The Immortal Emperor Returns

Chapter 431 Waylaid

Hei Teng and Kong Tengfei made short work of the horde of thirty-or-so Mustelids.

No more of their kind remained on Nether Mountain.

The surviving pair of Lycans were naturally thankful for Hei Teng and Kong Tengfei’s help.

The two Ninth-grade Beast Lords helped to heal the Lycans and brought them to Wu Kejin and spoke on their behalf.

The news about how the Mustelids had almost massacred the Lycans to the last wolf shocked everyone.

Wu Kejin was hardly amused. He had been very clear: the alliance should focus on dealing with Chu Xun first.

“Filthy weasels,” thought Wu Kejin quietly. “I gave you an inch and you want a mile. You must think I can be bullied.”

“Huang Sheng, show yourself!”

Wu Kejin bellowed, using his magic that his voice thundered all across the vicinity of Nether Mountain.

Minutes passed and nothing came. Huang Sheng was nowhere in sight.

Wu Kejin’s face turned darker and he set off with Hei Teng and the rest of the Lost Races champions accompanying him to the Mustelid encampment.

But the encampment was utterly deserted.

“I think Huang Sheng and the weasels’ Tenth Elder have long fled,” observed Kong Tengfei.

Wu Kejin immediately summoned the guards that watched the path leading to the cluster of encampments who vouched that Huang Sheng had not left.

“Search the place. He must still be here and I want him found!”

Wu Kejin barked the order and the Lost Races rushed to see it done.

A couple of hours passed and the mutants scoured every fen and leaf and nearly flipped all of Nether Mountain upside down in their frantic hunt for Huang Sheng and still, they could not find him.

Wu Kejin boiled in anger. Again and again, the Mustelids had disobeyed his orders and the disrespect was corroding his authority.

The first light of morning was showing in the horizons.

Wu Kejin kept his anger restrained. To Hei Teng and the others, he hissed, “Go. Carry out the deed as planned. We’ll deal with the Mustelids when this is done. I’ll pay a visit to their stronghold myself.”

The final sentence sent a chill running down the backs of everyone who heard it. “The Mustelids are doomed,” some thought dismally, Wu Kejin is really angry this time.

“At once, Mr. Wu. We’ll be on our way then.

Hei Teng and the others took their leaves and went off.

Wu Kejin nodded. “Go quickly before the sun is up. We don’t want anyone seeing you leave.”

The champions all sped away hastily.

The party of four – made up of the best champions from the Peacock race, the Zombies, the Draconians, and the Wingeds apiece – set off together under the cover of twilight, heading straight for Gujiang.

There should have been six of them, but only four remained now of the finest champions the Lost Races could marshal now.

All four of them were Ninth-grade Beast Lords and in mere seconds, they passed out of the bog area encircling Nether Mountain.

Once they stepped on solid ground, they found a stranger barring their way.

Chu Xun spun around and looked at them coldly.

Chu Xun turned around and looked at them coldly.

“Mustelid. It really is you,” Kong Tengfei smirked.

Chu Xun was still wearing the disguise of the Mustelid Tenth Elder.

“Where’s Huang Sheng? Where are you, Huang Sheng? Show yourself!” Hei Teng bellowed loudly as he looked left and right, thinking that Huang Sheng was just hiding nearby.

“He’s far ahead of you guys.” Chu Xun sneered. Little did the mutants realize he was insinuating that Huang Sheng was already dead.

“You’re a cheeky one, aren’t you, Mustelid. You dare show yourself here, after what you’ve done?” The Ninth Presbyter of the Winged race grinned wicked. “I would have long fled if I were you.”

“Why should I flee?”

“For massacring the Lycans and direct disobedience to Master Wu’s orders. That is enough to scare the living daylights out of you all.”

“Enough prattle! We’re wasting time bandying words when we should take him back to Mr. Wu!” Kong Tengfei hissed and lunged.

The mighty Kong Tengfei threw himself at Chu Xun, his entire self bursting with rainbows of light as his fist morphed into a razor-sharp talon.

Chu Xun’s lips curled as he clenched his fist. A soft and supple purplish glow shone around it and he punched hard at the talon swiping at him.

Crack!

The sickening crack of splintering bones rang through the air with warm, fresh blood spraying like a fountain.

With an agonizing howl, Kong Tengfei withdrew with a chalk-white face; his talon-hand was utterly mangled and bloodied.

Chu Xun chuckled and conjured another spell using his mind.

The Demon-slaughtering Palm!

A gigantic hand appeared high overhead, then the huge purplish mass came down with the force, speed, and intensity of a lightning bolt, engulfing Kong Tengfei in a terrible explosion.

Rumble!

The ground shook so badly that the ring of summits around them seemed to reel and lurch as wild, choppy winds lashed furiously like a storm. A terrible crack elongated on the ground as the tremors went on.

By the time the dust settled, the faces of Hei Teng and his companions writhed with despair as the pupils of their eyes constricted with shock.

What was left of Kong Tengfei was only one half of his body; the other half was either driven deep underground or completely squashed into pulp.

The blow just now had shattered virtually every piece of bone inside him.

They could not believe their eyes; with one blow, a Ninth-grade Beast Lord was soundly defeated.

Whoosh!

Cloaked in a glow of purplish lights, Chu Xun lunged at the remaining three mutants.

“Together!”

Hei Teng barked at his companions as he summoned his powers. A dark smog of fumes engulfed him and a dark voluminous shadow loomed behind him and it slithered at Chu Xun with unbelievable agility.

Chu Xun needed only one hand to quickly perform hand seals.

Rumble!

The ashen-pale Winged quickly activated his fan and it burst with sparkling radiance.

Rumble!

The huge column smashed into the black serpent, reducing it into nothing but bloody scraps.

With a painful grunt, Hei Teng collapsed with blood trickling out of his mouth.

The Ninth Presbyter of the Winged race flapped his wings and leaped into the air despite his shock and a golden-feathered fan shimmered into existence in his grasp.

Bang!

Chu Xun stomped and launched himself into the air like a cannonball. In quick succession, he delivered a pair of punches, firing two energy bolts at the Winged presbyter.

The ashen-pale Winged quickly activated his fan and it burst with sparkling radiance.

Bang! Bang!

The first bolt hit the golden fan, causing the Winged to feel his hand going numb with aching soreness.

But the second blow struck on the golden-feathered fan yet again, the shock causing the arteries of the Wingeds’ hand to burst with intensive hemorrhaging and his fingers went slack and the fan fell out of his grasp.

Chu Xun waved a hand and magically summoned the fan to him which he quickly stowed away.

He could never forget how powerful it was when the cyclone this fan had conjured nearly destroyed the Fire Dragon Palace the last time the Ninth Presbyter used it.

Chu Xun could have never been any happier to relieve the Winged of such a powerful weapon.

“GIVE IT BACK HERE!” roared the Winged presbyter. The Fan of Cosmos was one of the Winged race’s greatest treasures that they could not afford to lose.

“You want it, come to get it.”

Chu Xun attacked without a warning, firing a purplish energy bolt so quickly that the Winged presbyter could hardly react and the blow caught him in the chest.

With a painful cry, the bolt easily defeated every fold of the Winged’s nine-layered protective aura, perforating him through his torso while punching a hole through his wings enough to scatter stray feathers into the air.

The Winged crashed to the ground in a loud bang, leaving a crater. But he could not get up; he was just too badly hurt.

“Who on earth is this?!” Hei Teng and the Zombie champion thought with horror. “He’s just too powerful!”

“Together!”

The Zombie champion bellowed and charged.

The smog of fumes circling Hei Teng grew thicker and he peeled after the Zombie.

But before he reached Chu Xun, the Zombie veered away as quickly as lightning.

“Goddamit!” Hei Teng cursed aloud angrily. The Zombie was trying to use him as a shield while he escaped!

The Ninth-grade Beast Lord burst into a litany of expletives.

“Keep him busy, Hei Teng! I’m going to fetch Mr. Wu!” cried the Zombie as he darted quickly away in quick, long strides thanks to his long limbs. In mere seconds, he had covered almost a kilometer.

Hum!

Thousands of Reincarnation Lines materialized and swarmed after Hei Teng like a school of locusts.

At the same time, Chu Xun needed only a few steps to magically catch up to the Zombie. The first step sent him a thousand meters ahead and by the next step, he overtook the Zombie just in time to intercept him.

The Zombie hurled himself at Chu Xun with a desperate howl, his long arms swinging around at Chu Xun like a scythe glinting dangerously in the dark, its talon-like claws aiming for Chu Xun’s head.

Chu Xun’s fists radiated with Hong Meng Immortal Qi as he swung it forth in retaliation, with the air screaming like the rumbles of thunder.

Rumble!

From the point of impact pulsed waves of thrashing winds. Chu Xun’s blow blew the Zombie’s arm off, blasting it into bits and shards of bones sprayed everywhere.

Chu Xun closed in on the Zombie and reached for his other arm and with a heavy pull, he savagely ripped it off him.

The Zombie champion let loose a bestial howl and bared its ghoulish fangs at Chu Xun in a manic and reckless attempt to bite him.

But Chu Xun drove a fist into his face, firing intermittent bursts of Hong Meng Immortal Qi in such quick succession that his head spun a couple of rounds, twisting his neck grotesquely.

Crack!

His throat snapped.

But the Zombie champion still lived, although his face froze with terror.

Chu Xun gave him a deathly stare and it seized the head of the Zombie and viciously tore it off his neck.

“You should not have plotted against my family.”

Purplish flames burst to life on his hands and he tossed the flames at the carcass and it burned into crispy ashes, leaving only the head.

Chu Xun turned around to find Hei Teng utterly perforated like a sieve with blood oozing out of every needle-pin pore all around him.

Roar!

Seeing Chu Xun now wheeling back for him, Hei Teng reassumed his original form: a huge python more than 100 feet long.

As black as ink, each scale almost the size of a man’s hands glowed with an eerie sheen.

From its size alone, Chu Xun surmised that Hei Teng was larger than even Jiu You.

“Imagine a lousy snake like you calling yourself a dragon,” Chu Xun teased with contempt.

Roar!

The snake-form Hei Teng opened wide its mouth to fire a huge spurt of jet-black venom.

Chu Xun leaped away quickly to evade it.

The black liquid splashed on the floor. More than ten square meters of the ground began to sizzle and hiss with toxic white vapors rising up slowly with multiple holes left in the ground in the end. Even rocks had been reduced to fine dust.

Roar!

Seeing how his venom had failed to kill Chu Xun, Hei Teng lashed his giant tail at Chu Xun.

Chu Xun darted a thousand meters away in a flash, evading the blow with ease.

Rumble!

The enormous tail hit the ground, causing the earth to shake, and a gash more than a meter wide cracked open for tens of meters long.

Hei Teng’s colossal trunk slithered around clumsily, crushing the earth beneath its massive weight as he lunged again at Chu Xun. Judging by its size and strength, it could even crush a hill into rocks.

Chu Xun stomped hard and he rocketed himself into the air.

Hei Teng coiled himself and sprang up like a spring, snapping his fangs at Chu Xun.

Chu Xun clenched his fists, readying himself.

SCREECH!

The ear-splitting cry of a phoenix pierced through the sky like a sword as it appeared, fiery and magnificent as it bore down on Hei Teng, bringing with it an inferno of holy flames.

Rumble!

Waves of conflagration burst out from the point of impact and a mushroom cloud ballooned upwards into the sky.

Hei Teng howled painfully as it writhed and tossed wildly, crushing any trees and rocks in its way.

The eruption of flames had nearly roasted Hei Teng’s almost-fifty-meter long trunk if not blasted it into bits that one could make out the delicious smell of grilled meat amid the stench of burning blood.

Hum!

Reincarnation Lines filled the air like a plague of locusts, screaming as they swarmed on Hei Teng who could only watch and scream with horror.

“ARGGHH!”

Blood spread on the ground and Hei Teng’s voice ended abruptly. The thousands of Reincarnation Lines ripped and tore him into pieces, leaving only the giant snake head.

“It’s you! The Devil!”

Chu Xun landed just in time to hear the Winged presbyter calling his name, recognizing him.

Kong Tengfei jerked his head at Chu Xun, his eyes fraught with disbelief and panic.

“You are the Devil! I know it’s you! It must be!” babbled the Winged presbyter like a mad man who had just seen Death.

He could never forget Chu Xun and those Reincarnation Lines which had killed so many of his kin during the Rout of the Winged Legion.

“We meet again.”

Chu Xun acknowledged the remark, confirming his identity.

And he changed his face back to his original appearance.

“The Devil,” gasped Kong Tengfei through his mouth full of froth and blood.

Their faces went as pale as chalk. Long had the Lost Races discussed and conspired to force the Devil into a corner, not knowing that he had been shriveling them in secret all along.

The Lycans and the Mustelids were all the sad victims of his devious manipulations.

Needless to say, Huang Sheng would no doubt be as dead as a doornail.

The Winged presbyter could have not been any more regretful for agreeing to this plan. What had possessed him in the first place to antagonize the most dangerous person on the planet?!

Even worse was a still oblivious Wu Kejin. For all his self-flattery of being a master strategist, he did not even realize how Chu Xun had easily dismantled their plot from the inside.