The silver moon hung high! A cool breeze rustled! Gazing into the distance, everything was bathed in a soft, hazy silver-white light! Scattered amidst it were pinpricks of firelight. Those were the glows emanating from the Phoenix Bright Pearls used for illumination by the patrolling soldiers not far away. Vast, indistinct silhouettes flashed across the hazy night sky from time to time, occasionally accompanied by crisp, drawn-out bird calls. It was the large night-fliers soaring rapidly across the expansive heavens. The night on the Mafa Continent did not settle into tranquility with the arrival of darkness.

Mancheng was strategically located as a fortress, yet its unique geographical position at the junction of the Wanluo Mountain Range and the Silver Peak Mountain Range meant it was not a densely populated city like others on the Mafa Continent.

Instead, the surrounding areas were teeming with countless kinds of venomous snakes, insects, and fierce beasts! And night was precisely the time when these various ferocious creatures emerged.

Compared to the daytime, Mancheng, situated at the nexus of the two great mountain ranges, was actually much more clamorous and lively at night!

A blur of white shadow darted across the tall city wall like lightning, vanishing in the vast moonlight in the blink of an eye.

Moments later, from afar, came urgent, panicked roars of beasts, mingled with the deep, satisfied grunts of the Great Mammoth King!

The soldiers of the Black Banner Legion were long accustomed to such scenes. Mammoths typically rested during the day and hunted at night; this was when the Great Mammoth King was most active, especially on nights such as this, with the silver moon high and the air cool.

On the city wall!

“Hah! What a fellow, truly fast as the wind,” Feng Qingtian, Tong Leilong Yuan Feixue, and the others stared in astonishment toward the direction the Great Mammoth King had vanished.

“Like master, like pet, I suppose,” Long Yuan Feixue muttered, clearly displeased.

“Heh heh, aren't you envious?” Feng Qingtian teased.

“……” Long Yuan Feixue could only grit his teeth in resentment, unable to utter a word. Although, after a conversation in the Marshal’s Hall, Xingchen’s words seemed to have made everyone set aside personal grudges and cease their calculations, yet grudges and grievances are not so easily dismissed. Moreover, for both Long Yuan Feixue and Hu Xiaoshan Ye, their ultimate goal had always been to surpass Xingchen, and in a sense, this firm conviction far outweighed any personal enmity between them!

Seeing the astonishing speed of the Great Mammoth King now, how could they possibly maintain a calm state of mind!

Long Yuan Feixue and the others were long past being surprised by the string of near-miraculous deeds performed by Xingchen. But even the mount of this man possessed such terrifying combat prowess, which left them deeply uncomfortable.

“This damned fellow, it’s one thing for the man himself to be monstrous,” Ying Zhenkuangren made no attempt to conceal his jealousy of Xingchen: “but even his mount is this abnormal. Is he leaving anyone alive?”

“Forget about defeating him now,” Long Yuan Feixue insisted, unwilling to yield. “Just relying on that Great Mammoth King, he could casually treat us as snacks.”

Since the Battle of Mancheng, the Great Mammoth King had become famous across the world following that earth-shattering fight. When people spoke of Xingchen, they subconsciously mentioned that terrifying beast.

One had to remember, that was a terrifying monster capable of slaying heavily armored War Generals! Its combat strength was no less than that of an average Heavenly Demon Warrior. So much so that in the Ranger World, the saying circulated: in terms of conventional foot combat, Xingchen ranked only tenth among the Ten Great Heavenly Demons, but in mounted charge combat, Xingchen, possessing the Great Mammoth King as his mount, was unequivocally the strongest Heavenly Demon Warrior.

It was clear how astonishingly Xingchen’s combat power was amplified by the existence of the Great Mammoth King.

And ever since Xingchen successfully tamed the Great Mammoth King as his mount, a craze for capturing Great Mammoths swept through the Ranger World, with many attempting to emulate Xingchen by taking one as a mount.

However, Great Mammoths were inherently extremely rare beasts; let alone capturing one, it was difficult to even catch a glimpse of them normally. Furthermore, given the astonishing speed of the Great Mammoths, even if one was spotted, catching it was not guaranteed.

Consequently, although this fervor had persisted for quite some time, little news had been heard of anyone successfully capturing a Great Mammoth. The few that were caught were sold at exorbitant prices, yet even then, the demand far outstripped the supply.

Alas, up to this point, no one seemed to have heard of anyone successfully taming a Great Mammoth as a mount.

This fact made everyone intensely curious about how Xingchen managed to subdue the Great Mammoth King! One must remember that Great Mammoths were naturally fierce and proud, preferring death to submission—how much more so the king among them, the Great Mammoth King!

