Chapter 795: Four? Eight! (II)

Hearing Jiang Yuebai's doubtful remark, Chu Liang stood up and gently placed a hand on the iron-eating beast.

He said, “We must trust God Jiuli’s judgment. Since God Jiuli chose an iron-eating beast to be its mount, that means this beast must have unparalleled talent. The iron-eating beast possesses both speed and strength. Its only disadvantage against the golden peak beast is that it doesn’t know any fighting techniques. I have a friend...”

He ruffled the iron-eating beast’s head and continued, “He practices martial arts. In the past, he taught me a movement technique called Turbulent Stream Movement Art and a combat technique he created himself, Brick Combat Technique. With these two martial arts, I roam the martial world undefeated. Today, I will pass them on to you.”

Everyone looked skeptical. "Will that really work?"

Even Tan Qingfeng shook his head and said, “I’m not trying to discourage you, but over the years, I’ve tried teaching it some cultivation techniques. It has absolutely no interest in training and couldn’t care less about cultivation.”

“Maybe it’s just your teaching methods that were ineffective. I’ve long since noticed the immense potential within it,” Chu Liang replied.

He lowered his head for a moment, then he suddenly pulled out a golden spirit plant. Its radiant glow exuded an abundance of spiritual energy, making it irresistibly tempting.

It wasn’t just the iron-eating beast—even the three people across from him were salivating.

“If you can master Turbulent Stream Movement Art within a day, this Dragon Saliva Golden Leaf will be yours,” Chu Liang said, locking eyes with the little creature. Then, he pulled out another spirit plant, its jade-like petals intricately carved by nature. “And if you can master Brick Combat Technique within another day, this Jade Flow Lingzhi Flower will be yours as well.

"And if you can defeat that golden peak beast within three days, I'll double the reward!"

“Uuuh!” The iron-eating beast raised its paws high, as if awakening the power of its ancestors. Its tiny black eyes gleamed with a crimson glow.

Seeing it display an enthusiasm it had never shown before, Tan Qingfeng fell into silence once more.

He couldn’t help but mutter inwardly,

Is my teaching method the problem? Is it because I don’t feed it spirit plants like regular meals? If you taught me cultivation this way, I’d love cultivating too.

Even with control over the entirety of the High God’s Legacy, the Tan Family couldn’t afford to casually give out spirit plants as snacks. Yet, this young man from Mount Shu could.

Tan Qingfeng found himself wondering just what kind of magical sect was the Mount Shu Sect?

If a young disciple possessed such absurd resources, how much more powerful must its leader and elders be? He couldn’t even imagine it.

In the brief moment he spaced out, he looked up again to find the iron-eating beast already settling into a horse stance.

Chu Liang took a solid, grounded stance and moved with precise, deliberate punches as he explained, “The key to Turbulent Stream Movement Art lies in a strong foundation. Though it may seem unsteady, in reality, it is as firm as Mount Tai.”

He struck forward with a sharp motion. “Heh! Ha!”

The iron-eating beast mimicked his stance, clenched its tiny fists, and threw out a punch.

Pow! wow!

"Do we love training?!"

"Oooh!"

"Do we love fighting?!"

"Oooh!"

"Do we love spirit plants?!"

"Oooohhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

"Now, show me your fastest speed. Let’s run a lap!"

"Oooh!"

...

When the familiar Jiuli priest saw them again three days later, his face, painted with vibrant colors, darkened noticeably.

“We misremembered the date. Lord Supreme Harbinger of Doom was actually three days away from adulthood,” Chu Liang said with a smile. “But today is the day it becomes an adult!”

The little creature, cradled in Tan Qingfeng’s arms, nodded repeatedly, as if whatever Chu Liang said was the absolute truth.

“Only three days have passed. There is no way its combat ability could have significantly improved,” the Jiuli priest said, his voice heavy as he stared at them. “You lowly humans, what do you take Lord Iron-Eating Beast for?”

“How dare you!” Chu Liang shot back, glaring at the Jiuli Priest. “Honored Priest, are you questioning the bloodline and talent of the Iron-Eating Beast, God Jiuli’s chosen mount?”

“I wouldn’t dare,” the Jiuli priest said, momentarily taken aback by Chu Liang’s invocation of God Jiuli’s authority. He quickly added, “But even if Lord Iron-Eating Beast possesses unmatched talent and a noble bloodline, expecting significant improvement in just three days is—”

Chu Liang interjected confidently, "Just release your golden peak beast, and we’ll know the result in an instant.”

