"Wait!" Miao Yi anxiously shouted. Looking at the glowing red bar mace that was mere inches away from his forehead, he nearly broke into a cold sweat, "Senior, I seem to have recalled what it was about, you can keep your transcendent artifact away now."

Whoos.h.!.+ To the side, Charcoal suddenly charged ferociously towards the sloppy old man. Ambushes were truly its forté.

The sloppy old man slapped it with the back of his hand, and pressed his palm onto Charcoal's head. He had to move back a step to stabilize himself from the force of Charcoal's charge.

And it ended just like that. Charcoal had no way to move another step forward, regardless of how hard it stomped. Red Lotus experts had already stepped into the realm of Levitation. They could even topple mountains with ease, so how could they be forced back by a mere ambush?

"Tsk tsk, that strength isn't too meagre. So, this d.a.m.n fatso could still ambush?" The sloppy old man chuckled as he stared in wonder.

Just as the Bra.s.s Gong Fort Master Zhu Daneng had said when he was still alive, dragon steeds are the hybrids of the dragon and the pegasus, and thus possessed two types of extraordinary bloodlines.

But it is precisely because of the rarity of these two bloodlines that it wasn't easy for one to suppress the other. As a result, the two bloodlines clashed with each other, thereby restricting the dragon steed's sentience, making it difficult for perception and thought. So despite possessing divine strength, the dragon steed is unable to cultivate, and can only stoop to heeding the orders of others as an obedient steed.

This is also why it was a first for the sloppy old man to witness a dragon steed with such intelligence. It actually knew how to play these sly tricks and ambush an unsuspecting enemy?

But after his bout of curiosity, the sloppy old man scoffed, "The owner is dishonest, so the steed will also be dishonest. It seems birds of a feather really do flock together."

His large sleeves suddenly moved even though there was no wind, and a strong wave of transcendence energy rolled out. The old man waved his hand, and Charcoal was immediately knocked away, cras.h.i.+ng down on the ground with a flop.

Apparently, Charcoal was also shocked. As it got up, it immediately ran behind Miao Yi and hid itself, but how could Miao Yi's body cover its enormous figure? So, it could only hide its head.

"You dare to dodge? I'll break your legs, and then we'll see if you'll be obedient or not, you fat thief!"

The glowing red bar mace was lifted up, and he was about to give Charcoal a pounding.

"Stop!" Miao Yi suddenly shouted, "Senior, I don't want these things anymore. I'll give them all to you, so please let it go!"

The bar mace returned to the sloppy old man and floated behind his back. The old man glanced at the two hundred or so storage rings on the ground, then looked at the dragon steed behind Miao Yi. Seeing Miao Yi extend his arms to stop the attack, a trace of puzzlement faintly flashed past his eyes. The old man raised his arm and stroked his slovenly beard, lifting an eyebrow as he asked, "You'd better think carefully. The things inside these storage rings could definitely be exchanged for quite a lot of dragon steeds. You're really willing to give it all to me?"

"To tell you the truth, Senior, it's saved my life before. So as long as you don't hurt it, you can have everything," Miao Yi said as he spread his arms and protected Charcoal.

To him, Charcoal not only possessed superior leg strength that could be greatly useful during critical times, above all it had saved his life more than once.

If he had to choose between Charcoal and the little ones, he would rather give up the little ones than abandon Charcoal. There was more than one of the little ones, and if he lost them he could still obtain some more from the Boundless Secular World, but there was only one Charcoal. If it died, he wouldn't be able to find another one. The two of them had developed a strong attachment for one another over the past few years.

The sloppy old man slowly stroked his beard, and his eyes had a thoughtful gaze as he slowly a.s.sessed Miao Yi from top to bottom. After pondering for awhile, he said, "That won't do. It dared to ambush me, so how could I release it so easily? Unless you explain what's the deal with those mantids. Otherwise, I'll pulverize this fat thief to smithereens!"

Not waiting for Miao Yi's response, the glowing red bar mace rose up again, and was about to kill Charcoal.