Therefore, the manner in which Xingchen captured the Great Mammoth King became a topic of fierce debate in the Ranger World!

Some said the Great Mammoth King was subdued by Xingchen's brute force; others claimed it was a pet Xingchen had raised since its infancy; and still others suggested Xingchen used some kind of drug to control it.

In short, countless bizarre versions circulated. Of course, only Xingchen himself probably knew the absolute truth. However, Long Yuan Feixue and the others paid little attention to these rumors.

“Who told you to be Xingchen’s mount,” Hu Xiaoshan Ye sighed helplessly. “Has this fellow ever done anything that wasn’t astonishing? Anything strange happening to Xingchen seemed to be taken for granted: ‘He’s simply an incomprehensible monster.’”

“Though I hate to admit it,” Xiong Ba Tianxia said, “hoping to surpass this monster in this lifetime seems like a lost cause.”

“Giving up already?” Feng Qingtian sounded somewhat surprised.

“Despair!” Xiong Ba Tianxia ground his teeth. “I won’t let this go just like that. Think of all the hardship this guy put us through…”

Recalling how Long Yuan Feixue, Xiong Ba Tianxia, and the others traveled thousands of miles across oceans to the Cangyue Continent to hunt Xingchen, only to be recalled to the Bichi Continent before they could even get settled.

Afterward, large groups began exploring the secrets of the Sand City Treasury, an endeavor that nearly cost them their lives.

After barely escaping, they thought they finally had a chance to deal with him properly.

But this fellow had vanished, disappearing for over a year. When they finally got news of him, they were shocked to discover that he had transformed, becoming a disciple of the Dragon Shadow Villa, and had even defeated the renowned Grandmaster expert, Luo Hao.

He had become the youngest Grandmaster expert on the continent!

It was then that Long Yuan Feixue and the others realized a terrifying truth!

Unbeknownst to them, Xingchen’s strength had reached a height they could barely aspire to.

This was nearly unbearable for Long Yuan Feixue and the others to accept.

The Four Great Gates, including the Longyuan Gate, felt utterly humiliated, as if they had been played for fools by the Dragon Shadow Villa!

Indeed! Their four most promising disciples had been thoroughly tricked by a secret disciple of the Dragon Shadow Villa. While they were exhausting themselves trying to cause trouble for him, he was hiding away, diligently training in secret.

Two years wasted—he became a Grandmaster expert while their disciples remained stagnant. This was more galling than being slapped across the face a few times.

Having learned their lesson, the four finally abandoned the plan to hunt Xingchen and chose instead to enter secluded cultivation.

But soon after, another shocking piece of news arrived! During the Battle of Yungcheng, Xingchen had actually become a Heavenly Demon Warrior, and what’s more, he displayed terrifying might, defeating Aotian’s Mage Legion.

This news struck the young and high-spirited Ying Zhenkuangren like a thunderbolt!

It also made them soberly realize that surpassing this monster-like figure using conventional methods was absolutely impossible.

Thinking back now, ever since Xingchen appeared in the Ranger World, Long Yuan Feixue and the others had been driven nearly to the breaking point by him. The memories of the past flashed before their eyes, and remembering them now, Long Yuan Feixue and the others couldn't help but grind their teeth in anger.

What was more infuriating was that Xingchen seemed completely oblivious to their struggles.

Looking at Long Yuan Feixue and the others, each wearing expressions of deep dissatisfaction, Yun Xi found the situation quite amusing and asked curiously, “I heard you all entered the Demon Dragon World to cultivate. Why did you return here?”

“The Demon Dragon World.” Long Yuan Feixue and Ying Zhenkuangren both showed awkward expressions.

“What, did you fail the trial in the Demon Dragon World and come back?” Feng Qingtian asked.

“If the Demon Dragon World were that easy to pass, then a Grandmaster expert wouldn't be so cheap,” Ying Zhenkuangren grumbled in agitation.

“Interesting,” Feng Qingtian said, seemingly ignoring the about-to-explode Ying Zhenkuangren, and persistently inquired: “Tell me, what did you encounter in the Demon Dragon World?”

“Don’t even mention it,” Hu Xiaoshan Ye said awkwardly. “That trial nearly cost us our lives.”

“……” Tong Lei wasn't particularly surprised. As a Ranger native to the Demon Dragon Continent, no one knew the dangers of the Demon Dragon World better than he. Looking at the lingering fear on Long Yuan Feixue and the others, he subconsciously remarked: “If I haven’t guessed wrong, you must have been trapped by the Demon Dragon Giant Moths, right?”

