Strongest War Emperor

Chapter 170: Chapter 159: Annihilating the Evil Spirit

Shen Lang’s blackmail succeeded, but at the very instant the contract was sealed, he attacked Nangong Jianqiu. The members of the Shadow Tower flew into a rage, each one transforming into a shadow and charging at Shen Lang.

It all happened in a flash of lightning.

A great battle was about to erupt!

"Ah!"

Nangong Jianqiu shrieked as her body was sent flying backward.

At that very moment, Shen Lang’s strike slapped a cloud of black mist right out of her body.

The cloud of black mist was completely encased in a dense web of lightning. It emanated an aura of ultimate evil that instantly blanketed the entire Grand Array, leaving everyone gasping for breath and making their very souls tremble in fear!

The Shadow Tower Martial Artists, who had been on the verge of a rampage, stopped in their tracks, horrified. They could only stare at the scene, utterly bewildered.

"Hahahaha! Kid, you’ve actually got a few tricks up your sleeve..."

An insane, piercing cackle emanated from the black mist. Accompanied by a thick, bloody Evil Qi, the laughter began to echo ceaselessly throughout the Grand Array.

The members of the Shadow Tower formed a protective circle around Nangong Jianqiu and retreated hastily, finding it hard to believe that such a powerful Evil Spirit had just emerged from her body.

The Evil Spirit’s aura was incomparably powerful. Judging from its oppressive presence alone, one could tell its Cultivation was likely at the Xuanwu Realm or even higher!

Strands of lightning crisscrossed to form a cage, imprisoning the Evil Spirit within. Electric light flickered from Shen Lang’s left hand, from which a bolt as thick as an arm extended like a Locking Chain, pulling the Cage desperately toward him.

"Kid, how did you figure out I was possessing her? You think this measly Thunder Cage can hold me?"

The Evil Spirit seemed to be in no hurry to break the Thunder Cage, allowing Shen Lang to pull it right up to him.

"’How I saw it? Let’s not get into that. I prefer my enemies to die in frustrated confusion," Shen Lang said with a soft chuckle.

"Insolent!" the Evil Spirit roared. "Damnable brat, you dare ruin my good fortune? Fine, I’ll just make you my new host! This body of yours... is mine!"

As it spoke, the Evil Spirit’s body suddenly expanded, and it seemed on the verge of breaking free from the Thunder Cage.

Shen Lang sneered and pressed his right palm against the Thunder Cage. "Sorry, you’re not getting that chance."

"How dare you!"

Amid the Evil Spirit’s furious roar, an impossibly black vortex formed in the palm of Shen Lang’s right hand.

"What is this..." The Evil Spirit faltered.

"AGH! NO!"

The next moment, an inhuman shriek burst from the Evil Spirit. A fierce gale erupted, and just as everyone was stumbling about in a panic, everything suddenly returned to normal.

Shen Lang stood on the spot with his eyes tightly shut, the four Bone Demons forming a circle, guarding him closely.

"Wh-what in the world just happened? Young Mistress, are you hurt?" a Shadow Tower leader asked, his voice laced with lingering fear.

Nangong Jianqiu glanced at Shen Lang in horror, then shook her head. "No. His palm strike was just a gentle force that pushed me away. The Thunder Power was contained by some other energy, so it didn’t harm me at all. B-But why was there such a powerful Evil Spirit inside me?"

Before Nangong Jianqiu could finish, the roars of enraged Lightning Crocodiles suddenly echoed from all sides.

A thousand Lightning Crocodiles finally charged the group.

"Why... why now? What terrible timing!" Nangong Jianqiu’s face went deathly pale.

Just then, the Ghost King’s voice suddenly rang out. "Bone One and Bone Two, stay and protect the boss. Bone Three and Bone Four, go slaughter those Lightning Crocodiles."

Nangong Jianqiu’s body went limp with relief, and she nearly collapsed to the ground.

「Meanwhile, inside the space of the Tai Chi Diagram.」

Shen Lang stood with his hands clasped behind his back, gazing forward like a Creator in control of all existence.

In the void before him, the Evil Spirit was bound by innumerable lightning chains stretching from every direction. It was on its last breath, completely immobilized.

"I don’t believe it! This has to be an illusion!"

The Evil Spirit stared at its surroundings, still refusing to believe that something like this could be happening to it.

"You’re merely at the Spirit Martial Realm First Heaven, while I’ve devoured countless Resentful Spirits in this Grand Array to reach the Xuanwu Realm Sixth Heaven! How can you bind me so easily? You can’t possibly possess such immense power! It’s absolutely impossible!"

CRACK!

A clap of thunder echoed as a bolt of lightning as thick as a man’s thigh struck the Evil Spirit, making it shriek in agony.

"Mercy! Mercy! I’ll submit to you! Please, spare my life!"

The corner of Shen Lang’s mouth curled into a slight smile as innumerable bolts of lightning flashed across his eyes.

BOOM!

A colossal bolt of thunder crashed down from the void, instantly causing the Evil Spirit’s Soul Scattering!

Immediately after, the Tai Chi Diagram began to rotate, commencing the complete Refinement of the Evil Spirit into the purest Profound Yin Power.

This Evil Spirit was filled with Evil Qi. Though it was also a Soul Body, it was vastly different from the Ghost King.

Although the Ghost King was a ghost, he still retained a touch of his former humanity, and even held many memories from his life as a person.

This Evil Spirit, however, was an amalgam of countless Resentful Spirits from within the Grand Array, having slowly evolved over thousands of years.

Such a malicious Resentful Spirit would not be easy to control.

