The Immortal Emperor Returns

Chapter 309 Goodies!

Countless bolts of lightning raged angrily around him with rumbles of thunderclaps drowning his ears amidst the intermittent flashes of light.

Chu Xun extended a hand and seized a lightning bolt that strayed but inches away from him and clenched it in his fist like a toy.

Li Hangyi and his man winced. The lightning bolts terrified them, but they seemed only like toys to this stranger, and this astonished them.

“These two sets of armor can protect you from harm, but for this favor, I’d require repayment.” Chu Xun said lightly.

“And what do you wish in return from us, Sir?” asked Li Hangyi.

“Some pets that I kept are missing. Please return them to me should you meet them.”

Pets?!

Astonished, Li Hangyi could not quite believe what he heard.

“I’m referring to a school of fishes the size of a human’s hand. Please catch them if you see them. But don’t underestimate them; they are very smart and intelligent. Restrain them using your Internal Breaths and keep them in jade chests.”

As much as Li Hangyi yearned for the two sets of magical armor, he knew he needed more information before he could agree to any terms.

“What of their strength? Are they dangerous?”

“Nay. They are weak creatures with impeccable skills in escaping. Remember, only Internal Breath can restrain them, and jade chests can keep them seized.”

With a more visual idea of the bidding Chu Xun was entrusting to him, he agreed at last, “Very well, Sir. So be it then.” His hand came up to take the two sets of armor.

“Wait!” Chu Xun barked suddenly. “Under no circumstances, you are to divulge the provenance of this armor. I shall be here when you return, and you will return these armors to me.”

Li Hangyi nodded.

“Remember your word. Be warned: if greed takes you, rest assured that this shall be your final resting place.”

With a sudden blast of lightning that zapped and engulfed Chu Xun came without warning an explosion.

That startled Li Hangyi and his men, and Chu Xun was gone.

“Could it be that he is truly a dweller of this hellish place?!” muttered one of his men.

Li Hangyi put on one of the armor sets and gave the other to his deputy.

He tested it first and found himself impervious to the lightning bolts that failed to harm him. It really was working.

Meanwhile, Chu Xun regrouped with Yan Wushuang and the others.

“What did you do with the two sets of armor, Liu?”

“I gave them away.”

Gave them away? Yan Wushuang was befuddled with puzzlement.

But Chu Xun cared not to explain. Instead, he motioned for everyone to move on.

They passed by Zang Fengling and Fan Chengfeng and ventured to the forefront.

The lightning storm grew stronger and more violent as they pushed on. Visibility was now down to approximately ten meters.

Swoosh!

Yan Wushuang lunged and returned moments later with an electrofish and deposited it into his jade chest.

It was common for warriors to carry cases, boxes, or chests made of jade with them.

They must be closer and closer to the center of the storm, where they found more and more electrofishes.

Yan Wushuang’s four Human King retainers busied themselves, and in mere seconds, they caught more than a dozen of the fishes.

Swoosh!

An electrical eel came at Yan Wushuang, only to be sliced into half by his sword.

More and more eels came at them, but none survived the onslaught by Yan Wushuang and Chu Xun.

“Look,” cried one of the Human Kings, “What’s that?”

Everyone saw it.

Not far away, a bright golden light flickered; it looked like a huge golden dome.

Chu Xun and his companions understood it for what it was – the central spot of this storm system, the eye of the storm.

The dome of light was keeping away the brutal lightning storm outside, creating a separate domain inside.

Chu Xun sent forth his divine sense and confirmed his guess: it really was a separate domain inside and no lightning bolts could reach inside.

He walked up and placed a hand on the dome. But instead of feeling anything solid, his hand went right through the walls of the dome. He stepped into the dome and it was safe inside.

Yan Wushuang and the others hurriedly caught up. One of the Human Kings tried to step through the walls of the golden dome and instead of being able to penetrate the wall of light, a huge burst erupted and he was sent flying with a loud bang as if he had just knocked into a hard wall.

Everyone quickly stepped back.

What’s happening?! They saw Chu Xun walking in with their own eyes, and nothing hit him.

