The Immortal Emperor Returns C261 – Bloodbath

Five minutes remained before Chu Xun would come to make true of his threat.

Yet until now, no warriors retreated from Haiqing City with their battle pets.

A few sharp, piercing caws shot through the air and five snowy-white cranes flew towards the direction of Haiqing City, all of them gigantic specimens with wingspans that reached an incredible length of five to six meters.

They landed as one, and the motion of their flapping wings folding up was enough to whisk up a backdrop of sand and gravel behind them.

White cranes have always enjoyed being illustrious motifs in Chinese mythology and fables and the white coat of furs of these majestic birds made them look all the more impressive and magnificent. As soon as the birds came down, upon each of their backs, a group of young women came down, each of them dressed in white robes while possessing a divine and celestial presence that set them apart from common people.

Leading at the front was a middle-aged beauty in her early thirties, although she must be very much older than that, for she was a Human King.

“There are still three more minutes until the half-hour mark, Brother Mu. Do you not want to send your battle pet away, lest it be destroyed?” asked one of the Grandmasters loudly.

He was referring to a middle-aged man in his forties, whose battle pet was a mountain rodent the size of a large dining table with fur as stout and hardened as steel needles. Its large obsidian eyes gleamed dangerously as it bared its half-meter long fangs, threatening to rip any armor like ribbons.

“Humph. For a century, I walked with pride and dignity. Never have I seen anyone so haughty before. In fact, I'm interested to see how he would try to slay my battle pet.”

“Hahahaha... Me too. Such proud and arrogant words. Let him come. I'll let my pet Xiaohuang to mind-control him into doing striptease for us,” added another warrior, guffawing loudly. His battle pet Xiaohuang was a one-meter-long weasel. It might not look as powerful and daunting as other battle pets or wild beasts, but as a minion of one of the main zoomorphic deities of Chinese myth, it was skilled in psychic attacks and that made it formidable enough.

The women whose gorgeous beauty looked as if they were fairies who descended from Heaven heard the men talking, their minds deep in silent thought. One of them pondered quietly, only for her eyes to shoot wide suddenly with dawning comprehension.

“Wait, where are you going...” the middle-aged woman gasped when she saw her student drifting towards the warrior with his giant weasel.

“My apologies, can I ask what are you discussing?” asked the young woman politely.

The warrior hardly expected one as pretty as the young woman would come to talk to him. Enlivened with spirit and his eyes gleaming exuberantly, he said, “Haven't you heard, my lady? A man came just now and warned everyone to withdraw their battle pets away from Haiqing City, or he'd slaughter them all. Ludicrous, don't you think?”

Hearing this, the young woman's expression shifted slightly. She croaked a quick “Thank you” and hurried away to rejoin her group.

“We need to have our cranes leave this place at once, Martial Uncle,” she reported. She patted gently on her bird, bidding it to leave Haiqing City.

“What is this?” asked the middle-aged woman.

“There is no time, Martial Uncle. I'll explain later,” said the young woman urgently.

The middle-aged woman firmly gave her assent, and everyone sent away their white cranes.

All five birds took into the sky and the young woman finally heaved a breath of relief.

“What's going on, young Xuan?” asked the middle-aged woman again.

“Have you heard what were those men talking about, Martial Uncle?”

The middle-aged woman nodded. The men had been talking so loudly that it was hard to miss.

“Just you wait. They will be in trouble soon enough,” young Xuan smirked thinly.

“Just tell us. What's going on?” her senior urged again.

“I have encountered a similar incident when I was at Gujiang City the last time. A warning came first, giving a half-hour for all warriors to dispatch away their battle pets. But the warriors all behaved exactly what we are seeing here now.” The young woman's face flushed with a sudden fear. She took a deep breath to calm herself before she went on, “When the time finally came, hundreds of battle pets were dead. Slaughtered in a merciless bloodbath and any warrior who dared to defy this mass execution were wounded. Even the Ying Clan who once reigned supreme at Gujiang City was utterly ruined.”

