“Lord Valerian Nox, I’m not saying this to belittle you, but I believe in five years, you’ll have the strength to face Dario Bragg. Right now, you don’t!” Layla spoke as she walked.
Just as she was about to step into the bamboo grove, a deafening thunderclap exploded behind her.
“Where did this woman come from, daring to persuade Lord Valerian Nox to flee? Courting death!”
The booming voice echoed across Jade Dragon Mountain, and a terrifying aura descended, enveloping the entire landscape.
Layla felt as though her feet were rooted to the ground, nailed in place.
It was as if two massive mountains pressed down on her shoulders, leaving her paralyzed. The overwhelming force seemed capable of crushing her into pulp.
Callie, standing nearby, was equally stricken with fear, her face pale and her breathing labored.
Layla turned her head with great difficulty.
Behind her stood two elderly figures, their presence towering like two immovable mountains.
The old men stood sternly at the mountain’s entrance, their piercing gazes fixed on Layla. They wore pitch-black robes that exuded an eerie, abyssal energy.
Their faces were grim and peculiar, their beards wild and unkempt like a hyena’s mane. Their eyes shone with cruelty and malice.
“Oh? You’re Lennon Porter’s disciple?”
“Interesting.”
The two old men narrowed their eyes slightly and began walking toward Layla. Their movements were slow yet forceful, each step reverberating as though it could shake the earth itself.
Their overwhelming aura was suffocating, the air around them thick with pressure that confused the senses and clouded the mind.
Their voices thundered like rolling storms, each syllable seemingly capable of tearing through a soul.
“Shadow Brothers! You’re allied with Jack Jenkins…” Layla gasped, her eyes wide with shock.
She had encountered the Shadow Brothers before during her travels with her master, who had treated their injuries. She remembered them vividly.
The two of them were infamous, synonymous with cruelty and death. Both were Greater Sovereigns.
Though they were only at the initial stage of Medicine Greater Sovereign, their combined power was terrifying.
They had once slain a warrior ranked among the world’s top hundred War Gods. Compared to The Raven King, they were weaker-but still far beyond what Layla, a mere Great Grandmaster, could handle.
If they had been righteous Greater Sovereigns, Layla might have been able to rely on her master’s reputation to negotiate.
But these two were cut from the same cloth as Dario Bragg-merciless killers.
They murdered on a whim, and countless Great Grandmasters and Lesser Sovereigns had fallen to their hands.
Just last year, the Shadow Brothers wiped out an entire small town in a foreign land, all for the sake of a woman they desired.
When the woman’s kin resisted, the entire town was annihilated.
Three thousand people.
Not even pregnant women or children were spared-bodies impaled on flagpoles and lined up in grotesque displays.
The bloodshed was horrifying, their actions utterly inhumane.
Now they had returned to the homeland and aligned themselves with Dario Bragg.
“That’s right, we work for Dario Bragg now,” one of the brothers sneered.
“We’ve been searching for spiritual lands abroad on his behalf. He contacted us before his return.”
Layla’s heart sank.
Dario Bragg had tamed the Shadow Brothers?
These two were like feral dragons, nearly impossible to subdue.
And now, even they had bowed to Dario Bragg?
A demon lord.
Dario Bragg was a demon lord whose power had reached unfathomable heights.
Even the Shadow Brothers willingly served him…
It was terrifying.
Shocking.
Unimaginable.
Layla’s face paled as the realization struck her.
“You’re here to deliver a challenge to Lord Valerian Nox?” she asked cautiously.
“Indeed! Dario Bragg challenges Lord Valerian Nox to a duel tomorrow at noon on Pelens Swordgate Peak!”
The Shadow Brothers sneered, their voices dripping with arrogance.
“Miss Woods, are you one of Lord Valerian Nox’s people? Trying to convince him to run away?”
Their eyes turned icy, staring at Layla like venomous vipers. The chilling gaze made her scalp tingle, her mouth opening and closing without words.
Though Layla wasn’t afraid to face the Shadow Brothers directly, her concern lay elsewhere.
