Zhang Fei - The Abandoned Son

"Hmm?" The portal guardian, who was a lava lion, immediately opened his eyes as soon as Zhang Fei [4] landed not far from him. "I remember your scent; you were the one who broke through my portal about three months ago, right?"

"You have a sharp sense of smell and memory, eh?" Zhang Fei [4] leisurely walked toward the lion. "Don't you feel angry that a human forced you to protect this portal, Yan Jiang? You are an emperor-rank demon beast, and your cultivation is at the 1-Moon Divine Manifestation Realm, but Shang Huaqiang brought you here, which halted your cultivation."

Yan Jiang immediately stood up as he ferociously glared at Zhang Fei [4]. His body was enormous, and hot lava was dripping from it. "How do you know my name and that person's identity?"

"Haha." Zhang Fei [4] laughed in response. "Anyway, you don't need to look at me like that because I'm not afraid of you in the slightest. Your demon rank and cultivation are indeed higher than mine, but you are just a mere demon beast, and your beast bloodline is futile in front of me."

As an old and experienced beast, Yan Jiang had a sharp beast instinct, and he knew that Zhang Fei [4]'s bloodline was far superior to his. Moreover, he was also a beast cultivator, so he could feel something unusual from him.

'This old beast is quite wise and not hot-headed.' Zhang Fei [4] just smiled at Yan Jiang's reaction. "Shang Huaqiang is my enemy, and he must be your enemy too, right? Since we have the same enemy, how about you follow me? I'm unable to defeat that guy now, especially since his cultivation is already at the 1-Moon Divine Ascendant Realm, but I'm confident I can fight him in the future."

"Hmm?" Yan Jiang observed Zhang Fei [4] for quite some time, mainly because he looked so confident. "Why should I follow you? What benefits can you give me? I admit that you are interesting because you can trick me and break through my portal, but Shang Huaqiang is much stronger than you think, and his two ancestors are even stronger."

Zhang Fei [4] nodded to the lion. "You are right, Shang Huaqiang and his two ancestors are indeed powerful, and most cultivators in the Red Sun Realm fear them. However, I'm much better than you think, and I have a lot of things in my arsenal. To tell you the truth, I became a demon beast and a cultivator around ten months ago, but I have reached this stage now. My cultivation is at the 5-Star Earth Realm, and my demon rank has reached the duke rank."

"Do you think you can lie to me? Do you think I will believe that you can reach this stage in less than ten months?" Yan Jiang asked in a furious tone. "You may be able to fool other cultivators or demons below you, but you will never be able to fool me because I am too experienced."

Zhang Fei [4] shook his head when he heard that. "At first, I thought you were a wise old demon, but I misjudged you. Even if I lied to you, you should have realized that I could defeat you, and I could subdue you by force. However, I prefer that you choose to join me voluntarily, so I haven't taken any action against you yet."

"Prove your strength to me."

Zhang Fei [4] released a soft sigh. "Why don't you just attack me with your lava? If I were as weak as you imagine, I would immediately die from your attack."

"Hmm?" Yan Jiang seemed hesitant to attack Zhang Fei [4], as he was sure that he would die if he attacked him. "Since you asked for it, I will attack you now, but I will not be responsible if you die."

"Just attack me using your strongest attack."

Yan Jiang immediately opened his mouth and spat out a lump of lava, which directly hit Zhang Fei [4]. However, the lion demon beast seemed confused as he did not groan in pain, and he still stood straight in his spot, especially since his lava would dissolve everything right away.

"Is this your strongest strength? How disappointing." Zhang Fei [4] asked as he got rid of the lava from his body, shocking Yan Jiang. "Your lava may be strong for other living creatures, but it's just a mere child's toy in front of me, and I don't feel the heat at all. If you still have other powerful attacks, you can use them now, and I will accept them all."

Yan Jiang was furious to hear Zhang Fei [4]'s taunt, and he attacked him several times using his lava, but none of his attacks injured him.

Yan Jiang decided to physically attack him using his front paws, but Zhang Fei [4] immediately disappeared and moved above his back.

"Your speed is not bad, even though your body is enormous, but it's still useless in front of me." Yan Jiang shook his body to throw Zhang Fei [4], but he remained on his back. "Since you feel that your physique is great, I will attack you with one of my strongest attacks."

