SCREECH—!
The long, agonized cry echoed with fury.
Poised above the churning, trembling river, Qin Fan stood as immovable as a mountain. He watched the Jiao Dragon with a taunting gaze. "You want revenge, don’t you? Co on, then. I’m the one who killed your mate. Hmph! Here’s its corpse; I even saved a little piece for you!"
With that, Qin Fan pulled the Jiao he had slaughtered on Yanjing Ridge from his storage space. Gripping the severed piece of Jiao flesh, he swung it in the air. He knew a sapient Jiao could understand human speech.
And sure enough, at his words, the Jiao Dragon’s cry cut off abruptly.
As its long, thick body closed to within a dozen ters of Qin Fan, its rage finally exploded. It lashed out!
BOOM!!!
A colossal, earth-shaking wave erupted from the river. But Qin Fan had already teleported to the side, anticipating the move.
"Co on! Keep trying! The beast you mated with liked to whip its body around, too! If I rember correctly, it actually managed to hit once! I just wonder if you’ll have the sa luck!"
Dealing with an intelligent Mutant Beast was always endlessly entertaining. The fact that it could understand him made toying with it so much more interesting.
Missing its strike only to be t with more of Qin Fan’s mockery drove the Jiao Dragon into an even deeper frenzy. Its body whirled, and massive waves rose once more! Riding the crest of a wave, the Jiao’s head shot toward Qin Fan, its intent utterly lethal. Its body whipped forward from behind, hurling itself furiously at his position.
But it was still a beat too slow. Qin Fan dodged it again.
"Sothing’s not right," he mused aloud. "That beast was pathetically weak, a re Third or Fourth Rank at best! But you... you’ve already started developing a dragon’s form. You’re practically a counterfeit! That should put you at the Seventh or Eighth Rank, at least. With such a massive power gap, why did you mate with it? Were you, a female Jiao, so desperate for a male that you beca indiscriminate?"
With phantom-like steps, Qin Fan weaved behind the Jiao Dragon, his words continuing to mock and taunt, each one a piercing barb.
His words struck the most sensitive spot in the Jiao Dragon’s heart.
It was true; she was female. It was also true that she had been desperate when she sought out that creature to mate with, one which had just evolved from a giant python into a Jiao. She never expected that the act would lead to genuine feelings. In her perception, she and he were the only two of their kind left in the entire vast world. She had no interest in other pythons or snakes; mating with them brought no pleasure at all. So, as they spent ti together, emotions blossod.
But then, he told her to wait for him. To wait until he was strong enough to protect her!
Decades passed. She, a female Jiao, endured her loneliness, waiting for her future king to co and protect her. She even slowed her own cultivation for his sake. In all those decades, they had not only never mated again, but they had never even seen each other.
Then, several months ago, she sensed the male Jiao’s life-force extinguish. Since there had been no sign of a beast’s heavenly tribulation, she knew it had to be a human who had killed him. A killer would surely carry the male Jiao’s lingering aura. Because of this, she had road the seas of all Huaxia, searching for that scent.
It was only upon reaching the Qiantang River that she had faintly sensed the weak Jiao aura not far away. The only reason she had stirred up so much trouble on the river was to force that person out.
Now, that person had indeed been lured out. But his only response was to jeer and mock her relentlessly. How could she, who held all of humanity in contempt, possibly tolerate this?
Qin Fan’s words ignited a fury unlike any she had felt in hundreds of years.
At this mont, she exploded.
"SCREECH—!"
Within the rage was a hint of sorrow, but it was drowned out by pure, savage fury.
As she threw her head back and let out a long, piercing cry, dark clouds suddenly swirled in the pitch-black sky above.
RUMBLE—!
A deafening clap of thunder resonated with her cry.
The next second, with a great WHOOSH—! a torrential downpour cascaded down amidst the thunder.
"It can even summon rain? You’ve practically beco a sentient spirit!" Qin Fan said in a low, focused voice, letting the heavy drops soak him. But at the sa ti, a new kind of excitent lit up his face. The more spirit-like it was, the greater the feast for his own world of Spiritual Energy. The thought of this maddened female Jiao thrilled him.
"At the Tenth Rank of Creation, one becos a nascent dragon. It’s a pity you’re not a nascent dragon. If you were, I wouldn’t even dare to show my face! But a Seventh or Eighth-Rank Jiao? You can’t even be called a half-finished dragon! By running into , you’ve t your doom! Just wait, I’ll reunite you with your male!"
Shedding his playful sarcasm, Qin Fan’s expression grew cold and intense.
But just as the words left his lips, Hua Xiaotian ca rushing over the waves. He cracked the Hemp Vine Whip that Qin Fan had given him in Japan, channeling all of his Qi Force into his hand. He raised the Soft Whip and swept it furiously toward the Jiao Dragon’s head.
Damn it! Qin Fan’s heart seized with anger. He hadn’t expected Hua Xiaotian not only to ignore his warning to leave but to recklessly charge into the fray. With his re Gang Realm cultivation facing a Jiao that’s hundreds of years old... this isn’t a fight—it’s suicide! Certain death!
"Hua Xiaotian, get back!" Qin Fan roared, instantly dashing across the water’s surface toward him.
Although his speed was like a bolt of lightning, the Jiao Dragon was just as fast, and it was already perilously close to Hua Xiaotian.
Before Qin Fan could intervene, the enraged dragon caught the incoming whip with its horns and whiskers. Then, it spat out its terrifyingly thick, forked tongue, lashing it straight at Hua Xiaotian’s face.
THWACK!!!
A sound that was both dull and sickeningly sharp cracked against Hua Xiaotian’s face.
"AHHH!!!"
Even with the protection of his Gang Jin, Hua Xiaotian scread in agony from the Jiao Dragon’s strike. The mont the tongue struck half of his face, it looked as if it had been seared by thousand-degree heat, imdiately lting into ruin. Even in the pitch-black night, the sight, sound, and sll of the charred, bloody ss were utterly horrifying.
"Are you trying to get yourself killed?! You wouldn’t have enough lives to throw away against this monster even if you had a hundred!" Still a step too late, Qin Fan grabbed the whip tangled in the dragon’s horns and yanked with all his might, bellowing in fury.
"ROAR!!!"
At the sa instant, the female Jiao threw her head back and let out a bone-chilling roar of her own. As Qin Fan tore the whip free, it ripped through the flesh around her horns. The pain was excruciating, even for a monstrous beast hundreds of years old.
"Teacher Qin, I can’t always wait for you to solve my problems! I am the director of the Guardian Institute! If you weren’t here, would I just have to stand by and watch this monstrous beast wreak havoc upon the Human World? Death isn’t what’s frightening; the fear of death is! This is my duty. I don’t fear death, I shouldn’t fear death, and I can’t fear death! I can’t live under your protection forever! My master was right. If I can’t break through the shackles of this ntality, my Martial Arts Cultivation will be stuck at this level forever!" Hua Xiaotian stamred out, his voice slurred and trembling from the unbearable pain radiating across his face.
"Get lost! If it weren’t for , this monstrous beast would never have appeared in your world in the first place!" Qin Fan snapped. As he spoke, he summoned a packet of dicinal powder he had refined in the Spiritual dicine Garden from his storage space. He quickly sared it over the ruined half of Hua Xiaotian’s face. Then, he grabbed him by the collar and hurled him toward the riverbank.
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