White-Robed Chief

He had never thought of this possibility.

In his opinion, there were only two candidates to succeed the throne. It would be either King Jing or him. As for the others, it was wishful thinking. King An could never stand a chance since he held no advantage in terms of both knowledge and martial arts.

Chu Li’s words had opened a door for him now.

Although the idea seemed somewhat absurd, there were many more absurd things happening in the world anyway. The strong would always make the impossible possible.

If King An’s son succeeded the throne and had an unstable reign, he would need someone to defend and protect him. If the child did not wish to be overthrown by King Jing, King Cheng, and his other imperial uncles, then King Ping himself would become his stabilizing force.

This idea swirled around in his mind, but he soon dismissed it. The current situation was most advantageous for King Jing, so the idea of helping King An’s son succeed the throne seemed rather unattainable.

“Has Your Royal Highness ever thought about why these ten Asuras have attacked us?” Chu Li asked. “Could it be a sign that the Li Dynasty is planning to advance southward?”

“Yes, it’s very possible.” King Ping nodded.

Chu Li nodded as well. “By first dampening our military’s morale, they’ll be able to save a lot of effort later on when their troops arrive. Based on what I know, the Li Dynasty’s military strength has been on a constant rise. This is truly not a good thing for the Ji Dynasty!”

“I’m already waiting for them to come!” King Ping said with a huff.

Chu Li replied, “Your Royal Highness must be wary of any assassination attempts by masters of the martial arts world. The Holy Church of Light is becoming more and more outrageous these days. Since they’re bold enough to attack a High Duke’s Public House, there’s nothing else they wouldn’t do!”

He understood why King Ping was looking forward to a war. It was only during a major war that the value of King Ping’s position as the Commander-in-Chief would become apparent, which would then secure his position even more.

If the Li Dynasty was weak, his position as the Commander-in-Chief would be insignificant and redundant. In that case, he might have already been summoned back to the Fairy’s Capital to be stripped of his military power and be forced into retirement!

King Ping nodded. “I’ll be careful. I’ve been guarding myself against them all this while.”

Chu Li said nothing more. A reminder would be enough. If he were to press on the matter, he might receive a bad reaction from King Ping instead.

…

Chu Li was driving a carriage as he traveled down the main road without haste.

The carriage was very shabby, as though it had been exposed to wind and sunlight for an extended period and seemed like it was about to fall apart soon.

It had been two days since he left the Xi Jiang Military’s camp. This carriage was given to him by the Xi Jiang Military and was carrying ten Asuras in it. As King Ping had said, they did not deserve to travel by a good carriage.

He planned to send these ten Asuras to Amethyst Mountain, which had already received his message and was now sending their disciples over to him.

He suddenly halted the carriage as a smile appeared on his face.

As expected, the Holy Church of Light had not deserted this group of Asuras and had sent their people over to rescue them. For them to know his route, there should still be some insiders in the Xi Jiang Military then.

It was impossible to avoid having insiders unless he could visit every corner of the Xi Jiang Military and check every single soldier’s mind. If he had to conduct such a thorough search, he would certainly die of exhaustion. He would never spend so much effort to do such a thing.

He quickly drove his carriage to a forest by the side of the road and fastened the reins to a tree before vanishing all of a sudden and reappearing in front of four middle-aged men. Without saying a word, he swung his sword and stabbed at them.

He had combined the Seven Forms of Godly Sword with the Cloud Slashing Sword Technique and produced an immensely formidable power. As the Heavenly Demonic Orb fell to his precordium, he was instantly filled with boundless force, which allowed his sword to move at a quicker speed while aiming at a man’s throat.

The man backed away at once but could not compete with the speed of Chu Li’s sword.

“Tsh!” The sword blade pierced into his throat.

“Elder Pang!”

“Junior Brother Pang!”

“Brother Pang!”

The three other men roared in anger and charged at Chu Li.

Chu Li disappeared in a flash and appeared behind another tall man before thrusting his sword forward.

“Ding…” Another sword’s blade blocked the path of Chu Li’s sword. This man had blocked the attack by shielding his throat with his sword before staggering a step backward from the impact.

The two other men swung a fist and a sword respectively at Chu Li at the same time.

These four men had very high cultivation levels and had been specifically sent to deal with Chu Li. Naturally, they had been sure of their success.

However, they did not expect Chu Li’s martial art to be so strange that he could use his secret skill to suddenly appear and launch a sneak attack on one of them, turning their four-man team into a three-man team.

