Supreme Emperor of Mist

"The marquis will win!"

"The marquis will win!"

Showered by the cheering from his fifty soldiers, Qin Lan stepped forward with the Eight Transformation Treasured Brush in hand. His graceful steps were firm with every step he took, and the Foundation Qi coming out from his was inspiring.

"What kind of training we have to go through to achieve what our marquis has?" a soldier asked. He secretly compared the differences between his own Qi and Qin Lan's and sigh because of the disparity.

His own Spiritual Qi was lackluster in the term of quality-wise.

"ROAR!" the Golden-Grade Martial Beast roared as it noticed Qin Lan's provocation. As the strongest Yao Beast of the pack, how can it take this silently?

The Martial Beast then took a leap from the cliff and descended to where Qin Lan stands. Using the pair of claws imbued by thick Spiritual Qi, the Yao Beast created a few inches deep crater after it struck the ground.

But that also means the attack missed its target.

"Tsk... All brute force... Are you sure you're one of the Golden-Grade Martial Beast?" Qin Lan uses the brush tip to draw a cross over the Martial Beast's shoulder to pinpoint its weaknesses.

"Roar?" the Martial Beast was puzzled by Qin Lan's attack that's neither painful nor itchy. It was still confused by the fact all Qin Lan was doing is to draw a cross over its shoulder.

But that did not affect the Yao Beast's judgment as it continued to attack Qin Lan ruthlessly. Using its bear-boxing in a close range against Qin Lan, the Martial Beast kept pushing forward without a hint of precaution.

"Here!" Qin Lan suddenly gave a punch at the Martial Beast's stomach to teach it a lesson. It was a light punch in Qin Lan's opinion, but still enough to crush the walls or a boulder when coated with some Foundation Qi.

The Martial Beast rolled on the ground for a bit before coming back for more. It seems much more careful while facing against Qin Lan right now.

"Not bad. You have some quality to be tamed by me. Are you sure you want to continue to fight?" Qin Lan threw his brush to his left hand before showing the back of his right palm towards the Martial Beast.

"Roar..." the Martial Beast seems to be more cautious this time facing Qin Lan. But this was just an act. The Golden-Grade Martial Beast's sneaky act of gathering some Spiritual Qi around its leg failed to escape Qin Lan's eagle eyes.

By the time it charges straight to where Qin Lan at, the latter already made his move and took a few steps away from the line of attack.

Once again missing the target, the Martial Beast roared. But this time, Qin Lan gave it a chop using his hand and throw the Martial Beast down on the ground. Added with another kick on its belly again, the Yao Beast cried in pain from these few simple attacks.

Retreating to a distance, the Yao Beast patted where Qin Lan just gave it a kick.

"Am I dreaming? Our lord actually forced a fourth or fifth-level Yao Beast to retreat and pat its stomach?" a soldier said. Taking a glance at the Martial Beast standing beside him, he felt that his performance was lacking compared to his master.

"How can you be compared to our lord? Do you know how skillful he is?" another soldier said as he used the end of his blade's sheath to give the soldier a knock on his head.

But his action was taken as an attack by the Martial Beast accompanying them. And this caused two Martial Beasts to start arguing against one another like another battle was going to start.

Back to Qin Lan, it seems that their battle was getting fiercer too.

Perhaps it was due to the few failed attacks before this. The Martial Beast seems to be much more careful as it fought Qin Lan with a different tactic right now.

"This is much better. If you continued to fight like before, I will suspect that you're an imitation and not an actual Golden-Grade Martial Beast." Qin Lan chuckled.

The Martial Beast attack seems to get fiercer as it goes. The way it uses the claw is different from before, as the attack was sharp and deadly. The Spiritual Qi that was used when attacking also had a significant change.

There was a hint of fierceness in the attack. And it only gets more intense.

Soon, even Qin Lan had to take it seriously as he was forced to defend against the attack.

"Milord!" the soldiers panicked when they see Qin Lan forced to defend against the Martial Beast's attack straight to his chest. Lucky for him, Qin Lan was well prepared.

But he was still thrown back for five to six steps after mitigating the impact from that punch.

"Looks like I can't keep underestimating you anymore. Shall we take it a notch higher?" Qin Lan said as he injected some Spiritual Qi into the Eight Transformation Treasured Brush.

A golden sword soon appeared in his hand from receiving all the Spiritual Qi he channeled into the brush.

A piercing noise came when Qin Lan's sword and the Martial Beast's claw clashed for their first time. Even the smaller and younger Copper-Grade Martial Beasts were taunted by this noise and tried to hide.

"Is that the true strength of the Golden-Grade Martial Beast? Why did it not fight as well as now before this?" the Crimson Mist officer asked as he looks at how swiftly the Martial Beast move right now.

"Off - Officer... Can you match that Martial Beast if you were to fight against it?" a soldier asked. He already felt dizzy from looking at the battle between Qin Lan and the Martial Beast.

"Impossible. Even if you're giving me a handicap, I will not fight against a Golden-Grade Martial Beast." the officer answered.

"Golden Lord's Holy Fist!" Qin Lan had to start taking things more seriously the longer he fought against the Martial Beast. Without taking a pill or whatsoever, the Yao Beast's fighting strength is almost doubled compared to before.

Right now, a simple attack from this beast was at least as strong as a fourth-level Bone Expert's attack. It would be hard for Qin Lan to defend against the attack through his peak-level Flesh Refining Physique.

*BAM!*

Qin Lan was thrown close to ten steps back.

"Cough!" a mouthful of blood is coughed out after he finished mitigating the force from that attack.

"Milord!" the soldiers tried to take action, but what Qin Lan did surprises them. Placing his hand by the side of his head, Qin Lan told them to stop approaching him.

"Roar! Roar!" the Martial Beast is getting excited as it successfully overcomes Qin Lan. Right now, it was feeling proud because it managed to make this human kneel on a knee not too far from where it stands.

'Alright... It should be time.' Qin Lan whispered to himself. The energy sword in his hand slowly turned into an azure-blue color as Qin Lan strengthen the amount of Qi he injected into the offensive treasure.

Clouded with the emotion from winning against the human in a face-to-face battle, the Martial Beast failed to notice the changes in Qin Lan's weapon as it continues to fight against Qin Lan like before.

This time, the result ended differently.

Blood splattered the moment Qin Lan swings his blade downwards. A deep wound immediately caught the Martial Beast unaware as it was shocked by the strength of this human.

Using another claw to attack where Qin Lan, the Martial Beast targetted Qin Lan's waist. But it is missed because Qin Lan vanishes from the spot he was standing in a flash. By the time he appeared again, a punch has landed on the Martial Beast's spine.

Once again, the Martial Beast rolled on the ground. Coming back on its foot after the pain subsided, the Martial Beast gathered some Spiritual Qi around its mouth to fire a beam towards Qin Lan.

"Can a Martial Beast attack like this?" the soldiers had their eyes opened widely when a beam was fired from the Golden-Grade Martial Beast's mouth. They then turned their attention to their own Martial Beast companion and started to think, what if their partner could do the same?

The beam missed its target, but this gave the Martial Beast a small window of opportunity to recover itself. Using its tongue to lick the wound caused by Qin Lan, the Martial Beast searched for its target while being very careful of its surrounding.

"Where are you looking at?" Qin Lan asked as he stands on top of the Martial Beast's head. Putting more pressure on his feet, Qin Lan pressed the Golden-Grade Martial Beast down on the ground as he slowly placed more pressure to subdue the Yao Beast.

"So, are you willing to give up your pride and follow me?" Qin Lan asked as both of his legs is on top of the Martial Beast.

"ROAR!" the Golden-Grade Martial Beast struggled. But it was to no avail as no matter what it was doing, it failed to escape from Qin Lan's pressure. The power from his Foundation Qi is like stacking a few cauldrons on top of its body, making it hard to even move.

After repeating the same question for few times, the Martial Beast finally submitted to Qin Lan's words.

"Congratulations to the Chi-Lan Marquis for taming a Golden-Grade Martial Beast!" said the soldiers after seeing how the martial beast obediently stands beside him.

"Good! Let us continue with our journey towards the Lianshui Village!" Qin Lan said.