The Beacon burst with flecks of golden sparkles as scarlet torrents of flames escaped its sprout to melting and blowing up rocks and even mountains to kingdom come.
Whatever provenance or abilities Orlov’s Beacon held, it must be a Sacred Relic of the highest order.
Audiences from all around Earth watching the live broadcast dropped their jaws with amazement.
Chu Xun, the Devil who had wreaked havoc with impunity across the West, was now fleeing for his life. Never did anyone expect to see the hunter now turned into the hunted.
For reasons unknown, a strange sense of schadenfreude loomed in their minds.
“To where will you flee, Devil!” bellowed Orlov triumphantly, clutching the Beacon while staying in pursuit of Chu Xun.
Chu Xun smirked derisively, “You look like you could use some rest. Look at yourself; you’re getting slow. You use that trump card of yours all you want, but it’s useless if you can’t hit me.”
Incensed, Orlov knew Chu Xun spoke truly. He possessed something that could kill Chu Xun, but it was frustrating that any attack he hurled at him barely grazed him.
“How dare you speak such haughty words, even in such dire times, Devil! Stop if you dare! Let us fight fairly!”
Chu Xun ignored him. “The only reason trash like you is not yet decimated by me with only one single stroke, is exactly because of that weapon you’re holding.”
A motley of shame and anger roiled inside Orlov. If only he could incinerate that loud-mouthed bastard into ashes! “Stop right there, Devil, or I’ll trample my way into Huaxia and lay waste to the entire domain of the Huaxia Martial Tao World!”
“Be my guest,” Chu Xun responded flatly.
For one moment, Orlov thought he had heard wrongly. “Without the speeds that you wield, no one will survive my onslaught!” he threatened again.
“I’ve suddenly had this urge to look around the West. Perhaps I might stop by the branch sanctums of the Holy Temple while I’m at it,” smirked Chu Xun.
Orlov shuddered. “There’s no “stopping by”! It’s a threat! A blatant threat to pillage and destroy the branch sanctums of the Holy Temple!”
“And you think I’d not be able to do anything to stop you, Devil?” sneered Orlov.
Chu Xun bobbed his head with not a shred of hesitation.
Orlov needed a deep breath to keep his rage in check. “Insolent mongrel,” he cursed quietly.
“Using that weapon must have exhausted you a lot, innit?” teased Chu Xun sardonically, “I wonder how many times you can still use it?”
That struck Orlov like the sudden and heavy toll of a bell. Chu Xun had guessed his greatest apprehension. Being the Holy Temple’s most hallowed and powerful Sacred Relic, there was only so many times he could use it before he became completely exhausted. For this reason, he had been pausing to bicker with Chu Xun so that he could steal some time to rest.
Knowing this full well, Chu Xun had no intention to allow Orlov any chance to rest and he fired a purplish bolt of energy at him.
That forced Orlov to duck aside and interrupted his break.
“Let’s see if you can take this without using that lamp of yours,” sneered Chu Xun this time. He punched into the air, firing another bolt that screamed through the air, bearing on Orlov.
Orlov leaped side again to evade the blow that smacked right into the molten magma, causing an angry burst of cinders.
Hmm… Chu Xun wondered.
It struck him as odd. Somehow, Orlov seemed to be able to move even before his blows came, as if he had very acute senses?
“How many can you avoid?” Chu Xun snarled.
With his fists balled firmly, he swung his arms again and again, sending a dozen-or-so spate of purplish bolts into the air at Orlov.
Orlov reeled with disbelief at what he saw raining in at him. One of the blows smashed into the magma near him, causing some to skitter up and splashed on his arm, scalding him so badly that he nearly dropped the Beacon.
Then came the rest of the deluge of destructive missiles.
Panicking, Orlov quickly channeled his powers and activated the Beacon again, which began to glow brightly like a star.
Woosh!
A burst of vividly-red flames sprayed out its sprout and disintegrated the hailstorm of fist-like projectiles into nothingness.
Like vengeful beasts, the flames went on and surged at Chu Xun.
Turning into a flash of light, Chu Xun vanished and the flames hit where he was standing before, turning the rock into more molten liquid.
A scoffing Chu Xun landed on the top of another mountain peak, about to turn back to leer at Orlov again when his face fell suddenly as a strange premonition dawned over him out of nowhere, causing his hair to stand.
