Chapter 317 - Black Fire Lotus

Song Zhongcheng was approaching rapidly. Long Chen was caught off guard; he had not anticipated he would appear so soon.

Song Zhongcheng was at the Eighth River Stage. His arrival meant the deaths of Long Chen, Ling Xi, and Xiaolang. Long Chen had barely managed to kill the Ninth Prince, but the gap between him and Song Zhongcheng was too large. Song Zhongcheng was considered one of the strongest cultivators in the city, just below the three strongest individuals of the imperial family.

Long Chen had killed Song Zhongcheng’s most beloved son, so there was zero chance he would be forgiven.

Long Chen decided what to do in an instant. He pushed Ling Xi away and held her hands tightly. “Xiaolang, this is your mission. Take Ling Xi and run away! Make sure she survives, or we won’t be brothers anymore!”

His order was irrefutable. He wanted Xiaolang to take Ling Xi to safety while he himself would stop Song Zhongcheng. He would do anything as long as Xiaolang could escape with Ling Xi.

“Did you hear me? Run away with Ling Xi right now!” Long Chen snarled, startling Xiaolang. Xiaolang looked at him but didn’t move.

Long Chen was going to shout again when Ling Xi held him back. “Wait, Xiaolang said that he could trap the people chasing us with a technique, but he wouldn’t be able to use the Nine Devils Ancestral Fire for ten days afterward.”

“Wait, what did you say?” Long Chen calmed down. If there was a technique that could resolve their predicament, he wouldn’t need to sacrifice himself. It was a perfect plan.

“How long can he trap them? Xiaolang, are you sure?” Long Chen needed to confirm this.

“Xiaolang said that he can incorporate the Nine Devil Ancestral Fire into a technique that he has used before. The Nine Devil Ancestral Fire can trap an Eighth River Stage cultivator for six hours at least due to its unique properties. It’s very durable!” Ling Xi explained.

Xiaolang wouldn’t lie, and Long Chen was relieved when he learned of that. There had been too many dangers and close calls today ...

With Xiaolang’s guarantee that it would work, Long Chen felt the pressure alleviate slightly. He was still using Sight and knew that Song Zhongcheng would arrive very soon. He also saw a group of people following him. He deduced that they were most likely dwarves too.

Long Chen’s grudge with the dwarves was too deep. His hatred for them was deep after learning what they were doing in the vicinity of the capital. Long Chen would only feel calm after eradicating their entire race!

Xiaolang was already in his battle form when Long Chen whispered to him, “Xiaolang, get ready. I will find a chance to stop Song Zhongcheng. We will escape as soon as we finish our business.”

Xiaolang nodded just as Song Zhongcheng ran across the lake and arrived at Goldfish Island. Behind him was a group of dwarves, the same ones that had threatened to eradicate the villagers earlier. They were part of the main force of the Harmony family.

The dwarves saw the two people and the wolf on the island. Most of them were staring lustfully at Ling Xi, but some of them noticed that there was a corpse not too far away. The corpse was covered in blood, making it hard to determine that it was the Ninth Prince. But they knew that the Ninth Prince was here just minutes ago, so they immediately assumed that the corpse belonged to him.

Song Zhongcheng’s killing intent was about to explode when he saw Long Chen, but he stared at the Ninth Prince’s corpse in shock and yelled, “Are you Long Chen? Did you kill the Ninth Prince?”

The death of Song Yuefeng was enough to rattle the entire Harmony family, and the death of the Ninth Prince would be a bombshell to the capital. The other dwarves instantly ignored Ling Xi’s beauty and stared at Long Chen in shock.

Even people with high status like them had to respect the Ninth Prince, so how had someone as weak and insignificant as Long Chen killed him? The conflict of beliefs brought about by this matter was so jarring that they found it hard to believe.

“You are right. Not only did I kill that idiot Song Yuefeng, I’ve also killed Lin Cangtian, the despicable toad. What are you going to do about it?” Long Chen smiled.

Song Zhongcheng was speechless.

He looked at Long Chen and reevaluated him.

