The fuming Shu Wanqing snickered cruelly. âKid, is this you giving up all hope and saying to hell with everything? Are you trying to make me mad enough to kill you outright and spare you further torture? How naive! Do you think Iâll let you off so easily?â
He bristled with vicious venom. There shouldâve been no irreconcilable hatred between them, but he just hated the young man. The mere sight of Jiang Chen prompted unspeakable disgust.
For that reason, heâd lowered himself and assisted the supreme lord of the Order, even risking an ambush on the Gunuo villageâs prince to incite an invasion.
In fact, though heâd never admit it, he was simply jealous of a brat becoming mankindâs leader and shining brighter than him. An empyrean master like him ought to be the one acclaimed as humanityâs leader!
He was indifferent to mankindâs fortunes, but since heâd come out of seclusion, the domain ought to naturally have revolved around him. He didnât want to shoulder humanityâs future, but Jiang Chen wasnât allowed to either.
A youngster taking on the role when an empyrean master wasnât? What would the whole world think? It was simply a slap to the face for empyrean powerhouses everywhere.
One had to say, the empyrean expert was truly a twisted state of mind. He himself refused the responsibility, but no one else could steal his thunder and stand in the limelight.
Jiang Chen stayed indifferent, but his lips curved in a small contemptuous smile. This so-called hidden human expert was a thorough disappointment.
Heâd been hopeful. A domain so vast ought to have a few hidden masters. But Shu Wanqing had instantly doused all of his hopes. If every hidden master was like him, then Jiang Chen hoped for all of them to quickly enter the cycle of reincarnation.
Xiahou Jing stepped forward and fixed the young lord with a deep stare.
âJiang Chen, you defeated me last time. Today, itâs my turn to defeat you in my own territory. That makes us even, but you owe me the lives of many close aides. We need to carefully settle this account.â
When it came to hatred for Jiang Chen, he felt much more strongly than Shu Wanqing. Rather than simple loathing and ostracism, his was a true blood feud.
âAnd how exactly do you plan on doing that?â Jiang Chen was the picture of serenity.
âHow about I put your head on a pike and parade it in front of your army?â Xiahou Jing snickered.
âYou wouldnât dare.â Jiang Chen shook his head. âHow is your mob going to contend with the Embittered Savages with me gone?â
Xiahou Jing laughed out loud. âThe Savages? Who says I have to face them?â
Jiang Chenâs eyes slowly narrowed into slits. âSo youâve come from Myriad Abyss Island simply to destroy the human domain without a care for mankindâs survival.â
âRight on the money. As a descendant of glorious forebears, I represent mankindâs true lineage. Youâre just sons of ancient rejects. How will humanity right itself and flourish once more if you donât die off?â Xiahou Jing flushed with excitement.
âTrue lineage? Is that what you call a bunch of cowards and deserters? What a joke.â Jiang Chen shook his head. âDrop the nonsense. Show me what youâve got.â The young lordâs eyelids drooped as if his situation wasnât all that precarious.
Xiahou Jing almost exploded at the sight.
âBrat, looks like you donât know to repent even when at deathâs doorstep!â In fact, he hadnât intended on bickering. His goal was to capture Jiang Chen. It would have been childâs play to kill him, but he was far more valuable alive.
Xiahou Jing threw Shu Wanqing a glance. The latter immediately caught his drift and stepped forward. With a slight shake of the foot, his figure blurred into eight Shu Wanqings in the blink of an eye.
âBrutal Mirror Image?â Jiang Chen saw straight through the old manâs tricks with the Evil Golden Eye. Even so, the mighty aura of an empyrean master suddenly pressed on him with the weight of a mountain. He could barely breathe.
âKid, time to learn how weak you are!â Shu Wanqingâs voice seemed to echo from every direction. An empyrean aura was as if a profound force of heaven and earth in full control of all matter.
Strands of consciousness shot at Jiang Chenâs mind. Shu Wanqing clearly wanted to assault both his targetâs body and his soul, destroying the junior without a fight.
But would Jiang Chen succumb so easily?
