Chapter Ninety-Three: Confronting the Demon Serpent King

The battles throughout the castle gradually faded into silence.

At that moment, the castle steward came trembling out to greet them, an old man of about sixty or seventy. Beside him stood a burly fellow whose aura was immense, at least at the later stage of the ninth rank. Clearly he was the chief of the guards, or someone of that sort, though at this moment he looked upon Yi Tian and the others with great reverence.

"Many thanks to you honored lords for saving us. Our Lu family has nothing with which to repay you. If our family patriarch were to learn of this, I am sure he too would thank you for your aid. May I ask how you are addressed?"

The steward spoke uneasily to Yi Tian and the others.

"You need not know who we are. How did you end up provoking those bandits, and who is the Serpent King of Magic?"

Yi Tian cut off the other man's attempt at further courtesies.

He was somewhat puzzled by this. Along their journey, for over a thousand li around Eagle Beak Heavenly Peak, they had seen no great cities founded by the Heavenly Wind Empire, only some heavily fortified castles and a few luxurious estates.

The rise of these castles and estates was likely tied in no small measure to Eagle Beak Heavenly Peak.

The steward could not help but sigh, and said to Yi Tian, "Honored lord, you already know that our Lu family is among the top powers in the White Birch Spirit County. Our family patriarch is an honored lord at the Law Realm stage. Even the Nine Kings of Eagle Beak Heavenly Peak must show him some face, and he has some acquaintance with the Black Iron King. The people of Eagle Beak Heavenly Peak would not easily dare to provoke us."

"However, the world is hard to predict. During this recent period, Eagle Beak Heavenly Peak suddenly received a treacherous and unpredictable Serpent King of Magic, who took the third seat there."

"After the Serpent King of Magic took the third seat, he ordered the various castles around Eagle Beak Heavenly Peak to offer three maidens each month as tribute. Our Lu family castle was unwilling. We had assumed that with our family patriarch's deterrence, the other side would not dare act rashly. Yet we never imagined that the Serpent King of Magic would be so utterly deranged as to seek the destruction of our Lu family castle."

By the end, the Lu steward's voice was filled with bitter hatred.

"Oh?"

Yi Tian could not help but gain a clearer sense of the Serpent King of Magic's character.

He was a madman, reckless and without fear of consequence, utterly lawless. Once he fixed his sights on someone, there could be no end until one side was dead.

The Serpent King of Magic was undoubtedly a formidable and troublesome expert.

No wonder he could claim the third seat at Eagle Beak Heavenly Peak. He truly possessed both means and strength.

"You had best leave at once, or else the Serpent King of Magic may come back in force!" Yi Tian said to them.

His words caused the steward's face to turn deathly pale.

As for that Serpent King of Magic, he dreaded him intensely. Even the deterrence of the Lu family patriarch had failed to work. It seemed that they would have no choice but to abandon this castle's foundation and return to the main family estate.

But if so, their losses would be far too great.

Especially with the more than one hundred thousand people in this castle, the safety of relocation alone would be a major problem, let alone resettlement.

And they had no time to flee from here at all. The Serpent King of Magic from Eagle Beak Heavenly Peak could attack at any moment, and even if word reached the family, their patriarch would not be able to arrive in time.

By then, perhaps all of the more than one hundred thousand people in Lu family castle would be slaughtered to the last.

"Honored lords, we have no time to escape. The Serpent King of Magic will probably receive the news soon and come killing here. By then, all of us will be massacred. We beg you, honored lords, save us. Among us are many old people, women, and children."

As he spoke, the steward could not help but plead with tears streaming down his face.

Even the common folk nearby began to beg Yi Tian and the others, kneeling to them and kowtowing.

This left Yi Tian, Yi Shan, and the others somewhat at a loss.

A trace of reluctance and resolve flickered in Yi Tian's eyes as he said, "Rest assured. We will remain here and meet that Serpent King of Magic."