A scarlet-red fist fell from the sky, aiming straight at him. With his lightning-quick reflexes, he shot away speedily, but it was not enough; the shock wave from the blast caught him, careening him into a terrible crash far away.
Bang!
The initial blast leveled the entire mountaintop he was just standing on seconds before, leaving only a huge mound of gravel and broken rocks.
Chu Xun paused when he reached another hilly knoll, stopping to steady his churning insides. The blow just now nearly caused him internal injuries. Yet he knew he needed to move and he sped away quickly.
Boom!
He was right; another fist came crushing down and destroyed the hill.
Seething, Chu Xun looked around. Until now, he failed to see who it was trying to attack him.
Woosh!
He barely came to a steady stop when the True Flames from the Beacon came rushing at him like a flood, the horrible swelter of the flames singing off his hair causing his skin to sizzle.
With a light-footed dip on the ground, he shot as quickly as he could like a bullet.
Then he saw it: an unknown figure barreling into him like a bolt of lightning.
Having forced to be on the defensive angered Chu Xun and he vented it by spinning around and delivered a punch with every iota of strength he could muster, and the blow collided with a bolt fired by this stranger, resulting in another explosion.
Boom!
Waves of massive pressure rolled in all directions as Chu Xun slammed into the rock face of a cliff like a cannonball, plunging deep into the rock that half of him got stuck inside.
Then came another gigantic fist from the sky, its gargantuan weight and force causing even the air to warp and crackle.
Boom!
That destroyed the cliff, causing everything to collapse on Chu Xun, burying him alive under all the rocks and debris.
Everything happened so quickly, catching Chu Xun unawares, and the incredible strength of the stranger showed that Chu Xun was no match for him at all.
Every single person watching the live broadcast was left dazed and speechless by this.
Who could that stranger be?!
Hardly anyone could tear their eyes off their screens.
The person stopped at last, hovering gently over the sea of flowing magma.
Clad in lavish episcopal robes of a full flowing white and topped with a golden diadem was a man with hairs and beard fully white as snow and upon his face was an unmistakable smile of confidence and victory.
“Dammit, that old senile…” the Chief of the Dark Guild could not hold back his shock as he inadvertently rose from his chair.
“Your Eminence High Prelate.”
Orlov led everyone in greeting him, bending one knee with the rest of his retinue following suit, lauding the advent of their leader and captain.
Hardly anyone was not shocked. It was Louis Krieg, the High Prelate of the Holy Temple of the Sun.
He had come. But wait, no. He had arrived a long time ago, hiding amongst the retinue as one of the ten wards who came together.
By disguising himself as one of the wards of the Holy Temple, he practically had the whole world hoodwinked.
Faraway in greater Huaxia, the Chief Official sprang of his chair and growled angrily, “Scramble our armed fighter jets now! I want that old monster blasted to kingdom come!”
“Louis you old snake,” Yue Fandie hissed scathingly at his screen himself.
The sudden turn of tables made every single person who concerned about Chu Xun felt even more anxious and worried.
“Damn, what a devious old knave,” breathed the Chief of the Dark Guild.
At Country V, the Pope was watching the live broadcast as well. With a weary sigh, he said, “I expected no less of you, Louis. The most ambitious of among all mavens like us.”
Meanwhile, uproars broke out on the Internet with Huaxia warriors cursing Louis for his shameless deception.
On the other hand, the Broken Souls Cult, the Sifang Sword Sect, and a few other organizations reeled with delight, overjoyed to see Chu Xun dying.
“The Sun God’s dignity suffers no dishonor from the likes of you, Devil,” boomed Louis, holding his hands pompously behind his back with his robes fluttering and snapping in the wind majestically, “Do you honestly believe that there is no one in this world who possesses the might to tame you?”
“With you coming here personally to deal with him, High Prelate, I daresay death is the only way for him,” smirked Orlov silkily.
Louis sternly waved an arm and the Beacon flew to him obediently.
“In the name of the Sun God, I sentence you to death, Devil,” said Louis, operating the Beacon. The weapon shone again brightly and a huge fountain of dark-reddish flames shot from its sprout like a geyser to inundate the whole area Chu Xun was buried under with fire.
All around Huaxia, people who were concerned about Chu Xun held their breaths, their hearts stuck in their throats for they could witness with their own eyes the true terror of the Beacon of the Sun God in its wrath.
Louis was trying to disintegrate the whole collapsed mountain, along with Chu Xun, into magma!
Bang!
