Strongest War Emperor

Chapter 172: Chapter 161: The Celestial Crocodile Clan

Faced with such overwhelming power, Shen Lang had no time to think. He activated his Burst Secret Technique almost instinctively. A silver light flashed from the soles of his feet as he executed a peculiar footwork pattern. His body swayed erratically, forcefully shifting him seven or eight meters to the side.

CLANG!

His Celestial Water Blade was already unsheathed. As his figure flickered, Shen Lang came to a sudden halt. A sharp glint flared in his eyes as a low shout escaped his throat.

"Prison Guardian Blade Technique, Demon’s Tyranny!"

Immediately, Shen Lang lunged forward into a Chain Rapid Slash. His blade, infused with terrifying Thunder Power, hacked straight out. The six slashes of "Demon’s Tyranny" superimposed on one another, appearing as a single strike as it slashed toward the giant palm.

This was the strongest strike Shen Lang could unleash with his current cultivation—the Third Floor of the invincible Prison Guardian Blade Technique, "Demon’s Tyranny." Carrying unparalleled Thunder Power and an indestructible Sword Intent, it was a blow that even a Ghost King at the Xuanwu Realm would likely have to evade.

However, the slender, perfect palm neither dodged nor yielded. It continued to grasp forward, and with just a light pinch...

...it instantly crushed the sharp Sword Qi into tiny specks of light. Then, with incredible speed, it snatched Shen Lang and held him in its palm!

’Who the hell did I piss off?!’

Sensing that the palm wasn’t applying pressure and held no trace of killing intent, Shen Lang muttered to himself and simply gave up resisting.

In the blink of an eye, the giant palm holding Shen Lang retracted back into the clouds, as if nothing had ever happened.

The instant Shen Lang disappeared, a flash of light revealed the figures of Nangong Jianqiu and the others.

To their surprise, though Nangong Jianqiu had followed Shen Lang out of the Grand Array’s Life Gate only a moment later, appearing on a small hill at the edge of Sorrow Swamp, she had already lost all trace of him.

"That guy is faster than a rabbit!" Nangong Jianqiu said through gritted teeth. "He knows about our Shadow Tower, but we know nothing about him. This is the first time I’ve ever been so frustrated!"

Xu Ziyang said in a deep voice, "Mr. Ghost’s cultivation is astonishing, and his origins are unknown. For now, he seems to be more of a friend than a foe. He helped us escape a perilous situation, so we should consider ourselves lucky."

He had taken to calling Shen Lang "Mr. Ghost," a name that was quite fitting for the mysterious and unpredictable man.

Of course, Shen Lang had no idea that a few days later, within the Shadow Tower, the name Mr. Ghost would become legendary, a figure of awe and wonder.

Xiao Zheng said with a furrowed brow, "We’ve barely entered Sorrow Swamp and we’ve already run into this... According to our information, there have never been reports of such a bizarre Grand Array here. I’m afraid being trapped was no coincidence... We’ve used up all our Talismans and Elixir Pills, and everyone is seriously injured. We can’t continue the mission. We have to withdraw from Sorrow Swamp."

After a moment of contemplation, Nangong Jianqiu gave a firm nod, and the group immediately vanished into the night.

...

This was a deep and secluded canyon, surrounded by mountains, overlapping boulders, and strange, abrupt peaks.

Looking up at the summits, one could see an array of bizarre, skeletal rocks in a hundred different fantastic poses and a myriad of colors.

A massive Moonlight Stone was suspended high in the air, resting on a protruding, strange rock. Its pure, bright light cascaded down, draping the tranquil canyon in a veil of profound mystery.

The night breeze whispered, carrying the faint fragrance of flowers and grass. The entire mountain forest, bathed in the glow of the Moonlight Stone, appeared simple, hazy, and serene from a distance.

Shen Lang took off his mask, stretched his sore muscles, and sat down boldly on a bamboo chair inside a pavilion, quietly watching a swing swaying gently outside.

