Chapter 520: Beg for Mercy, Outrage and Confidence, Who’s Crazy? |
Although Xia Hong had been in the Ice Abyss for over fifteen years and encountered many kinds of Abominations, when he counted carefully, aside from Divine Abominations, he had seen the Craftsmen, Nightmares, Terrors, and Fiends.
But his overall understanding of Abominations was still limited.
Where did these creatures come from? Why did killing increase their strength? What exactly was their ultimate goal…?
First, what could be confirmed was that Abominations could detach from humans and act as independent individuals; there were many examples to prove this.
At the same time, however, they could parasitically inhabit living bodies in a living form. Early He Yuanhun and the Mirror Immortal were like this, though such fusion carried a high risk and could be turned on by the Abomination at any moment.
A safer approach was to kill the Abomination first, obtain the remnants left behind, or rather its true body, and then fuse with it to gain its methods and abilities.
Xia Hong had seen pleading Abominations before; for example, after annexing Longyou, there was that White Dew Abomination in Yanglu Camp.
Back then he did not spare that White Dew Abomination because Xia Hong only had Warmth Realm cultivation at the time, his strength merely a few dozen zong. With such a creature that could casually mouth off names like the Demon Lord of Qishan around him, he lacked the confidence and the backing to control it.
But now was different.
The Xia troops had only taken a little over an hour from the start of the siege, so it was still daytime.
Daytime cold could not reach the Lord’s great hall at all because this place had been entirely transformed into a sea of fire. The sky filled with black smoke roiling from the Yang Xu Cauldron’s blaze. Flames clung to the body of the Six-Armed Cyan-Faced Evil Abomination like maggots, seeping from its protective membrane into flesh and then into bone. Just seeing it made one feel the pain.
“Ah, spare me, my lord, spare me……”
The Six-Armed Cyan-Faced Evil Abomination wailed and begged in the inferno, dropping to its knees before Xia Hong, even mimicking human kowtows on the ground.
Xia Hong’s gaze hesitated for a long time. In the end he inhaled slightly, flicked the Dragon Sparrow Saber in his hand, and reduced the Yang Xu Cauldron’s burning range.
Sss……
With the Yang Xu Cauldron’s power lowered, the flames faltered. The sea of fire that had spread for miles began to contract rapidly; in just over ten breaths it shrank entirely to surround the Six-Armed Cyan-Faced Evil Abomination’s body.
As the blaze withdrew, the towering black smoke that had filled the air gradually dissipated. After several dozen breaths, cold from all directions replaced the smoke, and the abomination’s true form finally emerged.
“Lord…”
As the black smoke cleared, the front ranks of the Xia troops from three directions — Xia Chuan, Xu Ning and nine other Sun Manifestation fighters — immediately rose and flew over.
With no Sun Manifestation leader coordinating, and with all the commotion at the Lord’s great hall, the Beishuo defenses had long since lost the will to resist. The three-pronged Xia force swept into the city, expanding outward and mopping up pockets of enemy that still tried to hold out.
“Is this the monster that was inside Yang Zun?”
Xia Chuan and the other ten stared at the kneeling Six-Armed Cyan-Faced Evil Abomination with shocked pupils. Although its appearance was battered and not an inch of good flesh remained, the domineering aura leaking from within it still made their hearts shiver.
Such a powerful Abomination had been forced to kneel and beg by Xia Hong.
“What level has Big Brother reached?”
“Is the Lord really at Sun Manifestation level?”
………………
Xia Hong did not know what Xia Chuan and the others were thinking. He only looked down at the Six-Armed Cyan-Faced Evil Abomination on the ground and said in a low voice, “Come out of Yang Zun’s body. Don’t play tricks!”
“I know, I know, I’ll come out right now…”
Seeing the flames still burning him and realizing his life was still in Xia Hong’s grasp, the cyan-faced abomination dared not scheme. Its body shuddered and rapidly shrank.
In three or four breaths it shrank to normal human size, its monstrous visage reverting to Yang Zun’s face.
Hiss……
The Lord’s great hall had already become ruins; the moment Yang Zun’s form returned, all the cyan radiance on his body converged on his brow. Moments later the cyan light detached and flew straight toward Xia Hong.
But halfway there, an anomaly occurred!
A scarlet beam of light suddenly raced in from the north, unerring, heading directly for the cyan radiance with astonishing speed.
When the beam appeared, Xia Hong sharply lifted his head to look, yet he did not move. He quietly watched the beam approach, and watched someone else intercept the cyan radiance without making any move himself.
“Lord Xia… that Six-Armed Evil Abomination isn’t yours…”
After intercepting the cyan radiance, the person did not stop. He quickly descended onto the ruined great hall, scooped up the unconscious Yang Zun with one hand, and then emitted a voice Xia Hong knew all too well.
