The Immortal Emperor Returns

Chapter 376 Strike in the Dark

Lights blazed alive as if to herald the coming of the night.

A group of ten men appeared from the darkness, each of them cloaked in dark hoods and stormed in through the main gates of the Rock Sect stronghold blatantly and arbitrarily.

“People of the Chu Mansion, show yourselves!”

Hum!

Hum!

High-powered spotlights lighted up in unison, flooding the whole compound of the stronghold with illumination like the midday sun.

Yan Yi, Tang Rou, Jiu You, and the others appeared.

“Scums of the Broken Souls Cult! You’ve terrorized us long enough!” bellowed Yan Yi angrily.

One of the ten, a lone figure who perched on top of a roof with a full view of the courtyard regarded the Rock Sect members with contempt, “You should be grateful that we needed you to be whetstones for the men, or I would have already slaughtered you all since the very beginning.”

“As if you can,” scoffed Hong Ling.

The lone hooded figure was none other than the Eighth-grade Human King of the squad today. He stared at Hong Ling with unmasked hunger in his eyes.

“It’s a shame killing beauties like you. You and that girl, I will keep you both alive. The men have been working hard and tired and I’m sure you both will make fitting prizes.”

The rest of the nine hooded Human Kings began to look at Hong Ling and Tang Rou with equal lust.

“Can I have that little girl, Chief?” one of the hooded men pointed at Yan Yan.

“I want that one. I love young-looking ones,” said another, referring to Jiu You.

“They say pedos usually have weeny manhood,” chortled another hooded man.

“Damn you! Mine’s definitely larger than yours! Let’s compare!” scowled the second man in jest.

“Come, let’s compare then!”

Smugly, these men exchanged vulgar jokes right there, ignoring Yan Yi and the Rock Sect members.

“All right then. Keep the women,” said the Eighth-grade Human King loudly, still unable to take his eyes off Tang Rou. With a lascivious grin, he said, “They say this is the Devil’s heartthrob. Take her back and let the rest enjoy her. Let’s see if the Devil’s woman is better than the whores we’re accustomed to.”

“All right, this little lolita’s mine!” guffawed the Human King who had taken a liking to Jiu You. He was confident he could defeat Jiu You, being a similarly-ranked Sixth-grade Human King, and he charged at her.

“Get away, you filthy pig! I don’t want scum like you! I’m marrying Chu Xun when I grow up!” Jiu You burst with rage, her lithe and petite frame sped forward like a lightning bolt to meet her enemy.

The Human King did nothing to evade her. He opened his arms wide and roared with laughter, “Come! Let Uncle give you a kiss!”

Whoosh!

A bright golden sparkle burst out and Jiu You brandished her golden halberd, thrusting it furiously.

That took the man by surprise. The sudden appearance of the halberd sent a chill down his spine and cold sweat oozing out of his skin that he almost turned around and fled.

Urgh!

But it was too late. The halberd’s devastating magic easily punctured his protective aura and plunged into his chest.

Jiu You withdrew her polearm furiously, churning up a huge spray of blood.

The hooded Human King was taken aback with anger; he could have died if Jiu You had not withdrawn her halberd.

“You won’t die cleanly. You don’t deserve that mercy. You’ll die with dozens or even hundreds of holes around you!” shrieked Jiu You, waving her halberd as she gave chase.

The hooded man roared with frustration and summoned his powers to fight Jiu You head-on.

“Do it. Leave no one but the girls,” commanded the Eighth-grade Human King coldly.

“KILL THEM ALL!”

The rest of the hooded Human Kings launched their assault.

“KILL THEM ALL!”

Yan Yi cried and everyone stormed forward too.

Up atop the roof, the Eighth-grade Human King watched quietly and his eyes constricted with disbelief when Yan Yi and the rest of the defenders each produced Sacred Relics of their own.

With new Sacred Relics, Yan Yi and the defenders were able to fight more ably.

