Chapter 127: So You're the Master of Black Stone Pool?

The still, cold pool resembled a piece of green jade, but the deeper one went, the more it gradually turned pitch-black.

The Toad Lord's massive figure flexed nimbly; its legs kicked out, and it sank another hundred zhang toward the bottom.

Until its foot landed on a huge, smooth boulder, where it crouched low, and a flicker of regret welled up in its two bulging eyes.

It should never have been so greedy for comfort, sparing that bastard Liu Bin's life.

If only it had known, it would have risked being hunted down by the General Who Suppresses Demons, eaten the man, and gambled on breaking through one more time—after all, hiding in its cave dwelling for a few hundred more years wouldn't have been much of a problem.

Recalling that black-robed figure from earlier, killing intent surged in the Toad Lord's heart.

Having lived so long, sheltered by the cold pool, it had never suffered such a great loss.

Too bad there was still an Elixir Formation Realm martial artist backing him up; otherwise, today it would have definitely taken that brat's life—offering a body-tempered fellow to its own temple of the five viscera.

"Enough, enough. I've crawled my way through all these years—what's the point of fighting over a moment's temper? I'll rest up properly for a while, then go to Outside Qingzhou and eat my fill."

The Toad Lord's mindset was remarkably sound; otherwise, it could never have accumulated over four thousand years of cultivation.

It lay its body fully flat, preparing to rest well for a moment.

Just then, those two enormous eyes glanced upward in surprise.

In the next instant, surprise turned into boundless fury.

"Good, good, good! I've seen people rushing to deliver gifts, but never one rushing to deliver his death!"

The Toad Lord's anger didn't come solely from the loss suffered in the earlier exchange; it came more from the trampling of a Demon Lord's dignity.

It was the Demon Lord of Black Stone Pool—elsewhere it might not matter, but in this cold pool, even the General Who Suppresses Demons would have to kneel obediently before this lord!

The next moment, its massive body suddenly surged upward, turning into a black shadow that silently loomed behind the youth's slender frame.

"Do you think that just because you have a body-tempered, horizontally-trained physique, the world is yours to roam?"

The low voice drilled straight into Shen Yi's ear. The Toad Lord didn't even bother with a sneak attack—as the master of Black Stone Pool, it knew full well how much threat this bone-piercing cold could pose to a martial artist.

"This lord will teach you how the word 'humility' is written."

As the words fell, its thick, sturdy toad leg slammed down viciously, determined to recoup the loss from earlier, principal and interest both!

The pitch-black water surged and churned wildly.

The enormous foot, like a Luo Tian Da Shou, completely enveloped the youth's body.

The next moment, a ceremonial blade struck precisely at the fork between the toes, still with that same unstoppable momentum, cleaving all the way to the forelimb.

Greenish blood mingled into the water, slowly dispersing.

The Toad Lord let out a howl even more miserable than before, stumbling back dozens of zhang; both forelimbs had been split into forked shapes by that same blade.

It instinctively fired countless venomous arrows from the hollows all over its body, shooting viciously toward the front!

Before it could get a clear look, a sharp gleam surged from ahead, carrying demonic power no less than its own, cleaving down from above!

Its enormous eyes burst like pig bladders.

The three-foot blade sheared off a large chunk of flesh, then stabbed sideways into its skull.

In just a few breaths, the Toad Lord didn't even understand what had happened before it went limp and began plummeting downward.

In its hazy vision, the black-robed youth's expression was calm. The water, laced with deadly venom, hadn't been able to get anywhere near him; he stepped on the undercurrent, his pace unhurried, elegant like a sovereign of the waters.

He reached out slightly, and the bone-piercing cold undercurrent parted on its own—casual, as if it were an innate ability.

"This lord is the master of Black Stone Pool!"

The Toad Lord shrieked sharply, its crimson tongue shooting out like a sword, stabbing viciously forward.

Shen Yi regarded it noncommittally. In his dark eyes, a dim red mist rose, and his hand tightened slightly.

The surging undercurrent instantly wrapped around the Toad Lord's tongue, then its four limbs, and finally its entire body.

The endless force seemed ready to crush it outright.

Black Stone Pool—which the Toad Lord had relied on most over all these years—now revealed its ferocious side to it.

The demon's massive body thrashed wildly.

Shen Yi came stepping over the waves, his five well-defined fingers resting on its tongue. Surging demonic power burst between his fingers, and the entire thick red tongue exploded straight into a pile of minced meat.

The Toad Lord's brain was battered by successive waves of agony, to the point of numbness.

At this moment, only one thought remained in its mind.

Run! Run out of Black Stone Pool!

What it faced was no martial artist at all! It was an aquatic fierce demon!

It exerted all its strength to break free of the water's restraint, desperately surging upward.

Watching the huge black shadow flee.

Shen Yi glanced somewhat reluctantly at the cold pool—in truth, it actually felt quite comfortable, just like coming home.

His divine sense stirred slightly, and a wisp of cold current carried him as he swiftly gave chase.

……

On the low slopes surrounding Black Stone Pool.

Xiao Qiangwei shoved Liu Bin's head viciously into the mud.

The old general, his beard streaked with white, had a mouthful of black mud, yet kept letting out a low chuckle from his throat. Muffled, he said: "What are you waiting for? Waiting for him to crawl out of the pool? Or waiting for the Toad Lord to digest him, then come up and eat us both?"

"Hah… get You Longtao here… I want to see if he can make it out…"

Listening to his noisy words, Xiao Qiangwei's expression was indifferent. She reached out to the side: "Give me a short blade."

A few deputy generals hesitated, then approached and handed over a sharp short blade.

Xiao Qiangwei took the short blade, abruptly yanked Liu Bin's head up from the ground, then stabbed it into his mouth in one stroke, twisting the blade backhand.

Black mud mixed with tongue was instantly shredded.

She tossed the short blade aside, grabbed Liu Bin by the hair, clamped his mouth shut, and forced him to swallow the tongue flesh and black mud together.

"Hah."

Xiao Qiangwei let out a long breath, gripped the old man as she rose, and could not help glancing once more toward the Cold Pool.

A heart full of doubts, with no idea who to confide them to.

Why, exactly? She had clearly told the other party that the demons and monsters guarded by the personal escort and the deputy general were difficult even for the great general who suppresses demons to handle.

She had also agreed with Shen Yi to try together whether they could ambush and kill the Toad Lord outside the Black Stone Pool.

In fact, they had already done well enough—it was simply that the conditions were not yet ripe—yet the other party was still not satisfied, and lightly, airily stepped into that place of certain death.

"If you show that sickening smile again, I swear the next slash will leave you no chance to see You Longtao."

Gathering her thoughts, Xiao Qiangwei glanced at Liu Bin.

The old man, whose shoulder blades and qi sea had been pierced by the Demon-Suppressing Chains, even with his tongue cut out, was still thoroughly content at this moment.

He was already a man bound to die; to have that brat who had caused his death accompany him to the grave was simply heaven's compassion—how could he not be delighted?

Over a hundred Captains kept their heads bowed. Although General Liu was indeed somewhat crazed, what he said was not nonsense either—an ice-cold pool plus bone-corroding venom, plus a demon lord who, though he had suffered heavily, was still terrifyingly powerful…

Fearing their tongues would be minced the same way, they forcibly kept their expressions normal and silently followed Xiao Qiangwei back toward the other side.

Suddenly, a surging wave of water shot up several dozen zhang, a stench of demonic qi swept the surroundings, and boundless shadow descended upon them!

The crowd turned back in horror to look.

What met their eyes—who else could it be but that Toad Lord, as massive as a mountain peak.

(End of chapter)