Elder Ke was stuck between a rock and a hard place as the number of casualties kept climbing due to Long Xiaoxuan and Jiang Chen rampaging through his men. The initial level emperor realm experts felt that death was a heartbeat away due to Long Xiaoxuan’s pressure.
Jiang Chen was a lot stronger than conventional initial level emperor realm, even though he hadn’t yet deployed his full strength. His enemies couldn’t afford to be careless for even an instant, because he had the absolute advantage in speed thanks to the Kunpeng Meteoric Escape. His tactics were very simple. Cooperation with the dragon was in order because this wasn’t the kind of limelight he wanted.
An emperor realm cultivator, whose weapon of choice was a long spear, suddenly roared and thrust his weapon towards Jiang Chen. “Die!”
The fellow was furious because he had been hara.s.sed by Jiang Chen since the beginning of the battle. They had to split their attention towards this s.h.i.+t stirrer because he kept ambus.h.i.+ng them randomly. If they eliminated him first, they could focus all their attention on that ruthless youngster. Even if they still couldn’t beat the youngster, they could at least preserve their lives. Right now however, the situation was out of their control and their lives at stake.
The most irritating thing about this fight was that Jiang Chen and Long Xiaoxuan were incredibly fast. The two were so fast that the Society members felt like mentally breaking down at any second. Where the h.e.l.l did these abnormal cultivators come from? How are they so powerful at such a young age? In terms of speed, the two youngsters were faster than all of them.
Although the sudden thrust of the long spear was a little sudden, Jiang Chen possessed unrivaled martial dao knowledge and experience. Naturally, he identified the essence of this attack with a single glance. He sped up and moved forwards instead of retreating. A s.h.i.+ft sideways was enough to perfectly avoid his opponent’s fierce attack. He clamped onto the spear shaft with all his strength.
His enemy sneered at the gesture and attempted to pull back his spear. However, he quickly discovered that he wasn’t able to move his weapon at all. Shock colored his expression. He never imagined that the youngster who’d been relying on speed would possess such depths to his cultivation!
Jiang Chen had been using only speed and guerrilla tactics to hara.s.s them throughout the battle, so the Society members had subconsciously thought that his cultivation was weaker than the arrogant youngster. It was only when the spear wielder made further futile attempts that he realized just how wrong he’d been. Jiang Chen wasn’t weak at all. He didn’t just have good speed; it was all a pretense from the start! By the time he finally realized that Jiang Chen was concealing his strength, it was already too late. Long Xiaoxuan’s palm penetrated his chest in the next second.
“You’re a convincing fake.” Long Xiaoxuan stuck out his tongue before throwing down these sarcastic words. Jiang Chen chuckled and feigned ignorance. He then moved on to ambush the next person…
By now, the remaining emperor realm fighters realized that Jiang Chen had been hiding his strength all this time. They felt even greater pressure. Long Xiaoxuan was already a source of infinite pressure, but they were actually fighting against an even more shrewd, treacherous and dangerous opponent! This… this was starting to look like one-sided annihilation!
Every single one of the fighters felt like smas.h.i.+ng their heads against a wall. They furiously cursed Elder Ke and eighteen generations of his ancestors. If Elder Ke hadn’t stirred up trouble, then this strange battle wouldn’t have happened in the first place. They wouldn’t have lost so many of their men. Most importantly, they weren’t going to hold on much longer unless the battle took an advantageous turn soon.
After the death of another fighter, a large gap opened up in their defenses. At this rate, everyone was going to die in less than fifteen minutes. There was no point in surrendering either since the arrogant, bloodthirsty youngster didn’t look like he would stop until he killed every last one of them. Frosty ice had gripped the hearts of the remaining fighters. Why was Elder Ke still holding back even now?!
What they didn’t know that Elder Ke’s consciousness was close to collapsing, even though he hadn’t moved an inch. Emperor Peerless hadn’t attacked him, but the pressure the great emperor exuded was completely overwhelming.
“Friend…” Elder Ke said in a pained tone. “The Heavensfall Society admits defeat this time. Everything is negotiable as long as you don’t go overboard. Will you forgive us if I return to you all of the spirit stones?”
The elder didn’t want to submit, but he didn’t have a choice.
Emperor Peerless’ answer was cool and careless. “I’m not the one you should be asking. If you want to blame someone, then blame your own incompetence and failing to recognize who is the prey and who is the predator. I understand. You’re used to getting your way, so it’s difficult to recognize a bad habit and correct it.”
He neither liked nor disliked a person like Elder Ke. There were countless people like him throughout the human domain. It didn’t matter if he let the elder go, just as it didn’t matter if he killed the the elder.
Elder Ke felt cold sweat beading down his forehead as a chill ran through him. This powerful expert had spoken as if he was a subordinate of those two youngsters. If this was true, then just how important really were these two youngsters? Although the elder was both shocked and scared, he still gathered the courage to plead, “Both of you, please! I admit defeat, I admit defeat! If you’re willing to stay your hand, I’m willing to repay you twice the amount of your loss.”
Jiang Chen chuckled and cast a glance at Long Xiaoxuan.
The dragon responded with a dissatisfied expression. “You don’t look like someone who can be bought off with just double compensation.”
Jiang Chen himself didn’t plan to end things so easily. He wasn’t going to withdraw today until they got the guy they were here for.
“Ke, are you playing dumb or are you actually dumb?” Jiang Chen’s tone was cold. “Did you forget that we’re here for someone? You think you’re rich because you can pay double, is that it?”
They want the prisoner? Elder Ke laughed ruefully. Just now, he’d only been pretending to have his men grab their prisoner. In reality, they had turned the man over to the Moon G.o.d Sect a long time ago.
The man had come asking about something that the Moon G.o.d Sect repeatedly ordered to never discuss. That was why the Society had immediately captured the origin realm wandering cultivator. As for the five hundred million saint spirit stones they’d demanded from Liu Zhen, it was just normal course of operations. There was no reason to let an opportunity to scam someone else slip by, after all.
But Elder Ke had never imagined in his wildest dreams that a mere origin realm wandering cultivator would cause so much trouble. Since when did origin realm wandering cultivators had such powerful backing? At first, they didn’t hold much hope that Liu Zhen could gather the spirit stones they demanded. But not only did he actually manage to produce five hundred million spirit stones, he even brought some terrifying helpers with him. If they knew this would happen, they would’ve detained Liu Zhen as well.
However, Elder Ke dared not say that their man was no longer with the Heavensfall Society. He begged again and again, “Please listen to me, friend. If you wish to get your man, then you shouldn’t slaughter us down to the very last. Even if you eliminate the entire Society, you still won’t know where your man is, right?”
It was the truth, so Jiang Chen waved for Long Xiaoxuan to stop. The young dragon liked to bicker with Jiang Chen, but Jiang Chen was still the only human he trusted. Therefore, although he was reluctant, the dragon still obeyed the command even though he was reluctant to.
“You guys are too soft-hearted. He’s the kind of person who’ll only tell the truth after we beat the s.h.i.+t out of him.” Long Xiaoxuan cast a disdainful glance at Elder Ke.
Jiang Chen smiled. “We can always keep fighting if he refuses to tell the truth.”
Long Xiaoxuan’s eyes lit up. “You’re right. Hey, old man Ke, you can tell a lie or two if you like. My hands are still itchy, you know.”
Elder Ke wasn’t sure how to react. Today must be the unluckiest day in his life or something. Why did he have to run into a bunch of demon incarnates? When had the Heavensfall Society ever suffered such a terrible loss?
However, currently, he could only swallow his reluctance and obey. Emperor Peerless simply stared at Elder Ke with a supercilious on his face.
The remaining senior executives of the Society glared at Elder Ke after barely escaping with their lives. It was obvious that they were furious with his inaction. The most depressing thing was that the elder couldn’t even defend himself. What could he say? That he’d been frightened into inaction by a glance? Or should he tell them he couldn’t summon the strength to act? He would only be embarra.s.sing himself more.
Fiercely tamping down the bitterness in his heart, Elder Ke responded carefully, “Please forgive me for not recognizing my superiors, friend.”
They just had their face slapped and their men killed, but they had to apologize and make amends with their tormentors instead. This was undoubtedly a great stain on Society history.
“Cut the nonsense and skip to the main point.” Jiang Chen waved his hand.
“Ai…” Elder Ke let out a long sigh to conceal the burning anger in his heart. “I don’t understand how an insignificant wandering cultivator like Liu Zhen is able to hire the likes of you. If he paid you handsomely to settle this matter, I can guarantee that we can do even better to win your a.s.sistance.”
Jiang Chen said indifferently. “That’s still nonsense.”
Elder Ke was losing control of his composure at this point, but still he restrained his anger and nodded. “We detained Liu Zhen’s accomplice because he violated a taboo of Tilted Moon Region. The punishment for violation is death, so he was taken away by the Moon G.o.d Sect a long while ago. We can’t produce the man you seek even if we wanted to.”
“Taboo? What taboo? Are you seriously telling me that an origin realm wandering cultivator is worth the attention of a first rank sect like Moon G.o.d Sect? Are you sure you’re not bulls.h.i.+tting me?” Jiang Chen’s expression darkened as he responded in an unfriendly tone.
“No no no, this taboo is an exception. It doesn’t matter if you’re origin, sage, or even emperor realm. All those who violate the taboo will be punished.” Elder Ke hurriedly explained.
“I’m curious, what is this taboo, exactly?” Jiang Chen’s tone was frosty.
“Friend, it’s a taboo, you know. It is not my place to speak of it.” Elder Ke attempted to sidestep the responsibility.
Jiang Chen nodded and looked at Long Xiaoxuan. “I think they want another beating.”
Elder Ke paled drastically. “Wait! Please listen.”