The Immortal Emperor Returns

Chapter 317 Waylaid!

The curtains finally fell on Chu Xun’s and Yan Guilai’s brief contest of strength with the former winning a prize of two Fire-Amber Bamboos.

“I leave Wushuang to you then,” said Yan Guilai, still struggling with the loss of two immensely valuable. He realized that it was all Chu Xun’s ruse by pretending to be enraged in a bid to extort something off him.

The two spent a little more time talking until at last, Yan Guilai personally saw Chu Xun out the gates of the Yan Family residence where they parted reluctantly.

But when he returned to the main hall and took in the extent of the damage incurred to the furnishing of the hall, his mood darkened nearly as black as a pot’s bottom and his lips jerking uncontrollably.

Chu Xun trotted back to his lodgings.

“So, how was it?” asked Yan Wushuang.

“Pretty good. Your father and I have sworn to be brothers too.”

“Ah?!” Yan Wushuang gasped with dropped jaws, but then he realized Chu Xun was pulling his leg.

“Honestly, what happened?” Despite wanting to go on a trip himself, Yan Wushuang did not like the direction of how things were moving in. To be kicked out of his home was disgraceful, to say the least, as if the Yan Family was begging Liu Tianhe to allow him to tag along.

“We’ve spoken. Your father bids that you listen to my instructions, and I am to dispense punishment for any disobedience,” said Chu Xun as-a-matter-of-factly.

“That’s impossible,” Yan Wushuang breathed incredulously.

“Go ask your father if you’re not taking my word for it,” responded Chu Xun firmly.

Yan Wushuang shivered. Knowing his father, he could very well have come up with something like that.

“Really?” a suspicious Yan Wushuang needed to be certain.

“Of course. Why else would you think I’m willing to carry baggage like you with me?”

Baggage?! I’m a prodigy, for Heaven’s sakes! A Seventh-grade Human King!

“So... When are we leaving?” Yan Wushuang knew better than to question his fate despite finding it hard to believe that his father had entrusted him to Liu Tianhe.

“Soon,” said Chu Xun.

“I wish to say my goodbyes.”

Chu Xun nodded, knowing full well that he meant Yao Baiyue.

A couple of hours later, Yan Wushuang came back.

With no airport in Yanxue City, they had to go to another nearby city.

All three of them took a car there.

With most of Earth now covered with mountainous regions and sprawls of the ancient wooded area, the route they took was one that cut straight through a deep and dense forest with tall lumbering trees flanking the road, the canopy of their thick boughs providing cover from the sun that they barely caught any glimpse of it even after a hundred li of traveling.

“So, Bratty Yan, how goes your farewell with the Lady of the Moon?” asked Chu Xun suddenly. Bored to sobs, he needed some distractions.

Bratty Yan?!

Yan Wushuang was stunned; even the purple-haired woman could hardly repress a shiver from the rush of goosebumps.

Quit giving me stupid nicknames, Yan Wushuang wanted to say. He began to wonder if he would die of aneurysm even before his trip began.

“Well, your father did call you ‘my boy.’ So I don’t see anything wrong with calling you ‘Bratty,'” Chu Xun grinned wickedly.

“Insolent pup, with your age, you’re the brat here!” retorted Yan Wushuang. According to his bone age, Chu Xun looked like he was in his early thirties.

Brat?! Chu Xun almost had Yan Wushuang tossed out of the car.

“I’m warning you, Bratty Yan. One more word of nonsense and I’ll have you walloped into a pulp.”

“Boorish savage, we are civilized men. Civilized men reason instead of fighting,” uttered Yan Wushuang, unconvinced that he could ever best Chu Xun in a fight. The latter was just so powerful that it would be like a child’s play to him.

“Pfft,” scowled Chu Xun derisively, “You only reason with others because you can’t defeat them.”

Yan Wushuang was about to respond with a riposte when the golden halberd appeared in Chu Xun’s grasp and he drove it through the roof of the car furiously.

A figure leaped off the roof and landed a dozen meters ahead of their car.

Rumble!

The engine of the car roared and the vehicle charged at the man like a raging bull.

But instead of hitting the man, the car missed; the man dodged in the nick of time.

Screeeccch!!

The tires scraped a pair of long black streaks along the road, carrying the stench of burning rubber.

The car squealed to a stop, and all three of them hopped off-board.

“I really shouldn’t have let you go,” Chu Xun smiled at the stranger.

It was Nie Zicheng, the one who had retreated from a fight against Chu Xun during the exploration of the ruins at Kunlun Mountain.

