𝑶𝒱𝓵xt.𝔠𝑜𝓂

“This is unfair. Two against one. How am I supposed to win the bet?” Lu An complained after hearing the conversation.

Tang Shaoyang rolled his eyes, “What are you talking about? She did not compete with us, but she also did not help me. It’s still one v one.”

Rosalie smiled, “As your brother said, I did not help him. It’s not like he needs my help either. Don’t get discouraged, you still have a lot of opportunities.”

Lu An had nothing to say about it since that was the fact. Rosalie did not help, he could not say it was cheating or an unfair bet. Meanwhile, Tang Shaoyang collected the dead bodies. He stored the Ancient Rank dead body and the seven Epic Epic Ranks’ bodies in his inventory. These bodies were materials for him and also for his skeleton.

Tang Shaoyang was about to leave the area, but Skelly7, the Archmaster Bonemancer, whispered in his head, ‘Let me have the remaining bodies, Master. I want to create a new underling with Lycanthrope’s bones.’

He summoned Skelly7, letting the skeleton collect the bodies. Lu An took this as a chance for him, “I will surpass your numbers. Just you wait,” He left the group by himself, trying to find the Lycanthrope’s village alone.

Tang Shaoyang shook his head. The chance Lu An beat him in the bet was almost zero. The way Lu An fought made him kill the Lycanthrope slower. It would take Lu An longer to kill a pack of Lycanthrope than Tang Shaoyang. Even if Lu An found the village, Tang Shaoyang might catch up before he killed all the Lycanthrope.

*** ***

Half an hour had passed since the fire pillar was created to lure the Lycanthrope, and since then, Tang Shaoyang had encountered five Lycanthrope groups that tried to investigate the fire pillar. He had killed around three hundred Lycanthropes and got around seventy-five levels along.

Tang Shaoyang and Rosalie arrived at the first Lycanthrope Village. He stood thirty meters away from the village, using his Spirit Eyes to check inside. There was a decent number of Lycanthrope in the village, around three hundred of them, including the Lycanthrope children. He furrowed his brows at the sight of the smaller Lycanthrope that ran around in the village. The sight of the children, made him hesitate to make his way to the village to slaughter the adult. He estimated there were around over two hundred and fifty adults with the rest of them being children.

“They are monsters. We mean to kill each other,” Rosalie spoke as soon as she noticed his hesitation.

That was the right justification, but that was just wrong in Tang Shaoyang’s eyes. They might be monsters, but they were monsters with intelligence. The proof was the house, the village, and the system among them. It made them no different than him and his empire. Even if he just killed the adult, the children might not be able to survive by themselves.

Tang Shaoyang smiled at the thoughts, his hesitation made him realize he was not the unfeeling monster he thought about, “That does not justify me to kill them all. But I have it because I need to protect my empire, my people, not because we are meant to kill each other just because we are different kinds.”

He walked out of his hiding spot, approaching the village. There was a plan in his mind, and the guard at the village noticed his and Rosalie’s arrival. The two Lycanthrope in guard howled to notify the people inside the village. Following the howl, the boisterous village went quiet as the sound of steps resounded. Around a hundred and thirty Lycanthrope went to their houses and armed themselves before coming toward the entrance. Tang Shaoyang saw everything through his Spirit Eyes. The remaining adult moved with the children, bringing the smaller Lycanthrope to the biggest building in the middle of the village.

From one hundred and thirty-two Lycanthropes, there were four of them standing in the front. It was clear the four were the strongest and also the leading figures in the village. Two Myth Ranks and two Ancient Ranks, wearing steel armor. Different from the groups of Lycanthrope Tang Shaoyang encountered earlier, the Lycanthrope from this village looked more cautious, not as arrogant as the beforehand Lycanthrope.

“State your name and why do you come to this village, human?” One of the Myth Rank Lycanthrope asked Tang Shaoyang.

“My name is Tang Shaoyang, The Emperor of the Tang Empire, and I come here to give your village an offer,” Tang Shaoyang replied, “Submit to me, take an oath of loyalty to the empire, and I will let you live!”

The sound of murmur resounded from the Lycanthrope, clearly displeased with the claim. One of the Ancient Ranks took three steps forward, “There’s no need to talk with this human, Karzick! We kill them and feast on their flesh like we always do!” The Lycanthrope raised his sword as cheers followed with his voice, agreeing with the speaking Lycanthrope.

The Ancient Rank did not speak to the Lycanthrope named Karzick as he dashed toward Tang Shaoyang. The burst movement made the Lycanthrope arrive in front of Tang Shaoyang in just two seconds and thrust his sword forward at the human’s heart. He had eaten a lot of human hearts, that was why he could locate the heart’s location. However, the scene where his sword pierced the human’s heart never happened as the human met his sword with his palm.

Tang Shaoyang used Heaven Shattering Palm to face the incoming sword. The tip of the sword touched his palm and the sword crumbled into pieces. His palm did not stop, pushing forward to the Ancient Rank Lycanthrope’s chest. The palm went through the chest, creating a hole in the shape of his palm.

The Lycanthrope instantly puked out blood, his red eyes widened in shock, not expecting he would die this way, die to his prey. The body went weak and fell to the ground.

Tang Shaoyang raised his eyes to meet with Karzick, “I will take this as your answer, Karzick?”

Before Karzick could give his answer, the other Lycanthrope released a grieving howl for the Ancient Rank Lycanthrope. Then ten Lycanthrope rushed out of the groups, trying to avenge their dead leader.