Cong Taiyan was absolutely livid. All his life, he’d lived on his own terms and tyrannized whomever he wished. When had he ever been on the receiving end of such temper? How could he contain his rage when a kid still wet behind the ears mocked and challenged him, after slaughtering his Society members? It was something his Society did to others, but today, it was being done to them!
Human nature was despicable, and even more so for someone as base as Cong Taiyan. He regularly tyrannized and dominated others. When he killed others, he did so ruthlessly and didn’t care if his victim had any regrets or if they were innocent. That was also the case now. His mind was only filled with one intention. He wanted to murder all of the newcomers before him and shred them into pieces! He wasn’t going to let Third Master Jing off easy either. He couldn’t care less if the latter had the Moon G.o.d Sect behind him and was the vice head of the first division. He met Jiang Chen’s gaze and flashed a vicious glare. He was going to tear the youngster into pieces in a moment!
“Brat! Cut the bulls.h.i.+t and die!” Cong Taiyan finally blew up. His pent-up rage came bursting out of him like a volcano. With a palm strike, he hurled a fierce and unrelenting sea of red flames at Jiang Chen. The surrounding area was instantly enveloped by fire.
Emperor Peerless immediately rushed to Jiang Chen’s side. “Allow me,” he said blandly. He made a grasping motion and sent an invisible wave of energy towards the sea of flames. Like an all encompa.s.sing net, it swallowed and contained all of the flames. The flames were continuously compacted. One could see them rapidly shrink with the naked eye.
A sea of flame quickly shrunk into a ball of flames, which then turned into a tongue of flame, then embers, and finally a tiny red spark that promptly disappeared in the emperor’s palms. He dusted off his hands and tossed the red spark onto the floor before extinguis.h.i.+ng it with his foot.
“Is that all you have? How trite.” Emperor Peerless remarked disdainfully. He s.h.i.+fted his gaze to Cong Taiyan. “Your fire attribute potential isn’t bad, but you don’t even have a fire const.i.tution of high order. You’re destined for mediocrity. You won’t even become a half step great emperor, let alone a full-fledged one.”
The emperor sounded as though he was p.r.o.nouncing a judgement. It was very impersonal and utterly convincing.
Cong Taiyan had met a fair amount of powerful experts, but the emperor was the strongest yet. The latter had been able to stifle his powerful flames with just one hand, which was nothing short of humiliating. This was proof that Cong Taiyan’s cultivation was simply too unspectacular. The emperor didn’t even need to take him seriously. A simple gesture had been enough to crush the attack that Cong Taiyan was most proud of. Just what cultivation level did his enemy have? The enemy’s comment about his cultivation plunged him into an icy abyss and made all of his hairs stand on end.
He’d actually once heard a similar comment from one of the great emperors in the Moon G.o.d Sect. He hadn’t believed those words back then out of pride and arrogance. He wholeheartedly believed that his talents and fortune were too outstanding for it to be true and wanted nothing more than to prove the great emperor wrong. But after reaching peak level emperor, he’d found it impossible to find the inspiration required to tread half a step into great emperor. There was no way he could transcend into being a great emperor if he couldn’t even manage half a step.
Cong Taiyan’s martial dao was already at its predestined limit. This was a fact set in stone whether he wanted to accept it or not. Without anymore possible breakthroughs in martial dao, he lost interest in the power struggles within the Moon G.o.d Sect and slowly s.h.i.+fted his attention into forming his own faction in the city. Under his leaders.h.i.+p, the Heavensfall Sect grew stronger with each pa.s.sing day. His ruthless cruelty and wild ambitions played a large part in the faction’s success
“Hmph!” Cong Taiyan was a little taken aback by the emperor’s words, but quickly regained his composure. “Friend, I admit that you’re quite capable, but that’s not enough for you to make a clean getaway after acting like this in my territory!”
He reached for the ring on his right hand as he spoke, stroking it to summon a ball of flame in the next instant. It didn’t seem as big as the sea of flames, but the speed and power contained within it was three times more than the previous attack.
“Be careful,” the emperor quietly warned with a small frown.
The flaming ball suddenly exploded into multiple red projectiles as the emperor issued his note of caution. Like a meteor shower, these flaming arrows immediately shot towards Jiang Chen and Long Xiaoxuan. The emperor hadn’t expected this to happen and so his warning had come a little too late.
Fortunately, Jiang Chen hadn’t let his guard down. He’d been instinctively on his guard the very moment the fireball was conjured. He immediately activated the Kunpeng Meteoric Escape and blocked most of the arrows of flame with his Featherflight Mirror.
Long Xiaoxuan was every bit as capable as Jiang Chen. Even though he was located a little bit further back, he was able to activate his escape art instantly after the explosion. Emperor Peerless did what he could to salvage the situation as well.
And so, the arrows were either halted by the emperor, evaded by Jiang Chen and Long Xiaoxuan, or slowed to a non-threatening speed by the Featherflight Mirror. Long Xiaoxuan made excellent evasive moves, but he was still struck by one of the missiles. These arrows were extremely poisonous and produced a frightening amount of heat inside the body upon contact. The body would then instantaneously combust, causing great suffering and pain. The dragon wailed miserably from the bone scorching pain.
Jiang Chen immediately rushed to Long Xiaoxuan’s side and tossed a few pills into his mouth. “Swallow!”
They were some of the best heat soothing pills and were very effective against flame poisons. Despite all that, Long Xiaoxuan’s bones and tendons came very close to being destroyed by the terrifying flame. Fortunately, his bloodline was extremely pure and powerful. The flames were quickly overcome by the combination of Jiang Chen’s pills and Long Xiaoxuan’s bloodline.
The emperor ballooned into rage when he realized that his inadequacy had nearly cost Long Xiaoxuan his life. He flashed Cong Taiyan a cold and murderous glare. “Resorting to tricks and games because of your own inadequacy? It seems this emperor was too lenient with you.”
An enraged great emperor wasn’t to be reckoned with. Jiang Chen had never seen Emperor Peerless lose his temper before, and certainly not his full strength when furious.
Cong Taiyan immediately lost all color on his face. What? This emperor? He’s a great emperor? The other Heavensworn Four members were aghast as well.
Emperor Peerless’ power came hurtling towards them while they were still in mental disarray. A towering cage appeared above their heads and descended upon them. Then Heavensworn Four were sealed within the cage before they could even react.
“Relying on a fire attribute ring simply because you don’t possess a flame const.i.tution of high order? It’s no wonder that you’re destined for mediocrity. Without any achievements in martial dao, it’s befitting that you’d involve yourself in these underground activities in Frostmoon City!” the emperor dished out coolly. He was clearly rubbing salt in Cong Taiyan’s wounds.
Cong Taiyan’s face was ashen, but his eyes brimmed with venomous hate. “Brothers, don’t be afraid! Let’s charge as one! There’s nothing we can’t do as long as we remain united! Reinforcements from the Bleakmoon Hall will soon be here! All who goes against us will be going against the Moon G.o.d Sect too!”
“Only death awaits those who go against the Moon G.o.d Sect!” The Heavensworn Four were deep in trouble, yet they continue to talk tough.
“Jing! As the vice head of the first division, how can you watch with your arms folded? How will you explain yourself to the Moon G.o.d Sect?!”
“Jing Third, come to your senses!” The Heavensworn Four refused to admit defeat, even though they clearly knew that it was impossible to escape a great emperor’s domain with their strength alone. There was no chance it could happen unless they were all peak ninth level emperors. That was clearly not the case, so they had no choice but to borrow strength from Third Master Jing and the first division experts. There may still be hope if they worked together.
Although the Heavensworn Four were hoping they could rope in Third Master Jing, but the latter immediately burst into derisive laughter.
“If I’m not mistaken, wasn’t it you who wanted me to step aside in the first place? Are you slapping yourselves in the face now that I’ve granted your wish?”
Help them? What a joke! Third Master Jing was very much content with keeping his head on his neck. His followers were elites from the first division, but there was absolutely no chance they could rival a great emperor. Moreover, the other two youths were not to be trifled with either. If he joined hands with the Heavensfall Society in battle, they might be completely annihilated before the reinforcements from Bleakmoon Hall could even arrive. Third Master Jing wasn’t so n.o.ble that he’d sacrifice his own life for the Heavensfall Society.