Flat Order City.
This was a small city located to the west of Long Sang. It wasn’t very big, and its defenses were quite weak as well. The city’s strongest guards were only at the Yang Opening Realm, but even so, their territory was directly subservient to the emperor.
Today, Commander He was sitting in his courtyard and calmly drinking tea when he suddenly heard a rumbling sound, as if the sky were about to explode. However, Commander He, who was familiar with Origin Energy fluctuations, could clearly tell that an Origin Skill was being activated, and by someone stronger than a Light Shaking Realm cultivator at that.
Was a Light Shaking Realm cultivator headed this way?
Commander He’s heart beat wildly as he leapt to the rooftop to take a look. A ma.s.sive figure had appeared above Flat Order City, seemingly hundreds of feet tall. The figure glared coldly at the city below him and howled, “From this day onwards, Flat Order City belongs to me, Lin Zuiliu! If anyone dares to resist, I will slaughter them mercilessly!”
Lin Zuiliu?
The King of Chaos?
Upon hearing this name, Commander He felt like someone had smashed the back of his head with a hammer, and his mind shook violently.
He was extremely familiar with the name ‘King of Chaos.’ After all, this person had once acted as the emperor, and had single-handedly drawn the ire of all seven emperors at once.
But why would he suddenly appear now?
Could it be that the country was about to be plunged into the chaos of rebellion yet again?
Commander He couldn’t stop himself from trembling.
And it wasn’t just him. All of the guards within the city were dumbfounded by this declaration.
This was the King of Chaos!
An Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator!
How could they even resist?
Even though a numbers advantage could sometimes allow an army to suppress a powerful individual, that depended on the strength disparity between them in the first place. If the difference in strength was three realms or greater, then any numbers advantage would be moot.
If the commander of the guards was merely at the Yang Opening Realm, Lin Zuiliu would be able to swat them away with a palm regardless of if there were thousands or ten thousands of them.
The soldiers stared at the sky as if they were looking at a demon. A few of them were even so scared that they involuntarily knelt down.
The floating Lin Zuiliu glanced beneath him. No one dared to meet his gaze. Eventually, his sights settled onto Commander He. “You are He Zhengqiang?”
He Zhengqiang gulped before slowly replying, “I am He Zhengqiang. Greetings, King of Chaos!”
“Why do you not kneel?”
Commander He sighed as a resolute expression appeared on his face. “I have been appointed by His Majesty to watch over the Moonkin. Even though I have no chance of stopping you, that does not mean that I will surrender just to save my own life. The King of Chaos’s strength is transcendental, but all I have to lose is my life. What do I have to fear?”
Lin Zuiliu’s expression remained merciless as he replied, “Well said. You are indeed quite heroic. But even if you want to die, I will not permit it. I will spare you today so that you can notify Lin Mengze…… that I have returned!”
What?
Commander He was taken aback and stared incredulously at Lin Zuiliu. “You’re not going to kill me?”
“What? Are you going to insist on dying?” As Lin Zuiliu spoke, he made a gesture. A ruthless, barbaric sword intent descended from the sky, landing thirty feet in front of Commander He. This simple strike left a gouge a few dozen feet deep in the ground.
Even though this attack was nothing to an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator, using it to kill a Yang Opening Realm cultivator was a trivial issue.
Lin Zuiliu said, “If you want to put your life on the line, then you can try to withstand one thousandth of my power. I am willing to fulfill your wishes.”
Even though Commander He didn’t fear death, he wasn’t at the point yet where he wished for it. When he heard this, he took a moment to think before asking, “If I go, will the King of Chaos preserve the lives of the innocent civilians living in this city?”
At this moment, almost everyone in Flat Order City had noticed this startling sight. However, because of the immense pressure bearing down upon them, n.o.body dared to move. They all knelt, motionlessly prostrate on the ground. Only Commander He could speak to Lin Zuiliu. When the civilians heard his words, they were all filled with grat.i.tude.
