Volume One: Kingdom of the Endless Night Chapter 52: If He's Got What It Takes, Let Him Come and Hit Me

The rain that had ceased by the eighth hour of the day began to fall lightly once more.

Jiang Wang strolled leisurely down Qixia Street.

The sky grew dim.

Lifting his face to bathe in the gentle drizzle, he murmured softly, "I really should have brought an umbrella when heading out."

Patting the Night Wandering Spirit perched on his shoulder, Jiang Wang negotiated, "How about you grow just a tiny bit bigger and shield me from the rain?"

The Night Wandering Spirit snapped viciously at his face. "...In your dreams!"

Helpless, Jiang Wang could only raise both hands above his head as the rain gradually grew heavier.

Upon reaching the southern city wall, two slender figures were already standing atop the roughly six-zhang-high ramparts. Hun City was built against the mountains, with a sheer abyss looming right behind it; without the ability to fly, scaling it would indeed be exceedingly difficult.

They were humanoid monsters with slender builds, draped in tattered white robes, and sporting long hair that reached their waists.

"Aoyin," Jiang Wang furrowed his brow slightly. Monsters like Yuying were one thing, but for a moment, he couldn't figure out why every single Aoyin looked identical.

Thus, he turned to question the Night Wandering Spirit.

The Night Wandering Spirit explained, "Monsters first descended upon the mortal realm six hundred years ago. Naturally, the world had no monsters of its own back then, though I never witnessed the scene of their very first descent myself. I only know that the heavens and earth seemed to be torn apart at that time, and monsters fell like rain."

"Yet, there is a legend that all monsters are actually the offspring of a single, primordial Great Monster, and that Great Monster is called the Candle God."

"It truly possessed god-like, unfathomable powers. The immortals of the past perished precisely because of it. When the Candle God descended, not a single immortal remained in the world. You can just imagine how terrifying the Candle God is."

"The higher the cultivation of the monsters born from the Candle God, the fewer their numbers. Those that look like they were cast from the same mold and exist in vast numbers are the most low-level. Throughout the entire world, there are only about a few thousand Aoyins, while Yuyings number in the millions."

Jiang Wang approached the matter from a rather peculiar angle and sighed, "The Candle God sure knows how to reproduce."

The Night Wandering Spirit glanced sideways at him and said, "That is merely a legend and still remains open to debate."

The two Aoyins standing atop the wall stared intently down at Jiang Wang, though their faces were entirely obscured by their long hair.

One of the Aoyins spoke in human tongue, "I recognize you."

Jiang Wang was quite surprised.

The Night Wandering Spirit chimed in, "This is the innate divine power of the Aoyin monsters. What they see, hear, and think are entirely shared among them. Moreover, there is something very much worth mentioning: precisely because of this ability, whenever an Aoyin perishes, it can transfer its entire cultivation to one of its kind right before death."

Pausing slightly, the Night Wandering Spirit added, "In other words, the more Aoyins die, the stronger the surviving Aoyins become."

Jiang Wang was even more astonished.

The two Aoyins swooped down from the wall, and closely following them, a third Aoyin extended sharp claws and gripped the top of the ramparts.

"You appear to be quite strong, but you still cannot save Hun City."

Jiang Wang narrowed his eyes. Because the rain had grown heavier, the rich scent of damp earth hung thick in the air. Raindrops trickled down his handsome face; a few strands of dampened hair clung to his forehead, while a few longer ones, weighed down by the moisture, swayed gently against his cheeks.

He unhooked the Ever-Night Saber hanging at his waist. Raindrops fell onto the blade and scattered into droplets, causing the cold gleam of the steel to flash even brighter.

"Guess how many strikes it will take to kill the lot of you?"

One of the Aoyins strode directly toward Jiang Wang and said indifferently, "Human, I will crush your head."

No sooner had the words left its mouth.

A flash of cold light cleaved the air.

The mist of rain was sliced cleanly apart.

Immediately afterward, the creature dropped heavily to its knees on the ground.

Jiang Wang gave the Ever-Night Saber a light flick and smiled, "What did you just say?"

The other Aoyin and the one still standing atop the wall seemed frozen in place, their eerie green eyes faintly visible as their pale pupils contracted sharply.