Urgh!

With one slice of his saber, Yan Yi destroyed the protective aura of his foe, leaving also a horrifying gash that never stopped spewing blood.

Chink!

Armed with her dual-handed sabers, Hong Ling deftly carved through her enemy’s protective aura with the longer half of the two sabers while cleaving off his leg with the other shorter one and more blood drenched the ground.

Sizzle!

Yan Yan activated her Thundering Hammer, firing a bolt of lightning that incinerated her foe’s protective aura, crashing him into the ground with his chest smoking and charred.

Meanwhile, Tang Rou, her sword imbued with a shiny-white glow, managed to injure her foe by stabbing at his shoulder.

Jiu You remained the most ferocious fighter in the field. The golden halberd became a superb instrument of death in her grasp as trails of rippling golden currents followed in the wake of its every swing and thrust.

Her enemy never stopped shrieking with pain. Before long, the hooded man was bloodied with more than a dozen wounds all over him.

Jiu You could have easily killed him if she wanted to.

As Jiu You punctured her foe, again and again, she, well aware of her surroundings despite the pandemonium, swung her halberd around to deliver a stroke so powerful that it swatted a Third-grade Human King into the air with his bones shattered.

In what seemed like the first round of their clash, the Human Kings of the Broken Souls Cult either perished or incapacitated with severe wounds.

All that remained was the Eighth-grade Human King who had been watching atop his perch, his countenance dark and dreadful and his eyes throbbing with incredulity.

The wounded invaders were stunned at how the defenders were suddenly armed with so many Sacred Relics.

“Retreat!”

The Eighth-grade Human King gave his order to pull back. He leaped off the roof, firing a powerful bolt of energy at Tang Rou to buy his men time to retreat. He could care less about keeping her alive for now.

Her face twisted with shock, but she did not panic.

A strike from an Eighth-grade Human King could have killed her.

But right before the energy bolt hit her, a ray of purple light shot all the way from the horizon, disintegrating the energy bolt and smashed squarely into the Eighth-grade Human King’s midriff and he fell back, belching blood.

He crashed to the ground and coughed up more blood. Then he got up and fled away, deserting his wounded men.

The remaining of the Human Kings that still survived looked on with dismay. Their leader had just abandoned them.

“Elder Bao! Save us!” cried one of them like a howling beast.

But Bao Tianxiang continued in his flight, ignoring their pleas. “Save you all? Am I a fool?! There’s someone incredibly powerful here! Surely I’d value my own life over yours!”

With several bounds and leaps that spanned more than thousands of meters, he sped as quickly as he could for dear life.

In a flash of light, Chu Xun appeared.

“He’s gone, Big Brother Chu Xun,” said Tang Rou.

He smirked, “Take care of things here. Leave that scum to me.”

Big Brother Chu Xun?!

Aghast at what they heard, the wounded men frantically looked at the young man.

Chu Xun. The Devil.

How could they not recognize that name?

Their faces sank with dread as fear and panic began to set in. Death would be all that awaited them for the Devil was back.

With one fleeting glance at them, Chu Xun vanished in the blink of an eye.

Bao Tianxiang never once lost speed. In fact, the cautious Elder of the Broken Souls Cult kept turning back every now and then to make sure no one was shadowing him.

After a half-hour of running, he arrived at Gujiang’s largest hotel. He made sure no one was looking before slipping in quietly.

From a distance, Chu Xun scoffed. “Here? Of all places? Is this too conspicuous?”

The Broken Souls Cultist had leased the whole of the penthouse floor for their own.

Bao Tianxiang came to a room and rapped on the door hastily.

The door swung open to reveal an aged, wrinkled face that contorted into utter surprise when he saw a bloodied Bao Tianxiang.

“Are you hurt?”

Bao Tianxiang strode past him briskly, ignoring that question, and headed right inside the room. Four other men were inside and each of them powerful Eighth-grade Human Kings.

