The Immortal Emperor Returns

Chapter 398 The Contest!

There was not a man that day who was not undaunted by Chu Xun’s callous ruthlessness.

Qi’s question to Chu Xun about how many men he had killed before remained still vivid as ever in everyone’s mind.

And he answered that he had killed too many people that he lost count.

Long Qingquan and his group of fellow elderly seniors had dismissed it as just a mere exaggeration and thought nothing more of it. Little did they realize then that Chu Xun’s meaning was quite literal.

The savage viciousness he displayed during the one-sided slaughter of Long Kai and the others made everyone shivered with fear.

Long Yi and his men rejoined Chu Xun once the dead bodies had been dealt with.

Chu Xun pretended to ignore them and continued talking with Qi and the children.

Long Yi and his men stood obediently beside them and did not interrupt them.

Chu Xun left them there for more than an hour before turning around to face them.

“Do you admit to your fault?”

Long Yi lowered his head, “We do.”

“Do you understand what your fault was?”

“No,” responded Long Yi.

Boom!

Chu Xun’s hand shot up and fired a burst of purplish energy without warning, blasting Long Yi and his men off their feet.

There was no way that Long Yi and his men – numbering to several dozen – could weather such a blow. Chu Xun’s attack blasted right through their protective aura.

“I’ll tell you,” said Chu Xun, visibly displeased, “As members of the Silver Dragon Guard, you sat on your hands and did nothing while Long Kai plotted his mutiny. That was your fault.”

“By right, I should be stripping all you lot of your powers. But I need men and that is the only reason you still have your powers now. But show any sight of wavering and you won’t be.”

Long Yi and the others looked horrified. Inside them, their blood was bubbling like boiling water from Chu Xun’s blow and they swallowed hard and struggled to calm themselves down before they would incur severe internal injuries.

This and Chu Xun’s earlier execution-style massacre of Long Kai and the rest of the rebels were proof enough that any manner of treachery would only result in their deaths. Naturally, that also meant that Chu Xun could, just as he claimed, easily strip them of their magic if he so chose to.

Everyone stood up, hanging their heads in shame.

Coldly, Chu Xun said to them, “You want to see the outside world, do you not? Very well then. You have your wish.”

Chu Xun chose ten from the number, including Long Yi.

Deciding it a hassle to memorize their names, Chu Xun gave them all new names, starting from Long Yi (literally, Dragon the First) to Long Shi (literally, Dragon the Tenth).

Long Yi was the only Ninth-grade Human King of Chu Xun’s handpicked Silver Dragon Guard, with the rest of the nine Eighth-grade Human Kings and he was made captain of this squad.

Growing up as hunters, they were all extremely skilled with the bow and arrow.

But the sight of them carrying their two to three meters long cast-iron bows and quivers bothered Chu Xun.

In a fit of generosity, he gave Long Yi and his squad each a Storage Ring to put away their munitions.

The remainder of the Silver Dragon Guard who were not chosen could only look with envy.

“Stay the course in your training. I have no need for wretched trash and I will be back. If you’ve reached Eighth-grade by then, you can come and fight for me and trust that these rewards shall also be yours one day.”

Such was Chu Xun’s command: reach Eighth-grade and they would qualify to join him to see the outside world.

Next, Chu Xun taught them all how to forge arrows using only their magical aura.

Without any jealousy, he imparted the same technique to Long Qingquan. Improved by Chu Xun himself, he thought that it suited the people of Silver Dragonsville too.

Being the immensely-gifted warrior he was, Long Yi learned quickly. Before long, he could already draw his bowstring and fire white arrow-like energy bolts into the air.

Bang!

His arrow struck a gigantic boulder, smashing it into little bits.

Eventually, the rest of his squad began to see improvements and success.

Chu Xun stayed for another week where he made sure everyone had fully mastered the skill of shaping arrow-like bolts and left them copious amounts of supplies to help them with their training before taking Long Yi and the rest of the Silver Dragon Guard with him.

He had to admit that Long Yi was indeed blessed with great flair and talent. By the time of their departure, Long Yi could already forge two arrow-like bolts out of thin air at will.

