Volume Two: Embarking on the Journey - Chapter 15: Time for Your Medicine

“Caw…”

Shen Feng and the others had just walked out of the valley, laughing and talking, when the shrill cry of a bird suddenly rang out from the sky.

A huge shadow descended over them.

“Hm?”

Everyone’s expression changed, and they hurriedly looked up.

A gigantic bird of prey was circling above their heads. With every beat of its wings, fierce gales swept through the area, bending the surrounding trees nearly to the ground.

“You’ve got quite a lot of nerve, daring to snatch something this young master has taken a fancy to.”

A young man’s voice suddenly drifted down from the bird’s back. He was speaking the universal tongue of the myriad races.

They could hear his voice, but not see him.

The group’s expressions immediately turned ugly.

Shen Feng had been in high spirits, his face beaming like a chrysanthemum. Now his smile stiffened as he stared at the giant bird above, looking as though he had just swallowed something foul.

Did they really have to be this unlucky?

The man had not appeared earlier or later, but had waited until they had finished the battle before showing up.

Was this not the classic case of two creatures fighting while the fisherman profited?

They had been targeted.

Wang Jue’s heart tightened as well.

The thought of the mantis stalking the cicada while the oriole waited behind it surfaced in his mind.

Thinking it over carefully, he realized that, barring any surprises, this man was most likely the one who had wounded the one-horned rhinoceros earlier.

They had all assumed that he had already left. Who could have imagined that, the moment they emerged from the valley, they would run straight into him?

The members of the Gale Squad had just endured a bitter battle. Even their captain, Shen Feng, had been injured. Their overall combat strength was probably no more than half of what it had been at its peak, and even that estimate was generous.

If they had been in perfect condition, they might not have feared him.

But now every one of them was injured. Against someone capable of wounding a one-horned rhinoceros alone, their chances of defeating him were rather slim.

Moreover, judging by his accent, he was very likely from another race.

The common knowledge Wang Jue had learned from that little booklet included an introduction to the relationship between humanity and the other races. Although they appeared to live in peace, that only applied to matters on a broad scale. In more specific areas, the two sides competed fiercely.

This was especially true when it came to territory. The alien races were, in the end, outsiders, and they had always sought to replace humanity as the masters of Azure Star.

In truth, the resources available on Azure Star for martial artists to cultivate were already extremely limited. With the arrival of people from all those great races, the resources had become even scarcer.

If they did not fight, were they supposed to wait until everything was taken?

When both sides encountered each other in a situation like this, there was practically no room for negotiation.

There was only one answer.

Fight!

Whoever won would claim the resources.

Shen Feng exchanged a glance with Su Yu, Jiang Yunyan, and the others. They understood one another immediately.

They had decided to fight it out.

The next moment, Wang Jue heard Shen Feng sneer, “You’re being rather overbearing. Since you couldn’t kill that one-horned rhinoceros, are you saying no one else is allowed to?”

“Heh heh…”

The young man on the bird’s back spoke arrogantly. “Anything I take a fancy to naturally belongs to me. What are you supposed to be?”

“Enough nonsense. If you want it, come down and take it yourself,” Shen Feng snorted.

No matter how one looked at it, the one-horned rhinoceros had been killed by their squad at the cost of serious injuries. It was, without question, their spoils of war.

Now someone actually wanted to snatch their spoils from them?

No one could possibly tolerate that.

“You don’t know when to stop.”

The young man’s voice instantly turned cold. He issued an order: “Ash Vulture, kill them!”

“Caw!”

The giant bird gave a piercing cry. Its sharp eyes fixed on the people below as it folded its wings and beat them down with tremendous force.

“Who the hell is summoning wind again?”

Shen Feng cursed and hurriedly raised his shield to block.

The others did the same, retreating while using their shields for protection.

Jiang Yunxin had yet to recover fully, and her movements were somewhat impaired. As a result, Wang Jue had to carry her shield while shielding her behind him.

Clang, clang, clang…

The wind blades struck the shields, producing a succession of metallic impacts.

“Swallow, shoot him down!” Shen Feng roared at the others. “Su Yu, cover Swallow!”

“Wang Jue, take Xin’er somewhere safe first. Then use the rune pistol Swallow gave you and shoot that bastard!”

At Shen Feng’s command, Su Yu immediately moved to Jiang Yunyan’s side and took the shield from her. He then raised both shields, protecting her behind them.

Without a word, Jiang Yunyan removed the heavy machine gun from her back and fired upward through the gap between the two shields.

Bang, bang, bang…

A storm of rune bullets poured into the sky, blanketing the flying beast.

“Ash Vulture, climb!” the young man ordered again.

The bird beat its wings downward. A violent surge of wind erupted, sending it straight into the sky and raising it dozens of meters in an instant.

“Captain, that beast is out of range! We can’t hit it!” Jiang Yunyan said, her face grim.

Meanwhile, Wang Jue took Jiang Yunxin behind a large tree nearby and handed her the shield.

He then drew the rune pistol, leaped onto another tree, raised the weapon, and took aim. With a bang, a rune bullet shot toward the flying beast.

Unfortunately, it still fell short.

“That bastard must have calculated that we can’t attack him from here. That’s why he’s so fearless.”

Shen Feng’s face darkened as he gritted his teeth. “As expected, flying astral beasts are the most annoying of all. Even when they can’t beat you, they can still escape with ease. They can even keep wearing down our astral power. Once we run out, we’ll be at their mercy.”

