Invincible Snake Emperor

Chapter 642: Chapter 607: The Art of Beast Taming (Part 2)

After all, the Ape’s Realm was higher than the horse’s; it had reached the Pseudo Demon King Level.

"My time is limited. You two can submit together, or you can surrender your Lifebound Golden Cores."

The Golden-winged Flying Horse’s world instantly went dark.

The Purple-eyed Giant Ape and the Golden-winged Flying Horse were terrified. The two brothers in misfortune exchanged a look, each feeling a pang of sympathy for the other.

They had barely managed to escape the Demon Prison, only to find they had jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire.

This transformed Snake before them was an utterly terrifying being. They were powerless to resist; a single glance from him was enough to put them in their place.

"I will count to three. If you don’t submit, you die," Tu Xiao’an said calmly.

At his Realm, he didn’t necessarily need to subdue them. He just felt this Ape had an impressive bloodline with the potential to evolve into one of the Four Mischievous Monkeys. And this Golden-winged Flying Horse was also quite intriguing—majestic and amusing.

After all, a flying horse was a rare sight in this day and age.

"Lord Snake King, I beg you, spare this humble horse! I am willing to be your mount unconditionally for a hundred years, just as long as I don’t have to suffer the torment of having my soul shackled!"

This was the first time the Golden-winged Flying Horse had ever spoken in a human tongue to plead for its life.

"One!" Tu Xiao’an ignored it completely.

The Purple-eyed Giant Ape also tried to bargain. "Milord, I am also willing to be at your command for a hundred years, unconditionally. I only ask that you don’t shackle my soul."

"Battle Companion" was the pleasant term for it. To put it bluntly, it meant becoming a slave, a puppet. Life and death rested entirely on the master’s whim, with absolutely no personal freedom.

"Two!"

Tu Xiao’an shook his head. In truth, with his power, he could have forcibly subdued the Ape and the horse, but he chose not to.

He was giving them the choice between life and death.

The weak are meat for the strong; if you lacked power, you were nothing. But Tu Xiao’an was "kind"—at the very least, he granted others the privilege of choosing between life and death.

To be blunt, considering his status, he was doing them an honor by even wanting them as Battle Companions.

Hadn’t he killed enough Great Demons and Pseudo Demon King-Level Demons in the Yaoling Mountain Range?

He’d lost count of how many Demon Spirit Lifebound Golden Cores he had devoured.

’It’s over, it’s all over...’

The Purple-eyed Giant Ape and the Golden-winged Flying Horse trembled violently, as if awaiting a final judgment. The moment he uttered the word "three," their deaths would be certain.

In human society, counting to three was often something a wife used to scare her henpecked husband. But Tu Xiao’an’s countdown was far more terrifying; if he finished and they hadn’t yielded, the result was death.

The formless pressure of death, like the crushing weight of Five Finger Mountain, bore down on the Ape and the horse, suffocating them.

Just then, Tu Xiao’an’s mouth opened once more. The word "three" was about to escape his lips...!

"This one is willing to submit!"

The Golden-winged Flying Horse was the first to break under the pressure. It had struggled so hard to escape prison and had only just taken a breath of fresh air. To die like this would be an unbearable regret.

Even an ant will cling to life, to say nothing of a supreme creature that had cultivated to Rank 3.

Few creatures possessed the backbone to willingly choose death.

"Mm. A wise man submits to the circumstances. Little horse, I admire you for that." Tu Xiao’an glanced at the Golden-winged Flying Horse beneath him. His bewitching eyes narrowed, and in an instant, the horse shuddered and then bizarrely vanished from where it stood.

Tu Xiao’an, in turn, landed lightly on the ground.

"And you? Have you made up your mind? Are you going to force me to say ’three’? Once I do, there will be no room for negotiation."

Terror filled the Purple-eyed Giant Ape’s purple pupils. It asked weakly, "Where did the horse go?"

’It didn’t just vanish from this world like a puff of smoke, did it?’

"It is my Battle Companion now," Tu Xiao’an said with a smile, his eyes narrowing once more.

WHOOSH... Space rippled, and the Golden-winged Flying Horse materialized out of thin air. It immediately bent its four legs, kneeling before Tu Xiao’an, and cried out in reverence, "Golden Wing pays his respects to Master!"

"Good horse. Behave, and in the future, your master will grant you a great destiny." Tu Xiao’an stepped forward and stroked the Golden-winged Flying Horse’s head. It was tall and mighty, its form majestic, and its pair of golden wings were absolutely magnificent.

