Within a mountain valley inside of the Jialin Immortal Land, two opposing forces were fighting. One of those forces belonged to the High Firmament Academy.
They had over five hundred people and were surrounded. On the other hand, their opponents didn’t have more numbers, but the High Firmament Academy’s side was at a clear disadvantage. There were over ten corpses on the ground already.
This was a guild ranked in the fifties of the High Firmament Academy. Theoretically, their power wasn’t bad, but the other side was too strong. They couldn’t even break out of their encirclement.
“Little sheep of the High Firmament Academy, give up and hand over all your treasures. Otherwise, all of you will be killed,” sneered a large man from the opposing side. His arms were just as thick as an ordinary person’s leg.
“Bastards! We’re too unlucky! We just found an immortal cave and were discovered!” One of the academy’s disciples clenched his teeth furiously.
This was just the outer region, and it was unknown just how many times people had searched through it. There shouldn’t be any treasures left, but their luck was good. They ended up finding a mountain that had collapsed, exposing a natural cave.
They then found several treasures and bone books inside. The weapons were so old that the item-spirits had long since been extinguished.
As for the bone books, they were written in characters no one recognized. Only once these disciples brought them back to the academy and their scholars translated them would they know their value.
However, in any case, any ancient tome, whether it was simply history or some ancient technique, would be traded for a large sum by the academy. Sometimes the value of a single book could cause a person to reach the peak of their life in an instant.
Although the academy’s rules might be a bit shady, when it came to gathering such treasures, they always paid a higher price than the outside world, and they definitely wouldn’t take advantage of anyone. Their public opinion in this regard was very good.
Thus, these few bone books were extremely precious to the disciples. But before they could even celebrate, they were discovered by this group of experts and surrounded. A fight then broke out without a word, and in the chaos, over ten of them were slain. Only then did these people say what they wanted.
“We have to persevere. I already sent the distress signal. Senior apprentice-brother Long Chen will definitely come to help if he receives it!” shouted a spear-wielding expert. He was doing his best to block the attacks coming from the front.
“Will he really come? We have no relationship with him.”
“We can only do our utmost for these treasures. If he doesn’t come, we’ll have to hand over the bone books.”
Despite the academy’s disciples doing their best, the power disparity between the two sides was too great. In just a short moment, another dozen of their members were killed.
The academy’s disciples were finally afraid. In the past, their battlefields only contained devil creatures. They were able to be brave in front of devil creatures, but against true experts, they were shocked to find that the techniques and tricks they had learned were rarely useful.
However, they were a team, and as long as their guild leader didn’t give the word, no one dared to surrender. That would cause their comrades to collapse. Hence, they could only grit their teeth and continue fighting.
“What a group of fools. Since you all want to die, kill them all!” shouted the large man, who was the leader of the opposing forces.
“As you wish.” A lazy voice rang out from the sky.
“Who’s there?!” The large man was startled. Looking up, he saw that a giant silver eagle had appeared in the sky. On its head stood a lean, handsome man chewing on a stalk of grass, his arms crossed in front of his chest.
He had just shouted when Long Chen pointed his finger. A thin lightning arrow then shot out and blew apart the large man’s head.
He was the leader of the group but was killed with a single finger from Long Chen. Hence, the others were shocked, and their entire group fell into chaos.
Taking advantage of the chaos, the academy’s disciples concentrated their attacks and charged out of their encirclement.
They had just charged out when the ground swelled. A fist-sized lotus flower exploded amongst the opposing forces.
Those experts didn’t even know what was going on before they were turned to ash. Of over five hundred experts, only seventy to eighty remained, and quite a few were injured.
The silver eagle beneath Long Chen’s feet spread its wings, carrying him away like a silver shooting star. His voice rang out from a distance.
“Kill them all. Don’t leave a single one alive. If you can’t even do that, then buy a block of tofu and kill yourself with it as an apology for your fallen comrades.”
Long Chen was already gone by the time his final words reached them. He left behind a group of the academy’s disciples who still felt like they were dreaming.
“Kill them! Avenge our fallen brothers!” The leader of this guild finally reacted, and with a furious howl, led the charge against the horrified opponents. Their butcher’s blades were mercilessly raised.
…
“Senior apprentice-brother Long Chen, you came just in time. Otherwise, we would have all died here.”
The rank seventeen guild’s leader bowed deeply to Long Chen, his eyes full of gratitude.
Just now, they had encountered experts from the Clear River Palace. They were extremely tough, and without a word, had started killing. They made no mention of handing over treasures. It was as if they were only interested in killing, as if they had some deep enmity with the High Firmament Academy.
The High Firmament’s side had over seven hundred people, and in the first clash, the other side killed over a hundred of them. They were too strong. If Long Chen hadn’t arrived, the disciples probably wouldn’t be able to last an incense stick’s worth of time before being completely wiped out.
Long Chen shook his head. “It’s not that the other side is too strong, but you are too weak. Truthfully, you’re so weak that I want to curse you.”
Those disciples lowered their heads in shame. Despite being in the same realm, they were far weaker than the other side.
“Senior apprentice-brother Long Chen, what should we do now?” asked the guild leader, his face completely red.
Long Chen thought about it. “You have two choices. You can search for treasures in the outer region. Your chances of finding anything are low, but you’ll also have lower chances of encountering enemies. Your second choice would be to join forces with other guilds. With more numbers, you can slowly progress deeper. The good thing is that it will be safer, but your efficiency will drop. You’ll also have to split the soup between more people. It’s up to you to make the choice.”
That person thought about it. “The chances of finding any treasures in the outer region are too low. Missing this chance is something we would regret for a lifetime. I accept senior apprentice-brother’s second option. We will join forces with other guilds before going deeper.”
“Remember, if you encounter people from the other powers, as long as you can beat them, make sure to kill them all. You are the seventeenth group of people I’ve saved. I’ve seen members of all five powers, and their attitude toward the High Firmament Academy is not snatching treasures, but killing us all. Don’t show any compassion,” urged Long Chen.
Long Chen smelled the scent of a scheme within the Jialin Immortal Land. It seemed that the five powers were collectively targeting the High Firmament Academy, wanting to wipe them all out.
Suddenly, Long Chen’s expression changed slightly. He received a distress signal from Luo Bing. After that, he immediately set off on his silver eagle, quickly arriving where Luo Bing was. But he found that they weren’t in any danger.
“Brother San, we’ve noticed some powerful experts from the Clear River Palace. They seemed to be carrying out some large movement. We’re worried we won’t be able to handle it ourselves, so we asked you to take a look,” said Mu Qingyun.
