Chapter 398: Branch of the Demon Sealers

　　Wu Chen pointed at Hairy #4.

　　Hairy #4 was conspicuously larger than the other Greenwood wolves by a little bit. This had been the case since the wolves were small. However, Meng Hao had named the wolves based on their strength, with #5 being the weakest.

　　Hairy #4 was neither the most nor the least powerful. Being pointed at by Wu Chen caused his eyes to shine with a fierce, cold glow, and he let out a threatening growl. In his limited consciousness, only his master could point at him in such a way. Nothing else in existence qualified to do so.

　　“Your Cultivation base isn’t sufficient,” said Meng Hao coolly. “You can’t control him. Go pick something from another courtyard.” He stroked Hairy #4’s furry head. Hairy #4 lowered his head obediently in a very charming fashion. If Meng Hao weren’t here right now, he would have immediately charged forward and ripped Wu Chen to pieces.

　　“You!” cried Wu Chen, his face twisted. Looking at Meng Hao, he had the feeling his Cultivation base was profound. However, he was a member of the Crow Scout Tribe, and a descendant of one of the three great bloodlines. Considering his identity, it didn’t matter if he was a bit down on his luck, he was still above virtually any vassal in the Tribe.

　　“I’m already in the eighth level of Qi Condensation! I can control any level 2 neo-demon. Greenwood Wolves are known for their speed, not for their close-quarters fighting. What the hell makes you think I couldn’t control it!” Wu Chen ground his teeth as he glared at Meng Hao.

　　Almost the moment he finished speaking, Hairy #4’s cold eyes flickered. Suddenly, a green blur appeared, and in the blink of an eye, Hairy #4 was standing directly in front of Wu Chen. His mouth was wide open, and right in front of Wu Chen’s nose, almost touching it. Wu Chen’s face instantly filled with shock; he let out a cry of alarm and backed up.

　　Cold sweat had broken out all over his body, and his face was as pale as death. Breathing ragged, pupils constricted, he stood there, his mind spinning. Just now he had felt an intense sensation of imminent death. It was a feeling he had never experienced before, and it caused his entire body to tremble. Lingering fear continued to fill him.

　　Meng Hao gave a reprimanding harumph, which Hairy #4 heard, causing him to immediately go limp. He lowered his head, unwilling to even look at Meng Hao.

　　Wu Chen took in a deep breath. A bright light shone in his eyes as he stared fixedly at Hairy #4. He was breathing even more heavily now. His heart began to thump as he looked at Hairy #4’s more than three meter long frame, his green fur and mighty disposition.

　　“I’ve seen a lot of level 2 Greenwood Wolves,” he thought to himself, “even ones belonging to other bloodline Clan members. None of them were even close to being this fast. This… is definitely a mutant Greenwood Wolf.

　　“It must be! The only way it could be so fast is if it were mutated! It could have killed me in the blink of an eye!!” At this point, he looked over at Meng Hao.

　　“According to the rules, this Greenwood Wolf belongs to the Crow Scout Tribe. I have the right to take it away!” His words sounded stalwart, but in reality, his heart was trembling. If it wasn’t for the fact that the wolf frightened him so much, he wouldn’t speak in such a way, quoting the Tribe rules to get his way.

　　Meng Hao laughed inwardly and shook his head. Considering the level of his Cultivation base, he wouldn’t stoop to arguing with a mere eigtht level Qi Condensation Cultivator.

　　“If you’re capable of taking him, go ahead,” he said, then closed his eyes and paid no more heed to the goings on.

　　“Fine, it was your suggestion!” replied Wu Chen, unable to conceal the wild joy which filled his heart. Other than being a descendant of the three great bloodlines Wu Chen wasn’t too extraordinary. However, his particular bloodline excelled in neo-demon branding techniques, which he had been studying since a young age. He actually had mastered dozens of various branding techniques.

　　Therefore, he was supremely confident that he could succeed even with level 3 neo-demons, not to mention level 2. Even though this was a mutant neo-demon, it was still only level 2, and Wu Chen didn’t have even the slightest doubt in his mind.

　　Laughing out loud, he slowly approached Hairy #4, anticipation gleaming in his eyes. He cautiously began to perform an incantation with his right hand, which created a bizarre branding mark that looked like a wolf’s head.

　　When the branding mark appeared, a look of confusion appeared in Hairy #4’s eyes. Seeing this caused Wu Chen to grow even more confident. The branding mark flickered and then transformed into a beam of light that shot toward Hairy #4.

　　In the blink of an eye, it disappeared into Hairy #4’s forehead.

　　“It worked!” cried Wu Chen exuberantly. The first part of the process was done, after which there was another procedure. When that was finished, this neo-demon would become his totem beast.

　　Meng Hao still had his eyes closed, and wasn’t paying attention at all to what was happening. He did nothing to stop Wu Chen from approaching Hairy #4. Wu Chen lifted his hand up to touch him, but even as he did, Hairy #4 suddenly lifted up his enormous head. His face was filled with ferocity, and his eyes glowed with a cold, cruel light.

　　His gaze instantly caused Wu Chen’s face to fall. His heart began to pound, and he immediately backed up, his eyes filled with disbelief.

