The Immortal Emperor Returns

Chapter 270 So What If It’s A Buddhist Relic?

Wild winds raged and dark clouds swirled ominously overhead.

The giant golden bell shone brilliantly in the darkened atmosphere of the storm, its hymnic chorale of Buddhist mantras swaying to the undulating, shiny golden ripples of its magic.

A never-ending barrage of lightning bolts pummeled endlessly on the gigantic bell with glittering sparks bursting like fireworks.

“Strike all you want, Chu Xun. This is a Buddhist Sacred Relic and you’ll never defeat it! This shall be your doom!” Luo Fei gloated exultantly.

The rest of his Third-grade Human Kings reveled with renewed hope.

Boom!

The last ball lightning hurtled towards the huge golden bell, hitting it before extinguishing into a harmless fizzle.

Chu Xun, having observed everything glumly, waved a hand and cancelled his magic. At his behest, the lightning stop ceased and the dark clouds overhead dispelled.

This golden bell must be a top-tier Immortal Weapon.

The mere sight of the Buddhist Sacred Relic was enough to leave Chu Xun miffed. He always reserved a deep loathing towards the following of Buddhism, even during his former incarnation.

During troubled times, Buddhist sects and orders closed their doors shut to the pleas and clamor for help by the common folk while Taoist priests left the repose and tranquility of their monasteries to help them. Yet when peace and prosperity returned, the Taoist priests returned to their life of hermitage and seclusion and Buddhist monks left their temples and friary to collect alms and request acquisitions from the very masses they once refused their assistance to.

For all the time they spent and sanctimony they wielded like a standard as followers of Buddha, they mercilessly turned away helpless people and had their sights set upon earthly fineries like gold and riches instead.

Be it requests for help or relief to any difficulty, Buddhist monks are quick to attribute anything to Fate or Destiny.

Such was the pretense the monks commonly used with great alacrity, that they brandished it at every opportunity that peeked at them during their foray out among the masses to collect alms during peaceful and prosperous times, when they were the ones who had rebuffed the common folk’s plea for help.

It was a sight Chu Xun had seen one too many times during his time in the foreign domain. For the want of wealth or opportunities, Buddhist monks never shied away from killing and slaughter with their staves while shamelessly chanting their customary “Amitabha”.

So stemmed his deepest loathing for anything Buddhist, and here, a Buddhist Sacred Relic providing an umbrella of protection to the filth and scum of humanity and the notion was enough to infuriate Chu Xun.

“So what if it is a Sacred Relic of Buddhist nature!? Even if that is a Divine Relic, I’ll still wet the ground the blood of you and your ilk!”

Boom!

The air trembled with the magical energies surging from every pore of Chu Xun’s skin, now glowing with bright purplish specks. Inside him, his heart raced and his insides reverberated in resonance to his bubbling magical energies.

“Die.”

He swung his fists in quick succession, firing a pair of purplish energy bolts screaming through the air, dashing straight at the huge golden bell.

Bong!

The deep ringing of the bell portended the huge impact of the two blasts which could easily internally injure any warrior nearby as the Sacred Relic ceaselessly released more glittering waves of gold. The runic symbols engraved on the bell flickered in the dancing lights, its magic nullifying utterly the Hong Meng Immortal Qi bolts Chu Xun fired.

Looking sour, Chu Xun turned into a flash of light that jetted after the golden bell.

With one punch after another, he fired more energy blasts through the golden waves and gliding mirages of the runic symbols, before he landed another magically-imbued punch on the surface of the bell itself.

Hum!

A powerful sonic boom from the impact of his punch swept forth, eliciting a crisp litany of sizzling and crackling at the ozone being roasted by its sheer force.

The sonic boom knocked back many of the warriors spectating the battle with most of them feeling so dizzy that they nearly fainted, while many more looking sickly-pale.

Chu Xun fired another burst of magical energy with his fist. The bolt rumbled as it flew, passing unhindered through the rippling golden waves and floating runic images and striking hard on the face of the bell.

Bong!

A terrible sonic boom broke out, pulverizing even boulders and rocks into dust.

