The sheer force of the wind blade gave everyone a real fright; even Wei Zhao's heart skipped a beat. Judging by that display, this Primeval Jumang King was very likely on par with a late Golden Core cultivator at the very least!

With only a perfected Foundation Establishment primordial spirit body, he did not dare claim even a fair chance against an ordinary Golden Core expert—let alone a savage beast comparable to late Golden Core, and with Qiu Lingshan and the others right there beside him!

"Have I played you for a fool? You make such outrageous demands, and now we are not even allowed to discuss them properly?" Wei Zhao retorted calmly. The creature's strength was far beyond expectation, but all that back-and-forth had settled one thing in his mind: it wanted them alive. Unless there was no other choice, this Primeval Jumang King did not dare attack them outright—just like that devastating wind blade a moment ago, which was nothing more than a show of force and intimidation.

"Very well. I shall grant you a chance to deliberate, but on one condition—you take not one step further, or you die!" the Primeval Jumang King said, its voice stern and fierce.

"Not one step further?" Wei Zhao smiled at that, and said with a knowing look: "Which means that if we do take one more step, we will slip beyond your grasp. Am I understanding that correctly?"

"Er—" A flicker of alarm crossed the Primeval Jumang King's face. Wei Zhao had clearly hit the mark. Otherwise it would never have gone out of its way to stress that they must not advance a single step, nor would its Jumang underling have risked death to launch a surprise attack on Wei Zhao and his companions a moment ago. For one reason only: this was already the border of the Jumang clan's territory.

"Seems I hit the mark," Wei Zhao said with a half-smile, then suddenly took one step forward—landing exactly across the deep furrow left by the Primeval Jumang King's wind blade.

"You dare!" The Primeval Jumang King was furious. It was about to strike with everything it had, regardless of consequence, when a hair-raising hiss suddenly came from the opposite side. A colossal serpent, tens of meters long, shot into the sky, its scales a dazzling, brilliant red. It was unmistakably a giant fire snake.

"Ssss, ssss—this human is clever. A mighty Jumang King, toyed with and spun in circles by a mere human—this is deeply satisfying!" The giant fire snake also spoke in the human tongue, hissing with unrestrained laughter.

Everyone was startled at the sight. A single Primeval Jumang King was already more than they could handle, and now a giant fire snake—clearly no easy prey—had appeared out of nowhere. They were caught in a pincer, plain and simple!

Only Wei Zhao showed no surprise at all, as though he had foreseen this all along.

"Red-Scaled Serpent, do you mean to ruin my plans?" The Primeval Jumang King fixed the giant fire snake with a baleful stare, a sinister dark-green aura coiling around its entire body, chilling to behold.

"Ssss, ssss—has your addled bird brain finally drowned in water? So many ready-made tributes come onto my territory, and you ask who is ruining whose plans?" The Red-Scaled Serpent's head and back suddenly flared open a pair of enormous scales, grotesquely outsized; from a distance they looked like a giant crimson demon mask, enough to make one's hair stand on end.

"Bullshit! They are on my territory!" the Primeval Jumang King roared.

"If you addled bird had not schemed and scrambled your way out here to interfere, they would have been on my territory long ago. Besides—hasn't one tribute already walked over here on its own?" Before the Red-Scaled Serpent had even finished speaking, its tail, hidden somewhere in the dense forest, suddenly swept out and lashed straight at Wei Zhao.

Everyone was aghast. The Red-Scaled Serpent had been facing off against the Primeval Jumang King all this time—who would have thought it had already quietly locked onto Wei Zhao? These creatures truly were more devious than the last.

The Red-Scaled Serpent's tail came with incredible speed. But Wei Zhao was faster still. This time, with no need to hold back for fear of Qiu Lingshan and the others, he unleashed his Butterfly Microstep beyond its limits, his whole body blurring into an afterimage in an instant. The serpent's tail struck nothing but air.

"Ssss—this human's speed is truly remarkable. A most impressive tribute indeed!" For the first time, that serpentine face—utterly incapable of expression—registered something like shock. It had guarded this place for more years than it could count, and never had anyone evaded its strike so effortlessly.

"It seems you both care a great deal about these tributes. Care to explain? Tributes to what, exactly?" By now Wei Zhao had already flickered back to his original spot—so smoothly that, to anyone who had not seen his strength, it would seem he had never left it at all.

The Primeval Jumang King's explanation about the tributes had clearly been nonsense. If they truly were tributes for it, the Red-Scaled Serpent would never have chimed in to call Wei Zhao and the others tributes as well. The two were plainly rivals of equal standing; there was no chance the Red-Scaled Serpent would offer any tribute to the Primeval Jumang King. And judging by the tone of both, they were plainly fighting over the tribute!

"Ssss—so this addled bird never explained it to you?" The Red-Scaled Serpent sounded surprised, then hissed with laughter: "Addled bird, this one is on you. If you mean to take them as tribute, you can hardly keep them in the dark, can you? Otherwise why would they ever agree to cooperate with you? You addled birds—all that wasted ugliness of a human face, and not a scrap of brains since ancient times!"

"No brains? Red-Scaled Serpent, shall I flay you alive this very day and restore the glory of the Primeval Jumang clan!" the Primeval Jumang King roared in fury.

"I say you have no brains, and no brains you have. What glory did you addled birds ever have? And even if there was some tiny scrap of glory, it was nothing but the time in primeval ages when our Red-Scaled Serpent clan was duped by you and foolishly slaved away for a spell. What else is there to speak of?" The Red-Scaled Serpent hissed in disdain.

"Duped? Hmph. Since ancient times, the coming-of-age rite of our Primeval Jumang clan has been to capture two Red-Scaled Serpents as our close companions. That was built on real, solid strength. Were it not for that lord, your Red-Scaled Serpent clan would be nothing but our vassals—you would not be standing here boasting to me at all!" The Primeval Jumang King spoke from on high.

"Is that so? Then why don't we have a little contest right now, and see who is whose vassal?" The Red-Scaled Serpent's demon mask of a face turned all the more hideous and terrifying. (To be continued.)