Volume 1, Chapter 140: Yamata no Orochi.

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“Since everyone understands the situation now, there’s no time to waste. I’ll go first.”

Jiang Chen rose from his seat at the lodging.

The others exchanged glances, almost wondering whether they had heard him correctly.

“Wait. You’re going alone?” Li Changsheng asked in alarm.

Jiang Chen nodded. “That’s right. What’s the matter?”

“No! How can you go alone when it’s so dangerous? I refuse,” Ye Zhi declared, rising abruptly and slamming her hand on the table.

Jiang Chen’s tone changed. “You refuse, but what can you do about it? You’ve already done everything you could. Now it’s my turn to put an end to these islanders.”

Li Changsheng argued, “We may be injured, but that doesn’t mean we can let you go alone. No. Absolutely not.”

Jiang Chen swept his gaze around the room. The others all wore the same expression.

He smiled. “You’ve already paid the price you needed to pay for Great Xia. Leave the rest to me. All you have to do is sit back and watch.”

Watch?

“Can you really do this alone?” Liuli hesitated for a while before finally asking.

“A man must never say he can’t.”

Jiang Chen continued, “I spotted a tall tower nearby just now. It looks like a drying tower. You should go there.”

“What are we supposed to do there?” Li Changsheng asked.

“Stop asking questions. Just go.”

Jiang Chen led them to the top of the drying tower. The fog in the sky had grown increasingly dense, yet from the tower they could see everything clearly.

They could make out nearly every movement in the mountains. They simply could not understand why Jiang Chen had brought them there.

“It’s freezing! Have you gone mad?” Li Changsheng wrapped himself in a blanket, yet he could still feel the howling wind.

Jiang Chen snapped his fingers. “I’ve already thought of everything. How can you watch a show without snacks?”

He pasted a fire talisman onto the drying tower, and warmth immediately spread throughout the area.

“Are you serious? I’m beginning to wonder whether you really have gone mad,” Li Changsheng said, pressing a hand to his forehead.

“I’m not mad. I’m perfectly fine.”

Jiang Chen said nothing more. He opened his pack and poured out a pile of food, including plenty of nuts.

“All right. The audience seats are ready. Now I’m going onstage.”

Jiang Chen looked into the distance. “Remember this. No matter what you see later, do not come over. Stay here and watch me.”

Jiang Chen shot into the air.

At once, violent winds began to howl. The others could even see waves of spiritual energy radiating around him.

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At the same time, on the outer perimeter’s first defensive position, a group of men in black combat uniforms remained on guard.

They had received word that someone would be coming, but the first position had remained completely quiet. Because information had not been shared in time, they had no idea what was happening. They only knew that a fierce battle had broken out somewhere on the outer perimeter, though they did not know who had won.

“Hey, what do you think happened? We haven’t received a single message from the first position. Maybe no one’s coming after all?” one of them whispered.

“Probably not. Look at our current situation. There are so many powerful experts watching from outside. A few of us at the Vajra Realm wouldn’t stand a chance. So I doubt anyone’s coming,” said the man beside him as he dug a pit.

“Then why are we worrying about it? Let’s lie down for a while. No one’s coming anyway. Our empire’s warriors have sealed off every direction.”

Another soldier sat down nearby. After thinking it over, he decided the analysis made sense.

Everyone sent here was an elite of the empire—an elite among elites.

They had no reason to fear their defenses being breached. If even these young men could not hold the line, what chance would the first position have had?

At this point, they might as well eat first.

“Come on, everyone. Divide up the rations.”

Before long, the dry rations had been distributed.

But when the last man reached out his hand, the soldier handing them out froze.

“That’s strange. I brought enough for everyone. How can there be none left?”

The man raised his head. In the next moment, he shouted, “Enemy attack!”

Jiang Chen could not make out exactly what he was yelling, but it was clearly an alarm.

Crack!

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A sharp sound rang out, and the man collapsed.

Before the others could react, a thunderous explosion followed. All fifteen men at the first defensive position were killed.

The first defensive position had fallen!

At the same time, an enormous fistprint appeared on the ground, completely swallowing the entire position.

