The Immortal Emperor Returns

Chapter 268 No Less Vicious

The winds of war never stopped brewing.

As if to shove more kindling into the bonfire of the furor, someone from the Broken Souls Cult started a thread on the Martial Tao Forum with only one simple sentence:

“Will you dare fight us in open combat, Chu the Devil?”

With their plans to ambush Chu Xun now in the open, they decided to openly challenge him.

It would be a battle of great magnitude, that not even Huaxia, but also warriors of foreign domains kept closely abreast of.

The name of Chu the Devil sent ripples across the domain of warriors, garnering even the interests of those abroad.

Most prominent among foreign domains was the Fusang State. Since word of Chu Xun’s execution of their warriors had reached their shores, numerous of them vowed to settle this score with him.

It was already on the afternoon of the second day since his meditation ended, there was only barely a few hours left before Chu Xun’s great showdown. He saw the challenge the Cult had left him on the Martial Tao Forum and responded with only a few words of his own.

“If it’s a fight you seek, then so be it.”

The account was started by Winsome Widow on his behalf, although the avatar image on the account’s profile was his own.

A few simple words from him, and it began blowing out of proportion into a huge uproar.

“Is this really is Chu the Devil? He looks very young, more like a scholar to me.”

Despite his fame, hardly anyone had actually seen Chu Xun in person before.

“Chu the Devil’s too imperious and brutal. Somebody like him should just die.”

“Idiot, those that Chu the Devil killed earned their fate. Don’t you think the scums from the Broken Souls Cult should be killed for their treachery?”

“Chu the Devil has spilled much blood—slain fellow warriors, toppled esteemed orders and sects while destroying respected families—that he will never be able to wash all that blood off his hands. Someone like him deserves to die.”

“Dammit, are you one of the traitors from Fusang? Leave your name here if you dare. There’ll be no need to trouble Chu the Devil on this. I wring your head off your neck myself.”

Chu Xun became such a polarizing figure on the cyberspace that one half of the people online clamored for him to die, while the other half cheered for him.

In response to the news of the Fusangs wanting to settle the score of the deaths of their compatriots with him, Chu Xun left another distressing answer, “Killing your kind is no more difficult than butchering dogs. Woe betides those who intrude carelessly into Huaxia. Soon, I shall step foot upon the Fusang soil myself.”

“Magnificent, Immortal Chu!”

“Huaxia people should be proud of having Immortal Chu as a hero!”

“Fusang pixies should just shut their trap. If Immortal Chu really does go East to slay some dogs, I will make sure to be there to witness everything.”

On the matter of the Fusang people, sentiments had been rather one-sided to Chu Xun’s favor that even the naysayers reckoned it best to just remain silent. Siding the Fusangs on this was tantamount to treason and no self-respecting Huaxia would ever forgive that.

Seconds ticked by slowly.

The sun was slanting down towards the western horizons, its remaining radiance casting a bright orange sprawl upon the cityscape.

The Broken Souls Cult left another message on the Martial Tao Forum.

“We await you atop the peak of the ancient ruins, Chu the Devil.”

Hardly giving in, Chu Xun tapped a similarly stirring remark.

“Brace yourselves.”

Two short words from him that caused the cyberspace to simmer with excitement as many applauded his response.

“Brace yourselves, Broken Soul Cult. Immortal Chu is coming for you.”

“It’s your folly for daring to provoke the tiger’s wrath. Go for it, Immortal Chu!”

“Chu Xun: a reserved hero, but no less vicious.”

Even as storms continued brewing in the cyberspace, Chu Xun had already left for the Mount of the Ancient Ruins which had reappeared outside Haiqing City.

At the same time, hordes of warriors thronged out of the city.

Everyone expected it to be a battle so grand that not even Chu Xun’s famous battle against the Heaven Tao Sect could dwarf it.

...

“SALUTE!” A teary-eyed Pan Zihao bellowed.

Clack!

Hundreds of soldiers snapped to a salute with even greater than usual precision at Chu Xun.

Chu Xun turned around and returned the gesture, albeit awkwardly and clumsily.

“We shall await your triumphant return, sir!” Pan Zihao bellowed.

“We shall expect your triumphant return, sir!”

Hundreds of soldiers echoed loudly after him, their voice reverberating up the strata of the skies.

“Master, how about we come with you?” asked Lei Bao.

Yan Chong and Winsome Widow stepped forward as one, standing abreast with Lei Bao with tacit assent.

“Forget it. With your current strength, you’d only be a hindrance to him.” Jiu You’s babyish voice dashed their hopes.

Chu Xun managed a wry smile at that remark.

“Well, if you die,” Jiu You muttered firmly in her puerile voice, “I swear I’ll wash the floors of their stronghold with the blood from each of the Cult’s members.”

