A dreaded silence enveloped the entire rocky plain.
Xue Hui stood like a beast waiting for his prey to move.
Xiao Lang brought his entire gang with him, knowing that Xue Hui and his group might have sufficient strength to resist him.
But right now, all those people with him looked at each other, unsure if they should attack or run.
Xiao Lang saw this and immediately roared at the top of his lungs so everyone could get a hold of themselves.
"What are you all standing for? There's only one person. Those with him are in the middle of cultivating; go disrupt their concentration and they will suffer a backlash. When that happens, it will be easy for them to subdue!" Xiao Lang was a seasoned fighter. He had been in countless life-and-death battles; naturally, he had high combat insight.
Hearing their leader's words, all hesitation in their hearts disappeared, replaced by viciousness. Weapons in hand, they kicked off the ground, causing a thick cloud of dust to explode everywhere. They all shot straight toward Xue Hui and his friends, aiming to harm the girls while they were vulnerable.
"You think too simply." With a humph, Xue Hui brandished the white halberd in his hand before flickering out of existence, shocking all his opponents.
The next moment, two of Xiao Lang's men vanished on the spot, then a distant yell attracted everyone's attention. Looking up, they saw those two men plummeting through the air at breakneck speed, hitting the ground with a heavy thud that disturbed the dust around them.
Dead! They were dead in an instant. The sight of their fallen comrades terrified everyone.
Kchk! Kchk!
Before the rest of them could cry out in horror, another five of Xiao Lang's men were enveloped in frozen despair. With a sharp cracking sound, the frozen statues exploded into fine snow.
"W-what!? Run! Run!" Before that man could retreat, Xiao Lang's great axe came down on him, silencing him.
"Don't you dare! If you don't disrupt those girls like I ordered, I will personally hunt down every single one of you and turn you into demon beast bait!" Xiao Lang's threat was like a blade hanging above their necks. As much as they wanted to retreat, they knew they would not be able to hide from him.
The heavenly plateau was too small; it would be far too easy for anyone to hunt them down.
With gritted teeth, all of the remaining men threw caution to the wind and lunged wildly at the girls.
"Ahhhh~ack!"
"No!"
"Wai~ack!"
One by one, some of them dropped to the ground after receiving Xue Hui's attacks.
Xue Hui's ruthlessness in dealing with his enemies, without any shred of hesitation, all stemmed from the experience imparted to him by some of the authors inside the [CREATION ORIGIN ANCESTRAL MANUAL].
Many of them suffered horrible defeat, great loss, and even death after deciding to show kindness to their enemies, something they all regretted even in death.
"Woosh!"
"Boom!"
Seeing that his men were falling one by one, Xiao Lang shot to his feet like a bow released from a string and swung his gigantic axe toward Xue Hui with all his force.
To his surprise, Xue Hui blocked his attack with his halberd. The collision of their weapons created a violent gust of wind that sent everyone flying.
Sensing danger, Xue Hui's origin sphere quickly created a protective dome around the girls, shielding them from the incoming blast.
"What!? How?"
Shocked that his attack was easily blocked, Xiao Lang's expression twisted with disbelief.
That attack just now contained all his strength as a five-star Gold Rank fighter.
Its might was something even the four elders working together would not be able to block, and yet the boy before him did it without breaking a sweat.
"That's it? You want to harm my friends with that kind of strength?" Xiao Lang was now terrified. Xue Hui's stare reminded him of terrifyingly strong demon beasts, ones he did not dare provoke.
Before Xiao Lang could form a word, Xue Hui kicked him in the stomach, knocking all the air from his lungs. Still hanging in the air, Xue Hui shifted his stance, rotated his halberd, and sent the butt end straight into Xiao Lang's chest, breaking his ribs.
Xiao Lang let out a miserable cry as he soared through the air in a long arc. His great axe fell to the ground first, followed by Xiao Lang himself.
He kept his life, but barely. That attack from Xue Hui ruptured his innards and left him unable to move.
The remaining men who saw this had their eyes bulge in shock. Xiao Lang was defeated in one move.
Extremely terrified, they did not hesitate to run, scattering in different directions away from Xue Hui, now that Xiao Lang was down.
But to their horror, they found themselves stuck on the ground, ice covering their feet and preventing them from escaping.
Seeing their situation, the monkey-faced man who had provoked Xue Hui and his friends burst into tears. He was now regretting goading Xiao Lang into causing trouble with Xue Hui.
It was clear they had severely underestimated Xue Hui's strength.
With a panicked expression, the monkey-faced man looked toward Xiao Lang's sprawled body, hoping a miracle had occurred.
He was not expecting Xiao Lang to defeat Xue Hui, only hoping he could distract him long enough to escape.
But to his horror, Xiao Lang's body was covered in ice just like theirs. Xue Hui stood in the center of them like a grim reaper waiting to collect their souls.
