White-Robed Chief

Chu Li asked, “Is Your Royal Highness worried that this is a scheme to get your protectors out of the way?”

“It’s not impossible!” King Ping asserted.

Chu Li nodded. “Well then, it depends on whether or not Your Royal Highness is willing to take this bet. While those martial arts masters who have just come by are strong, they won’t be able to defeat the Asuras. That group of Asuras has an extremely high cultivation level. The two previous batches of martial arts masters would be courting death if they were to go!”

“… Is there no other way?” King Ping asked with a huff.

Chu Li shook his head. “It’s either we let those creatures carry on with their atrocious behavior, or we take this bet and try to eradicate them! … Right now, they still think that they’ve covered up their tracks well and that no one can find them!”

King Ping had his hands behind his back as he paced about in the tent. Then, he suddenly stopped and hit his palm with his fist. “Let’s be done with this and take that bet!”

Chu Li smiled and replied, “Thank you, Your Royal Highness!”

“What are you thanking me for? You’re doing this for me after all!” King Ping then waved a hand and commanded. “You guys can come out now.”

Four middle-aged men suddenly came into view in the tent. It was as if they had always been standing there without being noticed.

Their strong presence felt overpowering and suffocating as though four mountains were standing tall within that tent.

Chu Li smiled and nodded. “Very good!”

He was aware that despite their young appearances, these four men were, in fact, over a hundred years old. Their cultivation level was truly profound, and that made them a rare type of martial arts master.

They were on par with the Asuras in terms of their cultivation level, so with the advantage of having more people on their side, they would be able to suppress them. Given that he would be providing support and working in coordination with them, they should be able to stand against the Asuras in battle.

King Ping exhaled sharply and said, “Come with me!”

He turned around and exited the large tent with Chu Li by his side.

King Ping stopped by four other large tents belonging to several deputy generals of the army. However, Sun Zhanhe was nowhere to be seen. Chu Li wondered how King Ping had dealt with that man.

When they returned to the Marshal’s tent of King Ping, they had managed to gather sixteen martial arts masters.

“Are you satisfied this time?” King Ping asked.

Chu Li laughed and said, “Now, I have more certainty of the outcome. Well then, we shall begin our operation right away.”

“Alright, I’m counting on you guys!” King Ping calmly replied.

…

Ten middle-aged men were gathered around a bonfire in a forest. A few alpine musk deer were being roasted over the fire until their meat sizzled and oozed with oil and fat. As the fat began to drip over the embers, a loud crackling sound could be heard. The fire blazed brighter while the meat’s fragrance assailed their nostrils.

In silence, they sat far apart from one another while a mysterious atmosphere settled around them.

The Asuras were filled with hostility toward one another. It was an instinctive sense of hostility that could never be cast aside. That was why it was very hard to find even two Asuras gathered together, let alone ten.

At present, as these ten Asuras assembled, their hostility surged and yet was suppressed at the same time, thus maintaining a point of equilibrium. Nonetheless, they were all too lazy to speak to each other, so they just stared at the musk deer that were being cooked over the bonfire. Some of them seemed lost in thought while others were focusing on their cultivation.

“Someone’s here!” one of them cautioned.

Chu Li suddenly emerged from behind them and struck one of them with a Petrifying Finger.

In the next moment, he appeared in front of that person and used his sword to slash at his ankles instantly.

There was a muffled groan as the Asura’s feet were chopped off from his legs, making it impossible for him to stand.

The rest of them huffed in anger and threw themselves at Chu Li.

Chu Li twisted his body and prevented himself from being surrounded. With a flash of his sword, a chorus of clinking sounds could be heard as the sword blade hit a few Asuras on their stone-hard throats in an instant. At their peak, neither swords nor spears could harm them.

If ordinary people were to encounter creatures like them, those people would have been left in despair.

Their invulnerability made it impossible for any treasure sword to wound them, and even palm and fist forces could hardly harm them. Thus, fighting an Asura would be like fighting an iron man, which was a hopeless fight.

Nonetheless, Chu Li knew that they were not that scary in reality. As long as he could seize that moment when their vigor was not at its best, he would be able to wound them.

Since others could not tell when exactly that moment would come, they would have to attack them blindly. However, with the Omniscient Mirror, he could observe them very clearly.

Due to the unusually fast movement speed of an Asura, even if he could detect their moments of weakness, it would still be very difficult for him to seize the opportunity to attack them in time, but with the help of others, the situation would then be different. Thus, he needed other martial arts masters like Fa Yuan and Lu Yurong to assist him.