Bam

"Roar!" Yan Jiang let out a pained roar as Zhang Fei [4] hit the back of his head, forcing him to fall to the ground. "How can your attack be so strong?"

"Heh! You don't know me, so you're looking down on me too much." Zhang Fei [4] immediately moved behind Yan Jiang and grabbed his tail, and he tied his six tails to it as well. He lifted the lion demon beast high into the sky, spun him around in mid-air for a while, and threw him out of the dead forest.

"Roar!" Once again, Yan Jiang let out a loud roar as his body hurtled toward the ground outside the forest, but he stabilized himself before hitting the ground and flying in front of Zhang Fei [4]. "Tell me! How can your strengths be so strong? Your body is so small, and I can swallow you in one go, but your physical strength clearly surpasses mine."

Zhang Fei [4] shrugged in response. "I still have many tricks to subdue you."

"Hmm?" Yan Jiang frowned as an artificial forest suddenly enclosed him. "Isn't this the ability of the Dryads? How can you have their abilities?"

"As I said before, I am indeed weaker than you in terms of demon rank and cultivation, but I am much better than you think. If I intend to attack you seriously, I dare to guarantee that you will not be able to wake up for a week or more." Zhang Fei [4] then took out six beast pills and showed them to Yan Jiang, causing the lion demon beast to drool, especially after he recognized their grade. "Even though you are a demon beast, you are still a beast. These pills are specially concocted for beasts, and I will give them to you if you are willing to join me. Once you swallow them, you will immediately feel changes in yourself, and they also have long-term effects, such as increasing your beast rank."

Yan Jiang looked thoughtful after hearing all that, but his gaze never moved from the six pills. "I'm willing to join you, but I still want to live freely, so I don't want to become your contract beast."

"I don't have a problem with that." Zhang Fei [4] replied with a nod. "I won't make a contract with you, but I will implant my soul mark on you. You don't have to worry because it's not a slave mark, so I can't control you, and I use it just in case you betray me. If you betray me, I can track your whereabouts immediately, and I will kill you as soon as I find you."

"All right." Zhang Fei [4] immediately removed the artificial forest and floated in front of Yan Jiang, shocking him by pulling his soul out of his body. Once he finished implanting his soul mark, he immediately returned his soul to his body. "Who the hell are you? A lust demon lord like you shouldn't have a soul ability like that."

"I mimicked it from another demon, and I still have many other abilities that I mimicked from other demons." Zhang Fei [4] immediately gave the six beast pills to Yan Jiang. "For now, your job is only to help my friends to protect this realm, especially since Shang Huaqiang sent four people here."

"Your friends?"

"Come out now! I know you two have been here for a while."

Yan Jiang immediately looked at Oz the First and Morgana, who had just appeared in front of them. "The two of them are clearly stronger than me, and they should be able to defeat Shang Huaqiang's subordinates, so why do you still want me to join you?"

"My dream is not in the middle or upper realms; it is in a realm higher than the upper realms." Therefore, I need many strong people by my side, be they humans, demons, or beasts." Yan Jiang, Morgana, and Oz the First stared at Zhang Fei [4] in shock. "I won't say anything about that now, especially since I still don't have a way to go there. However, that place is real, and I've met several people from there. For now, you guys just need to focus on your strengths, and I will take you all there when the time comes."

"So, when will those people arrive in this realm?" Morgana asked.

"They will arrive around two weeks from now. You've met one of them before, especially since he was the one who summoned Shang Huaqiang's avatar back then." Morgana and Oz the First nodded in understanding to Zhang Fei [4], as they still remembered Shang Chenguang. "Morgana, I hope you can help Ju Yingzhi recover faster because I need her abilities, and she lives in the succubi tower in Lust City."

Morgana nodded at him. "I already know about the woman's presence, but I haven't gone to see her. Since you want it that way, I'll go see her after this."

"Thank you." After that, Zhang Fei [4] picked up the three female demons and took them back to the training space.

Yan Jiang went straight back to the dead forest to swallow the six pills. As she had agreed, Morgana and Oz the First went to meet Ju Yingzhi at the succubi tower.

Ju Yingzhi was initially shocked by the two's presence, but Morgana immediately explained to her that they came to her because of Zhang Fei [4]'s request, and the two began to help her recover from her injuries.

