by RWX
“Eh? Who is this?”
“Anyone know him?”
“Don’t know’m, never seen’m.”
“He should be new.” The Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals all watched as Ning moved towards them.
The one dressed in goldscale armor rose to his feet. He was rather skinny, and he had some jade-green tattoos around the corners of his eyes. He smiled in quite a radiant manner. “Are you new, my friend?”
“I just joined.” Ning nodded.
“My name is Skyleave.” The goldscale soldier smiled.
“Darknorth,” Ning replied.
“Brother Darknorth, which squad do you belong to?” The goldscale soldier asked curiously.
“I don’t know yet. I just joined. I haven’t really been assigned to anyone,” Ning said. This was true. The island master had to first report Ning’s request to the World God, at which point he would be assigned a rank and a position.
“Haha, I’m the captain of the tenth squad,” Skyleave said. “You might end up assigned to me. All of you, come over here. This new friend of ours is Darknorth, a new member of our Fogstone Army.”
“A new brother? Captain, we have to hold a feast to welcome him.” A rather chubby, smooth-faced soldier dressed in silverscale armor immediately called out.
“Right, Captain!”
“We need to have a feast.”
The others all called out excitedly as well.
“You guys…ugh. Blackpeak is about to attack us, but all you care about is eating and drinking. Fine, fine. We’ll feast, we’ll feast,” Skyleave said with a laugh.
“Ahaha, brother Darknorth, my name is Baiwu.” The chubby silverscale soldier slapped his arm around Ning’s shoulders, then said with a laugh, “Our captain is rarely this generous. He almost never treats us to meals. This is your first time here; you need to taste some of the delicacies of Fogstone as well. Ah, man…I’ve lived for ages but I still as much of a glutton as ever. But the thing is, the better something tastes the more expensive it is. Ugh…”
Ning laughed.
When Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals had access to good techniques and tutelage, they would usually either break through to become a World God within a single chaos cycle or never be able to become a World God at all. Most of these soldiers had been alive for quite some time, and none of them had much hope of breaking through. Thus, all of them liked to enjoy life instead. Some liked food while others had other hobbies.
The Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals were all immediately led towards a lavish, semi-translucent building located nearby.
“Three basins of dragon meat first!” Once the soldiers sat down, the chubby Baiwu was the first to call out and make an order.
“You bastards.” The goldscale soldier, Skyleave, just shook his head helplessly.
Soon, all sorts of strange delicacies and dishes began to make their way to the seated soldiers. The most impressive were those three giant basins of dragon meat that were each thirty meters long. The dragon meat was tinged with a dark-red color and emanated an aura of absolute fragrance. Even Ning couldn’t help but drool once he caught a whiff of it. The soldiers all stretched out their hands to grab at the pieces of dragon meat, pulling them out from the basins and chewing on them.
Chomp, chomp, chomp. The Elder Gods chomped through meat and bone alike, enjoying the food and the wine.
* * *
Book 24, Chapter 6 - Elder God Blackpeak
“Is it really that good?” Ji Ning picked up a large chunk of meat that was as thick as his arms, then gave it a bite. A blissful feeling filled his entire body as a surge of pleasure went through him.
“Dragon meat is one of the top ten delicacies of the entire Badlands Territory. There’s no way for dragons to be raised in captivity; they can only survive and thrive in certain special areas…and capturing them isn’t easy.” The goldscale soldier Skyleave laughed. “I usually end up spending more than half of my chaos nectar on food.” For Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals, other types of entertainment might be quite cheap, but top-quality food was very hard to find.
The Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals chatted, drank, and laughed amongst themselves. Ning began to learn more and more about them.
Roughly two hours into their feast…
“SKYLEAVE!”
“SKYLEAVE!”
An enormous roar blasted out like thunder, echoing throughout the surrounding area.
“Eh?” The Elder Gods had been eating and drinking happily, but they now all came to a halt.
“He’s here.” The goldscale soldier rose to his feet.
