Chapter Eighteen: Kill Without Mercy!

Thinking of this, Jiang Yuan couldn’t help but grow excited and hurriedly called out to the system in his mind.

“Hey, damn system, hurry up and show yourself!”

“I vaguely recall telling you last time that, if you have anything to say, just say it out loud. With a brain like yours, I sometimes wonder if the system picked the right host at all,” came the system’s cold and unrelenting taunt.

Jiang Yuan was already used to the system’s barbed retorts whenever he summoned it. In fact, if it didn’t mock him, that would be the real surprise.

“Does this Ancestral Serpent Gall have any effect or restriction on Nuwa?” Jiang Yuan asked.

“Why don’t you guess, Host?”

“Guess your uncle! If I could guess, why would I call you?” Jiang Yuan snapped.

“Well then, since you’re so earnestly asking, the system will satisfy your curiosity. The result is... the system is also unsure!”

Jiang Yuan’s mind was full of black lines. What do you mean you’re not sure? Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he asked the system with disdain, “Does it require that damn Tyrant Value again?”

“As it turns out, your brain is just fine, Host. That’s correct,” the system replied with its ever-unruffled tone.

But every time it came to mocking Jiang Yuan, it never held back in the slightest.

“Just tell me, how much Tyrant Value do you want for this information?” Jiang Yuan said irritably.

“Only 200 points of Tyrant Value.”

“Two hundred? Why don’t you just rob me! I don’t have that!” Jiang Yuan roared.

Where was he supposed to get 200 Tyrant Value? He’d risked his life insulting the Demon Saint Ji Meng just to save up 66 points, and now the system wanted 200 at a stroke?

Sometimes Jiang Yuan really suspected that this damn system was just here to scam him into working for it and earning Tyrant Value! The moment it saw he was about to get 180 more, it tried to scam him!

“If you insist on misunderstanding the system like this, then yes, it’s basically robbery. After all, it’s not the system that has to go up against Nuwa,” the system replied.

Good grief, it just admitted it, didn’t even try to hide it.

“What good does it do you if I die? Do you think you can leave the host?”

“No, I cannot.”

“Then that’s settled. Hurry up and tell me what effect the Ancestral Serpent Gall has on Nuwa!” Jiang Yuan pressed.

“While the system cannot leave the host, it can change hosts,” the system replied, its voice devoid of emotion, as if Jiang Yuan meant nothing to it—a host to discard at will.

“Then what was the point of that binding ritual before?” Jiang Yuan couldn’t help but ask.

“That was to let the host know you have a system.”

Truly, what a worthless system!

The system knew the host must be inwardly cursing it right now, but hoped the host would calmly accept the facts: the host could die, and the system would simply find another.

Jiang Yuan exited the conversation with the system outright. What a joke—he’d worked so hard to transmigrate and get a golden finger, and this was all he got?

At this moment, Jiang Yuan could only vent his frustration. Looking at She Qi in the distance, who lay sprawled like a dead dog, his expression grew dark.

Yin Jiao hadn’t expected that handing the serpent gall to his father would provoke such anger. Had he done something wrong?

Without further ado, Jiang Yuan tossed the Ancestral Serpent Gall into the system’s inventory, dismounted from the Jade Kirin, and slowly walked over to She Qi.

He looked down with a defiant air and said, “I know you only caused trouble at the northern borders because you were bewitched by Ji Meng. But so what? Do you think that means I won’t hold your serpent clan accountable?”

He suddenly shouted, “Not just your serpent clan—even if it’s Demon Saint Ji Meng, or even the Sage Nuwa herself—anyone who dares covet my Shang, dares to lay a hand on my empire, who does not submit to the might of the Human Emperor, all must die!”

His voice softened, and he looked calmly at She Qi. “Wait and see. Ji Meng and Nuwa—I’ll settle accounts with them, one by one! But you, unfortunately, won’t get to see it.”

Without caring for She Qi’s terrified, pleading gaze, he raised the Lightning Sword and hacked at him, chopping She Qi into seven or eight pieces!

“Ding! You have slain the Serpent Clan leader. Gained 180 points of Tyrant Value. Current Tyrant Value: 246.”

