Volume One, Chapter 101: I’ll Beat You Until You Turn Stupid.

Under a veil of swirling mist, Jiang Chen had already led the other two to a bustling night market ablaze with light and wine.

Yet the closer they drew to the source of the mist, the more obstacles arose.

By now, the nine-headed bird and the shadow wolf that had been hunting them had both returned to this very place.

And there they were, already blocking the path ahead of the three.

It seemed someone had sensed their plan and put defenses in place.

Jiang Chen stopped beside a barbecue stall. The owner was nowhere to be seen by now, likely off dancing somewhere.

He snatched up two skewers of grilled kidneys and shoved them into his mouth, then felt it was a little improper, so he laid two hundred yuan on the stall.

“What time is it, and you still have the heart to eat?” Li Changsheng complained.

Jiang Chen smiled and handed him a skewer. Li Changsheng took it without a word.

Lin Mo: “...”

“This is going to be hard. We don’t have any backup, and it’s just the three of us. If we don’t recharge a little, we definitely won’t make it. I’ll give you two some oysters in a bit. Lin Mo needs it the most—using your brain makes you prone to anemia, so eat something to build your blood back up,” Jiang Chen said to himself.

“Don’t put chili on it...” Lin Mo dragged over a small stool and sat down beside them, even opened a bottle of beer, but Li Changsheng snatched it away.

“Good kids don’t drink,” Li Changsheng said, and personally finished half the bottle in a gulp.

While grilling, Jiang Chen calculated aloud, “Taking those two things on with just our strength will be a bit of a struggle, but... I have an idea.”

He laid out the plan in full, and both of them wore expressions of disbelief.

“This... will it work?” Li Changsheng asked, biting into a kidney.

“Guaranteed,” Jiang Chen said, narrowing his eyes.

Li Changsheng nodded, then took Lin Mo and flew off on his sword toward the center of Qingcheng.

Jiang Chen, meanwhile, stayed behind and kept drinking.

The nine-headed bird in the sky and the shadow wolf crouched on the ground both rose the moment they saw Li Changsheng.

And atop the high-rise behind the two forged beasts, Wang Chang looked down at Jiang Chen, who was eating skewers.

Jiang Chen lifted his head and glanced back.

From afar, they gazed at each other, and neither seemed very interested in the other.

The nine-headed bird and the shadow wolf both went after the direction Li Changsheng had left in, but on the path of their pursuit, Jiang Chen was waiting for them.

The shadow wolf’s nimble body on the ground spotted Jiang Chen first, the nine-headed bird second.

“Awooo—”

With a wolf howl, the shadow wolf’s eyes turned pitch-black. Though its true appearance could not be seen, Jiang Chen, by sensing the killing intent, could still feel that vast and savage aura.

The nine-headed bird swept overhead first, and the shadow wolf followed close behind.

Jiang Chen finished the last skewer and flicked the stick away.

That skewer, wrapped in spiritual energy, actually slowed the shadow wolf’s speed.

But only by a little. A tiny skewer was nowhere near enough to injure the shadow wolf—but for Jiang Chen, that was enough!

He stomped with both feet, landing on the wolf’s head.

The shadow wolf’s skull was forced straight down into the concrete road, and that was not the end of it. Jiang Chen stomped again, driving its head even deeper.

The nine-headed bird, already flying off into the distance, ignored the shadow wolf—but Jiang Chen grabbed the wolf by the neck.

With a thunderous bang, the shadow wolf shot out like a cannonball and smashed away.

The nine-headed bird, having flown a full hundred meters, was just that pressed down to the ground.

Jiang Chen rubbed his hands together and said, “I’m just playing with you, and you take it seriously.”

The nine-headed bird flapped its wings and rose again, and the battered shadow wolf also stood back up.

At this moment, their target had changed from the fleeing pair to Jiang Chen.

“I’ll warm up a little and kill these two first. As for the one watching the show, it’ll be your turn soon,” Jiang Chen said, his back turned to Wang Chang. His voice was not loud, but it was perfectly clear. Hearing him, Wang Chang only smiled.

To speak such words within the Misty Dream Marsh was, in truth, no different from being a clown.

In the Misty Dream Marsh, so long as his imagination was rich enough, there was nothing he could not do.

So he did not believe Jiang Chen could win. Destroying the Ye family showed some strength, certainly, but within the world created by a sealed artifact, the best choice was simply to submit meekly to death.

On the ground, lightning crackled in Jiang Chen’s hands.

To put it plainly, neither the shadow wolf nor the nine-headed bird was anything righteous; in fact, both leaned toward the dark and sinister.

The best way to deal with such things was thunder arts, for thunder was the strongest and most yang force, the surest bane of all things yin and evil.

Several bolts of pure yang thunder struck the nine-headed bird and the shadow wolf in full.

The two creatures were now in grave danger. Jiang Chen’s thunder arts caused the limbs on their bodies to gradually lose function. Much of that was because the power of the yang thunder was overwhelming, and the electricity coursing through them was shockingly intense.

Black vapor seeped from the shadow wolf’s lower legs; clearly, after being ravaged by thunder arts, its body had also begun to grow unstable.

In truth, from the very beginning, its body had only been conjured, not real. And if it was not real, then it could not rely on any bodily self-healing to recover.

Jiang Chen was confident he could kill the two beasts before Li Changsheng and the others returned.

But the thought had barely formed when it shattered at once.

The wounded parts of the nine-headed bird and the shadow wolf actually began to heal slowly. The surrounding mist surged continuously into their injuries, and very soon the bodies of the two beasts had truly healed completely.

Not only that, but their strength might even have surpassed what it had been before they were injured.

Even Jiang Chen was somewhat taken aback.

A beast on the brink of death had, in an instant, fully recovered—and become even stronger than before. This left him with no choice but to retreat.

Though he had anticipated part of it, he had not expected this.

“So it’s Jiang Chen, is it? Didn’t think I had a trick like this up my sleeve, did you?”

Wang Chang’s voice rang out as though amplified, loud and clear.

“Not bad. I’m quite interested in that. Let me guess—if it’s not a formation, then it must be some divine weapon or sealed artifact,” Jiang Chen said, looking up at the cloud-wreathed tower.

Wang Chang said, “As expected, nothing can be hidden from someone like you. A well-traveled man is indeed very different from a small-time citizen like me.”

“Too kind, too kind. The way you say that makes it sound as if we’re friends, and after making small talk like this, I’d feel awkward taking your head off,” Jiang Chen said modestly.

Wang Chang said, “That’s true. Perhaps if you were willing to side with me, we might genuinely become good friends.”

Jiang Chen stretched lazily. “You’ve said so much. Looks like you’re stalling for time too.”

Wang Chang replied, “Of course. Once dawn comes, everyone in Qingcheng will turn into madmen. Just thinking about it is thrilling.”

“Is that so? But before that happens, I’ll beat you into an idiot and make sure you never see that day.”