Three Stomps Shake the City

“Let’s go!”

Mounting their Blackjaguars, Ji Ning and his two companions swiftly departed the Blacktooth tribe, vanishing into the distant mountain forests.

“Chieftain?”

“Where are they going?”

Other tribesmen at the entrance asked questions, but Blacktooth, who stood there watching the three figures ride away, simply shook his head. “I don’t know.” Yet a fierce longing flickered in his eyes… He understood. This young master of the Ji Clan was heading to the Riverside Tribe to avenge his daughter.

But given the Riverside Tribe’s status, could this young master truly succeed in his revenge?

“Even if Young Master Ji Ning cannot get revenge, his father, the ‘Dripping Sword’ Ji Yichuan, absolutely can.” Blacktooth’s heart was filled with bitterness and hatred. He truly loathed that Jiang He, and hated only that his own strength was insufficient.

…

The Riverside Tribe was several hundred li away from the Blacktooth tribe. After crossing mountains and ridges, it wasn’t until the sun rose the next day that they finally arrived.

Every tribe had its own settlement.

The settlement of a super-large tribe of fifty thousand people… was a city in its own right.

“Line up.”

“Alright. Go on through.”

“Pass through.”

At the city gates, armored guards were inspecting the goods of those entering. The Riverside Tribe also had its enemies, and they were wary of anyone secretly smuggling in large, heavy crossbows or the like.

“Hm? You three!” A group of armored guards spotted the three Blackjaguars charging at high speed from afar. Seeing that they showed no sign of slowing down, the guards immediately shouted, “Stop right now! If you try to charge the gates of our Riverside City, we’ll loose our arrows!” Atop the city walls, archers had already drawn their bows; they would not show the slightest mercy.

Whoosh!

Ji Ning, who had been atop his Blackjaguar, suddenly shot into the air, directly ascending to the tall gate tower. An invisible wave of force swept outwards. The several dozen armored guards on the tower only felt their bodies become light as feathers as they were blasted clear off the battlements.

In an instant, Ji Ning stood alone atop the gate tower.

The armored guards tumbled down, their faces bruised and noses swollen. A few unlucky ones even suffered broken bones. Still, they were all fairly powerful warriors; falling from such a height wouldn’t ordinarily hurt them. They had been caught off guard and knocked down, suffering some minor injuries because of it.

“What’s going on?”

“He… he…”

The group of guards stared in a daze at Ji Ning atop the tower, then looked at their own empty hands. They scrambled to grab their fallen bows.

Standing atop the gate tower, Ji Ning stared down at the city and let out a furious roar. “Jiang He! Get out here!”

“Jiang He! Get out here!” “Jiang He! Get out here!” “Jiang He! Get out here!”…

The roar sounded like the angry bellow of a Fiendgod, echoing like thunder. The armored guards and passersby near the gate tower all covered their ears in pain, many of them beginning to flee in panic.

The furious shout reverberated throughout the entirety of Riverside City.

Ji Ning’s face was dark. He suddenly stomped his foot.

With a tremendous crash! The massive city wall, a full seven or eight meters thick, was incredibly sturdy. Yet, struck by this stomp, it violently trembled. Huge, jagged cracks appeared across the wall’s surface, and even the stone-paved street below split with ugly fissures. The ground quaked as if it were the surface of a lake struck by a stone, and the armored guards scrambled back in terror.

“Boom.” Ji Ning stomped again.

The ground shook once more. The city wall was covered in a network of cracks. Large chunks of stone began to fall, and the gate tower itself started to shake, as if it were about to collapse at any moment.

“Boom!” Ji Ning delivered a third and final stomp.

Rumble…

The city wall, having been fractured throughout its interior, finally collapsed with a thunderous crash. A torrent of enormous boulders tumbled down. In the blink of an eye, the wide gateway was reduced to a pile of rubble. The high parapet of the wall crashed onto the street before it. The guards and onlookers who had fled to a safe distance stared in shock at the scene of devastation.

“Heavens?”

“The city gate…”

No one could believe it. The main gate of a city was built with the thickest, most stable walls. Even a battering ram could only assault the doors; it couldn’t possibly shake the walls themselves. The stone was seven or eight meters thick, seamless and hard. The hardest blade could leave only a scratch on its surface.

Three stomps to bring down a city wall?

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Autumn Leaf and Mowu both rode their Blackjaguars to the top of the rubble, and Ji Ning landed on it as well.

…

Jiang Sansi was sitting cross-legged in a quiet meditation chamber, the faint scent of incense in the air.

He was the chieftain of the Riverside Tribe, a man of great renown within the territory under the Ji Clan’s five prefectures.

“Jiang He! Get out here!”

A furious shout suddenly rang out.

“Hm?” Jiang Sansi snapped his eyes open.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three tremendous crashes made Jiang Sansi’s face change. He immediately turned into a blur, flying out.

In but a moment.

As a Xiantian lifeform, Jiang Sansi had already arrived at the city gate where the sound had originated. The moment he saw the collapsed gate, now nothing but a pile of ruins, his eyes turned red. Destroying the city gate was like slapping the Riverside Tribe across the face, leaving absolutely no room for discussion.

“Are you Jiang Sansi?” Ji Ning stood on the rubble, looking at the suddenly appearing black-haired elder as he spoke directly. The Riverside Tribe had two Xiantian lifeforms, one male and one female. The male would naturally be Jiang Sansi.

The black-haired elder stared at Ji Ning, his face ugly. “Whoever you are, you cannot trample on the face of my Ji Clan’s territory!” With these words, a purple chain appeared in his hand. He swung it, sending the chain lashing towards Ji Ning. The overwhelming aura emanating from Ji Ning clearly marked him as the instigator of all this.

