The Immortal Emperor Returns

Chapter 488 Hidden Ace

Everyone was placed under arrest – the Sacred Maiden Su Wei’er, Presbyter Su Lianyi, Captain of the Arcane Guards Yan Xin, and every other member of Su Wei’er retinue.

With the Sacred Maiden now his hostage, the Elves were effectively under Di Yanjing’s control.

Meanwhile, Chu Xun was being held by the fiend of the horde.

Gao Mohan and the others were placed in Di Danqing’s charge.

“Enjoy your journey into the afterworld, gentlemen,” Di Danqing sniggered wickedly.

The Flaming Qilin spat viciously, “You sniveling thief! Fight me fairly if you dare! I’ll tear you to pieces with my bare hands!”

“That’s enough, Sacred Beast. Have you gone stupid? Haven’t you heard the phrase ‘winner takes all’ before?” Di Danqing sneered scornfully.

“I would rather lose and keep my pride than be a lowlife with no backbone like you!” the Flaming Qilin lashed out.

“Shuddup, you beast. Know your place and show some respect. Perhaps I might give you a quick and clean death. Or else, I’ll make you wish you’ve never been born,” Di Danqing said perniciously.

Di Yanjing and the rest had gone off on their own businesses, leaving only Di Danqing, another Immortal-Level presbyter, and the demonic horde. Di Danqing could do anything he wished.

“Qilin,” said Shi Yifei, feeling regretful for coming here, “Maybe you should talk less.”

“What are you afraid of? If death is coming, then so be it then!” scowled the Flaming Qilin defiantly.

“Such strength, such temper; I like you. Let’s see how strong you are when the Curse Tree is done with you,” Di Danqing said gleefully.

“Won’t that be a waste, Presbyter Di?” interjected his colleague, the other presbyter, nastily, “The Qilin’s a Sacred Beast. Every part of him could be valuable.”

“You’re right, Presbyter Yang,” Di Danqing’s eyes lit up, “I almost forgot about that.”

“I’d suggest bleeding the Flaming Qilin dry first before we carve out his bones. The powder can be made into pills which I’m sure would help increase its user’s powers,” said Presbyter Yang with an evil smile of his own.

“All right then. We’ll do as you say,” Di Danqing’s eyes gleamed with cruel malevolence, “Let’s start by bleeding you dry before we take your bones, eh, Qilin? You should thank us for making the most out of your death.”

Bleed him dry? Carve out his bones?! The notion of all that stabbed fear into the Flaming Qilin as a chill crept down his spine.

Even Weng Xiong and Shi Yifei felt the same, if not worse.

Di Danqing could hardly hide his satisfied grin. He produced a dagger with a sapphire-blue blade gleaming like ice, its tip giving off a sharp sparkle in the light.

Presbyter Yang trotted off and came back not long later with an empty wine cask to store blood.

“Where should I start, I wonder?” Di Danqing peered at the Flaming Qilin like he was studying a lamb waiting to be slaughtered, probing for the best place to sink his knife into.

“The artery at his throat, I suppose. I wonder if the constitution of Sacred Beasts is the same as humans,” observed Di Danqing, his eyes training insidiously at the Flaming Qilin’s neck with just as much hunger in his eyes as a snake eyeing a frog.

Shi Yifei and the others averted their eyes, no longer able to look as they braced for the worst.

But right before the steel of the dagger’s blade could bite into the flesh, a hand came out of nowhere and smashed into Di Danqing’s face. The hand fired a purplish blast at point-blank range, pummeling him into the ground like a piledriver.

Bang!

The back of Di Danqing’s head whacked into the ground, causing the ground to sink into a wide crater. The energy blast was so strong that it nearly split his head open, but not without Di Danqing coughing up mouthfuls of blood.

A split second later, Di Danqing shrieked with tremendous pain.

Everything had happened so quickly that everyone did not know what to do.

“Gao!” Shi Yifei cried.

No one could believe their eyes. It was Gao Mohan.

Gao Mohan’s lips twisted wryly, his eyes filled with cold fury. He raised a foot and stomped hard, firing a pulsing wave of gale rumbling angrily at all directions.

Crack!

A grotesque cavity sank right at the center of Di Danqing’s chest with the ivory-white bones protruding from amongst the bloody mess.

“Y-you?!” Presbyter Yang gasped with a trembling finger aimed at Gao Mohan, “Were you not drugged just now?!”

“Speaking nonsense won’t save you, you know?” Gao Mohan breathed with a sinister glare.

Presbyter Yang, so afraid that his legs have turned into marshmallows, tried vainly to speak, although not a single word came.

“Up.”

Gao Mohan quickly pointed into the air and barriers of lights appeared swiftly around them and enclosed them inside.

That was when Presbyter Yang’s screams began, but with the barrier enchantment in place, his voice could hardly reach outside.

“Time to send you off,” Gao Mohan said, lunging at Presbyter Yang.

Presbyter Yang could feel the burgeoning aura radiating from Gao Mohan. Horrified, he wheeled around to flee.

“Come on, don’t run away!”

Go Mohan fired a bolt from his fist. The whole inside of the barrier enchantment was engulfed in a rush of purple as the energy bolt rained down on Presbyter Yang.

Bang!

Before he could even utter his next syllable, the energy bolt obliterated him into instant death.

Roar!

The army of fiends of more than two hundred creatures strong let loose another howl that reverberated up into the skies, making anyone who heard them quake with fear.

Swoosh!

Go Mohan vanished from where he stood. One moment later, chaos erupted from amongst the fiends with blood spattering and carcasses dropping to the ground.

Before Shi Yifei and the others realized what was going on, Gao Mohan came walking back from within the horde that parted to let him pass with an incapacitated Chu Xun in his grasp.

Roar!

With a sonorous snarl, the horde charged at him.

Gao Mohan raised a hand again and flicked a tiny spurt of Hong Meng Immortal Qi into the sky. The little speck of energy expanded into a huge, purplish wall of light that stood in the way of the stampeding horde.

Wielding their scythes and spears, the fiends relentlessly hacked at the wall of light, but to no avail. With nothing more than ripples of lights at every hit, the wall easily repelled the horde, keeping them away from Chu Xun.

Gao Mohan seized the chains that bound Chu Xun. The veins on his arms showed as he applied more force and magical powers, and with another bang, the chains broke.

Then he blasted the remains of Presbyter Yang into smithereens and groped the air, magically summoning his Storage Ring into his grasp.

He examined its contents before shaking his head dismally, disappointed to find what was inside before he slid Di Danqing’s Ring off his finger and this time, he grinned after peering inside.

From within Di Danqing’s Ring, he retrieved a white little flask. He upended it and poured a few greenish little pills on his palm and gave it to the Flaming Qilin and the others.

“Take this quick. It’s the antidote,” said Gao Mohan.

“Gao… You…” Shi Yifei gasped, still reeling with shock. Not only Gao Mohan was not poisoned, but his powers had also risen so much?!

“Any fool with half a brain and see that he’s the Devil, and the one who was in chains just now was Gao Mohan,” the Flaming Qilin scowled at him.

Huh?!

Shi Yifei and the other stared incredulously. So this was it! Chu Xun had been impersonating Gao Mohan and vice versa!

“No wonder… I’ve been feeling that Gao has been behaving strangely… So it was you, Chu Xun,” said Weng Xiong.

“Enough blathering. Take the pills quickly. I have a stomach full of anger to vent out!” hissed the Flaming Qilin, who was the first to swallow a pill and he sat down to channel his powers to heal himself.

Shi Yifei and the others followed suit.

Being bound by the Chains of Ungodly Incarceration for so long, Gao Mohan was even more weakened than the others.

Chu Xun fed him an antidote pill and channeled his Hong Meng Immortal Qi into him to help accelerate the process of assimilation enough so that Gao Mohan could continue the rest himself.

Chu Xun’s facial muscles convulsed and spasmed amid the crackling of bones as he turned back to his original appearance. He wiped a hand over Gao Mohan’s face, magically returning him back as well.

His use of the Evocation of Heavenly Secrets the night before had warned him something was amiss. Knowing that something might go wrong, he had hatched this plan with Gao Mohan to exchange places and kept this hidden ace a secret.