Chapter 121: Just Strike Me Dead Then

Soon, the group arrived at the riverside, and the small boats were lowered into the water.

Almost simultaneously, a splash erupted in the center of the river. With that single disturbance, a light drizzle began to fall within a hundred-yard radius. At this moment, Elder Wu’s expression turned grim. He was nearly certain that there was a Demon Marquis-level beast in the river; an ordinary Great Demon Master could never have caused such a phenomenon.

"Damn it! This mission has exceeded its rating," Elder Wu muttered, feeling the situation was dire.

It was no longer a matter of losing half their force; total annihilation was now a possibility. On land, he would not fear such a Demon Marquis, but in the water, his strength was severely hindered. If he were forced to engage a Demon Marquis-level powerhouse, he risked his own life. However, there was no turning back now. They had to grit their teeth and push forward. Between the time already spent and the casualties sustained, their team had suffered significant trauma. Abandoning the mission now would result in an even greater loss.

He took a deep breath and roared, "Into the water!"

The group did not hesitate, pushing their small boats into the river before leaping aboard. One of the Great Martial Masters immediately channeled his internal energy into a circular device on the boat. The next instant, the rickety craft began to glide toward the opposite bank, and at a considerable speed.

"Keep a sharp eye on the water," Elder Wu warned. Even without his command, everyone on the boats—except for the one fueling the mechanism—kept their eyes locked on the surface.

"Die!" a Great Martial Master shouted, his gaze turning icy as he triggered the heavy crossbow mounted on his arm.

*Swish!*

The bolt flew into the water. Almost instantly, a beast preparing to attack was struck through the brain. Its body lost all momentum and sank into the depths. The man had just let out a breath of relief when a massive shadow loomed beneath them. In a heartbeat, their boat was overturned; two others nearby suffered the same fate, capsizing and sinking to the riverbed. The attack was too fast, even for a Martial Marquis like Elder Wu to react.

"Accelerate! Full speed ahead!"

***

Dozens of miles away, Xiao Yang was racing toward them.

"Young Master! Give it to me straight—how much confidence do you really have?" the Profound Ice White Tiger asked, its heart trembling.

To be honest, the creature they were hunting was something it could never defeat. If they encountered it, the only option would be to flee. Yet, Xiao Yang had guaranteed he had a way to handle it and insisted on seeing what the corpse looked like. Wasn't this just asking for death? If not for the soul contract, the Profound Ice White Tiger would have rather died in the wild than come here. The corpse was just too sinister.

"You really want to know?" Xiao Yang looked at the anxious tiger and flashed a mischievous smile, which only made the big cat feel more uneasy. It couldn't help but swallow hard.

"Young Master, don't scare me. I'm faint of heart," the Profound Ice White Tiger whimpered. It no longer had any of the majesty of a Demon King, looking more like a terrified puppy.

"You've brought shame upon all Demon Kings," Xiao Yang said, lifting the tiger by the scruff of its neck, speechless. He even began to wonder if it had been abandoned by its previous owner because it was such a coward. It was supposed to be the King of Beasts, but it was quickly becoming the King of Cowards.

"Forget it. You won't settle down until you see my secret weapon, so I'll show you." He thought it best to reveal his trump card; this pre-battle cowardice was bad luck and would only dampen their morale.

"That would be great!" The Profound Ice White Tiger was suddenly excited, waiting with bated breath. It knew clearly that facing that corpse empty-handed was no different from suicide.

Xiao Yang stopped and shook his head. He had intended to keep this hidden for a while longer, but if he didn't bring it out now, he would be annoyed to death by this foolish cat.

"Just a glance, no more," Xiao Yang said mysteriously. He had spent a fortune in the system shop for these, and he had only bought two.

*Gulp.* The Profound Ice White Tiger swallowed hard. It swore it hadn't been this nervous even when breaking through to the Demon King realm. It began to speculate: a spirit talisman from Xiao Yang’s family elders? A powerful spiritual artifact? Or perhaps a summoning scroll to call upon his family's masters? Every likely possibility flashed through its mind, but it couldn't imagine how Xiao Yang would manage.

At that moment, Xiao Yang moved his mind and retrieved an item from his system space. It was pitch black. At first glance, the Profound Ice White Tiger couldn't tell what on earth it was.

"What is this?" it asked, stunned.

Xiao Yang wasn't surprised; it would be weirder if a Demon King recognized this item. "What does it look like to you?" he asked with a chuckle, wanting to tease the tiger.

The big cat looked it over from top to bottom, concluding it must be the hoof of some beast. As for what kind, it couldn't guess; there were countless beasts in this world, and many had similar hooves.

"Is this the hoof of a demonic beast?" it asked, though based on its knowledge as a Demon King, it couldn't think of any beast whose hoof could suppress that corpse.

"Incorrect," Xiao Yang shook his head.

The Profound Ice White Tiger was confused. If it wasn't a demonic beast's hoof, could it be a divine beast's? That seemed even less likely, as it couldn't sense any aura emanating from it.

"I can't guess," it finally admitted.

Xiao Yang looked at the big cat and knew it would never figure it out. How could a high-and-mighty Demon King care about common creatures that didn't even qualify as demonic beasts?

"This is the hoof of a black donkey."

???

The Profound Ice White Tiger went blank. Its brain raced, trying to figure out what kind of powerful demonic beast a "black donkey" was that it could suppress the corpse. But no matter how hard it racked its brain, it couldn't identify such a creature.

"Don't bother thinking about it. It’s just an ordinary animal," Xiao Yang said indifferently.

As soon as those words left his lips, the Profound Ice White Tiger lost its composure. *What? An ordinary animal's hoof? Was he taking this thing to go die?* It wanted to curse Xiao Yang, but held back, thinking he must be joking. If he was joking, then it made sense.

"Young Master! You're kidding, right? What's your real trump card?" it asked, looking at him with desperate hope.

"Of course!" Xiao Yang smiled at the eager gaze and pulled out a sack. The Profound Ice White Tiger felt a renewed spark of hope. *He really was just teasing me. I almost fell for it.* It reached out a paw, ready to open the bag and see what treasure was inside to deal with a corpse at the peak of the Martial King realm.

The bag opened, and white, polished grains of rice were revealed.

The Profound Ice White Tiger felt its head spinning, staring blankly at the rice in the bag. Its heart let out a silent wail. *Oh, Heavens! Just strike me dead! What kind of eccentric brings a hoof and a bag of rice to fight a Corpse King?*

At that moment, the big cat truly wished it were dead. Xiao Yang’s behavior had left it speechless and had completely extinguished any hope it had for survival.