Jiang Wang stretched lazily and remarked, "Though if I kill you quickly enough, you won't have time to transfer your cultivation, I didn't intend to do that anyway."

The Aoyin kneeling on the ground trembled all over as a luminous green glow overflowed from its body, followed instantly by the complete cessation of its life force.

Meanwhile, the two remaining Aoyins spread their arms wide and tossed their heads back high, as if receiving some kind of baptism.

An oppressive demonic aura, far stronger than before, soared straight into the sky.

Jiang Wang closed the distance in three strides and swung his saber with a fierce slash. The Aoyin still undergoing the baptism had no time to react before its chest was torn open. As for the very last Aoyin standing atop the wall, no sooner had its baptism concluded than another surge of glowing green light poured into it.

It was clearly completely bewildered.

Jiang Wang stood beneath the city wall, making no further move, watching the Aoyin with considerable interest.

Ordinary Aoyins no longer posed the slightest threat to him, and he was more than willing to let them grow stronger.

The Night Wandering Spirit thought to itself that the innate ability of the Aoyin monsters had ironically become Jiang Wang's nourishment; at that moment, it even felt a twinge of sympathy for them.

Once the luminous green light was completely absorbed by the Aoyin, its stature seemed to grow even taller and more imposing.

It had grown almost as high as the city wall itself.

Its sharp claws instantly shattered the top of the ramparts, and with a single forward stride, it landed lightly upon the ground. In the misty rain, its tall, slender silhouette cast an intensely oppressive shadow beneath the darkening sky.

Jiang Wang smiled and said, "Now this is starting to get interesting."

The Aoyin glared fixedly at the Night Wandering Spirit and rasped, "A creature of the race of monsters, yet you consort with cultivators—you have thoroughly disgraced Lord Candle God."

The Night Wandering Spirit spat contemptuously and retorted, "The Candle God is worth jack shit. If he's got the guts, let him come and fight me."

Jiang Wang said in amazement, "Little bird, I never knew you had such backbone!"

The Night Wandering Spirit haughtily declared, "The Candle God perished hundreds of years ago; how could he possibly jump out and actually fight me?"

Jiang Wang: (￣ー￣)

A terrifying murderous intent surged throughout the Aoyin's body.

The Night Wandering Spirit taunted, "Are you furious? If you're so furious, come and hit me then."

It fluttered directly onto Jiang Wang's head, shrinking its size even further, and burrowed its way deep into Jiang Wang's hair with a wiggle.

Jiang Wang was utterly speechless.

Clearly, although the Night Wandering Spirit still possessed power comparable to an Aoyin monster, the creature before them was exceedingly strong, leaving the Night Wandering Spirit to rely solely on a sharp tongue while its actions betrayed its fear.

Enraged, the Aoyin roared and charged forward.

Jiang Wang hurriedly assumed a defensive stance.

The Ever-Night Saber collided with the Aoyin's razor-sharp claws, sending a shower of sparks flying in all directions.

Yet the Aoyin's other claw swept out with immense force, striking Jiang Wang and sending him flying backward.

Mid-air, Jiang Wang let out a sharp cry, instantly halting his backward momentum. Gripping his blade tightly and aided by the Night Wandering Spirit, he hovered in mid-air and executed a saber technique that descended from the heavens.

The Aoyin raised its arms to block. A powerful shockwave rippled outward, causing the ground to fracture inch by inch. Like a whirlwind sweeping away fallen leaves, all debris in the vicinity was cleared instantly.

Jiang Wang twisted his waist and delivered a fierce kick straight to the Aoyin's face, but he was immediately seized firmly by the creature's claws. The monster raised its head, slowly parted its jaws, and unleashed a torrent of fierce black flames.

Jiang Wang crossed his arms to shield his face, feeling a continuous wave of stinging pain. His clothes were instantly shredded into tatters, yet his skin remained fair and unblemished, suffering no substantive injury.

Peering at the Aoyin's face through the billowing smoke, he marveled at how the death of merely two Aoyins could make this one so formidable. If only a single Aoyin were left alive in the entire world, just how terrifying would it become?

The Night Wandering Spirit poked its head out from Jiang Wang's hair. "It definitely holds the cultivation of more than two or three Aoyins condensed within its body. If you can kill it as well, your divine kingdom will undoubtedly awaken even greater power."

