Volume One, Chapter Ninety-Eight: The Shadow Wolf.

Lin Mo knew full well that no matter how capable he might be, he was not meant for the front line, so he quickly found a safe place and crouched there.

Keeping a secure distance, Jiang Chen murmured, "I wonder when they'll finally lose patience."

He stepped back, traced a few talismanic runes across his palm, and faint arcs of crackling thunder flickered over them.

Li Changsheng's battle had already reached its fiercest point; every move and response came purely from instinct.

There was no trace of any sword style or set sequence, and the ferocity of the fight was enough to make Jiang Chen marvel.

At first, Li Changsheng had tried to hold back in order to preserve his strength, but he soon realized that what he was fighting had no humanity to speak of, so he stopped bothering. Fighting at full force, he was already suppressing the "Qilin."

"You wretched beast, you're stubborn enough," Li Changsheng said through his anger, though the smile on his face grew ever more savage.

He was very much looking forward to seeing that Qilin struggle a little longer, but it was obvious now that it was already on its last legs.

With a ringing sword cry, dozens of strands of sword qi fell from within the mist, shredding both the fog and the Qilin's hide into tatters.

It had been called a divine beast, but there was no divinity left to see—only madness.

The creature cried out.

Jiang Chen knew then that whatever had been hiding in the mist could no longer restrain itself.

The instant that thing made its move, Jiang Chen was already in position. He clenched his right hand, and with that single motion the surrounding fog flowed into his palm like ordinary water, gathering into whorls and eddies.

His left hand was already prepared, a red thunder sigil stamped in his palm.

"Thunder from heaven breaks the heavens, thunder from earth shatters the earth! Strike!"

A sharp crack split the air.

In the blink of an eye, after the mist vanished, a bolt of thunder as thick as an arm came crashing down on the monster that had been preparing to ambush them.

Man and beast finally met face to face, and Jiang Chen instantly held his breath.

The beast had nine heads and was as large as a truck. Its feathers were a uniform crimson, and its tail split into nine streams, each bearing some mark that looked eerily like an eye.

Blazing flames coiled around it like a sphere of fire.

Li Changsheng had already reached the deciding stage. Looking back, he said, "So the Nine-Headed Bird has come out too. This one is really interesting."

Ancient texts said that the nine-headed bird had a red body and resembled a duck. Wherever it passed, not a blade of grass remained; droughts followed for miles, and day and night were thrown into chaos.

It was the equal of the legendary drought demon among the corpses, leaving the land barren for thousands of miles.

"You take your time. I'll cover you now!" Li Changsheng said lightly, because compared with the Qilin, this downgraded version of the nine-headed bird was obviously much harder to handle.

Jiang Chen had also realized this. His palm thunder was an orthodox thunder art, yet when it struck the bird it seemed to do nothing at all. Its skin only reddened slightly before the injury vanished completely.

The nine-headed bird screeched, the flames around it growing even fiercer. From a distance, it looked like a colossal fireball, or rather... the sun itself.

The scorching heat was so intense that even Lin Mo, standing far away, had fine beads of sweat on his forehead.

Li Changsheng also realized that the nine-headed bird Jiang Chen was facing seemed absurdly powerful.

"Lin Mo, run in the direction you think is right. I'll find you. Whether we succeed or fail depends on you," Jiang Chen shouted.

Lin Mo understood what Jiang Chen meant and was about to stand, but then he remembered there ought to be another creature nearby. He could only wait where he was.

"Heavenly law, endless and boundless; borrow the power of heaven and earth, I borrow it! Borrow! Borrow!"

Jiang Chen spared no effort in borrowing thunder from the sky.

By now, thunder was already rolling overhead, the effect of the layers of talismans he had stacked.

With a low rumble, Jiang Chen clenched his left hand into a fist and vanished from where he stood. However scorching the flames might be, they could not harm him at this level.

The nine-headed bird reacted quickly as well. The first thing it did after Jiang Chen disappeared was retreat; unlike the Qilin, it did not charge ahead heedless of danger.

Jiang Chen paid it no mind. Golden radiance blazed around him as the protective golden light charm shone brilliantly, while the thunder art in his left hand continued to gather power.

The battle between them ignited at once. Purple lightning wove across the nine-headed bird's body, while blazing red flames tried to burn away Jiang Chen's golden light.

Jiang Chen kept hammering one spot with his left-handed thunder art. No matter how the nine-headed bird dodged or fled, his fist drove toward the same place, each blow landing harder than the last.

Thunder struck the bird's skin, and the nine-headed bird, sent flying backward, was like a dog with a piece of sticky ointment clinging to it—no matter how it shook itself, it could not throw Jiang Chen off. As Jiang Chen saw the tide of battle continue to widen in his favor, a look of exhilaration flashed in his eyes.

This nine-headed bird was not only tough, it was also immensely powerful. In truth, ever since he had come here, he had not enjoyed a truly satisfying fight. Now, this heavily fortified bird had finally fulfilled his wish.

The nine-headed bird's claws and tail were incomparably sharp, cutting like divine weapons, and more than once Jiang Chen's thunder arts were neutralized by its feathers and tail.

The nine heads of the bird cried out together, their voices hoarse and grating. Jiang Chen could not bear to listen, so he seized one of the necks and tightened his grip.

It was useless. The other eight heads only screamed even more horribly.

As Li Changsheng brought his sword down, the Qilin fell from the sky, utterly silent, dead beyond any doubt.

Li Changsheng wiped the blood from his face. "I've finished mine. Want me to help you?"

He had finished before Jiang Chen, and although he had started first, that did nothing to diminish his pride.

See that? A mythical beast. I killed it.

"Help me? Who told you there was only one?" Jiang Chen said as he found a moment to answer.

"What do you mean?" Li Changsheng asked in confusion.

Jiang Chen rolled his eyes and hurled a bolt of lightning toward the ground beside Li Changsheng's feet.

With a crackling burst, a howl rose from below.

The sound seemed to come from countless vengeful spirits, and it was agonizing to hear.

Even Jiang Chen, who had already prepared himself, found the noise irritating.

Bang.

The road surface split in all directions like a spiderweb, and from the center emerged a mass shrouded in black qi. Its face was impossible to make out, its limbs were immensely muscular, and it stood nearly ten meters tall. It simply remained there, yet even so Li Changsheng could feel how great a threat it posed.

Compared with that nine-headed bird, he could not tell which of the two was stronger, but it was certainly stronger than the dead Qilin.

"Brother, what the hell is this? At least tell me its name so I can prepare myself. Otherwise I'll die without even knowing why," Li Changsheng shouted, drawing in a deep breath.

Jiang Chen sighed. "A Nether Wolf. Something from underground. In legend, it is a divine beast that guards the gates of the underworld."

"Damn it, has the heavens gone mad? It keeps throwing all these things I don't recognize at me. I don't care whether you're man or god, I'll kill you all the same!"