If he could fully master this magic, he would be able to conjure nine energy bolts at the same time.

At Chu Xun’s behest, Long Yi and his men left Silver Dragonsville and departed the enchanted lands of their forefathers where they had lived all their life.

Chu Xun and his squad of Silver Dragon Guard arrived back at the Fire Dragon Palace.

“Urm, Master?! These are…?”

Like curious little infants, Yan Chong, Lei Bao, and Long Ao observed Long Yi and his men with interest.

In their roughspun tunic especially when two of their number with their muscular frames in full display with their animal furs and skin, Long Yi and his squad looked unusually odd and weird.

The three stared at each other. “What’s this?! Visitors from the past?!”

But apparently, Long Yi and his squad realized that too. They began to see that their clothing made them very queer indeed in today’s society.

“Have you three gawked enough?” scowled Chu Xun. He expected more of these three to show more manners.

“Urm… Master, are these primitives?!” muttered an ill-bred Long Ao.

Chu Xun could not have been any more exasperated. “Just wait till you see how powerful they are. You three would look more like the primitives here.”

“Are they?” uttered Yan Chong doubtfully. He could feel not even a shred of aura from Long Yi and his men.

The magic and skills Emperor Ao imparted to the line of the Silver Dragon Guard included methods to mask their powers. Ordinary people, including warriors whose powers were very much lower than theirs like Long Ao, Yan Chong, and Lei Bao here, would never be able to measure their strengths.

“All three of you,” Chu Xun grinned at them, “Defeat one of these so-called primitives and you’ll win five hundred Middle-grade magical shrubs.”

The eyes of Yan Chong and the others shone with greed and anticipation.

“Is this for real, Master?!” asked Yan Chong at once.

Chu Xun nodded.

Gleefully, all three of them huddled around to discuss.

“All right. We choose him, Master,” said Yan Chong with a finger pointing at Long Shi.

They discovered that Long Shi was the youngest out of the group by judging his bone age.

“Long Shi.”

The lean but sinewy-framed Long Shi stepped forward. His tanned complexion made him look more like a farmhand than a warrior, although he has a bright and stern stare. Respectfully, he uttered, “Your orders, Master?”

“Don’t hurt them,” said Chu Xun.

“Understood.” Long Shi nodded.

Hardly amused, Yan Chong and the others began grumbling, “Please don’t say that you think we’d lose, Master!? That’s not demeaning at all!”

Chu Xun merely grinned in response.

“How old are you, young chap?” Yan Chong asked Long Shi.

Long Shi stole a look at Chu Xun and got an approving nod before he sheepishly answered, “I’m a hundred this year.”

Yan Chong and the others stared blankly at him. That would make him half their age.

“It’s still not too late to give up now, my friend,” Lei Bao boomed as loudly as a bell. “Don’t go off screaming how we bullied you if you lose, okay?”

“Try defeating him first,” scowled Chu Xun at them, cutting them off. He led them all to the parade square of the Palace and summoned every acolyte and student of the Palace to assemble and watch the battle.

Several hundred of the Palace’s acolytes and students congregated and they threw at Long Yi and his men strange and bizarre stares.

“All right, let’s do this!”

Yan Chong and the others rubbed their palms expectantly.

“Hold it,” said Chu Xun suddenly. “You’ve been talking about winning. But what if you lose?”

“The same wager as the last. We’ll clean up the Palace from top to bottom—,” said Lei Bao before even thinking it through.

Yan Chong pulled him aside before he could finish, giggling, “Urm, perhaps we should first talk about it.”

“Is Lei Bao an idiot?! They would have been dead halfway if not for that huge rain the last time!”

After some discussion, Yan Chong finally announced, “We have a consensus, Master. We’ll give up every piece of supplies to them if we lose.”

“So be it then,” agreed Chu Xun.

“Shall we begin then, Master?” said Yan Chong.

Chu Xun nodded, giving his assent.

“All right, my young friend. Let’s get this over with,” said Yan Chong to Long Shi.

Long Shi nodded and flicked his wrist, retrieving his iron bow from inside his Storage Ring.