Long Chen was only at the Second River Stage when he first entered the Counter Essence Realm, but he had grown much stronger in merely half a month. As soon as he came outside, do something unbelievable that no one in the capital had ever heard of before.

The Ninth Prince had not been killed by the Heavenly Demon Palace faction, but by his own subordinate! If this news got out, everyone would laugh at the Ninth Prince.

Song Zhongcheng was thinking about how the imperial family would react once they received the news.

“I actually came here to kill you, but I fear that I can’t do that now. Since you’ve killed the Ninth Prince, I will have to hand you over to the imperial family to be sentenced. You should be glad that you can live for another half a day.” Song Zhogncheng approached Long Chen.

He didn’t give Long Chen time to speak. He assumed restraining and bringing Long Chen to the imperial city would be a simple thing to do.

“I think the dwarves are lower than livestock.” Long Chen was not afraid even while facing death. He kept taunting Song Zhongcheng. “Look at you, you are so short that you don’t even reach my chest. And look at how obscene your face is. Your legs are no different than a boar’s. Such a disgusting creature. I can’t believe there is such an ugly race in this world.”

Long Chen looked at the other dwarves in contempt.

“None of you are worth looking at.”

“You mother fucker! Shut your mouth or I will tear it apart!”

“Yeah, everyone in the Harmony family is handsome, and not as bad as you are describing ...” The voice of the dwarf who said this became quieter from the lack of confidence.

“Are you trying to make me angry so I kill you myself? Are you afraid of being captured by the imperial family?” Song Zhongcheng was shameless and would not fall for such a weak taunt.

“You think too much. You’re just so ugly that I had to say it out loud. I don’t think you would mind hearing someone like me calling you guys are ugly and short. Dwarves are subhuman, and I don’t think you’ll ever be anything more than animals. Your kind must have been born from the marriage between a gorilla and a baboon.” Long Chen laughed after he said that.

“Do you want to die, you fucking brat?”

“You’re the gorilla!”

Long Chen’s taunt was so vile that many of the dwarves were itching to kill him. All of them were about to pounce on him.

Even Song Zhongcheng frowned from the taunt. He didn’t want to give Long Chen another chance to speak, so he ran forward. He was so fast that there was barely a shadow.

Long Chen could never hope to outrun him.

He stopped laughing and shouted, “Xiaolang, now!”

Xiaolang had started preparing his technique the moment Song Zhongcheng was about to run at them. When he did, Xiaolang howled and released the technique. A frigid air enveloped them, and the Nine Devil Ancestral Fire took the form of a lotus as it shot out of Xiaolang’s maw. The lotus quickly enveloped Song Zhongcheng!

“What is this?” Song Zhongcheng felt the dangerous aura of the fire lotus. He now knew why Long Chen was not afraid of him. But he was so close to Long Chen, and the fire lotus had a wide range of effect. Song Zhongcheng barely managed to attack with his fist when the fire lotus trapped him!

“Shit!” That was his final shout from within the fire lotus.

It was frightening, but thankfully, no one was hurt.

Long Chen sighed in relief when he verified that the threat was temporarily neutralized. He knew that he had to run now, but he was more than happy to sacrifice some of the precious time to kill the other dwarves.

“Xiao Xi, close your eyes. Wait for me a little bit and I will take you away. Xiaolang, I know you are tired. Control your clones and coordinate with me.” Long Chen transformed and glared at the dwarves as he brandished the Azure Dragon Halberd. He had been relaxed when he taunted the dwarves, but now that Song Zhongcheng was trapped, killing intent started to radiate from his body.

“Brother Chen ...”

“Don’t worry. I will hold back.” He consoled Ling Xi and she closed her eyes. Both Long Chen and Xiaolang ran towards the dwarves without hesitation.

The dwarves were still in shock from seeing Song Zhongcheng being trapped in the mysterious fire lotus. They didn’t know what to do, but they were fearless since they had the numerical advantage against Long Chen and Xiaolang.

𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

“Capture that brat!” Song Zhongzhen ordered.

Long Chen was already prepared.

“Blood Devouring Domain!”