The showdown on the battlefield, whether one had truly strategized or not, was hard to say. In the end, only fighting would tell.
Just like now, although Xie Nandu had repeatedly gained the upper hand, if she could not walk away from the battlefield alive, then perhaps no one would call that girl a peerless genius who appeared once in an era.
Such was the battlefield; only those who survived to the end were the most formidable. It was much the same in cultivation.
Today you are ahead, tomorrow I am ahead, it actually did not truly matter. What mattered was who in the end stood upon that Great Dao, overlooking all others.
It was just like these great demons of the demon race. In earlier years, when had they ever cared about that young human martial artist? When had they ever regarded him as anyone remarkable? Back then, when Chen Chao came to the desolate north, in the eyes of these demons, he was no different from an ant. Yet who could have imagined that after just a few short years, that young martial artist had already come this far, and when meeting great demons again, he no longer needed to place them in his eyes.
Instead, it was the great demons who likely had to avoid his edge when encountering him.
After Chen Chao sent off that Monk Xuankong, he once more crossed the desolate north, again causing headaches for the demons. Only belatedly did they want to encircle and kill this young martial artist here. But even though they organized several sieges afterward, he still broke free each time, and they never succeeded in keeping him.
On the contrary, they even lost another great demon’s life because of it.
Counting carefully, this was already the eighth Nepenthe great demon that Chen Chao had killed.
Such a number, ordinary first-rate sects would actually find it difficult to gather so many existences of such lofty realms.It could be said that the great demons who died at Chen Chao’s hand, taken together, would almost be enough to form a sect, and such a sect could practically be called a first-rate major sect of the current era.
In other words, Chen Chao had at least accomplished something equivalent to destroying a major sect.
In earlier years, the foreign lands said Chen Chao slaughtered people like hemp. But in truth, even earlier than that, he killed more demons than people. Only at that time, not many knew of him.
Later, when he killed too many people, the foreign lands said he only knew how to kill humans, and that if he had true ability, he should go to the desolate north, to the demon domain, and fight with the demon race. Chen Chao had never cared about such rumors and gossip. He had never been one to heed the words of the outside world, he simply did whatever he wished. To say that he acted willfully was not wrong.
But indeed, Chen Chao had little interest in killing people. By comparison, he much preferred killing demons.
Since leaving Tianqing County, when he once again began killing demons, slaying ordinary small demons was meaningless. The ones Chen Chao sought to kill were always the great demons - those prominent figures in the Demon Realm, those whose deaths could greatly impact the balance of power on both sides.
Thus, throughout this journey, Chen Chao rarely avoided the ambushes of great demons. When facing encirclement and pursuit by great demons, Chen Chao was not always calm before them. Some clearly came with the resolve to die, determined to fight him to the death. In those cases, Chen Chao still chose to evade.
After all, great demons emerged in an endless stream, while Chen Chao was always alone. If he were to be injured, his situation would only grow worse and worse.
But afterward, when Chen Chao fought a few more battles in the desolate north, he still never caught sight of Autumn. This left him somewhat puzzled, even a bit unsettled. He knew very well what kind of person Autumn was. Since she had decided this time to kill him, then it would certainly be to kill him.
Moreover, with her temperament, she would never wait when it came to killing. She was the type who, if she felt the urge to kill today, would take a life tomorrow.
Now, not seeing her, Chen Chao felt an inexplicable emotion in his heart, and it was not a pleasant one.
Arriving before a great river, Chen Chao halted his steps.
The rivers of the desolate northern plains mostly originated from the Onan River of the Demon Realm. That place was regarded by the demon race as their mother river, their sacred land, flowing into many tributaries across the desolate northern plains.
Back then, when the demon race defeated the human race and forced the cession of thirty thousand miles of the desolate north, one of their so-called justifications was nothing more than shamelessness.
That was: since the desolate north contained the extension of the Onan River, it should naturally belong to the demon race’s territory.
At that time, of course the human race would not acknowledge such reasoning. But once defeated, what more could be said? They could only bow their heads.
Yet for most, lowering their heads was only temporary. Few would keep their heads bowed forever.
Now, standing before this great river, Chen Chao was struggling to figure out something - where had Autumn gone?
Beyond that, Chen Chao also casually inquired into Xie Nandu’s recent movements. The girl he liked was now making quite the stir, commanding battles one after another, as if truly intending to achieve great deeds on this battlefield.
“You really are throwing all caution aside, insisting on fighting this way? Is it because you know I’m behind you, so you don’t care?”
Chen Chao tilted his head back and smiled. “But since I’m here, then you just unleash yourself. Do whatever you want to do. As for the rest, I’ll take care of it.”
The words had barely left his mouth when Chen Chao suddenly lifted his head, frowning. “Autumn, you really dare to do this?!”
Boundless fury surged forth at the very moment Chen Chao spoke these words.
Before the words had even fallen, the great river in front of him instantly boiled, shattered, the surging waters rushing violently to either side. And ahead of Chen Chao, a gap opened. The young martial artist leaped straight across it, his figure vanishing in an instant, and in the blink of an eye, he was already a hundred miles away.
But upon reaching that place, Chen Chao could go no farther. Two mountain-like figures barred his path.
Chen Chao gave them only a single glance before leaping forward, intending to pass between the two. But both figures raised their hands at the same time, and with just the slightest wave, a violent gale surged up, blowing Chen Chao back to where he had started.
In an instant, the two giant hands expanded, as if they could blot out the sky and sun, completely obscuring the scene before Chen Chao’s eyes.
"Scram."
The young martial artist did not waste words. With just a wave of his hand, an incomparably vast surge of qi burst forth from his body, sweeping across the four directions in an instant. The two giant hands were immediately shaken and sent drifting backward.
The terrifying qi did not stop, crashing one wave after another toward the massive figures on both sides. Among the martial artists at the end of Nepenthe in this world, Chen Chao might not have possessed the most abundant qi, but when it came to the speed of qi circulation, perhaps even if all others combined their strength, none could match him.
His qi had undergone several transformations. From the very beginning, when it was merely pure qi supplemented by white mist, to later, when the white mist became dominant while he merged many elements from other cultivation paths, and finally to the point where he had fused nearly everything together, he forged a qi that belonged solely to himself.
After combining everything, Chen Chao naturally entered a new stage. The speed of his qi circulation now, compared to others, was like this: others were a gently flowing brook, while Chen Chao was a raging, surging river.
Its speed was so great that if outsiders were to witness it, they would be left dumbfounded.
Thus, before his first surge of qi had even dissipated, his second surge arrived—not exactly on cue, but extremely swift all the same. Before those two figures could react, the barrier before him was already shattered.
Chen Chao smashed a fist toward one of the figures. With a deafening boom, the tremendous sound resounded, accompanied by enormous stone blocks tumbling down without cease.
The two figures were not great demons at all, but rather two colossal stone statues. At this moment, as the statues shattered, the true figures appeared in the distance.
They were two men who looked exactly alike, standing in the wind and snow afar, dressed in long azure robes.
Chen Chao cast them a glance, not intending to speak, instead tightening his grip on the saber in his hand.
“Your Father has no time to waste on you two right now!”