Chapter 688: Devastating Battle Situation
All of the nightmares that Wang Han had ever experienced in his life combined wouldn’t have measured to the fear that he’d just felt. A third level emperor realm cultivator, the backer that he’d just managed to toady up to, had not even been able to put up a sliver of resistance against that terrifying strength. That was a third level emperor realm cultivator!
Wang Han’s very organs were shivering in fear, and it almost seemed like his pores were following suit. Terror and despair chased out every whit of feeling from his body. Never mind Wang Han, even Ling Bi’er thought that she’d gone delusional right then. She didn’t recover from her shock until after the restriction attack had vanished.
“Junior brother, what… what was that?” She stammered in incredulous, low tones.
“That old man liked to pretend he was all that. So I simply gave him a taste of what it felt like to have thunder and lightning strike him.” Jiang Chen smiled faintly and shot a solemn glance at Wang Han.
Wang Han’s will was so far gone that he couldn’t even keep himself upright at a casual glare from Jiang Chen. His knees weakened and gave way without warning, sending him tumbling to the ground. His mind had completely collapsed into gibberish. All of his urbane confidence, that overweening arrogance and sky high pride were reduced to dust, utterly destroyed.
“Who else can save you now, Wang Han?” Jiang Chen’s tone was ice over steel.
Wang Han’s face went ashen at those words, but seemed to get a surge of energy from some mad trench of his soul. He lifted his head to glare right back at Jiang Chen as he roared. His voice held more than a tinge of madness as he screamed, “And what are you proud of, Jiang Chen!? You’re strong, but are you stronger than the Great Scarlet Mid Region? Did you think only the Zither Sect had invaded the Myriad Domain!? Wrong!! The entire Great Scarlet Mid Region, all of the 20 some fourth rank sects have invaded us. The Myriad Domain is done for! Just what did I bide my time and endure humiliation for if not to save the legacy of the Myriad Domain?!”
It seemed that even in the worst possible situation, Wang Han still believed that he could worm his way out with an excuse. But Jiang Chen was no naïve youngling. “What a noble excuse you’ve managed to come up with this time, hmm? You lead the enemy into the Paramount Realm to hunt down Myriad Domain disciples. This became ‘biding your time’ for the greater cause?”
Wang Han laughed maniacally, “Legitimacy is the prize of the winner, much like the villain is always the loser. Jiang Chen, I have nothing more to say since you beat me. Kill me if you’re going to, but why toy with me?”
Jiang Chen’s expression darkened. “Wang Han, it’s no longer possible for you to evade death anymore. But tell me, what’s going on in the outside world?”
“Outside world? Hahaha, outside world? The various Myriad Domain sects are probably all dead by now! Yes, your Regal Pill Palace was smart and broke through the blockade before it was fully set up, but where else can they run to? Almost 20 fourth rank sects had invaded, and each one of them stronger than the Great Cathedral. What can the Myriad Domain bring to fight against them? Old man Dan Chi might have gotten out, but there was no way that he could actually find a way to live! The other emperor realm cultivators would have already gone to chase him. Hahaha, Jiang Chen! My Sacred Sword Palace has fallen, do you think your Regal Pill Palace can avoid the same fate? Dream on!” Wang Han had completed his mental transition to a mad dog. He knew full well that he was going to die, so he didn’t use the chance to beg for mercy, instead furiously venting his emotions to anyone who could hear.
As he capered around frantically, he suddenly felt a chill by his throat. When he touched his throat, he noticed a sharp arrow had pierced through his neck. Light from a blade flashed the next second as his head shot up into the sky. Jiang Chen gestured, and the corpse ground itself to dust in midair.
“Senior sister, we shouldn’t stay here for long. We need to get out,” Jiang Chen no longer hesitated as he spoke to Ling Bi’er.
Having just experienced the wildest rollercoaster of events thus far in her life, Ling Bi’er found it hard to catch up for a second. She found herself nodding by sheer instinct, and followed Jiang Chen out. When she set foot outside, she turned to take one last look at the palace, only to discover that it had vanished without a trace. “Junior brother… where did the palace go?” She was quite baffled.
Jiang Chen smiled and said, “I put it away.”
“You put it away? Was… was that palace a portable space?” Ling Bi’er was shocked. Portable spaces were just like space rings. Naturally, Ling Bi’er wasn’t unfamiliar with the concept. But where would one find a space ring with such capacity? Also, how could a space ring possibly hold an entire abode inside, and one with such powerful attack restrictions no less? The palace had obviously been a residence, the kind that one could carry around anywhere.
“Senior sister, the matters relating to this palace are extremely sensitive. We will run into many troubles if it’s exposed.” Jiang Chen knew just how vital this matter was, but he didn’t tell Ling Bi’er the details because he didn’t want her to become involved.
Ling Bi’er hastily responded, “Ah? Then I won’t ask or bring it up to anyone in the future.”
“Mm. I’ll tell you about it when the time is right.” The duo no longer spoke, as they both concentrated on leaving the transcendent region as quickly as they could. Along the way, they saw many corpses, the numerous slain Myriad Domain disciples.
“This is all Wang Jianyu’s work!” Ling Bi’er frowned slightly.
Jiang Chen didn’t have time to grow irate at the sight, “We’re almost at a transportation point. Let’s get out of here as soon as possible.”
However, Ling Bi’er was the one to provide a voice of reason, “Don’t be in a hurry, junior brother. If we go through the transportation formation now and appear outside, we may be surrounded and immediately captured. In my opinion, it would be best if we returned the way we came. We still have two days anyway, so as long as we travel at full speed, we’ll still be able to get out of the Paramount Realm before it closes.”
Thinking it over, Jiang Chen saw the sense in her words.
Two days later, the duo arrived at the edge of the Paramount Realm. However, they didn’t encounter a single living person along the way. It was obvious that everyone had either been slaughtered by Wang Jianyu and his group, or had left. These geniuses had had no idea what was going on outside, so they had probably been completely defenseless when they teleported away. Their fates were likely rather bleak once they emerged outside.
“Junior brother, if we are surrounded after we got out, we must activate our escape glyphs immediately. We absolutely mustn’t stay to fight,” Ling Bi’er suggested.
Jiang Chen nodded. How could he possibly choose to fight in such a situation? It was obvious that this wasn’t something that could be solved by individual strength alone. Jiang Chen wasn’t afraid to fight, but it didn’t mean that he would throw himself into a pointless fight either.
After passing through the entrance, the duo calmed the ripples of their consciousness and slowly moved outside. Jiang Chen borrowed power from the Bewitching Lotus of Fire and Ice to slip through the earth and snuck his way back to the perimeter.
The battle at the perimeter had been tragic and desperate. Corpses were scattered everywhere on the battlefield. Many of those corpses were those of the Myriad Domain cultivators, but some were also clearly from the Great Scarlet Mid Region. It seemed that the battle had reached a conclusion already. A group of Great Scarlet cultivators were sweeping through the battlefield for survivors, while another group interrogated the group of young geniuses who had been captured exiting the Paramount Realm.
Jiang Chen inspected the battlefield for a moment. He discovered that even Honored Master Tian Ming of the Dark North Sect was among the pile of corpses. The Walkabout Sect had also seemed to have suffered tremendous losses. It seemed very, very few of their party were still alive. The Great Cathedral had also suffered many casualties. However, the surprising part was the lack of Great Cathedral senior executives among the dead. Naturally, since the Regal Pill Palace had broken through the encirclement first, they didn’t have a presence on this particular battlefield.
“Feck it all to hell, I can’t believe these ants of the Myriad Domain possess such strength! They cost us quite some men!”
“I know right? Those from the Great Cathedral could even employ the power of totems to fight. Even Sect Head Xing and Fu couldn’t stop them. How unexpected.”
“You know what else is strange? The Bamboo Sect still hasn’t returned from their chase. I wonder how they’re doing against Regal Pill Palace? Don’t tell me they’ve slipped up too?”
Jiang Chen sussed out the situation as he listened in on the discussions happening above him. The senior executives of the Great Cathedral had actually managed to break free and escape with the power of totems. The Regal Pill Palace had made their getaway first, and the results of their rearguard battle hadn’t reached this place yet. No matter how pragmatic Jiang Chen tried to be, it would seem that Regal Pill Palace still had a bit of hope left.
Now that Jiang Chen had gained an understanding what was going on, he had a rough idea on what to do next.
On one side of the battlefield, Sect Head Fu of the Golden Glyph Sect and Sect Head Xing of the Qitian Sect were interrogating the geniuses who had emerged from the Paramount Realm. Among them stood Xiang Qin, Yue Baize and Shen Qinghong. The captives numbered roughly thirty, all geniuses of various Myriad Domain sects. However, they had all become captives of the Great Scarlet Mid Region. It wasn’t that Great Scarlet had decided to show them mercy. The two sects were simply trying to lay their hands on any information about the Paramount Realm. However, they didn’t find anything useful no matter how much they questioned them. It was obvious that those who had exited hadn’t run into Sect Head Qin Mo and the rest of his group. If that had happened, they would no longer be part of the world of the living.
“Just kill me already. It doesn’t matter what you ask, my answer will always be the same. I don’t know anything!” Xiang Qin’s unyielding voice rang out, “The heavenly law sees all, you filthy bandits. One day, your Great Scarlet Mid Region will pay the price!”
Smack!
A whip lashed Xiang Qin cruelly as a fierce voice berated him, “You little ant! What right do you have to talk about the heavenly law? Even if there is such a day, the Myriad Domain won’t live to see it!” The whip landed repeatedly on Xiang Qin’s body.
Xiang Qin was stubborn as an ox despite the pain. Not only did he not cry out in pain, but he even started laughing aloud.
Sect Head Xing suddenly raised a hand and stopped the person whipping Xiang Qin. He cast an indifferent glance across the group of captives and asked, “Last chance. Who amongst you has seen Jiang Chen?”
At first, neither Sect Head Xing nor Sect Head Fu had known that Jiang Chen was inside the Paramount Realm. However, the more they thought about it, the more they felt that something wasn’t quite right. They both thought that Sect Head Qin Mo’s actions were far too out of the ordinary. It was only after they’d ruthlessly interrogated and tortured a captive that they accidentally found out that Jiang Chen was amongst the list of Regal Pill Palace disciples who’d entered the Paramount Realm. It was thanks to this captive that they’d also discovered that Jiang Chen had escaped from Mt. Rippling Mirage.
The two sect heads couldn’t help but curse out Qin Mo loudly. They both thought that he had been absolutely despicable. It was obvious that the man had gone inside to take all the spoils for himself! If the Paramount Realm wasn’t about to shut down very soon, they too would have gone inside and fought for their own share. They’d fought tooth and nail to annihilate the two great fourth rank sects that were the Walkabout Sect and Dark North Sect, but they’d gotten very few rewards for their efforts.
The Dark North Sect had been said to possess sky rank spirit herbs, but they weren’t able to find anything at all from the leaders of the Dark North Sect. In fact, there weren’t even that many earth rank spirit herbs. That was when the duo finally realized that they had been tricked by Qin Mo.