Jiang Wang's expression turned solemn.

Low-realm cultivators and monsters could no longer satisfy him; even ordinary Aoyins yielded negligible effects. If he could further increase the power of his divine kingdom, even if he couldn't rival the great monsters lurking in the shadows, he would at least have the power to fight them.

The gaze he fixed upon the Aoyin before him burned with intense fervor.

This kind of look was clearly something the Aoyin monster was experiencing for the very first time.

Its entire body went rigid.

Immediately afterward, its waist-length hair fluttered wildly, its tattered white robes snapped in the wind, and its withered, wood-like torso and metallic claws were fully exposed. Though its mouth remained closed, a roaring sound directly assailed Jiang Wang's eardrums.

Inside the divine kingdom, the wind began to blow.

That towering mountain trembled violently.

Jiang Wang gathered every ounce of strength he could muster. The Ever-Night Saber blazed with a brilliant, chilling radiance, seeming to swell to immense proportions as he slashed down viciously toward the Aoyin standing before the southern city wall.

The ramparts fractured, and the Aoyin's tattered white robe was instantly blown to shreds. The falling rain twisted sideways, striking the Aoyin like a barrage of sharp arrows.

For the first time, it felt that a cultivator's blade could be so blindingly piercing.

Its withered, wood-like body, already covered in cracks, widened those fissures even further under the onslaught of the saber's radiance.

Meanwhile, in the bamboo grove of the West City Alley, the man surnamed Xiao stepped atop a downed Aoyin, surrounded by the corpses of a dozen or so Yuying monsters. Watching the luminous green light spilling from the slain Aoyin's mouth, he smiled faintly and said, "This really can't be blamed on me."

His gaze followed the glowing green light toward the direction of the southern city wall, and he murmured, "I'm going to win this contest for sure."

The man surnamed Xiao walked straight to the western city wall and drew patterns upon the surface with his sword. Golden runes flickered into existence before fading into invisibility. Returning to the bamboo hut, he looked at Feng Linghuai and said, "Just stay right here and keep watch."

Feng Linghuai opened his mouth as if to speak, but stopped.

He was currently no different from a cripple; if any more monsters broke in, he clearly wouldn't be able to put up any defense at all.

The man surnamed Xiao was already walking out toward the bamboo grove, but his voice drifted back, "There's nothing to worry about. You're just keeping watch."

Feng Linghuai felt extremely nervous.

By the time the man surnamed Xiao's figure disappeared from view, and after who knows how long had passed, he suddenly heard a commotion.

When he numbly turned his head back, he witnessed a horrifying sight.

Monsters rushed toward the ramparts, and just as they were about to set foot inside the city, the runes on the wall suddenly illuminated, followed instantly by a series of explosive blasts. Those monsters shrieked aloud and were instantly transformed into bloody mists.

It was as if the monsters had never even existed in the first place.

Feng Linghuai's face drained of all color.

This was the power of talismans?!

...

Qixia Street, Southern City Wall.

Watching the Aoyin monster that was on the verge of being blasted into dust, it suddenly received another baptism of inexplicably appearing glowing green light. Its demonic aura surged upward once more, and its withered, wood-like body even restored itself to its original state.

Jiang Wang frowned slightly.

Had another Aoyin died somewhere?

Why did it have to transfer its cultivation precisely to the Aoyin standing right in front of him?

The Night Wandering Spirit, acting like the roundworm in Jiang Wang's belly, immediately provided the answer, "Since the senses of the Aoyins are mutually shared, it naturally knows the scenes of other Aoyins right before their deaths. Demanding that a dying Aoyin transfer its cultivation to itself is only logical, isn't it?"

Jiang Wang immediately let loose a string of curses.

While he looked forward to the Aoyin growing stronger, it would be thoroughly disastrous if the creature ended up surpassing him in strength.

Without hesitation, he slashed out with his saber, preventing a portion of the glowing green light from fully infusing into the Aoyin, causing it to dissipate directly into the misty rain.

The Aoyin instantly went berserk, its roar shattering the dark clouds above. Within a three-zhang radius, the gloomy weather was blasted away as if it were a blazing sunny day.