Lin Zuiliu insipidly replied, “If you obey me, then the people in your city will naturally also become my subjects. I haven’t even found the time to take care of them yet — how could I harm them? As long as they don’t think of rebelling, or better yet, as long as they continue to act normally, nothing will happen.”
Upon hearing Lin Zuiliu’s words, Commander He sighed and cupped his hands. “If that’s the case, then I will hurry to the imperial palace to report this matter. Many thanks for your n.o.ble actions, King of Chaos.”
Lin Zuiliu chuckled as he waved his sleeves. “Go.”
Commander He left in a hurry.
Because of his rush, he naturally didn’t notice that when the image of Lin Zuiliu in the sky disappeared not long after he left, it revealed two young men standing in its place.
Chang He chuckled. “Great! We’ve accomplished our mission here. The Sect Master’s Bloodline Clones is indeed easy to use…… Right, how did the Sect Master get his hands on Lin Zuiliu’s blood in the first place?”
Ye Fenghan coldly replied, “They’ve been researching together for awhile now. If the Sect Master hadn’t asked Lin Zuiliu for his blood, he wouldn’t be the Sect Master anymore.”
“So do you think that the Sect Master has Bloodline Clones of us too?” Chang He asked.
Ye Fenghan glanced at him coldly. “Stop dreaming. Your Bloodline Clones might not even be worth the Sect Master keeping around.”
As he spoke, he turned around and left.
“Tch! Stop acting so high and mighty.” Chang He shrugged before turning and leaving.
Bang!
Lin Zuiliu struck out with his palm, nearly flattening a nearby mountain.
“What…… did…… you…… say?” Lin Zuiliu glared at Ye Fenghan as he articulated each word threateningly.
Ye Fenghan didn’t lower his head a single inch and stared right back at Lin Zuiliu. “I said, we just conquered Flat Order City…… in your name.”
“Who told you to do that!?” Lin Zuiliu roared, infuriated, his emotions causing the air around him to heat up as killing intent began to violently surge from him.
Ye Fenghan, however, nonchalantly replied, “The thirty thousand lives currently at Ten Thousand Swords Mountain told me to do that. King Lin, you can’t have forgotten your promise with my Sect Master, right?”
“Are you responsible for managing my affairs now?” Lin Zuiliu shot back angrily. “You’re courting death!”
Ye Fenghan nodded. “That is indeed the case, and also why I’ve returned. If the King of Chaos wants to kill me, then I am here to satisfy your wishes.”
“Do you really think that I don’t dare to kill you?” Lin Zuiliu howled as white Qi gathered into an arrow that shot towards Ye Fenghan’s throat.
Ye Fenghan, however, was completely unafraid.
He was really prepared to die.
If Commander He wasn’t afraid to die, then neither was he.
At that moment, however, he heard Night Demon’s voice speak up from behind him. “Wait a moment! Su Chen wants to speak with you.”
The arrow stopped right in front of Ye Fenghan’s throat. Lin Zuiliu turned around to find Night Demon offering a formation disk.
This was a transmission disk that Patelocke had enhanced. It allowed anyone with the disk to contact Su Chen by using him as a medium.
An image slowly began to form above the surface of the transmission disk. It was Su Chen.
“Old Lin,” Su Chen said with a chuckle.
The two of them had researched together for quite some time now. Even though they both had their own distinct personal motives, it was still reasonable to consider them old friends.
When Lin Zuiliu saw Su Chen, his anger subsided a little.
His expression was gloomy. “Su Chen, look at what your subordinates have done.”
Su Chen chuckled. “They’re young and perhaps a bit impulsive. This is not something that you can avoid. In any case, they had your best interests in mind, which is why they were in such a hurry to reclaim the land that you had lost. Even though they were a bit presumptuous in their actions, their intentions were good.”
Su Chen made sure to adopt a much more neutral approach than Ye Fenghan, and he also didn’t directly say that he was forcing Lin Zuiliu’s hand in order to divert some of the pressure on Ten Thousand Swords Mountain. Instead, he claimed that they were merely looking out for Lin Zuiliu’s best interests.