On the swing, woven from vines, sat a graceful young woman. She looked to be seventeen or eighteen, with a tall, slender figure and exquisite beauty. Her black hair cascaded like a waterfall, her skin was as smooth as jade, and she carried the subtle fragrance of an orchid. Her hands were delicate, and her features were as captivating as a painting of distant mountains veiled in spring mist.

"Brother, aren’t you afraid of me?" The young woman smiled, her lips pursed. Her charm was overwhelming, like a hundred flowers bursting into bloom—brilliant and bewitching.

Shen Lang smiled faintly. "Little Sister is as beautiful as a celestial fairy. Why should I be afraid?"

"Have you ever seen a celestial fairy?" the young woman asked, momentarily taken aback before smiling.

Shen Lang shook his head. "No, but I imagine that even a celestial fairy might not compare to you, Little Sister."

Inside the Heaven-Sealing Cauldron, Nalan Ziyun was grinding her teeth. ’That bastard! How can he say such cheesy things! Shameless! Utterly shameless! He forgets everything the moment he sees a woman!’

"Hee hee!" The young woman giggled, her hands behind her back. She walked slowly toward Shen Lang and said in a voice as heavenly as music, "Brother, can you guess who I am?"

Shen Lang’s smile remained as he said calmly, "There is a legend about a powerful Crocodile King in Sorrow Swamp who rules over the Demon Race there. Their cultivation is said to be unfathomably deep, but not many believe this legend, because no one has ever seen this Crocodile King. Although your true form isn’t a Lightning Crocodile, Little Sister, your cultivation is so powerful that you could turn me to ash with a wave of your hand. If I’m not mistaken, you must be the legendary Crocodile King."

’Holy crap, you little bastard, you’ve got some nerve! You know she’s the Crocodile King and you still dare to call her ’Little Sister’?’ Nalan Ziyun shrieked inside the Heaven-Sealing Cauldron. ’Kid, you’re not getting any funny ideas about her, are you? Let me tell you, I’m good friends with Dingdang. She’s not here, so I’ll be keeping an eye on you for her...’

Before Nalan Ziyun could finish, Shen Lang cut off their connection, no longer letting her watch the "movie."

’Dammit, you think I’m just making small talk out here? I could be killed at any second! You just stay put in there and stop bothering me!’ Shen Lang’s voice echoed inside the Heaven-Sealing Cauldron.

Inside the Heaven-Sealing Cauldron, Nalan Ziyun stood up, her face dark.

Beside the Grand Array that sealed the Ice Soul Water Jade, the four Bone Demons who were cultivating felt a chill run down their spines. They shivered and opened their eyes.

"Boss Lady, what are you going to do? I-I don’t have many Spirit Stones left..." Bone One couldn’t help but try to inch closer to the Grand Array.

"Come here and sing." Nalan Ziyun beckoned to the four Bone Demons. "Didn’t that little bastard teach you a song? There’s nothing to watch now anyway, so you might as well sing to pass the time."

The four Bone Demons breathed a sigh of relief and obediently walked over.

Inside the Heaven-Sealing Cauldron, the four Bone Demons began to sing the song Shen Lang had taught them, dancing gracefully.

Bone One: "The boundless horizon is my love."

Bone Two: "At the foot of the rolling green mountains, the flowers are blooming."

Bone Three: "What kind of rhythm is the most, most groovy..."

Lines of exasperation appeared on Shen Lang’s face. He was starting to regret teaching those skeletons that song.

He gave a helpless, bitter smile and completely severed his connection with the Heaven-Sealing Cauldron before Bone Four could start singing.

’Out of sight, out of mind,’ he thought.

Hearing Shen Lang’s words, the young woman fell silent. Her delicate brows furrowed slightly as if she were making a decision.

Although Shen Lang appeared calm on the surface, he felt a little apprehensive inside.

This situation was completely nonsensical and difficult to reason through. He had no idea why this young woman had brought him here.

It was not a relaxing feeling.