“The other dishes don’t matter, but make sure you take away the dragon meat. We’ll eat it later.” The soldiers all quickly packed up the dragon meat. They had been eating quite slowly, enjoying every mouthful of it. Clearly, they didn’t want to waste it by gulping it all down too quickly.
“Captain, you don’t even need to bother with Blackpeak.”
“Right. That idiot caused the deaths of more than twenty of our fellow soldiers. So what if you lectured him a bit?”
“Idiot.”
The other soldiers were all cursing the man.
“I said what I said. If he wants to fight, we’ll fight. Does he think I’m afraid of him?” Skyleave laughed coldly. “Let’s go.”
“Let’s go.”
The soldiers all hurriedly followed behind Skyleave.
“What’s going on? Who is this ‘Blackpeak’ you guys are talking about?” Ning followed behind as well while chatting with Elder God Baiwu.
Baiwu pursed his lips. “Blackpeak was once a captain as well…but he was too arrogant and proud. Not too long ago, we had a clash with the Blacklotus Empire. Because of his arrogance, twenty-three of his soldiers paid the ultimate price. Twenty-three Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals! Even the Starlord of Fogstone was notified of this. He was punished by being demoted to be an ordinary silverscale soldier. However, quite a few of the dead Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals had friends in the other squads, all of whom were quite angry with Blackpeak. Our captain once cursed him out, causing a bit of friction between the two. They decided to have a duel with each other today.”
“Oh.” Ning nodded.
“Blackpeak is arrogant and prideful, but he is also quite strong.” Baiwu said in a low voice, “The number of captains stronger than him in the Fogstone Army can be counted on one hand.”
As they chatted, their group arrived at the drill area once more. Quite a few Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals had arrived here, all for the sake of watching this battle.
“The tallest one over there? That’s Blackpeak,” Baiwu said.
Ning glanced over. The man was dressed in silverscale armor, but his body was incredibly slender. He had a total of four arms and the parts of his skin that were exposed were all completely pitch-black. He had a pair of cold and narrow golden eyes, and a mocking look could be seen within them. He spoke out and said with a cold smile, “Skyleave. How is it that an imbecile like you would consider yourself qualified to lecture me? Today, I’ll let you know exactly how great the difference in power between us is.”
“Cut the crap.” Skyleave’s face was cold.
“According to the rules of our Fogstone Army…” Blackpeak strode forward, a cold smile on his face. “Duels have to be fought for stakes. How many treasures can you bring out? I’ll match any stakes you issue.”
“A hundred bottles of chaos nectar,” Skyleave said coldly.
“Oho! You are actually willing to risk that much? It must’ve been hard for you to store up that much chaos nectar. If you insist on giving it all to me, how could I possibly refuse? I accept.” Blackpeak licked his lips.
Some of the Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals were here in support of Skyleave. The rest were just here to watch. Blackpeak had come all by himself; clearly, he didn’t have many friends.
Soon, the battle began between these two Elder Gods.
“Ahahaha, you really think
you are a match for me?” Blackpeak held four great warhammers in his four arms, and they all glittered with earthen yellow light as they smashed downwards like mountains in an utterly dominating fashion. Although there were many who disliked Blackpeak, all had to admit that he was incredibly powerful, even amongst his fellow captains.
“Hmph.” Skyleave held a pair of shuttles in his hands as he moved around like a blur. He let out a furious growl, then his body suddenly manifested four more arms, giving him six arms and six shuttles.
“Useless. I won’t even have to use any divine abilities against you,” Blackpeak bragged loudly.
“Fall down!”
“Fall down!”
“FALL DOWN!”
Blackpeak fought in a crazed fashion as he furiously smashed down with his warhammer, each blow containing utterly shocking amounts of power. Fortunately, this arena was protected by formation spells which ensured that Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals could fight at full power without any qualms. The Starlord of Fogstone was happy to have his subordinate Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals compete against each other, so long as none of them ended up dying.
