Chapter 174 The fuller the emotion, the heavier the punch.

"Sparring?"

Jiang Chen was a bit confused. Why was it that when old friends met, the first thing the other party thought of was sparring?

He could only attribute it to the man's bold and unconstrained nature; although he was a demon, his personality was unconventional.

"Let's discuss the sparring later, Brother. Right now, the matter regarding Jianzhen is urgent."

"It's just a spar, it won't take long!"

A cruel grin appeared on Yamata no Orochi's lips. In the instant before Jiang Chen could react, he grabbed the back of his neck and flew toward the portal leading to the mortal world.

Jiang Chen: "..."

This old friend was too enthusiastic. He had finally experienced the same treatment that Jianzhen and Yang Shu had endured last time.

Jiang Chen protected Jianzhen's remains, although these bones were likely harder than his own head.

"Brother, if you want to spar, why do we need to go to the mortal world?"

As he flew, Yamata no Orochi suppressed his inner excitement and said, "Ah, the space inside is too small to really let loose. It's much more satisfying to fight outside."

"..."

Jiang Chen suddenly had a vague, ominous feeling in his heart.

The two quickly passed through the passage and, in a moment, arrived inside the main hall of the Ise Grand Shrine in the mortal world.

Outside, Tsuchimikado Yeyasu only felt a flash of aura within the hall and thought it was just his imagination.

Meanwhile, Jia He was squatting on the ground, idly counting ants. As he was counting, he suddenly felt the space in front of him darken.

When he looked up, he was instantly startled. He didn't know when, but a golden skeleton was already standing before him.

"Holy cow!"

However, when Jia He carefully observed it, he discovered that not only did these remains lack any ominous aura, but they actually carried a sense of holiness, with faint sounds of Buddhist chanting emanating from them.

"Could this skeleton have been a monk when he was alive?"

He looked it over left and right, when suddenly, a familiar voice reached his ears.

"Watch over him."

Jia He was stunned. Realizing it was the Ancestral Master's voice, he immediately stood tall with his chest out and let out a loud roar, startling Tsuchimikado and the others not far away.

"Yes!"

Although he didn't know what the Ancestral Master wanted with this skeleton, he knew he couldn't go wrong by listening to him.

...

Soon, Jiang Chen and Yamata no Orochi reached high altitude, nearly eight thousand meters above the ground.

Jiang Chen had already pulled away from Yamata no Orochi's hand and was flying on his own.

"Brother, I have lost many of my past memories. Could you tell me in detail how we met?" Jiang Chen asked as he flew.

"How we met, huh..."

For a moment, Yamata no Orochi seemed to recall those arduous and unforgettable years. They were truly arduous!

Clearly, after he had been taught a lesson by that old geezer Grand Master Sima Chengzhen, he had become much more obedient, usually only absorbing a little bit of disaster Qi in various places.

Who would have thought that this guy would run into him one time and, like a cat meeting a mouse, chase him down and beat him up, and the key was that he wouldn't even say why.

He had emphasized several times that he had ties with the Maoshan Sect and knew his Revered Master, but this guy was so underhanded, constantly aiming for his head.

During that time, he had two large bumps on his head every single day, the kind that even True Qi couldn't dissipate.

At this moment, Yamata no Orochi looked at Jiang Chen's head, feeling that times had changed and things were different. He almost couldn't help but cry tears of joy. Now, the roles were reversed!

Jiang Chen suddenly felt a chill on the top of his head. Was it because he was standing too high, feeling the cold at the heights? With his Physique, that shouldn't be possible, right?

"Back then, we met in the Great Tang and hit it off immediately, becoming confidants. You called me Brother, and I called you Little Brother. That past, it was simply—recalling those tumultuous years, the sorrow of time, sorrow upon sorrow, unbearable to look back on... No, I mean, impossible to forget."

Having almost let it slip, Yamata no Orochi tried to cover it up without batting an eye.

"So, Brother, you were also from the Great Tang previously. I wonder, Brother, why did you later come to this small island nation?"

Yamata no Orochi's mouth twitched. How I came here, aren't you the one who knows best?

If it weren't for the pressures of life, who would be willing to come to this crummy little place? The Central Plains were blessed with spiritual energy and were favored by the Heavenly Dao. If he had stayed in the Central Plains for these past thousand years, he might have had a chance to glimpse the Primordial Spirit Realm!

As for why it was due to the pressures of life, that would have to be asked of the person in front of him. Thinking about it now, Yamata no Orochi felt a bit aggrieved. Did he break a heavenly law or dig up his ancestral grave? Was it necessary to chase him down and beat him like that?

"Why I came here, actually, has some connection to you, virtuous brother!" Yamata no Orochi gritted his teeth, almost wishing he could chew the words up in his mouth before spitting them out.

"Related to me?" Jiang Chen was even more unable to understand. Yamata no Orochi coming to the island nation was related to him? Could it be that, like Su Baiwei, he came here to seek a divine position of longevity?

But Yamata no Orochi's cultivation and strength were far above Su Baiwei's, and looking at him now, his body did not seem to have converted all his demonic power into Divine Power like Su Baiwei's had.

Clearly, Yamata no Orochi was still maintaining his original path of cultivation and was not pursuing a divine position in the island nation.

"That's right. If it weren't for you chasing me all the way here to see me off, how could I have traveled thousands of miles to come here?"

"Me? The past has already become smoke and clouds; this was all what I should have done. Brother, you need not take it to heart."

"Take it to heart? It is indeed not worth taking to heart. When I hang you up in the sky in a moment, I hope you won't take it to heart either, virtuous brother!"

As the words fell, just as Jiang Chen was about to speak, he saw a fist the size of a sandbag rapidly enlarging in his vision.

His pupils constricted, and he hurriedly dodged to the side, but the next instant, a whip-like leg swept over like a powerful Dragon.

Jiang Chen protected his chest with both hands, blocking this whip kick. In an instant, his body felt as if it had been struck by a massive mountain, and he plummeted downward like a meteor.

But that wasn't all. Yamata no Orochi's figure suddenly disappeared from where he was, and when he reappeared, he was already beside Jiang Chen.

"Slow, slow, slow! Too slow! Virtuous brother, your moves are too slow, far from your standard back then!"

As Yamata no Orochi spoke, he smashed another punch toward Jiang Chen's face.

Jiang Chen dodged instinctively, only to find that he had easily dodged this punch; only a strong gust of wind from the fist brushed past his cheek.

A small-to-medium-sized bump slowly rose at the corner of his eye.

Seeing Jiang Chen in this state, Yamata no Orochi finally revealed a joyful smile.

And Jiang Chen still thought he was smiling because his dodge just now was good.

After that, Yamata no Orochi's attacks became faster and faster, and Jiang Chen found it extremely difficult to parry.

Although he had experienced a period of time just now and his True Qi had recovered quite a bit, in terms of sheer strength, even if Yamata no Orochi was not in his peak state, he was still far from being Yamata no Orochi's match.

Yamata no Orochi did not deal lethal blows to Jiang Chen; he simply wanted to see Jiang Chen look frustrated, just like he had been back in the day.

Revenge is satisfying for a moment, and constant revenge is constantly satisfying.

"Virtuous brother, it's still not fast enough! Bring out the strength you had back then!"

Jiang Chen had been a bit annoyed at first by this inexplicable spar, but as Yamata no Orochi attacked, he felt immense pressure. His mind gradually became immersed, focusing on this battle, to the point where he couldn't even hear Yamata no Orochi's voice anymore.