Chapter 121: Skirmish at the Sea of Forest

Murong Xuanji looked at Wei Chen with sharp eyes. His expression and demeanor were calm, as if everything were under his control.

“Are you the one who killed my people?” he asked, repeating the question and ignoring Wei Chen’s earlier words as if they were beneath his consideration.

“You’re ignoring my question? Fine. If you want to know that badly, I’ll tell you,” Wei Chen said, not minding that Murong Xuanji ignored him.

“Your people? I only killed one of them.” Wei Chen raised an index finger to signify the number.

Murong Xuanji looked around the area. There were thousands of corpses wearing the uniforms of his clan’s warriors, including ordinary warriors, death warriors, experts, and even protectors.

“What about the rest? Who killed them?” he asked.

Wei Chen smiled mysteriously. “That question… shouldn’t you ask yourself?” Wei Chen said casually, pointing at Murong Xuanji. “You should know better than me.” Wei Chen then sat down on a nearby stump and casually looked up at Murong Xuanji.

“Anyway… can you come down? Looking up at the height of your ego like that makes my neck sore,” Wei Chen said mockingly as he rubbed his neck.

Hearing the mockery and jeering from Wei Chen, Murong Xuanji felt insulted, but he quickly calmed himself. He knew that acting rashly would only bring more shame. He was not alone, as three battleships filled with his men stood behind him, and he needed to preserve his dignity.

“Left Elders, Right Elders,” Murong Xuanji called out.

“Yes, Patriarch,” the two elders who had been speaking with Murong Xuanji moments earlier appeared beside him.

“Kill him for me,” Murong Xuanji ordered.

“As you wish,” the two elders responded, then flew down toward Wei Chen. Their palms and fists were charged with power as they prepared to reap the life of the insolent man below.

From the rumors, they knew that Wei Chen was an expert who had defeated a Void Refining Realm cultivator within his own domain. That was why they attacked him with full force from the very start.

Wei Chen rolled his eyes. These blokes really could not take a hit to their self esteem. How were they raised? Why were their egos so fragile? A little bit of snide here and a little bit of mocking there, and suddenly it was “you’re courting death.” Seriously, they had no chill.

While Wei Chen was mocking Murong Xuanji in his mind, the two elders arrived in front of him.

Boom!

Both a fist and a palm struck Wei Chen at the same time. Smoke and dust exploded outward, flying in all directions. The two elders immediately felt a sharp pain run through their fist and palm, as if they had struck several sharp blades.

Whoosh!

With a single rush of wind, the dust was swept away by sheer force. What the two elders had struck was not Wei Chen’s body, but his underworld bone claw. The claw, formed from pure death energy, protruded from Wei Chen’s arms like the talons of a ferocious beast.

On the white bone claw were two shredded arms belonging to the elders. Their fist and palm had struck directly into the razor sharp edges of the claw.

“Arrrrrrrrrrrrgggghhh!”

A scream echoed through the clearing as the two elders clutched their severed arm stumps and hastily retreated.

Wei Chen glanced at his claw, as casually as if he had just crushed a mosquito. He then wiped it against a nearby stump, cleaning off the flesh and bone stuck to it.

“This is the first time I’ve met idiots so eager to lose their arms. Several sharp blades were just sitting there, and you hit them at full power like they were sandbags. Man, that’s a first.” Wei Chen mocked as he slowly stood up.

He manifested underworld bone claws on both of his arms. This was the lowest state of the underworld bone claw. He could fight indefinitely in this state as long as he had enough stamina, since it consumed spiritual qi at a rate lower than his natural regeneration, even without actively drawing in qi.

After advancing into the Nascent Soul realm, his understanding of space had improved significantly. This enhanced his fine control over the underworld bone claws even further.

“Let me test this on you two, then,” Wei Chen muttered before his body suddenly vanished.

“He disappeared!” “Be careful!”

The two elders immediately moved back to back and summoned the artifacts they had nurtured within their dantian. One produced a large shield, while the other summoned a massive bell. Both were defensive artifacts.

