Chapter 797: Leave None Alive
The obscenity of the one-eyed man drove Captain Zhang to the point of fury. “Show some manners! Pill King Zhen here is an honored guest of the lord of the Coiling Dragon Clan. Are all of you as blind as old dogs? You dare to trespass on our property and then trifle with our womenfolk!”
“Tsk tsk, you are one who’s a dog here, Zhang! Just a loyal watchdog, you don’t scare me! But hey, if you want, look, I’m sooo afraid.” The one-eyed man feigned fear, but his behaviour disgusted anyone who had the misfortune to see him. He abruptly burst into wanton laughter. “The Coiling Dragon Clan? I heard that it’s the foremost clan of the Veluriyam Capital! Haha, how prestigious and grand! It’s a shame that it’s a tower that’s about to collapse. Trying to scare Ole Hong when all the inhabitants are trying to scatter, pfft!”
“So what if you’re from the Coiling Dragon Clan? What, are you gonna bite me? Who knows if that clan will even exist after this year. Who’re you trying to scare, ah!?”
“A fallen phoenix is no better than a chicken. A clan that’ll be ashes soon, that’s what you’re trying to scare us with?”
These people were clearly on bad terms with the Coiling Dragon Clan, of that their opinion was clear. In their mouths, the Coiling Dragon Clan received not a shred of respect, and in fact quite the opposite.
Captain Zhang was about to explode with fury. He didn’t live in the central part of Veluriyam Capital, only on the outskirts, and so wasn’t privy to the goings-on of the ruling class. But even he knew that the Coiling Dragon Clan was the foremost clan of Veluriyam Capital. It was a symbol of the power and authority of the city, and could not be challenged willy nilly. As a subordinate to the Coiling Dragon Clan, Captain Zhang had always carried out his responsibilities loyally in service to the clan. Given his devotion, it was natural he would be furious at the sight of these people’s insolence towards the Coiling Dragon Clan.
Pulling Captain Zhang behind him, Jiang Chen brushed his eyes across each man in the one-eyed man’s group. There were nine in total.
“Hey, what’re you looking at, kid? Are you just going to to take this lying down?”
“That’s right, we’re gonna steal your girl and slap your face today, whaddya gonna do about it?”
“Boss Hong, I don’t like the look in this guy’s eyes. Shall I gouge them out for you?”
Jiang Chen paid no heed to their words, instead he patted Captain Zhang on the shoulder, “Captain, take your men and retreat for now.”
“Pill King Zhen, Ole Zhang isn’t someone who’s scared of death. My higher-ups gave me orders to protect you. I will fall in battle before I let you come to harm!” Captain Zhang anxiously replied.
Though they didn’t know each other well, and while the captain could even be said to be a little foolish, Jiang Chen rather liked his forthrightness. “Captain Zhang, I don’t like others watching when I kill people. Please, consider you and these fine brothers excused. You can come out again in a bit.“
“That, er…”
“Go on.” Jiang Chen would not be refused.
Seeing Jiang Chen’s persistence and lack of worry in this situation made Captain Zhang worry even more, but he couldn’t do much about it, especially when even the girl beside the pill king didn’t seem to be anxious. “Pill King Zhen, if you need help, just give us a shout. We won’t be far.”
Jiang Chen smiled faintly, nodding to the captain before looking back at the one-eyed man. He affixed his gaze upon the gang. “Which one of you said they wanted to gouge out my eyes just now, hmm?”
Jiang Chen’s voice was cool. His Evil Golden Eye began to faintly shimmer with their trademark colour, their light barely perceptible as he looked at the man who had made the remark. The man was a fourth level sage realm expert. He was confident in the idea of strength in numbers, and personally thought that Jiang Chen looked fairly weak. What did he have to be scared of? Sniggering, he stood out from his peers, thumping his chest. “That’s right, I said it. Are you gonna bite me for it?”
Jiang Chen nodded lightly. “Very good, you’re quite brave.”
Activating his Evil Golden Eyes as he spoke, he gathered the limitless power of the heavens and the earth. In a single instant, his eyes became as brilliant as a beam of sunlight. In the void, the drums of war and the hoofbeats of horses began to sound and the din of combat roiled. The next moment, the power he’d gathered transformed into a laser-like golden light, pouring itself into the wretched man’s eyes.
“Aaah!” Having been injected with the potent glare, the man’s eyes became unmoving. With a feral scream, he clutched at his face, twitching with every breath. His struggles didn’t last long. With a sudden tremor that ran through his body like an electric shock, he grew still and fell over like a stone statue. Both of his hands were still over his eyes, and his posture was of one writhing in agony.
“Ole Sixth, what happened?”
“Ole Sixth?” His peers were caught by surprise at this sudden turn of events, the one-eyed man included.
On the other hand, a smile curled Jiang Chen’s lips. His demeanor was just as unassuming as before, almost like it wasn’t him that had shot a beam just now. The one-eyed man was the quickest to react, his gaze hardening as he turned to bark at Jiang Chen. “What are you playing at, kid?”
“What do you think?” Jiang Chen replied quietly.
The man met Jiang Chen’s eyes for a moment before his instincts sounded a warning in his heart. He quickly looked away, with a shout to his comrades, “This kid has a creepy set of eyes, don’t look him in the eye!”