Its coat was the color of fiery charcoal, without a single blemish. It was immense, a full ten feet from head to tail and eight feet tall at the shoulder. Its roar held the power to soar into the sky and plunge into the sea.

On the ground, it chased the wind and outpaced lightning; in the sky, it flew faster than a thunderbolt. To say it could travel a thousand leagues in a day would be a gross understatement.

This was truly a divine steed. And yet, Tu Xiao’an hadn’t actually subdued it to be his mount. To speak a truth that would surely break the horse’s heart, the Golden-winged Flying Horse wasn’t quite worthy of the title.

After all, Tu Xiao’an already had the Divine Beast Cyan Dragon and the Immortal Spirit Peacock Azure Owl. Now *those* were truly magnificent mounts.

The Golden-winged Flying Horse was merely a novelty to Tu Xiao’an.

’Still, it would make for a decent gift one day.’

The poor Golden-winged Flying Horse. It was a Deep Mountain Great Demon, after all, with a pure and noble bloodline that made it one of a kind. Yet in Tu Xiao’an’s eyes, it was fated to be nothing more than a gift for someone else.

Stroking the Golden-winged Flying Horse’s head, Tu Xiao’an’s eyes flashed with an icy light. He gave the Purple-eyed Giant Ape a long, hard look and said in a flat, emotionless tone, "Since you do not wish to submit... fine. In that case, I will send you on your way."

Before his words had even faded, a terrifying aura erupted from him, radiating an intense Killing Intent and a despair as deep as the abyss.

"I’ll submit! This one submits, is that not enough?!"

The mighty Purple-eyed Giant Ape was so thoroughly terrified by Tu Xiao’an that its voice was on the verge of tears.

"Haha... It would have been much simpler if you’d just done that from the start. Time is precious." Tu Xiao’an’s eyes narrowed as he projected his powerful Consciousness Power onto the Ape.

"Submit!"

The Purple-eyed Giant Ape felt as though its entire being was being hollowed out, and it lowered its proud head.

The next moment, the Purple-eyed Giant Ape vanished from its spot. Then, with a mere thought from Tu Xiao’an, it reappeared out of thin air, so quickly it was as if it had never left.

But in that one instant, the fearsome Great Ape had become Tu Xiao’an’s Battle Companion, a soul brand seared upon it.

For Tu Xiao’an, subduing any creature below the level of a Demon King was now a trivially easy task.

He didn’t even need to use force; he could simply frighten them into submission.

He truly had a knack for Beast Taming.

And just like that, Tu Xiao’an had two new Battle Companions: a Level 35 Purple-eyed Giant Ape and a Level 34 Golden-winged Flying Horse.

Both were formidable beings capable of dominating their own territories. And yet, now that he had subdued them, Tu Xiao’an felt no particular joy.

"Purple Ape, your master has a question. You and Golden Wing were locked up tight in the Demon Prison. Who let you out?"

Tu Xiao’an pressed the crucial question. Looking out, Wencheng had practically become a Demon Nest, and its ordinary citizens were living as if they were in the Eighteen Layers of Hell.

The Demons who had been locked away for years were all seething with resentment, their Killing Intent boiling over.

"In reply to Master, this one is not certain. All I know is that a powerful being broke into the prison and opened all the iron cell doors one by one," the Purple-eyed Giant Ape said honestly.

Tu Xiao’an frowned at the answer and turned to the Golden-winged Flying Horse.

The Golden-winged Flying Horse hurriedly added, "Master, my experience was much the same as the Purple Ape’s. I just heard a CLICK as the iron door opened, and then I saw a massive horde of Demons rushing out. The scene was truly spectacular."

’So even they don’t know who opened the gates of the Demon Prison?’ Tu Xiao’an was surprised; he hadn’t expected that answer.

He mulled it over for a moment. ’The one who opened the prison gates must have been a powerhouse from the Demon Race. No human would be foolish enough to do something like that.’

’Doing so would make them an enemy of all of Wencheng, plunging the common people into a living hell.’

’What a monstrous sin.’

’But if it was the Demon Race, then which one from the Yaoling Mountain Range was responsible?’

’I’ve met the three most powerful Deep Mountain Demon Kings in the Yaoling Mountain Range. To have the audacity and the means to go into Wencheng and open the Demon Prison... it couldn’t be anyone but one of those three.’

’An ordinary Demon Spirit expert could never pull it off. The Demon Prison is Wencheng’s greatest taboo, after all.’

’The Fox Immortal King? The Yellow Demon King? Or the Gray Demon King?’

’Those three represent the greatest powers within the Demon Race, with countless other clans as their vassals.’

...

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