Chu Li vanished abruptly.

The Heavenly Demonic Orb returned to his precordium as he went and sat cross-legged on top of a tree. He was circulating the Manifestation of Nature Restoration and the Omniscient Mirror simultaneously to observe the three men from five miles away.

When they saw Chu Li disappear, they hurriedly turned and gathered around the man with the Pang surname to save him.

After having taken some spirit medication, the man’s breathing began to stabilize.

His complexion was pale while his expression was glum. He had almost been killed within a move and had not been able to defend himself against the attack at all. This made him somewhat frightened but also caused him to feel humiliated and indignant.

“Brother Pang, this fellow is indeed as difficult to deal with as his reputation suggests. Let’s call a few more people to come and help us!” a thin man suggested. “We’re supposed to be hunting him down. We can’t let him become the one hunting us down in the end!”

“Exactly!” The round-faced man beside him nodded vigorously.

The man with the Pang surname could feel the blade force lingering around the throat wound where he had been stabbed. However, he had not been able to suppress it and could faintly sense the danger behind it. If this went on and the force of the sword’s blade moved up to his head, he would not be able to withstand its effects.

He waved his hand and gestured at them.

“You want us to channel our energy and facilitate your recuperation?” the round-faced man quickly asked.

The man with the Pang surname nodded.

“Junior Brother Pang, I’ll help you!” the short and stout man, who had not been speaking much, offered and sat behind him before placing both his palms on the man’s back.

The two other men stood on either side of them as they looked around with tense bodies, taking precautions in case Chu Li were to appear again.

Chu Li’s Manifestation of Nature Restoration was analyzing their thoughts and looking for a weak point that would allow him to end them in one go.

Sometime later, the top of the dumpy man’s head started emitting hot, white steam.

The two other men became tenser as they raised their guards out of fear that Chu Li might reappear.

Then, Chu Li suddenly appeared and stabbed his sword through the dumpy man’s back. The tip of his sword appeared through the front of the man’s precordium and then vanished at once.

“Puff!” The short, stout man sprayed a mouthful of blood onto the back of the man with the Pang surname.

“Puff!” The man with the surname Pang spat out blood as well before collapsing to the ground.

Chu Li’s attack was steady, ruthless and accurate.

The dumpy man had been focusing all his attention on helping his comrade channel and recuperate when he was stabbed in the chest, and it caused the force he was channeling to become uneven.

As the force had been disturbed when the man with the Pang surname was at his most critical moment, the recuperation process failed at the last hurdle and brought about a massive adverse reaction that caused the blade force to surge up to his head. He instantly became seriously injured and was rendered unconscious.

“Brother Pang! Brother Xie!” The two other men were taken aback. They quickly moved to stand with their backs against each other while they intently studied their surroundings.

“Let’s each carry one of them on our backs and leave!” the thin man said.

They did as he had suggested and dashed off rapidly.

Chu Li suddenly appeared again and soundlessly threw out two finger forces.

The two Spear Finger Strikes floated over to them like a breeze. A moment later, Chu Li appeared a hundred meters away from them and stood erect with his sword in hand while glaring at them coldly.

The two men immediately became alert as alarm bells went off in their minds.

“Ugh…” Their bodies suddenly went limp.

The two Spear Finger Strikes had hit them.

Due to Chu Li’s intentional misdirection, they had mistaken the warning sign triggered by the Spear Finger Strikes as a warning sign directed at Chu Li. Thus, they had failed to avoid the attack in time.

Chu Li leaped in front of them, and with a flash of his sword, the both of them fell to the ground clutching their lower abdomens.

He lowered his gaze to them and said, “You have your life-saving spirit medication. Take them. I shall spare your lives today!”

As soon as he finished speaking, he swung his sword and stabbed at the two other men’s lower abdomens to cripple their cultivation.

Under their resentful gaze, Chu Li glided away feeling satisfied.

His advancement in the Manifestation of Nature Restoration had enabled him to grasp the situation more accurately, which allowed him to also fight his opponents with greater ease. Although it did not help to raise his cultivation level, his abilities had been significantly strengthened.

After walking for three hundred meters, he turned his head and said, “You can come out now.”

Three young men walked out of the woods and held up a fist salute. “Junior Brother Chu.”

Chu Li glanced at them and smiled. “Greetings, Senior Brothers. Please come with me.”

He had already recognized the identities of these three men. They were the Amethyst Mountain disciples that had previously attacked him, namely Xu Ting, Geng Huarong, and Chen Fenglei.