Chapter 1482 (Raw 1462):
As Xiao Chen held up the Western Sea Dragon King's head, he descended from the sky and stomped on Ao Lang's headless body.
"Bang!"
The strong impact crushed this headless body into powder. Ao Lang's Heart of an Emperor immediately shattered, exploding with boundless scarlet spiritual light that swirled around Xiao Chen as specks of light.
While displaying the Blood Clad Sect's Sect Master's head, Xiao Chen appeared grave and stern amid this boundless scarlet light, looking like a celestial being.
Dead?
"What's going on? Who managed to clearly see how Xiao Chen attacked?"
"Damn! How did this Ao Lang die while laughing loudly? In the end, who attacked?"
"That startled me to death. His head just flew off all of a sudden. Am I seeing things?"
"Damn! What exactly is going on? Whoever saw it clearly, please say something!"
The spectating cultivators, who had already retreated outside the city, were close to going mad. Many even suspected that they saw wrong.
However, the scene before them was real. Xiao Chen held up the head of the Blood Clad Sect's powerful Sect Master, Ao Lang. Like Ao Yu, Ao Lang's body was completely crushed by Xiao Chen, as dead as he could possibly be.
However, everyone only saw Xiao Chen sheathe his saber and not how Xiao Chen attacked.
Even the outstanding talents and experts with good eyes present did not see it.
That was not the strangest thing. The strangest thing was that even the Blood Clad Sect's Sect Master did not know how he died.
Clearly, the Western Sea Dragon King had not realized that he had died and was even arrogantly talking down to Xiao Chen.
It was like the fulfillment of a death sentence. When the time came, Ao Lang died.
Strange!
This simple battle was so strange; no one could understand it or even guess what happened.
However, no matter what, the outcome was inevitable: those who touched the dragon's reverse scale would die.
After being silent for five years, the Azure Dragon King Xiao Chen used his actions to prove this point once again.
Given the ruined city and the wretched situation of the tens of thousands of Blood Clad Sect elite disciples, no one would dare to target the Dragon's Gate even if Xiao Chen remained silent for a hundred years—or even a thousand years.
The disastrous state of the Blood Clad Sect showed others, in gory detail, the consequences of offending the Dragon's Gate.
Xiao Chen tossed the Western Sea Dragon King's head into the Universe Ring. He felt dead tired. Blood flowed out continuously from a horrifying wound on his chest, which had black Demonic Qi lingering in it.
This injury was inflicted by the Western Sea Dragon King Ao Lang before he died.
To the world, it looked like nothing happened. However, in actual fact, the instant Xiao Chen traveled to the future and clashed with the Western Sea Dragon King in the time it took for a spark to fly, he had decided Ao Lang's life and death in one move.
Even though Xiao Chen traveled to the future, the Western Sea Dragon King would not just stand there to be killed. That was not realistic. It was impossible that the Western Sea Dragon King would be a fool in the future.
The biggest advantage Xiao Chen had was the element of surprise.
One should not look down on this advantage. After Xiao Chen traveled to the future, there was absolutely no sign of such an attack appearing before the Western Sea Dragon King. In a completely unexpected situation, how could it be easy to receive a peak strike that someone had been storing up power for?
The difficulty could be compared to an ordinary person walking on the street as normal when a vase suddenly fell from above and struck his head.
The second advantage that Xiao Chen had was that the Western Sea Dragon King would have difficulty counterattacking since Xiao Chen returned to the present in the next second.
As for the final advantage, even if the Western Sea Dragon King managed to block, Xiao Chen would see how he would block.
After Xiao Chen returned to the present, he would be able to anticipate the Western Sea Dragon King's movements. By suddenly changing his tactics, Xiao Chen could still throw him off balance.
This was the state of cycle. While it looked like an easy battle to others, in this first practical usage of it, Xiao Chen's victory was a stroke of good fortune.
If not for the Lunar Shadow Saber's help, he might not have been able to break through the resistance, after bringing out the state of cycle to its fullest, to influence the time and space where the Western Sea Dragon King was.
Even if Xiao Chen managed to overcome the resistance, the amount of time he would have for attacking would have been significantly reduced.
However, even with all these factors, the Western Sea Dragon King still succeeded in wounding Xiao Chen in the chest. This victory was truly lucky.
The state of cycle was boundlessly profound. However, Xiao Chen only just skimmed the surface—or maybe even less than that.
It was simply too unfortunate that Xiao Chen had only the start of the Cycle Arts.
"Big Brother Xiao Chen!"
The Dragon's Gate's Elders that Xiao Chen had been shielding rushed over and surrounded him.
Xiao Chen barely managed to suppress his injuries. After he smiled at them, a Dragon's Gate's warship flew out of the Universe Ring. Then, he said, "I said that I would take you all away. Come with me. Let's return."
After saying that, he wobbled slightly from extreme fatigue.
Mo Chen went forward and quickly supported Xiao Chen. The others leaped onto the Dragon's Gate's warship. There was not much time for explanations; it was best to leave this troublesome place first.
The remnants of the Blood Clad Sect scattered the instant the Western Sea Dragon King died.