“Hahahaha…”

The young man’s arrogant laughter drifted down from the sky.

“If you know what’s good for you, hand over the items immediately. Otherwise, I’ll make sure you die without a burial place today!”

A barrage of wind blades followed his words.

“Bah! You think a few measly wind blades can do anything to us?”

Shen Feng refused to surrender even verbally. He shouted defiantly, “Boy, if you have the guts, come down and fight us one-on-one! Hiding up there like a coward—do you know how pathetic you look?”

“What did you say?!”

The young man on the bird’s back was clearly enraged by Shen Feng’s words. A cannon barrel suddenly appeared in his hands and extended toward the group below.

“You’re courting death! Eat this!”

Boom!

A tremendous roar erupted.

Flames spewed from the cannon’s muzzle, carrying terrifying force as they blasted toward Shen Feng and the others.

“Get out of the way!”

The instant Shen Feng saw the cannon, his face turned green. He exploded into motion and sprinted madly into the distance.

“That’s a Godslayer Cannon!”

The expressions of the others changed as well. They ran as fast as their legs could carry them, as though they had seen something terrifying.

That bastard really was ruthless. He had even brought out a weapon as powerful as a Godslayer Cannon.

Wang Jue felt like cursing.

He had naturally heard of the Godslayer Cannon. It was practically a nuclear weapon.

Not only was it extraordinarily expensive to manufacture, its power was also terrifying. Against astral beasts below the fifth rank, a single shot was usually enough to finish them. Ordinary people could not afford to use one at all.

Who would have thought that the man in the sky would be carrying one with him? It was entirely beyond everyone’s expectations.

At this point, it was too late to say anything. Staying alive was all that mattered.

Boom!

The astral-power shell condensed by the Godslayer Cannon finally struck the ground. Flames shot into the sky, and a visible shock wave swept outward in every direction.

Shen Feng and the others had not run far before the terrifying shock wave, moving as swiftly as lightning, blasted them into the air.

At that moment, everyone was struggling just to save themselves. None of them had the time to worry about anyone else.

“Astral Shield!”

With his life hanging in the balance, Wang Jue’s heart accelerated and his mind tightened. The astral power within his body surged out without restraint, instantly condensing a shield before him. Even his mental energy stirred of its own accord, attaching itself to the outer surface of the astral shield and forming an additional mental barrier.

Boom, boom, boom!

The world fell completely silent in an instant.

The enormous explosion had deafened everyone.

The mental barrier shattered.

The astral shield held for three breaths before gradually collapsing and breaking apart.

A wave of scorching heat struck his face, and the shock wave crashed into Wang Jue’s body.

With a bang, he was thrown away by the blast. It felt as though he had slammed headfirst into steel. His skull throbbed, his vision went black, and for an instant he could see nothing at all.

…

It seemed to last an eternity, yet perhaps it was only an instant.

Wang Jue opened his eyes and shook his head before struggling up from the ground. His mind was still foggy, and for a moment he could not remember what had happened.

Then—

“I’m still alive!”

His pupils contracted as the memory returned, along with the relief of surviving a catastrophe.

“Hiss… that hurts!”

He hurriedly jumped to his feet, only to feel pain everywhere. He could not help drawing in a sharp breath.

“Damn it. I wonder how the captain and the others are doing?”

Wang Jue looked around and saw that the ground was scorched black. A deep crater lay at the center, while the surrounding trees had collapsed, their trunks engulfed in roaring flames.

“Oh? I didn’t expect one of you to still be alive.”

The flying beast slowly descended.

A young man stood on its back, looking down at Wang Jue from above.

Wang Jue studied him in turn.

The man’s clothing was clearly styled after ancient fashions.

Although the alien races had lived on Azure Star for more than a century, they had retained many of their own customs and cultures.

People in the safe zones did not deliberately wear ancient-style clothing, and the various races likewise did not wear modern human attire.

“Fourth level of Spirit Infusion? Looks like you got lucky and managed to preserve your life by chance. Your teammates were fairly capable, but I imagine they’re all dead by now.”

A look of contempt appeared on the young man’s face as he said coolly, “Boy, if you don’t want to die, tell me immediately what you obtained from the one-horned rhinoceros and who is carrying it. I might consider sparing your life.”

“You killed them?”

Wang Jue’s face remained expressionless, but a chill flashed through his eyes.

Although he had spent very little time with Shen Feng and the others, they had treated him with great care, and he genuinely liked the atmosphere within the Gale Squad.

He owed them a debt.

And this man had nearly killed him just now.

Anyone who wanted to kill him deserved to die!

“What? You want to avenge them?”

The young man curled his lips into a disdainful smile, making no attempt to hide his contempt.

“I might as well tell you this. I’m a ninth-level martial artist of the Scarlet Star Realm. If you answer me honestly, you may still live. Otherwise, I’ll make sure you die horribly…”

“You should really go see a doctor.”

The chill in Wang Jue’s eyes deepened. He cut the man off directly.

“What does your cultivation have to do with me? Did I ask you to tell me?”

The young man was stunned by the retort.

When he recovered, the veins on his forehead throbbed. His expression turned ugly as he asked, “What do you mean?”

“Oh, nothing. I’m just telling you that it’s time to take your medicine.”

“You’re courting death!”

The young man’s face became as cold as frost. He formed his hand into a claw, condensed astral power around it, and viciously reached for Wang Jue’s throat.