Skyleave endured six heavy hammer blows in a row. Finally, upon receiving the seventh hammer, he spat out a mouthful of blood as he was sent flying backwards.
Boom!
Blackpeak instantly chased after him, smashing his warhammer against Skyleave’s chest. Although Skyleave was protected by his goldscale armor, the concussive power of the blow was still quite tremendous and enough to instantly and completely shatter his chest. Blackpeak tapped another hammer against Skyleave’s head, then smirked. “You lost, you idiot.” As he spoke, he stomped down on Skyleave’s face with his foot. Boom! Skyleave’s face was instantly caved in and reduced to mush.
Whoosh.
A stream of divine power quickly reassembled far off in the distance, reforming Skyleave’s body.
“Blackpeak.” Skyleave’s face was ashen. He had just had his face stomped on so hard that it had been destroyed. How could he not be enraged by this sort of insult?
“Blackpeak, our captain had already lost. You went too far.”
“Blackpeak…”
Skyleave’s soldiers were all furious.
“In our duels, the only rule is that we are not allowed to kill our opponents. Everything else goes, right?” Blackpeak’s face was a mask of innocent confusion. “All I did was was cave his chest in and stomp his face in. He’s an Elder God! That’s not nearly enough to kill him. I didn’t break the rules, right? Even if you reported it to Starlord Fogbeast, he’d find me innocent.”
“Damn.”
“Damn him.”
All of the soldiers had ugly looks on their faces.
Ning couldn’t help but secretly sigh in surprise. When these two had fought, they had controlled their power in an extremely meticulous way, with no wasted energy or movements. Both Blackpeak and Skyleave were more powerful than Lord Demonheart had been.
The chubby Elder God Baiwu had been standing next to Ning. Now, he stepped forward. Everyone fell silent as they all turned to look at Baiwu. Baiwu said in a cold voice, “I’ll duel you next.”
“You?” Blackpeak said disdainfully, “You are a silverscale soldier. I can’t be bothered.”
“Aren’t you a silverscale soldier yourself?” Elder God Baiwu said coldly, “What, do you still take yourself to be a goldscale soldier? If you forget, take a look at the armor you are wearing.”
Blackpeak’s face instantly changed. Clearly, Baiwu had just hit him where it hurt. He was an incredibly proud person. Even though he had been demoted, he still felt himself to be a goldscale soldier, an equal of the other captains. Blackpeak stared at Baiwu coldly. “Very well. Since you insist on giving me your treasures, I have no choice but to accept. But if you want to duel me, you need to prepare at least fifty bottles of chaos nectar. Otherwise, don’t even bother taking your stakes out.”
“If I lose, I’ll give my Ninestar Skyhooks to you.” Elder God Baiwu’s body blurred momentarily as he manifested a total of six arms, each of which held onto a curved hook.
“A set of Ninestar Skyhooks? I’ll be generous and value that as being worth sixty bottles,” Blackpeak said.
“Good.” Elder God Baiwu looked at him coldly.
“Baiwu…”
“Baiwu, don’t do this.”
“Blackpeak is incredibly strong.”
His fellow soldiers quickly began to send mental messages urging him to back down.
Quite a few Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals were watching this happen from afar.
“Blackpeak is quite strong; he was one of the strongest goldscale captains we had. Even Skyleave lost to him. For Baiwu to challenge him is just foolishness.”
“Baiwu is definitely going to lose.”
“Skyleave, you should talk your soldier out of this. It isn’t worth it for him to lose a set of Chaos treasures just like this,” a spectator purposefully called out in a loud voice.
Captain Skyleave was just doing just that. He sent mentally, “Baiwu, I’ll eat my loss and swallow my pride for now. When I become more powerful, I’ll come back and challenge him again. If you go, all you’ll do is lose your treasure. It isn’t worth it.”
But Baiwu completely ignored everyone as he marched straight towards Blackpeak.
Blackpeak smirked.
Boom!
Whoosh!
