The Divine Nine-Dragon Cauldron

In the southwestern region.

Eighteen of the Situ family’s youths were flying with great difficulty within the Fairy Confining Forest. They were all in low spirits, and grief and sadness were apparent on all of their faces as they were running through the muddy forest.

Still, they could be considered fortunate in comparison to those families’ disciples who had entered the Hundred Beasts Valley. They had all tagged along with Su Yu, and when they had just reached the valley’s entrance, they had discovered that a Beast Tide had just erupted within it.

Luckily, they had managed to escape in time due to this foreknowledge. Meanwhile, Situ Yan, Su Yu, and the others, who didn’t exit at that time, were assumed to have died in the Beast Tide.

However, they fell into a dangerous situation because they were discovered by the Shao family’s experts. The Shao family’s experts, who were led by Shao Lingjian, started to hunt them down.

If Su Yu was still alive, they might still restrain themselves slightly because they dreaded and feared him, but now that they believed that Su Yu had already died in the Beast Tide, they no longer had any of their previous misgivings.

One of their female relatives didn’t manage to escape in time, so she was killed on the spot by them. Moreover, another man in their family was taken away by a Poison Wind Serpent, which had fled out of the Beast Tide. Thus, the man had become the demonic beast’s food!

There were people behind them that were chasing after them, while the remnants of the Beast Tide were on all sides. What lay before them was just the boundless Fairy Confining Forest. Upon realizing this, their hearts gradually sank.

“You should all leave.” Their leader, a Level Three Fairy Realm from the Situ family, came to a sudden stop. As he turned and addressed them, he had a grave and stern look on his face.

“Big brother Jiu, we only need two hours more in order to successfully escape from the Fairy Confining Forest. Also, if we were to be found by the Red Blood Palace’s people, they wouldn’t dare attack us,” one of his relatives spoke up in alarm. He was already aware of what Situ Jiu planned to do.

Situ Jiu shook his head slowly, then said, “We don’t have enough time. The Shao family’s power is greater than ours, and if we continued to flee like this, none of us will be saved. I will stay here and attract their attention, so you can use this time to flee further away.”

Grief welled up in all of the family members’ hearts upon hearing his words. They were juniors of the Situ family, yet they feared that their fates might still have them being slaughtered here. As they thought of this, they also wondered… If Su Yu didn’t die in the sudden Beast Tide, how could the Shao family dare to cause us such trouble?

“Big brother Jiu, please take care of yourself,” one of the family members said as he saluted him respectfully. The family members then made use of the forest’s darkness to fly away stealthily.

Situ Jiu sucked in a breath of air, tapped the ground with the tip of his foot, and flew into an ancient tree. From that high perch, he surveyed the surroundings with his bright eyes.

He held a sharp black arrow in his fingertips, and he then put it calmly against the string. He wanted to be ready to immediately fire it if he discovered anyone from the Shao family nearby.

“It’s still worth it, even if I manage to kill just a single person from the Shao family before my death,” Situ Jiu muttered.

All of a sudden, a black shadow flickered in the forest below him, causing Situ Jiu’s gaze to become cold. While he pulled back his bowstring, he lowered his head and looked before him. It was at this moment that a cold wind blew in from behind.

“How awful! I fell into their trap!” Shock appeared Shao Lingjian’s face as he yelled out in shock. The outer party had already discovered him, and the person below him was being used as a lure, while the true attacker was above him!

At that moment, Situ Jiu thrust his palm toward him subconsciously, while he heard a cold snort and a loud voice declaring, “You overestimate your power!”

Bang!

A torrential power bombarded him and cracked his arm open, while the outer party’s palm still continued on, striking his shoulder through his armor.

Crack!

Half of his body’s bones started breaking apart from his shoulder downward, and even his flesh and blood were exploding outward, like lava. Situ Jiu lost his balance due to the pain, causing him to fall from the giant tree.

As he fell, he got a good look at his attacker. It was Shao Lingjian, the Shao family’s young master!

He wasn’t willing to accept such an outcome, and anger, resentment, and grief welled up in his heart. However, Situ Jiu was still at a disadvantage as he fell heavily against the ground.

The intense impact almost caused his torn body to crumble. As an intense pain transmitted downward from his head, it caused him to faint on the spot.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Many of the Shao family’s juniors rushed over in the darkness and stood respectfully around the tree.

