Men die for wealth, birds die for food.
Yet the ways humans can die are manifold, by no means limited to dying for wealth. One can die for fame, for power, or for love...
Some even die from a momentary flash of sheer stupidity, while others die of pure, unadulterated bad luck.
The Demon Swineherd was just plain unlucky. He had only just reached +8 enhancement when he was thrust into the event labyrinth. The problem was that not everyone was like Little Nora, able to effortlessly reach +7 enhancement or keep pushing higher.
If a class user was originally an ordinary mortal, then every enhancement actually required a lengthy period of adjustment to adapt to the surging power. Otherwise, once their minds could no longer handle their own strength, their minds would shatter.
Even if their minds didn't break, they could easily become slaves to power, their temperaments drastically changing as they grew increasingly extreme.
This hadn't happened to Yu Xian and his companions purely because they were already Transcendents to begin with, and quite formidable ones at that. When Yu Xian had chosen Niman and Zhang Shou to be enhanced first, he had also taken this factor into account.
There was no need to even mention Niman; she could enhance herself all the way to Mighty One without her disposition twisting from swelling power.
As for Zhang Shou, he possessed the strongest mind and willpower among the rest. After all, he had to die once every seven days and frequently hovered between life and death; his mental fortitude had long surpassed countless people.
Of course, Nora would have been fine as well. After all, she had cultivated for over a decade, and her strength wasn't lacking.
However, during those few days, Yu Xian and she had been glued to each other, practically inseparable, making Zhang Shou the most suitable candidate of all.
Originally, after succeeding in his enhancement, the Demon Swineherd would have gone into seclusion for a period, using self-isolation to slowly adapt to his newfound might. But the sudden event left him unable to calm his mind.
Under such circumstances, even the slightest crack in one's psyche could easily be magnified, and the tiniest flaw could turn into a vulnerability.
In reality, he had only felt a tiny bit of resentment toward Yu Xian. Even though his summoned beasts weren't as numerous as Yu Xian's, their strength was formidable enough.
With him around, it was by no means Yu Xian's turn to be called the Zhen Realm's number one summoner.
Of course, having no actual grudge between them, he wouldn't have genuinely gone out of his way to cause trouble for Yu Xian. Any discontent would at most amount to spitting in contempt a couple of times in his head; there was no need to go screaming for blood.
Yet entering the event labyrinth right after hitting +8 enhancement caused a crack to form in his swollen ego. A sliver of obsession swiftly took root and sprouted in his heart, ultimately seizing complete control of his mind.
"Yu Xian, come out and face me! Let's see who the number one summoner really is—you, or me!"
Sitting cross-legged on the back of the gigantic Demonic Frenzy Boar King, surrounded by demonic frenzy boars, the Demon Swineherd looked down the maze passages around him and roared at the top of his lungs.
A swollen ego was not the same as madness.
At the very least, he still had the sense to search for treasure chests. It was just that while others searched for chests while looking out for other things, he was looking for Yu Xian while searching for chests along the way.
Just then, a terrifying aura emanated from his right, and a man walked out from around the corner, looking grim and ferocious.
Their eyes locked. Neither spoke, yet their expressions seemed to convey: "What're you lookin' at?"
Then came the second exchange of glares, as if snapping back: "Lookin' at you, what're ya gonna do about it?!"
In an instant, terrifying killing intent erupted from both sides simultaneously.
This killing intent warped the surrounding space, sending ripples propagating through the air. Centered on the two of them, two entirely different energies violently collided.
The Demon Swineherd's power belonged to demonic force, whereas Bei Zhelong's belonged to the power of the Dao of Sound.
Indeed.
The man the Demon Swineherd had run into was none other than Bei Zhelong, who was brimming with murderous rage after having a faceful of dung plastered on him by Yu Xian.
In truth, given Bei Zhelong's strength, it should have been nearly impossible for him to be harmed by the self-destruction of a Dung Slime, let alone splattered with dung across his face.
The problem lay in Bei Zhelong's knowledge. The Dung Slime possessed only a single skill—Eat Shit. Exploding upon death was not a skill at all; it was simply that after a Dung Slime died, the fluids inside its body and the dung within underwent a miraculous chemical reaction that ended in an explosion.
Much like how dead whales and hippos carry the risk of exploding after a while, this was an innate biological trait of the creature rather than an active skill.
Precisely because Bei Zhelong knew too much, he had felt completely secure; it wasn't a dead Dung Slime, so naturally it couldn't explode.
He never imagined that a Dung Slime could actually commit suicide—and do so completely motionless, without even blinking an eye.
Carelessness, paired with being momentarily distracted, plus the fact that the Dung Slime gave no precursor warning whatsoever even 0.00001 seconds before exploding, led to Bei Zhelong getting a face full of dung.
Although he had immediately taken out clean water to wash his face and even used his abilities to blast all the filth off, his mentality had completely exploded.
He desperately needed to kill something, or there would be no venting the fury burning in his chest.
The Demon Swineherd and Bei Zhelong—one manic and the other enraged—just happened to cross paths. And so, battle erupted.
"Heavenly Sound!"
Bei Zhelong pointed a finger at the Demon Swineherd. The little birds circling him opened their beaks in unison, sending invisible sonic waves blasting toward his foe.
Not to be outdone, the Demon Swineherd commanded the demonic frenzy boars around him to open their mouths. Orb after orb of purple energy immediately shot toward Bei Zhelong. The two attacks clashed in midair, instantly triggering violent explosions.
Amid the explosions, a demonic frenzy boar unleashed a Boar Charge, slamming violently toward Bei Zhelong.
In an instant, Bei Zhelong was sent flying, crashing heavily against the labyrinth wall. Due to the wall's indestructible nature, none of the kinetic impact was dissipated; he immediately coughed up a mouthful of blood.
This injury only fueled his fury further. His eyes turned blood-red as the birds circling him transformed into golden symbols, branding themselves onto his neck to form a ring of golden patterns.
Sound of Dao Motion!
Bei Zhelong opened his mouth, and invisible ripples expanded in an instant.
Ahead, dozens of demonic frenzy boars charging under the Demon Swineherd's command instantly shattered to pieces, and a sonic tidal wave surged toward the Demon Swineherd.
The power of this technique was terrifying.
Any demonic frenzy boar swept up in it had zero ability to resist, its body shattering in an instant.
Moreover, if only half a body was caught in the wave, only that half would shatter, leaving a cross-section as smooth and flat as if sliced by an exceedingly sharp blade.
"Petty parlor tricks!"
"I grant permission. Mongrels, reveal your true forms!"
Watching the demonic frenzy boars before him shatter one after another, the Demon Swineherd remained calm and composed, sitting cross-legged atop the Demonic Frenzy Boar King, seemingly not the least bit worried about his own safety.
Looking at Bei Zhelong, he sneered before speaking those words.
Evidently, his words carried some sort of power, or perhaps a pact. The moment he finished speaking, the surrounding demonic frenzy boars shuddered violently and began to swell wildly.
Originally down on all fours, they gradually shifted to their hind legs as they grew, actually standing upright, and wings even sprouted from their backs.
For the demonic frenzy boars, if their previous state was the frenzy boar form, then this was their demon form.
Chapter 541