The two transformed into streaks of light and clashed against each other.
“This Baiwu fellow is really strong!” All of the spectating Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals were rather surprised, because Baiwu had just shown himself to possess the power of a supreme Elder God. The two were actually fighting to a standstill.
“Baiwu, you made a breakthrough?” Skyleave revealed a look of surprise and joy.
“Brother Baiwu, kick his face in!”
“Teach him a lesson, brother Baiwu!” Skyleave’s soldiers were all hollering excitedly on his behalf.
The pudgy Elder God Baiwu continuously struck out with his six hooks. No matter how hard the warhammers struck at him, he was able to easily deflect every single attack. His pudgy body was like a ball of meat that continuously rolled everywhere, easily absorbing and deflecting the force of the Blackpeak’s blows.
“Ahahaha…so you actually have a bit of power after all. Pity for you that it won’t make a difference.” The warhammers suddenly vanished from Elder God Blackpeak’s hands, only to be replaced by six slender swords.
Swish!
Both his body and his swords were extremely slender. His movements became ghostly and unpredictable as he launched a furious barrage of blows with his slender swords against Baiwu. Previously, his attacks had been dominating and savage. Now, they were strange and unpredictable. These were two diametrically opposed styles of combat, and this sudden change caused all of the watching Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals were quite shocked as Blackpeak quickly seized the upper hand.
Boom!
Baiwu vomited out a mouthful of blood as he was knocked flying by a hard kick.
“He lost.” The soldiers next to Skyleave all shook their head.
“Ugh…”
The spectators all shook their heads as well.
Swish.
Suddenly, a black streak of lightning flashed past, covering Baiwu and quickly moving him away.
“Eh?” Blackpeak had been about to trample over Baiwu, but he immediately came to a halt. Frowning, he stared off into the distance where a silverscaled youth was holding Baiwu in his arms. A moment later, the youth released Baiwu.
“If he lost, he lost. No need to keep hitting him,” the silverscaled youth said.
“Baiwu, why haven’t you given me your Ninestar Skyhooks yet?” Elder God Blackpeak smirked.
Baiwu gritted his teeth, then waved his arm and sent his six hooks flying over. Elder God Blackpeak accepted them smugly, then began to laugh with delight. He pointed at Skyleave, Baiwu, and the rest of the Elder Gods
. “I’ve been pretty pissed lately. Thanks for presenting yourselves before me and letting me beat you up. That really felt good. And you gave me quite a few treasures as well! Ahaha…and just look at the looks in your eyes! Do you want to keep dueling me? I’ll take on any of you. If you want to give me your treasures, I’d hardly refuse.”
Suddenly, a voice rang out. “I want to compete against you.”
Blackpeak glanced over, puzzled. It was the silverscaled youth who was standing next to Baiwu.
“You?” Blackpeak laughed. “What’s going on with the silverscale soldiers? All of them are getting too big for their britches. For yet another one to challenge me…”
“You are a silverscale soldier as well,” the youth said.
Blackpeak’s face instantly turned ugly.
“If the bet is too small, I can’t be bothered,” Blackpeak said coldly.
“If the bet is too big, I’m afraid you won’t dare to accept,” Ning replied.
* * *
Book 24, Chapter 7 - The First Battle
“Won’t dare to accept? A bet with you?” Elder God Blackpeak’s face turned even uglier as rage began to burn within his heart. Ever since he had returned after losing a few Elder Gods, the soldiers of the Fogstone Army had all treated him in a completely different way. In fact, some would actually curse at him to his face or mock him, with Elder God Skyleave being one of them. These insults and this mockery caused him to feel quite unhappy.
He had lived for more than a chaos cycle and had no hope of breaking through to become a World God. For people like him, face mattered more than anything else. In recent days, he had been stewing angrily.
For Skyleave to duel him was one thing.
For a silverscale soldier like Baiwu to challenge him as well? Bah, forget it. He was still a figure with quite the reputation.