The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 264 The Response

After Li Ye and Su Emei left Mount Tai, they headed towards Qi Prefecture. As Spiritual Master Realm cultivators, obviously they didn’t need to travel on foot. When they flew over a mountain, they felt much better in the open space.

The hundreds of miles of interlaced square fertile fields under the thin clouds extraordinarily pleasing to the eye. A village of a hundred families was surrounded by farmland, and a clear river stream flowed past the village.

Normally such a village would not have attracted Li Ye’s attention. But when he saw that a man with a knife suddenly rushed out of the village, and later several people were chasing him. He stopped and slowly landed.

The man was a cultivator and not a beginner. His cultivation had reached the Qi-refining Stage. His left shoulder was stained red, and his right hand was holding a horizontal military knife. The knife had rune blessings inscribed and was very sharp, which was well suited to his cultivation level.

He was quite young, less than 20 years old. However, his features were resolute, revealing a murderous instinct. Clearly he was a soldier of the military. The four people behind him, whose cultivation were slightly higher, quickly caught up and spread out to circle him.

Then, his charging body suddenly stopped and turned to slam against the person behind him. That man was taken by surprise, and it was too late to stop for the distance was too close. The man got hit square in the chest. At this time, the horizontal knife in his hand had already stabbed into the opponent’s lower abdomen. As he turned his wrist, the man’s internal organs were shattered.

However, before he could make another move, a fireball landed on his back, blasting a shallow but bloody hole. In the deepest part of the hole, his bones could be seen. He spat a mouthful of blood and fell to the ground.

“The whole village is very afraid of us demons, but you actually dare to attack us, you really don’t have a clue!” A cultivator rushed over and stabbed the man’s shoulder with a knife, but he grabbed the blade edge with one hand and swung his horizontal knife. He cut the opponent’s calf in half.

The man took the opportunity to get up, and growled with red eyes, “The five states of Pinglu are under the rule of Prince An. It is a serene and peaceful place. There is no place for the demon heres, how could we let you run amok? After saying those words, he dropped the idea of fleeing. Instead, he wielded his knife and swung it towards the cultivators in front of him.

He was injured badly, and going against two enemies. Although he managed to hurt another cultivator with his ferocious attack and willingness to put his body on the line, he too fell down. His body was covered in blood and he was about to get up any time soon.

That cultivator raised his axe in his hand. The casualties of his companions made him look ferocious, “Prince An is the demon king. The whole point of his rule over Pinglu is to make us strong! Now, I will give you one chance, as long as you say that Prince An is Demon King, I will let you live!”

“Piss off!” The man spat out a mouthful of blood and his expression was disdainful and stubborn, “Since Prince An’s arrival, Pinglu no longer has any corrupt officials robbing people of their money. There has been no more bullying in the township. Prince An personally led the bureaucrats to help the farmers reclaim the wasteland. And the people were only then able to have ample food and clothing. How can such a king be a demon king?”

The cultivator was holding a giant axe above his head and his muscles kept twitching, “I will, again, give you one more chance, say it or else your body will not be whole!”

The man sneered and scorned, he was not at all afraid of death. “Go on! Since I’ve joined the army, I’ve helped Prince An wipe out the rebels and protected the country. I will leave behind a proud legacy. In life, I’m Prince An’s soldier, and in death, I’ll be a proud man!”

In the end, the cultivator couldn’t stand it any longer and he slammed down his axe. “Then you die!”

The man leaned over his neck and stared at him, waiting for the giant axe to fall on his body.

The giant axe did not fall on him.

Before the cultivator could wield his axe, his neck had been picked up by his neck.

The military man saw the stalwart back in front of him. He was stunned at first, and then he was trembling with excitement.

When they were battling with Huang Chao, he looked at that back many times, so he was most familiar with it.

At that time, he often appeared on the battlefield, destroying the enemy’s most difficult Military Formation. He attacked the enemy’s most powerful cultivators, and led the generals to defeat the enemy. Many soldiers of the Pinglu Army worshiped that back like him because they knew that back meant victory.

“Demon?” Li Ye asked the cultivator in his grip coldly.

Although the demon clan was sparse in numbers, they had a unique advantage in cultivation. Aside from the fact that everyone could cultivate, almost everyone could reach the qi-refining stage. So the cultivator in his hand was the lowest level in the demon clan.

The cultivator struggled in Li Ye’s grip, but he could not shake out of Li Ye’s control. Finally, he gave up his efforts and only stared at Li Ye fiercely.

Li Ye sneered. The demon clan was born with fearlessness and took death calmly. Naturally, he would not be afraid and beg for mercy. Li Ye did not hesitate either, then he twisted his neck and threw it aside.

When the cultivator landed, he was already dead; black smoke appeared from his body and soon vanished without a trace. Li Ye frowned slightly, he soon realized that the demon’s body was planted with some kind of restriction.

Su Emei fed the soldier a Dan Pill, and the dying man’s wounds quickly recovered. He was able to move again. He struggled to get up and saluted to Li Ye, “General, I’m Shen Beiwang the commander of the Pinglu army. It’s an honor!”

“On your feet, what’s going on?” Li Ye gestured him to get up. There were five hundred soldiers under a commander. In the new army of Pinglu, more than half of the commanders were of the Qi-refining Stage in cultivation.

Shen Beiwang stood up and replied respectfully, “General, I was on my way home to visit family. When I entered the village, I found that people were depressed and lost all that previous excitement. They were also looking at me weirdly. As though they were afraid. Later my brother told me that demons had arrived in the village not long ago. They looted young men and women and said they were following the general’s command. They claimed the general needed the young men and women to help him elevate his cultivation. So when the demons came, I wanted to get to the bottom of it all. But my ability and cultivation has let me down. And I ended up being chased and almost killed.”

