Chapter 423 - The Former High Chieftains (1/2)
“Heh heh heh heh heh…”
There was no other voice or noise save for the hollow cackling laugh that seemed to curdle the blood in the veins in everyone in the square. Every pair of eyes looked his way and upon every face was a look of fear, consternation, or bewilderment. Even the Blood Corpses seemed to tremble, although they were more frightened of his growing Rancorous Qi rather than his sinister laughter.
The Great Immortal from Hell shared a dark look with Ye Wuxin as men began to fret and squirm restlessly with fear. Knowing that things were not boding well for them, the two men quickly weaved spells to recall their Blood Corpses. But no amount of spell they used could move the legion of Blood Corpses. They just would not respond to the call of their masters, standing rooted to where they were, trembling and shaking quietly.
“Heh heh heh heh heh…” Xiao Chen let loose a snicker and leaped into the air suddenly with blood dripping from his blood-drenched arms and body into horrid spatters on the ground. With the opened chest wound still coruscating with moist blood, he could have looked very much more terrible than the army of monstrosities now standing around him.
The hundreds of Blood Corpses winced with a strong shudder and their knees buckled, prostrating themselves humbly like men bowing down to their liege lord. Yet even with their backs arched and their knees bent, the Blood Corpses never stopped shaking.
Yelps and gasps of surprise and shock ensued when the Corpses fell. Even Su Lianyue who was still watching from afar scarcely expected to see anything like this. It was a sight that no one had ever once witness for that matter. More so, for the men of the Corpse Refinery Sect especially the Great Immortal and Ye Wuxin who could not believe what they were seeing.
Amongst the frightened, the terrified, and the startled, was another man who could also hardly believe his own eyes: Zuoqiu Yang. He gazed up at Xiao Chen who was still hovering in mid-air, morbid and ghoulish like a lord of the dead. Then he looked down, feeling a tingle in his hand. Then again. And again until his hand could not stop shivering. Even his breath was racing. Not far away was an equally-awed but afraid Xiaoyue. She was no longer in her usually-placid self; her hands were also trembling as if her greatest nightmare had come true, that even the Autumn Water was shaking in her grasp.
Up above the air, Xiao Chen loomed over his fresh subjects with a terrible look on his face, absorbing the Rancorous Qi from them like tributes. In mere heartbeats, the damp wound on his chest began to heal at an impossible rate; a sight both surrealistic and outlandish, a phenomenon beyond logic and explanation.
“Heed my command: KILL!” With a growl, the legion of Blood Corpses sprang up with impeccable obedience like soldiers loyal to their king’s orders and threw themselves at the defenders of the Sect, crushing and obliterating them with tremendous efficacy.
Pandemonium pervaded the square once more. No ordinary mages of the Corpse Refinery Sect could barely defend themselves against the Blood Corpses which mowed them down with as much a difficulty as slaughtering sheep. Before long, more acolytes of the Sects fell at their hands that the Great Immortal and the rest of the Sect’s Elders were distraught with anxiety. None of them had expected such a turn of events.
And up above the sky, Xiao Chen watched his heinous subjects at work with only hatred and fury in his eyes.
His Blood Corpses pounced into the midst of the defenders, killing with an unstoppable and deadly zeal like predators on a blood scent. Ordinary Corpse Puppets could put up a fight or two, them still being under control of the members of the Sect while the Blood Corpses, killing monsters turned from living humans, contained human emotions that allowed them to be controlled by Xiao Chen.
At the far end of the square, the mages of the Orthodox Path looked on the massacre of the Sect with fearful looks. They looked at Xiao Chen, still hanging in mid-air and finally realized the full extent of his abilities. This was a young man, blessed with insurmountable talent and the flair to accomplish the impossible, able to summon wraiths and spirits, and even Blood Corpses answer to his beckons. There was little doubt that his name would travel far and wide once this day was over.
Among the flank formed up by the mages of the Order of the Divine Fire, Qi Heng watched with an uncertain and worried look on his face, feeling the stress of having such a rival in Xiao Chen. Su Yue was the same; wearing a grim and stony frown and a robe of dark purple, slightly bespeckled with the blood of her fallen enemies. But they were hardly the only ones; jealous and envious looks trained upon Xiao Chen, the champion of the hour.
But there was only a growing cold in Xiao Chen’s eyes. He extended a hand and waved, magically drawing Ye Wuxin from where he was standing into his grasp. Held in a vice-like grip, Ye Wuxin croaked in the quivering voice for the first time with fear for his life, “You…”
“What do you think now…” Xiao Chen’s growl turned into a fierce snarl, “Do you think my hatred is strong enough now!” He closed a fist on the High Chieftain’s throat and skewered his other arm through his chest. Blood sprayed and flew around.
“Did you not wish to consume me?” Xiao Chen shouted, “Look where are we now. You, a prey of mine now!” He channeled his power and Ye Wuxin’s eyes bulged wide as he felt his life seeping out of him quickly. Frantically, he stammered, “P-please! S-stop!”
“Stop?! Why did you not stop when you took Muxue!” Xiao Chen felt his anger rising and he willed himself to quicken the consumption of his enemy’s lifeforce. Xiao Chen’s Malicious Grudge was gradually growing beyond his control and imagination.
He finally understood what Feng You had once said during the battle at Tianyuan City, “I advise you not to have any thoughts about him, or you will die very tragically. A more tragic death than your mentor, Yu Yangzi…”
“Y-you… I know it now… You are brought back to life at the cost of another…” Ye Wuxin uttered, his eyes fraught with horror. But there was only ice in Xiao Chen’s eyes. In a similarly frosty tone, “I have once made a promise to take your life as revenge for him. Let it be today then…”
Xiao Chen increased the pace, feeling more lifeforce soaking into him from Ye Wuxin’s body. The High Chieftain’s face quickly swallowed and crumpled as Death drew nearer towards him. His long life was only due to the supply of Malicious Grudge in him, but it too was quickly sapped away by Xiao Chen.
Ye Wuxin’s eyes stretched, finally comprehending something: No mortal man could have been able to absorb the Malicious Grudge of Corpse Puppets for his own. No living man could withstand that amount of foul energy and emotions. But Xiao Chen could and this only proved that his physical body was something beyond the ordinary, least of all human!