Swoosh!

Ji Ning shot forward in a single, explosive burst, his movement evoking the image of a Roc in flight, so fast it was terrifying.

Bam! Ji Ning’s foot slammed directly into the black-haired elder’s chest, sending the old man crashing backwards. He plowed a deep furrow into the stone ground, and his entire body was embedded into the earth. The next moment, the black-haired elder leaped out, clutching his chest, a trace of blood at the corner of his mouth as he stared in horror at Ji Ning. “You… who in the world are you?”

How could he be so fast? The man hadn’t even been able to land his magic treasure attack on Ji Ning before he was kicked flying. Fortunately, he had Xiantian true essence protecting his body.

“Hmph.” Ji Ning let out a cold laugh. “Tell Jiang He to come out.”

Swish!

Another figure, dressed in red, appeared. It was an old woman with white hair, also in red robes. As soon as she appeared, she rushed over to support Jiang Sansi. “Sansi, are you alright?”

“Be careful. He’s very strong,” Jiang Sansi said in a low voice.

The white-haired old woman in red looked at Ji Ning and barked, “May I ask how we of the Riverside Tribe have offended you? And who are you, for that matter? You’ve destroyed our city gate. Surely you’re not too afraid to give your name!”

Ji Ning replied coldly, “Ji Clan. Ji Ning.”

“Ji Ning?” The white-haired old woman was puzzled.

“Ji Ning?” The black-haired elder, Jiang Sansi, was greatly shocked. He quickly whispered to the old woman beside him, “Snow Maiden, the next Prefectural Lord of the Ji Clan’s Western Prefecture has already been decided. It is Ji Ning. But he should only be eleven years old now… how could he be…”

“Prefectural Lord of the Western Prefecture?” Snow Maiden was shocked.

Although they were amazed that Ji Ning had become a Xiantian lifeform at the mere age of eleven, they were even more shocked by his identity—the next Prefectural Lord of the Western Prefecture! Becoming a Xiantian before the age of twenty was common. There were even a few within the Ji Clan itself. Ji Lie had previously been feverishly hoping that one of the three tribe youths he had trained would reach Xiantian before the age of sixteen. If Ji Ning had been practicing other Fiendgod Body Refining methods, he might have become a Xiantian lifeform even as a child.

Among the larger group of tribe geniuses.

There were also many who reached Xiantian before twenty. Jiang Sansi was one such example! However, these tribes lacked sufficiently powerful ultimate techniques and their potential at later stages was far inferior to that of the Ji Clan.

“Ji Clan, Western Prefecture?” Snow Maiden stared at the youth before her. Their Riverside Tribe was squarely within the territory of the Ji Clan’s Western Prefecture, under their direct jurisdiction!

If the Prefectural Lord of the Western Prefecture wanted to destroy the Riverside Tribe, it would be a simple, easy task.

“Young Master!”

Suddenly, a voice rang out.

A hundred Black Armored Guards appeared in the distance. The moment their leader saw Ji Ning standing on the rubble, he was greatly startled and immediately went down on one knee. The other Black Armored Guards also called out respectfully, “Young Master!”

“Rise.” Ji Ning glanced at them and spoke. In ultra-large tribes, the Ji Clan would station a hundred-member Black Armored Guard unit, which also served a monitoring function.

“Yes.”

This group of Black Armored Guards rushed over and quickly took up positions around Ji Ning.

“Young Master Ji Ning.” The old woman, Snow Maiden, gave a slight bow. “Since Jiang He has offended you, young master, the Riverside Tribe will naturally not shield him. Sansi, go and bring Jiang He here at once.”

“Mm.” The black-haired elder, Jiang Sansi, quickly departed.

An ordinary Xiantian cultivator was not enough to make the Riverside Tribe bow its head! Even if that Xiantian cultivator was a member of the Ji Clan, it didn’t mean much. Without rules, there would be no order. The Ji Clan could not act arbitrarily; otherwise, how could so many tribes willingly submit? An ordinary Xiantian cultivator could not destroy an ultra-large tribe.

But if it was the Prefectural Lord himself… that was an entirely different matter.

…

“Keep practicing!”

Jiang He was a fairly handsome young man with fair skin, but there was a constant, brutal light in his eyes. At this moment, he was holding a leather whip and watching a young child. The child, clutching a short sword, was practicing sword forms. “No matter how sore or painful your arms get, you must endure it. You are going to be the future chieftain of our Riverside Tribe!”

“Yes, Father.” The child gritted his teeth and continued, not daring to stop. Stopping meant a lash from the whip.

Suddenly—

“Jiang He! Get out here.” A furious shout echoed through the area.

Jiang He’s face changed. “To dare raise such a clamor within my Riverside City, this intruder is no ordinary person.”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The three stomps that had caused the city wall to collapse felt as though they had landed directly on his heart, making him feel a jolt of panic. “Who is it? Who is looking for me?” Abandoning all other thoughts, Jiang He hurried outside.

“He, what’s going on?” The mansion was in uproar. His wife appeared, looking panicked, and his other women were a mixture of worry and barely concealed schadenfreude.

“Let’s go. Let’s go out and see.” Jiang He walked out.

The moment he stepped out of the mansion gates.

A black blur shot over from afar, appearing directly before Jiang He. The moment Jiang He saw him, he felt a jolt of alarm. “Chieftain!” The black-haired elder, his face ugly and stained with blood at the corner of his mouth, with dust and grime all over his clothes, gave Jiang He an icy glare. “Look at the good mess you’ve made.” And then, grabbing Jiang He by the neck like he was carrying a chick, he held him fast.

Swoosh! He transformed into a blur and sped off towards the distant city gate.