Chapter 293 - Heavenly Wolf Gang

After the Ninth Prince finished his questioning, Long Chen immediately asked about his main objective.

“My Lord, when will I depart for the Counter Essence Realm?”

“You are very lucky. If you had arrived tomorrow, you might’ve needed to wait another month. The shift for the Immortal Guards changes every month. Today is the end of the month, so the other Immortal Guards directly underneath me should be returning soon.”

The Ninth Prince smiled, his gaze flashing past Ling Xi’s beautiful face as his eyes glinted with greed.

Ling Xi sat still and looked at Long Chen, her eyes radiating happiness. The Ninth Prince saw that too.

Long Chen smiled at her and asked the Ninth Prince, “Does that mean I will officially start my work as an Immortal Guard tomorrow and enter the Counter Essence Realm?”

The Ninth Prince had been looking at Ling Xi before he got interrupted by Long Chen. He quickly shifted his gaze and answered, “Yes. Tomorrow is the start of a new month. Some of my other Immortal Guards will be entering the Counter Essence Realm too, and you will follow them. I will arrange for someone to take you to my uncle to register.”

Long Chen did not mind that he was being rushed. The earlier he could enter the Counter Essence Realm, the faster he could start searching for the Nine Heavens Immortal Fruit. He needed to leave this place as soon as possible.

“Looks like Miss Ling Xi loves you a lot, but unfortunately, you will have to be separated for an entire month.” The Ninth Prince looked at Ling Xi again.

“Separated?” Long Chen was stunned before he realized that it was natural.

The Counter Essence Realm was the imperial family’s treasure trove. Even as an Immortal Guard, Long Chen still had to register to enter. Ling Xi and Mo Xiaolang would naturally not be able to go with him.

“Brother Chen?” Ling Xi had anticipated this, but she was still nervous. Long Chen was her only safe place. If he left, she would feel very exposed to danger.

“Don’t worry, this is not a life-or-death situation. Long Chen, let Ling Xi stay with me here at Yuqin Palace while you are inside the Counter Essence Realm. I will ensure her safety,” the Ninth Prince said solemnly.

Long Chen did not answer immediately. Even though the Ninth Prince’s gaze was sincere, Long Chen knew his instincts didn’t lie.

The Ninth Prince was definitely not doing this out of kindness.

Ling Xi held onto Long Chen’s sleeve.

He needed to make a choice. In order to enter the Counter Essence Realm and find the Nine Heavens Immortal Fruit, he had to leave Ling Xi in Yuqin Palace.

He didn’t trust the Ninth Prince, so he hesitated.

“Brother Chen, it’s okay. Mo Xiaolang said he would protect me,” Ling Xi whispered to him.

Long Chen was painfully aware of that too. He needed to leave Mo Xiaolang as well if he wanted to enter the Counter Essence Realm. At least he trusted Mo Xiaolang.

But now it was time for him to make a choice. This was a gamble, and he would regret his decision if anything went wrong.

Laughter suddenly came from outside, breaking the silence. Long Chen was temporarily saved from making a decision.

The Ninth Prince was not offended even though Long Chen had not given him an answer. When he heard the laughter outside, he told Long Chen, “Long Chen, my Immortal Guards are back. Most of them are from the Heavenly Wolf Gang, a group that has pledged their loyalty to me. They aren’t exactly refined, but they are fairly easy-going people. You will be mingling with them for the next month.”

The Ninth Prince had just finished talking when a group of tall men entered the room with his permission. Long Chen looked at them and noted that they were around twenty to thirty years old. All of them had something in common, which was their bodies. All of them were roughly two meters tall and had bulging muscles. It was clear that they were plenty strong.

Additionally, each of them was bald and had a wolf tattoo. The tattoos were horrifying and blood-red. Even though the men weren’t laughing, their smiles were extremely sinister.

“What are you laughing at?” The Ninth Prince smiled plainly. It seemed that he was quite lax to his underlings.

“We were discussing which women in the brothel would be strong enough to endure everyone’s onslaught throughout the night. Let me tell you, the star prostitute of the brothel was so pretty ...”

The one who answered the Ninth Prince was an older man. He had the same bald head and bulging muscles with a tattoo. His eyes were bloodshot and he radiated killing intent even though he was just chatting. This was a man who had killed plenty.

Long Chen instinctively knew that this person was the leader of the Heavenly Wolf Gang; he was also the strongest among them.