It could only be said that, since he had come this far, Su Chen had naturally learned how to best speak to people with regards to their status.
He had done quite a bit of laughing along, feigning ignorance, and making meaningless small talk throughout the years.
But upon hearing Su Chen’s explanation, Lin Zuiliu was so angry that he wanted to laugh. “Good intentions my a.s.s! Sect Master, if your men keep doing things for me with ‘good intentions,’ I might end up dead in Lin Mengze’s hands.”
Su Chen, however, didn’t mind his outrage. “The King of Chaos’s strength is renowned throughout the land, and you now have the seven mixed bloodline as well. What does a small Lin Mingze matter? If you were to fight one-on-one, I would bet that you would win.”
Lin Zuiliu coldly replied, “Unfortunately, Lin Mengze won’t give me an opportunity to fight him one-on-one. Those lackeys of his will swarm and overwhelm me instead.”
“That’s why you need to quickly seize your former territory so that you can bolster your forces. If you stay holed up for this entire time, you won’t be able to accomplish anything in the future.”
Lin Zuiliu glared at Su Chen.
Actually, even he understood that there was no rectifying this situation. If he killed Ye Fenghan, then his relations.h.i.+p with Su Chen would irreversibly fracture, making that an incredibly undiplomatic action. However, his anger had gotten the better of him in the moment, and Ye Fenghan had also stubbornly refused to bow his head. Now that he had verbally sparred with Su Chen for some time, his anger had subsided quite a bit.
After a moment’s thought, he said, “Your men were the ones who moved on their own and ruined my plan. Some kind of reparation must be made, right?”
Instead of killing someone, why not take a step back and ask for rest.i.tution instead?
Su Chen smiled slightly. “What does the King of Chaos want?”
“Since the Boundless Sect’s disciples are so capable, you should send some to act as my helpers.”
“The front lines here at the Abyss are already stretched thin……”
“I will hold the back lines for you!”
Su Chen paused for a moment, and then asked after some thought, “How many do you want?”
“A Thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators.”
“Absolutely not. At most, I’ll give you a hundred Light Shaking Realm cultivators and eight hundred Yang Opening Realm cultivators.”
“What can Yang Opening Realm cultivators do?”
“They’re all at the peak of the Yang Opening Realm. If you take good care of them, then they will reach the Light Shaking Realm within three years.” This was another tactic of Su Chen’s to force Lin Zuiliu to take good care of his men.
Lin Zuiliu opened his mouth to speak, but after a moment’s pause, he could only sigh. “How outrageous! You claim that you can hand me eight hundred Yang Opening Realm cultivators who are all guaranteed to reach the Light Shaking Realm within three years, and yet I already know that you are telling the truth. The Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques are truly incredible. Just the fact that they can greatly raise one’s likelihood of breaking into the higher cultivation realms, not to mention that they allow those without bloodlines to cultivate, is incredible. The path of cultivation has opened up because of you, and the strength of the human race as a whole has advanced by leaps and bounds. The future will belong to the Boundless Sect.”
“To the human race, you mean,” Su Chen corrected straightforwardly.
Lin Zuiliu shook his head. “And the Boundless Sect as well…... When I think about the future, I sigh and wonder what the point of fighting so hard for this ruling position even is in the first place.”
Su Chen didn’t expect that the Boundless Sect’s potential would have such an impression on Lin Zuiliu, to the point where even the position of emperor paled in comparison to its prestige. Su Chen felt a bit agitated and wanted to smooth things over.
Unexpectedly, Lin Zuiliu shook his head and proudly stated, “Overthrowing Lin Mengze has been my dream from the very beginning. Even if the Boundless Sect someday rises to power and my kingdom becomes worthless, I won’t care as long as I can defeat Lin Mengze and plant my feet on his face today. Let’s settle on this now!”
Somehow, Lin Mengze had managed to appease himself.