When the scarlet light faded, a tall middle-aged man appeared: pale-faced and clean-shaven, wearing white brocade robes, a dark long sword at his waist.
“Yanling Commandery Governor, Chu Tianxu…”
Seeing him, Xia Chuan immediately edged behind Xia Hong to whisper the name. Xia Hong waved him off before he finished speaking. Considering Xia Hong had just returned from Mo’ao Chuan and had not revealed his face yet, Xia Chuan had an inkling and shut up.
“Xuanling, Renjie, Qingshan, what about my people from Chencang?”
Though Chu Tianxu had only just arrived and only scanned the scene in Beishuo briefly, he already had a rough idea. He did not care why Beishuo had fallen; instead he coldly asked about Chu Xuanling and the others.
Unfortunately for him, all of Chencang’s Sun Manifestation fighters who came south were gone; Yang Jian and Yang Fa lay dead, and Yang Zun, barely clinging to life, could not answer. The other people in the city were not in a position to participate in this conversation.
Chu Tianxu quickly realized what had happened and turned his gaze to Xia Hong.
“Here…”
Xia Hong said nothing. He smiled, lifted his saber, and pointed to several spots among the ruins below, signaling Chu Tianxu to look for himself.
Chu Tianxu understood, lowered his head to look where Xia Hong indicated, and when he saw the corpses of Chu Xuanling and the others, his expression froze.
He then suddenly looked up at Xia Hong. A terrifying aura slowly rose from his body, his white brocade robes billowing though there was no wind, and boundless rage had already appeared on his face.
“This mask really can completely block the perception of Tribulation Body experts…”
Xia Hong paid Chu Tianxu’s fury no heed, inwardly praising the human-skin mask he’d spent three million silver taels in Yang City to obtain.
Indeed, from his appearance in Baimu City last night to killing Yang Zun just now, and until Chu Tianxu’s arrival, Xia Hong had never revealed his true face.
Although Xia Hong had shown his face publicly during the Hongmen battle four years ago, so much time had passed that few in the Southern Foothills still remembered his features. Though Great Xia had spawned portrait artists, the profession was still young and his portrait was unlikely to have spread widely, so he should be able to keep his face hidden from Chencang for a while.
Why hide his true face? Because Xia Hong had spent the past three years moving between Caiqiu and Chencang. If anyone recognized him, his false identity as the Great Qin prince Hong Yu would be exposed.
Exposure of the false identity wouldn’t be fatal to Xia Hong in itself, but it would endanger Su Xing’er and her three siblings. Worse, a clever person might connect him to Jiang Xinfan and Ji Hong’s scouts, which would be disastrous.
So if he could hide it, he would.
“The only one to worry about is Chu Yaner. She was present at the Hongmen battle and has a good hand at painting. She’s most likely to break my disguise, but she probably isn’t in a position to affect things right now.”
Xia Hong murmured, then turned his gaze back to the Yang Zun in Chu Tianxu’s hand.
At the end of the Baimu City battle, Yang Zun had unleashed his full power and Xia Hong had been forced to use the Star Shattering Sword. With Yang Zun’s cleverness, if he woke and returned to Mo’ao Chuan, he would likely soon see through Xia Hong’s Great Qin prince ruse.
Therefore, Yang Zun’s life must remain here today.
“You attacked the Fang Bo clan’s descendants, Lord Xia Hong. You’re in deep trouble…”
As Xia Hong pondered, Chu Tianxu calmed the anger in his chest and his voice became quiet, though it contained clear killing intent.
“In deep trouble.”
Such a matter-of-fact threat did not faze Xia Hong. A faint smile appeared on his face as he looked at Chu Tianxu with interest and asked softly, “What? Is Chencang sending troops south? Or does Lord Fang intend to come to the Southern Foothills himself to teach this lord a lesson?”
“Do you deserve it?”
The anger Chu Tianxu had barely suppressed flared up again. He barked and put his hand on the sword at his waist, but when he glanced down and saw the tens of thousands of Xia soldiers slowly surrounding the ruins he withdrew his hand and continued coldly, “Xia Hong, don’t flatter yourself. Even if all the towns of the Southern Foothills banded together, in front of Chencang they’d be nothing but collapsing tiles, easily broken. People shouldn’t live like frogs at the bottom of a well…”
Chu Tianxu clearly intended to say more, but he stopped mid-sentence, shook his head slightly, and his tone shifted. “I don’t need to waste words on a dead man like you. The miasma in the Nine-Bend Blood Corridor has already begun to dissipate. Xia Hong, just wait for my Chencang troops to march south. The Xia people won’t have many good days left!”
