Nine Star Hegemon Body Art c1-2048
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The other Sea Expansion experts also took out their weapons and surrounded Long Chen.
Long Chen looked down at the thorn through his chest. Although he hadn’t seen where it had come from, based on the angle, it seemed like it had been Fang Mingyuan who had shot him.
This arrow was clearly poisoned. It was a kind of mixed poison, one with practically no cure. Furthermore, this poison was extremely fast-acting. Before you could even figure out what poisons were part of this mixture, you would already be dead.
Long Chen slowly raised his head to look at Fang Mingyuan. He sighed, “Can you tell me why you did this?”
A slightly guilty expression appeared on Fang Mingyuan’s face. “Long Chen, don’t blame us for being heartless. We did this for our families.”
“You want my Earth Flame?” Long Chen looked up at the stars. It was difficult to say what expression he had right now.
“Correct. Earth Flames are treasures of heaven and earth. There’s not a single alchemist that wouldn’t long for one. During the finals, despite how critical that moment was, you still chose not to use your Earth Flame. My guess is that your Earth Flame hasn’t matured, and you are unable to connect with it, so you can’t use it for alchemy.
“So, after thinking about it over and over, we decided we had to steal your Earth Flame. If we waited too long, your Earth Flame would mature and become harder to subdue. This is an extremely rare opportunity for us,” said Fang Mingyuan.
Long Chen bitterly smiled, shaking his head. “As expected, old ginger is hotter than young ginger. Looks like I’m still too naive. Then let me ask you, did Fang Chang and Chai Liehuo know about this matter?”
Fang Mingyuan shook his head. “They didn’t know. Otherwise, there would have been no way for us to complete this trap.”
Long Chen nodded. “That really is very comforting to me. If they had also betrayed me, I’d be very hurt. Thank you for telling me.”
“Long Chen, we were also forced. We had no choice,” said Fang Mingyuan with a complicated expression.
“You were forced? Haha, don’t find excuses for yourselves. Not even a child would believe such a lie. You know, normally I rely on my intuition when interacting with others. My intuition has never lied to me. But this time, I didn’t go with my intuition. Instead, I went with my calculations. I thought that people who could raise Fang Chang and Chai Liehuo had to be open and straightforward.
“Turns out, I was wrong, and very wrong. Do you know? I, Long Chen, have gone through countless life and death battles. I’m not afraid of death. What I’m afraid of is betrayal. I can accept anything, but I can’t accept betrayal. Now let me ask you, do you still want to take my Earth Flame?”
Long Chen’s voice was quiet and very calm, but it was trembling slightly, showing how complicated his current emotions were.
“Long Chen, saying this now has no meaning. Today, you’ll definitely die. Due to how much help you gave us, we’ll allow you to kill yourself and keep your corpse intact,” said Chai Gaoyang coldly.
Suddenly, Long Chen grabbed the thorn piercing into his chest and pulled it out. This metallic thorn was covered in barbs that pulled out Long Chen’s flesh. That flesh was already starting to corrode. The poison was terrifyingly toxic.
Long Chen threw the thorn to the ground. “In truth, there are a few things we should discuss while we can. The first matter involves the fact that when the Huo family attacked the Fang family, no experts appeared to defend. That simply didn’t make any sense, and I felt it was extremely strange. But back then, I told myself that the Fang family’s experts had to be gathering in secret or perhaps setting up some formation.
“But as soon as I led those Celestials away, the experts appeared. This is something I was aware of, but I still chose to trust Fang Chang and Chai Liehuo. They are my brothers, and I refused to believe they would betray me.
“If my guess is right, at that time, your people were actually split into two groups. Your main force must have secretly attacked the Huo family at the same time as the Huo family attacked the Fang family. This is why the only people to come after me were Celestials, and not Sea Expansion experts. Because at that time, the Huo family’s experts had to return to defend.”
Fang Mingyuan nodded. “You are right. My calculation was that you would have misgivings about the lives of the innocent, and you would intentionally lead the enemies away. Because you are Long Chen, you are known for not slaughtering the innocent, and you also don’t like implicating others.
“And my guess was right. My Fang family only left behind two Sea Expansion experts to defend. Once you led the experts away, they immediately cleaned up the leftovers.
“As for the two of us, we led our elites, as well as some experts from various sects that joined our side, to attack the Huo family. As a result, the Huo family was practically instantly exterminated. In just two hours, they were all dead.
“According to my original plan, with your strength, even if you couldn’t defeat the ones you drew away, you should still be able to flee. My guess was that you would endure long enough for us to arrive. I just didn’t expect you to be even stronger than what I guessed. You actually managed to drive them away,” said Fang Mingyuan. Long Chen’s combat strength was truly terrifying.
On his own, fighting against ten Celestials, he had still managed to force them to flee miserably. That was truly hard to believe. These Sea Expansion experts were all shocked.
“That was the first matter. The second matter is that I lied before. Those experts didn’t run, because they couldn’t run. They’re all dead,” said Long Chen.
“What?”
Fang Mingyuan and the others were all startled. Dead? All of them? Impossible! With that many Celestials, even if they couldn’t kill him, they should have been able to run.
“The third matter is that the skeleton Huo Wufang merged with was special, and he is now a rank two Celestial,” continued Long Chen.
“Nonsense! If he was rank two Celestial, how could you still be alive!?” roared Chai Gaoyang.
A rank two Celestial was a terrifying existence. At the Xiantian realm, they could match a late Sea Expansion expert.
“I’m alive, so he’s obviously dead,” said Long Chen.
“Tch, impossible!”
Long Chen shrugged. “It’s up to you if you want to believe me. Now it’s time for the fourth matter. This is also the last matter.
“I have to say goodbye to you all. In the other world, you can continue to fight Huo Changsheng. I hope you’ll still be the winners at that time.”
Fang Mingyuan and the others were surprised. More and more, they were unable to comprehend what Long Chen was saying. At the same time, a bad feeling rose in their hearts.
“His… his injury!”
Suddenly, someone pointed at Long Chen’s chest. At some unknown point, the wound had completely healed without leaving the slightest scar.
In truth, Long Chen had been taking advantage of this time to circulate the primal chaos bead. Endless life energy had erased the poison.
But this poison had truly been terrifying. Long Chen had almost exhausted all the life energy in the primal chaos space before recovering. But despite that, he had achieved his goal.
“Attack!” ordered Fang Mingyuan. Blazing flames erupted from his body, and a flame blade appeared in his hands. He was the first to attack Long Chen.
As soon as he attacked, he used his full strength. Long Chen gave him a strange feeling of terror. Despite being a late Sea Expansion expert, he didn’t dare to be careless.
BOOM!
A huge divine ring appeared behind Long Chen. A terrifying pressure descended and suddenly a cold light slashed forth.
“Split the Heavens!”
The blade Long Chen was using wasn’t Blooddrinker. It was something he had taken from a Corrupt expert.
As soon as he attacked, there were eight Sea Expansion experts that didn’t even have time to react. They were directly blo
wn apart by Long Chen’s attack.
Fang Mingyuan and the others’ hearts shook. They finally believed Long Chen’s words. But now it was too late. Long Chen had suddenly soared into the air, both hands holding his saber.
“Split the Heavens 2!”
Chapter 697 Returning
Long Chen’s saber was pointed toward the sky, and a huge saber-image pierced through the clouds.
A powerful aura locked down Fang Mingyuan and the others. They were all horrified. They had never seen such a terrifying move.
Long Chen had previously used the first form of Split the Heavens. Now that he was using the second form, and the residual energy of the first form was absorbed by it.
This was Long Chen’s first time using the second form of Split the Heavens against enemies. Currently, three stars had appeared in his eyes. His saber mercilessly slashed down.
“Nine Revolution Flame Shield!”