Nie Zicheng’s almond, womanlike eyes fluttered as he spoke with a softness that no man possessed, “Are you always so arrogant?”

“Do you think I can’t kill you?”

“At the very least, you now can’t,” said Nie Zicheng with utmost certainty.

He said that because two other men appeared from the bushes as he spoke.

Yan Wushuang gasped with shock. The two newcomers were all Eight-grade Human Kings, just like Nie Zicheng.

“You must be that notorious country bumpkin who has beaten up my nephew Zang Fengling, aren’t you?” said one of them imperiously and darkly, glowering at Chu Xun.

Chu Xun ignored him. He instead looked at the other newcomer – a man clothed fully in purple with a gaunt face flushed fully pale white. Beyond all doubt, he was a member of the Chamber of Purple Garments.

“These are grounds belonging to the Yan Family! What do you think you’re doing here!?” Yan Wushuang could hardly hide his anxiousness and trepidation of facing three Eighth-grade Human Kings.

“This might be still part of the Yan Family grounds, but we are quite a distance away from Yanxue City, Master Yan. Do you think the cavalry will arrive in time?” smirked Nie Zicheng.

“All right, Bratty Yan. Your pilgrimage begins now.”

Before Yan Wushuang could react, Chu Xun had vanished into a jet of light streaking towards Nie Zicheng.

Nowhere near panicking, a leering Nie Zicheng mustered his powers, and his aura spiked.

“It has been said that your physical invincibility is legendary. Let’s see if it’s true,” he sneered, “I’ve always believed that there’s only so much one can do with incredible toughness. Let’s see how dangerous you can be.”

Chu Xun said nothing. He shot up to his foe and raised his fist before pummeling forth fiercely.

Nie Zicheng scoffed and balled his fists. With wisps of Internal Breath snaking around his arm like coiling fumes, he threw forth a punch too.

Rumble!

The two fists collided, and a terrible shock wave rippled from the center of impact; Chu Xun’s blow was stopped.

“Like I said, no amount of physical strength can ever compare to Internal Breath,” smirked Nie Zicheng gloatingly.

“Really?” Chu Xun’s lips twisted into a sardonic grin.

Boom!

Deep inside Chu Xun’s body, the dual Golden Cores – one purple and the other white – began spinning around an invisible axis between them and a terrifying burst of Hong Meng Immortal Qi blasted from Chu Xun’s fist with the force of an avalanche.

Crack!

Reeling with shock, Nie Zicheng beheld with his own shuddering eyes – the Internal Breath imbuing his fist was quashed by the sudden surge of power that he could never stop and the blast smashed into him, flinging him off his feet.

Like a phantom, Chu Xun sped after him and delivered one punch after another in a long, ceaseless barrage of destruction.

Firing more than a dozen energy bolts shaped like fists, the energy missiles all slammed squarely into Nie Zicheng with raw accuracy.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A litany of violent booms like earsplitting detonations resounded, tossing Nie Zicheng further ahead and he crashed to the ground. He grunted painfully and spewed a huge mouthful of blood.

Chu Xun caught to him again and delivered more punches savagely, destroying Nie Zicheng’s protective aura even before it could fully reform.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Nie Zicheng’s footsteps retreated gradually. The unstoppable salvo of energy bolts streaked across the air like a multi-paletted, richly-hued rainbow that battered to shreds every tree and rock nearby.

Bang!

With one last punch, Chu Xun blasted Nie Zicheng into the air again, snapping two tall ancient trees into halves when he came crashing down on them.

“What are you two waiting for?! Do something!” bellowed Nie Zicheng angrily, thinking that it was his carelessness that caused him to be so badly beaten up.

A frenzied Chu Xun fired more energy bolts into the air, raining down more pain and destruction on Nie Zicheng.

One explosion after another rocked the earth, but Nie Zicheng was still breathing. Eighth-grade Human Kings really do have unbelievable toughness, Chu Xun observed.

Chu Xun lifted a foot and brought it down hard on Nie Zicheng’s chin. Then he noticed something and he quickly withdrew.

Boom!

A smoldering crater opened at where he stood just a split-second before. It was the Human King of the Chamber of Purple Garments.

Not far away, the Eighth-grade Human King of the Zang Family was facing off against the purple-haired woman.

Swoosh!

A long bolt of white cloth shot like a javelin, spearing straight at its foe.

Yan Wushuang skirted around the battlefield, firing Sword Qi bolts as he moved.

Even with the strength of numbers against the Zang Family Human King, victory was nevertheless hardly a surety for the woman and Yan Wushuang, even though they could still keep him at bay for now.