He said this without enthusiasm, as if satisfied with the expected outcome for Great Xia, and turned to leave.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
But he had barely taken a step when Xia Hong called after him.
Chu Tianxu froze, turned back, and looked at Xia Hong again. He saw threat in Xia Hong’s face and his pupils showed surprise.
“You don’t mean to keep me here, do you?”
Xia Hong gave no answer, but from his calm eyes Chu Tianxu read the truth. Surprise in his pupils deepened until his expression became incredulous; anger rose slowly in his chest and he finally laughed furiously.
“Keep you? On what authority? Or by the tens of thousands of Xia troops below you?”
“Whether you keep me isn’t the point. Chu Xuanling and the others did attack my men, but I don’t think a feudal town lord would stoop to such low things, so I will not blame Chencang. But Yang Zun…”
Xia Hong shook his head and pointed to Yang Zun in Chu Tianxu’s hand. “He must stay. He dies today! And you must hand over that Six-Armed Cyan-Faced Evil Abomination’s true body.”
They had harmed Xia Hong’s descendants.
When Chu Tianxu heard the first half of that sentence, he understood that Chu Xuanling and the others had done something foolish in the Southern Foothills and his brow tightened. But when he heard Xia Hong’s latter words, he was stunned.
Not blame Chencang.
Only when Xia Hong said Yang Zun would die today did Chu Tianxu realize the arrogance of Xia Hong’s words. He looked up at Xia Hong and enunciated, “Not blame Chencang? Xia Hong, are you insane?”
What was Great Xia? A town-level camp at best!
At most a relatively strong town-level camp. Even if Great Xia were the strongest town-level camp, it was no comparison to Chencang in scale; there was not the slightest comparability.
That Xia Hong could kill Yang Zun meant his strength must be significant, but no matter how formidable, he was only Sun Manifestation level. Frankly, if any of Great Xia’s eleven Sun Manifestation fighters or one of the tens of thousands of soldiers below had been missing, Xia Hong might well have died today.
How could he say he wouldn’t blame Chencang?
Chu Tianxu could not comprehend how Xia Hong dared say such a thing, so he snapped the question at him: are you crazy?
“Take one step and find out!”
Xia Hong was done with words. Chu Tianxu had Tribulation Body cultivation; unless something real was presented he wouldn’t take Xia Hong seriously. Rather than continuing to argue, Xia Hong chose direct threat.
“Hahaha, what a delirious Southern Foothills overlord. I’ll take one step and see what you can do.”
Chu Tianxu turned and began flying north.
Whoosh……
But as soon as he moved, a hundred-meter-wide azure whirlwind rose from the ground where he had stood.
Chu Tianxu’s pupils contracted and his body quickly retreated, but he could not move fast enough. The whirlwind struck his body before he could step away.
As the azure whirlwind drew near, its front displayed three wolf heads. Chu Tianxu grimaced. A cyan-and-crimson godlight flared across his surface and his body rapidly expanded to over thirty zhang high, instantly becoming a giant more than a hundred meters tall.
Not having time to draw his sword, he dropped his arms and used brute force to block the approaching azure whirlwind.
Boom……
When the whirlwind collided with his arms, it created a singularity that rapidly expanded and then exploded with a thunderous roar. An invisible shockwave rippled outward for two to three li.
Not only the sky, but the ground was affected…
Bang!
The shockwave slammed down and detonated again, flattening the ruined Lord’s great hall into absolute level ground and creating a vacuum zone several hundred meters across. The earth sank several meters; there was not a single large brick or fragment to be found.
In midair, the giant Chu Tianxu had his arms firmly bitten by a three-headed Wolf Emperor eighty zhang shoulder-high.
That Wolf Emperor had three heads; the two side heads were clamped on Chu Tianxu’s arms while the central head faced his face with jaws gaping, clearly preparing something.
“A Three-Headed Wolf Emperor…”
Chu Tianxu’s giant form looked at the Wolf Emperor below with a face full of shock. He suddenly realized something and turned to look at Xia Hong, finding him wearing an amused expression with strong, creeping astonishment in his pupils.
But this was only the beginning…
“Roar!”
A furious roar suddenly came from the sky. A massive cyan behemoth about the size of the Three-Headed Wolf Emperor tore through the clouds and plummeted toward Chu Tianxu’s position.
Its body was covered in cyan short mane. Along its nape and spine flowed crimson-cyan flames that shone brightly and ringed its massive head like a falling blazing sun.
“A Fire Suanni? Another one… how is this possible…”
The arrival of the second Five Luminaries Realm Beast Emperor finally turned Chu Tianxu’s shock into terror.
“Chu Governor, am I the one who’s crazy?”
Xia Hong’s slightly teasing voice rang out. Chu Tianxu’s expression froze completely.