Chapter 97: Severing A Wing, Earning Another 30 Million Gold Coins

Pin-drop silence reigned atop the city walls.

The Flying Dragon Troops were as quiet as mice.

Everyone watched helplessly as Meng Lei beat the living daylights out of the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King, finding the fact impossible to accept.

That was the great, mighty Flying Dragon King, a noble Duke of the kingdom, and a strong, powerful ninth-grade expert... When had he ever had the living daylights beaten out of him like that?

Shock!

Confusion!

Disbelief!

Yet, no matter what, it couldn’t change the fact that the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King was being beaten into a pulp. Lightning bolts as thick as water barrels continued to crash down upon him, the interval between each lightning bolt never going past a second. The Double-Legged Flying Dragon King didn’t even have time to catch his breath. Who was going to be beaten into a pulp, if not him?

“That guy sure is unlucky!”

Ol’ Amos felt rather sympathetic toward the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King now. If he’d been facing a typical Great Ninth-Grade Magician, he definitely wouldn’t have been in such a sorry state.

Unfortunately, the one he’d run into was Meng Lei—a monster that could do insta-release ninth-grade spells.

How was he going to win?

Even if Meng Lei didn’t instantly release eighth-grade or ninth-grade spells, just that Seventh-Grade Spell, Thunder Light alone was already enough to beat him up to the point where he had no means of retaliation.

Win?

The concept didn’t even exist!

“Meng Lei!” Ol’ Amos shook his head lightly. “Killing him brings you no boons. Instead, it’ll even cause you a whole lot of unnecessary trouble. Just let him off.”

Meng Lei considered for a brief moment and then nodded slowly.

Indeed, that was true. The Double-Legged Flying Dragon King was one of Fire Dragon Kingdom’s Dukes, after all. It wasn’t difficult to kill him, but the series of consequences that would bring was something that the current him couldn’t bear.

It went back to the same old thing—before one possessed enough strength, if they must hide and lay low, then they must hide and lay low. If they must mature like a coward, then they still have to mature like a coward.

“Fine! I’ll spare that old dog’s life!”

Meng Lei took up Ol’ Amos’ suggestion. He stopped casting Thunder Light and released the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King.

“You lowly piece of trash! Die!”

After he was freed, not only was the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King not grateful, but he even returned kindness with animosity instead. He charged toward Meng Lei at lightning-quick speed.

However, he had only just flown right up to Meng Lei when a lightning blade shot down from the heavens and slashed across his left wing in a split second, severing it at the base!

Splurt!

The wing left his body, and dragon blood spurted about. Intense, unbearable pain assaulted the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King’s senses, and he let out a shrill, tragic cry before plummeting straight toward the ground.

“You may live on, but not without punishment. This spatial ring of yours is now mine. I’ll take it as compensation for all of you affronting me!”

Meng Lei’s voice was aloof and distant. He grabbed the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King’s severed wing and removed the spatial ring on it. Then, he tossed the wing aside casually, as though he was discarding rubbish.

The whole place fell into dead silence.

This sight filled everyone with fear and trepidation. Severing the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King’s wing with a casual wave? Wasn’t he a little too savage? That was the great Double-Legged Flying Dragon King, after all!

“That fellow...”

Marquis Gould narrowed his eyes, a hint of graveness flashing across the bottom of his eyes. Since Meng Lei could beat the living daylights out of the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King, then didn’t that mean that he could also do the same to him?

He was already that powerful when he had only just broken through?

“From this point onward, yet another person stronger than me has come into being... Sigh!”

Marquis Gould’s emotions were rather complex. With a wave, he ordered, “Bring a few light-elemental Magicians over here to follow me and check on Duke Nicolas’ injuries.”

“Yes, my lord!”

Elsewhere, Meng Lei had already kept the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King’s spatial ring. He then landed on the ground and began to collect the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants’ magic cores as though he was the only person present.

When one’s cultivation reached a realm like his, their spiritual power could physically manifest and perfectly interfere with reality. Thus, retrieving items via telekinesis was no problem for them.

As he passed through the area, all the magic cores within several hundred meters of him disappeared, leaving behind not even a single one...

“T-the devil has come?”

“Run...!”

Upon the sight of Meng Lei coming over, all the Double-Legged Flying Dragons looked as though they had just seen a ghost. They flew away in a panic, terribly afraid that Meng Lei would strike them to death with a lightning bolt should they be even a step too slow.

