Chapter 252: Merely A Chess Piece
“Does the Heavenly Saber Pavilion not have other people? Or are they sending you here to die?”
Lu Chen’s expression was calm as he said, “You are only a projection. We are sufficient to kill you.”
A cold light appeared in the Blood Demon General’s scarlet eyes. He said indifferently, “I was originally somewhat worried about who the Heavenly Saber Pavilion would send. Seems like I have worried too much. Coincidentally, I still require some materials for the ceremony. Since you have sent yourselves to me, then I shall not stand on ceremony.”
“Boom!”
After he spoke, a red light from the Blood Demon Emperor rushed into the sky. A horrifying killing Qi surged out at the group.
There were many things going on in his eyes, like they were purgatory with countless vengeful spirits crying out miserably. A horrifying illusion appeared in front of the group. It was difficult to differentiate the real from the fake in this strange s.p.a.ce.
“Huang Dang!” Everyone drew their sabers at the same time. The orderly sound reverberated in the air. With a ‘shua’ sound, the illusion instantly disappeared.
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Within the forest, after Yun Kexin killed the Wolf King, the remaining Demonic Wolves became disorganized. They all fled when the group attacked.
Zhang Lie and Mu Heng started to sweep the battlefield, extracting the Demonic Wolves’ Demonic Cores. Xiao Chen continued to stay on guard, preventing any Demons from sneak-attacking them.
“Boom!”
Just at this moment, a bright scarlet light rushed up into the sky in the distant horizon.
A horrifying aura extended out from a distance. Zhang Lie and Mu Heng, who were sweeping the battlefield, felt a cold s.h.i.+ver.
Mu Heng stopped moving and looked at the red light. He muttered, “What is this? What a horrifying aura! Who is it from?”
Actually, everyone already had a guess in their hearts. However, they did not dare to be sure about it. They could not help but fix their gazes on Yun Kexin.
When Yun Kexin saw that red light, she revealed a grave expression on her previously calm face.
When she felt everyone’s gazes, she turned around and slowly said, “Your mission is already complete. If you have a Divine Flame Talisman, you can leave now. If you don’t have one, I can give you one.”
Zhang Lie and Mu Heng were stunned when they heard this. A doubtful look appeared on their faces, as they could not understand what was going on, “Senior Sister Yun, didn’t you say we have to go through the forest and meet up with the other teams?”
“That’s right, we are almost at our destination already, why are we not going there?
Yun Kexin’s unexpected words caused the two of them to not know what to do. They simply could not understand what was going on. The plan was to go out of the forest. How was it that the mission was over before they had done so?
When Xiao Chen heard Yun Kexin say that the mission was finished, he was mildly stunned as well. Then he looked at the red light rus.h.i.+ng toward the sky from the mountain summit, and felt the aura that filled the entire s.p.a.ce.
After a while, Xiao Chen understood the crux of the situation. A bitter smile appeared on his calm face as he looked toward the sky.
Xiao Chen slowly got up and said to Zhang Lie and Mu Heng, “Just go out. After all, you guys have already collected ten Demon Cores each. You have already accomplished half your mission. The hundred Medial Grade Spirit Stones are not going to run away. There is still a large number of Demonic Cores. Your harvest is very significant already.”
After a pause, Xiao Chen continued, “More important than the harvest was the difficult battles you experienced. Zhang Lie, after some cultivating, you should be able to reach peak Inferior Grade Martial Saint without any problems.”
Then Xiao Chen turned to face Mu Heng, “Mu Heng, although your cultivation will not experience an explosive increase, I believe the increase in your strength will be higher than Zhang Lie’s.”
Zhang Lie thought for a long time. At this point in time, he had more or less understood what was going on. He revealed a complicated expression and said, “Ye Chen, that’s not what I meant, Gao Xiang and the rest…”
Suddenly, a sharp light appeared in Xiao Chen’s originally calm gaze. He said, “Experiential Trainings are always filled with dangers. Stop thinking about it. Just go!”
Mu Chen looked deeply at the calm Yun Kexin. He did not say anything as he took out the Divine Flame Talisman. After a while, he was slowly enveloped in a ball of fire, vanis.h.i.+ng from this s.p.a.ce.
Zhang Lie was shaken by Xiao Chen’s gaze. He stopped saying anything else and took out a Divine Flame Talisman as well. Then he turned into a ball of fire and slowly vanished from the s.p.a.ce.
After the two of them left, the atmosphere between Yun Kexin and Xiao Chen slowly turned strange. Neither of them spoke and the forest became extremely quiet.
“Rumble…!”
Suddenly, the ground started shaking. However, it was not the ground shaking, but rather the entire sub-s.p.a.ce.
Trees toppled over one after another and countless Demonic Beasts ran out from the forest in horror. The entire forest became incredibly chaotic.
However, the atmosphere between the two of them remained incredibly silent. The surrounding chaos did not affect the two of them at all.
After a long time, Yun Kexin sighed gently, “Are you not leaving yet? If you don’t have a Divine Flame Talisman, I can give you one.”
Xiao Chen shooked his head, “No need. Can I ask you a few questions?”
There were no fluctuations on Yun Kexin’s calm face. She nodded, “I knew you would blame me. I also know what you are going to ask. I can tell you the answer.”
“That’s right, from the very start, the Elders’ a.s.sembly had not intended for you all to complete the mission. The ones to complete the mission is Lu Chen’s team.