Chu Xun almost staggered to a fall at that and he spun around and ruffled her hair into a mess before pinching her cheeks.

Chu Xun stepped out of the army garrison and strolled as casually as a walk in the park, moving towards the outside of the city with utmost serenity.

As he walked, warriors pretended to walk near him when in fact they were quietly taking pictures of him with their cell phones and uploading them onto the Martial Tao Forum.

“Wow... is that Immortal Chu?! He looks so dashing! And I’m sure he’s the only one around the world who looks better than me.”

“Damn, that’s my boy. If only the ancient ruins appear right outside my home at Lin’an City. That way, I could see him myself.”

“He’s not called Immortal Chu for nothing. He walks with an air of authority and divinity, and that is just so enthralling!”

The cyberspace boiled with more comments and remarks.

Only, as soon as he stepped through the threshold of the gates of the city, Chu Xun’s gait no longer looked casual or serene.

Swoosh!

With a kick of his heel, he leaped again and again with such speeds that he looked like a blurry mirage, ranging at several hundred meters at every bound.

The mountain of the ancient ruins. It had no name; for it came into being only during the anomalies ravaging the Earth, and due to the ancient ruins that sat on its crest, many began to call it the Mount of the Ancient Ruins.

And by now, droves of warriors coming to witness the battle swarmed up the slopes of the Mount.

Somewhere up mid-hill was a flat mountainside plateau; a landing that would serve as a natural-made arena.

Cloaked figures—dozens of them—sat cross-legged as if in restive meditation. Powerful auras swirled about them and even the weakest among them were First-grade Human Kings.

One of them opened his eyes, which reflected a glimmer as cold as steel. He beheld the congregation of warriors now gathering below them.

“Is Chu the Devil here?”

His voice, as sonorous as a tolling bell, echoed across the length and breadth of the mass of crowds.

Heads swiveled back and forth, as if expecting to hear Chu Xun responding, but nothing came.

The Human King snorted and walked back to his place and he sat down again.

After waiting ten minutes, the same man came forward and shouted loudly again, “IS CHU THE DEVIL HERE?”

Again, no one replied.

With a disdainful smirk, the Human King returned back to his seat for another time.

Again, after ten minutes, he stood up again. Looking down at the growing crowds below, his voice rumbled again the same message, “IS CHU THE DEVIL HERE?”

Again, no reply came.

“Humph,” another Human King snorted and said, his eyes opening too, “Has he decided to chicken out?” Bearing an extremely powerful aura, the single snort from him made the air before him trembled as if in fear.

“Wait, could it be true? Has Chu the Devil decided not to show up after all?!” Murmurs and mutterings began buzzing amongst the crowd below.

“Fool, have you seen the forum? Immortal Chu’s already on his way here,” rebutted one of them.

“CHU THE DEVIL, I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL!”

A voice thundered again, shaking the terrain nearby.

“Hmm... I wonder if he’s not coming anymore... Forget what Chu the Devil, he’s just Chu the Coward.”

“@#￥%...” said one of the Human Kings suddenly. This particular figure was dressed in contemporary Fusang garb, and he too, possessed a terrible aura of his own, although he spoke only the Fusang tongue.

“If he doesn’t show up, I’ll head to Gujiang City and flatten the entire crest of Qianlong Mountain,” said another whose temperament resembled Lei Bao, except for his more-superior aura. That was in fact Luo Fei.

Screech!

A shrill screech of a phoenix came suddenly from overhead, producing sonic waves that battered at stones and pummeled through steel, and hardly anyone failed to notice the rising temperature in the surroundings of a several-li radius.

“Look!” cried one of the astonished warriors so hoarsely that he nearly lost his voice.

Hearing this, heads turned around and looked up.

A huge fiery phoenix, with an incredibly huge wingspan, swooped down with terrifying speed. As it flapped its wings, purplish flames congealed and blazed in its wake, roasting whatever that dared to cross the phoenix’s path.

“LOOK OUT!” Luo Fei yelled frantically, already trying to flee himself.

Boom!

The gigantic mass of flames that was the phoenix smote into the earth, rocking the entire mountain that boulders and stones began rolling down like an avalanche.

Purplish flames swept across the entire mountainside plateau, razing everything in the vicinity into soot.

Blood-curdling screams and shrieks could be heard amidst the flames—these were Human Kings who failed to get out in time.

Luo Fei could not quite believe his eyes. Channeling his Internal Breath, he punched with both fists, putting every ounce of magical power he mustered behind it. That created strong, raging winds that swept at the purplish bushfire, dousing it quickly.

Most of the crowds below could hardly see what was happening on the landing overhead them, but a good many of the warriors had the wisdom of climbing up the surrounding peaks instead to get a better vantage point, and that rewarded them with a clear view of what happened.

