The Steward Demonic Emperor

Whoosh!

Two figures flashed among the clouds. They were Zhuo Fan and Li Jingtian on their way to Thunder Swarm Mountain.

“Elder Li, how much longer?” Zhuo Fan rubbed his Thunder Ring.

Li Jingtian calculated, “By my estimates, we should arrive in three days!”

“Good!” Zhuo Fan flapped his wings and tripled his speed, “The faster we get there, the better!”

Hu~

Then, a sudden attack came at them in the form of a shadow. Zhuo Fan had no time to stop, about to smash into it.

Li Jingtian intervened, however, and grabbed Zhuo Fan’s neck. He then placed Zhuo Fan behind him, but the shadow sped straight for them.

“Ghostly Dragon Claw!” Li Jingtian shouted.

Bam!

With a devastating sound, the shadow was sent flying while Li Jingtian stood unphased, tall and proud. Yet he couldn’t stop his red hand from shaking.

“Elder Li, are you alright?”

Zhuo Fan looked on carefully, while Li Jingtian was frowning, “Don’t worry. That item is a spiritual weapon, most likely a 5th-grade one. If not for being a body cultivator, I might’ve ended up dead.”

Sighing, Zhuo Fan nodded, then breathed easier.

“Hi-hi-hi, you must be someone to have blocked my 5th-grade spiritual weapon, the bone staff with your bare hand. It looks like I caught myself a big fish!”

A creepy snicker accompanied the appearance of a man not hundred meters from the pair, holding a black item in his hands.

Under a closer look, Zhuo Fan could see that the black item was a two meter long black staff with a human skull at the ends. The wielder however was a hideous pygmy. The evil air wafting from him made one’s nerves tighten!

“3rd layer of Radiant Stage!” Zhuo Fan’s eyes widened as he and Li Jingtian cried at the same time.

The pygmy was excited all of a sudden and gesticulated in joy, “Hi-hi-hi, now you know how great I am so be good and surrender and I may be kind enough to spare your miserable lives!”

“Humph, a mere 3rd layer of Radiant Stage expert dares show off before me?” Li Jingtian stomped forward and released his mighty power.

The pygmy was cowered back again and again by the display and gasped, “What, you’re in the 6th layer?”

“Ha-ha-ha, how the hell did you live so long to reach the 3rd layer of Radiant Stage when you attack without even scouting your opponent first?” Zhuo Fan mocked, “It’s my turn to ask the questions. Who are you and why did you attack us?”

The pygmy cackled after sparing Zhuo Fan a second glance, “Ha-ha-ha, a puny 5th layer of Bone Tempering cultivator thinks himself worthy of hearing your grandpa’s name?”

“You little shit that is neither human nor monster, dares to call yourself my grandpa?” Zhuo Fan’s face was vicious as he glared, “Elder Li, no more questions. Deal with this midget and let’s be on our way!”

“With pleasure!”

Li Jingtian had long found this pygmy’s attitude annoying. [Zhuo Fan shows off because he is the steward of a clan, and he has both ambition and power within himself. While you, a filthy little shite, too ugly to even look at, and weaker than me to boot, dare do the same?]

[You have another thing coming!]

So Li Jingtian eagerly went on the offensive the instant Zhuo Fan gave the order. The pygmy wasn’t scared by Li Jingtian’s charge, however, and started twirling his bone staff.

Bang~

Metallic clashes rang all around. Li Jingtian didn’t use a weapon, but as a body cultivator, he honed his body into a weapon in and of itself.

Every one of his strikes was no lesser than one coming from the bone staff.

And since the two of them were of different cultivation layers, the pygmy was on the retreat with every blow from Li Jingtian, despite holding the advantage with a spiritual weapon.

He wielded the black staff with uncanny movements, avoiding all attacks, but when his energy reserves were up, only death would welcome him.

“Blast it, I really hit a snag this time!” The pygmy started cursing from exhaustion. Then, clenching his teeth, he suddenly jumped to gain some distance.

But Li Jingtian realized his attempt at running aways so he shouted and struck the black staff fiercely with his hands. This time, however, as the the black staff danced, the pygmy was shrouded in black energy, while the bone staff started letting out eerie screeches.

The next second, the vile energy took the shape of a skeleton as it cackled at the two.

“This demonic cultivation method is beyond vile!” Zhuo Fan frowned. He never thought this weird pygmy would be a sinister demonic cultivator.