“The mission of our team is to distract the Blood Demon general, to cause him to send out all the Blood Demons from the palace. While we got rid of the hindrances, Lu Chen’s team can use the Aura Concealing Talisman to infiltrate the palace and focus on fighting the Blood Demon General.”
Xiao Chen said indifferently, “I have already guessed this much by myself. You misunderstand what I meant. I am not blaming you. I just want to ask you. What are the odds of Lu Chen’s team killing the Blood Demon General.
As Yun Kexin had said, Xiao Chen had already guessed most of it based on the clues he had gotten and what he had observed. To put it simply, the Elders’ a.s.sembly used them as cannon fodder to distract the main force and create an opportunity for Lu Chen’s team.
What Zhang Lie could not understand earlier was why the Elders’ a.s.sembly had not clarified this and simply sent them to die. Thus, when he had guessed the answer, he was feeling dissatisfied.
However, Xiao Chen was not concerned with this question. There was a very simple reason behind it: if the Elders’ a.s.sembly had told them in advance, out of the hundred people, most of them would not have partic.i.p.ated in the mission. No one would be silly enough to volunteer as cannon fodder.
From the same reasoning, Xiao Chen could not blame this on Yun Kexin. At least she was not the person who had issued the mission. As a team captain, she had already done her duty.
Every time they were in a fight, Yun Kexin was on the frontlines. If there was someone injured, she did not hesitate to hand out Spirit Stones or Medicinal Pills. She had already done her best to ensure everyone’s safety.
Thus, Zhang Lie’s emotions were starting to get out of control, so Xiao Chen had used his strong mental strength to help him recover his calm.
The strong feed on the weak; without sufficient strength, in the eyes of the people in control, you were only a chess piece to be moved. If you were strong enough, you would naturally be given a Divine Flame Talisman to ensure your safety.
Xiao Chen did not blame anyone, or bear a grudge. This matter only allowed him to see this world more clearly.
Without sufficient strength, every step was filled with danger. Thus, he had to become strong. He had to grow stronger, and then grow even stronger. Only by doing this could he control his own fate.
Now, Xiao Chen was only concerned about whether Lu Chen and the others could kill the Blood Demon General. If they could kill him easily, then there would be no problems. He could ignore the mission given to him by Liu Tianyu and leave this place.
If their odds were bad, then he would have to go take a look. At the very least, he had to use that heaven-splitting saber strike Liu Tianyu had hidden in the Lunar Shadow Saber before he left.
Yun Kexin was mildly surprised to see Xiao Chen being so calm. She thought to herself, before saying, “They have a sixty percent of victory. Out of Lu Chen’s team, there are seven people who have grasped the Blood Demon Self-Disintegration Technique. They can burn their lifeforce and temporarily increase their combat prowess.
“These seven people did not intend to come out alive in the first place. They are the deathsworn warriors of the Divine Saber Camp. In the situation where they do not hold back, they can raise their combat prowess by ten times.”
When Xiao Chen heard this, he was shocked. Liu Ruyue was among the ten people. If the seven people included her, he could not sit and watch idly.
“My apologies, I have to leave first.” A silver wars.h.i.+p flew out of Xiao Chen’s right eye and he quickly leaped onto it. Before he left, he seemed to have thought of something. He said, “Actually, you don’t have to blame yourself. You have already done a very good job.”
After he spoke, Xiao Chen rode off on his silver wars.h.i.+p and headed to the palace on the overhanging cliff very quickly. He was as fast as lightning, disappearing in a flash.
Yun Kexin watched as Xiao Chen left. She revealed a faint smile on her delicate face. Then she waved the Roaming Dragon Saber around gently as she spoke to herself, “Interesting… what is so urgent that he would forget about a Heaven Ranked Spirit Weapon?”
Within the forest, Murong Chong saw the red light rus.h.i.+ng into the sky. He slowly stopped and thought for a long time.
“Senior Brother Murong, Why are we not moving?” one of the team members asked in confusion.
Murong Chong did not reply. He turned around and walked to the team. He went to the front of a severely injured core disciple and slowly placed a Divine Flame Talisman on his chest.
After that, before everyone’s shocked gazes, that person was enveloped in a ball of flames and vanished from the s.p.a.ce.
After Murong Chong did this, he took out another Divine Flame Talisman and said, “Just stay here, there is no need to advance further. This is my last Divine Flame Talisman, I will pa.s.s it to you and you can decide what to do with it for yourselves.”
After Murong Chong spoke, he soared into the sky. As his body pushed against the air, he created a sonic boom as he flew quickly towards the palace in front.
“Senior Brother Murong! Don’t leave!” The group called out after Murong Chong left behind the Divine Flame Talisman and flew off. They did not know what to do.
They were able to get this far and only had three deaths by relying on Murong Chong’s strength. Now that he was gone, they immediately panicked.
A similar scene happened to the other teams in the forest. The core disciples leading the teams stopped when they saw the red light rus.h.i.+ng into the sky.
However, their actions were different from Murong Chong and Yun Kexin. They simply used their Divine Flame Talisman and left the sub-s.p.a.ce, leaving behind a group of dumbfounded core disciples.
The winds howled in Xiao Chen’s ears as he stood on the bow of the wars.h.i.+p. His hair and clothes fluttered in the wind.