While the man was speaking about the prostitute, he saw there were people in the study. He wanted to say that the prostitute was so beautiful that she could bring entire cities to their knees, but he stuffed those words back into his throat when he saw Ling Xi.

One look at her was more than enough to make him think that the prostitute looked like shit.

The Heavenly Wolf Gang consisted of seven men. All of them were staring at Ling Xi with blank expressions.

Anyone else would’ve reacted the same if a goddess were to descend onto the mortal realm without any warning.

“Let me introduce you to them. This is the Immortal Guard I recruited in Yuanling City, Long Chen. And this is Miss Ling Xi.”

The Ninth Prince’s words made them realize what was going on. The leader of the Heavenly Wolf Gang looked at the gaze of the Ninth Prince and then at Ling Xi before realizing what was going on.

“You idiots! Stop looking! Do you think you’re worthy of looking at someone that pretty?”

The rest of them weren’t angry at all even after being scolded. All of them looked at Long Chen instead.

Long Chen was also looking at them.

He was not an idiot.

Damn, it seems that the Ninth Prince is indeed trying to get Ling Xi. The bald leader is basically telling the others that Ling Xi is the Ninth Prince’s goal and that they must not touch her. You guys are smart, but I’m not an idiot either.

Long Chen had already noticed that something was off with the Ninth Prince when he first saw Ling Xi. Everyone loved beautiful girls, especially ones who were beautiful enough to bring a kingdom to ruin.

The Ninth Prince’s strength and status were many times higher than Long Chen’s, so there was no way he would let Long Chen get Ling Xi.

The Ninth Prince had indeed highly regarded Long Chen’s potential in the beginning, but everything changed when Ling Xi appeared.

Long Chen started to feel the pressure. He tried to think of numerous ways to get out of this. Luckily, he had managed to confirm what was going on early, so he had time to think about how to solve it.

He pretended that he did not understand what they were talking about.

The Heavenly Wolf Gang was also looking at Long Chen. All of them knew that Long Chen was very unlucky to have the Ninth Prince notice Ling Xi.

Especially when they saw that Long Chen was only at the First or Second Heavenly River Stage.

“Go ahead and introduce yourselves. Long Chen will be joining you next time. I won’t forgive you if you teach him bad things.” The Ninth Prince chuckled.

All of them started introducing themselves to Long Chen. He learned that the leader of the Heavenly Wolf Gang was called Yu Tao, who was at the Fifth River Stage. The others were at the Third or Fourth River Stages. Only one of them was roughly at the same age as Long Chen.

Long Chen pretended to be very meek and didn’t say much. He only nodded when they mentioned him in their conversation.

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

The Ninth Prince was strangely very friendly with them and laughed at their crude jokes.

“Yu Tao, before you head to the Counter Essence Realm tomorrow, remember to let Long Chen know about the rules and take him to my uncle for registration,” the Ninth Prince reminded.

“Don’t worry, I will remember your orders clearly. I will ensure that there won’t be any problems at all. But with his strength, it seems that the elementary zone will be quite dangerous for him. My Lord, are you sure you want to let him enter the Counter Essence Realm?” Yu Tao’s eyes were filled with contempt.

“That’s why I want you to be extra careful with him,” the Ninth Prince responded.

They were conversing amongst themselves and completely ignoring Long Chen. To them, Long Chen was just a sad man waiting for an unfortunate accident.

“Hmm? This wolf looks interesting. It seems that it's a demonic beast, and it's quite strong!” the youngest of the Heavenly Wolf Gang exclaimed. He was roughly at the Third River Stage.

Even though he was young, his body was twice as large as Long Chen’s.

“Of course it's strong. It’s a Category Two Earth-tier demonic beast. I’m not sure what kind of wolf demonic beast it is, but it’s definitely a mutated one,” the Ninth Prince said simply.

“Is that true?” the young man shouted with glee. “We are so lucky to find one! Big Brother, our third brother is going to enter the Heavenly River Realm soon. Since we are good friends with wolves, the beast soul of this wolf demonic beast should be a great gift for him.”

He was talking to Yu Tao.

The eldest and youngest of the group were siblings.

No wonder they look similar.

“Long Chen, my third brother needs the beast soul of an Earth-tier wolf-type demonic beast. Would you be kind enough to give us yours?” Yu Tao was greedily eyeing Mo Xiaolang.