Bong! Bong!

Chu Xun pounded relentlessly on the bell, the sheer force of his punches caused more sonic booms to explode into multiple billowing rings sweeping forth like tidal waves.

“How do you find it, Chu the Devil?” Luo Fei jeered from inside the magical shield, firing an Internal Breath blast at Chu Xun.

Chu Xun sent a magic bolt at the incoming attack—one that was originally intended for the bell, and the two magical energies collided into each other, causing another huge explosion.

Chu Xun went back to striking the bell and Luo Fei went on taunting him, “Go on! Try harder!”

Chu Xun ignored the jab, producing instead a golden staff—the bone of the Ancestral Dragon. The long polearm shone radiantly in his grasp, its brilliance dwarfing even the luminescence of the giant bell.

Whoosh!

Brandishing the golden staff, Chu Xun brought it down furiously at the bell.

Boom!

The entire bell shook violently at the blow, and its golden energy barrier—the one that Luo Fei and his comrades were cowering inside of—trembled and wavered for one split-second. Even the golden waves of light and the glittering runic mirages fluttering around dimmed conspicuously.

Luo Fei’s face fell. He frantically channeled more of his Internal Breath into the bell, helping it to stabilize the energy shield.

Whoosh!

Chu Xun’s golden staff came down again for another strike at the gigantic bell.

Bong!

Part of the golden waves ceased, and some of the holographic runic mirages dissipated, and the cracks began appearing on the golden energy shield.

The Third-grade Human Kings could not help feeling worried. The shield could be failing any moment now.

“ALL TOGETHER!” Luo Fei rallied his cohorts, and he supplied more of his Internal Breath into the bell.

His allies quickly mustered their own powers too, injecting more Internal Breath to help strengthen the bell’s magic.

A deep, booming chime echoed from the Buddhist Sacred Relic, interweaving with the soft choral chants of Buddhist mantra in the golden ripples of waves sweeping from it, and the entire plateau filled with an empyrean and divine atmosphere.

Unfazed, Chu Xun coldly swung his golden staff again and again with dogged tenacity, using it to destroy the billowing magical waves and runic symbols floating everywhere.

Boom! Boom!

The magical waves and floating runic scripts of the bell began to show signs of failing, and in contrast, Chu Xun’s golden staff swirled with tendrils of Immortal Qi imbuing it.

Bringing it around for another blow, Chu Xun swung it hard, putting all his weight behind it.

Boom!

The huge golden bell shook again as if convulsing in pain and the golden energy shield protecting Luo Fei and his allies began to show webs of cracks that began spreading and elongating rapidly.

Bong!

Another hit struck on the bell and this time, a visible crack appeared on the surface of the Sacred Relic, a sign that it was not going to hold on for long.

“The bell! It’s almost destroyed!” cried a Third-grade Human King frantically.

Luo Fei turned into despair. This golden bell was a Sacred Relic that he found during his adventure into an unknown necropolis and retrieving it nearly cost him his life. Yet being angry, frustrated, and shocked was all he could do as Chu Xun went on with his furious and merciless rampage on the bell.

Whatever it was, that golden staff was too powerful a weapon.

Whoosh!

A purplish trail of sparkles tailed behind the motion of the golden staff as it reeled back again for another strike, and this time, it smote squarely on the face of the bell.

Crack!

The entire bell cracked and crumble, finally reaching its end all thanks to Chu Xun.

Urgh! Arghh!

The destruction of the bell caused a massive blowback to anyone who had channeled their magic into the Relic and the Third-grade Human Kings turned deathly pale.

“I’LL KILL YOU ALL!”

With a feral snarl, Chu Xun’s golden staff ripped through the golden barrier, hammering down viciously on a Third-grade Human King.

Bang!

The dying man set loose an agonizing howl as he lost more than half his body and torso in the blast of the golden staff.

“You’ll pay for this, Chu Xun!”

Luo Fei growled hatefully as he dashed near, his Internal Breath boiled like a steaming locomotive.