"S-Senior, we were victims! That villain Xiao Lang forced us to join him. If we didn't, he would have killed us! Senior is a hero who defeated that villain Xiao Lang, please forgive us. We will change our ways if senior lets us leave."
The monkey-faced man broke into a desperate plea, his attitude completely different from before.
Unfortunately for him, Xue Hui was not having any of it. Even before the fight broke out, Xue Hui had heard what they were planning to do to his friends. Not one of them sounded like they were forced; on the contrary, everyone was excited about what benefits they would gain if their ambush succeeded.
With a humph, he completely encased them in ice, cutting off their desperate cries. With a flick of his sleeve, all the frozen statues exploded, leaving only fine snow on the rocky plain.
With the enemies all down, Xue Hui returned Julin to the Garden to let her continue eating her treats.
"In your next life, try not to make an enemy of me." After cleaning the mess, Xue Hui turned his attention back to the girls and was glad to see that everyone was making great progress.
Time passed. After the girls successfully advanced in their cultivation, they asked Xue Hui to bring them all to the Garden to bathe and remove the grime and bad smell accumulated during training.
While they were at it, Xue Hui surmised this was also the perfect opportunity to give them their demon spirit crystals, which had been soaking in pure dragon-lineage fermentation blood for days.
"Xue Hui, is that a demon spirit crystal?" Ye Ziyun, who was the first to leave the bath, asked as she looked at the crystals in his hand, her eyes gleaming with wonder.
Demon spirit crystals usually have a translucent, colorless appearance. But what Xue Hui held were crystals with a deep golden tint, a key indicator that they contained dragon bloodline.
"Yup, all of these are demon spirit crystals with god-level growth rate and dragon bloodline. They are the strongest kind of demon spirits in the entire world." Ye Ziyun let out an amused gasp, her delicate fingers touching the golden orbs in Xue Hui's hand.
Joining their adventure, Ye Ziyun had made many discoveries about Xue Hui's abilities, and each one surprised her to her core. Especially the Garden, she took quite a long time to accept the idea that Xue Hui had an entire world in his soul.
But her shock turned into admiration when she realized that Xue Hui had painstakingly worked to create all his abilities in order to protect everyone in Glory City when the time came.
And now there was this demon spirit crystal, said to be the strongest kind.
Xue Hui never ceased to amaze her, and Ye Ziyun did not know if she would ever grow used to it, just like his other friends seemingly had.
"This is yours." Xue Hui passed one of the demon spirit crystals into Ye Ziyun's hand, surprising her. Her beautiful eyes widened in astonishment; she did not expect him to give her one of his crystals.
"I-I can't accept such a precious demon crystal, " before she could say more, Xue Hui placed it into her palm.
The sudden contact made Ye Ziyun pause, her cheeks turning crimson.
"Accept it. I made this one especially for you. If you don't like it, give it to someone you know."
"Y-you made it especially for me?" Ye Ziyun's heart fluttered as she saw him nod.
What she did not know was that Xue Hui had included her in the list he gave Nie Li not long ago. But as expected, Nie Li only passed demon spirit crystals belonging to Chen Linlin, Xiao Ning'er, and the trio of girls, and none for Ye Ziyun.
Of course, Xue Hui knew why. Nie Li had been pining for Ye Ziyun since the start of the school year. So it was no surprise he wanted to give her the demon spirit crystal himself.
Fortunately, Xue Hui had successfully created a copy of the Nightmare Demon Pot using the Dao Book of Forges and Manifestation, allowing him to refine demon spirit crystals with god-level growth rate for Ye Ziyun.
After all, the pure dragon-lineage fermentation blood would only work on unused demon spirit crystals; those already integrated into a soul realm would not mutate.
And as Xue Hui expected, the demon spirit Nie Li gave Ye Ziyun, the Snow Queen, had already been integrated into her soul realm, making it unsuitable for mutation.
"T-thank you, Xue Hui. This is so kind of you. I will treasure this gift." Ye Ziyun said bashfully, receiving the demon spirit crystal.
"Well, I would prefer if you use it instead. That's a powerful demon spirit, Ziyun. Once you integrate it, it won't be long before you become as strong as your grandfather." Ye Ziyun gasped in shock at his words.
Looking at the demon spirit crystal in her hand, she bit her lip and mentally apologized to Nie Li.
She was in the outside world; she needed all the strength she could get not to be a burden to anyone. Making up her mind, she withdrew the Snow Queen from her soul realm and replaced it with the one Xue Hui gave her.
In an instant, Ye Ziyun felt the new demon spirit occupying her soul realm. She let out a shaky breath as she sensed the boundless potential of her new demon spirit.
"Cold Profound Nine-Tailed Fox Jiao Dragon," Ye Ziyun muttered under her breath.
End of Chapter 77
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