Nine Nether Heavenly Emperor
Chapter 71: Killing the Chicken to Warn the Monkey

Chapter 71: Chapter 71: Killing the Chicken to Warn the Monkey

Gazing at the slightly fluctuating green poison ahead, Shi Feng noticed the Mercenary Group warriors looking at each other, the fear evident on their faces.

"How’s that, scared?" Shi Feng addressed them.

"You...I have no grudge with you, everything was just following the Young Captain’s orders. What will it take for you to let me go?"

"No grudge?" Shi Feng countered before adding, "The moment you crossed swords with me, a grudge was formed."

"That was just following Hee Xuan’s command," the warrior argued.

"Is that so?" Shi Feng scoffed, then with a swipe of his right hand through the Void, before the warrior could utter a sound, his body was bisected at the waist by a stark white Sword Energy, falling off the Demon Wolf.

The others watched in horror as their peer was mercilessly slain by Shi Feng, then their companion’s blood, like a fountain, sprayed towards the demon who killed him. In an instant, a body that was just moments ago talking and filled with vitality shriveled into a twisted, desiccated corpse, as if it had weathered hundreds of years.

Once again, the group exchanged looks, their faces etched with even greater fear. This was indeed a demon who would take lives without blinking at the slightest disagreement.

Shi Feng, still reserving his Soul Power for Yuel Wushuang, devoured the slain warrior’s Power of Death and blood. His icy gaze swept across each of the Demon Wolf Mercenary Group warriors. Usually brazen in Demon Beast City, they now couldn’t meet Shi Feng’s eye and hung their heads in silence.

Shi Feng’s lips curled into a cold smile as he spoke to them, "Don’t tell me you were just following orders. If I had been a Martial Artist with meager Martial Arts Cultivation and lacking strength, I would have become a ghost under your swords yesterday or been maimed and delivered to your so-called Young Captain to endure the most malicious torture in the world.

The moment you drew your swords on me, you should have been prepared to be killed by me. Even if I slay you like pigs and dogs now, it would be no more than you deserve."

After hearing Shi Feng’s words, the Mercenary Group warriors kept their heads down, silent and daring not to retort.

After a moment of quiet, Lonely Wolf looked at Shi Feng with a humble tone and said, "Sir, perhaps we truly are at fault, but what can we do to earn your forgiveness?"

"Perhaps?" Shi Feng’s gaze bore into Lonely Wolf coldly.

"No, no! We are truly at fault!" Lonely Wolf quickly corrected himself.

"There are two paths before you to choose from!" Shi Feng said, "Either meet the same fate as Hee Xuan and the man just now, or become my slaves."

"You!" Sky Wolf couldn’t contain his anger and said the word "you" with a furious expression toward Shi Feng.

Shi Feng’s icy gaze fell on him as he spoke, "If it weren’t for some slight use among you worthless lot, your attitude right now would earn you a slash of my sword! Now, you lead the way into this valley."

"All of you worthless ones, follow!"

Under Shi Feng’s command, the warriors dared not disobey, and even Sky Wolf had no choice but to comply with Shi Feng’s wishes.

Shi Feng leapt up, standing on the Demon Wolf that he had just slain. Due to the size difference between a Second-stage Demon Wolf and a Third-stage Demon Wolf, Shi Feng standing was about as tall as Yuel Wushuang sitting, and then together with Yuel Wushuang, followed behind the group of warriors.

"I never imagined someone as young as you could be so decisive in killing!" Yuel Wushuang said to Shi Feng in a teasing tone.

"What, do you, the merciful one, think I’m too cruel?" Shi Feng asked.

Yuel Wushuang shook her head and said, "I’m not that foolish. Those people wanted to kill you, so I naturally have no pity for them. What you do and what you say are right."

After hearing Yuel Wushuang’s words, Shi Feng smiled and said, "So you’re not the stubborn type."

"Of course not. I never was," Yuel Wushuang said proudly.

"However, I hope you won’t do such foolish things as sacrificing yourself for others in the future. It’s not worth it," Shi Feng said.

"Uh-huh," replied Yuel Wushuang, nodding her head. It was unclear whether she truly understood and agreed or if she was just placating him.

"Everyone be careful! There’s movement up ahead!" At that moment, from the vanguard of the group, Sky Wolf’s loud warning came. The group, cautiously advancing, immediately halted in neat unison.

"Flap flap flap flap!" From the front, sounds like the flapping of wings approached from afar. Then, those sounds multiplied, became denser, along with an increasing buzz that resembled the noise of mosquitoes.

Before their eyes, from within the green venom, a swarm of mosquitoes the size of fingertips, their bodies green, flew out.

"It’s the Second-stage Green Poison Mosquito!" a martial artist in the group shouted. Above their heads, a dense, green cloud-like swarm of Green Poison Mosquitoes appeared, swooping down in a blanket.

"Be careful!" Shi Feng’s right hand ignited with a bright blood-colored flame which he cast down upon Yuel Wushuang. The blood-colored flame instantly enveloped her whole body.

Then, with a "boom," Shi Feng’s body too blazed up, turning him into a figure of blood-colored flames burning fiercely.

Insects fear fire, and what burned on Shi Feng and Yuel Wushuang was none other than Heavenly Fire, Sacred Flame. Though now it was only Third-stage Heavenly Fire, it was more than sufficient for dealing with these Second-stage poisonous insects. Against such low-leveled venomous creatures, it was like being on invincible ground.

The dense swarm of Green Poison Mosquitoes bearing down on Shi Feng and Yuel Wushuang was instantly incinerated by the blood-colored flames, stream after stream of the Power of Death being absorbed by Shi Feng.

"Burn!" Shi Feng let out a low command, and the fiercely burning blood-colored flames on his body exploded outward, sweeping in all directions like a sudden flood, turning the area into a roaring blood-colored Sea of Fire in the blink of an eye.

The dense clouds of Green Poison Mosquitoes, as well as the martial artists of the Demon Wolf Mercenary Group and the Demon Wolves, were all engulfed by the blood-colored flames.

The great fire arrived quickly and departed just as swift. When the blood-colored Sea of Fire vanished, the martial artists of the Demon Wolf Mercenary Group found themselves unscathed, the Green Poison Mosquitoes all gone. Within dozens of meters around, the air that was once filled with green venom had also disappeared, burnt away by the blood-colored Sea of Fire moments before.

At that moment, the group, having come to their senses, cast their gazes towards the young figure standing on the Demon Wolf behind them—some with awe, some with shock, and even some with stupefaction.

Green Poison Mosquitoes, although not high in rank, are numerous and move in swarms like locusts, carrying within them deadly poison that penetrates every crevice. Even for Martial King experts, they are a great nuisance.

But it was that young man, who with a mere gesture, had eliminated the notoriously troublesome Green Poison Mosquitoes. The blood-colored flames had given everyone a heart-palpitating, irresistible force, as though they were compelled to submit—a feeling they had never even when facing Martial King powerhouses.

They suddenly realized that this young man was becoming more and more enigmatic.