The sight of Meng Lei beating the living daylights out of the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King just now had left an exceptionally deep impression on them and terribly frightened them. For a very long time to come, they probably wouldn’t be able to rid themselves of that fear.

“Duke Nicolas, are you alright?”

“Hurry! Treat Duke Nicolas’ injuries!”

Thanks to the few light-elemental Magicians’ efforts, the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King’s severed wing was successfully reattached, and his other wounds also fully healed. However, this time round, he didn’t charge toward Meng Lei anymore.

He had been badly frightened.

Since that lightning blade could sever his left wing so easily, then it definitely could sever his head just as easily. If he charged forward again, who was to say that the lightning blade wouldn’t land on his head this time?

If he didn’t want to die, then he had no choice but to wuss out.

“Marquis Gould, who’s that guy?”

“I don’t know, either!”

“You don’t know? Isn’t he someone from your frontier troops?”

“No, he isn’t.”

Marquis Gould shook his head lightly. Then, he recounted what he knew of Meng Lei, which made the Double-Legged Flying Dragon King break into a huge frown.

Identity unknown?

Just broken through to ninth-grade?

And even knows Dragon-Language Magic?

“I don’t care who you are, but I will have my revenge for sure!”

...

Meng Lei was highly efficient. He had already collected all the magic cores in the area within a dozen kilometers in under ten minutes. What disappointed him, however, was that he had only collected a total of 28,743 magic cores.

It doesn’t even come up to 30,000,000 gold coins?

Meng Lei’s brows furrowed tightly, and he looked at the Flying Dragon Troops extremely hostilely.

If that bunch of idiots hadn’t eaten some of them, it would’ve passed the 30,000,000-mark for sure!

That’s 30,000,000 gold coins, you know! 30,000,000!

You bastards, since you’ve eaten a few million of my gold coins, you can say that there’s a feud between us now. If I get a chance to in the future, I’ll definitely take all of you out in one go and then gouge out all of your magic cores as compensation!

After glowering at the Flying Dragon Troops, Meng Lei decided to leave. At that point, Marquis Gould strode forward and called out, “Lord Magician, please wait a moment!”

Meng Lei wasn’t very fond of the frontier troops, so he couldn’t be bothered to even pay him any heed. He steered the magic carpet and rushed up into the sky.

“My lord, that fellow is simply too full of himself!” barked an indignant attendant.

“Hmph!”

Marquis Gould snorted, his countenance displeased and sinister.

...

After leaving the Great Dragon Blood Wall, Meng Lei didn’t return to the valley where the villagers were temporarily staying at. Instead, he was rather troubled over another issue—why must he wait for the ant tide to charge out of the Magical Beast Forest and then passively defend against them? Why not take the initiative to launch an attack and invade them instead?

As the saying went, “Nothing good comes without risk”.

Besides, he had the magic carpet, so what could the ant tide do to him?

The moment he thought of that, Meng Lei felt like everything had become clear at once, and he promptly charged into the Magical Beast Forest.

“Ol’ President, the ant tide has devoured all the Magical Beasts in the forest. Doesn’t that mean that there won’t be any more Magical Beasts in the forest for a very long time to come?”

Meng Lei chatted idly with Ol’ Amos while flying on the magic carpet. The old man had seen a lot of the world and was very knowledgeable, so he had learned a lot through his chats with him.

“That’s not the case!” Ol’ Amos gave him an odd smile and said, “In truth, after every ant tide, not only would the Magical Beasts in the forest not disappear, but they would even increase in numbers. They would reoccupy every corner of the Magical Beast Forest and turn the forest back into their paradise.”

“Uh...” Meng Lei looked dumbfounded. “Increase in numbers? How can that be? Didn’t you say that the ant tide would eat all the Magical Beasts? Why would their numbers increase? Did they all go into hiding? But that shouldn’t be! The ant tide is everywhere, so where can they even hide?”

“They didn’t go into hiding and have certainly been devoured by the ant tide. However, after the ant tide, more Magical Beasts will indeed appear in the forest.

“As for the reason, that’s a secret. A secret that belongs to the Magical Beasts!” A smiling Ol’ Amos twisted his beard and decided to keep Meng Lei in suspense.

“A secret?”

Meng Lei was taken aback.

“Yes, a secret! One that you’ll only be qualified to know when you’ve broken through to Saint Domain. When the time comes, you’ll realize that this world is very big and that what you know... is only very little!”