Li Ye nodded, Shen Beiwang’s report was pretty close to his estimation.

After the Pinglu Army returned to Qing Prefecture, many soldiers took leave. After the war, it was necessary for the soldiers to visit family. At the same time, Li Ye had left a secret command that when the soldiers went home, they were to assist the Black Office cultivators. They were to keep an eye on the demons they were trying to create chaos. There were many cultivators in the army. This was conducive to giving the demon clan a preliminary counterattack locally and cooperating with Li Ye in his plan of action.

Su Emei stepped forward and hesitated for a moment, and then she said to Li Ye, “This is unusual. The demon clan could have sent a master to kill you directly. Why did they make such a big noise in different places?”

Li Ye could not wrap his head around it at first, because although they’ve attacked Pinglu people’s confidence and trust, which could affect Li Ye’s cultivation. This method was undoubtedly too slow compared to assassinating Li Ye directly.

He could only guess. He then added, “Probably they are afraid that I will hide in Qing Prefecture once I get the news. It is difficult to kill me under the heavy protection of a large army.”

Liu Dazheng and Shangguan Qingcheng were both Militarism warriors. Thus with the protection of the Military Formation of Militarism, Spiritual Master Realm cultivators could do nothing to the commander in chief. This was not the same as Li Ye directly attacking Li Changyan. There was no Militarism warrior in the other army.

Of course, this was just a guess.

Li Ye and Su Emei were both about to follow Shen Beiwang and check out the village. Suddenly, a large group of dark green smoke appeared in the northern sky, and swiftly swept the place.

Soon, a huge beast appeared in front of the thick smoke. Following a low-pitched roar, the beast man of a bovine body and a snake tail stood up. He then turned into a 27-decimeter-tall man, and looked down at everyone coldly from mid-air.

Everyone’s expressions had changed slightly. The cultivation of this man was extremely powerful. With just a casual glance towards them, Shen Beiwang already could not withstand the pressure and fell to the ground. Su Emei’s face was also pale.

Li Ye was just discussing with Su Emei why the demon clan did not send people to kill him directly, and now they were here.

“You are Prince An, Li Ye?” The 27-decimeter-tall man’s eyes lit up when he saw Li Ye. He shook his wrist and two strange, giant horn-shaped weapons appeared in his hands.

“The descendants of the Demon Fei?” Su Emei was indeed the reincarnation of the Guanghan Fairy, a part of her strength and memory had recovered. And she was able to recognize the identity of him at a glance.

“Demon Fei...” Li Ye had heard of this name before, but he was slightly relieved when he heard the word descendants. If he was really the first generation of Demon Fei, he would be of a very strong cultivation. Perhaps Li Ye could not deal with him, but since he was a descendant, then he could still beat him in a fight.

However, Li Ye had also clearly sensed that the opponent had the cultivation of Yin Spiritual Master. So he dared not really relax.

That was a Yin Spiritual Master of the demon clan, totally different from a common Yin Spiritual Master. Unlike the savage witches, the demon clan was arrogant in its techniques. Li Ye was now facing such an opponent that he had never encountered before, not even before transmigration. So he had no experience with an enemy like this.

And the opponent’s cultivation had reached a higher level than him.

The Demon Fei did not wait for Li Ye’s answer; he snorted coldly and twisted his shoulders. He wore a black cloak, with the twist, countless small black beads shot out from the cloak. They were like the louse or ants raining down sideways and sinking into the soil.

Immediately, there was a loud humming sound coming within a few thousand feet of Li Ye and others. The ground surface dried up at a speed visible to the naked eye. It was cracking before their eyes and dark green smoke came out from the cracks, which was like flames and smoke.

The cracked ground patterns spread from all directions to the center where Li Ye and others were standing. Wherever the crepe was, the crops had died, the vegetation had faded, and even the water in the canals had evaporated. Wherever there was green smoke, the land turned barren. It was such a weird sight.

The territory!

The range of several thousand feet around Li Ye and others had become the territory of Demon Fei.

Demon Fei grinned, kind of. He waved the giant horn in his hand and quickly pounced on Li Ye, “If you don’t answer, then you admit it. I, Demon Fei, will kill you under the Son of God and the Immortal Court’s order! If you know what’s good for you, be obedient, and stop putting up a pointless struggle!”

Li Ye lowered his eyes and turned his wrist. The Luke Sword was already in his hands and he was ready to attack.

But someone had attacked before him.

A scented osmanthus floated before Li Ye. Su Emei had already wielded her sword and rushed out. Three thousand strands of her cascaded hair floated in the air like they were dancing. She looked saint among the falling osmanthus flowers.

At this moment, Su Emei’s blue robe turned into a battle robe with golden edges in a flash of white light. The three flame-like golden safflowers between her eyebrows added a heroic spirit.

When she attacked, hundreds of sword light cut towards Demon Fei.

Li Ye slowly retreated.

He understood what Su Emei was trying to do.

Su Emei attacked first to explore the path for him. Giving him time to observe Demon Fei’s techniques, he then could hopefully see an opportunity to defeat the enemy.

After all, both of them were only Spiritual Masters of the Spiritual Pool, and the opponent was a Yin Spiritual Master of the demon clan. Plus he was a descendant of Demon Fei, the demon clan who had not been out for thousands of years. What kind of ability and combat power they had, no one knew. Not even the immortals in the heavens knew their strength and cultivation, much less mortal cultivators.