’For me,’ Shen Lang thought, ’it’s better to refine it directly and give the Profound Yin Qi to the Ghost King as a great supplement, rather than waste time and energy trying to suppress or control it.’

’I had considered subjugating this Evil Spirit and sealing it within the Celestial Water Blade to serve as its Artifact Spirit.’

’But a Supreme Yin creature like this is incompatible with the Celestial Water Blade. Plus, it doesn’t suit the domineering Thunder Element Technique I cultivate, so I had to give up the idea.’

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When Shen Lang opened his eyes, more than half of the Shadow Tower members were injured. They were huddled together, gasping for breath, on the verge of complete exhaustion.

Bone One was swinging half a Bone Blade, cursing, "Damn it! These Lightning Crocodiles are tough as hell! My weapon’s busted!"

"Boss! The boss is awake!" Bone Four yelled.

Shen Lang chuckled. "Looks like you two can’t hold back any longer. Go on, then. Without the Evil Spirit’s control, the Lightning Crocodiles won’t keep swarming in endless waves like before. Go get ’em!"

As he spoke, Shen Lang himself began to walk slowly toward the pack of crocodiles.

"’The Evil Spirit’s control?’" Nangong Jianqiu seemed to have an epiphany. Casting aside the Shadow Tower’s usual stealthy assassination tactics, she raised her arm and rallied them, "Brothers! If we kill all these Lightning Crocodiles, we’ll be saved! Charge!"

"Kill!"

The members of the Shadow Tower surged forward once more.

From within the pack, a few gigantic Lightning Crocodiles with cold, triangular pupils fixed their gaze on Shen Lang. They let out a few strange, guttural clicks, and immediately, five of them whipped their tails, launching themselves into the air and shooting toward Shen Lang with savage fury.

Lifting his gaze, Shen Lang gave his head a slight shake and frowned. His hand slowly closed around the hilt of his Celestial Water Blade. He gently raised one foot, then stomped down hard!

The crack of displaced air drew the eyes of the Shadow Tower group. They saw his figure erupt forward like a whirlwind. Under their watchful eyes, he shot through the narrow gap between the five Lightning Crocodiles, a hair’s breadth from danger, and passed them in a blur.

SHING! SHING! SHING!

Several flashes of blade light streaked through the misty air...

The massive bodies of the five Lightning Crocodiles crashed to the ground, utterly devoid of life.

Blood gushed from their bodies like a spring, pooling and spreading across the ground...

Both Shen Lang and the Lightning Crocodiles had moved with incredible speed. Their paths crossed, and the five massive crocodiles fell dead, all within the span of a few short seconds.

In those few seconds, the abdomen of each crocodile had been sliced open, their internal organs completely obliterated by Sword Qi, killing them instantly.

"So fast! Such incredible power!"

Watching Shen Lang’s lightning-fast strike, the dozen or so members of the Shadow Tower stood with their mouths agape, their faces filled with such astonishment that they were speechless for a long moment.

Most of the people there, especially the ones with the highest Cultivation, had probed Shen Lang with their Divine Thought when he first arrived. Since he wasn’t deliberately hiding his level, they had all determined his Cultivation to be at the Spirit Martial Realm Second Heaven.

Any fear they felt toward him was entirely due to the ferocity of his four Bone Demons.

Minutes ago, when Shen Lang had used some bizarre method to annihilate an Evil Spirit with a Cultivation of at least the Xuanwu Realm, they had all assumed he had used some powerful Magical Treasure.

Otherwise, it would have been impossible to cross such a vast chasm in power and eliminate the Evil Spirit so effortlessly.

But after witnessing this single strike, every one of them was drenched in a cold sweat...

As assassins, they relied on probing auras, visual observation, and even the look in a person’s eyes to judge an enemy’s Cultivation, special techniques, and weapon proficiencies.

A mistake in information or judgment could lead to irreparable losses.

At best, it meant mission failure and punishment. At worst, it meant being killed on the spot.

Yet, most of the people present hadn’t taken Shen Lang seriously at all.

Even though they had been fighting for a full day and were nearing exhaustion, as powerful assassins and Martial Artists of the Spirit Martial Realm Third and Fourth Heaven, they believed killing a mere Spirit Martial Realm Second Heaven cultivator with a single, decisive strike would be a simple matter.

Moreover, three of them were at the Spirit Martial Realm Fifth Heaven, and one had even reached the Spirit Martial Realm Ninth Heaven!

But after that one attack from Shen Lang, most of them realized how wrong they had been. Ridiculously, fatally wrong.

"He’s too strong," one of the Shadow Tower leaders muttered, his chest heaving. "His movements are ghost-like. His Sword Qi sliced open the Lightning Crocodile’s abdomen and destroyed its organs in an instant. Even a Martial Artist at the Spirit Martial Realm Fifth or Sixth Heaven would struggle to do that..."

"Such a Sword Skill... fierce and unmatched, swift as lightning, and with unimaginable precision," another leader murmured, his face a mask of bitterness. "If that blade were aimed at me, I fear..."

The surrounding Shadow Tower Martial Artists were stunned. Their two leaders were proud and arrogant, constantly at odds with each other. They had never heard either of them give anyone such high praise.

To think such praise was now being heaped upon a Martial Artist at the Spirit Martial Realm Second Heaven...

’This guy... so he has a likable side after all,’ Nangong Jianqiu murmured, her red lips slightly parted.

For some reason, ever since realizing Shen Lang’s surprise attack wasn’t a betrayal but an attempt to help her, she no longer found him so infuriatingly punchable.

On the contrary, she now felt an impulse to remove the mask from his face and see what he really looked like!

Note: Three Chapters today, two more coming soon. Rolling on the floor begging for rewards, recommendation tickets, and monthly tickets!