Strongest War Emperor

Ling Shaoyi shot Shen Lang a venomous glare, then waved his arm wide. "Charge this way! Tian Mou’s here to back us up!"

The group ignored Shen Lang completely, surging forward in a chaotic rush and carving a path through the opening.

A little surprised, Shen Lang turned his head and his gaze locked with the man on the distant hillside.

The man was rugged and wild, with sharp, chiseled features. His long hair stood up like needles, his build was powerful and solid, and his gaze was cold and murderous.

He stood on the hillside, a blood-red Great Sword slung over his shoulder. His presence was as imposing as a mountain, solemn and deadly.

’I can’t believe I ran into someone cultivating the Heartless Divine Scripture in a place like this...’

Shen Lang exchanged a single glance with the man named Tian Mou and immediately identified the cultivation technique he practiced: the legendary Heartless Divine Scripture.

The Heartless Divine Scripture, as its name suggested, was a path to the Dao through slaughter, achieved by forgetting all emotion and becoming utterly heartless.

Cultivating this technique required one to be ruthless and unfeeling, to sever all ties and condense their killing intent.

Such a person was like one who had cast themselves into Purgatory; to them, there was no one and nothing in the world that could not be killed.

However, judging by the mercenaries’ shouts, this man was apparently the former leader of their Mercenary Corps. The fact that he had just intervened, wiping out a group of Demon Beasts with a single slash, showed he had not yet reached the stage of truly forgetting all emotion.

Zeng Zuimo, one of the five people he had met in Celestial Phoenix City, was the Little Commandery Princess of Prince Zeng’s Mansion from the Imperial Capital. The members of Prince Zeng’s Mansion cultivated the Emotional Sword Dao, the polar opposite of the Heartless Divine Scripture, which used affection to enter the Dao.

The moment Zeng Zuimo had laid eyes on Shen Lang, she had become clingy and acted flirtatiously. In truth, this was because she was still unable to control her own Affection and Sword Intent while cultivating the Emotional Sword Dao.

...

"Brothers, one last push! Break out of this encirclement!"

Ling Shaoyi led the charge. The group, who had been on their last legs, now summoned every last bit of their strength, charging ferociously toward Tian Mou.

SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!

Tian Mou’s eyes remained cold. With a few more slashes, he swept away the horde of Demon Beasts before them, finally succeeding in rescuing the group.

...

Seeing that Ling Shaoyi and his men had made it out of the canyon, Shen Lang retracted his gaze and focused his attention back on the Evil Eye Lord.

This Evil Eye Lord moved like the wind, completely different from the legends. This piqued Shen Lang’s curiosity and made him even more interested.

According to legend, Evil Eye Lords weren’t fast. But Shen Lang had tested it several times now; as soon as Bone Two got close to where the threads were being released, the Evil Eye Lord would vanish.

Then, it would reappear in the distance. Its speed was simply unbelievable.

But Shen Lang didn’t dare summon the Desolate Domain Demon Ape.

He was afraid that Yuan Bupu’s overwhelming King Martial Realm aura would frighten the Evil Eye Lord off.

Shen Lang activated his Silver Eyes of Truth, probing deep underground while directing Bone Two to slay all the Demon Beasts charging at them.

As for Nalan Ziyun, she had little else to do, so she used the surrounding Demon Beasts for practice. She was simultaneously familiarizing herself with and stabilizing her power at the Spirit Martial Realm Ninth Heaven, while also deepening her connection to the Imperial Artifact in her hand, the Tears of Paradise. This was an Imperial Artifact of a much higher grade than even the Immortal Celestial Saber.

With the members of the Mercenary Corps gone, all the Demon Beasts turned their attention and charged toward Shen Lang.

After fighting for so long, Bone Two was beginning to feel exhausted. He had consumed too much Spiritual Power and was now struggling to keep up.

He wanted to tell Shen Lang they should leave, but every time he looked at Shen Lang’s focused expression, he swallowed his words.

Through the investigation of his Silver Eyes of Truth, an image of what lay underground appeared in Shen Lang’s mind. He sucked in a sharp breath!

What he saw was a tentacled monstrosity so enormous it occupied nearly the entire space beneath the canyon floor!

