Supreme Emperor of Swords

“Old brother, don’t be sad. We’re in the same boat.” The brawny man patted Tianshu’s shoulder sympathetically.

“Now the whole camp is searching for that old conman. After repeated verifications, the experts of the Sun Moon Manor and the Tongtian Divine Sect have confirmed that the maps sold by that old fella aren’t complete. There are key parts missing. That old fella must have deliberately withheld the details. Once we find him, we will definitely get the real maps.”

Tianshu spoke indignantly again. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s hurry and take action. Catch that old bastard, torture him severely, and make him talk.”

Black furrows appeared on Ding Hao’s forehead.

“This old fella is definitely a son of a b*tch.”

“Don’t worry. We’ve already cast an impenetrable net over and around this entire campsite. Once this old bandit appears, he won’t get away even with wings,” the brawny man said very mysteriously.

“What impenetrable net?” Tianshu inched forward and asked cautiously.

The two whispered into each other’s ears for a while. In the end, they became as close as real brothers. After getting a lot of information out of him, Tianshu reluctantly waved goodbye to the brawny man and his companions.

“Why do I find that old man a little familiar?” Gazing at Tianshu’s back, someone wondered thoughtfully.

“We’re the same destitute men of this world, also swindled by that old conman,” the brawny man explained.

The others all nodded.

The next morning, the sun shone brightly.

When Ding Hao and Tianshu came out of the tent, the whole campsite was empty. The few thousand human martial artists last night had almost all left.

“We can’t be too far from them. Let’s try to catch up.”

Uncle Tianshu was afraid that someone else would lead the charge, so he leaped up the crown of a 100-meter-high ancient tree. His eyes sweeping the area, he soon discovered the direction they were going, and made for the interior of Bone-burying Forest.

This primeval forest was indeed vast and mysterious, full of murderous malice everywhere.

After jumping from tree crown to tree crown for seven to eight kilometers in this sea of green, the two were attacked by more than 20 ferocious beasts.

“Hiss, hiss…”

Amidst the supersonic sound waves, a golden python several hundred meters long suddenly appeared in that sea of trees. Like a flood dragon, it was as fast as lightning, casting a huge shadow and biting at Ding Hao and his companion.

This snake had golden scales all over its body, its bloody gaping mouth spitting venom. Its golden venom could instantly corrode a millennium-old tomb, dissolving even rocks into the fluid.

“Oh, my pet, noon’s the right time for snake meat.”

The coarse-looking old man, Tianshu, was not surprised but elated. He took out a black pot, lifted its lid, and waved it in the wind. The strange energy swept out, instantly trapping the massive golden python into the pot.

“Squawk…”

With an ear-piercing squawk, a huge shadow loomed over the sky. A silver-crested wolf falcon, with an outstretched wingspan of 100 meters, swooped down from the clouds. Faint thunder and lightning accompanied its beating wings, and as its wings flapped, two purple plasmas hacked down on the heads of Ding Hao and Tianshu.

“Haha, this chick can go with the stewed little snake. Great!”

Uncle Tianshu was so delighted that he could not close his mouth. He lifted the pot lid and flourished the pot in the air. There was a streak of multicolored brilliance, and the silver-crested wolf falcon with the strength of a six or seven-apertured Martial King was trapped in the pot just as expected.

“This pot isn’t simple.” The voice of the Saber Master suddenly echoed in Ding Hao’s mind. “Find an opportunity to seize this pot and refine it. It’ll be of great use to us.”

“Uh… it’s not the right thing to do, is it?” Ding Hao was a little hesitant. “After all, we’re friends.”

“It doesn’t matter. Anyway, that son of a b*tch isn’t a good man. He must have swindled someone out of this pot.” The Saber Master was not concerned about the honorableness of this deed.

While they were talking, there was the sound of a fight in front of them.

Ding Hao and Tianshu exchanged glances and sprinted over.

Unfortunately, by the time they arrived, the battle was over. Under a 10,000-year-old tree, more than a dozen bodies were sprawled in the most disorderly fashion. These Human Clan warriors had their limbs mangled, and terrified expressions were still on some of their faces. It was a gruesome and bloody scene.

These corpses were all mauled, as if torn by the fangs of wild beasts.

“This must be… the Demon Clan’s doings.” Tianshu examined them for a short time and confirmed that these men were in fact not killed by ferocious beasts, but by masters of the Demon Clan.

“They must still be nearby.” Ding Hao released his Divine Senses, searching carefully.

“Both Demon Clan warriors and Human Clan warriors have come to the Bone-burying Forest. A conflict like this is to be expected. If Human Clan masters come across solitary Demons, those Demons would probably get killed too. There aren’t only ferocious beasts in this forest, but also dangerous foes. This place will get more and more dangerous.” There was a solemn look on Tianshu’s face.

The two of them continued to move forward.

Along the way, they encountered many ferocious beasts.

Uncle Tianshu seemed delighted.

Because he had captured dozens of fierce beasts in his black pot. Each one of them was extraordinary, and he could stew just about every species in his pot.

By now, Ding Hao had also realized that the black pot was not a simple piece of crockery.

No one knew what this pot was made of, but clearly, it had some divine magical powers.