"Brother, do you know why I brought you here?" the young woman asked, her face breaking into a smile. freewёbnoνel.com

"I don’t, but I would very much like to know," Shen Lang answered crisply.

"My name is Li Su, and I come from the Demon Realm."

Shen Lang’s body trembled. He asked, his voice filled with emotion, "The Demon Realm, or the Demon Territory?"

The Demon Realm was one of the legendary Upper Realms, a higher-level plane of existence.

The Demon Territory, on the other hand, was a vast region on the Star Continent where the Demon Race lived. It had long been completely sealed off by the combined powers of the Human Race, Demon Race, Soul Race, and other experts from the Human Realm, and now had no connection to the Star Continent.

A faint, beautiful smile graced Li Su’s lips. "There should be records of this in the Human Realm. This universe contains billions of little worlds, like the Star Continent, and three thousand great worlds, which are a higher tier of planes. Beyond the Three Thousand Great Worlds, there are only six planes at the very top: the Celestial Realm, the Demon Realm, the Beast Realm, the Buddha Realm, the Spirit Realm, and the Pangu Realm. And my clan, the Celestial Crocodile Race, comes from the Demon Realm."

’The Celestial Crocodile Race from the Demon Realm...’

Shen Lang furrowed his brow, searching the War Emperor’s memories for any information related to the Celestial Crocodile Race.

A moment later, his expression changed drastically. "Do you mean the Celestial Crocodile Race that was annihilated on the Star Continent three thousand years ago?"

Li Su, who had been staring into Shen Lang’s eyes, flinched. She fought desperately to keep the tears from falling.

"So... so you really do know, Brother. I am the only one left of the Celestial Crocodile Race. My parents placed me here and set up a Grand Array to keep me from leaving. Then they vanished and never came back..."

At this point, Li Su was sobbing uncontrollably.

Shen Lang stood up, walked over to Li Su, and silently pulled her into his arms. "Go ahead and cry," he said. "You’ll feel better if you let it out."

The world worked in such curious ways. The Celestial Crocodile Race was a clan that almost no one in the Human Realm knew about, yet Shen Lang happened to be one of the few who did.

They were a powerful race from the Demon Realm, said to have once fought the Demon Dragon Clan to a standstill there.

Later, before the Reverse Passage between the Upper Realm and the Human Realm was closed, a large number of the Celestial Crocodile Race had, for some unknown reason, ended up stranded in the Lower Realm, on the Star Continent.

The Reverse Passage between the Upper Realm and the Human Realm was said to have been closed over ten thousand years ago, long before the War Emperor was even born.

Even the War God Hall had failed to detect the Celestial Crocodile Race’s descent to the Lower Realm.

It wasn’t until three thousand years ago that the War God Hall received information that somewhere in the Deep Barbaric region, a mysterious race had obtained some heaven-defying treasure and was being coveted by an evil faction, prompting numerous experts to go treasure hunting...

That evil faction was an old rival of the War God Hall. Anything they wanted to do, the War God Hall was determined to interfere with and ruin.

Therefore, the War Emperor dispatched his Three Emperors to lead a large number of supreme experts to participate in that battle.

Unfortunately, that evil faction was far too powerful. By the time the War God Hall’s forces arrived, the battle was already winding down. The Celestial Crocodile Race—a clan said to be able to fight the Demon Dragon Clan in the Upper Realm—had already been all but wiped out...

The remaining members of the Celestial Crocodile Race were extremely hostile toward the people from the War God Hall. They were unwilling to communicate and used Secret Techniques to go into hiding.

Because he had made his decision too late, the War God Hall’s reinforcements hadn’t arrived in time, leading to the massacre of the Celestial Crocodile Race. For all these years, the War Emperor had been melancholic, unable to forgive himself.

To think that now Shen Lang, who possessed the War Emperor’s memories, would actually encounter a descendant of the Celestial Crocodile Race in a place like Sorrow Swamp!

"Brother, how much do you know about what happened to us?"

As Shen Lang’s mind reeled in confusion, Li Su suddenly lifted her head and asked.