Chapter 307 - Dragon King Burial

A long time had passed, so the immortal beast stampede was completely over. The Immortal Guards from the Intermediate Zone had left the protected area to deal with the mess the beasts had left behind. Relying on the Soul Swallowing Gaze, Long Chen avoided many of them. After about two hours, he finally returned to Area Eighteen.

The place was a mess. Over ten Earth-tier herbs that required protection had gone missing. They had likely been uprooted by the immortal beasts.

After reaching the Fourth River Stage, Long Chen’s gaze grew more reserved despite being stronger. Although there were no heavenly rivers in the Counter Essence Realm, he had managed to make two breakthroughs by force. And the condensed star rivers within his star vein did not show any signs of instability.

Long Chen had killed Yu Chong as soon as the immortal beast stampede arrived. At the time, they were both on the same team. Now that he was back, he was afraid of having conflict with Yu Tao. Long Chen had made a solid decision, and he believed that as long as he stubbornly denied it, Yu Tao could not do anything to him in public.

Long Chen returned to base in broad daylight. Some people were shocked to see that he was still alive and quickly called more people over. Most of the guards in Area Eighteen were tall, muscular men from the Heavenly Wolf Gang. They gathered around and stared at him watchfully. When Yu Tao arrived, they moved aside to let him enter.

Yu Tao’s face was extremely dark. He stood in front of Long Chen, a blast of killing intent hitting Long Chen in the face. Looking at the fearless teenager, he was about to question him when Long Chen beat him to it. “Why don’t I see Zhang Yuanteng? Where is Zhang Yuanteng?”

Previously, Zhang Yuanteng had returned to the protected area and Long Chen had only left for the Advanced Zone after ensuring his safety. Now that he was back here, he noticed that everyone was present except Zhang Yuanteng.

Yu Tao smirked and did not reply to him. He merely asked coldly, “Long Chen, forget about Zhang Yuanteng. I’m asking you now: where is my brother Yu Chong?”

“Yu Chong?” Long Chen smiled. “When the immortal stampede came, he ran off and disappeared. He hasn’t returned? Maybe he was eaten by the beasts because he was too weak?”

“What did you say?!” Yu Tao raised his eyebrows, killing intent radiating from him. He approached Long Chen and asked coldly, “Long Chen, don’t you dare act stupid! Yu Chong was with you when the stampede began. Why did you return but not him?”

Long Chen’s grin widened when he heard this. His fearless grin made Yu Tao’s gaze darken.

“Yu Tao, it’s not like you don’t know your younger brother. When we encountered merely two Cloud Canines, he was so afraid that he immediately ran off to you. This was a whole stampede! I’d absolutely believe it if someone said that a weak coward like him was eaten by the beasts along the way!” Long Chen refused to budge.

“Nonsense! You killed him and put the blame on the beasts, didn’t you?” Yu Tao asked with a cold flash in his eyes.

Long Chen had long known that he would make this accusation. If his mind were a mess right now, Yu Tao would have spotted his lie immediately. That was why he had already planned his performance.

With an icy expression, he asked, “Following your logic, where is Zhang Yuanteng? Did you kill him?”

He had not seen Zhang Yuanteng yet and was getting worried. Although their bond was not that deep, Zhang Yuanteng had helped him greatly, and Long Chen had always repaid those who showed him kindness. When he thought that Zhang Yuanteng could be in danger, blood Qi rushed into his brain, his blood boiled, and his eyes slowly became red.

When Yu Tao saw the vicious look in Long Chen’s eyes without a hint of guilt, he started to believe that Yu Chong’s disappearance was unrelated to Long Chen. He was naturally concerned about the safety of his younger brother, and now that the stampede had just passed, they could finally go search for Yu Chong. He instructed the others, “Search Area Eighteen and see if you can find Yu Chong. As for Long Chen, you’d better stay here. If I find out that you were the one who harmed Yu Chong, I will make you wish you were dead!”

Under Yu Tao’s instructions, the people who had just returned from the chaos left to search for Yu Chong once more. Only Yu Tao and Long Chen remained in the base.

“Now, can you tell me where the hell Zhang Yuanteng is? When he was rushing back to the protected area, you went there too. I refuse to believe that you don’t know what happened!”

