But what kind of power was it, exactly, that silently and without a trace transported this general to the absolute domain of Divine Cinders Mountain? I am a dignified cultivator at the Mingjian Realm, already able to see within and without, merging myself with heaven and earth, able to leverage the primordial forces of the world and draw upon the might of the universe—yet when my own body was transferred here, I was completely unaware!

　　……

　　Brian Cooper suddenly flipped over and scrambled up. He hadn’t slept at all; the gusts of cold wind were bone-chilling, as if at any moment they might pierce into his organs and freeze his entire being, soul and all!

　　He looked around. He was in a field of scattered rocks, with sparse shrubs growing in the crevices—each branch like a sword, each leaf like a blade, exuding malice at a glance.

　　Eric King’s chubby body happened to fall from a spot about three feet high—the height of a bed—yet Fatty Nine was still sleeping soundly. His plump body bounced a few times on the ground like a ball. He rolled over, muttered a few times, grabbed a stone to use as a pillow, and stuffed it under his head.

　　Brian Cooper was extremely alert. His six senses weren’t that sharp, but he could still clearly sense the danger all around!

　　Suddenly, he felt something and looked toward a massive shadow in the distance. It was a mountain ten thousand feet tall. By the faint moonlight, he saw a gigantic cave halfway up the mountainside.

　　From within the cave, a colossal claw, a hundred feet long, suddenly stretched out!

　　It looked like an eagle’s talon, but was covered in black fur, with layers of sinister black mist coiling around it. The arm behind it, however, was segmented like an insect’s leg, each segment four hundred feet long. With a single stretch, it reached a thousand feet away, groping across the earth like a blind man feeling an elephant.

　　A giant beast hiding in the valley howled in misery as it was seized. Its whole body went limp, unable to escape. The claw withdrew into the cave, and soon the sound of crunching and chewing echoed out.

　　Then, the enormous claw stretched out again!

　　It swept close to the ground, trembling slightly, as if sensing every subtle change on the surface. Brian Cooper didn’t dare move a muscle; the back of his shirt was already soaked with sweat.

　　He recognized the giant beast from before—it was a seventh-rank wild beast, a three-headed python lizard! That was a peak seventh-rank creature, ferocious by nature, bold enough to challenge even eighth-rank wild beasts. Yet in front of that massive claw, it was so terrified it didn’t dare move at all.

　　Suddenly, he remembered Eric King beside him—this guy was still snoring!

　　The enormous claw was already looming over his head, casting an even larger shadow. With just a gentle scoop downward, Brian Cooper knew he would soon end up like that three-headed python lizard—food for the monster’s maw!

　　But the giant claw seemed to sense something, and actually paused above his head! Brian Cooper was utterly hopeless; if the claw came down even lightly, he and the fatty would have no chance of escape.

　　The claw only hesitated for a moment before sweeping past.

　　But for Brian Cooper, it was even more agonizing than nine lifetimes in the sea of suffering! After the claw passed, it stretched forward again, reaching three thousand feet away, then dropped from the air with a crack, piercing into the trunk of a ten-thousand-year-old giant tree.

　　Immediately, Brian Cooper heard a strange screech. The thousand-foot-tall, eight-men-to-embrace ancient tree exploded with a bang. The claw swiftly withdrew, clutching a giant insect thirty feet long!

　　The bug’s whole body glowed with emerald flames, its eyes blood-red, its head like a longhorn beetle, its body like a centipede. It shrieked and spat poisonous mist and acid, but was helpless against the claw. The claw quickly retracted into the cave, and the crunching and chewing resumed. The giant insect’s screeches abruptly ceased.

Chapter 0009: The Imperial Edict Arrives! (Part 2)

　　The bug’s whole body glowed with emerald flames, its eyes blood-red, its head like a longhorn beetle, its body like a centipede. It shrieked and spat poisonous mist and acid, but was helpless against the claw. The claw quickly retracted into the cave, and the crunching and chewing resumed. The giant insect’s screeches abruptly ceased.

　　Brian Cooper was scared out of his wits. That was an eighth-rank wild insect, a Yimu Ox Beetle! The strength of an eighth-rank wild insect was even greater than that of an eighth-rank wild beast, yet under the claw it still had no power to resist. What kind of monster was hiding in that cave?

　　“This is definitely the depths of the absolute domain of Divine Cinders Mountain!” Brian Cooper no longer had any doubts. He looked up—the poisonous mist spat out by the Yimu Ox Beetle was spreading, and was about to reach their location. The claw couldn’t do anything about the poison, but it could easily take his and the fatty’s lives.

　　He cursed in terror and shook Eric King frantically: “Fatty, get up! Damn it, if you don’t get up, I’m leaving you behind. You can die here!”

　　“Die!”

　　Eric King woke up instantly, and as soon as he opened his eyes, he let out a scream: “Scholar, where is this? Weren’t we in the barracks? What’s going on?”

　　Brian Cooper was scared out of his mind. He clamped a hand over Eric King’s big mouth and hissed in a low voice, “Shut up, you fat idiot! Do you want to die even faster?”

　　From the endless darkness around them came waves of commotion, but it seemed everything was wary of that giant claw and didn’t dare to pounce.

　　Eric King nearly wet his pants. Just seven or eight yards in front of him, there was a faint rustle among the rocks, as if something had crawled out. In the darkness above, six blood-red snake eyes—three pairs—suddenly lit up!

　　Cold and menacing, utterly devoid of emotion.