“Humph! Even death can’t wipe away his crimes! He was already on the brink of death, yet he still sought to plot against us! It’s fortunate that Brother Lingjian detected his dirty schemes beforehand!” A Level Three Fairy Realm young girl kicked the unconscious Situ Jiu.

If Su Yu was here, he would have surely recognized her, as she was the same young girl whose clothes had been burned by his punch.

Swoosh!

Shao Lingjian lowered his hands and clasped them behind his back, while he looked calmly at Situ Jiu. He then glanced in the direction that the Situ family had fled as he said calmly, “You shouldn’t blame us for being this relentless, as you only have yourself to blame for being unreasonable. The death of Situ Yan alone should have been enough to deter you, but you all continued to struggle against us. So, we are now obliged to exterminate all of you as well.”

In their minds, the reason why the outer party should suffer such an extermination was simply due to the fact that they hadn’t surrendered. Moreover, they had used Su Yuxian to embarrass the Shao family!

The young girl, whose clothes were once burnt, gritted her teeth and said, “Big Brother Lingjian, let’s quickly go after them and kill them all. Our Shao family has never suffered such humiliation, and the Situ family must surely pay for this with its blood!”

Shame appeared in all of the Shao family’s juniors’ eyes, while worry also appeared in the some of their eyes as well.

Shao Hu, who was crippled by a punch from Su Yu, spoke up after hesitating for a moment, “Shouldn’t we first check to see whether the bamboo-hatted man is really dead? It will be fine if he’s dead, but if he isn’t, we will surely be in danger after he learns that we are hunting the Situ family’s talented youths!”

Many people agreed with his suggestion. They were all incapable of getting rid of the shadow that Su Yu had left in their hearts, at least not without first seeing his corpse with their own eyes.

Slap!

The young girl went over at him and slapped him all of a sudden. Her pretty face was distorted with rage at this moment as she exclaimed, “You are praising our enemy and disparaging us! Even if he didn’t die in the Beast Tide… So what? He’s just one person, while we have a large number of people. Why do we still need to fear him?”

She then added in a stern tone, “If he’s still alive, I will surely tear him apart with my own hands!”

However, an apathetic voice drifted over from above them at this moment, “Well, why don’t you split me apart right now then?” It seemed like such a sudden apathetic voice had been transmitted toward them from all directions, and they couldn’t discern from where it came exactly.

The faces of all of the Shao family members stiffened when they heard this familiar-sounding voice. They couldn’t be mistaken… That voice most certainly belonged to the bamboo-hatted man!

He still isn’t dead! Shao Lingjian’s eyes flickered, and he looked at the forest behind him as his pupils contracted slightly and he stammered, “You didn’t die?”

A black-clothed person in a bamboo hat walked out from the eerie forest like a ghost. Two pretty young girls were following closely behind him, one on each side. The one on his right side was slim and delicate. She was none other than Situ Yan!

Su Yu looked at him and chuckled calmly. His chuckle give them all an eerie feeling.

He then said, “No I didn’t die! Are you disappointed? Or, may I ask you, Shao family’s young master, why did you think that we died in the Hundred Beasts Valley? I don’t remember running into your family’s people before entering the valley.”

Horror appeared on the faces of many Shao family members when they heard his question. They were all clear as to the reason why the Beast Tide had occurred. It was for this very reason that none of the Shao family members had died in the valley!

Shao Lingjian looked at Su Yu coldly and replied, “I’m not disappointed, as I only need to beat you to death once again ot remedy the situation. As for why we knew that you entered the Hundred Beasts Valley, I have nothing to say about that.”

After Su Yu witnessed all of the people’s expressions, he curled the corners of his mouth up into a smile and said, “Sure enough, the Beast Tide really was caused by you all.”

A chilly air, as well as an intense killing intent, slowly spread through Su Yu’s body, then surged forth from it. All of the Shao family members became solemn instantly, as if they were facing a great enemy.

They looked at Su Yu and were filled with fear. Su Yu’s fighting prowess seemed monstrous to them.

The young girl, who was standing behind Shao Lingjian, shivered as she looked at Su Yu with hatred. She then pointed the sword that was in her hand at him, while gritting her teeth. “You shouldn’t have forgotten who am I… Did you?”

Su Yu cast a casual glance at her and replied, “Oh… That’s right… I remember that you are the one whose clothes were burned.”