The creature resembled an octopus, with innumerable tentacles. At the tip of each and every one was a massive eyeball.

The central tentacle, however, was a full three meters in diameter, like a colossal, towering tree.

The massive eyeball at its tip swiveled and looked directly at Shen Lang...

Shen Lang’s heart clenched. He subconsciously commanded the Heaven-Sealing Cauldron to shield his Sea of Consciousness.

The next moment, the massive eyeball blinked, and a beam of light, like a laser, shot toward Shen Lang with incredible speed!

...

On the hillside outside the canyon, Ling Shaoyi and his men were wiping sweat from their brows.

"Damn it, if you hadn’t shown up, we would’ve all been goners back there!"

Ling Shaoyi ran up to Tian Mou, cursing under his breath. "Did you see that kid? Son of a bitch, I’m so pissed! Not only did he watch us die, he even threatened us! It’s infuriating! You have to help me teach him a lesson later, show him what’s what!"

Tian Mou shot him a cold glance and said flatly, "If you don’t want to die, don’t provoke him."

With that, a pair of wings formed from blood-red Giant Blades unfurled from Tian Mou’s back. He soared into the air and vanished over the horizon in the blink of an eye.

Ling Shaoyi was stunned to see Tian Mou leave.

They were at the edge of the canyon, and plenty of Demon Beasts were still roaring as they charged out. If they got trapped again, they would truly be helpless.

That guy Tian Mou was cultivating the Heartless Divine Scripture and wasn’t even willing to be the leader of the Jifeng Mercenary Corps anymore. It was a stroke of incredible luck that he had even deigned to help them this time.

There was no way they could count on him for a second rescue.

Ling Shaoyi shot a vicious glance back at Shen Lang, then immediately ordered everyone to sprint away from the canyon.

He vividly remembered Shen Lang’s outrageous behavior, even replaying the scene in his mind a few times to cement the memory. As for Tian Mou’s warning, he tossed it to the back of his mind.

...

In the same instant that Ling Shaoyi turned to leave...

Shen Lang saw the Evil Eye Lord’s true body, which immediately provoked a powerful attack from the creature!

The ray wasn’t quite light, but something else entirely—something only visible to Shen Lang’s Silver Eyes of Truth.

It was a powerful Spiritual Attack!

In essence, it was powerful Divine Thought, condensed into a unique offensive technique by leveraging the Demon Beast’s own Talent Ability.

Shen Lang didn’t even have time to react before the ray was right in front of him!

With a single thought, the Star Moon Bodhi Prayer Beads activated, enveloping Shen Lang in a powerful Buddha Light.

HISS!

In a daze, Shen Lang thought he heard a soft sound.

The ray from the Evil Eye Lord was mostly blocked by the Protective Shield from the Star Moon Bodhi Prayer Beads, but the remainder pierced through and shot directly toward Shen Lang’s Sea of Consciousness!

The fact that it instantly pierced the defense of the Star Moon Bodhi Prayer Beads was a testament to the attack’s power!

"Courting death!"

Zuo Wentian’s cold shout echoed in Shen Lang’s mind.

The ray had arrived quickly, but it shot back even faster, reflecting in an instant toward the Evil Eye Lord!

Through his Silver Eyes of Truth, Shen Lang saw the ray pierce the Evil Eye Lord’s massive central eye. A look of agony appeared on the eyeball, and the colossal, tree-like tentacle suddenly went limp...

To compete with an old monster like Zuo Wentian in a battle of Divine Thought? Forget an Evil Eye Lord; even a King of Evil Eyes or an Evil Eye Tyrant wasn’t worthy!

’This is my chance!’

A thought flashed through Shen Lang’s mind. ’Elder Ape, now!’

The next instant, Yuan Bupu appeared in the air. His body swelled against the wind, revealing his true form as a Desolate Domain Demon Ape as his enormous palm shot downward!

An incomparably powerful suction force erupted from the Desolate Domain Demon Ape’s hand. A hurricane kicked up, sending sand and stones flying. Dazed and disoriented from Zuo Wentian’s Divine Thought attack, the Evil Eye Lord was forcibly dragged out of the ground by the Desolate Domain Demon Ape!

