Chapter 146 (2/2)

The rest of the mob who were earlier clamoring for his blood had fallen silent, watching with gaping amazement at the man who lorded over them with the sheer might and semblance of demons of Hell! Gripped by fear and awe, the mob began to recede slowly down the steps.

Far away from the dais, Yu Yifeng and Luo Shangyan could hardly believe what they were witnessing, their faces aghast with bewilderment and awe. Murong Xian’er hid behind Xiao Chen’s back, gasping between her convulsive sobs, “Please stop, Big Brother Xiao Chen… Please…” as the horrors of her former demonic mutation returned to haunt her.

Xiao Chen marched forward imperiously as if he had heard nothing. Channeling his powers again, Xiao Chen sent forth another seismic wave of Devil Qi, the corrosive tide sweeping across the floors of the square. But the blow was stopped; a group of elders held a defensive line against the advancing wave of death. Upon their own lives they swore, that Xiao Chen must never be allowed to walk free.

Zhang Qinglian had witnessed with his own eyes how his prized student had so effortlessly defeated by Xiao Chen. Not knowing if Ye Wuhen was still alive, Zhang Qinglian wrestled against the agony of grief. He understood that he alone was hardly a match for Xiao Chen in his present state. “Slay all villains and evildoers!” He cried, stoking the flames and instigating the mob further, “Raise the banner of the Right and Just!”

“Very good! I will draw first blood by first butchering you!” Xiao Chen heard him and roared, his anger erupting. His fists smote at Zhang Qinglian’s direction and a barrage of black fumes materialized in the shape of a gigantic fist streaked towards the latter.

“NOOO! Xiao Chen!” Yu Yifeng screamed at his friend. There would be no turning back for Xiao Chen if he had indeed killed the leader of the Penglai Island Sect. But there was simply no one who could now stand against Xiao Chen in his present state.

Just when the fist-like silhouette of black fumes almost crashed into Zhang Qinglian, a blinding furor of steel gleamed, dispelling the black fumes with concerted efforts. It was the group of elders from the other sects! Together as one, they had stopped Xiao Chen’s strike and saved Zhang Qinglian from immediate death. “How dare you try to commit murder here!” One of them sneered coldly, “Have you forgotten our presence!”

Xiao Chen took one ominous step forward, stomping hard on the flagstones of the dais, crushing them into bits and pieces. “You lot were the ones who dared offend me first!” He channeled more power with the accursed Heaven’s Talisman technique, his consciousness still clinging desperately to his last shred of sanity. The growing malice in his chest, his consequence for using the Heaven’s Talisman, was threatening to corrupt him! His eyes traveled for a fleeting moment to Yu Yifeng. The quick glimpse of his friend and the only brotherly figure to him supplied him with another shot of motivation to not let the murderous grudge within him to grow.

“Lame excuses!” The Elder of the Vermillion Bird retorted. He was earlier stunned by Xiao Chen’s display of his might earlier. But Zhang Qinglian’s instigations and the sight of more people protesting against Xiao Chen filled him with resolve to act. He traded quick looks with his two colleagues, and they leaped off the dais to rejoin another group of Core Forming Realm cultivators.

The group of more than ten cultivators began chanting; their spell beginning to form and weave a magical forcefield that shrouded over Xiao Chen like a dome. The barrier was so powerful that Xiao Chen, despite his invincible might, was unable to break free.

“Amitabha…” Master Xuanji lamented from afar. His head was shaking sadly as he sighed, himself laying witness to a reenactment of the fateful incident that had taken place thousands of years before, as the lore of the distant past went.

“ARGHHH!” Xiao Chen roared with all his might, his hair now flailing wildly about his shoulders as his semblance began to take a more feral change into one akin to a demented beast. He hammered and beat around with all his might, trying hopelessly to shatter the magical formation that held him, but to no avail. Outside, the group of more than ten cultivators continued reciting the incantations to continue upholding the integrity of the barrier, an incessant warble of chants that caused only pain to Xiao Chen.