"I'll speak!" Unable to spare another thought, Miao Yi hastily extended his arm and stopped it.

The glowing red bar mace awaited orders as it hung in the air, and the sloppy old man shouted, "Hurry up and speak!"

Miao Yi was gnas.h.i.+ng his teeth in hatred, but he couldn't do anything about the overwhelming difference in strength. It was like the difference between heaven and earth.

One could fly in the skies, whereas the other could only run on the ground. It would be strange if the difference wasn't large.

With no way of resisting, Miao Yi looked at his surroundings, and pretended to wave his hand. Ordering them with his thoughts, another twenty or so flew towards him from all over the place. There were still some that he hadn't called over. He had to leave a path of survival for the other little ones in case anything happened.

With his hand pinching his moustache, the sloppy old man stared wide-eyed at the little ones. Looking at them flapping their wings and buzzing about in front of him, he asked curiously, "They don't seem like anything special, though? Are these mantids really the cause behind Yuan Kaishan's defeat?"

Miao Yi nodded, "Yes, they are."

The sloppy old man spread open his palm, and a small mantid was sucked into his grasp. He held it in his palm as he carefully examined it.

Miao Yi's eyelid couldn't help but twitch, as he threw a glance at the frozen corpse of the Azure Ape. Commander Yuan's strength was greater than this old man's, and even he fell to this trap, so then this old man…

He turned his head again to look at the old man examining the small mantid he held in his hand, thinking, 'Heaven opened a path for you, but you didn't wish to take it, and instead you came knocking on h.e.l.l's door. Old man, you reap what you sow.'

It's not as if he'd never thought about using the small mantids on the old man, but there was no way for them to get closer to the other person's body. Now that the other party had personally come forth, it would be a crime to miss this opportunity.

Miao Yi signaled with his thoughts, and the small mantid in the old man's palm suddenly stabbed down with its 'tiny sickles', at the same time opening its mandibles and biting his palm.

A frightening aura invaded his body, making him feel as though he had fallen into a dark abyss. The old man s.h.i.+vered for a bit, then immediately exclaimed, "Good fellow, it's actually breaking past my defenses of transcendence energy!"

The small mantid was instantly shot upwards from his palm, and was restrained with a wave of transcendence energy so that it wouldn't be able to make any sudden moves. Its 'weapons' might be able to break past transcendence energy, but its body could not.

The old man extended his arm and pinched the little one's back, and nodded repeatedly as he said, "Good stuff, good stuff. No wonder you dared to come to the Sea of Constellations with only a White Lotus Third Grade cultivation, and even single-handedly butchered the Fort Masters of the seventy-two forts. Good stuff…"

He couldn't stop praising them, not to mention his eyes were s.h.i.+ning, already coming to understand the immense value of the little ones for ambushes.

Miao Yi was a little speechless. He was waiting for the cold Yin aura to activate within the old man's body, but the old man was acting like it was n.o.body's business, still in the midst of repeatedly admiring the little one.

He couldn't help but look back at the Azure Ape's corpse, not understanding what was going on here.

But not too long after, the old man finally relaxed his grip and let go of the little one. Taking in a deep breath, he slowly shut his eyes.

Miao Yi's eyelids twitched slightly, as his heart began to pound faster and faster.

He then saw a layer of frost slowly covering the old man's beard, his skin was being covered in a cold layer of white, and eventually even his clothes suffered the same fate. The frost turned thicker and thicker, and his whole body stood unmoving, looking like it was frozen solid.

With a slight movement of his fingers, a silver spear suddenly appeared in Miao Yi's hand. Without any hesitation, he aimed at the other party's chest, and struck forwards with a wave of his spear, "Die!"

But he was flabbergasted by what happened next.

Still looking frozen, the sloppy old man retaliated in a flash, grabbing the spearhead in a single stroke. He opened his eyes, and coldly glared at Miao Yi as he mocked, "Brat, you're quite ruthless. No wonder that fat thief knew how to ambush a person. It probably picked it up from you."