Wei Chen reappeared above them. The two elders quickly raised their artifacts, rushing to block Wei Chen’s incoming claws.

Clank!

The claws collided with the defensive artifacts, sending sparks flashing across the night sky. Wei Chen’s underworld bone claws sliced through them almost instantly.

The corrosive death energy, combined with the dense and intense spiritual qi from Wei Chen’s black hole dantian, made it impossible for the artifacts to withstand the assault for long.

The two elders immediately abandoned their artifacts and retreated, but Wei Chen vanished again.

Whoosh!

A flash of white claws streaked under the moonlight as they swept past the two elders. The claws did not cut even a single piece of fabric, but they severed something far more important to cultivators.

The spiritual roots and spiritual veins throughout the elders’ bodies were shredded from within. Trails of spiritual qi spilled out behind the claws like a distorted light show.

“Arrrrggghhhhhhhgghhh!”

The pain was as if every blood vessel in their bodies was being carved open by a red hot blade. It felt as though their insides were boiling and burning. This pain was even more brutal than body tempering cultivation.

The two elders were effectively crippled. With no spiritual qi left to reinforce their endurance, the pain alone caused their minds to shut down to protect their bodies and psyche from further damage.

Murong Xuanji extended his spiritual sense to inspect the two elders. A trace of surprise flashed across his face before his expression returned to calm.

“You didn’t kill them?” Murong Xuanji asked.

“I don’t like killing,” Wei Chen replied matter of factly.

… Within the chat room …

Little Wealthy Demon: [Come to think of it, I rarely see this guy kill anyone. Most of the time he just slaps them, humiliates them, or beats them half dead.]

Handsome Tall and Rich: [Sometimes death is the preferable outcome. Imagine fighting Brother Wei when he hates killing, so he cripples you instead. After that, all your enemies come for you and make your life miserable, even if they do not kill you.]

Sword Dao Genius: [Yes, Young Master Ximen. That is the fate of most people with crippled cultivation. They lose the ability to defend themselves, friends drift away, enemies swarm in, and only a rare few remain loyal. But loyalty during hard times is often short lived or comes with a price.]

Little Wealthy Demon: [You speak as if you have experienced it yourself, Vice Sect Leader Jian Heng.]

Sword Dao Genius: [I have not lived it myself, but I have seen enough victims of arrogant, power drunk fools to understand what it is like.]

Jian Ganglie: [Junior Brother has spoken about my circumstances when I was still with the Heavenly Sword Sect, Lady Mo. At that time, I was his senior brother in the sect. But it is a long story, so we should save it for a proper tea session.]

Handsome Tall and Rich: [Hey! Do not just leave it like that! What kind of half baked conversation is this!? You baited us, made me want to know, and then you just left!?]

Little Wealthy Demon: [Are you really craving gossip that much? How bored are you?]

….

At the battlefield, Murong Xuanji looked at Wei Chen with a sneer full of derision.

“How naive. Are you someone who believes in redemption? Is that why you are not killing them? I will tell you this. The Golden Cauldron Sect has pills that can repair broken dantians. They might lose some of their cultivation potential, but they can easily recultivate to their previous realm. They will hunt you down.” Murong Xuanji said mockingly.

“I said I do not like killing, but that does not mean I will not kill. If they want to become a minority to this rule, I welcome them to try.” Wei Chen replied with a wide, battle hungry grin.

Murong Xuanji looked at Wei Chen, then turned his gaze toward his own forces aboard the battleships.

“Come out, all of you. Prepare a battle formation!” Murong Xuanji commanded.

With this order, the warriors and experts within the battleships, numbering in the thousands, quickly poured out and took their designated positions within the formation.

Murong Xuanji flew toward the center of the formation, further strengthening it. A massive battle asura more than fifty kilometers tall rose above the sea of forest below, its red carapace formed from dense spiritual qi, making it look even more menacing.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep