Magical Water Margin: They all call me brother

Page 71

With a thought, the reverse scale on his palm suddenly multiplied, transforming into thousands of dragon scales that covered Liu Hong's limbs and bones. The moment he donned the black scale armor, the vast sky turned into a thunder pool hanging upside down!

In an instant, the three thousand black scales surged and churned like living creatures, layer upon layer weaving into a dark, shadowy armor for infantry. Each black scale was embossed with molten gold lightning patterns, and as the patterns flowed, they emitted miniature thunderstorms in the void. The ropes connecting these dragon scales seemed to be woven from liquid lightning, and the lightning that flickered with each breath caused the sand and gravel within a radius of several meters to suspend in mid-air, forming a ring of lightning that periodically erupted with terrifying natural disasters in all directions.

Moreover, when Liu Hong flapped his wings, the golden calamity lightning merged with the golden wings of the Golden-Winged Roc, becoming one with it! Each lightning feather reflected the trajectory of the stars in the heavens.

The dragon-headed beasts on its shoulders and waist, coiled with lightning, resembled three real dragons, emitting terrifying roars.

"tread!!!!"

The thunderous roar of Liu Hong's forward stride triggered a new thunderstorm. His boots exploded into a golden thunder lotus, its petals scattering as countless electric snakes danced across the sky. Simultaneously, the three thousand lightning patterns on his armor lit up, weaving in the void to form a lightning net covering the battlefield. The thunderous roar was terrifying, and the blinding flashes of lightning were deafening.

The most breathtaking thing is the core of the breastplate—the Heart-Protecting Mirror, which is transformed from the reverse scale of the Jidu Dragon King. At this moment, it is showing its ultimate form after devouring the Thunder Generals: a miniature version of Jing Lang Thunder Mansion Yuan Gang Demon-Slaying General is imprisoned in the mirror, and the cages of the thirty-five Thunder Generals are empty, seemingly waiting to imprison others in them and completely refine them!

When Liu Hong used an expansion spell to transform into a five-meter-tall giant, the armor also grew larger, perfectly enveloping his body. It was so sturdy yet so light that it did not affect Liu Hong's speed at all. Liu Hong, covered in the black gold dragon scale armor, was like a five-meter-tall pagoda, his divine might as a prison, terrifying to the soul!

"How about it? This Calamity Armor is pretty good, isn't it? If we find more Thunder Generals, kill them, and devour them, we can all become stronger."

Ao Ying was enjoying the thunderous power he had just acquired.

"Indeed, this power of thunder is formidable!"

Liu Hong attempted to use his newly acquired spiritual energy after his upgrade. With a wave of his left hand, five bolts of lightning erupted from his five fingers! They were all golden calamity lightning tribulations, the lightning exploding between his fingers causing golden ripples in the air. The five pure, extreme golden lightning tribulations tore through the sky, leaving five molten gold wounds in the temple and blasting the roadside bluestone fifty meters away into dust!

This is the second of the two additional psionic abilities that Liu Hong learned.

【二环灵能·能量飞弹】：消耗3点灵能，对五个目标同时造成3~18点任意元素伤害（火/雷/冰/酸）。每额外消耗1点灵能，伤害额外提高1~6点。

Chapter 168: The Magistrate of Yuncheng Deceives the Heavens

After the sacrificial ceremony ended and he obtained the power of one of the thirty-six Thunder Generals, Liu Hong immediately went to find Wu Yong: Now that the birthday gifts have been stolen and the loot divided, it's time for you to fulfill your promise and find my two older sisters!

Wu Yong nodded in agreement and temporarily left Dongxi Village. She went to Liangshan to study the teleportation records of the portal in order to find the teleportation records of Lu Zhisheng and Wu Song. After carefully examining it for an hour, she sweated profusely and said that although she could handle it, it was a bit troublesome and might take ten days to half a month.

With her departure, the most intelligent person in Chao Gai's group was absent. Although Chao Gai was a man of great righteousness, he was too carefree. He distributed all 60,000 taels of birthday tribute to the participants, which was very generous. Everyone shouted "Long live the Heavenly King!"

Afterwards, Chao Gai used the money to buy land, the three Ruan brothers went back to get money to buy large fishing boats, Gongsun Sheng went to the black market in the big city to buy some books, Liu Tang used the money to indulge in debauchery, and Bai Sheng used the money to gamble. Each one was more arrogant and daring than the last, without any fear at all—this birthday tribute was robbed by Liangshan, what does it have to do with us?!

This arrogance led to trouble. Zhang Shuye, the prefect of Jizhou, had only been in office for a few days and hadn't even figured out the situation in Jizhou when Cai Jing sent him a letter that berated him mercilessly: "Fine, fine! My son-in-law's birthday gift to me is lost with you. I'll give you a month to figure out how to resolve this for me, the Grand Tutor! Otherwise, you can forget about your official hat and go home!"

Zhang Shuye was deeply horrified, cold sweat instantly soaking his clothes. He immediately gave Shi Wenbin, the magistrate of Yuncheng, a death order: How could the birthday tribute have been lost within your Yuncheng territory? A band of bandits capable of killing five hundred imperial guards has appeared in Yuncheng? What level of strength do they possess? You don't know about such a huge matter? Or are you the leader of those bandits? I'm giving you seven days to investigate this matter thoroughly! Otherwise, you can forget about wearing this official hat and be sent to Kaifeng prison.

"Oh my God!"

Upon reading Zhang Shuye's letter, Shi Wenbin, the magistrate of Yuncheng County, felt dizzy. Damn it, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven had been involved in the robbery of the birthday gifts! He was doomed; his deal with Liangshan was now completely exposed!

"Song Jiang! Song Jiang! Song Jiang!!!"

Shi Wenbin called out Song Jiang's name three times, summoning the little girl to his side, and then loudly scolded her.

"You were the one who colluded with Liangshan in the first place! Now that things have gone wrong! I don't care, I'm only giving you five days. I need you to come up with a way that satisfies everyone, a way to save our official positions! Otherwise, this magistrate will have no choice but to sacrifice the pawn to save the king!"

Song Jiang was also greatly troubled. The changes in the situation were truly beyond his expectations. He could only pull Zhu Tong, the head of the cavalry, to conduct a preliminary investigation in Yuncheng County to check for problems, even if it was just for show.

Song Jiang and Zhu Tong gave them three days.

Now the minor officials and soldiers of Yuncheng were in a panic. "You're going to give me intelligence on the robbers of the birthday tribute in three days? Are you kidding me?"

There was no other way, so these local bullies started resorting to all sorts of tricks, some even unscrupulous. At this moment, some people used their connections to discover that Bai Sheng, the White Rat, had been spending incredibly lavishly these past few days. She was clearly dirt poor, yet recently she was able to bet thousands of coins at a time in the gambling den. Something was wrong, very wrong.

Meanwhile, Zhu Tong's troops saw Liu Tang in the most luxurious Fanlou restaurant in Yuncheng, enjoying the most expensive banquet and ordering the most beautiful girls—wasn't this red-headed ghost Chao Gai's niece? How come she's suddenly so rich?

Two soldiers, driven nearly mad by Song Jiang and Zhu Tong, looked at each other in bewilderment. In order to report the situation directly to one of Zhu Tong's captains, they decided to give it a try.

The captain was also anxious at this moment. Chao Gai's face was not as important as his official position. He couldn't care less about that. He had to arrest him first!

In an instant, the soldiers of Yuncheng County launched a two-pronged attack! Liu Tang, however, was highly skilled and daring. He casually picked up a whistle stick and wielded it with great force, cutting down the soldiers rushing upstairs as easily as chopping melons and vegetables. Then, his full head of red hair transformed into towering flames, enveloping his entire body, as he charged into battle, using the flames to frighten the horses and the whistle stick to strike the soldiers. In fact, this kid managed to escape.

Bai Sheng, the White Rat, wasn't so lucky. Several people nearby knew about her abilities, so the soldiers first obtained a transformation lasso to counter her transformation ability before going to the casino. Bai Sheng was gambling happily when the soldiers caught her red-handed, dragged her in, and handcuffed her. Without her transformation ability, Bai Sheng's combat power was almost zero. She was easily dragged into prison and subjected to a powerful memory restoration spell, leaving her with torn flesh and barely alive.

But she was also very tough, refusing to betray Chao Tianwang even at the cost of her life!

However, it didn't matter whether she betrayed him or not. Before Zhu Tong, Song Jiang, and other minor officials who were on good terms with Chao Gai could react, the matter of Liu Tang had already been reported to the county magistrate Shi Wenbin by Zhao, who had replaced Lei Heng.

"Very well, I knew it was Chao Gai, Chao Baozheng, who did it!"

Shi Wenbin angrily cursed, feigning extreme rage, but inwardly he felt quite relieved—finally, he had found a scapegoat! He didn't care whether Chao Gai did it or not; if he didn't want to appear incompetent as the magistrate, or expose his collusion with Liangshan, then he could only die.

Shi Wenbin immediately began preparations on both fronts, ordering Zhu Tong and Zhao Hu, the two captains, to muster their troops and go to Dongxi Village to capture Chao Gai.

He then wrote a report to Zhang Shuye, the prefect of Jizhou: It was not that his subordinates were incompetent, but that the person who did this was actually Chao Gai, the Heavenly King of Dongxi Village! The village head! This person was a local tyrant, with seven or eight hundred servants and tens of thousands of acres of land. Most of the wealthy landowners in Yuncheng followed her lead.

I have no idea what's gotten into this woman. She's suddenly been blinded by greed, even conspiring with a small, insignificant band of thieves from Liangshan to rob the birthday gifts. I'm shocked, and I'm sending men to capture her! This isn't due to my incompetence, but rather because no one could have imagined that such a powerful magnate from Yuncheng would suddenly do something like this! I'm innocent!

Chapter 169: A Bond Between Officials and Bandits

Just as Magistrate Shi Wenbin was frantically shirking responsibility and shifting all the blame to Chao Gai, Song Jiang, accompanied by a servant, walked out of the county office. Beneath the carved lattice window of the Yuncheng County government office, huddled a strange, eerie human form, solidified by the darkness. The morning light licked her alluring, delicate body, as beautiful as poisonous flower petals; its cold, clear light slid down her collarbone to her waist, and her violet skin, bathed in starlight, shimmered with the soft, ethereal glow of silk.

The frame of a sixteen-year-old girl supports a beautiful, veil-like body, but the heartbeat in her chest is that of a glamorous, mature woman in her thirties. Every tremor causes the morning light surrounding her to ripple with desire.

"Sir Song! Please come over and have a cup of tea!"

Upon hearing the voice, Song Jiang looked over and saw a man dressed as an official calling him. He quickly went over and asked in confusion, "Where do you come from, esteemed brother?"

The man did not answer, but his expression was unusually solemn. He said, "Please go to a quiet, secluded place in the teahouse, where we can have tea and talk."

Song Jiang couldn't refuse, so the two sat down in the teahouse. The servants told them to wait at the door, and only then did the man breathe a sigh of relief and pay his respects to Song Jiang.

"I am Inspector He, the arresting officer of Jizhou Prefecture. To be honest, Clerk Song, I have an important mission in your county!"

Song Jiang frowned and asked, "Could it be related to the thief's affairs or official business?"

He Guancha nodded: "I have two sealed official documents here, one from the Grand Tutor's Office of Tokyo and the other from the Prefect of Jizhou. I would like to trouble you, clerk, to prepare them and recommend me to the county magistrate."

A document from Jeju Island is one thing, since it's from my immediate superior, but what's with the document from the Grand Tutor's office in Tokyo? Cai Jing, who wields immense power throughout the entire Song Dynasty, is issuing documents to a nobody like me from a small, obscure county?!

Knowing that this was no small matter, Song Jiang's alluring and beautiful face also turned serious.

"Inspector He is a man sent down by the prefect, how dare this lowly official neglect him? May I ask what urgent matter the theft is?"

"Since you are the person in charge of this case, you may speak freely. Under the jurisdiction of our county, a group of bandits gathered hundreds or even thousands of soldiers, stole the birthday tribute, and killed five hundred imperial guards from Daming Prefecture! To be honest, we have investigated this matter and found that it was led by Chao Baozheng from Dongxi Village in your county. She colluded with Liu Hong, the Great Sage of Chaos from Liangshan, and led her own servants and bandits to intercept and kill government troops. There were also many accomplices whose names we do not know. Please do your best to investigate and handle this case. This case was personally approved by Grand Tutor Cai."

Upon hearing this, Song Jiang was startled and thought to himself: "Chao Gai is my trusted sister. She has now committed a heinous crime. If I don't save her now, she will be captured by the court and lose her life!"

Even setting aside feelings, let's talk about interests. I've been dealing with Chao Gai for over a decade, and our network of relationships and interests is unfathomable. The money Chao Gai gives me every year is countless times my salary! Why should I help your government? Just because of the few taels of silver you give me each month? It's as if I, the eldest daughter of the Song family, can't survive without that tiny amount of money!

Having made up his mind, Song Jiang stretched out his small hand and slammed it on the table, his youthful and beautiful face bursting into angry curses.

"That scoundrel Chao Gai! A wicked and unruly servant, everyone in this county blames him. I've long wanted to teach her a lesson! Now that she's committed such a heinous crime, I'll make her pay!!! The matter the inspector instructed is easy, like catching a turtle in a jar, a piece of cake. But there's another problem: this official document issued by the prefect still needs to be submitted to the prefect himself in the hall. Once the county magistrate has read it, he can then take action and send men to arrest her. How dare I, a mere clerk, open it privately? This is no small matter; you must not easily divulge it to anyone."

After thinking for a moment, He Guanchao nodded in agreement: "I think the clerk's opinion is excellent."

Song Jiang frowned, a plan forming in his mind: "I have quite a few important matters to attend to here, all reports from my officers regarding the robbery and murder of the birthday tribute. How about this, Observer, wait a moment, I will come to invite you personally. Perhaps there are clues in those documents that are helpful to the case."

He Guancha nodded: "Please, Chief Clerk, proceed with the matter. I will wait here patiently."

Seeing that he had tricked the man, Song Jiang quickly got up, left the teahouse, and ran like the wind to his quarters. He first instructed his servant to tell the magistrate to wait at the teahouse entrance to intercept Inspector He, then returned to the county office. He found a fine horse from the stable, led it out the back gate, took the whip, jumped on the horse, and galloped towards Dongxi Village. In less than half an hour, he arrived at Chao Gai's manor. The servants saw him and went inside to inform the manor. Chao Gai and his men, hearing that it was Song Jiang, hurriedly came out to greet him.

When Song Jiang saw Chao Gai, he didn't bother with etiquette. Instead, he remained on his horse and immediately began shouting at him.

"Sister! You are in grave danger! You are my confidante, and I risked my life to save you. Now the birthday tribute convoy has been exposed! Bai Sheng has been captured alive and imprisoned in the Jizhou prison. The Liu brothers have been exposed and escaped by chance. The county magistrate blamed you for the whole birthday tribute convoy problem overnight! Today, the Jizhou Prefecture has sent He, an official, with a large number of soldiers, carrying an official document from the Grand Tutor's Mansion and a document from the prefecture, to arrest you."

"Thank goodness! That Inspector He ran into my hands! I managed to keep him calm and have him wait for me at the teahouse across the street from the county, so I could ride here to report to you. Brother, of the thirty-six stratagems, running away is the best. If we don't leave now, when will we?! I can't hold out much longer, I must hurry back now! Sister, please be careful!"

After finishing his speech, Song Jiang didn't even have time for pleasantries. He spurred his horse, turned around, and rode off like a madman, charging back to the county government office!

"My dear sister! Thank you for risking your life to help me! I can never repay your kindness!"

Chao Gai hurriedly bowed and then quickly returned home. He gathered his servants and quickly sent someone to contact Gongsun Sheng, Liu Tang, the three Ruan brothers, and others.

At this moment, Chao Gai was also wondering where he should run to. After thinking it over, he realized that within a radius of a hundred miles, only Liangshan Marsh seemed to have enough strength to resist the government troops. He immediately sent someone to Liangshan Marsh to inform Liu Hong and Wu Yong to come and meet him.

On the other side, He Guancha waited and waited for Song Jiang to arrive, but Song Jiang did not come. He sensed that something was wrong, so he took the official documents and went into the county government office. Fortunately, Song Jiang returned just in time and left the county government office with the county magistrate, which dispelled all his doubts.

The magistrate, having received the official document and seeing the prefect and the grand tutor, acknowledged his actions of shifting all the blame onto Chao Gai and breathed a sigh of relief. He immediately summoned Zhu Tong and five other captains, leading five hundred soldiers from Yuncheng to rush to Chao's house in Dongxi Village to arrest Chao Gai!

Zhu Tong was also annoyed at the moment. Damn it, I only get a few taels of silver a month. Why am I risking my life? The Heavenly King is righteous and has never treated me unfairly. Last time, she bribed me with ten taels of silver, which far exceeded my monthly salary. Her daily tributes are countless. I owe her too many favors.

Moreover, I know that Chao Gai is extremely capable, and I don't know what the other heroes are like, but they are certainly not virtuous gentlemen. They are fugitives who could kill Wen Da and Li Cheng! Not to mention the others, just Chao Gai or Liu Tang alone would be extremely troublesome. If they all came out together, with the help of the servants, how could I possibly stop them?

Thinking of this, Zhu Tong, like Song Jiang, began to go easy on them, ordering the troops of the other four districts to surround the back gate and the sides, while he himself held up torches and focused on attacking the front gate!

"Chao Gai! Your Aunt Zhu Tong is here to get you!!!"

Just then, Chao Gai and his men finished packing up when they discovered Zhu Tong shouting and cursing at the front gate. Without hesitation, they led everyone straight through the front gate! Chao Gai brandished his thirteen-section steel whip, and Liu Tang brandished his flaming broadsword as they charged out together. Zhu Tong immediately launched a fierce attack, striking a few times before feigning defeat and retreating. The morale of her troops was low; they were all very afraid of death and only fired three arrows in battle, just to earn their official salaries. Chao Gai and his men easily fought their way out and fled straight to Liangshan.

Chapter 170: Sun Shiwan's Army Launches a Fierce Battle

After Chao Gai, several other good-natured and like-minded wealthy men also received his notice: the birthday tribute incident had been exposed, and the imperial court was coming to investigate. Fearing for their lives, they followed Chao Gai's example and packed up their belongings to join the Liangshan bandits! They were no less than local tyrants!

In a short time, Liangshan's strength expanded rapidly. Liu Hong was busy as a spinning top, receiving several wealthy landowners and their servants, led by Chao Gai, as well as the three Ruan brothers and others. It was only because Liangshan was large enough that they could all come up the mountain together.

Before these people came to Liangshan, there were nearly 10,000 people living there, of whom 1,000 were soldiers and 9,000 were farmers, artisans, and merchants.

Chao Gai and his group of wealthy landowners brought a thousand brave and fierce farmhands, servants, assassins, and personal guards to the mountain. Although their numbers couldn't compare to Liangshan's, their apparent fighting strength was on par with Liu Hong's. These landowners brought all the money and provisions accumulated by their ancestors over three generations, even exceeding Liangshan's reserves.

If it were Wang Lun, he would probably do everything in his power to drive Chao Gai down the mountain—that's terrifying! I originally owned 51% of Liangshan's shares, but after this round of financing, my shareholding is less than 25%. How can I still have a say in Liangshan? What kind of voice will I have left? No, no, I have to reject this financing plan.

But Liu Hong wasn't afraid at all. The bigger the storm, the more valuable the fish. He simply set up a banquet to welcome Chao Gai and the others to join Liangshan Marsh—"We originally swore a blood oath because of robbing the birthday gifts. Now that King Chao has come to Liangshan to join us, we are now like siblings from different fathers and mothers!"

As for the seating arrangement—the Heavenly King and so on—we'll talk about that after Wu Yong finds my two older sisters.

Liu Hong carefully counted them. Of Chao Gai's thousand men, only five hundred were level 1-4 warriors, whose combat strength reached the level of ordinary Xiang Army soldiers. Their weapons were just spears, broadswords, and bows and arrows.

The remaining five hundred men had no combat rank; they were purely militia.

Liu Hong didn't hold back either. Since Chao Gai was all about loyalty, he would follow suit and treat all of Chao Gai's soldiers as his own. He taught them how to use firearms and selected three hundred of the strongest and most skilled warriors from both sides to form Liangshan's own cavalry force. The officers were a mix of Liangshan men and Chao Gai's men, all working together seamlessly.

At this moment, the imperial court was also greatly angered. Zhang Shuye, the prefect of Jizhou, knew that he could not eliminate the combination of Liangshan and Chao Gai with his own strength. Therefore, he petitioned the court to work with Liu Hong to develop and recruit soldiers. The entire court also realized the trouble and trouble of Liangshan and began to try to mobilize troops to suppress this band of bandits!

After a full month of operation within the bloated and complex bureaucracy of the Song Dynasty, the specific plan for this suppression campaign was finally finalized: Zhang Shuye, the prefect of Jizhou, was appointed as the deputy commander. "I know that Jizhou doesn't have many troops. You can decide how many you can recruit."

Tokyo dispatched a battalion of Imperial Guard cavalry and three battalions of Imperial Guard infantry, totaling two thousand men, with Sun You, the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Guards, in charge.

Not only that, the Six Doors also began their operation. Six members of the Assassin's Court, dressed in sexy, form-fitting black stockings and possessing exceptionally alluring figures, once again set out to infiltrate Liangshan, conduct reconnaissance, and carry out assassinations. The last time the Six Doors' constables acted collectively was to capture Lin Chong. This time, however, it was to infiltrate Liangshan, gather intelligence, and coordinate an attack from within.

The six of them were as skilled as Lin Chong of the Imperial Guard and their master Zhou Tong in terms of infiltration, reconnaissance, and assassination. Each of them had extraordinary abilities and unique skills. Their fighting spirit and patience were astonishing. Their secret weapon even gave that damned Great Sage Evil a pleasant surprise.

Subsequently, the imperial court dispatched three thousand elite troops and four fierce generals from Qingzhou, which borders Jizhou, to serve under Zhang Shuye's command. They were:

Commander of Qingzhou Commandery: Thunderbolt Qin Ming.

Military Commander of Qingzhou: Huang Xin, who guards the Three Mountains.

Qingfeng Mountain Magistrate: Liu Gao.

Deputy Magistrate of Qingfeng Mountain: Xiao Li Guang Hua Rong.

Zhang Shuye wasn't idle either. He spared no effort in gathering local militia and assembling fierce generals in Jizhou, only to discover, to his dismay, that his most capable fighter was Zhu Tong, a captain from Yuncheng. In the end, he only managed to gather two thousand local soldiers and four thousand militia, who, together with the imperial and Qingzhou troops, amounted to eleven thousand combat troops. The commander-in-chief of this expedition, Sun You, the Imperial Guard Commander, nodded. Ten thousand men, claiming to be a hundred thousand, were coming to fight Liangshan!

At this moment, Zhu Gui, as the head of Liangshan's intelligence agency, was under immense pressure, anxiously gathering intelligence on the court's every move and the troop movements in the vicinity. Fortunately, this group had no boats, and the entire Jizhou region was riddled with holes in Liangshan's infiltration; outside the city walls, it was all Liangshan's territory! Even if this supposedly 100,000-strong army arrived here, it would be blocked beyond the 800-li (approximately 400 km) stretch of water!

Just as Zhu Gui confidently returned to report the intelligence, the situation changed drastically.

Ghostly winds howled, dark clouds obscured the sun, and clusters of raging, eerie green flames churned and roared within the black clouds, turning the entire world into a sinister green. The shrill screams that erupted from the sky were like two bronze mountains scraping wildly against eardrums!

"boom!!!"

When Zhu Gui looked up at the sky following the deafening roar, he saw a giant, evil green fireball, a hundred meters in diameter, suddenly smash through the entire dark cloud, like a meteor falling from the sky, like a golden crow falling, roaring, flying, and exploding as it crashed into the heart of the eight-hundred-mile-long marshland—the Seven Peaks of Liangshan!

That malevolent green sun was actually a giant rock whose surface was flowing with boiling magma, with destructive lava lines coiling across it like thousands of convulsing pythons. When it crashed into the clouds, the air was scorched by the high temperature, creating malevolent green ripples. Even birds in flight were swallowed by the malevolent flames in mid-air, spontaneously combusting into countless green sparks falling from the sky.

"boom!!!"

The moment the boulder crashed to the ground, the eruption of flames and roars made everyone's teeth tingle. Large amounts of molten lava, flames, rubble, and soil were hurled tens of meters into the sky by the shockwave of the explosion! Like a dark green, monstrous wave, it was propelled by the wave of evil fire to a terrifying height that touched the clouds!

The most terrifying sound waves came from the depths of the crater: boiling fel magma roared like billions of rattlesnakes, interspersed with the crackling of rocks constantly exploding, as if a giant beast was gnawing at the continental shelf from underground. The sulfurous smell that filled the nostrils was so strong that it stung the tear ducts, and the cold sweat that had just seeped from the hairs on the skin was evaporated, leaving behind salt grains that burned and itched in the pores.

As the shockwave swept across, the trees throughout Liangshan rustled in the storm.

"Roar!!!"

With a chilling roar, a ten-meter-tall rock golem crawled out of the crater it had created upon impact. Its entire rocky body was covered in cracks resembling volcanic rock, and from each crevice churned an incredibly thick, bloated, asphalt-like, evil green magma. Its head was a crooked inverted pentagon, its lower jaw composed of three intersecting, movable bone spurs, and the green demonic fire that shot from its eye sockets left comet-tail-like burn marks in the air.

Her torso was like an active volcano after an eruption, majestic and enormous, yet ferocious and terrifying. With each step she took, boiling, evil green magma would overflow from every crack in her body, etching scorched earth and lava that would never be extinguished.

In her enormous molten hands she held a giant spiked club the size of a battering ram, its surface covered with reverse spikes. Each adamantine spike spewed forth destructive fel magma from its base. When she swung it, the trailing dark green flames etched a ribbon-like death vacuum in the air, and the lingering demonic embers devoured the passing air molecules like living creatures.

"You little thieves from Liangshan! Come and greet your grandma! Thunderbolt Qin Ming is here to destroy you!!!"