“Boss, Ole Six is dead, and his body is as rigid as rock!”
“No, he’s hard as metal!”
The one-eyed man was horrified as all the hairs on his body stood on end. A hint of dread crept into his eyes, and he backed off two more steps. “Take out your weapons, let’s take him out together!” He shouted.
Snickering, Jiang Chen activated the Ancient Slaughter Formation of Seven. The scenery before their eyes changed into an endless forest. An endless wall of vines coiled towards the remaining eight, like thousands of threatening tentacles. The strangeness of the transformation awed the eight men. They had not expected this unusual shift in landscapes.
A formation? They scarcely had time to react to this before they heard four screams of pain. Four men had been caught by the vines of the Bewitching Lotus of Fire and Ice. Combined with the Ancient Slaughter Formation of Seven, it was quite the deft tool for murder. In particular, cultivators on the same level were as easy to reap as wheat.
The cultivators here were all uneven in terms of level. The strongest among them, the one-eyed man, was seventh level sage realm. The others were mostly earth sage realm experts, and two or three were even third level – placing them in the mortal sage realm. Even a Jiang Chen that had just entered sage realm would easily be able to cut several of them down, never mind the current him at earth sage realm!
Seeing his comrades fall one by one, the one-eyed man was both angry and fearful, and rallied them together. “Everyone, gather up! We need to watch each other’s backs.”
Under the man’s ranting, the four who remained took up a position facing each of the cardinal directions. Each occupied a corner in an attempt to fend off the vines that flooded the skies. Hands behind his back, Jiang Chen was expressionless. Since they’d taken precautions against it, there was no longer a need to use the Evil Golden Eye. With a flourish of his hand, he produced a mirror.
He hadn’t refined the mirror for very long, and so was only able to use twenty to thirty percent of its power. This was the Featherflight Mirror, one of the treasures that had belonged to Emperor Featherflight himself. It was thanks to this mirror that Jiang Chen had been able to block the one-eyed man’s axe swing, and slow its sweeping impetus. Its reflected rays had the effect of a space locking technique even from a distance. It was very useful for hampering the opponent. A wandering cultivator like Emperor Featherflight was very reliant on his various treasures to navigate the human domain, and this mirror was one of his most prized possessions. Though Jiang Chen could not yet bring the full potential of the mirror to bear, even the small fraction he was able to muster was enough. Moreover, he had used it in this battle in an effort to impede rather than harm. As long as the men were slowed down, they were like lambs led to the slaughter in the Ancient Slaughter Formation of Seven. There was no chance they would survive.
“Huang’er, these brutes must pay for speaking ill of you. They didn’t come here because of some spirit beast, they were pursuing us all along. If we were regular cultivators, we would surely be dead upon falling into their hands. Which one do you think should die first?” There was no pity in Jiang Chen’s tone. They deserved worse than death.
Huang’er clearly shared his sentiments. “Mm, I agree. They should not be forgiven.”
Jiang Chen nodded in response, waving the Featherflight Mirror towards his first chosen victim. The man instantly slowed down, and was quickly ensnared by the wraith-like vines of the Bewitching Lotus.
Swish, swish, swish! A fire lotus plant carried him away, its petals swallowing the man like a giant maw. His screams echoed long after he disappeared, chilling his companions to the bone.
“You should stop here, kid! We are followers of the young lord of the Murong Clan. A small-fry pill king like you killing us like this… can you handle the consequences?!”
“If you kill us, then you will become the enemy of Murong Clan’s young lord! That’s as good as being an enemy of the entire clan!”
“If you stop now, we can still pretend nothing happened!” Though these three had been arrogant before, they still flinched when faced with the very real prospect of death. However, they weren’t aware how close and impending that reality was. They still thought that bringing up their master would be enough to solve their problem. Sadly, they’d already made a fatal mistake. They’d picked a fight with the wrong person this time.
For other pill kings, even those in the Coiling Dragon Clan, the consequences of antagonizing the Murong Clan were worthy of making one pause. But, Jiang Chen had a personal bottom line when it came to how he acted. Anyone who went past it was past negotiation. Even if they were direct subordinates of the seven emperors themselves, Jiang Chen would still not bat a brow at their demise. So what if they were from the Murong Clan?
With two swipes of the Featherflight Mirror, two more were dragged away by the Lotus. There was no room for resistance. How were they supposed to combat the vines of the Bewitching Lotus of Fire and Ice when they were slowed by the Featherflight Mirror? They could barely defend themselves as it was.
Now, there was no one left save the one-eyed man. He was a general without soldiers. Even someone as proud and unrestrained like him had panicked. “Kid, are you really killing us all?”
“What, you think I was joking?” Jiang Chen sneered.
The one-eyed man’s eyes were filled with unbridled terror for a few moments when he realized that Jiang Chen was intent on cutting him down. Finally, the man went beyond fear and began to laugh viciously. “Kid, even if you kill me, then what? We’ve already sent a message to the young clan lord! He’s hunting nearby, and will come over very soon. The pretty girl you have right now will be the young lord’s. Wash your neck, and prepare to die a brutal death!”