Chapter 193: Pissed

— Meanwhile – In the middle of nowhere —

Above the sea of forest, a Thousand Treasure Pavilion flying ark flew low, gliding through the leaf canopy. Birds and flying spirit beasts scattered as the ark passed by.

Max, the red husky, stood at the side of the deck. Its two eyes stared without pause at the flying spirit beasts nearby, carefully picking out the fattest one among those that flew too close for their own safety.

Snap!

With a swift motion, the dexterous husky snapped the neck of one of the flying spirit beasts. It was the fattest among them, and it looked especially appetizing.

Max grinned widely, as if smiling, holding the neck of the flying spirit beast in its mouth as it happily skipped toward Wei Chen, who watched his dog approach.

Dream Butterfly smiled and giggled at the husky’s antics.

Wei Chen took the dead flying spirit beast from Max’s mouth and let out a sigh.

“Fine, fine… I’ll grill it for you. Happy now?” Wei Chen said reluctantly.

“Woof!” Max barked happily before skipping back to its usual spot, the big cushioned bed at the corner of the room.

“He really seems to like you, Lord Wei,” Dream Butterfly said with a smile.

“Heh… more like my cooking skills,” Wei Chen chuckled as he headed toward the kitchen.

He said he would grill it himself, but he definitely would not do the plucking, cleaning, and sauce preparation. His barbecue sauce recipe was no secret to the chefs working for the Thousand Treasure Pavilion.

Besides, that fatty Ding Lao was in the kitchen, and he would definitely help prepare it.

While Wei Chen went into the kitchen, Hua Zuixian patrolled the flying ark as usual. This time, he had come to send Dream Butterfly off to Thousand Treasure City. After that, he would return to the Immortal Dream Garden to fulfill the agreement.

As he patrolled the stern area, one of the ship servants approached him.

“Lord Hua Zuixian, there’s a letter for you!”

“Oh? From whom, I wonder?” The servant handed him the letter and left.

Hua Zuixian felt curious. He opened the letter and began to read, but the contents stunned him.

“This… how!?”

…

Within the lounge, Dream Butterfly was playing with Max, hugging him and feeling his soft red fur. Since Max’s body was so large, it could serve as her bed. She lay on his stomach blissfully as he breathed in and out, his stomach rising and falling like a rocking boat.

Boom!

Suddenly, a heavy shock struck the flying ark, as if it had hit a wall. The flying ark came to a complete stop.

Max’s ears twitched, and he quickly stood up, causing Dream Butterfly to fall onto the cushioned bed. He turned his gaze toward the window.

Shouts erupted from outside, accompanied by the sight of five flying arks with no designation, flying black flags as they surrounded their ark.

Hundreds of cultivators in black robes and masks rushed out from the surrounding arks. All of them were at least at the Nascent Soul realm, and the strongest among them were far more powerful than Dream Butterfly.

“What… what are those people!?” she said, stunned by the scene. This was the first time in her life she had faced such a situation.

The guards on the ship quickly moved to intercept them, but they were swiftly cut down by the intruders.

Dream Butterfly felt alarmed. She only had her cultivation and not a single combat technique or method. She had not even trained yet. She and Wei Chen had planned to begin training after returning to Thousand Treasure City.

With a bang, the door to the room burst open, and a servant rushed in.

“Lady Dream Butterfly! Please hide! Argh!!!”

Before the servant could finish, a sword pierced through his chest, killing him on the spot.

A rugged, barbaric man stepped into the room, his hands drenched in blood. He stared at Dream Butterfly with eyes full of lust, his tongue licking his lips as if he were looking at a piece of meat.

“Oh… so you are here. You look even more gorgeous than the rumors say.” The barbaric man walked forward, stepping over the servant’s corpse.

Crack!

He deliberately stepped on the servant’s head, crushing it. The scene made Dream Butterfly shiver.

“Oops… sorry… heh heh… I thought it was a welcome mat.” The barbaric man gave a fake apology and continued forward.

Suddenly, his instincts screamed. He quickly raised his arm to block an invisible strike.

Snap!

“Arrrrgggghh!”

The barbaric man cried out in pain.

It was Max who had ambushed him. He had camouflaged himself before leaping forward, aiming for the man’s throat. However, the barbaric man, experienced in life and death battles, sensed the attack and sacrificed his arm to block it.

Max was at the Soul Transformation realm, a realm lower than the barbaric man. But as a carnivorous apex spirit beast, his jaws and fangs were designed by heaven to injure even those of higher cultivation.

