The Immortal Emperor Returns

Chapter 318 Marauding

The collective strengths of three Eighth-grade Human Kings would have been so great and unstoppable a force that they could easily massacre and wipe out any small to medium organizations of warriors.

Yet despite their formidable might, their plot of waylaying Chu Xun ended up with two of their number wounded heavily in just the blink of an eye.

With their great powers, the assailant Human Kings too possessed keen senses that never stopped tingling ominously.

That their operation of ambushing Chu Xun would most likely end up a failed mishap.

“What? Nevermind wounding you; I intend to slaughter you!” Chu Xun hissed with unveiled malice as his clothes fluttered in the wind.

Whoosh!

Chu Xun charged fiercely at Nie Zicheng, brandishing his golden halberd now giving off a proud brilliance of triumph.

Nie Zicheng could feel his confidence crumbling like a falling wall. His right arm was useless, and there was no way he could defend himself with only one arm. Rightly so, before he could even summon any Internal Breath, Chu Xun was already upon him.

Bang!

Blood sprayed like a geyser as Nie Zicheng was flung into the air with his flesh burst open from another lashing blow from Chu Xun and the wound looked utterly horrible and grotesque.

“What gives you right to be arrogant, you oaf!” snarled the Human King of the Chamber of Purple Garments. With a wordless battle cry, he lunged at Chu Xun, firing a black energy beam.

Chu Xun swung his long pole arm and swatted so hard at the jet-black energy beam, destroying it easily.

The two men threw themselves at each other again, locked in a furious melee that even made the earth tremble and shake.

But the longer he fought, the more the Huma King of the Chamber began to realize that no matter how fervently he tried, he just couldn’t injure Chu Xun at all.

Bang!

The golden halberd came out of nowhere, bashing straight into his side with his protective aura utterly useless against it, sending him into the air.

He crashed and the first thing he saw filled him with horror: Chu Xun pouncing at him, and he cried, panicking, “Zang, help!”

The Zang Family Human King was otherwise occupied; his level of magical cultivation was greater than his two opponents, but he could still not yet gain any edge with the purple-haired woman’s unique and unusual techniques.

“I’LL KILL YOU!”

The long, golden halberd blazed with such brilliance that mirrored Chu Xun’s frenzy as he roared and brought his weapon down on the head of the fallen Human King with glorious purplish-golden sparks trailing like a tail.

Hissing defiantly with anger, the Human King quickly produced an obsidian-black shield to defend himself.

Bong!

As the halberd deflected hard off the surface of the shield like pounding on the face of a drum, the golden-purplish sparkles of light bounced back as if by the magic of the shield that glowed a faint hue of black in response.

Undeterred, Chu Xun rained down more blows on the shield, only for the gold-purplish sparkles to bounce back at him.

He dodged a hundred meters away and watched the bright, purplish gold sparkles raining down on the spot he was just standing at before with so great a force and destruction that kicked up sand and dust into the air while splitting the earth.

“Where’re you off to?” Chu Xun yelped with surprise when he saw Nie Zicheng trying to flee. Gripping his halberd, he gave chase.

Whoosh!

And before he knew it, even the Chamber of Purple Garment’s Human King was escaping too.

“Stay right there, all of you!” cried Chu Xun angrily. He gave up pursuing Nie Zicheng and sped after the Human King of the Chamber, wanting the little drum and the shield for himself.

Boom!

With another thunderous explosion, the Zang Family Human King forced an opportunity by blowing both Yan Wushuang and the purple-haired woman away and quickly sped away himself.

“Wait here, both of you!” yelled Chu Xun as he dashed after the Human King of the Chamber.

Like a predator and its prey, both men flitted swiftly through the thick woods like a pair of shooting stars.

But with a speed that greatly outstripped his opponent’s, it did not take long for Chu Xun to catch up.

Incensed, the Human King could not understand why Chu Xun was so doggedly pursuing him instead of the other two. Was it because he was weaker than the others that Chu Xun viewed him as easy prey?

Leave the drum and the shield; they’re mine now!” shouted Chu Xun as he barreled his fist at his quarry’s back.

For one moment, the Human King thought he heard wrongly. Drum and shield?! He wants my Sacred Relics! Having heard of what happened during the exploration of the ancient ruins, he was no stranger to Chu Xun’s marauding proclivities but never had he expected that he would be the latest addition to the latter’s long list of prey.

“Who are you, oaf?!”

“Your creditor. Now give me the drum and the shield. They are mine now,” said Chu Xun, raising his fist for another blow.

But with the thick undergrowth and the occasional stones standing in his way, Chu Xun just could not aim properly.

Finally, he made a quick hand seal and pointed at the ground. Several snakelike tendrils of Reincarnation Whip shot out like lightning.

The tendrils lashed the Human King’s ankles, catching him unawares, and he crashed face-first into the dirt.

That might have been a first for him – in all his life as an Eighth-grade Human King, he had never endured such ignominy of being routed and chased like a beaten dog.

“Where do you think you’re going now?” Chu Xun directed the Reincarnation Whip to ensnare him.

“You want the Master Drum of Tremor, don’t you? Here, take it!” yelled the Human King, tossing the little drum aside before he unleashed a sudden burst of speed, and the next second, he was already a thousand meters away.

With a swoosh, Chu Xun dove for the drum.

The Human King of the Chamber zipped as quickly as he could in the opposite direction following the successful execution of his diversion.

With his full speed at the complete display, Chu Xun raced after the drum and caught it in mere breaths and he fingered it with a satisfied grin.

By then, the Human King of Chamber of Purple Garments was gone.

“Humph,” Chu Xun snorted. He projected his Divine Sense, which quickly caught up to his quarry only to gasp with surprise. Apparently, the Human King was indeed a sly one; instead of running away, he had hidden on top of a large, old oak tree and kept his aura hidden.

Chu Xun would have passed by the tree without noticing his presence if not for his Divine Sense.

He quietly crept to another tree just beside and climbed up its branches. From his perch, he saw the Human King nesting comfortably in the midst of the tree’s thick boughs. Anyone wasn’t any wiser would have easily failed to detect him.

Bong!

Chu Xun hit on the Master Drum of Tremor and purplish-hued sonic waves undulated rapidly.

Bang!

The waves hit the tree, blasting away its branches and barks and snapping the tree in half. As the tree began tumbling down, the Human King leaped out of his hiding spot with a bestial snarl of anger.

How did he find me? The Human King griped quietly.

Knowing better than to dwell on this matter, he hectically sped away as quickly as he could like the beaten dog he was.

“Give me that shield!” Chu Xun yelled while his hand never stopped pounding on the drum to fire more sonic waves at his prey.

With a dark pall of gloom over him as his eyes flared with rage, it was all the Human King could do to prevent himself from turning around and fighting Chu Xun. The shame was just unbearable.

From within his Storage Ring, he took out a spiritual fruit and gnawed on it hastily. In an instant, his aura spiked, and his acceleration increased. He could use some replenishment following the exertions before, which had greatly exhausted his Internal Breath.

But a sharp-eyed Chu Xun saw the fruit, and he bellowed, “LEAVE THE SHIELD AND THE STORAGE RING!”

The Human King nearly tripped and fell at that. Now, does he want the Storage Ring too?! What a greedy bastard! He thought with so great a rage boiling within him that he nearly suffered a stroke.

Bong!

Master Drum of Tremor fired more fearsome sonic waves and one of them slammed into the Human King’s back, its force launching him forward with a scorch-blackened patch on his back as his blood boiled literally inside him.

Bong!

Chu Xun hit on the Master Drum again, firing more sonic waves at his quarry.

Startled, the Human King frantically ducked and with a deafening boom, the spot he was just standing before turned into a gaping crater.

“Do you really wish to kill me, you oaf!?” he yelled truculently, “You should know there are limits to everything!” As an Eight-grade Human King, those words came out of his mouth with just as much pain as a blade driving through his heart. Yet it was a humiliation he would rather endure than death.

“Enough prattle. Surrender your shield and Storage Ring,” Chu Xun drummed the Master Drum again.

With another bang, another sonic wave struck the Human King in his back, and this time, he nearly crashed as blood came pouring out of his mouth. If not for the strange terrain of this jungle that contained so many trees and rocks, he would have long been struck down by Chu Xun.

“Here!” he yelled, throwing into the air his shield. He quickly slid off his Storage Ring and threw it in the opposite direction. None of these things cost more than his life, as he knew full well.

Chu Xun first dove after the shield, which he recovered in mere seconds before racing after the Storage Ring.

