Up in the night sky, Jiang He was travelling with Royal Sword Flight and soon returned to the great canyon where the Sky Demon Cult’s base had been.

Deep within, the Cloudscraper Vine’s eighteen tight, massive, and lengthy tendrils were thrashing around wildly at the square where a towering statue stood. Around it was many Sky Demon Cultist corpses, and though there were pockets of Sky Demon Cultists still charging at it, the sight was not as grand as it was before.

At the first, the Sky Demon Cultists were really getting wild.

Even if they knew that death was certain, all of them were lunging at the Cloudscraper Vine like moths to a flame, screaming stuff like ‘for the Holy Faith’ as they rushed towards their deaths.

Even so, with their two Cardinals dead, the strongest among them was their three Elders. However, were they even a match for the Cloudscraper Vine when they had even grasped the Boundary of Wills?

Moreover, only one among their trio was doing anything.

When Jiang He started chasing after the Sky Demon Cult’s Saint and their sacred beast sentinel, two of the Elders had already fled.

In fact, it was not only them—two among the four Holy Children, as well as some of the Decans and Fiends, had all slipped out.

After all, when should they run if not now?

Those escapees were clearly no different from that Fourth Elder who was a magician, having not been subjected to thorough brainwash.

As Jiang He landed on the square, he released his powerful spirit to knock out every remaining Sky Demon Cultist. Then, after retrieving the Cloudscraper Vine, he told the thirteen undercover military and Martial Arts Department (MAD) agents, “Contact your superiors on your own. I have some other business to attend to and will get going now!”

He then sped off, leaving a rainbow streak of Sword Qi before vanishing into the night.

Nonetheless, he could not help frowning by the time he flew within the Lingzhou City jurisdiction…

He realized that his body did not actually suffer excessively from the pepper’s side effects.

“What’s going on?”

“Could I have developed towards the pepper’s side effects after my improvement in ability?”

As he landed in his yard, Jiang He strode into his mansion and released his spirit in a sweeping glance, and ‘saw’ both Sora and Boa Hancock sleeping soundly on the same bed…

And they had kicked off their blankets too.

“How old are they, kicking off their blanket while sleeping?”

Jiang He decided to teach them a serious lesson.

Though her body seemed unaffected by the pepper’s side effects, it was better to be safe than sorry. Hence, while he taught the ladies a lesson, he handled the side effect issue as well.

***

Meanwhile, at a relative quiet office at the intelligence wing of the Jingdu City MAD, Wang Hou and the others appeared rather anxious as they waited for further developments.

Lin Tianzheng glanced toward Three Blades Lin then and could not help asking, “Wenshu, is your idea reliable?”

“Don’t worry, gramps.”

Three Blades Lin smiled. “I know Jiang He—the kid is basically a mad bomber and there would be major explosions at any place he shows up. Moreover…”

Pausing, Three Blades Lin then added, “Is there a better way to confirm the Jiang He and the Sky Demon Cult’s base’s location?”

Lin Tianzheng said nothing.

His grandchild had really grown…and actually had the guts to retort. He would have received the slap treatment if he was younger.

That was when Zhou Yu ran up to them with a perplexed look, and said, “Minister Wang, the person in charge of Xiangxi City Base just called and asked if there was an ongoing military operation…”

“What happened?”

Wang Hou was confused.

Taking a deep breath, Zhou Yu then added, “The person in charge mentioned that there was a massive explosion at the outback of Miaojiang near Mount Thunder, and a modest estimation puts it around four to five million tons. Did the military throw a hydrogen bomb?”

The office was suddenly silent.

Gasp!

There was a sharp inhale before Three Blades Lin exclaimed, “That brat…did Jiang He managed to get his hands on hydrogen bombs too?”

Meanwhile, Wang Hou, Lin Tianzheng and Pei Donglai were at a loss.

Just a while ago, Three Blades Lin mentioned before that Jiang He liked his booms and told them not to worry and just ‘follow the explosions’. Though they said nothing, they had more or less been doubtful.

Mad bomber?

Bomberman?

For real?

Even with the truth out in the open, they were still doubtful.

A hydrogen bomb with a five-million-ton yield?

Did Jiang He have that?

He had mentioned that his bombs were homecooked, which neither the military nor the MAD pursued further since it was unnecessary—cooking a bomb is not difficult as long as the necessary materials are available.

But how the heck did homecooked bombs end up as hydrogen bombs?

Be that as it may, now was clearly not the time to consider such questions. Soon, Wang Hou, Pei Donglai, Three Blades Lin, and Lin Tiangzheng were streaking through the night sky towards Miaojiang.

Before they left, Wang Hou had mobilized every other divine-tier guarding other locations, even contacted the Void-tier elite Dong Haichuan.

It was a major commotion, the first purpose of which was to support Jiang He, while the second…

Was to wipe out the Sky Demon Cult.

The location cult’s base had been a mystery over the years and with the Feral Kings on the prowl, the Hua Nation was simply unable to make time to deal with the cult. But now that Jiang He had found the location to said base and every other Feral King had gone into hiding following a major culling of their ranks, it was the best moment to root out the Sky Demon Cult.

Nonetheles…Wang Hou and the others were stunned when they arrived at ‘Mount Thunder’.

Where even was Mount Thunder?

There was only nothingness now where that mountain once stood. Under the searing heat of the explosion that exceeded a hundred million degrees Celsius, its boulders were reduced into glassy liquid that were now congealing into a layer of transparent glance on the ground.

Further away was more crumbling mountains and shattered trees. It was all rubble and a mess, and forests were actually burning over a dozen kilometers away.

They continued forward, and the vast canyon was soon within sight.

Wang Hou’s gaze twinkled as he exclaimed in surprise, “I’ve patrolled this place before, but I did not notice this canyon.”

“It must have been covered by an array.”

“If it could fool your eyes, the array must have been high-level.”

Lin Tianzheng added, providing his take. “It seems that the explosion Jiang He caused was to blow it up and he clearly succeeded.”

The canyon was utterly silent and no one could have imagined that a great battle had taken place.

After that, they flew into the canyon and landed on the vast square.

The thirteen undercover agents quickly approached them and one of them, who was acquainted with Wang Hou promptly exclaimed in delight, “Minister Wang! You’re finally here!”

Wang Hou looked around at the hundreds of corpses and the many fainted Sky Demon Cultist sprawled over the square, unsure what to say just then. He simply listened as each of the undercover agents tried to get their word in, leaving him with a headache after all that noise.

Rubbing his temples, he then said, “No rush, people, let’s leave the specifics for when we return… could anyone tell me what actually happened? Where are the other Sky Demon Cultists?”

“And where is Jiang He?”

That was an odd idea suddenly occurred to him.

Perhaps…everyone had arrived late and Jiang He had clocked out after the fight was over?