This young woman was none other than Fairy Xuan, a young prodigy of the Xiangsi Pavilion who had met Chu Xun before twice.

The middle-aged woman turned horrified, and so were the young woman's fellow students.

“But who would possess such unstoppable might?” gasped the senior lady. Cities and major settlements everywhere in this age abounded with hundreds, if not thousands, of warriors, and among them lurked numerous prodigies of renowned prowess. To slaughter hundreds and thousands of battle pets would mean antagonizing just as many warriors. But who would be capable of such madness? Not even famous Human Kings would dare venture such risks.

“The person who made such threats is Chu Xun. Chu the Devil.”

Soft and gentle was her voice, but it sounded like the toll of a bell in the ears of her senior and fellow students, that their eyes widened with disbelief and bewilderment.

Chu the Devil. Three merest words that belied the significance they carried. The very personification of destruction of carnage who had surfaced more than a decade ago, decimating orders, sects, and various organizations that dared cross his path and leaving bloodbaths in his wake. Then he disappeared mysteriously, only to resurface again, shocking the world once more.

“Small wonder there...” they grimaced quietly amongst themselves. Everything would make sense if the person behind all these slaughters was indeed the notorious Chu the Devil.

“Ladies, why have you sent away your pets? You didn't have to do that. Not when I'm around. Rest assured that I will take care of that madman when he arrives. You should stay and see how I will wring off his head and feed it to my Xiaohuang,” said the warrior with his weasel, interrupting the women.

Warriors are also men, and men could never easily resist the charms of beautiful women. The presence of Fairy Xuan and her companions began to make any male warriors around to come closer with their mouths salivating.

“Don't worry. Feel free to summon back your pets. No one will dare hurt you when I'm around. I'll let him have a taste of Hell.”

“What an idiot that madman is, to threaten every warrior across Haiqing City. He's either crazy or he's a fool. Don't worry, ladies. I bet he's cowering in a hole somewhere now, regretting his action. But if he really dares to show himself, I'll show him the meaning of Death.”

Scores of male warriors came forward to offer the ladies their assurances.

“The half-hour mark has arrived,” announced a voice loudly.

The warriors broke into fits of guffaws, all of them sounding derisive and scornful.

“So what if the half-hour mark has arrived? Here I am! And here is my battle pet! We are all fine! Just you wait, I'll find out the person behind this and I'll make him pay!”

This warrior's battle pet was a gargantuan Tibetan mastiff at least three to four meters tall, its golden coat of fur giving off a stately luster in the bright sunlight.

But he barely finished when a loud bang struck, and a bolt of dark light hit the mastiff's large head, splitting it into half with blood pouring out and flowing down its torso.

Everyone froze.

It took a while until everyone recovered from their stupor and looked.

A heavily-bearded man, brandishing a sword breaker gleaming with a mysterious dark aura, marched towards them.

“Were you the one who killed my pet?!” bellowed the warrior whose pet had just been slaughtered.

Lei Bao's lips broke into a smirk, before he vanished into a white dash of light, racing forward with a trail of mirages fluttering behind him. He raised aloft his sword breaker, the Sacred Relic flashing its dark glow dangerously.

Bang!

The Ninth-grade Grandmaster flew crashing into the ground, coughing up a mouthful of blood and his chest was caved in.

Thus began Lei Bao's streak of carnage.

Bang! Bang!

Flashes of dark light coupled with the angry crackling and bursts of lightning bolts ended with plumes and spates of blood that scattered every inch of the street, and the air was thick with its stench that one could almost vomit.

Lei Bao flitted around with the speed of a wraith. Each time he found a target, his sword breaker came down with merciless alacrity, causing more explosions to ensue.

Crack!

The never-ending din of breaking bones formed a symphony of agony as more screams of pain followed and more people collapsed, bloodied and maimed.

Lei Bao halted his frenzied destruction suddenly, his face filled with disdain and contempt.

In just mere moments, carcasses of slaughtered battle pets littered everywhere and their masters wounded, suffering severed tendons or broken bones.

