The two were actually Old Man Feng and Wang Yang, whom Xiao Chen had conflicts with. For some reason, these two half-step Martial Emperors did not go to seek their own fortuitous encounters and instead came to block Xiao Chen and Dugu Ao.
As for why these two half-step Martial Emperors worked together, it was no surprise. They both had conflicts with Xiao Chen; it was normal for them to work together in this Human-Demon Paradise.
“Scram,” Dugu Ao said with a strong murderous intent in his tone as his expression turned cold.
Xiao Chen frowned slightly and said calmly, “Don’t be foolish. With your strength, you cannot kill the four of us.”
Wang Yang looked at Xiao Chen, and intense hate flashed in his eyes. “We indeed cannot kill you all. However, we can still delay you here for a long time.”
Old Man Feng smiled coldly and said, “With us here, the two of you can forget about obtaining the Demonic Essence Core.”
The hearts of Xiao Chen and Dugu Ao sank as they realized the intent of these two: to cause trouble for them, to delay them so as to prevent them from taking part in the fight for the mutated Flying Dragon Snake.
“Whoosh!”
The top two rankers of the outstanding talents, Pei Yan and Han Feng, quickly flew past at the side. When they saw this scene, they both revealed smiles, happy at the disaster that befell Dugu Ao’s group.
Soon, four more figures flashed by—Ye Ziheng leading another three of the outstanding talents—and overtook them.
Ye Ziheng turned his head back and said while laughing, “It looks like heaven is helping us.” After that, the three behind started laughing as well.
Dugu Ao’s expression turned dark as he sent a voice projection, Xiao Chen, what should we do?
If these two half-step Martial Emperors are dead set on delaying us, it will be a problematic and troublesome thing to deal with.
What should I do? Is the most crucial step for my becoming a Martial Emperor within five years going to fall through because of these two dancing clowns?
This is extremely hateful!
Xiao Chen suppressed the rage in his heart and enunciated his words, syllable by syllable, as he looked at them, “I will say this one last time. Don’t try testing my bottom line. Quickly scram. Otherwise, even if you two flee to the ends of the world, there will be no place for you.
“I, Xiao Chen, will definitely accomplish what I said!”
The dominance that belonged to the Azure Dragon King erupted from Xiao Chen’s body. The Azure Dragon King’s insignia on his chest flashed. Amid the light, his white robes turn into a gaudy, eye-catching azure.
It vaguely seemed like there was a formless Azure Dragon coiled behind Xiao Chen, glaring coldly and emotionlessly at Wang Yang and Old Man Feng.
That was the Dragon Might of the Azure Dragon King’s insignia from the Dragon’s Gate Holy Land, which had accumulated over tens of thousands of years. At this moment, in Xiao Chen’s rage, he unleashed a little of it.
Old Man Feng and Wang Yang could not understand what was happening. All their hair stood on end. They felt an indescribable panic in their hearts that made them want to retreat.
However, when Wang Yang and Old Man Feng thought about it, they recalled that they were half-step Martial Emperors. Even if they could not defeat the four before them, they definitely could run away, so they immediately regained their confidence.
Wang Yang shouted, “So what if we test your bottom line? This old man does not believe that you can really kill me. If you want to obtain the Demonic Essence Core, let me tell you now, no way!”
“Kill!”
Without saying anything more, Xiao Chen unleashed all his killing Qi and rage, sending a saber strike at Wang Yang.
This saber strike launched in rage immediately separated Wang Yang and Old Man Feng.
Xiao Chen did not care about any danger behind him. He needed to kill Wang Yang today!
Hatred flashed in Ao Jiao’s eyes. To think that this fellow still came to cause trouble at such a crucial moment. How unbearable!
Two short sabers appeared in Ao Jiao’s hands as she charged straight at Wang Yang.
Mu Xiyan looked around, and a light flashed in her eyes. Then, she sent a voice projection to Dugu Ao. Go and help him kill that person quickly. Then, Old Man Feng will definitely run in fear.
“Will you be fine alone?”
“Don’t worry. I can hold my own against him. I will be fine,” Mu Xiyan said, smiling when she noticed the deeply hidden concern in Dugu Ao’s eyes.
“Be careful!”
Dugu Ao had always been decisive. After saying that, he immediately joined the group dealing with Wang Yang.
Xiao Chen, Ao Jiao, Dugu Ao, and Little Yellow Feather immediately suppressed Wang Yang, to Wang Yang’s extreme regret. Why did everyone come charging at me?
According to the original plan, Wang Yang would work together with Old Man Feng and fight these four. They only needed to hold out for a period of time before working together to escape, leaving easily.
With that, they would succeed in delaying Xiao Chen. However, with Xiao Chen taking the initiative now, separating him and Old Man Feng, the situation went beyond his expectations.
Wang Yang was already no match for Xiao Chen alone. Now, with so many people, he was done for. He did not even have an opportunity to run.
“Old Man Feng, come and save me!” After fighting for a while, Wang Yang was already beaten up until he was riddled with wounds and vomiting blood.
However, how could Old Man Feng have the time to save Wang Yang? Mu Xiyan radiated a hazy, illusionary light, using all sorts of means to delay Old Man Feng.
Old Man Feng was an infamous pervert in the first place. He did not have much resistance to Mu Xiyan’s Charm Techniques, entirely powerless to struggle free of them.
It had to be said that the vast cultivation and strong recovery ability of a half-step Martial Emperor were indeed somewhat horrifying.
Even though three people and one Golden Crow worked together to fight Wang Yang, they did not manage to take him down quickly.
At this moment, Wang Yang’s hair looked very messy. He was clearly in a fluster as he tried to break out several times but failed.
Wang Yang was no longer as arrogant as before. The situation had immediately changed to his disadvantage. He wanted to cry but could not. Even after he begged for help several times, no one cared about him.
If one did not court disaster, one would not die. The other party did not actively come to seek him, yet he came over to cause trouble for the other party. Such an ending served him right.
Little Yellow Feather entered its combat state, becoming several hundred times larger. Its golden glistening feathers shone like the sun. When it opened its beak, it spat out extremely dense Solar True Flame.
Ao Jiao, who wanted to help Xiao Chen quickly end Wang Yang, entered her peak state, not even caring about any injuries she incurred.
There was also Dugu Ao. He launched an unexpected attack every now and then, preventing Wang Yang from making a move. The moment he attacked, he caused Wang Yang to vomit a large amount of blood.
Under such a situation, even though Wang Yang was a half-step Martial Emperor, from the moment he was surrounded, his end was decided. There was only one possibility—death!
After two hours, Xiao Chen dealt the killing blow. Blood flew everywhere as his saber light flashed, chopping off Wang Yang’s head.
The arrogant half-step Martial Emperor, who did not believe that Xiao Chen could kill him, died without an intact corpse, never to come back to life again.
On the other side, Old Man Feng already wanted to retreat long ago. The sight of Wang Yang’s headless corpse startled him.
Old Man Feng no longer dared to stay. He finally managed to struggle free and fled wildly.
The group glanced at him but did not give chase. This was not the time to settle accounts with him.
After this distraction ended, Dugu Ao searched Wang Yang’s corpse. There was nothing useful, so he left it alone.
As for Wang Yang’s spatial ring, no one bothered to check it. This was because when one advanced to quasi-Emperor, one would be capable of laying restrictions on spatial rings.
Once one died, the restriction would activate. If someone who did not know about it forcibly tried to obtain the things in the spatial ring, one might be injured by the restriction. There were even some evil restrictions that could kill people.
“Due to their tricks, we completely lost the initiative in killing the mutated Flying Dragon Snake. If the mutated Flying Dragon Snake has already been killed, we’ll have put in all that work for nothing,” Dugu Ao said worriedly. Although the other party died, the other party did manage to achieve their purpose, causing trouble for the four.
Mu Xiyan said, “There is no rush. Let us recover first and trying thinking about this in another way. The mutated Flying Dragon Snake is not easy to deal with. It is also good to have those people split some of the burdens.”
Xiao Chen glanced at this woman. For her to dare to get Dugu Ao to come and help her, as well as handle Old Man Feng by herself, she possessed not only extraordinary strength but also an exceptionally calm mind.
This made Xiao Chen consider Mu Xiyan in a new light. She was not just a flower vase that was capable of only Charm Techniques.
“Let’s rest first. Since we lost the initiative already, we do not need to fear to wait a little longer. We are now not in very good condition. Rushing over as we are would be too rash,” Xiao Chen said, agreeing with Mu Xiyan.
Without saying anything more, the entire group sat down cross-legged on the ground. Then, they closed their eyes and circulated their energy to recover.
After Wang Yang died, his headless corpse still released a strong aura over time. The passing cultivators felt a deep fear for the group sitting cross-legged, not daring to target them.
A half-step Martial Emperor actually died here. If this was mentioned outside, no one would believe it.
After a while, Xiao Chen opened his eyes first. He recovered the fastest; the others had not opened their eyes yet. He tossed aside the exhausted Essence Stone and raised his head to look in the direction of the Death Swamp. Then, he frowned slightly.
For some reason, Xiao Chen currently felt restless, not because other Human-Demon Sea outstanding talents had gone ahead, but some mood he could not understand.
He closed his eyes and scanned the various places with his Spiritual Sense. In the end, everything seemed normal. All the people around were mixed-blood cultivators undergoing experiential training in the Human-Demon Paradise.
However, Xiao Chen knew that at his cultivation realm, as long as he wanted to, he could hide from the perception of other people with the same cultivation.
His Spiritual Sense would likewise be useless against true experts intent on hiding.
The cultivation to become a Martial Emperor required building a bridge to cross that vast chasm, to get to the other side and successfully push open the Emperor’s Door.
As of now, Xiao Chen was already halfway done with the construction of this bridge, reaching the most crucial moment. As he stood on the half-completed bridge and looked at the Emperor’s Door on the other side, he clearly felt the deep abyss at the bottom of the chasm and the danger there.
With one wrong move, the bridge could break, and he would die, falling into the deep abyss, unable to recover from it.
“What’s wrong? You appear to have a lot on your mind. Are you worried about the Flower of Life? Actually to Demon mixed-bloods, that thing is not of much value. Even if someone snatched it, they would think of a way to sell it.” Dugu Ao quickly followed after and consoled Xiao Chen after he recovered.
“You obtained great gains in the Eight Star dragon grave. As long as they are willing to sell, you will be able to buy it. Unlike me, if someone else obtained the Demonic Essence Core, they would definitely keep it for themselves. They would never auction it off.”
The situation was indeed as such. If that was truly so, Xiao Chen did not have to worry at all.
Perhaps I was just being overly suspicious.
Xiao Chen smiled, not wanting to dwell on this. He said, “Let’s not talk about this for now. Tell me, why do you have to help this woman? If things go south, you might even die.”
Grief flashed in Dugu Ao’s eyes as he muttered, “It’s a long story. Actually, I have a perfect Demon bloodline. My bloodline is even stronger than that of the Blood Sword Sovereign of fifty thousand years ago. As long as I am willing to cultivate Demonic Qi and make use of my innate talent, the other so-called ten outstanding talents would be nothing before me.”