Even Wei Chen had been slightly injured by Max’s paw strike during their second encounter.

The barbaric man’s arm was snapped in half before being bitten off completely by the crushing force of Max’s jaws.

“You damnable dog!” the barbaric man roared as he produced a large axe from his storage ring and struck at Max.

Max stepped back. With dexterous movement and superhuman reflexes, he avoided the strike and moved out of the man’s attack range.

The barbaric man glanced at the stump of his left arm, then at the dog who had ambushed him. He needed that arm back. He was also a body cultivator, and his body had been refined to the limits allowed by the resources of the lower realm.

He did not want to refine it again. It was a painful and agonizing process.

“Give my arm back, and I might consider leaving you an intact corpse,” the barbaric man said to Max. He knew that at this level, spirit beasts could understand human language.

Max snorted, then swallowed the barbaric man’s arm in a single gulp. His aura surged, his power increasing.

“You damn dog!” the barbaric man roared in fury and charged at Max, his great axe in hand.

Max met the attack with heavenly fire.

Boom!

Flames erupted as Max’s body transformed entirely into fire, like a heavenly flame beast. His ferocity surged after tasting the blood of a cultivator once more.

Max’s ferocious, beastly eyes glared at the barbaric man like a predator facing another predator. It knew that this man was strong, and now that the ambush had failed, the chance of killing him was slim.

But… if it could kill this enemy, its cultivation would rise and might even rival that of its personal cook!

Raaaarrrrrr!

Max roared ferociously and rushed forward to attack. His body vanished from sight, and the barbaric man quickly raised his guard. Even though his cultivation was a major realm higher than Max’s, Max was a spirit beast, an apex king among beasts.

And with the barbaric man’s left arm disabled from the ambush, he could not exert his full strength. This brought their combat power closer to the same level.

Clank! Clank! Bam!

The battle raged on. Steel met fire, while fur, fang, and claw clashed against metal and hardened guards. The barbaric man’s ferocity grew as time passed, but injuries began to accumulate on both sides.

Blood from both beast and man splattered across the area. Dream Butterfly could do nothing but watch. She wanted to help, but she knew her lack of techniques and experience would make no difference.

In fact, she might only hinder Max and distract him. She could only pray that her beloved lord would arrive in time.

The barbaric man narrowed his eyes. He began to see a pattern. This dog was not attacking blindly. Its positioning was precise, and it never retreated even when there was a clear opening. It used its strengthened fur to take his axe strikes whenever his attacks were aimed at Dream Butterfly.

Noticing this, he could not help but smile wickedly.

The barbaric man produced several throwing axes and hurled them with full force toward Dream Butterfly.

Max quickly intercepted them. He bit down on the most threatening axe aimed at his master’s woman, while his tail swept aside two others.

At that moment, the barbaric man suddenly swung his great axe upward toward Max’s stomach, the area with the least protection.

Slash!

“Yelp!”

Blood sprayed out as Max’s intestines nearly spilled. He crashed to the ground, his flames fading as he used all his strength to stop the bleeding and heal himself. Even so, he did not retreat. He remained in place, growling at the barbaric man.

“You damn dog… for eating my arm, I will tear you to pieces!” the barbaric man growled in rage, but then…

Thud… thump…

Something rolled across the floor.

A severed head.

It rolled…. slowly…. and came to a stop at his feet, blood still dripping, its eyes frozen wide in horror, as if it had not even realized death had come.

The air changed, cold, heavy, the pressure like he suddenly fell into a frozen hell…

“Black Tiger…” the barbaric man whispered, his voice trembling as he recognized the face. The code name slipped from his mouth before he could stop it. A Void Refining expert… dead like this?

A faint slow and unhurried sound of footsteps echoed from the corridor.

Each step felt like it pressed against the heart.

“Was that one yours?” The voice came before the figure fully appeared. It was calm. and flat….

Devoid of emotion.

Wei Chen stepped into view from the direction of the kitchen. His clothes were unstained, but his hand was not.

Blood dripped lazily from his fingers, trailing to the floor in quiet, rhythmic drops.

His eyes… were different….

Gone was the usual playfulness, the casual ease, the teasing warmth.

What remained was something cold…..

Something that did not see the barbaric man as an enemy… but as something already dead.

A faint trace of underworld qi leaked from his body, spreading like an unseen tide. The temperature in the room seemed to drop with every step he took.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep