Nine Star Hegemon Body Art c1-2048
Page 62
“Unfortunately, those barbarian tribes truly did cause me extreme disappointment. I secretly sent them so much assistance in terms of food and supplies, but they are still only just able to fight on the same level as Long Tianxiao. So, they ended up in a permanent battle of attrition. Well, I suppose that is all that can be expected from those uncivilized barbarians.” The fourth prince shook his head.
The white-robed man pondered for a moment before asking, “Tell me, where is Long Chen?”
“He should already be dead. If my calculations are correct, his head should be en route back to the capital. That Long Chen really is an oddity. But I’m not someone who likes the unexpected, so I sent Marquis Ying over. I trust that you know Marquis Ying’s power.”
The white-robed man’s expression changed slightly. “I know of him. His cultivation base can count as not bad. But using him to handle a small Qi Condensation ant is making a bit too big of a fuss for a minor nuisance.”
The fourth prince’s expression didn’t change. But hearing what he said, it seemed that even the Tendon Transformation realm Marquis Ying wasn’t anything to him.
From that, it could be seen that this young man whose age didn’t seem that different from his own had to possess an extremely terrifying strength. The fourth prince’s guard went up even higher.
“Haha, I’ve already said I’m a cautious person. I won’t do anything I’m not sure of. It’s just like how I used Long Chen to kill that idiot Xia Changfeng this time.”
The white-robed man nodded. “You really are much better than Xia Changfeng. I can overlook Xia Changfeng’s death and also accomplish your wish. However, if you end up being worse than Xia Changfeng, I can tell you very clearly that even your own death will become something you are unable to control.”
The white-robed man’s gentle manner of speaking became dark, and an ominous aura filled the air.
The fourth prince ignored his threat. “Don’t worry; I’ve endured patiently for many years just for this chance. I treasure this opportunity even more than you.”
“Then good. With Long Chen dead now, I need to know what your plan is for later.”
Although he didn’t underestimate Long Chen, in front of a Tendon Transformation expert, Long Chen would definitely not have even the slightest chance of surviving.
“Ying Zhao will bring his head back to the capital as well as a recording of Long Chen killing Xia Changfeng. Then, I will need you to communicate with the Grand Xia and get them to send out their elite army to surround the capital. At that time, I will call Marquis Ying and Marquis Wu back here. The Grand Xia will demand us to hand over the murderer, and in order for both empires to stay friends, I can offer up every person in the Long household in a justifiable manner. In fact, I can kill all of them at a suitable time,” explained the fourth prince.
“What do you mean by a suitable time? And furthermore, when you say ‘them’, it seems you aren’t just talking about the Long household?” asked the white-robed man lightly.
The fourth prince laughed, “Speaking with a smart person really does save energy. You’re correct. Before I execute the people from the Long household, I will have the barbarian tribes attack Long Tianxiao’s station at the same time. At that time, I will send news of his family being executed. In the face of the barbarian tribes’ invasion and with the lives of countless commoners on the line, he definitely won’t bring his whole army back to the capital. According to my understanding of him, he will leave his entire army back there to guard and come back to the capital alone to rescue his family. Hehe, at that time, Marquis Ying and Marquis Wu will join hands to kill him without a problem. Furthermore, we’ll even have an honorable reason for doing so, so it won’t cause any huge ripples. As for ‘them’, I naturally mean those people who aren’t suitable to be near me. Long Chen has received the crown prince’s ‘support’ in killing Xia Changfeng. One of his close guards will testify to that. At that time, we just have to gather a bit of ‘evidence’. In order for the two great empires to remain allies, even the crown prince can be used as a sacrifice. And as for his henchmen, although they didn’t directly participate, they are definitely extremely suspicious. In order to maintain the empires’ friendship, it’s best to just also sacrifice them as well.”
The white-robed man stared at the fourth prince for a great deal of time before sighing, “What profound scheming. In that way, the entire Phoenix Cry Empire will easily land in your hands. Chu Xia, you really are a genius.”
“Many thanks for the praise. But you don’t have to worry; my Spirit Root is completely ordinary and I’m unable to walk the cultivation path. I don’t possess the slightest threat to you,” said the fourth prince.
The white-robed man smiled slightly. He had already secretly examined the fourth prince’s body and found that his talent truly was extremely ordinary.
Towards such an intelligent and deeply scheming person, he had to be a bit more careful. He definitely didn’t want to unwittingly fall into someone else’s trap.
If the fourth prince was an extremely talented person in terms of cultivation, then he would definitely possess an extremely great threat to him. Who knew whether or not the fourth prince would end up using even him to step into even higher realms.
Now all his misgivings were dispelled. The fourth prince was incapable of cultivating to a high level. All he cared about was the secular world’s power. It was just like he had said; both of them needed each other.
Gently raising his teacup, the white-robed man smiled. “Excellent, Xia Changfeng’s death truly is a good thing. I hope we can happily cooperate.”
The fourth prince also raised his teacup. The two of them toasted and drained their cups in one gulp.
The white-robed man suddenly thought of a matter. “Doesn’t Xia Changfeng have a little sister? Is she still in the imperial palace?”
A bit of disgust appeared on the fourth prince’s face. “Yes, that idiot woman was left behind by Xia Changfeng in order to control us.”
“You didn’t want to kill her?”
“Well, she is a Pill Adept and has a particular status. I got her two handsome, strong men to wait on her. She’s busy with them and won’t bring any big trouble to us.”
The white-robed man nodded. That Xia Baichi truly was a complete idiot. He relaxed knowing that the fourth prince had handled her.
As for the death of her brother, she definitely wouldn’t care about that. They had never had any familial love to speak of. As long as nothing bad happened to her, she wouldn’t care.
Furthermore, Xia Changfeng was killed by Long Chen. Even if she did feel some hatred, that hatred would land on Long Chen.
“Right, brother Luo, I have something I want to ask your help for.” After the two of them had reached a common understanding, the fourth prince directly switched to calling him brother.
“Speak.”
“You also know that in order for me to control Marquis Ying and Marquis Wu, they have been promised that once this matter is accomplished, they will get half of the empire. Back then when I promised them, I was fine with it since I didn’t have any hope of obtaining the empire. So being generous with them also didn’t cause me any pain. But now all of Phoenix Cry is about to land into my hands. How can I allow others to control my land? So…”
“You want me to help you bring them under your control?”
“Pretty much. I hope brother Luo can teach me how to make them listen to me obediently and also not have them form any thoughts of rebellion,” said the fourth prince carefully.
The white-robed man laughed. “Chu Xia, ah, Chu Xia. You are ruthless. You really are willing to do anything to achieve your goals. Ok, I promise you that once this matter is finished, I’ll teach you a technique that will let you make those two into your slaves.”
Hearing that, the fourth prince was overjoyed. Now everything was going according to his plans. With the final part of the plan about to be finished, Marquis Ying and Marquis Wu had become
his greatest problem.
Back then, he had promised to give them control of half the empire. That was equivalent to them being local emperors.
That was how Marquis Ying and Marquis Wu had been coaxed by the fourth prince’s carrot and stick persuasions to secretly form an agreement. But only the three of them had known about it.
Now the fourth prince had obtained an opportunity to free himself from that. He naturally was unwilling to have others control his empire. The white-robed man’s promise meant that he no longer needed to be worried about that.
Although the fourth prince didn’t have a complete understanding of the white-robed man, he knew his origin was definitely shocking and beyond his imagination.
So he needed to rely on him. As long as he had the white-robed man’s support, whether it was the Phoenix Cry Empire or the Grand Xia Empire, he would be able to have whatever he wanted.
Now everything was prepared. They only needed one last thing. Once Marquis Ying came back, the final phase of the plan could commence. However, what they didn’t know was that in this world, there was always one thing that never went away. Those were called mishaps.
Chapter 83 Mysterious Voice
When Long Chen once more opened his eyes, he had no idea how much time had passed. Perhaps it had just been an hour; perhaps it had been a whole day.
He had been roused by the sound of those howling monkeys. Looking over his body, most of the blood on his wounds had already dried.
That was definitely something to feel lucky about. Otherwise, he would definitely have died if he had kept bleeding. Slowly standing up, he felt the world spinning around him and almost fell to the ground again.
Leaning against a large tree, he had to wait for a while before feeling a little better. Raising his head to look around, he saw that there were dozens of monkeys on the crowns of the trees. Several of them were howling as loud as they could.
Long Chen knew that most likely meant something had invaded this part of the forest. However, was that something beast or human?
But no matter what, either was a threat to Long Chen. With a wave of his hand, he placed the broadsword into his spatial ring.
Looking over his wounds, he ground his teeth and consumed a medicinal pill. Just that slight raising of his hand caused some of his wounds to tear open.
Blood immediately flowed out. Some of these wounds actually had fragments of Marquis Ying’s sword still in them. Being made from iron, those fragments were definitely extremely dangerous to the body. They couldn’t be left inside for too long.
Although this wasn’t the best place to handle them, if he let them stay in his body any longer, they would greatly hinder his movements.
Long Chen first consumed a few blood clotting pills and did his best to keep the flow of blood to a minimum. If he lost too much blood, then he wouldn’t even have the energy to walk.
With his skillful effort, Long Chen dug out over a dozen sword fragments from his body. Both he and Marquis Ying had been hit by those pieces when his sword had shattered.
After taking out those sword fragments, Long Chen still felt extremely dizzy, a sign he had lost too much blood. Looking up at the monkeys in the trees and hearing that their howls were becoming increasingly loud, Long Chen knew the targets in their eyes were quickly approaching.
After consuming several medicinal pills, he dragged his exhausted body down the mountain. Now that Marquis Ying had fled, he also needed to quickly find a place to heal his wounds.
In that final exchange with Marquis Ying, he had used Split the Heavens. That had caused all his meridians to crack, and he was unable to use spiritual qi anymore. This was his weakest state.
He went over ten miles down a mountain when a river dozens of meters wide appeared before him. Long Chen looked around and saw a wide fallen tree. He pushed that tree into the water.
The tree had been dead for a long time and floated very well in the water. Long Chen crawled on top, allowing his body to be carried down the river without letting the water touch his wounds. Otherwise, the river water would cause his wounds to become even worse.
Luckily, the river flowed very steadily and Long Chen easily managed to stay atop the tree. He flowed along the river for a full day. In a drowsy state, he was suddenly awakened by a loud, continuous booming sound.
Long Chen hastily paddled to the shore. Looking ahead, he was given a big fright as he saw the waterfall before him.
That waterfall was hundreds of meters high. If he had kept sleeping and fallen down, he would definitely have been done for.
The river had yet to exit the forest. Long Chen knew he had to quickly find a place to heal his wounds. Previously, Long Chen had faked coming ashore along several places on the river, so anyone searching for him would definitely have to waste a great deal of time on those diversions.
That should be enough time for him to recuperate. But before that, he still had to find a safe place.
Going through the forest, he saw a canyon before him. The canyon wasn’t large, and it was bordered by stones on either side. Such a place should have a couple of natural caves that were suitable for shelter.
Just as he was about to go forward, he suddenly felt a sense of danger as well as a burst of wind coming from behind. He hastily rolled forward.
A huge creature came flying from behind him, and he only narrowly dodged.
Long Chen rolled along the ground. When he raised his head to look, he saw that it was a large leopard over three meters tall that was staring at him.