Yan Wushuang placed a hand on the wall of the light dome carefully, only for another burst of golden light that blasted him a few paces away with his blood literally boiling inside him.

Chu Xun’s head popped out of the surface of the light, looking positively happy, “What are you waiting for? Come on in quick! I found something good!”

Yan Wushuang smiled bleakly and told him what went wrong.

That puzzled Chu Xun. He stepped out through the light and back inside again as if there was nothing at all; the wall of light hardly flickered.

“I wonder if it’s because I’m kinder than you all,” murmured Chu Xun aloud.

That made Yan Wushuang and the others roll their eyes in exasperation, groaning. Any other person here would have been kinder than you!

Just then, the purple-haired woman brushed by them and passed through the golden wall of light effortlessly, disappearing.

“Does the enchantment of this dome not work on Cultivators?” asked Chu Xun via telepathy.

“No,” her voice came replying. She came out through the wall of light and said to Yan Wushuang and the others, “Try to shut off your Internal Breath when you step through.”

Yan Wushuang and his men immediately stopped channeling their Internal Breaths. With the armor, they didn’t need to worry about lightning bolts striking them, and doing as the purple-haired woman told them finally allowed them to step into the dome.

Finally, they understood: this dome of light abhors and expels Internal Breath.

As soon as Yan Wushuang stepped inside, his eyes shot wide, as did the others.

The huge opened-fan shaped rock was still there. Only now, magical herbs and shrubs grew all over it with some even bearing magical fruits and strange flowers. Among them, the most valuable would be a little pear tree shining completely in gold. Sparkling pears hung from its boughs and no one needed any telling that these were all magical fruits too.

The mundane and ordinary rock from before was now a veritable mound of goodies.

“Whatcha waiting for? Go for it!” shouted Chu Xun as he dove straight for the magical pear tree.

Yan Wushuang and the others dashed for the rock; even the purple-haired woman was no exception herself.

Rumble!

A sudden burst of sparkling golden ripples broke out just before they reached the rock.

Chu Xun immediately withdrew.

So did Yan Wushuang and the purple-haired woman. Both of whom retreated to safety.

But the same could not be said for Yan Wushuang’s four Human King retainers. Caught by the waves of the golden light, they were blasted away, crashing to the ground with their clothes frayed and scorched. They were lucky to have been wearing the armor, or they would have been grievously injured instead.

Chu Xun’s eyebrows angled curiously. Despite using his divine sense to examine the rock, he could not find where the sudden destructive burst of light came from.

What could it be? It was not an enchantment devised either by magic or Taoist sorcery.

“Did you see anything?” Chu Xun asked the woman using telepathy.

“Nothing,” she replied, frowning as well.

“Stand back. I’ll try again,” said Chu Xun, leaping forward.

Rumble!

Another burst of light erupted, sweeping past the sparkling glitters enveloping the rock.

Clang!

Rays of golden light hit Chu Xun like powerful sledgehammers, eliciting a litany of heavy thuds, but Chu Xun endured them all.

Rumble!

Another burst of golden waves broke forth once more.

Clenching his fists tight, Chu Xun barreled his fist into the wave.

Boom!

The force of his punch shattered the golden wave into sparkling bits of pieces like splinters of broken glass, glowing briefly like embers before they vanished.

It was a sight both epic and awe-inspiring that Yan Wushuang and the others balled their fists with apprehension.

More golden waves of light churned out, sweeping towards all directions while its ripples grew.

Again and again, Chu Xun pummeled furiously at every wave that came near, although there were instances where he had to sustain the blast with his sheer endurance.

The rock looked so near yet so far that with each arduous step, he got close to it. Finally, he reached out a hand and seized a magical herb.

Rumble!

The strength and the ferocity of the waves grew several-fold all of a sudden, sweeping across the expanse of the dome with greater speed, and one of which slammed into Chu Xun’s chest, forcing him to totter backward.

Undaunted, Chu Xun gnashed his teeth and swung his fists with matching fierceness, defeating two consecutive waves and earning himself two valuable paces, which allowed him to pluck off another magical flower.

His final goal was the magical pear fruits at the top of the rock, but it would be a perfect victory if he could somehow retrieve the whole pear tree instead.

Chu Xun could feel his teeth grounding hard as he struggled hard against the never-ending waves that pummeled at him and his resolve like the rushing rapids of a raging river.

Instead, Chu Xun unleashed a blurry whirl of fists that rained down on each wave. But the waves engulfed him whole that no one could find him amidst the deluge of golden light if not for the powerful shock waves that came from his punches.

He made good progress while taking full advantage of each step he made, having retrieved more than a dozen magical herbs and shrubs.

Swoosh!

More figures appeared by the walls of the dome; another group of people had broken through.

It was Zang Fengling and his people; they had also discovered the way of entering the dome.

“You’re quick, Yan,” smirked Zang Fengling, then he noticed Yan Wushuang’s hair and muttered, “Quaint hairstyle, Yan.”

“You’re not slow yourself,” Yan Wushuang responded placidly, his attention centered on Chu Xun.

Pan Chengfeng and Zang Fengling followed Yan Wushuang’s gaze and their eyes lit up, and it was not so much for Chu Xun as the whole rock littered with treasures and valuables.

Swoosh!

Zang Fengling dove headfirst. He could not sit still, watching Chu Xun filling his pockets with goodies.

Seeing this, Pan Chengfeng hurtled forward after him too.

Even their men – the warrior-retainers of the Zang Family and the members of the Chamber of Purple Garments – sprang into movement too. None of them could hold back after seeing the multitude of treasures on the rock.

Rumble!

Another huge wave of golden light burst furiously like a tidal wave, wiping the floor far and wide.

With a couple of successive, heavy thuds, many – including Zang Fengling and Pan Chengfeng – were blasted off their feet and they crashed to the ground far away. Few of the weaker Human Kings felt their blood boiling convulsively inside them and even coughed up blood.

Yan Wushuang snorted. As if I would be here standing like a fool if getting the treasure is so easy, he mused.

Zang Fengling and Pan Chengfeng shared a quick look, their eyes glinting with displeasure and dissatisfaction.

“This is too great a treasure even for the Yan Family, don’t you think so, Yan?” growled Zang Fengling ominously with sinister insinuations.

Yan Wushuang tore his gaze back and regarded Zang Fengling coldly. “The rock is just before you,” he grunted grimly, “Go and take whatever you want yourself, if you think you’re up to it.”

“We aren’t as lucky as you are, Yan,” interjected Pan Chengfeng with a sneer, “You have found yourself a minion with such invincible toughness.”

Yan Wushuang’s eyes burned with cold fury, “Watch your tongue, you lot of the Chamber of Purple Garments. Liu and I are friends.”

“Hahahaha... Friend, eh?” Zang Fengling quipped, “Well, he’s up there, bleeding his life to get the treasures, while you’re down here just waiting for the bounty. Some friend you are.”

“I know what you’re trying to do, Zang Fengling,” growled Yan Wushuang angrily, “Nothing you say can drive a wedge between Liu and me.”

“Really?” scoffed Zang Fengling again before he turned to the purple-haired woman instead, “I’d be careful of him if I were you, lady. Nothing good will come to you by sticking close to him. You should come with me; I can guarantee a fat reward if we find anything.”

“Shut up,” hissed the woman with ice.

That abrupt and forceful rejection stunned Zang Fengling and before he could say anything else, Yan Wushuang cut him off, mocking him derisively, “My blow that night must have addled your mind, Zang. Think that you’re capable of such piffle. This I tell you: save your breath, this woman is Liu’s Junior Sister.”

“Junior Sister?!” Zang Fengling just couldn’t believe it.

Beside him, Pan Chengfeng’s eyes gleamed with insidious design. He drew closer to Zang Fengling and whispered, “I have a plan, Master Zang.”

“Let’s hear it,” he asked.

“None of us can get close to the rock, but that nameless oaf can. We can take the woman and hold her for ransom to make him work for us,” suggested Pan Chengfeng with a wicked grin.