Even with Ding Hao’s attainments in weapon refining, he did not know what material this pot was made of. Yet it was already enough to make the Saber Master covet it. Tianshu’s technique of casting and refining was also extraordinary—refining the primordial inscriptions directly in the pot, before integrating them with the ingredients, just like they were an organic whole. At least for now, Ding Hao still could not do it.

The pot was primitive, simple, and unadorned, its bottom stained with black soot. It looked no different from an ordinary farmer’s pot, but as Tianshu waved it, an imposing, colorful and dazzling power would surge out. No matter how powerful those ferocious beasts were, once Tianshu shook the pot, they would be all trapped once the pot was sealed.

Ding Hao had a hunch—the mysterious profundity of this pot was far beyond what he had imagined.

In the twinkling of an eye, a day had passed.

The two of them were now more than 700 kilometers deep in Bone-burying Forest. They did not dare to move too fast.

Along the way, they saw many marks of fighting—

Carcasses of ferocious beasts piled up like hillocks, with their hides, bones, teeth, eyeballs and hearts—everything of worth—all dug out. Their blood had solidified into black rocks. There were also mangled human corpses, once horrifically powerful experts who were now unable to keep their bodies intact. There were also some Demon Clan experts whose bodies were still in human form. Their bodies were also mangled, their entrails scattered all over the ground…

A bonfire was started under the night sky.

“What a pity. If only there were a few more Yin-nature wild beasts’ flesh and blood, this pot would be perfect… Come, you must sample my cooking…” Uncle Tianshu said with a proud smile.

With one hand flaming with black True Fire, he set the black pot on his hand and stewed it for 15 minutes. A sizzling sound was heard from the pot. Tianshu then lifted the lid, and an indescribable aroma wafted out.

“Meow!” Evil Moon rushed up at once, fished out a tender piece of golden python meat with its paw, and gulped it down.

Ding Hao did not stand on ceremony either. He immediately fished out a large piece of golden beast meat and sat beside the bonfire, enjoying himself. It was so delicious that grease slithered down the corner of his mouth. Soon, he gave up sitting so formally and, after finishing the meat, reached for the pot for another, scooping it with his bare hand.

“Hey, leave some for me.” Uncle Tianshu was also anxious.

He had not expected these two gluttons to be wolfing down and devouring everything. In the blink of an eye, one-tenth of the stewed meat in the pot was gone. Tianshu immediately rolled up his sleeves and began eating, madly stuffing meat into his mouth.

Under the moonlight, these two men and the cat did not even have a chance to talk. Focused entirely on the food, all three were binge eating.

Ding Hao did not know how much he had eaten. There were probably at least four or five tons of meat in his stomach, all lean meat of the Surviving Species of the Untainted Land. Their impurities had been removed by Tianshu as he stewed the pot. After the tender greasy meat slithered down their throats, it would immediately turn into balls of pure energy, diffusing into their limbs and bones…

It was really a perverse kind of cultivation.

Ding Hao sat up and looked at Tianshu with new eyes.

Tianshu’s pot was really a priceless treasure. The stewed beast meat inside was almost as good as a medium-level spiritual elixir, filled with tremendous energy. If he were to have such tender meat every day, his cultivation would advance as fast as a rocket, especially since a freak like Ding Hao had no cultivation bottlenecks. They would fit each other perfectly.

No wonder the Saber Master had repeatedly coaxed Ding Hao into hoodwinking Tianshu and seizing his pot.

She must have noticed the uniqueness of this pot a long time ago.

Ding Hao directed his magic Qi to smelt the endless heat, digesting the beast meat into purest energy. Eating this meal was comparable to a dozen days of diligent cultivation. Within his meridian channels, his Qi became more and more vigorous.

In the end, Evil Moon simply turned its head into a hillock, opening its mouth and swallowing the food madly without even chewing.

Obviously, the fat cat was also well aware of the benefits of this stewed meat.

Uncle Tianshu stared with wide-open eyes at this master and his servant binge eat. It was the first time he had met gluttons greedier than him. He totally regretted it. Had he known this, he would not have shared his food with them. After all, no one was likely to collect so much lean meat of the Surviving Species of the Untainted Land.

Right at this moment…

Swoosh!

Three golden arrows, like death rays in a dark night, suddenly streaked out from the distant forest, targeting Ding Hao and his two companions.

These arrows were like golden flood dragons, stirring up tornado-like currents while making three black fissures in the earth with their remnant Qi. Wherever they passed, ancient trees would fracture, huge boulders would shatter, grass and woods would scatter, as if there was an earthquake.

Ding Hao and his two companions ducked at the same time, dodging the three earth-shattering arrows.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Thousands of meters away, the three peaks in the interlinking mountain chain were hit by these flood dragon-like golden arrows. The three arrows skimmed the earth, toppling the peaks and exploding them, causing the wild beasts within a radius of several dozen kilometers to shriek wildly.

“Eh, you guys aren’t too bad. You can actually dodge my Horned Dragon arrows.”

A slightly teasing voice rang out.

Then, there was a whizz of human figures. Several dozen figures darted out deep from the distant forest, surrounding Ding Hao and his companions, looking hostile.