This concerned the lives of more than one hundred thousand people. Even Yi Tian and the others could not simply ignore it and stand by as death unfolded before them. Or perhaps it was that they had only just stepped into this cruel world, and their hearts were not yet hard enough.

"Many thanks to you honored lords."

At once, the steward eagerly led Yi Tian and the others back into the castle and began to entertain them lavishly. Exquisite delicacies were brought out one after another, beautiful in color, aroma, and flavor, though they contained little energy and could only satisfy the appetite.

That night, Yi Tian and the others cultivated separately in their rooms.

Since breaking through to the human stage, Yi Tian had never relaxed his deductions and refinement of the Great Sun Heaven Art.

The blackened star-clay clone had now advanced, and it was of clear help in deducing the Great Sun Heaven Art. His progress each day was quite good, and this let Yi Tian see hope that the rank of the Great Sun Heaven Art would continue to rise.

The Great Sun Heaven Art contained only the number of the small heavenly cycle, barely reaching the level of a heaven-rank technique.

From the ancient Heaven-Shooting Art, he could already tell that the Great Sun Heaven Art he was deducing still had a very long road ahead of it.

While the members of the Reincarnation Battle Team cultivated within the castle, a band of ruthless raiders and vicious men were making a night march at full speed, and from afar they could already see the Lu family castle.

High in the sky, a young man with cold, sinister eyes was striding through the air.

This youth was the Serpent King of Magic from Eagle Beak Heavenly Peak.

"The Lu family castle actually dares to resist. It seems they truly want to court death. This attempt to kill one to frighten the rest has actually failed. Those useless trash are truly more hindrance than help!"

A chill flashed through the Serpent King of Magic's eyes.

This time he had chosen the Lu family castle for a reason. He intended to annihilate it, to intimidate the other powers that had built castles within the range of Eagle Beak Heavenly Peak, and to make them obey his will and offer up one to three maidens each month as tribute for his indulgence.

When the Serpent King of Magic arrived above the Lu family castle, Yi Tian was the first to sense it.

Soon after, the others of the Reincarnation Battle Team also successively discovered the Serpent King of Magic's aura and all came out.

Yi Tian stepped upward through the air, confronting the Serpent King of Magic in the dark night sky.

This disturbance was quickly discovered by the guardian warriors throughout Lu family castle, who immediately prepared for battle as a murderous chill filled the air.

Behind the Serpent King of Magic, tens of thousands of bandits and warlords from his faction had already surged forward, all howling and shrieking with eerie laughter from time to time, their eyes cold and filled with bloodthirsty madness.

"Kill!"

The power under the Serpent King of Magic's command had almost all been deployed. Every bandit and warlord possessed mid- to high-tier strength.

The Lu family castle began its counterattack at once.

One giant crossbow bolt after another tore through the air, ripping bloody paths across the ground, so fierce that even high-tier martial artists found them hard to withstand.

However, such immensely powerful crossbow bolts were few in number after all. A great many high-tier martial artists rushed up the walls, entered the castle, and engaged the tens of thousands of Lu family guards in fierce battle.

The women, children, and elders of the Lu family castle had long since hidden themselves in secret chambers and underground tunnels.

Yi Shan could not restrain himself first, joining the slaughter of the great bandits and arch-thugs of Eagle Beak Heavenly Peak. Yi Feng, Yi Li, Yi Kuang, and Yi Hong followed suit, each like an invincible sovereign walking among mortals, striking down one great bandit and bandit after another.

This greatly eased the pressure on Lu family castle.

The Serpent King of Magic merely glanced at Yi Shan and the others once before paying them no further heed. Even as he watched Yi Shan, Yi Feng, and the others slaughter his men in great numbers, he showed no expression and did not deign to look twice.

At a glance, he could tell that Yi Shan and the others were merely human-stage experts at the essence-force level.

To him, essence-force experts were only a little troublesome, nothing more. As one who had stepped into the Law Realm, he was confident he could blast these few essence-force experts to death one by one.

However, he sensed a dangerous aura from Yi Tian, and that stirred some interest in the Serpent King of Magic.