The injured upper echelon of the Blood Clad Sect ran even faster. Hence, the huge Blood Clad Sect collapsed in an instant, just like that.
This result had everyone sighing. In the end, a sect that suddenly came to prominence still lacked accumulations in comparison to a Holy Land.
After experiencing a great storm and surviving this calamity, the Dragon's Gate would definitely rise from the ashes and rule the Western Sea. Its prestige would soar once more, making it the center of the four seas.
As for Xiao Chen, he had extended the legend of the Azure Dragon King. The identity of the Shadowless Saber Sovereign would make his stories even more fabulous.
The Luck of the Kunlun Realm indisputably belonged to him and no other.
As the spectating cultivators watched the Dragon's Gate's warship leave, their emotions were complicated, hundreds of them mixed together.
In merely half a day, as outsiders to the matter, their emotions experienced many swings, rising and falling. Several times, it felt like their hearts would not be able to endure, nearly jumping out.
The shock that the Azure Dragon King brought them was simply too incredible. They would probably need half a month for the idea to sink in.
Chu Yang and the others surrounded the Holy Daughter Yue Bingyun. The bitterness in their hearts was indescribable.
Originally, these people had come here to save the Dragon's Gate's people at the Holy Daughter's invitation.
In hindsight, they had been too naive. The Blood Clad Sect had been much stronger than they had thought. If they had really attacked, it would have ended up in unsightly defeat.
However, these outstanding talents were rather open-minded. Many of them were even good friends of Xiao Chen.
Seeing that Xiao Chen was not only fine but even stronger than before, they rejoiced. Such people include the Northern Sea Alliance's Young Alliance Chief Ye Chen, the Human-Demon Sea's Dugu Ao, and the Myriad Fiend Island's Di Xinhan.
"What a fellow! This fellow really hid quite well from us, making us worry. After this is over, all of us should go to the Dragon's Gate and extort something out of him, hahaha!"
Ye Chen was a simple-minded person, laughing incredibly happily.
As for the others, the bitterness in their hearts had not faded away yet; they simply could not laugh. When no one replied, his laughter trailed off awkwardly.
As for Chu Yang, from the moment Xiao Chen removed his mask, he felt somewhat flustered.
"Bingyun, I was not of much help today, sorry for that. In the future, if you need help again, this Chu will definitely be the first to rush over."
Yue Bingyun said quickly, "Young Master Chu is too polite. No matter what, everyone came because of their concern for me. Bingyun will certainly remember this."
Chu Yang smiled and said, "Unfortunately, there is already a person in Miss Bingyun's heart. I'll take my leave first. As I said, this Chu might not be able to do much, but if you need help in the future, all Bingyun has to do is ask, and I'll definitely be the first there."
Although Chu Yang felt bitter, he did not lose his grace. He performed a cupped-fist salute and took his leave with a smile.
The outstanding talents left one after another, and Yue Bingyun thanked them all.
Although Yue Bingyun's efforts did not come to anything, the matter still came to a perfect conclusion. Yue Bingyun's smile already expressed her current emotion.
"Speaking of which, why did Xiao Chen hide under another identity, showing many half-truths? That is not his style," Ye Chen commented, still confused after thinking hard.
The Demon mixed-blood Dugu Ao said, "This is obvious even if you use your butt to think. If he exposed his identity, do you think the Primes would allow him to grow to such heights?"
"That's right! Why did I not think of that?" Ye Chen slapped his forehead, feeling like he was startled awake from a dream. "Wait, that's not right. You just called me stupid in a roundabout way."
However, Dugu Ao did not respond to that. He merely said a few things to Yue Bingyun before leaving.
—
At the same time, in the largest sea market that the Treasure Master controlled in the center of the Heavenly Starry Ocean:
The mysterious Treasure Master was playing chess with the Geomaster Jiang Tian in an open-air pavilion on the top of the huge Immortal statue's finger.
Black and white stones filled the chessboard with crisscrossing lines.
"Treasure Master, in the many years we haven't played, it seems your chess skills have deteriorated. Or are you giving way to me on purpose? If this keeps on, you will really end up losing." Jiang Tian smiled faintly and laid a white stone on the chessboard, taking down many of the Treasure Master's stones.
[TL Note: The chess they are playing here is Go. Think reversi, but you have to surround the opponent's pieces in all four directions. Also, pieces do not get converted to your piece but are just removed from the board. It is often considered a good simulation of war.]
Jiang Tian reached out and removed the black stones. As a result, the white stones dominated the chessboard.
The Treasure Master smiled faintly and said, "Old Jiang, I never go easy when playing chess. It is just that the chessboard in my heart is much larger than the one in yours."
"Dang!"
Right after speaking, the Treasure Master tapped the table. The wooden chessboard immediately turned to ashes, and the stones fell on the table.
When the ashes disappeared, Jiang Tian was horrified to discover crisscrossing lines on the table that were many times more than the chessboard's. This formed a brand-new chessboard.
The situation between the black and white stones had not changed. However, when falling onto this larger chessboard, the situation that originally favored the white stones turned shaky.