Hearing the system’s prompt, Jiang Yuan showed no particular excitement. Instead, he calmly gazed at She Qi’s mutilated corpse, his eyes full of resolve. This was only the first step toward storming the Thirty-Three Heavens!

What did it matter if all below the sages were called ants? Today, Jiang Yuan would show those sages how the ants bite the eagle to death!

“Human Emperor, may I ask how you intend to deal with our serpent clan?” At this moment, the Serpent Clan’s Grand Elder, who had been silent, stepped forward respectfully.

Jiang Yuan looked at the elder before him, whose features were kindly.

Character: She Yu

Title: Grand Elder of the Serpent Clan

Stage: Celestial Immortal, Perfection

Items: Azure Flame Pearl, Zhaotian Rope

Cultivation Method: Book of Toxic Arts

Loyalty: 60

Favorability: 60

Potential Tyrant Value: 90

This surprised Jiang Yuan—She Yu actually had Loyalty to Shang? And not low either—sixty was a passing mark.

He could hardly believe it. Could the system be malfunctioning?

“Damn system, what’s going on? Is She Yu’s loyalty real?”

“There’s no need to doubt, Host.”

With this confirmation, Jiang Yuan’s expression softened as he looked at She Yu and asked, “What does the Grand Elder think I should do?”

She Yu respectfully replied, “Do as you see fit, Your Majesty. The world belongs to the Human Emperor; our serpent clan should not have overstepped.”

“Oh? So, Grand Elder She Yu, you claim to be loyal to Shang?” Jiang Yuan asked, surprised that She Yu hadn’t pleaded for his people.

“In my youth I was a close friend of Grand Tutor Wen. He spoke to me of Your Majesty, so I have long been devoted to you and admired the Shang dynasty,” She Yu replied with a gentle smile.

Upon hearing Grand Tutor Wen’s name, Jiang Yuan realized at once—She Yu was certainly no mere friend. Wen must have turned him long ago!

“So that’s how it is. Since you and the Grand Tutor are old friends, then you’re something of an elder to me, aren’t you?” Jiang Yuan raised his brow.

He said this to probe whether She Yu truly was an old friend or just Wen’s agent among the northern barbarians.

In recent years, there had been many rebellions and uprisings, and it was mostly Grand Tutor Wen suppressing them—the man Jiang Yuan trusted most in the entire Shang dynasty. In the Investiture of the Gods, Shang only lasted as long as it did because of Wen Zhong!

At Jiang Yuan’s words, She Yu immediately assumed a look of great alarm, prostrating himself before Jiang Yuan and stammering, “I dare not, Your Majesty. As the Human Emperor, you are far above me. How could I claim to be your elder?”

Seeing this display, Jiang Yuan knew at once—She Yu was clearly a piece Wen Zhong had placed among the barbarians, not just a friend.

“Just take it as a joke, Grand Elder. Please rise.” Jiang Yuan spoke offhandedly, but his face radiated imperial authority.

“Thank you, Human Emperor,” She Yu replied, trembling as he stood.

Just then, the cave mansion within Golden Heng Peak suddenly began to tremble, as if an earthquake had struck!

Feeling the tremors, Jiang Yuan’s lips curled into a confident smirk. He sheathed the Lightning Sword at his waist, climbed back onto the Jade Kirin, and looked down with calm composure.

The reason for the earthshaking tremors was nothing else but the arrival of the hundred-thousand-strong army he commanded!

Chong Hou Hu, clad in black heavy armor and exuding the aura of a great general, appeared by Jiang Yuan’s side.

“Your Majesty, the army of a hundred thousand has arrived and awaits your command!”

Jiang Yuan nodded slightly, then drew his Lightning Sword and pointed it at She Yu. His voice, cold and thunderous with the power of a tyrant and the backing of his own magical might, declared, “As the Grand Elder has said, any who dare offend my Shang, none shall be spared! All demon clans, not just the serpents—any who took part in this rebellion, kill them without mercy!”

With this tyrannical decree, Jiang Yuan wrapped one arm around Daji, sheathed his sword with the other, and rode off on the Jade Kirin with effortless grace.

As he was about to leave, a thought struck him and he called to Chong Hou Hu, “Do not kill Grand Elder She Yu—keep him to succeed as Serpent Clan leader. All other demon clans present, put them to the sword!”

“As you command,” Chong Hou Hu replied respectfully.