Under the oppressive pressure of the Desolate Domain Demon Ape’s King Martial Realm aura, the Evil Eye Lord’s massive body rapidly shrank to a size of just over a dozen meters.

The eyeballs on all of the Evil Eye Lord’s tentacles revealed a human-like panic.

However, before it could react, Shen Lang made his move!

Nine colossal Spirit Pattern Pillars materialized around the Evil Eye Lord at the same instant, suppressing it and trapping it within their Grand Array!

"Hahaha! Elder Ape, well done!"

Shen Lang roared with laughter.

The Evil Eye Lord was powerful and cunning. For a Transformed Demon Beast like Yuan Bupu, killing it wouldn’t be hard, but capturing it was another matter entirely.

However, in all its cunning calculations, the Evil Eye Lord could never have predicted that an old monster like Zuo Wentian was hiding in Shen Lang’s mind, waiting for it to walk right into a trap!

Nor could it have anticipated the King Martial Realm Second Heaven Desolate Domain Demon Ape appearing out of nowhere, overpowering it with a single move!

And to top it all off, Shen Lang’s nine Spirit Pattern Pillars trapped it completely in an instant, leaving it with no chance to escape.

Once the nine Spirit Pattern Pillars had it trapped, it could do nothing but pace helplessly within the sealed space they created, no matter what incredible escape arts it possessed.

"Ew! This is the disgusting thing you wanted to catch?" Nalan Ziyun shuddered, her skin crawling with goosebumps.

She had gotten a clear look at the Evil Eye Lord the moment the Desolate Domain Demon Ape had pulled it from the ground.

"Don’t tell me... you want to keep that disgusting thing as a pet? If you dare to carry something so nauseating around, I swear I’ll die on the spot!" Nalan Ziyun subconsciously retreated several steps, hiding behind Bone Two.

Shen Lang turned and said casually, "Hey, you can’t judge a book by its cover. From what I know, when creatures like this Evil Eye undergo Transformation, they usually become dashingly handsome men."

"Pah! Handsome, my foot. I feel sick just looking at it," Nalan Ziyun said with a frown.

Now that they were free from the Evil Eye Lord’s control, the surrounding Demon Beasts descended into chaos. Many began to tear into one another, making the scene even more frantic than before.

Shen Lang leaped into the air and landed on top of one of the Spirit Pattern Pillars.

Nalan Ziyun and Yuan Bupu followed him.

Looking down from the top of the Spirit Pattern Pillar, they could vaguely see that the Evil Eye Lord’s body had shrunk even further. Its countless tentacles were frantically extending and retracting, probing in all directions.

"I thought it was strange before. The Evil Eye Lord’s speed was abnormally, unbelievably fast. So that’s how it worked. Its main body is huge and occupies the entire area beneath the canyon. The moment it detected Bone Two approaching one point, it would sever its connection and switch its spiritual control to another tentacle."

"The world is truly full of wonders. According to legend, an Evil Eye Lord has many tentacles, but only the central one grows an eye. This one, however, has an eye on every single tentacle!"

As Shen Lang spoke, his eyes filled with unconcealed ecstasy.

Suddenly, a powerful spiritual fluctuation emanated from within the nine Spirit Pattern Pillars. "Respected human expert, I meant no offense. Please forgive my recklessness and spare my life. I will be sure to repay you handsomely in the future!"

The powerful spiritual fluctuation rippled through their minds, as clear as if someone were whispering right in their ears.

Shen Lang chuckled, folded his arms across his chest, and sat down right on top of the Spirit Pattern Pillar.

"Legend says that the Evil Eyes are highly intelligent. Now I see it’s true. I have a few things to say, so listen carefully."

The Evil Eye Lord immediately responded, "Respected expert, please speak. Your humble servant is all ears."

Shen Lang grinned. "If you dare to lie to me, I’ll kill you. If you dare to trick me, or if I even *think* you’re tricking me, I’ll kill you. If you forget my warnings, I’ll kill you. In fact, you’re going to have to try very, very hard just to stay alive."

"Do you understand what I’m saying? If not, I’ll kill you right now."