“What a pile of filth. How dare you defy the majesty of our Lord,” scoffed Lei Bao derisively, “I would have taken pleasure in splitting each and every head I see, if our Lord had not specifically asked us to show mercy.”

There was hardly anyone who was not left stricken with panic and fear, their eyes trembling with trepidation at the destructive might of this stranger. None of the many warriors could even take a hit from him, and yet, he just professed to have a leader whom he answered to. Who could he be and what unknown powers could this leader hold? For the merest thought of the chief of this incredible stranger was enough to fill one with despair.

Lei Bao turned to face the party of the Xiangsi Pavilion, his aura gradually rising.

“I know your Lord,” Fairy Xuan announced herself, “Moreover, we did not bring any battle pets.”

Surprised, Lei Bao withdrew his aura. He stared strangely at Fairy Xuan, muttering with a dirty look, “Wait a minute, could it be that you are his...”

“We are just friends,” Fairy Xuan muttered quickly, her cheeks burning red

“Really?” Lei Bao murmured, scratching the back of his head, “Well, that should be expected, I guess. His Lordship is the very personification of destruction himself. There's no way he would fall for an ordinary woman like you.”

With that, Lei Bao turned around and marched briskly away, swinging his sword breaker casually.

That coarse remark left Fairy Xuan blushing with indignance. She had always taken pride in her appearance, and the suitors who had come asking for her hand in marriage lined as long as a far-reaching river. “Ordinary?!” she gasped quietly, hardly believing what she just heard, “The personification of destruction, he says? The very incarnation of the Devil himself, I'd say.”

Some of the wounded warriors laid miserably on the ground. They have all been ignominiously defeated and their battle pets slaughtered like mere poultry and fish, yet until now, they did not know the name of the person behind all this bloodbath.

“Please, my lady. Who is this “Lord” that the stranger was referring to?” one of the wounded warriors gasped raspily amidst his pain.

“No, I don't know,” a seething Fairy Xuan mumbled. She flailed her long, flowing hair around and sauntered away.

The very same scene took place at all other places around Haiqing City.

Inside a tavern, a couple of warriors were enjoying their meal and their battle pets were feasting on the bloody remains of two ordinary oxen.

“Damn, I wonder who it is. How dare he make such threats? I'd make sure I use his head as a ball if I ever find out who's behind this.”

“I hope he comes here. My pet has developed a liking for human flesh since tasting it a few days ago. I'd give him to my battle pet as food,” said another. His battle pet was a gigantic hyena with girth ten times larger than ordinary dogs and its long, sharp fangs only made him look more terrible and bloodthirsty.

“Ah, forget it. I bet whoever this stranger is, he must be a fool to have angered every warrior in this city. I daresay he must be hiding somewhere, shivering at his folly.”

He had only just finished when a stranger walked through the doors, carrying a greatsword. Without any warning, he swung his weapon, sending forth a flurry of Sword Qis.

Puff!

The huge hyena crashed to the ground, its head lopped off cleanly. Blood sprayed like a geyser, splattering into the food the warriors were eating.

Before they could do anything, the stranger stormed towards them, swinging his greatsword furiously and sending more Sword Qis flying everywhere.

Puff!

A monstrous wolf tumbled to the ground, its head rolling away in a long stream of blood.

Puff! Puff...!

More heads dropped and rolled on the ground, dyeing the earth in a morbid rich-red hue like small little creeks that flowed and merged into larger streams and rivers.

None of the battle pets that the warriors brought with them remained, all of them dead with their heads removed.

The stranger continued waving his sword wildly around, flinging more Sword Qis that shaped like mirages of his weapon at the belligerent warriors now seeking retribution, yet all they received were agony and pain.

Minutes later, the warriors laid sprawled, shivering like mice on the ground, their auras and ardor to fight all but extinguished.

“Filth. How dare you sully the name of my Lord? If not for his insistence, I would have taken immense pleasure in beheading you lot.”

With that, the man carried his greatsword and marched away.

The air reeked so thickly of blood that the gory aftermath of the slaughter looked like the living enactment of Hell on earth and the defeated warriors were terrified of the ordeal.

Chapter end