collect the Demon Nucleus from the felled Windstrider Hou, Shi Mu and the rest of the group landed close to him, though they stood in an obviously defensive stance.

Chi Ni Zi took the three fist-sized, greenish Nucleuses into his own Qing Shan Order and turned to them, his eyes scanning the wary crowd before breaking into a scornful chuckle, "Oh please, like I would be interested in those measly Demon Nucleus you wimps had collected... I'm above stealing from little kids, don't you know?"

"Thank you so much for your help, Brother," Ji Jiang pushed himself through the crowd and came forward, cupping his head before his chest. "We are very much indebted."

"Oh yes! This brother here is absolutely magnificent! Unbeatable!"

"That fire technique you used blew me out of my mind, man. Is that one of the legendary techniques from Planet Fireborne?"

...

The crowd had already started rushing towards the large man, buttering him up as soon as the scheming part of their mind came back.

"Seriously? When the hell did all of you come up with this much crap to babble about? Look at you—all of you! You actually think you could be a part of Qing Lan Holy Sect you're your meager, lackluster power? It's pathetic! If you want to live longer, go home."

Chi Ni Zi waved his large hand dismissively, leaving only these last few words. Then, without once turning to look at the crowd, his body shimmered in crimson light as he took off into the air, assuming the form of a single dart of red light zipping forward into the sky.

The crowd stared at each other blankly. Suddenly, the air was filled with the silence of not-knowing-what-to-do.

"Sect Fellow Ji? I think we're starting to tread into the territories of Late-stage Demon Beasts... And I'm very positive that it's only getting more and more dangerous now. What shall we do?" A Demon Race youth with ashen-grey skin and a long tail asked.

Before Ji Jiang could reply, an alien girl with pointy ears, bucked teeth, and an elongated figure interjected, "Oh, by all means, continue your merry band if you gentlemen like. I'm out!"

"Um, me too. I mean, if you win, you collect points; if you lose though... You lose your one and only life..."

"I'm here only for gathering missions! I did not sign up to hunt monsters!"

As the group had just been through their first life-and-death situation, plus a few of the members openly floating the idea of quitting, a lot of the members were starting to nurse the idea of forfeiting themselves.

Zi Ling, standing next to Shi Mu, widened her eyes as her pupils darted at the commotion. Shi Mu, meanwhile, watched them indifferently without saying anything.

Ji Jiang's face was stormy. He lifted his head and stared at the horizon for a few moments before turning to face the group with his palms open, saying, "Listen, everyone. Something must have happened to the entire habitat to have caused a spike in the numbers of high-ranking monsters to appear. Since that all of you had now ceased to be interested in advancing, Ji Jiang will not try to force everyone to go against their own wishes either. There is a safe area located not far from where we are now—a location marked out to be safe by my kind. As this team was formed out of this lowly one's suggestion, it is also my duty to make sure everyone's safe. So how about I lead all of you to that safe zone and once we're there, then only we disband and take our own path?"

"How far is that safe location from here, hmm?" The Demon Race youth with a long tail asked.

"About fifty miles north from here. There's a small hill there, where very few Demon Beasts roam while boasting a decent amount of rare herbs."

"Wow, that sounds like a paradise compared to all of this. Remind me why did you never mention that before?" The pointy-eared, bucked-tooth girl probed warily.

"We were all bursting with high spirits and ambitions, weren't we all?" ji Jiang sneered and rebutted. "We were aiming to go deep into the land to uncover treasures and prized materials a few moments ago, which would mean a route much different from the route to that safe location. If I suggested going there back then, tell me if any of you would actually agree!"

A few of the group stared at each other quietly.

"This lowly one had only mentioned this safe location—an otherwise guarded secret passed to only the kin of my tribe—because he truly cared for his member's safety. You can, of course, choose to distrust that act of goodwill. Doubt my words however you like, I'm leaving," Ji Jiang said before striding to the direction of north.

"Hey, Sect Fellow Ji, don't be mad! This lowly one wants to follow you."

"Me too! Wait for me!"

"..."

Seeing Ji Jiang taking off so soon, most of the group barring those who were still eyeing him suspiciously quickly hurried behind him.

Shi Mu shot a pensive look at Ji Jiang but he said nothing.

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"Big Brother Shi, shouldn't we follow them?" Zi Ling asked quietly.

"Sure. Don't see why not," Shi Mu replied curtly and started to walk.

They traveled for about half an hour until they approached a small hill wedged between the savanna and some sort of dunes.

"Sect Fellow Ji, is that safe location you spoke of hidden inside this hill?" Someone from the group peeped.

"Don't you be impatient, friend. According to my people's record, the location is hidden in this chain of hills. This is my first time here too, frankly. There's no need to haste, all of you—I'll go and scout ahead to make sure that it really is safe before coming back to all of you," Ji Jiang said as he stared ahead into the hills. With a flap of his wings, his body took off into the air and raced forward.

"Careful, something's not right," Shi Mu said to Zi Ling telepathically as his expression changed.

"Why is that, Big Brother Shi? I didn't see anything fishy," Zi Ling replied hastily and frantically through telepathy after her initial stun, which was followed by her extending her Spirit Sense to the surrounding.

"That's the reason why it's fishy—we aren't seeing anything dangerous here. It's too quiet, with not a single wisp of demon scent in the air despite being smack dabbed in the middle of a Demon Beasts-filled land. Isn't this strange?" Shi Mu may be wearing a neutral expression on the outside, but internally, he smirked.

He shot a meaningful glance at the girl and the two of them slowed down their pace considerably, putting even more distance between themselves and the others.

About half an hour later, the group reached closer to the small hills. Ji Jiang, who had been leading them, dove into the hills.

He didn't come back with any kind of report.

"What's taking him so long? Is he in trouble?"

"No, no way. Look at him! He was confident that there's no powerful Demon beasts around here."

"Well, guess we can only stand here and wait."

The crowd's feet shuffled to a halt before the hills as murmurs started to sound.