Fang Mingyuan and Chai Gaoyang both activated the same technique, condensing all their Pill Flame into a huge shield in front of them.
Their flame shields weren’t large. They only covered the two of them. Obviously, they had abandoned the others in favor of increasing their shield’s power as high as possible. The two shields layered before them.
BOOM!
The huge saber-image slashed down like an apocalyptic blade. All of heaven and earth was cut in two, and a bottomless ditch appeared before Long Chen.
Long Chen spat out a breath of turbid air. This attack was incomparably fierce, but it had also used up all his spiritual yuan.
He felt like the second form of Split the Heavens could never be satisfied. No matter how much spiritual yuan he had, using this move would use up all of it.
But the more spiritual yuan he had, the greater its power. Looking at the huge ditch that extended so far and so deep that he couldn’t see the end, he was filled with shock.
Long Chen had seen those Sea Expansion experts do their best to resist. But when they had encountered that saber-image they had been directly blown apart.
Suddenly, two miserable figures crawled out of the ground. As soon as they did, they began to wildly vomit blood.
These two were Fang Mingyuan and Chai Gaoyang. Having condensed all their Pill Flame in front of them to form their greatest defense, they had managed to survive.
But although they were alive, it had come at a terrible price. They no longer even appeared human. They were like two piles of flesh. All their meridians had already been destroyed. They only had a few more breaths of life compared to dead men.
“Save… save me… I don’t… want to die…” Chai Gaoyang looked at Long Chen, extending one half-destroyed arm, begging.
“Sorry, I obviously can’t. I already said that I can accept anything, anything except betrayal!” said Long Chen.
CRACK!
Long Chen had only just finished speaking when his saber suddenly exploded, causing him to jump in shock.
Just now, having continuously used Split the Heavens, the power had been too fierce. Even this saber, which was an Enchanted item, was unable to endure that explosive force.
“Long Chen… because of Liehuo… save me…” Chai Gaoyang no longer possessed an air of an expert. He looked like an ordinary elder begging for life. He didn’t want to die.
“Originally, we shouldn’t have ended up like this. Because of Fang Chang and Chai Liehuo, you two were once respected elders in my eyes. I trusted you that much. But what did you do? You not only betrayed me, but you also betrayed your descendants, as well as betrayed your conscience. Your greed clouded your eyes, and you attacked someone on the same side as you. You have only yourselves to blame,” sighed Long Chen.
“Save…”
Chai Gaoyang’s flame of life was unable to continue burning. A Pill Ancestor fell just like that.
If only his physical body had been destroyed, then relying on his Spiritual Strength, he could still survive as a soul. In the future, he could find a suitable physical body to snatch. That was what the Huo family’s elder had done in the chaos region.
However, having gone all-out to create his flame shield, he had poured all his Spiritual Strength into the shield. As a result, Long Chen’s attack hadn’t just broken the flame shield, it had also broken his soul.
“Cough… really, why bother?” Fang Mingyuan looked at the dead Chai Gaoyang with a self-mocking expression.
He was slightly better off than Chai Gaoyang, but only slightly. He had also reached his final moments.
Long Chen didn’t say anything. He just looked at him. In this situation, there was nothing to say.
“Long Chen, I know I don’t have the qualifications to ask you for anything… But still, please. It was Chai Gaoyang and I that made this plan. Fang Chang and Chai Liehuo had no idea. I hope you won’t release your anger on them.” Fang Mingyuan’s state improved slightly for a brief moment. That was the final radiance of the setting sun.
“Don’t worry. They didn’t betray me, so I definitely won’t betray them. Originally, we never should have fought like this, but after today, I won’t be able to face the two of them. I will return to my identity as Long Chen. As for Long San, he is dead. Our brotherhood is also over.”
Hearing this, Fang Mingyuan felt a bit of comfort. Long Chen wasn’t going to find trouble for the Fang family. They would be safe.