　　“No way, how could it have failed…?” He immediately decided to switch branding techniques. Soon, an hour had passed. Wu Chen tried seven or eight different brands, but in the end, none were successful.

　　The ferocity in the eyes of Hairy #4 continued to grow thicker. Finally, Wu Chen sagged, his face pale and filled with disbelief. Hairy #4 let out a howl and then shot forward. His mouth opened wide, heading directly toward Wu Chen’s neck.

　　Intense killing intent and ferocious cruelty emanated out. He moved with such speed that Wu Chen had no way to dodge. A green glow filled his eyes, which then began to grow dark. There wasn’t even time for a sense of danger to well up in him.

　　In this critical moment, Meng Hao opened his eyes and said, “Get back here, Hairy #4.”

　　Hairy #4 let out a yelp and then began to tremble. The razor sharp teeth in his mouth had been just about to latch onto Wu Chen’s neck.

　　Instead, Hairy #4 moved backward, returning to lay down next to Meng Hao, his face cute and charming.

　　Wu Chen’s face was completely devoid of blood, his entire body was shaking, and his mind was in chaos. After coming to this terrifying courtyard, he had nearly died twice. Then he experienced the unthinkable situation of all his brands failing; the only thing he could do was stare at Meng Hao. As of this moment, Meng Hao had become completely unfathomable in his mind.

　　The image of Meng Hao sitting there, surrounded by his five Greenwood Wolves, was something that Wu Chen would never be able to forget. It was branded permanently into his brain.

　　“Senior…. I….” Wu Chen wasn’t sure what to say. He stared at Meng Hao and the Greenwood Wolves for a moment. Trembling, he clasped hands and bowed deeply, then hurried out of the courtyard. He closed the door on his way out, and then stood outside and bowed again a few times. Feeling both perturbed and amazed, he turned to leave.

　　“A master! A true master who can raise mutant neo-demons! He’s definitely a real Dragoneer!! There must be a reason why he’s hiding out here…. I can’t tell anybody. Maybe if I run into some real problems in the future, he’ll… give me some good advice!!” Having made his decision, Wu Chen took a deep breath and rushed off into the distance.

　　Meng Hao watched the young man leave, his expression the same as ever. It was impossible to hide the fantastic qualities of his Greenwood Wolves, nor did he plan to. In his opinion, being known as a Dragoneer wasn’t a bad thing.

　　Actually, Meng Hao’s methods of controlling the neo-demons actually far exceeded that of Dragoneers. That was because he was no Dragoneer, but actually… a Demon Sealer!

　　A Demon Sealer masquerading as a Dragoneer was like a Grandmaster of the Dao of alchemy pretending to be an average alchemist. They were two completely different levels that were vastly separated.

　　Of course it wasn’t very difficult to pull off something like that. Everything that Dragoneers could do, Demon Sealers could also do. However, it absolutely didn’t work the other way around.

　　“I’ve always thought there are a lot of similarities between Dragoneers and Demon sealers. The former are much lower, though.” His half a year of study regarding this matter left him even more certain of his conclusion.

　　“The secret techniques of Dragoneers allow them to rapidly raise neo-demons. They speed through youth and grow up very quickly. The average person would be amazed by such a thing. However, regardless of the method used to accomplish this, a neo-demon can only grow within the confines of its normal lifespan. That can’t be exceeded.

　　“However, Righteous Bestowal using Demonic Qi vastly exceeds Dragoneer arts. It can break through those normal confines. It can actually transmogrify the fundamental nature of a neo-demon.” Thinking about this, Meng Hao couldn’t help but smile.

　　The more he researched this matter, the more he got the feeling that Dragoneers were like Demon Sealers who were on a different path, and were doing their best to imitate true Demon Sealers.

　　“I wonder if back in the days of the Eighth Generation Demon Sealer, someone left behind some collateral legacy that spawned the Dragoneers?” It was an interesting idea. Unfortunately, there was a big gap between himself, the Ninth Generation Demon Sealer, and the Eighth Demon Sealer. He was missing a lot of legacies, and suffered from quite a lack of understanding of the previous Demon Sealers.

　　“I wonder if traces of the Demon Sealers can be found in the Western Desert….” His expression was tranquil as he considered this. “In any case, I need to take every chance I get to get noticed within the Crow Scout Tribe. I need to make sure I get into the Crow Divinity Tribe’s Holy Land.”

　　The Crow Scout Tribe had three Nascent Soul Cultivators, but Meng Hao was pretty sure that if he put on the blood-colored mask, only the Treant from the mountaintop could pose any threat to his life.

　　Therefore, he was being cautious about his actions, but wasn’t expending too much effort to conceal anything.

　　“In the past, whenever I encountered something that has to do with the Demon sealers, it would provoke a reaction from the Demon Sealing Jade. However, after entering the Western Desert, there was nothing whatsoever. Perhaps… I just haven’t been to the right places here.” He slapped his bag of holding and produced the Demon Sealing Jade. He held it in his hand and examined it closely.

　　It felt warm and smooth in his hand, as if it were actually a part of him. Looking at it made him feel calm, and he slowly slipped into a strange state.

　　After a long time passed, he put the ancient piece of jade away and closed his eyes to meditate.

　　—–

　　This chapter was sponsored by Alexander Gates, Dennis Liu, Sarah Tracy, JD and Anonymous