“Cliff Leopard.” Long Chen felt a huge headache. That was a first rank Magical Beast. Its fur was the same color as the cliff rocks. When it was hiding itself amongst the rocks, it was extremely hard to notice.
It wasn’t exceptionally large, but its speed was shocking. Its claws and teeth were not inferior to steel.
Having been injured so greatly, his spiritual perception had sharply fallen. He had actually not been able to sense the danger around him. It appeared he had become too dependent on his senses.
That Cliff Leopard appeared somewhat startled that it hadn’t taken him down with one blow. It charged at Long Chen again with its incredible speed.
A normal leopard wasn’t frightening, but the Cliff Leopard’s body was just like a bull. Adding on its sharp claws and teeth, it was at the top of the first rank Magical Beast food chain.
Long Chen coldly snorted. Rubbing his ring, his broadsword appeared back in his hands and he slashed it at the Cliff Leopard.
The broadsword landed right on the Cliff Leopard’s head, but it was Long Chen who was forced back. His broadsword actually got knocked out of his hands and he was sent flying.
“Damn, I don’t even have a tenth of my normal strength!”
Long Chen was unable to use spiritual qi at the moment. Furthermore, his physical body was gravely injured.
His sword had slashed right onto the Cliff Leopard’s head, yet the sword was knocked away and he was sent flying. Some of his wounds even reopened and began to bleed again.
Although Long Chen was in an extremely weak state, his power was still quite great. That Cliff Leopard’s head had been cut by his sword all the way down to the bone. If a regular wild beast received such a heavy injury, they would definitely flee in pain.
But Magical Beasts had an innate, tyrannical nature deep in their bones. Long Chen’s attack had instead provoked its violent nature, and it didn’t even care about the blood flowing down its head as it angrily charged at Long Chen again.
Long Chen rolled on the ground again, dodging its wild charge. At the same time, he also sent out a kick that heavily landed on its abdomen.
That Cliff Leopard was sent tumbling through the air, but its skin and flesh were tough. Long Chen’s kick hadn’t caused any wounds.
As soon as it stabilized itself, it once more charged at Long Chen. Long Chen was extremely anxious inside. If he had a sword, he would definitely be able to kill it.
However, that broa
dsword had been sent flying thirty meters away. Such a distance was essentially right beside him during ordinary times, but now he was in a tangle with the Cliff Leopard. His body was extremely weak from blood loss. That thirty meters distance was simply untraversable to him.
His body was exceptionally weak, and his reactions were not as sharp as normal. He once more dodged the Cliff Leopard, but its sharp claws managed to cut across his stomach lightly, causing more blood to flow.
Long Chen once more kicked it, sending it flying. But after that kick, Long Chen’s eyes darkened, and he was unable to see anything more.
He sighed inside. He had already lost too much blood. He was actually on the verge of losing consciousness. “Who would have thought that I, Long Chen, would die here at the hands of a wild animal...”
In that darkness, he could sense its bloody mouth. He was about to be swallowed into its stomach.
Plop.
He heard something, and then he felt his throat warm up as if some liquid was being poured into his throat.
He then heard some extremely distant sounds. Those sounds seemed human, one sounding like a woman. Then, he sank into complete and endless darkness.
Within that darkness, Long Chen felt as if his body was floating. It felt like he was both rising and falling at the same time. He was completely trapped within that darkness.
“You must awaken. You have far too many missions that are waiting for you to finish them.
“You must become stronger. You have far too many enemies waiting for you to slaughter.
“Your destiny is to overturn heaven and earth. All gods and devils can only crawl under your foot. Long Chen, quickly awaken.”
Within that endless darkness, Long Chen could hear a voice repeatedly speaking. That was a call that came from the deepest depths of his soul.
Long Chen heard it and wanted to reply. However, he was unable to open his mouth. He wanted to open his eyes, but he was completely powerless.
That voice didn’t seem to be of this world. Could it be that it was part of the past or future? He was unable to touch it.