But then hearing his last sentence, he felt a burst of regret. Everything had been caused by him and Chai Gaoyang. They had allowed their greed to control them.
Otherwise, if the Fang family had an alliance with a person like Long Chen, one with limitless potential, just how perfect would that have been? But there was no way to go back in time.
“Many… thanks…”
Fang Mingyuan said these final two words before closing his eyes. Another generation’s expert fell.
Long Chen sighed. He felt extremely uncomfortable inside. He rarely trusted others, but anyone who he trusted, he trusted completely. This was his first time feeling so betrayed. He felt a stabbing pain.
He went to their corpses. He dug a large hole and buried the two of them. He didn’t even touch their treasures. He buried them all.
Long Chen merely took Chai Gaoyang’s identity plate before leaving. All he left behind was a chaotic battlefield.
Looking from an aerial point of view, it seemed as if something had cut a long wound into the earth. A cool breeze blew by, desolate and bleak.
Long Chen rushed off. Just now, Fang Mingyuan and Chai Gaoyang had activated a transportation formation to bring him several thousand miles away. He reckoned that they had wanted to kill him in a secluded place.
He was going straight toward Pill Yang City. Taking advantage of the night, he changed his face and used Chai Gaoyang’s identity plate to enter the Seven Treasure Jewel Tower’s storehouse. He directly went to where the beast flames were kept.
The guards here all recognized his identity plate. Long Chen easily went in.
Long Chen directly released Huo Long, and it didn’t stand on courtesy. It directly devoured hundreds of beast flames.
Now Huo Long was truly satisfied. Only then did Long Chen stealthily leave the Seven Treasure Jewel Tower.
He found that Pill Yang City was in a complete mess. The Huo family had been destroyed, while the Fang and Chai families had suffered a sneak attack. Danger was everywhere. Some people were hiding, while others were fleeing.
Long Chen switched into some ordinary robes, acting the part of an ordinary martial cultivator. Looking at the Fang Manor from a distance, he saw Fang Chang and Chai Liehuo nervously waiting.
Long Chen sighed and left. His figure disappeared into the night…
When the day came, the news that the Huo, Fang, and Chai families had undergone an all-out war with each other shook all of Pill Yang Prefecture. The Huo family’s destruction caused countless people’s jaws to drop.
The result of their battle had been the destruction of the Huo family, but the Fang a
nd Chai families had also taken grievous losses. Both their families heads, as well as the Fang family’s legendary Long San, had disappeared.
The Fang and Chai families underwent a large scale search. Half a month later, they finally found scars of a terrifying battle in a barren land. Then, after searching through the soil, they found their two families heads’ corpses.
At the same time, they found a half destroyed body wearing Long San’s robes. Those robes proved this semi-destroyed corpse was Long San.
They concluded that Long San and the others had run into shockingly powerful enemies here, and as a result, both sides had lost their lives to take down their opponents. That was because they found all kinds of broken body pieces around. It was impossible to tell exactly how many people there had been.
Fang Chang and Chai Liehuo had burst into tears right then and there. In this one day, they had not only lost the pillars of their families, but they had also lost a good brother.
They had immediately brought Long San’s corpse back into the Fang family and buried it in their ancestral land.
When the alchemy world learned that Long San, a generation’s top genius, had died, there was not one person that didn’t sigh in lament. He had only just become the champion of the Pill Emperor Competition and had just been about to dazzle the world when he fell.
This news caused Pill Valley to send someone to take a look. But they only did take one look before leaving.
Before leaving, all they had said was that the Seven Treasure Jewel Tower’s beast flames had been stolen, and that damage would have to be compensated by the Fang and Chai families. As for the destruction of the Huo family, as long as the sales of medicinal pills didn’t decline, they wouldn’t investigate this matter any further.
In truth, to Pill Valley, the Pill Towers were just ways for them to interact with the mundane world. They didn’t care who came to look after these strongholds. All they cared about was that this stronghold didn’t look bad and made money.
This was also why the three families had dared to fight so openly.