Chapter 290 - Incident At the City Gate

After bidding farewell to the people on Goldfish Island, Long Chen, Ling Xi, and Xiaolang continued their journey to the capital.

Both Long Chen and Ling Xi rode Mo Xiaolang while traveling. Thanks to his speed, they soon saw the massive walls of the capital.

It was tens of times larger than Yuanling City, and the emerald-colored walls were very impressive even from a distance away. Long Chen felt like an ant in front of the massive city, akin to a pebble being dropped into the ocean that would cause nothing but a tiny ripple.

The walls were so tall that they separated the heavens and earth.

The closer they got, the taller the walls looked. Long Chen had not expected them to be so massive, and he felt insignificant next to them.

There were many people riding demonic beasts outside the capital’s wall. However, Long Chen still ordered Mo Xiaolang to become small again in order to not attract unwanted attention. The Sun Devouring Wolf was too unique.

Long Chen then gave Ling Xi his veil and hat to prevent anyone from seeing her beauty.

“We will be fine once we enter the city and find the Ninth Prince,” Long Chen whispered.

Since the Ninth Prince was not around, Long Chen was essentially considered a nobody in the city. Even though he couldn’t get a clear grasp on the Ninth Prince’s personality, he was sure that the Ninth Prince was not someone who would befriend him earnestly. Unfortunately, he had to rely on the Ninth Prince to enter the Counter Essence Realm.

They made their final preparations before they approached the entrance to the city.

They were at the southern gate of the capital. Even though it was not the largest one, it was larger than Yuanling City’s gates. Countless people were constantly entering and exiting the city. Long Chen lined up with the rest, and there were more than ten lines of people waiting to enter. The closer they got, the more people with money and demonic beasts they spotted.

Long Chen held Ling Xi’s hand and followed the crowd. They would be safe once they passed through the gates. All they would need to do then was find the Ninth Prince.

“Both of you, halt!”

One of the guards stopped Long Chen and Ling Xi.

There were thousands of guards standing outside the gates. All of them were standing in an orderly line, had bulging muscles, and beards covering half of their faces.

“Is there a problem, Sir?” Long Chen pulled Ling Xi to his side. His face was calm when he said that.

“Why is that woman wearing a veil? I need to check what is wrong with her before allowing her entry!” The guard saw that Long Chen was just a brat and didn’t wait for a reply before approaching Ling Xi. He had intended to tear off Ling Xi’s veil with or without consent.

Long Chen stood between him and Ling Xi, glaring at the guard. He didn’t want to fight, but the guard was being too aggressive.

Seeing that Long Chen dared to disobey him, the guard scoffed at Long Chen and his voice grew cold. “What do you think you’re doing? Are you trying to fight?”

“Your words are too harsh. There are many people who did not reveal their faces when they entered the city. Why are you targeting us?” Long Chen did not back down.

The guards were at least at the Divine Core Realm. Even though their ranks weren’t high, they were all likely at the Heavenly Core Realm at least. Also, they had the backing of the Biyang Imperial Capital military. Therefore, it was not wise to fight them, but Long Chen would not allow a guard to walk all over him.

Many people saw the conflict and some of them started discussing it themselves.

There was indeed a reason the guard had stopped Ling Xi. Even though she was wearing a veil, the outline of her figure was still visible. The guard determined that she would be a beauty and wanted to stop her. His intention was to take her away from Long Chen.

It was not the first time they had done this.

Those who had been to the city numerous times had seen this happen before. All of them gave Long Chen looks of pity, already imagining what would happen to him. He would be killed and buried while Ling Xi would become the guards’ plaything. If she was extremely beautiful, she would be offered to the higher-ups and the guards would either be rewarded or maybe even get promoted.

Everyone knew that the ruling faction of the imperial capital was the imperial family. It was also the strongest faction. The three noble families were nothing but their underlings. The military was under the direct command of the imperial family, so no one would go against the unruly guards if they didn’t have sufficient power.

Long Chen was not an idiot, so he understood the rules. The military belonged to the imperial family, but Long Chen was an Immortal Guard that the Ninth Prince had personally recruited. There was no reason for him to be afraid.

The guard thought Long Chen was an idiot and laughed. He was originally going to let Long Chen live, but now there was no reason to.

“Men, come and catch him! He’s a disciple of the Heavenly Demon Palace. He’s trying to infiltrate the city!”

“Yes, Sir!”

The other guards leaped into action the moment he said that. All of them attacked Long Chen. Obeying their captain was always the best decision, as they would be rewarded for it.

A captain usually commanded a squad of a hundred guards. At the present moment, a hundred guards surrounded Long Chen. It was a strong squad, with all of them at the Divine Core Realm, but they were nothing to Long Chen.

Long Chen said nothing as he let Xiaolang protect Ling Xi while he himself rushed into the group of guards like a blade.

“You dare fight back?” The captain laughed, but his smile froze when he saw his men falling down left and right.

In just several minutes, all of the guards were lying on the ground. Both the captain and the spectators were shocked as they re-evaluated Long Chen.

“The young man has guts and strength. He probably has a good background too. Too bad he has offended the guards and will most likely get punished. No one can go against the guards with the military backing them.”

“That’s true. There was once a Heavenly River Realm cultivator who fought the guards and was killed in one strike by the commander.”

Long Chen knew that Heavenly River Realm cultivators were the apex in the capital. Although it was possible that there were people who had gone past it, there were still many at the Divine Core Realm and the Draconic Realm.

The capital’s population was immense, almost ten times that of Yuanling City, so naturally a lot of strong cultivators were gathered here.

The captain was shocked to see Long Chen defeating so many guards. He instinctively knew that Long Chen was stronger than himself, but he was not afraid. There had been many others stronger than him, but they had died in the end. The captain took out a horn and blew into it, sending a solemn sound into the clouds.

Is he calling for his superior?

But this was what Long Chen needed. He had chosen to fight in the beginning so that someone with a higher rank would come out.

But the captain gave me so much trouble as well as killed many innocents before ...

Long Chen steeled himself. While the captain was blowing the horn, Long Chen used the Sword Devil Finger and pierced the captain’s chest. An instant later, the captain was dead.

The horn fell to the ground.

The captain stared at Long Chen. He wanted to know if Long Chen was the one who had killed him, but he would never find out. He didn’t even see Long Chen’s face before he fell over.

The captain never thought Long Chen would actually kill him. He had done this multiple times in the past and had mostly succeeded, and his superior had protected him whenever he failed. But this time he had been killed before his superior even showed up.

The spectators had thought that Long Chen was sensible in injuring the guards without killing them. But all of them were stunned when he killed the captain.

To them, killing the captain in front of the entrance to the city was tantamount to rebellion. No matter how strong Long Chen’s background was, it would be useless—he was effectively dead.

Almost everyone who wanted to enter the city was watching the young boy, who was still calm after killing someone.

The other captains recognized the direness of the situation and immediately called for their men. They surrounded Long Chen and Ling Xi but did nothing; they were waiting for their superior.

Thousands of guards were staring at Long Chen.

Just then, someone fell from the top of the walls. The person landed feet first without any injuries.

It was a middle-aged cultivator wearing a thick suit of armor. The man was handsome and seemed charismatic.

“We greet the Seventh Commander!”

Thousands of guards kneeled in front of him.

“What happened?” The Seventh Commander looked around, his eyes landing on Long Chen and the dead captain. The issue here had affected the flow of people entering and exiting the city, so he needed to fix it now.

“Seventh Commander, Liu Heng found out that that man is a disciple of the Heavenly Demon Palace. Liu Heng wanted to capture him but was killed instead. Please take revenge for Liu Heng!”