He was fully prepared. When Shu Wanqing launched his mirror images, heâd raised his hands and spewed forth odd beams of light from his palms that became the unrolling of magnificent painting scrolls the next moment.
The mysterious scrolls opened in the air, growing boundlessly, infinitely, creating layer upon layer of intersecting space.
âWhatâs going on?â
The scene blurred. When the Orderâs men came to their senses, they found themselves in a strange nothingness. Theyâd been drawn into a staggered space formed by the scrolls and built into the superposition of many labyrinths. The alien space had become a dimension of its own with no entrance or exit, seeming to extend to the end of the universe.
Like lost lambs, the crowd paled, their eyes flashing with inexplicable fear.
Shu Wanqing had been no exception, but heâd quickly quashed his alarm thanks to his experience. Now calm once again, he shouted in warning, âDonât panic! This is a space formation, an illusion that confuses our senses!â
Xiahou Jing remained collected as well. He ordered, âStay calm, all of you. Donât wander off on your own or you might be ambushed by the kid!â
In an entirely unfamiliar dimension, what other outcomes could there be if they were to run all over the place? He was too clever to give in to fear and play into his opponentâs hands.
Everyone gathered together around Xiahou Jing and Shu Wanqing as if by tacit accord, forming a protective ring around them.
His eyes sharp, Shu Wanqing spread his consciousness outwards, searching for the slightest flaw that could offer an escape road.
âDaoist Shu, whatâs with this formation? Can you figure anything out?â Xiahou Jing was at his witsâ end despite his vast knowledge.
Shu Wanqing responded lowly, âThe scrolls create dimensional labyrinths. They all seem identical and itâs impossible to tell them apart. Tut if we donât, weâll be trapped inside forever.â
âIs there no other way? For example, can we break out by force?â Xiahou Jiang champed at the bit. Heâd planned on capturing Jiang Chen moments ago, but the situation had been overturned faster than he could blink. The hunters had become the prey. This sudden reversal was impossible for him to endure.
Standing outside the formation, Jiang Chen didnât allow them any respite.
Holy Dragon Bow in hand, he deployed his own consciousness. A ray of light surged from the chain seal in his mind, guiding his arrow as it whistled through the air like the roar of a dragon and punctured a Celestial Starâs head in a geyser of blood!
The man died before he could react.
Several elders nearby paled with fright as the body toppled down with a thump. The elderâs death was an enormous psychological blow, making them realize in despair just how fragile human life was, and how easily it could be snuffed away.
âNext!â Jiang Chenâs voice rumbled in the air. The Holy Dragon Bow fired again.
Arrows shot forward like meteors. Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Three of them flew in succession this time, like waves propelling each other forward with increasing momentum and tremendous firepower.
The Order had been prepared, but the premises was truly too narrow for all them crowded together. Those caught in the middle had no leeway to move out of the way!
Pfft, pfft!
A protector king dodged an arrow out of pure luck, but the two elders at his side were struck at almost the same time. Just like the previous elder, one arrow was all itâd taken to reap their lives!
Four arrows had harvested three lives. Seeing such a terrifying development, the elders scattered in every direction like frightened birds.
Even Shu Wanqing shouted, âEveryone spread out. Create some space! The closer you clump, the more targets youâre giving him and the more likely you are to be hit!â
With so many gathered together, even a blind shot would easily find a mark. The logic was easy enough to understand.
Even without his warning, the elders had already begun to scatter outwards on their own initiative. Clever people sought shelter with their neighbors to use as meat shields, while fools ran into each other like headless chickens.
Panic and chaos engulfed the scene.
Xiahou Jing seethed while Shu Wanqingâs face darkened. How could either of them endure being made fools of by a young man?
âSupreme Lord, this canât go on or the kid will pick them off one by one!â Shu Wanqing cared little about these peopleâs survival, but the arrows seemed powerful enough to threaten his own life. The specter of death might close in on him if this were to go on.
He wouldnât have been afraid of a few arrows under normal circumstances. But they were now trapped like caged beasts. The conditions and terrain were both to their disadvantage.
They would truly be done for if they didnât find a way to escape, and fast!