Just before the rocks liquefied, came a sudden eruption and Chu Xun punched his way out from under the pile of rocks.
Sizzle!
Some of the rocks melted into hot molten magma.
“What a cunning old fart,” scowled Chu Xun, knowing full well that he was no match for the High Prelate whose strength was on par with even the Pope himself.
Louis was surprised himself to see Chu Xun well and fine.
“You’re really a troublesome hassle to deal with, Devil,” observed Louis as a form of compliment.
“Don’t you feel any shame for disguising yourself as one of your wards, Louis? To say nothing of the fact that you were trying to ambush me too!” Chu Xun glowered when he landed on another mountain, hardly pleased at the fact that he had just been ambushed.
Instead of feeling any shame or guilt, Louis chuckled sanctimoniously, “Anyone who sullies the grace of the Sun God does not deserve to live.”
Chu Xun scoffed sharply. “Humph, then what am I now? I’m still alive and well.”
“What makes you think you will survive today?” Louis’s voice carried a tinge of contempt.
“What makes you think you can kill me?” Chu Xun retorted with a chortle.
Boom!
Louis lunged. He raised a hand and blasted a huge wave of True Flames, churning up even the magma on the ground to create a gigantic tidal wave of conflagration like a huge monster about to engulf Chu Xun.
Chu Xun did not attempt to flee. Rather, he regarded Louis with a supercilious grin.
At the same time, Louis spied his confident countenance and was shocked and puzzled himself.
Suddenly, a behemothic hand fell from the sky and crashed right in front of Chu Xun, shielding him from harm.
Louis’s attack battered against the giant hand and burst with sprays of cinders and magma in the air, damaging the massive hand not one bit.
“Dammit, Old Ao. Any later and I would have died already,” guffawed Chu Xun.
A tall and imposing figure stood on the precipice of a mountain, clothed in rich kingly robes of gold and yellow that only served to magnify his stately and awesome greatness.
Nevertheless, he could not resist his lips twitching uncontrollably with annoyance at Chu Xun’s addressing him as “Old Ao” and he scowled at him.
Louis felt his entire self turning as taut as a bowstring. Just by standing there alone, the stranger exuded a presence both unsurpassable and dangerous.
“You’ve overstepped, warriors of the West,” boomed Emperor Ao calmly at Louis.
With the mere air of Emperor Ao enough to make him nervous, Louis channeled his True Flames quietly and carefully. “How did this stranger appear?! I did not even sense his presence at all!”
“Whoever he is, he must be a powerful terror of Huaxia!”
“Who are you?! How dare you speak with such tone to the High Prelate!” bellowed one of Louis’s ward.
“Silence!” berated Louis sharply.
Emperor Ao’s deadpan stare panned over to this young man.
Bang!
With one frightful bang, the ward who just reprimand Emperor Ao was gone and in his place, remained only a thick bloody mist falling gently to the ground. That horrified the rest of the other wards of the Holy Temple enough that their hairs stood on ends and their limbs went as cold as marble.
No one watching this scene could barely hold back cold sweat from breaking upon their backs with cold chills running up their spines despite watching the broadcast from a screen.
With only one glance – just one single glance – the ward of the Holy Temple disintegrated into a mist of blood.
Furious, Louis knew that it was a show of strength to intimidate him. Clearly, the stranger was trying to demonstrate his great strength by executing the young ward to show him the difference of their powers.
“Who are you?! Don’t you find yourself cruel and brutal?!” Louis retorted with a straight face.
“Warriors of the West, the domain of Huaxia does not suffer intrusions by your ilk. The defilement of these lands warrants death as a punishment,” boomed Emperor Ao indifferently.
“Damn,” Chu Xun griped bewilderedly, “This bloody old man does really have a flair for playing high and mighty.”
“You’re saying that you want to have us all killed?” angered to the extreme, Louis broke into a giggle instead.
“Why?” Emperor Ao showed a surprised expression, albeit still with unnerving placidness, “You don’t believe that I could? What gives you such courage?”
He reached out a hand and swung it casually like he was swatting at Louis from afar as if the High Prelate was a fly.
That incensed Louis so greatly that his blood literally boiled inside him. As High Prelate of the Holy Temple of the Sun, he had enjoyed only respect, dignity, and veneration! Never had he endured such indignity before!
Boom!
He fired a blast of True Flames suddenly and every inch of ground where the jet of fire passed, the earth split and cracked as the attack barreled straight at Emperor Ao.