With a lunging roar, Yan Chong, Lei Bao, and Long Ao threw themselves at Long Shi.

The youngest member of the Silver Dragon Guard drew the bowstring to its fullest and released it.

Swoosh!

A white shaft of light appeared for one fleeting second before barreling through the air and shot straight at Yan Chong like a bolt of lightning.

That caught Yan Chong by surprise. The white shaft came too quickly. Hastily, Yan Chong summoned his powers and conjured a four-layered protective aura while his hand came up to fire a jet of energy at the white energy bolt.

Boom!

Winds thrashed around as a result of the impact. The white shaft of light blasted apart Yan Chong’s jet of Internal Breath without even losing any speed while it defeated his protective aura and exploded in a dreadful eruption.

“ARGGHH!” cried Yan Chong. The force threw him off his feet and he fell several hundred meters away.

“Yan!”

The sight of Yan Chong being shot down left Lei Bao and Long Ao stunned when they were about to charge and they quickly backtracked towards their fallen friend.

“Are you all right, Yan!?”

They rushed to him and helped him up.

But they barely got near when Yan Chong sprang up to his feet, his face utterly red. He patted his chest and complained, “I’m fine! I was just careless! The bolt’s too soft that it felt only like a scratch.”

Lei Bao and Long Ao heaved breaths of relief. If the shaft just now was enough to incapacitate Yan Chong, then they might as well just admit defeat and surrender.

And they took his word for it, believing that it was only an innocent mistake on Yan Chong’s part and Long Shi’s magic was nowhere near dangerous at all.

But Chu Xun was doubled over with laughter on the inside. He could see that Yan Chong was only pretending. Long Shi’s arrow might have not been lethal, but the pain was real.

Jade Rabbit crept over. She saw Chu Xun grinning broadly by himself and chirped sweetly, “Big Brother.”

Chu Xun peered at the bunny tails Jade Rabbit wore and chuckled. Even after twenty years, Jade Rabbit still looked pretty much the same young lass he first met long ago.

“Come have a seat!”

Jade Rabbit sat down on the granite stool next to Chu Xun and her curious, sapphire-like eyes stared at Long Yi and the rest of his squad dutifully standing behind Chu Xun.

“Who are these people, Big Brother?” she asked.

That reminded Chu Xun of something. “Jade Rabbit. I need a favor.”

The adorable Jade Rabbit smiled and nodded, her fake bunny ears wobbled with her motion, making her even more lovely.

“Please help me get these guys some clothes, Jade Rabbit. It’d best be combat apparel,” said Chu Xun. Things like these were usually best left in the delicate hands of ladies.

“All right, leave it to me!” Jade Rabbit tapped her chest confidently, her bosomy chest undulating with its extraordinary mass which had often left many other females blush with jealousy and her petite frame only managed to accentuate her assets.

“So tell me your sizes after this, okay?” said Jade Rabbit to Long Yi.

But all she got were incredulous and dubious looks from them.

“Urm… What’s a ‘size’?” uttered Long Yi after almost seconds’ worth of silence.

Jade Rabbit’s large and bright eyes opened even wider as if she was looking at a bunch of aliens.

Chu Xun groaned with an embarrassed smile, remembering how the people of Silver Dragonsville made their own clothing without any observance to standard clothing sizes.

“I’m afraid you’ll need to measure their sizes for them, Jade Rabbit,” he said.

Jade Rabbit nodded obediently, but the brief episode only increased her curiosity about Long Yi and his men. But that was it, only pure inquisitiveness.

Meanwhile, Yan Chong rallied his companions for another charge at Long Shi, yelling a wordless battle cry at the top of his lungs.

Unfazed, Long Shi drew his bowstring to his ear and released.

Swoosh!

Another arrow of pure white brilliance screamed viciously through the air, streaking towards Lei Bao who was leading the charge.

Yan Chong, being the sly person he was, screamed the loudest, but he learned from experience to keep himself lagging behind.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

But Long Shi was not idle; he fired arrow-like energy bolts at Long Ao and Yan Chong as well.