Atop the drying tower, the four people watched as the gigantic fistprint suddenly appeared in the sky and vanished again at astonishing speed. All of them fell into a stunned silence.

“Was that Jiang Chen just now?” Shen Huaizhu asked, her voice filled with disbelief.

She had never seen anything like it. Even her master had never witnessed a fistprint with such terrifying power.

Could a human being really strike something like that?

Ye Zhi, however, was not surprised in the slightest. She lifted her chin proudly. “What’s so strange about that? If he had more time, Brother Jiang Chen could plow through the entire mountain range of Lingqin.”

If she had said that before, none of them would have believed her. Now, they had no choice but to accept it.

Such overwhelming strength had been beyond their imagination.

Ye Zhi continued, “You don’t need to be so surprised. Brother Jiang Chen has even more powerful abilities. You simply don’t know about them.”

Even more powerful?

They could barely accept what they had just witnessed. Now Ye Zhi was saying that Jiang Chen had something even more formidable?

Was she joking?

This was already a method worthy of an earthly immortal. Anything stronger than this would surely mean ascending to immortality.

They simply could not make sense of it. They were all around the same age, so why was Jiang Chen’s strength so absurdly powerful? It was completely unfair.

Shen Huaizhu was even more incredulous. When Jiang Chen had fought her one-on-one, he had practically held back everything. She could not imagine what would have happened if he had used seventy or eighty percent of his strength. Would one punch have sent her straight to reincarnation?

Moreover, he was not even twenty years old. Yet his true strength was already comparable to that of her master. At his age, reaching the Formless Realm would already have been astonishing. Instead, he had directly surpassed them by an entire level. None of them could accept it.

A monster. An unparalleled monster.

Aside from that, she could think of no other explanation.

But if Jiang Chen was so powerful, why had he remained in the mortal world?

There had once been a meeting attended by all the earthly immortals of Great Xia. It had been limited to the earthly immortals of Great Xia, and was presided over by Xu Ping’an, director of Institute 509. In the current age, he was the only one qualified to convene such a meeting.

Naturally, some earthly immortals had refused to attend. After learning of this, Xu Ping’an personally went out for several days.

Only after he had thoroughly disciplined them did they finally settle down.

Shen Huaizhu knew only the general outline of what had been discussed. Apparently, all the earthly immortals were supposed to go to a certain place. Apart from a few who remained in Great Xia, the rest had all departed for the northwest.

At first, the matter had been kept highly secret. Other nations had been too afraid to act against Great Xia because it possessed so many experts at the earthly immortal level.

But once all of Great Xia’s earthly immortals had gone northwest, some people noticed that something was wrong. They began with tentative provocations. When no retaliation came, they grew bolder and continued their actions without restraint.

Eventually, they set their sights on Great Xia’s dragon vein.

Just as Shen Huaizhu lost herself in thought, thick smoke began to rise from the mountains. It looked like an explosion.

“The second defensive position has been breached!”

“I repeat, the second defensive position has been breached! The third and fourth positions are to remain on full alert—”

Beep...

The communications link was cut off.

At that moment, the ninjas stationed at the third and fourth positions stood there in confusion.

Several major positions had fallen in the space of only a few seconds. It was impossible.

Besides, their forces at the front were still holding the line. How could another defensive position have been breached?

It made no sense.

The commander of the third position said, “Quickly! Send a message to headquarters and ask what’s happening. Why are the positions falling one after another?”

The next position to fall might be theirs, but he had to understand what was happening. Otherwise, they would be like headless flies, rushing about in confusion.

“Because I’m here.”

An unfamiliar voice reached their ears.

Everyone instantly felt a chill run through them.

“What was that?”

“Wait! He isn’t one of us!”

But it was already too late—or perhaps it had always been too late.

Boom!

Another blazing explosion tore through the area.

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The third defensive position!

Destroyed!

Jiang Chen looked at the third position, crushed into a tangled mass, and shook his head slightly.

“I thought you might have some new tricks. It turns out you’re nothing special.”