The entire mountainside plateau was utterly laid waste, with more than ten blackened figures writhing and howling in agony. Some had their limbs maimed by the merciless purplish flames, while some had their lower half utterly disintegrated, and a few even had their faces completely melted by the flames, looking more hideous and horrifying than demons.

Scattered around on the thoroughly scorched plateau were many broken limbs and smoldering corpses, and the air reeked of burning flesh.

In one very literal fell swoop, the force mobilized by the Broken Souls Cult this time had lost two-thirds of its strength.

Was this another one of Chu Xun’s magic?!

From high up overhead, something fell headlong at great speeds, answering everyone’s doubts.

Boom!

He smashed into the ground, causing the earth and all surrounding mountain peaks to shake as if in shock and awe, and in the midst of all the destruction, a figure stood straight and proud and the look on his face as placid and distant as the cold waters of a silent lake.

Who else could it be if not Chu Xun?

The Cultists had been challenging and taunting him to show himself, while the people who had come to watch him looked everywhere for him, yet here he was, with an impressive entrance that caught everyone off-guard.

And in his magnificent entry, he had also taken out more than half the forces of the Cultists, visiting upon them further indignity while wrestling over the initiative!

“Chu Xun.” Luo Fei growled angrily gritting his teeth.

Unfazed, Chu Xun muttered indifferently, “Your so-called plans to ensnare me seemed to be punctured now...”

“It’ll be enough to slaughter you.” Luo Fei insisted sinisterly.

“Enough? I’m afraid that’s a rather subjective term.”

“Let’s try it then.” Luo Fei grinned wickedly, raising a hand, only, his battle cry got stuck halfway up his windpipe.

For Chu Xun had vanished.

Bang!

He appeared right in front of another First-grade Human King, without warning, and hammered a fist into him, smashing his face into a bloody pulp.

“KILL HIM!” Luo Fei howled with rage.

Schhwaff!

A scythe-like magical bolt from a saber came from nowhere, its radiance illuminating the skies.

Chu Xun mustered his Immortal Qi and gave the projectile a carelessly slap to parry it away, then he drove his fist into another First-grade Human King, killing him instantly with a blast of his magic.

“ENOUGH WITH YOUR IMPUDENCE, CHU THE DEVIL!” bellowed a Third-grade Human King who dashed right at him like a lightning bolt, his palm outstretched with an incredible concentration of Inner Breath massing before his hand.

Hardly perturbed, Chu Xun caught glimpse of the incoming attack. With one step forward, he swung his fist hard, delivering another powerful blast of his magic that nearly distorted the fabric of Space in its path.

Bang!

The Third-grade Human King staggered backward, holding on with a painful groan; his face now a flush of pallid-white while his arms convulsed with ache as blood escaped his lips.

More Internal Breath churned around Chu Xun. He began glowing as golden light shot from each and every pore on his skin, and he stomped forward again, delivering another fist into the air.

Bang!

That sent another additional pulse into the jet of magic threatening to tunnel through the Third-grade Human King, and finally, unable to hold on anymore, he let loose a frightening scream as his arms burst into a pair of bloody mists.

That sent chills down everyone’s spines. Even a Third-grade Human King failed to defend against two punches from him!

Chu Xun performed more magical hand seals, and his finger came up and tapped into the air.

Rumble!

The Demon-slain Finger—Shaking the Sky by the Fourth Finger!

The air quivered again with an ancient universal aura of desolation and absolute might, and a gigantic monolith soared overhead in the sky before crashing down with wrecking destruction!

Boom!

More boulders rolled off the hard, jagged slopes of the mountains nearby as the shock sent a deafening tremor rippling all directions with a terrible shock wave, and a long and wide crack opened like a bottomless abyss on the ground.

The sight was enough to make anyone’s blood run cold if not the shrill dying cries of several First and Second-grade Human Kings who were soundly crushed in the blast; the soft, mushy poultice of blood and flesh that remained of their corpses now serving as nothing but nourishment for the earth.

“You’ll die for this, Chu the Devil!”

A sword of light—forged completely from magical energies—spanning hundreds of feet long shot into the air like a rocket, came bearing down on Chu Xun’s head with a piercing scream.

Chu Xun’s dark eyes looked up. His dark eyes swirled with cunning and malice for one fleeting moment before he vanished into thin air. With a whistle through the air, he charged at another Second-grade Human King, killing him with just one forceful bang, inundating the soil with his blood.

Boom!

Only then did the golden sword of light came down, missing him squarely, while slamming into the ground, kicking up dust and sand that covered the sky while leaving a long and deep gash several dozen meters long on the mountainside plateau.