Behind her stood the entire Woods family.
One hundred and eighty people.
If she angered the Shadow Brothers and Dario Bragg, the Woods family would face total annihilation.
An entire bloodline wiped out in a single night.
These three men roamed the world like untamed beasts, unbound by fear of death or morality. Unlike righteous cultivators, they acted on whims and lacked even a shred of humanity.
Even her master’s reputation could not restrain them.
“Ha…”
Light Shadow, the elder of the two brothers, chuckled darkly.
“Miss Woods, considering your master once saved my life, I’ll let you off this time.”
“But let me warn you: once my master kills Lord Valerian Nox, he will eliminate everyone linked to him!”
“Family, friends, servants-no one will escape! You’d best stay away from him.”
Dark Shadow, less indulgent than his brother, barked harshly, “What are you still standing around for? Get lost!”
Another deafening roar of thunder echoed, and an overwhelming wave of killing intent swept over them.
The air itself seemed to reek of blood, the stench so overpowering it nauseated those who breathed it in.
Layla’s eyes flashed with anger but quickly dimmed.
When faced with demons, there was no room for morality.
Only raw fear could keep them in check.
Dario Bragg had likely used unspeakable methods to subdue the Shadow Brothers.
But Layla was powerless. A wave of despair washed over her as she held herself back for the sake of her family.
What other choice did she have?
Even Lord Valerian Nox, with all his strength, stood little chance against these two-let alone herself.
Layla left in silence, her face shadowed with gloom.
True mastery of cultivation was the only way to achieve control.
If she were an Earthly Sovereign, would she fear the Shadow Brothers?
“And you? Are you also one of Lord Valerian Nox’s people? Haha, that boy sure has a way with women-so many beauties by his side!” Dark Shadow’s gaze shifted to Callie, who stood trembling.
“I…” Callie stammered, her voice faltering under the oppressive presence of the two men.
Their eyes bore into her like a predator’s, their very aura reeking of blood and decay, as if they lived among corpses.
Light Shadow grinned as he studied Callie.
“Zion Watson mentioned he has seven or eight beauties around him, each as stunning as a goddess. Even the Seven Sisters of Alwood Mountains are among them.”
“When we return, we must ask our master to reward those girls to us.”
Dark Shadow grinned lecherously. “Don’t worry, little one. We won’t hurt you. Don’t be scared.”
Though they were nearing seventy, their Greater Sovereign physiques kept them as vigorous as men in their thirties. Dark Shadow had even fathered a child with a twenty-year-old girl recently.
Their insatiable lust had led to countless atrocities, including the massacre of an entire town.
“Well, well, little girl, your neckline is quite low. I can see things I shouldn’t,” Dark Shadow said with a sinister smile.
“Here, let grandpa button you up. Wouldn’t want you catching a cold.”
“No, stay away! Mr. Clark! Mr. Clark!” Callie cried as she clutched her chest and stumbled backward, her face pale with terror.
“Why so scared? You’ll belong to us by tomorrow anyway…” Light Shadow sneered as he approached her.
Boom!
Before he could take another step, a clap of thunder erupted from the bamboo grove.
A powerful wave of energy surged outward, clearing the mountain peak of its foul, corpse-like stench.
“Two decrepit old dogs-this is no place for you!”
The voice boomed like thunder, and Flynn appeared beside Callie in an instant, shielding her like an unyielding wall.
Flynn had sensed the Shadow Brothers’ presence the moment they arrived. Their corpse-tinged aura had disrupted the spiritual flow atop the mountain and nearly contaminated the iron meteorite he was refining.
When he overheard their vile intentions toward Callie, his anger erupted.
From her position halfway down the mountain, Layla witnessed the explosion of energy at the peak.
She stopped in her tracks, turning back to gaze at the summit, her expression one of disbelief.
“Lord Valerian Nox… wasn’t he just a Greater Sovereign? Shouldn’t he be feigning acceptance of the challenge and fleeing overnight? Is he really planning to face two Greater Sovereigns head-on?”