“Has Brother Tong also entered the Demon Dragon World?” Hu Xiaoshan Ye asked in surprise.

“Indeed, and more than once,” Tong Lei said with feeling. “It’s a pity that every time I reached the Demon Dragon Ridge, I stalled, never finding a way past the checkpoint guarded by the Demon Dragon Giant Moths.”

“Exactly,” Xiong Ba Tianxia finally recovered, sounding rather like he was venting. “Those big things are terrifying! Their speed and strength are absurdly high, not to mention that they can fly and dive. But their sensing ability is the most monstrous; they can detect our presence from a great distance.”

“I truly don’t know how that fellow managed to pass through,” Long Yuan Feixue also looked bitter.

“The more we talk about it, the more discouraged we get,” Hu Xiaoshan Ye concluded. “I already said that fellow is an out-and-out monster. How can the thinking of normal people match up to the twisted mindset of a monster?”

“Haha.” Tong Lei heartily agreed: “Brother Shanye is absolutely right. That fellow is indeed a monster; his actions simply cannot be gauged by common sense.”

“Later, we each got stuck at the Demon Dragon Ridge, and that’s when we ran into each other,” Ying Zhenkuangren admitted helplessly. “We even tried to force our way through the Demon Dragon Ridge together, but alas, when dealing with those Demon Dragon Giant Moths, sheer numbers are useless. Having no choice, we had to temporarily withdraw from the Demon Dragon World and return to the Bichi Continent, just in time for the conscription order.”

“When we came out, we learned that this continent was nearly turned upside down by that brat Xingchen. I never imagined this guy was actually the Crown Prince of the great Demon Dragon Empire, yet he dared to wander about openly. And now, he’s even run over to the Demon Sealing Continent, not only wiping out Aotian’s Legion but also establishing the Black Banner Army. Now he’s even defeated Moluo Yinfeng.”

“I told you the kid isn’t normal,” Hu Xiaoshan Ye sighed helplessly. “But thinking about how he possesses the royal bloodlines of both the Bichi and Demon Dragon nations, those previous unbelievable things happening to him aren't that surprising after all.”

“This is the power of royal blood,” Feng Qingtian exclaimed with deep feeling. “Heaven has bestowed all the blessings upon that boy.”

“Enough about us!” Hu Xiaoshan Ye turned to Feng Qingtian. “I heard you completed the Church’s assessment task and can enter the Heavenly Demon Sanctuary to cultivate. Why are you here too?”

“My cultivation was straightforward. During the test in the Heavenly Demon Sanctuary, my physique was detected as capable of wielding the Heavenly Demon Armor,” Feng Qingtian replied easily. “So, the rest is just hastening to become a Grandmaster expert; then I can directly enter the Heavenly Demon Sanctuary and wear the Heavenly Demon Armor.”

“That’s like saying nothing,” Ying Zhenkuangren retorted sharply. “Becoming a Grandmaster expert—easier said than done.”

“That’s true,” Feng Qingtian chuckled lightly. “But we still have time. As long as we persist in hard training, we will achieve our goal someday.”

“I’m afraid by then, that guy will have already become a Phoenix Sky Warrior,” Ying Zhenkuangren muttered, subconsciously glancing into the distance. However, he quickly wore an expression as if he’d seen a ghost. “Good heavens, am I seeing things?”

“What’s wrong?” Long Yuan Feixue was also very curious. He subconsciously followed Ying Zhenkuangren’s gaze and immediately wore an expression of disbelief: “It’s that brat!”

On the distant inner wall, two blurry figures could be seen, but given the cultivation levels of those present, discerning that it was precisely Xingchen and another person was not difficult!

“And Yan Luo,” Hu Xiaoshan Ye said strangely. “I heard he has a close relationship with that girl.”

“Heh heh, interesting. Is this little bean sprout also capable of romance?” Xiong Ba Tianxia displayed a rare hint of interest.

“That fellow is quite capable on the battlefield; I wonder if he’s just as invincible in matters of the heart,” Ying Zhenkuangren’s silver pupils flashed with a strange look. “Let’s go take a look. Perhaps we can overhear some private words.”

“Uh, that doesn’t seem quite right,” Long Yuan Feixue, unusually, blushed deeply, looking somewhat crestfallen.

Unfortunately, before Long Yuan Feixue could react, the mischievous group crept stealthily toward the distant inner wall.

These fellows! Long Yuan Feixue glanced around nervously, but in the end, unable to resist his own curiosity, he quietly followed them!