Gleeful to have gotten his hands on the Storage Ring, Chu Xun quickly peered inside. To his astonishment and frustration, he was tricked! The Storage Ring was empty! With his Divine Sense spreading as fast as possible, he tried scouring everywhere for a ten-thousand-meter radius but it was too late; the Human King was gone.

“How dare you trick me, you cur of the Chamber! The next time I see you, be sure that I’ll strip you naked and force you to parade the streets!” howled Chu Xun so heatedly that the entire forest shivered and all beasts nearby cowered with fear.

Eighth-grade Human Kings, huh? Incredibly hard to kill indeed, Chu Xun mused. His cultivation of immortality was still too low in comparison with these warriors.

Chu Xun, puffing and seething, went back to regroup with the purple-haired woman and Yan Wushuang.

Yan Wushuang was staring at him strangely as he came near.

“Liu, who are you — for real?” All these while, he had always thought Chu Xun only to be a warrior with incredibly tough endurance. But only after this fight, he realized Chu Xun also possessed unbelievably great powers.

Chu Xun gave it a moment’s thought. There was no longer any point in hiding the truth from Yan Wushuang; Yan Guilai knew the truth and it was only a matter of time. Deciding at last to reveal himself, he said, “Well, Bratty Yan, well noticed. My name is not Liu. It’s Chu.”

“Chu?!” A brief moment of doubt flashed unsteadily in Yan Wushuang’s eyes as he thought of only one possibility that almost made him jump with fright, “Y-Y-You... You’re the Devil himself?”

“Yep,” nodded Chu Xun, “indeed, I am.”

It was a revelation that put a myriad of colors on Yan Wushuang as he floundered with disbelief and awe. Everything seemed so implausible to him – he had been spending days with the notorious Devil himself!

If anything, Chu Xun’s moniker was one frequently associated with violence and carnage – marauding, plundering, wilful murders, and so forth. Chu Xun had all the makings of the Devil himself that even in a small, faraway city in the frontier like Yanxue City, his name could still send ripples around.

“Does my father know of your identity?” asked Yan Wushuang carefully.

“He knows. He’s very polite too when we met – gifted me two Fire-Amber Bamboos,” said Chu Xun, nodding.

Gifted?! You stole it, more like, scowled Yan Wushuang in his mind. To think that I had been expressing my admiration for Chu Xun’s frankness and honor during our exploration of the ruins together! If only I could take back those words!

“Well, I did not mean to lie to you, Bratty Yan. I came to Yanxue City because of her,” Chu Xun gestured at the purple-haired woman.

Yan Wushuang peered at Chu Xun, then at the purple-haired woman with a single thought flashing in his mind, has this Devil fallen to abducting women now?!

“Tell me, lady, were you coerced to follow him?” He really intended to dispense justice and save the woman if it was true.

Huh?!

Chu Xun and the woman were stunned. But it did not take long for them to figure out what Yan Wushuang was thinking.

An irate Chu Xun wondered if Yan Wushuang was in need of a good walloping.

“You’re right! He threatened me and he force-fed me poison to control me!” whimpered the woman suddenly, her eyes teary as she put up a damsel-in-distress facade.

Gods in Heaven, Chu Xun gasped. He did not expect to find the woman to possess a flair for the stage. But he supposed all women are good at playacting.

“I knew it!” Yan Wushuang bellowed gloriously, drawing his sword and raising it at Chu Xun, “You evildoer! Surrender the antidote, you Devil!”

“You are really asking for a beating, aren’t you, Bratty Yan?” growled Chu Xun darkly.

“Enough prattle, Devil! Hand over the antidote at once and give up the Fire-Amber Bamboos that you swindled from my father!” yelled Yan Wushuang triumphantly, his eyes glittering with pride.

“You’re really asking for it, Bratty Yan,” hissed Chu Xun dangerously.

“Join me, lady, and let us defeat this evil man together! It’s high time we rid the Martial Tao World of this scourge!” Yan Wushuang faltered, trying to cajole the purple-haired woman into being his ally.

“Okay!” the woman chirped enthusiastically.

Chu Xun stared at her, dumbstruck. “Seriously?!”

“Of course! You coerce me with poison, and now, we’ll defeat you together! Many in the Martial Tao World will thank us for getting rid of you!” The woman piped playfully as her True Energy began churning.