His words provoked her to the point that she almost went crazy. “Then… You should also be aware of what I will inflict upon you!”

Su Yu shrugged his shoulders carelessly, while he squinted his eyes and swept an apathetic gaze over her and all of the other Shao family members. “You surely didn’t forget my warning to you all, did you? Don’t cause me any trouble. Otherwise, you will suffer an unimaginable accident in the Fairy Confining Forest.”

He then added calmly, “I assumed that you would heed my previous warning, yet it seems like you are all too confident in yourselves and won’t obey. That leaves me not choice but to convince you with more stern means.”

The young girl was so infuriated by his threat that she laughed madly and asked, “Why don’t you have a close look at your current situation? Did you assume that we will fight you one at a time, like in the duels?”

Su Yu shook his head. “I surely didn’t assume that, but if your greater number is your only advantage, you should reconsider your position.”

“Can you alone… Ah…” The young girl was so angered that she laughed, unable to finish her sentence.

Her body then fell weakly on the ground and her eyes dimmed quickly, while the same expression as before was still plastered on her face. In this strange way, a solemn Level Three Fairy had just in front of everyone! All of the Shao family members felt like they had fallen into an ice hole, as their whole bodies began to shiver.

Shao Lingjian’s pupils contracted, and he finally started to take Su Yu seriously. He then exclaimed, “That was a soul attack! You… You have a soul innate talent!”

Su Yu didn’t respond, but only began unleashing endless soul attacks upon them. Yuan Yingying joined him immediately, using her own soul attacks alongside Su Yu.

They started by first attacking the Level Three Fairies, who all started begging for mercy as they frantically tried to flee…

“Ah!”

“Don’t kill me! I admit my mistake! Ah!”

“I will leave the test! So, please let go! Ah!”

…

In just an instant, the other four Level Three Fairies’ souls were extinguished, and they all died on the spot. Upon seeing this gory scene, the Shao family’s juniors shivered. They were extremely frightened!

“Ah!”

“Ah!”

“Ah!”

Suddenly, numerous alarmed shrieks echoed through the air as the frightened Shao family’s juniors started to flee. They scattered out in every direction, frantically trying to escape.

“Don’t separate!” Shock appeared on Shao Lingjian’s face as he shouted at them hurriedly.

After all, the remnants of the Beast Tide were still lurking in every corner of the forest, and it was only when they stuck together and had such a large number of people gathered that the demonic beasts didn’t dare to attack them.

Just as his words echoed out, a Fairy girl, who had escaped and gone off on her own, was bitten by a hideous earthworm, which had suddenly drilled out of the ground! It then dragged her down by into the deepest part of the ground!

Similar scenes started unfolding quickly, which only caused all of the people to become even more frightened and flee more frantically in an attempt to get further and further away. The crowd was already scattered all around, so it was impossible for them to rally together once more.

Shao Lingjian’s gaze became ice-cold as he looked at Su Yu with an intense killing intent and screamed, “Su Yuxian! You will die at our hands!”

Su Yu simply shrugged his shoulders, then turned and said to the two girls, “Yingying, Yan’er, bring Situ Jiu with you and go after the Situ family members. You should all return to the stone pillar, as the forest still have many powerful demonic beasts scattered all around it.”

Since they had both already managed to kill their targets successfully, this meant that they had officially passed the first round of the exam. So, they didn’t need to continue risking their lives in the forest.

“Brother Su, please be careful. I will wait for you at the stone pillar.” Situ Yan bit her rosy lips, while worry appeared in her eyes.

In the twinkling of an eye, they both left, leaving Su Yu and Shao Lingjian alone.

“I should have taken your life back at the stone pillar.” Shao Lingjian’s gaze was brimming with killing intent, and his legs flickered as he charged toward Su Yu.

Crack! Crack!

Instantly, the cracking sound of his bones echoed from his body, echoing more than fifty-eight times, which was higher by nine times than when they were fighting at the stone pillar. Su Yu had clearly hidden some of his power at that time!

“Die!” Shao Lingjian then thrust his palm at Su Yu.

His palm strike had an imposing momentum, and his body was slightly more powerful than even a Level Five Fairy’s. If he was facing another, more ordinary person, that person would find himself in grave danger while facing such great power. But, it was a pity that he was facing Su Yu.

Seeing that there wasn’t anyone else within the nearby surroundings, Su Yu wore an evil smile as he declared, “I can finally fight you without any restraints!”