The Jiuli priest dared not object, as the iron-eating beast’s noble status granted it the right to challenge at any time. Even so, he could only see the in frustration, blaming these lowly humans for misleading the young and innocent beast. They were utterly detestable.

The priest had already made up his mind. Once the iron-eating beast lost again, he would reason with the Supreme Harbinger of Doom and persuade it to demote these humans to nothing more than food.

Moments later, the iron gate of the arena rumbled open. The golden peak beast stepped out, radiating a brilliant glow. With every step it took, a heavy clang-clunk echoed through the arena.

On the opposite side, the Supreme Harbinger of Doom remained curled up in a tiny ball, its short paws clutching its belly as it continued to look utterly dazed.

Seeing its former defeated opponent, the golden peak beast let out a deep, rumbling roar. “Gwoooarrrr!”

This time, all fear of the iron-eating beast and its kind had disappeared. It knew it could defeat its opponent with ease. It raised a massive foot and prepared to stomp down with full force!

Whoosh!

A sudden blur streaked across the arena as the iron-eating beast disappeared from sight. By the time everyone caught sight of it again, it was already soaring through the air behind the golden peak beast.

And underneath its nimble figure, it somehow pulled out a complete and solid gold brick!

The Jiuli priest suddenly remembered how the Supreme Harbinger of Doom had been clutching its belly, clearly hiding something underneath... It hid a brick?!

Technically speaking, no rule had ever been set forbidding iron-eating beasts from using weapons during their adulthood trial.

After all, for countless generations, no iron-eating beast had ever needed a weapon. Their claws and fangs, stronger than even the finest legendary weapons forged by Jiuli’s greatest artificers, were their most powerful weapons!

For the first time ever, an iron-eating beast had learned to wield a weapon. It was unclear whether this was a progress or regress.

And to top it all off... It was a brick.

𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Bam!

The brick struck the back of the golden peak beast’s massive head with a heavy thud, leaving a noticeable dent.

Gwoooar!

With a furious roar, the golden peak beast whipped its head around in rage.

However, the iron-eating beast propelled itself off the golden peak beast’s back and swiftly darted away once more.

Whoosh!

This was the beauty of Turbulent Stream Movement Art.

When the iron-eating beast reappeared, it was once again behind the golden peak beast’s head, bringing down another brick with force.

Bam!

This was a simple yet effective combat technique. However, when executed with the speed and power of an iron-eating beast, a creature at the peak of its species, the result was nothing short of terrifying.

The gold brick was small, and the golden peak beast was massive, but no matter how strong its iron-like body was, could it withstand hundreds of hits from a brick?

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

For a moment, the arena echoed with the sound of a blacksmith hammering iron.

The Jiuli priest’s face turned pale with fury. Never in his life had he imagined witnessing such a scene, where a mighty iron-eating beast would resort to such a shameless and cowardly fighting method.

Once again, the same question had to be asked. If an iron-eating beast had started using tactics, could this be progress or regression?

However, for the Jiuli Tribe, this was clearly unacceptable.

The relentless beating went on for quite a while. The golden peak beast’s head had become dented and mangled, resembling nothing more than a pile of scrap metal. Finally, it let out a last wail and collapsed heavily to the ground.

Thud!

"We won!"

Below the spectator stand, the iron-eating beast clutched its gold brick, tilting its head upward with eyes nearly brimming with tears. In the stands, the “human servants” erupted in joy, with one couple even embracing each other in celebration.

Chu Liang glanced at the little creature. The iron-eating beast slowly raised a chubby paw, extending four fingers.

“Haha,” Chu Liang chuckled. He knew exactly what it meant. The little creature was asking for four spirit plants.

“Haaaaaa, I really don’t know what to say about you people...” The Jiuli priest said, shaking his head helplessly. “Fine, Lord Supreme Harbinger of Doom has at least passed the initiation stage of the adulthood trial. Now, it may undertake the real test. Release all the golden peak beasts!”

At his command, a series of gates rumbled open. As the twelve massive doors swung wide, towering figures began to step out, each one radiating a terrifying pressure.

Everyone turned toward the Jiuli priest. "What’s going on?"

“You actually think the great iron-eating beast can prove itself with only that?” The Jiuli priest scoffed, his gaze filled with disbelief. “The fight against the first Golden Peak beast was merely to help Lord Iron-Eating Beast become familiar with its opponent. To truly pass the trial, it must defeat every golden peak beast surrounding it.”

Chu Liang lowered his head and stared at the little creature, whose black-bean-like eyes conveyed such innocence. Slowly, he raised his hand and formed the gesture of the number eight.