“AARRRGGGH!” Xiao Chen bellowed with agony, his eyes bloodshot and maniacal. He tried frantically to cover his ears but it hardly helped to keep the voices from assailing him from all sides. Catcalls and whoops of joy rang from the crowd that watched from outside, cheering for the elders to continue their magic that never stopped tormenting Xiao Chen.

Watching Xiao Chen in pain, Luo Shangyan wanted to leap onto the dais to help him, but she was held back again and again by the female Jade Qing Sect disciples. Murong Xian’er, long drenched in tears, threw herself into the air. She invoked her magic, herself swathed in a soft and gentle radiance like a fairy from Heaven.

Her eyes were clenched closed as she too, began weaving a spell of her own; her fingers performing hand seals and her lips uttering magical words of command. A brilliant shaft of light hit upon the outer periphery of Xiao Chen’s magical prison, slowly weakening its strength. But her actions did not go unnoticed; Sikong Yun, who was watching from a distance, realized what she was doing. He immediately understood that Murong Xian’er was trying to help free Xiao Chen. With a flutter of his robes, he disappeared from where he stood, racing quickly in mid-air toward the unwary Murong Xian’er.

The little girl was only too concentrated in working her magic, that she did not notice Sikong Yun upon her until the last moment. With a merciless grip he clenched her throat tightly, Sikong Yun yanked her away violently and landed on the ground, dragging her with him. “DO NOT HARM HER!” Xiao Chen roared from his captivity, “SPILL BUT ONE DROP OF HER BLOOD AND I’LL MAKE SURE THAT NONE OF YOU SURVIVES!”

But Sikong Yun instead tightened his grip on the poor Murong Xian’er’s throat. “Sever your own meridian channels, knave!” He hissed insidiously, “Or I’ll first begin by slaughtering this witch!”

Xiao Chen could only blindly watch as Murong Xian’er suffered in pain, his eyes almost bursting out of his head in fury. “Big Brother…” She choked, “Don’t worry about me… There’re two points in the Southeast; three points in the Northwest, switch both ‘Li’ and ‘Kan’ positions…”

“Silence!” Sikong Yun barked. He jabbed hard at one of her acupuncture points, preventing her from speaking any more.

“ARRGGGH!” Xiao Chen howled. With the ferocity of a demonic beast from the depths of Hell, his fists bashed relentlessly at the barrier with all the Devil Qi he could muster. With each bash, he sent quivers of shock pulsating through the entire mountain. Like a battering ram trying to bring down a tower, the intensity and sheer power of his strokes tested the defenses of the barrier to its limits that the elders had to continue weaving more magic to quickly replace the layers that crumbled.

“SHATTER!” Xiao Chen thundered again, unleashing another barrage of dark energies so strong that cracks began to form on the dome of the magical forcefield.

The last stroke almost collapsed the integrity of the barrier. The crowd was held to a tense and uneasy silence. It took the collective strength and efforts of more than ten elders of the Core Forming Realm to keep on restoring the magical barrier. Yet now, the magic of the barrier which they had so perilously sustained was beginning to show signs of deteriorating! Was Xiao Chen’s present strength nearing the Nascent Soul Realm? The depths of his limits were simply unfathomable!

The expressions of the elders, previously proud and stern, were now replaced with those of worried and fearful. Some of the warriors leaped from the crowd and began injecting their True Energy to help to supplement the reparations of the magical barrier. But before the magic of the barrier could restore itself, Xiao Chen emitted another savage roar, sending forth another shockwave of Devil Qi.

The magical barrier that the elders had so painstakingly tried to preserve immediately shattered like brittle ice. They, with the tens of warriors that had tried to help them, were immediately thrown backward by the extraordinarily strong wave of raw power, their mouths gurgling with blood spewing from their guts.

When the clouds of dust subsided, everyone below was aghast to see a lone figure still standing tall upon the dais. There was Xiao Chen, terrible and fearsome to all, his body engulfed by a huge ball of hellish flames. The palls of Devil Qi radiating from his person hardly diminished, instead, they permeated from his very self with the strength of the tide. Slowly, Xiao Chen turned to face Sikong Yun, his eyes gleaming with icy hatred.

“Release her…”