Long Chen clenched his fists tightly. He realized that ever since he reached the Fourth River Stage, his desire to kill had gotten oddly strong. Just as Ling Xi had said, the Ancient Bloodsoul Dragon was the legendary dragon of slaughter and massacre, and his personality would gradually be influenced since he had inherited its blood. Furthermore, since he had used Blood Transmutation a few consecutive times, it became more obvious that his personality had become violent and difficult to control.

“Zhang Yuanteng? He’s a nobody; I have no time to pay him any attention. Long Chen, tell me honestly. What the hell happened to my brother?” Yu Tao refused to yield.

From Yu Tao’s words, Long Chen sensed that something had indeed happened to Zhang Yuanteng. It was likely because of Long Chen that Yu Tao hated Zhang Yuanteng, bringing him harm.

With that thought, Long Chen felt anger rush into his brain, slowly muddling his mind.

“Yu Tao, I’m asking you again! Did you kill Zhang Yuanteng?!” Taking three steps toward Yu Tao, Long Chen’s eyes turned blood-red and the vein on his neck popped out.

Yu Chong had gone missing, but Yu Tao had not threatened Long Chen yet. Now that Long Chen had threatened him instead, how could a former bandit swallow his anger? How dare Long Chen make such rude accusations in front of him? It did not matter what—he was looking for death!

“Get the fuck out!” Yu Tao bellowed and slammed his palm at Long Chen! If Long Chen had not leveled up, he would not have been able to dodge the slap that contained Fifth River Stage Qi. And if he were struck, half of his face would have been swollen!

“Wanna hit me?” Long Chen was now a hundred percent sure that Zhang Yuanteng had been harmed because of himself. He still clearly remembered Zhang Yuanteng telling him about his dreams, saying he wanted to kiss the boring army life goodbye and truly start living. He had said that his goal was to reach the Seventh River Stage and become one of the core Immortal Guards! But all his dreams had turned to dust!

How could Long Chen not blame himself? How could he not rage?

After using Blood Transmutation to attain the Fourth River Stage, the violence in him had grown. Blood rushing to his brain, he glared at Yu Tao, hostility filling his body!

With a simple flash, Long Chen dodged Yu Tao’s slap. Blood Qi erupted from his body, and his eyes were fully red!

“So what if I want to hit you? As an Area Leader, although I can’t kill you, Long Chen, I can at least cripple you! I was not going to hurt you today, but you decided to point a finger at me! That’s a death wish! Even if I disobey His Highness, I must teach you a lesson!”

“You think you have the right to teach me a lesson when you’re so weak?” After Long Chen dodged his slap, he looked up. Even though he had not activated the Dragon Soul Transformation, there were countless blood-red dragons roaring inside his red eyes.

Kill him!

How dare he provoke you when you are so high up above him? Kill him!

Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!

Voices echoed continuously in his mind. Without another word, he pounced on Yu Tao. He had already taken out the Azure Dragon Halberd, and he accelerated and turned into a blood arrow shooting toward Yu Tao!

This time, he did not even use the Dragon Soul Transformation!

The Dragon Soul Transformation was Long Chen’s biggest insurance when fighting against people above his level. He had not used it because he believed he could kill Yu Tao without it!

“Azure Dragon Combat Technique, Dragon King Burial!”

A blood-colored line shot towards the nearby Yu Tao!

Yu Tao was shocked that Long Chen dared to attack him. He remembered that Long Chen was only at the Second River Stage. How could a measly Second River Stage cultivator dare to attack him, someone at the Fifth River Stage? Wasn’t that suicide?

Long Chen was the first to act, so it would be much easier for Yu Tao. This way, if Long Chen was heavily injured or even died, the blame would not fall on Yu Tao. After all, insubordination was a serious crime among the Immortal Guards.

A place with strict ranks had no space for stubborn subordinates.

𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Yu Tao did not take the sudden red line seriously. From his perspective, a Second River Stage cultivator’s attack was at most an elementary Earth-tier technique. He punched, thinking of throwing Long Chen in the air!

Any Second River Stage cultivator, even if they were using an intermediate Earth-tier technique, would be thrown back in the air by this punch, but Long Chen was different! He was at the Fourth River Stage, not the Second! Also, Dragon King Burial was the strongest attack of the Azure Dragon Combat Technique! It was no simple technique!

Clean, simple, straightforward—that was Dragon King Burial.

One explosive attack. One careless victim. Due to the close distance, the winner was quickly determined. Although Yu Tao did his best to block it, Long Chen’s weapon cut deep into half of his neck!

Fresh blood sprayed out of his wound!