Now, although these sixteen martial arts masters he had brought along were not as powerful as Fa Yuan and Lu Yurong, the difference was not that big, so it was possible for them to engage the Asuras in battle.

When the sixteen martial arts master saw Chu Li vanish in an instant, they tried their best to increase their speed and catch up with him. Finally, they found him fighting with nine Asuras and quickly charged ahead.

With them joining in the fight, Chu Li could now catch his breath.

“Elder Luo, Elder Gu, come and fight this one with me!” Chu Li said.

He had wounded the most powerful one earlier and was now aiming for the second most powerful. The two older men joined him in his attack.

Despite their unwillingness to submit to Chu Li, they still complied following the habit of military men.

This Asura was thin and short in stature. He was a head shorter than them and seemed as though he could be easily bullied but he was moving an incredible speed. His body movement technique was quick like a ghost and his Shura Palm was swift and unpredictable. If the three of them had not taken him on together, they would not have been able to stop him.

Chu Li’s Omniscient Mirror and Manifestation of Nature Restoration had been rapidly circulating the whole time. He had included everyone in his field of observation.

Then, he suddenly turned around and pointed his finger.

The Petrifying Finger struck an Asura’s shoulder and caused his body to stiffen.

Chu Li was already following up with another Petrifying Finger and struck him once again, stunning him as soon as he was about to move.

After having made these two moves, Chu Li immediately appeared in front of him and with a flash of his sword, chopped off the Asura’s feet. The Asura fell to the ground.

Chu Li returned to join Elder Luo and Elder Gu in attacking the thin Asura.

During that short period when he had left, this Asura had managed to reverse his disadvantageous situation but as soon as Chu Li joined in the fight again, he was overpowered once more and struggled to fight back. It almost appeared like Chu Li’s Petrifying Finger required no inner energy at all as Chu Li kept striking him with it.

While Chu Li used his right hand to attack this Asura with the Petrifying Finger, his left hand was also prepared with the Petrifying Finger to perform a sneak attack. Whenever any of his martial arts masters fell to a disadvantage, he would instantly launch the attack at their opponents to help them relieve the pressure.

“Bang!” With a loud explosive noise, the Asura that had been surrounded by Chu Li and his comrades turned into a skeleton with glowing red eyes that swept over them in a cold and emotionless manner. The Asura’s body movement technique picked up speed and became even more unpredictable.

Chu Li huffed. “Leave!”

The sixteen Grandmasters left the scene immediately at a great speed without the slightest bit of hesitation.

Chu Li was the last to leave.

He suddenly turned around and stretched out a finger. His Petrifying Finger struck a middle-aged Asura. Chu Li appeared in front of the Asura in a flash and launched another Petrifying Finger at him before the other Asuras could rush over. Then, with a flash of his sword, the Asura’s legs were chopped off, and the Asura collapsed to the ground.

The Asuras had an unimaginable pain tolerance as none of them had screamed at the pain of having their legs severed. They merely let out a grunt and made no other sound.

Chu Li vanished in an instant, and the seven remaining Asuras stopped in their tracks.

Their expressions were gloomy as they glared in the direction where Chu Li had disappeared and turned their heads to glance at one another.

Chu Li and his men had run over a distance of more than twenty miles at a go before they finally stopped.

The moonlight’s glow was clear as water. Although these men were not very young, their faces were filled with excitement.

“Centurion Chu, satisfying!” a round-faced senior said while laughing. “This sneak attack has been really satisfying!”

Chu Li smiled and replied “I’m very grateful that you’re all willing to listen to my instructions. Once they’ve activated their secret skill, there’s no need for us to keep fighting them. We’ve wounded three of them in this round of sneak attack. That leaves us with seven more. Next time, they will surely activate their secret skill at once, so we have to leave as soon as that happens!”

“Don’t worry, Centurion Chu. We’ll follow your orders!” The men gave him a fist salute.

They had their doubts about his abilities at first, but when they saw that he had actually managed to track down the Asuras, they were then convinced that he was indeed capable. This time, he had been able to cripple three Asuras in one go while making sure that everyone could get away unharmed. This left them feeling even more impressed.

Chu Li said, “When they use their secret skill, we’ll fall back and once they withdraw their secret skill, we’ll charge in. Let’s see how many rounds they can survive!”

An Asura that had activated their secret skill was very fearsome. Even though Chu Li and his men could have also used their secret skills to defeat them, it would have been a tragic victory, which was not what Chu Li wanted to see.

An Asura could not use their secret skill more than twice a day. After that huge battle in the Ji Public House, this was what Fa Yuan had secretly told him before leaving. It was the Tempest Temple’s latest discovery.

“Let’s go,” Chu Li said.