Chapter 64: He Has What You Don't

He, too, possessed prodigious strength, forcibly shattering the large bed, which then broke into pieces in mid-air.

But just as the bed cleared, another figure rapidly growing larger in his vision had already closed in.

Nian Songyu only had time to raise his shield to block, but he was sent flying ten meters away with a bang.

He scrambled to his feet and only then clearly saw that his attacker was a black demonic ape, standing seven feet tall, its entire body covered in exaggerated, bulging muscles that looked ready to burst.

Its small eyes glowed red, and it had no fur. Its body seemed covered in a black rocky shell, with dark red liquid flowing through cracks of varying width, like magma.

Still unsatiated, the demonic ape rushed towards Nian Songyu using all four limbs. As it got close, it swung both arms and slammed them down fiercely.

Nian Songyu crouched, placing the large shield upright in front of him.

The demonic ape's fists followed immediately, smashing directly onto the large shield.

With a clang, the shield fell, but there was no one behind it.

Having suffered a setback once, Nian Songyu wouldn't fall for it again. He had already sidestepped behind it and, with a backhand swing, severed its head!

This swift and precise move was a killing technique he had honed on the battlefield, executed without wasting any extra effort. Nian Songyu himself was very satisfied.

No matter what kind of monster, artificial or natural, their vital spot is usually the head.

The headless demonic ape staggered two steps but didn't fall. Instead, it bent down, picked up its head, and reattached it to its neck.

Magma flowed up and down its neck area. In just two or three breaths, its head was reattached, and red light glowed in its eye sockets once more.

Is this thing unkillable?

Then Nian Songyu heard Sun Fuping call out to him, "Be careful, retreat!"

One demonic ape after another pushed through the rubble and charged over.

Nian Songyu severed the heads of two more; this time, a faint blue light appeared on his blade, clearly indicating he had activated his Imperial Decree Token. As a military general commanding troops, his fortuity was enough to directly suppress evil spirits and demons and could also nullify many supernatural abilities.

After these demonic apes were beheaded or cut in half, their recovery time became noticeably longer, and their movements became slower. But they would still eventually retrieve their heads and return to fight him for another three hundred rounds.

His ever-effective Imperial Decree Token was actually being suppressed. Only then did Nian Songyu realize something was wrong. "Grand Master, fighting like this isn't going to work!"

He, too, was injured; a wound on his left arm was deep enough to expose bone, and the exposed flesh was already charred black. The demonic ape's claws were exceptionally sharp and as hot as a branding iron.

When he was being pummeled by the first demonic ape, Sun Fuping had already scattered a few beans on the ground. By the time other demonic apes caused trouble, these beans had grown into ten-foot-tall golden-armored soldiers. These hulking figures were as strong as the demonic apes, and they protected him in the center, buying Sun Fuping a lot of time.

But as Nian Songyu said, the demonic apes could resurrect endlessly, wearing down invaders to death, and draining resources like this wasn't a solution.

What's more, the boss was still leisurely watching the show from atop the city gate.

Sun Fuping condensed a drop of water in his hand. After chanting a long incantation, the water drop grew from small to large, finally stabilizing into the size of a duck egg.

He smashed the water ball onto a demonic ape's foot, then calmly said, "The rules of this world are different from reality. Your fortuity and my supernatural abilities are both suppressed here!"

In the real world, the water ball he conjured would be at least twice the size of an ostrich egg, but here it had directly shrunk.

Yet, when he chanted the incantation, it consumed twice the amount of true energy, and the prerequisite was that this space received waters from the Upper Realm; otherwise, it couldn't be conjured out of thin air at all.

Fortunately, when the water ball hit the ground, it exploded, and more than ten dark red water snakes burst out, each finding a demonic ape and rushing towards it.

They were truly water snakes, composed purely of liquid. The demonic apes roared and tried to pull them off, but couldn't break them. Instead, the snakes climbed onto their heads and burrowed into their seven orifices.

Nian Songyu then heard continuous sizzling sounds from their bodies. As a large amount of white steam emerged, the magma flowing on their rocky bodies also dimmed and then solidified.

After a short while, they could no longer maintain their forms and crumbled into a pile of charred remains.

Only then did Nian Songyu have time to take out a jade-green pill, chew it into a paste, and apply it to his wound.

A large amount of light green foam immediately emerged from the wound, and Nian Songyu let out a long breath. This medicine could extract fire poison; otherwise, the poison flowing with the bloodstream into his heart would cause great trouble.

Naturally, this medicine also stopped the bleeding. He moved his left arm and found his tendons unharmed. As long as the medicine took effect, he would recover in about ten hours.

The premise was that they could get out of here alive.

With the Grand Master by his side, he felt relatively at ease. Inadvertently, he thought of those two scoundrels who had deserted in battle.

That little bastard named He is probably hiding in some corner, watching the show, isn't he?

When they returned to the real world, he would crush every bone in He's body, bit by bit, then slice off his fingers one by one, and force him to cook and eat them himself!

Thinking this way, the pain in his wound lessened considerably.

While the demonic apes were down, Sun Fuping, for his part, turned to the black flood dragon atop the city gate and said, "My King is determined to obtain the Great Square Pot! You've been buried in the great desert for many years, long since becoming an ownerless divine artifact. Why not come out with me, devour flesh and blood, and return to your peak?"

After all, divine artifacts are also magical artifacts, requiring regular and meticulous maintenance. After Panlong City fell, Zhong Shengguang hid the Great Square Pot in the great desert. For so many years without maintenance, the pot's divinity would certainly wear away little by little. However, a mere hundred years was too short for a divine artifact. If it were abandoned for thousands of years, it would eventually degenerate into scrap metal.

Divine artifacts have spirits, and instinctively would want to escape this predicament.

"Well said." The black flood dragon smiled, its rough laughter echoing in everyone's spiritual sea. "What do you plan to do after you get out?"

"I will lead you to pacify bandits, quell border troubles, and re-establish the heavenly might for my Great Kite!" Sun Fuping declared loudly. "Both you and the Three Corpse Worms will have a place to display your abilities."

The black flood dragon tilted its head and looked at him. After a long moment, it said sinisterly, "I don't believe you."

Sun Fuping frowned. "Why?"

"You are not worthy," the black flood dragon said with disdain. "You call yourself a Grand Master, constantly proclaiming you will save the nation. Why do I not sense even a trace of fortuity entwined with you?"

Sun Fuping had no reaction yet, but He Lingchuan, not far away, changed his expression first.

What does that mean?

Sun Fuping was one of the three Grand Masters, responsible for allocating fortuity for Great Kite. Apart from the Son of Heaven, no other official had more than them. Yet the black flood dragon said he had no fortuity?

The black flood dragon looked at Nian Songyu, then at Sun Fuping. "Fortuity cannot be hidden from me. He has it; you don't."

Nian Songyu's reaction was calm, entirely unlike He Lingchuan's surprise. Sun Fuping sighed. "My words are true, but my stance has changed. You are merely an artifact spirit, while I can borrow the means of the gods. You'll surrender in the end anyway. Wouldn't it be better if I saved you the trouble of suffering beforehand?"