“You goddamned fraud,” Nie Zicheng seethed, his hair messy and disheveled, and his clothes were now in rags and tattered. He had fallen for Chu Xun’s ruse; the latter had not only incredibly tough endurance but also astounding offensive capabilities.

Swoosh!

The macabre gleam of a red-bladed saber flashed dangerously as Nie Zicheng brandished his weapon, activating its magic. The morbidly blood-red colored blade shone sharply, bursting into a dozen scythe-like energy shafts that rained upon Chu Xun from above.

Chu Xun’s eyes took on a purplish shade as Immortal Qi coursed vigorously inside him and with a kick of his heels, he was already several hundreds of meters away.

Boom!

The arced energy shafts battered at the ground, reducing old wizened trees into woodchips and rocks, hard and huge, into dust, while carving a long ditch on the ground tens of meters long.

Even Chu Xun could not help but feel astounded by the amazing technique.

The Human King of the Chamber of Purple Garments came storming at him with his powers in full display – powers that could easily rip steel and pulverize stone.

With a stomp that caused a powerful eruption under his feet, Chu Xun propelled himself into the air and he barreled forward with his fists ready.

Energy bolts and beams shaped like fists and palms flew everywhere, whizzing back and forth as the two men threw themselves at each other in a whirl of destruction that destroyed anything in its path.

Boom!

Fists collided savagely, and ultimately, both men fell apart as one with the ground splitting under their feet.

Another blood-red energy bolt arced down at Chu Xun, who spun around with his golden halberd appearing and he activated it with ripples of purplish-gold sparkles undulating gloriously.

Chu Xun swung his long, shiny pole arm and effortlessly destroyed the energy shaft before thrusting it straight at Nie Zicheng who came charging at him.

Clang!

Sparks burst everywhere as the halberd’s tip grounded furiously against the blade of the saber, causing Nie Zicheng to stumble backward.

Swoosh!

Activating its powers again, the halberd set loose a sudden surge of purplish-gold brilliance and the destructive beam shot at the Human King of the Chamber.

Bong! Bong!

The Human King took out a little drum and pounded hard on its face. The little drum shone like a diamond as it rumbled, and the air quivered.

Boom!

That shattered the purplish-gold beam fired by Chu Xun’s halberd and the sonic waves came crashing like tidal waves.

Sonic wave attacks?!

It was the sort of attack that Chu Xun would always find cumbersome for it deals damage directly to one’s soul.

The sonic waves came like an unstoppable tide, falling down trees and tearing them into chips and flakes with terrifying efficacy.

Chu Xun smirked. He projected his divine sense to erect a magical barrier to block out the sonic waves and they could not penetrate it.

This apparently shocked the Human King. It was the first time that this happened – the first time that his sonic wave attacks fail.

Chu Xun’s halberd let off a bright, triumphant brilliance as he appeared right in front of the Human King with terrifying quickness. He swung the halberd with every iota of ferocity he could muster, batting at his foe as if he were a baseball with ripples of gold-purplish sparkles trailing behind its tip.

But just before he could give chase, Nie Zicheng intercepted him. Chu Xun hastily performed a hand seal and tapped into the air in the direction of the Human King of the Chamber, casting the Demon-slain Finger spell.

Crashing to the ground more than a hundred meters away, the Human King writhed with throbbing and numbing pain, grimacing at how Chu Xun’s last blow nearly broke his ribs. But his respite was short-lived; a gigantic monolith came crashing down from the sky, bearing down at him.

Boom!

The ground trembled as a long, frightening crack split the earth, and a dust storm engulfed the whole battlefield, blotting out the sun.

Chu Xun kept his eye on Nie Zicheng, his halberd humming faintly in his grasp as if with a life of its own. Activating its powers, the weapon shone brightly again and he lunged.

A skittish and tense Nie Zicheng frantically raised his saber to deflect the blow.

Clang! Clang!

Chu Xun lashed his long pole arm like a whip at his foe, striking hard on the blade of the saber with zero scruples until its steel finally shattered under his sheer savageness.

Bang!

The long handle of the halberd arced back around and swung into Nie Zicheng’s side, eliciting a sickening crunch of cracking bones followed by an excruciating howl by him – his right arm was broken.

“How dare you wound me, you oaf?!”

As the dust began to settle, from afar came the angry and belligerent snarls of the Human King of the Chamber of Purple Garments. Wounded by Chu Xun’s Demon-slain Finger technique, he emerged bloodied and haggard with blood dribbling from his mouth, and his clothes frayed and frazzled like rags.