With that, he spread his hands and headed toward the fourth position.

On top of the drying tower, another plume of smoke rose into the sky. The four spectators had already become numb to it all.

“Three of a kind. Anyone want them? If not, I’m leaving,” Li Changsheng said.

Liuli stared at him. “You’re leaving after playing three of a kind? You really don’t take us seriously.”

“Do you want them?” Li Changsheng asked.

Liuli looked at the three fours in her hand and shook her head.

After witnessing the complete destruction of the first three positions, the fourth position already understood its fate.

“Retreat! Hurry up and retreat! There’s no point putting up a meaningless resistance. The barriers at the front have already been breached. Staying here would be nothing more than waiting to die.”

The commander of the fourth position stood on a hillock and looked at the people keeping watch around him.

“Listen to me. Fall back. Only by reaching the rear can we establish a defensive line and have any chance of fighting them.”

As the commander of the fourth position, he obviously had powerful backing, which was why he had been assigned to such an important post. But he also knew how formidable the first three positions had been, as well as the barrier at the very front.

If even the front line had been destroyed, then an earthly immortal must have intervened. Earthly immortals were not opponents that ordinary people like them could resist.

For now, retreating and coming up with another plan was their only option.

However, time did not seem willing to give him much room for thought.

He hesitated for only a minute before the ground suddenly began to tremble. A massive fissure split open beneath them. The earth resembled a gigantic crocodile opening its enormous jaws, and people began falling into the abyss one after another.

The commander clung desperately to the edge. Then, all at once, a man appeared before him.

“They’re all dead. Don’t you think it would be rather rude not to go keep them company?”

Jiang Chen stepped on his hand.

The islander looked at the man before him and was consumed by terror.

He had announced the retreat only moments ago. How had this man appeared so quickly?

“Don’t!”

“Ah...”

Jiang Chen acted as though he had not heard him. He kicked him straight into the chasm.

With that, the entire army had been wiped out.

“Only one remains. I wonder whether they have anything good waiting for me.”

Jiang Chen felt slightly disappointed. If no one strong enough was waiting for him ahead, he would inevitably feel a little regretful.

Even if this incident had been resolved, it would not be the end of the matter. Great Xia had no time to deal with the underhanded actions of these islanders for now. Once it was free to act, this matter would not be allowed to pass without consequence.

As his footsteps drew closer, Jiang Chen sensed an extremely powerful force gathering ahead, as though it were waiting for him to approach.

“Greetings, friend from Great Xia. Welcome.”

Yamamoto Isoroku narrowed his eyes with a smile as he looked at the man who had broken through four defensive positions alone.

He was terrified inside, but he could not retreat. Thus, he forced himself to remain calm and prepared to use his final method as soon as Jiang Chen came close.

But unexpectedly, Jiang Chen stopped where he was.

“Let me think. Before you came here, you must have consulted your so-called god, right? Did he warn you not to come?”

Jiang Chen’s voice was calm and utterly devoid of emotion.

Yamamoto Isoroku forcibly suppressed the fear in his heart. “I admit that you are the strongest opponent I have encountered in this battle. But that does not mean you can walk away from here. In five minutes, the dragon vein you have conquered will be completely blown apart. Great Xia will lose a tremendous amount of national fortune, and I will be the victor of this battle.”

“The empire will remember my sacrifice forever. My name will be recorded in the empire’s annals, and future generations will remember me for all time.”

Jiang Chen chuckled twice. “You certainly have lofty ambitions. Unfortunately, your dream seems to be coming to an end.”

Five minutes would be more than enough.

Yamamoto Isoroku said, “I went to the household of the Eight-Headed Serpent and obtained part of its remnant soul. It is one of the great gods of our island nation. Even a fragment of its soul possesses the power of an earthly immortal. In your Great Xia’s words, I advise you to recognize the situation and submit while you still can.”

With a thunderous boom, dense black smoke surged from behind Yamamoto Isoroku.

A figure that occupied the entire mountaintop abruptly emerged from the ground. A terrifying wave of elemental energy exploded outward.

The legendary Eight-Headed Serpent had descended.

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