“What happened, Bao? Did you not lead an attack on the Rock Sect? Who managed to wound you?!” asked one of them.

Bao Tianxiang sat down and conjured a jade-white flask and tipped it over to pour out a little red pill.

“Something powerful is at the Rock Sect,” he said gravely, “I nearly died there.”

“Something powerful?!” gasped one of them, startled.

“One hit. Just one hit out of nowhere and I can still feel the pain in my lungs.”

Everyone stared at him blankly.

A hit out of nowhere to hurt Bao Tianxiang, an Eighth-grade Human King? That would make that mysterious person a Ninth-grade at least.

All five of them had been taking turns, leading various assaults upon the Rock Sect, and none of them had encountered anyone beyond their powers before.

“Tell us what happened, Bao,” asked one of them.

Bao Tianxiang channeled his powers to heal himself as he recounted what happened at the Rock Sect.

“What?! Each armed with a Sacred Relic of their own?!”

That question was affirmed by Bao Tianxiang’s solemn nods.

“I suspect they have found help. Powerful help,” he said.

The rest of his four colleagues nodded. “It must be,” said one, “We’ve never encountered anyone more powerful before. So I guess this time, it’s real.”

“But with the Devil missing for three years, and Yue Fandie of the Sanctuary of Tetrarchy now preoccupied with his own battles with the Zombie race, who else could have come to the Rock Sect’s aid?”

“What if it’s true that the Devil is back?”

That mere notion of that made everyone jump.

“Surely not,” said Bao Tianxiang, pondering quietly, “If that really was the Devil, he would not have allowed me to escape alive.”

He barely finished when one of his colleagues’ face sank, “You’ve fallen into his ruse, you fool! That must be the Devil! Who else that the Rock Sect could call for help from and who else would have so many Sacred Relics to give to them? The Devil only spared you because he wants to follow you here to snuff us all out!”

Their faces writhed with alarm and apprehension. No one would dare underrate the Devil. The merest mention of his name could easily impale anyone with fear.

Bao Tianxiang wavered with doubt, “No. That’s impossible. I had been careful. I had made sure I was not followed.”

The other four men breathed easier at his assurance. Bao Tianxiang’s remarkable prowess made him a comrade that they could trust.

“No matter if our enemy’s the Devil or not, this place is compromised. We should leave as soon as possible.”

Finding it prudent to be careful, everyone nodded in agreement.

“Tell everyone we’re leaving now from the back door,” said one of them.

They nodded and all five of the men filed out the room once the meeting was over. They knocked on the other doors and ordered everyone to begin to leave.

Before long, the back door of the hotel opened and more than forty men shuffled out quietly.

“Aren’t we just frightening ourselves?” grumbled Bao Tianxiang whose wounds did not make the rush any enjoyable, “If that’s not the Devil, but only some expensive sellsword the Rock Sect had employed, there’s no way he’ll come all the way here.”

“It never hurts to be careful, my friend. Safety first,” urged another Eighth-grade Human King.

They scaled over a wall once they came out the back door of the hotel and moved down a darkened little alley.

Suddenly, the man at the head of the line halted without warning, and everyone behind crashed into him. Some even spewed words of anger and discontent.

An irate Bao Tianxiang complained, “What’s going on!? Can’t you even walk properly?!”

No one answered. Everyone was watching the entrance of the alley up ahead.

Bao Tianxiang clawed through the crowd obstructing him to reach the front only to find the silhouette of a single man standing to bar their way out.

The sky was dark and the inside of the alley was darker still that not even the heightened sense of sight that Eighth-grade Human Kings were blessed with could allow them to see who it was.

Only an enemy could be thinking of thwarting their escape and knowing this, everyone became wary.

“Who are you!” bellowed Bao Tianxiang with rage.

“I, Chu Xun, is here to see you off. Didn’t want to miss you on your speedy departure.”

The clear, crispy voice made every Cultist in the alley shivered with fright.