The other Third-grade Human Kings attacked too, firing several Inner Breath projectiles at Chu Xun.

But Chu Xun’s motion only grew more vigorous and forceful, his golden staff in a dance of destruction that wound up with unstopping bursts of shock waves from target it hit.

Bang! Bang!

The throbbing roars of the shock wave bursts pounded at the eardrums of everyone nearby while causing more explosive eruptions, rocking the ground and whisking up fogs of sand and dust.

Rumble!

The entire mountain shook suddenly. Loose rocks rolled off the sloppy and precipitous cliffs and fell off into deep, dark chasms, although one could have sworn that the surrounding peaks were also trembling as well.

Chu Xun ignored all that, keeping his focus on wrecking more havoc with his golden staff.

Bang!

A Third-grade Human King threw himself at Chu Xun, howling at the top of his voice with his arms outstretched in a desperate attempt to subdue him, yet before he could do anything, his eyes burst like a watermelon.

Then Chu Xun staggered. “No, wait...” he realized, This is not the shock wave from the hit, but rather, all of Mount of the Ancient Ruins was shaking.

Rumble!

The entire mountain let loose a loud, deafening groan as if it had come alive. Everywhere on the slopes, the soil and earth began breaking away as more and more lights struggled to pierce out, each of them jets of magical energy trying to escape the crust keeping them underneath, and slowly, more and more lights shot out from underground, and small jets interweaved together, forming large geysers of light surging up brilliantly.

Swoosh!

Knowing better than to carry on with his slaughter of Luo Fei and his cohorts, Chu Xun turned into a dash of light and raced downhill.

Something was wrong with this mountain, or whatever it was, and for a brief, transitory moment, Chu Xun felt his senses tingling with danger.

Luo Fei and his allies too noticed something was wrong, and they too, bolted down the slopes themselves.

Rumble!

The mountain rocked again, like a huge behemothic monster from the ancient eons rousing from a millennia-long slumber, trying to shake off any dust and soot off its back.

The ground ruptured more and more with numerous cracks spreading everywhere at an alarming rate as more jets of light surged from the underground, escaping their long imprisonment underground while kicking up sand and dust and turning over huge boulders and rocks.

“The ancient ruins!” a voice cried jubilantly, “It’s appearing!”

“The ancient ruins are appearing! There’s our chance for a Grail!”

“Go for it! Whoever finds it first wins!”

The spectating crowd of warriors turned into a pack of hungry mob that swarmed up the slopes instead.

“Come back, you fools!” Chu Xun shrieked at them, his voice blaring like a rolling thunder, “Something’s wrong with this mountain!”

But his cautions did little to extinguish the flames of the warriors ardor to acquire a Grail for themselves. They persisted pushing uphill, all of them an eager, screaming horde of madmen.

Like a huge stampede of mindless beasts, they rushed up the mountainside where the entire mountain began shining brightly and the warriors began combing everywhere anything of value.

The mountain gave another shake, like a jolting spasm that sent more rocks, trees, and soil flying into the air as its glowing brilliance could be seen from as far as five kilometers away.

A terrible flood of golden light burst forth.

“ARRRGGGHHH!”

Anguished howls began ringing from the top and every warrior who had made it to the top were all reduced to shreds by a strange golden light, their blood spilling and inundating the soil.

With an unseen malice, the golden burst of light spread like a long, giant whirlpool of golden luminescence spinning on the top of the mountain, its magical powers leveling the rest of the other mountain peaks in the surrounding, causing them to tumble and fall.

The warriors who barely made it up stopped in their tracks and stared up, bewildered and stupefied for seconds before reality set in for them and they realized doom was upon them. Then, succumbing to panic and terror, they screamed and howled as they rushed back the path they came up from.

“Chu the Devil!” Luo Fei bellowed at him from a thousand meters away, “Did you not like saving people? Why aren’t you helping them?”

But he did, and he would. He rushed back to the foot of the mountain and began moving uphill, using his Immortal Qi to blast hundreds of warriors off the mountain so that the golden light would not reach them.

