Chapter 419 - The Stronger Grudge (2/2)
In just a brief flicker of a second, Xiao Chen reached Yu Yifeng’s side, to everyone’s amazement and surprise with his extraordinarily otherworldly speed. For a moment, his wraithlike appearance almost had everyone thinking that Yu Yifeng was being ambushed by one of the evil folk.
“Lil Chen?! Why are you here?!” Yu Yifeng yelped with shock. Not far away behind, Luo Shangyan and the rest were gasping with consternation themselves. For several months, Xiao Chen had vanished off the face of the earth and no one was hardly startled by his untimely appearance.
Wordless shock filled the rest of the invaders from the front to the back; Xiaoyue, Zuoqiu Yang, Su Zimu, the Elders Zi Mo and Qingfeng and Su Yue among them. They were all aware about Xiao Chen escape from the Devil Repressed Tower but never did they expect to see him here. A presence that hardly boded well for anyone as much as himself.
But there was no man even more surprised than Qi Heng of the Order of the Divine Fire. Standing at a mere few yards away, he could positively feel the power of the Nirvana Realm radiating from within Xiao Chen. There was hardly any doubt that Xiao Chen was now one of the most powerful of the younger mages in the lands.
“Who was it who was taken? Was it Muxue?” Xiao Chen asked Yu Yifeng tersely with a hand on the latter’s shoulder.
“Sister Muxue was complaining about the cold that night and so I went off collecting more fuel for the fire,” Yu Yifeng nodded gravely with great difficulty, “But when I came back, she was taken. By Ye Wuxin. Seniors Xiaoyao Zi and Qing Feng tried to pursue him, but he was just too fast…”
Xiao Chen could only feel the shaking of his body intensifying as quickly as the dread in him swelled. It’s Muxue… It really is her! The Mystic Yin Body born on the seventh day of the seventh month that Red Sleeve was referring to… it is her!
A flash of anger blazed across his face and he regarded the Great Immortal with a seething glare. “I don’t care what is happening here. You can all destroy each other to bits for all I care. Give me back Muxue or I’ll flatten this mountain today!”
The Great Immortal studied Xiao Chen, his eyes squinting before they opened into a hard stare, “Remarkable. Extraordinary physical properties. You must be Xiao Chen, are you not? Small wonder Ye Wuxin is interested in you… You’re perfect… Just simply perfect…”
“I’ll say again: release Li Muxue…” Xiao Chen growled again, ignoring the sally. His breath was slowly pacing and his chest heaved and puffed for more air as his powers churned and his eyes slowly becoming red.
But the rest of the invaders behind him grappled with shock as they felt the extent of his strength: the Nirvana Realm!
“Give me back Muxue!” Xiao Chen snarled, brandishing the Blood Lotus Demon Blade. He lunged at the Great Immortal like a feral beast, much to Elders Zi Mo and Qingfeng’s horror and Yu Yifeng only managed cry, “Wait, Xiao Chen!” But it was too late.
With a careless wave, the Great Immortal summoned for help. A Blood Corpse, a Corpse Puppet with more than three centuries’ worth of Malicious Grudge, threw itself in Xiao Chen’s way. With its strength, the Blood Corpse could have easily slain any other mage of the Nascent Soul Realm, but Xiao Chen effortlessly lanced his weapon through its midsection like a simple slab of meat.
With a deafening roar, Xiao Chen yanked his saber free and hacked down with all his weight, cleaving the monster into halves.
No one had expected to see this, least of all the defenders of the Corpse Refinery Sect. A wave of despair swept through them that even the Great Immortal was aghast to see one of his most powerful weapons being easily destroyed. Most, if not all Nirvana Realm mages would never be able to destroy his Blood Corpses, especially with only one single stroke, to say the least. And the Great Immortal was sure that the cursed weapon Xiao Chen was wielding had nothing to do with it!
“You… what are you!? The Pure Yang… No, wait! That’s impossible! I can feel a strong Malicious Grudge in you! It would have nullified the… No… It can’t be… You must be… It must be…”
The Great Immortal spewed a jumble of terrified gibberish in his panicked consternation. Even the Orthodox Path invaders could hardly believe what they were seeing. They had experienced firsthand the diabolical might and endurance of the Corpse Puppets of the Corpse Refinery Sect. But here was Xiao Chen who had easily dispatched it in one fell stroke!
“ARGGHH!” Xiao Chen howled with the hysteria of a rampaging beast. The visions of the icy pits of water, the flotsam of female corpses floating idly like glaciers on the still surface, and the excruciating torments of the Ice Keep assailed his mind. Muxue… He almost said her name aloud. These people have taken her and they have subjected her to such pain and agony! A fit of anger and hatred rose in him, threatening to burst like a furnace waiting to explode!
“I’ll have your head!” Xiao Chen spat viciously, his eyes flaring red as he swung his saber down on the head of the Great Immortal again. The scythe of a magic bolt, stretching for several yards, effortlessly hewed more than a dozen of Corpse Puppets asunder.
Everyone held their breaths. With hardly any difficulty, Xiao Chen had cut down the Corpse Puppets like a hot knife through butter! This is impossible! Some of them thought, When their bodies could even dent our swords and spears!
Recovering from his shock, the Great Immortal frantically summoned his powers to deflect Xiao Chen’s blow. But it was so powerful that he was staggering many steps backward despite having parried the bolt. The rest of the seven or eight Elders standing behind him were as stunned as he was, despite the oblivious looks on the faces of the lesser acolytes, and there was only one reason why.
Corpse Puppets were abominable monsters fueled by Malicious Grudge. To kill one would require the utter destruction of its soul, like how one would slay a mage of the Nascent Soul Realm. But Xiao Chen was able to kill the Puppets with hardly any trouble and this could only mean one thing: Xiao Chen must have more than ten times more Malicious Grudge than these Corpse Puppets put together!
But how could a living person possess a Malicious Grudge of such intensity and fury!?