But he wasn’t worried. When it came to sinister demonic methods, the Wraith Style used by Li Jingtian was by far one of the most wicked out there.

“Hi-hi-hi, you didn’t expect this, did you? I am a dreadful demonic cultivator! With this low profound ranked martial art of mine, Demon Shadow Bone Staff, I will swallow your body and soul. Scared now? Ha-ha-ha…” The pygmy crackled from within the shadowy skeleton. Li Jingtian only grinned, “Moron!”

“What, you still dare take me on? Then die!”

The pygmy sure had a screw loose, though he had quite the sharp pair of ears on him. The mockery in Li Jingtian’s words earned his rage, charging at him with the image of the skeleton.

But Li Jingtian only smirked without an ounce of fear, just as a black dragon image engulfed him.

“You blind little shit, let me show you true demonic martial arts. Wraith Style’s first move, Soaring Demonic Dragon!”

Roar!

With a reverberating roar, Li Jingtian’s power surged and charged at the skeleton image. In a totally anticlimactic way, the skeleton image up and vanished without even a sound.

Pff!

The pygmy spurted blood and was sent flying just as his staff snapped in two.

A 5th-grade spiritual weapon was broken by using brute force alone. The Mad Dipper combined with Wraith Art was a force to be reckoned with.

Looking at his broken black staff, the pygmy realized the error of his ways. He really kicked a wall this time. His eyes began to show fear.

“Wait, hold on, I give. Please let me go!” The pygmy started wailing and begging for his life.

Li Jingtian turned to Zhuo Fan for opinions, only to see him looking elsewhere and letting him handle it. So Li Jingtian looked at the pygmy with a cruel grin, “It’s far too late now, you little shit!”

Li Jingtian laughed and slapped his chest. The pygmy wailed, “Brothers, your big brother is about to die. Come save me!”

“Who dares kill my brother….”

An ear-piercing cry resounded and startled Li Jingtian into seeing three shadows flying at him. They were on him in a flash.

The three launched attacks at the same time, forcing him to jump next to Zhuo Fan.

But the sight of them had Zhuo Fan and Li Jingtian slackjawed. Before there was one and now there were four pygmies. Though there were differences here and there despite how ugly they all were.

One was sharp, one was wretched, and the last was shy. Now that the three helped the first pygmy up, he regained his brash tone and started cackling, “Ha-ha-ha, so now you’re scared since my brothers are here? Give yourself up and I may be inclined to spare your wretched lives!”

Zhuo Fan’s face twitched and darkened.

[He definitely has more than one screw loose. He just had a harsh lesson beaten into him a moment ago but now he’s back to showing off. Guess you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.] It was fine if his backers were stronger, but Zhuo Fan could easily see they were of the same cultivation. Elder Li had no problem with one, so where did this tyke get all that courage from?

“Elder Li, for the sake of humanity, get rid of these little shits. I can’t bear to watch!” Zhuo Fan sighed.

Li Jingtian however recalled something and turned grave, “Steward Zhuo, we may have hit a snag this time.”

Startled, Zhuo Fan saw Li Jingtian cup his hands, “Are you perhaps the legendary Four Scheming Demons the Demon Scheming Sect placed in Thunder Swarm Mountain?”

Widening his eyes, Zhuo Fan turned to the four.

[Didn’t the Demon Scheming Sect lock them up? What are they doing up and about?]

At his mention, the four assumed weird poses and shouted to the world, “Indeed. We are the demonic cultivator hero quartet, known to all as the Abominable Four Scheming Demons!”

The creepy display the four put on and their pygmy appearances was jarring to one’s eyes. Zhuo Fan was even cringing.

[These four are grade A weirdos, one dumber than the next. I just can’t figure out why in the world Demon Scheming Sect would take them in.]

“Elder Li, I still believe it’s in humanity’s best interest you deal with them, forthwith. Now I know why the Demon Scheming Sect threw them in the Thunder Swarm Mountain and forgot about them! Humph, not even I would want to spare one moment longer seeing these weirdos!”

But not only Li Jingtian was unmoving, his face only grew heavier, “Steward Zhuo, they are more than their ‘exotic’ appearance led you to believe. These four threw Tianyu in chaos when they joined hands back in the day!”

Zhuo Fan squinted and looked at them again. Since it was so, he was very much eager to see how…