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Inside the maze, Huangfu Shou and his party did not have too much difficulty in facing the challenges inside, but they were still busy searching for Huangfu Fanbo's location. After all, he was the only healer in their group, and only he could determine the cure for Huangfu Xiaoying and Huangfu Xiaomei.

Li Tiannan decided to split them into groups, with him bringing Huangfu Ziyuan with him. Ling Baozi led the people from the Huangfu Kingdom to another area.

Meanwhile, Huangfu Shou went with his two wives to another area. "Fortunately, that old man is not with us, Husband. Since his arrival, he has been eyeing me and the others with lustful eyes, so I ordered your other concubines to leave the palace."

"I know." Huangfu Shou replied with a soft sigh. "I still don't understand why my ancestors had to send him to us, and you have made the right decision to order the others to leave the palace. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to save you if he really made a move against you guys. However, the condition of our two daughters continues to decline, so we must find him and the antidote as soon as possible, or they will really die."

Helian Yueyi's expression turned gloomy as soon as Huangfu Shou mentioned their daughters. "Anyway, Lian'er told me that the challenges they face here are much more difficult than in the past, but I don't see any difference at all compared to the last time we came here."

"I don't have an answer for that." Huangfu Shou then sped up. "Let's go; we have to move faster, especially since time is ticking."

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After some time, Zhang Fei [5] finished forging a spirit-grade sword, and it was better than the last one, especially since he injected his soul power into it. After he tidied up his forging equipment, he handed his sword to Li Yanzhi and Yuan Kong. "You two can check it out."

"There's nothing to check anymore." Li Yanzhi replied with a shake of his head. "Everything about this sword is perfect, be it in terms of its style, weight, sharpness, or thickness. This way, the winner of the match is you."

Yuan Kong then asked him. "Do you know the Tie Clan?"

"Oh?" Zhang Fei [5] was taken aback for a moment before nodding. "I learned about blacksmithing for the first time from Old Gang, and Senior Tie Xuan taught me more about it."

"Young... young master Tie Xuan?" Yuan Kong and Li Yanzhi stuttered.

Since both people reacted like that, Zhang Fei [5] was sure that the Tie Clan's status in blacksmithing was not small. He immediately took out the clan plaque that Tie Xuan gave him at their first meeting. "Senior Xuan not only helped me deepen my understanding of blacksmithing, but he also helped me in many ways, including providing me with many rare forging materials."

"Kid." Zhang Fei [5] turned to Duan Zhao, who took out a crystal ball with a high concentration of Qi inside. "This is the Luminous Qi Crystal, and I will start making your new weapon today."

"How long will it take you to make it, Senior?"

"Your new weapon is quite complicated, and I don't want to rush into creating it, especially since this crystal is too expensive and rare." Zhang Fei [5] nodded to Duan Zhao. "Give me three months, and I will create the most perfect weapon for you."

"Senior, you can take your time, as I don't need a new weapon urgently. I don't mind if I have to wait a few months longer as long as the weapon is perfect." Zhang Fei [5] remembered something. "Senior, I wanted to discuss with you how to properly forge the earth-grade weapon, but I still have some matters to attend to now, so I will come back later."

"All right, you can come to me anytime."

After Zhang Fei [5] left, Yuan Kong spoke to Duan Zhao directly. "Old Duan, the Tie Clan is truly outstanding in blacksmithing, so you must maintain your good relationship with that kid, and he might introduce you to them in the future."

"Hahaha." Duan Zhao laughed at that. "Old Kong, if we want to build good relationships with other people, then build those relationships based on sincerity without thinking about reciprocity. The relationship between Zhang Fei [5] and the Tie Clan is unrelated to me, so I don't expect him to introduce me to them. If he is willing to introduce me to them, then I will be grateful to him. If he doesn't have that intention, I will never mention anything."

'What a fool!' Yuan Kong silently said.

Sometime later, all the participants had finished their respective weapons, and the result was that Duan Zhao's group narrowly won against the blacksmiths from the Divine Fire Realm.

"Since the results are out, we will bring them back to their realm, and we will report the results of this competition to the higher-ups, so you can wait for the next announcement." After that, Li Yanzhi and Yuan Kong took the blacksmiths from the Divine Fire Realm to leave the realm.

Duan Zhao asked all his disciples to bring their disciples back to their respective places, and he began to create Zhang Fei [5]'s new weapon.

- To Be Continued -