“Let’s see who’s faster, Chu the Devil,” Luo Fei guffawed maniacally, “Whether I can kill them faster than you can save them!” He reached out a hand and magically summoned to his grasp a Grandmaster, and he hurled the poor man back up the mountain like a ball.

Chu Xun saw this and he performed a speedy sidestep to where he anticipated the Grandmaster would fall, where he grabbed at him by his ankles and pulled him away before he could hit the mountain.

Fortunately, the ripple of golden destructive light seemed to only spread sideways instead of moving downhill, lest none of the warriors could escape unscathed.

“How about this, Chu the Devil?” Luo Fei flailed an arm, blasting more warriors up the hill.

The whirlpool of light gave another burst, like a hungry monster joyful at the prospect of more food. The warriors cried in shock as they flew up; they had seen what the golden light could do. With just a light graze, anyone could be ripped into shreds.

Chu Xun flailed an arm and fired several Reincarnation Lines. The gossamer threads wrapped around their legs and yanked them back before the golden light could claim them.

“Together!” Luo Fei yelled.

His allies—the remaining Third-grade Human Kings—sprang into action. One by one, they each tossed more warriors up the mountain like feeding fodder to a crocodile.

Swoosh!

Hundreds more Reincarnation Lines shot into the air, coiling around their waists, arms, legs, pulling them back down to safety.

“Hahahahaha! The race is on, Chu the Devil! Let’s see who’s faster!” Luo Fei taunted gloatingly.

A few Third-grade Human Kings and Luo Fei, a Fourth-grade Human King, began their merciless savagery. No ordinary warriors could ever hope to withstand their powers and might and all of them ended up being tossed or blasted up the hill.

In just a short time, several hundred warriors were pelted up like sacrifices.

Chu Xun swung his arms frantically, summoning tens of thousands Reincarnation Lines that formed a huge webbed net around the mountainside to catch them before they hit earth.

Luo Fei’s expression darkened. With the net weaved by Reincarnation Lines in place, they could no longer throw any warriors to their deaths.

But Chu Xun was already upon them. As soon as his net was ready, he had charged straight at Luo Fei and his confederates, determine to strike them down before they could do more damage.

A Fusang wandering warrior threw himself forward, drawing a curved scimitar which blade gleamed menacingly. He swung it furiously, firing a bolt of energy at Chu Xun.

With a slap, Chu Xun effortlessly deflected it away before landing another punch on the blade, shattering it to pieces. Then he drove another fist into the chest of the Fusang wanderer and fired a blast of Hong Meng Immortal Qi, sending the man crashing away with an excruciating howl with an impaled wound in his chest the size of his hand.

Swoosh!

With another volley of Hong Meng Immortal Qi, Chu Xun blasted the Fusang man to bits.

He wheeled around and attack another Third-grade Human King.

Boom!

The enemy fell to the ground on his back with blood pouring out of his mouth and his arms utterly severed.

Luo Fei hurtled over to Chu Xun with his Internal Breath mustered at the ready. He threw forth both his fists, sending forth a pair of magic bolts with so much concentrated energy that the air trembled when they came near.

Chu Xun responded with a similar attack: he thrust both his fists forward, launching two purple energy bolts of his own.

Boom!

The collision of the missiles created a huge shock and heat wave that threw everyone nearby off their feet and the force even internally injuring some of the warriors that they coughed up mouthfuls of blood.

Chu Xun hardly bulged from his spot, but the force from the blast had planted his foot deep into the ground.

Luo Fei was sent careening away before crashing to the ground, creating a long and deep trench. His arms throbbed with agony and he looked at Chu Xun, aghast with horror.

Chu Xun flickered and vanished, appearing right over him with his fists on the ready.

Bang! Bang! Bang...!

There was no finesse in the blows Chu Xun hammered on his foe – only raw, brutal punishments that elicited shock waves after shock waves from each blow and the ground threatening to split under the crumpled heap that was Luo Fei.

Puff!

With one final uppercut, Luo Fei was sent flying again, spewing more blood from his mouth. Then he hit the ground, lying in a mangled heap in the center of a wide crater.