The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 313 The Battle for Supremacy

At this moment, Zhu Wen met someone he could never have expected.

To be precise, appearing before Zhu Wen was not a person in the ordinary sense, but an immortal. An Immortal from Immortal Court Taoist sect.

It was a clear evening. The Xuanwu Army was camping on the river bank and getting ready to cross the river and march north at a moment’s notice. Zhu Wen spurred the horse with his soldiers along the river to observe the terrain until someone blocked his way in front of him. They were no more than five kilometers away from the army campsite.

Zhu Wen pulled the reins and the battle steed under him neighed. The rapid change from gallop to stop made it stand upright. When Zhu Wen stopped abruptly, more than a hundred soldiers and guards behind him suddenly pulled the reins and stopped almost the same time. All the horses were neighing together, the scene was spectacular and powerful to behold.

Of course, this was not something ordinary soldiers could accomplish. All of Zhu Wen’s soldiers were cultivators, Qi-refining cultivators.

They were a group of over a hundred Qi-refining cultivators of all levels. Everywhere they went, they were a force that could turn the clouds and rain. Few forces in the world could stop them. Not even the once most powerful five sects of the world could stop them, much less the fifty or so vassal states of the Tang Empire. In all the world, aside from the vast sea and lofty Kunlun, there were few places they couldn’t go.

However, now, facing two middle-aged men standing in the middle of the road, they were all taken aback. Not only were the usual arrogant and domineering attitude of the hundred Qi-refining cultivators were weakened, but Zhu Wen who had already been standing on the top tier of all the heroes, also had to lower his head, converging his imposing fearlessness.

The two middle-aged men had very different appearances. The left one was stocky with think shoulders, coupled with a majestic and fierce face. He looked like the top general on the battlefield, this was Chen Jizhen. The figure on the right was quite plainly built, and he had an elegant appearance like a scholar. He was holding a folding fan in his hand, and he was Huang Jingyuan.

As leading figures of the seventy-two Earth Devils, Earth Beast Chen Jizhen and Earth Devil Huang Jingyuan were well known even in the Immortal Court. Although no one knew why they appeared in the mortal world, the frightening pressure of the Immortal Realm level cultivation was over-bearing. And their powerful stature was as dazzling as the red sun, which made no one dare to look at them in the eye.

After Zhu Wen held the stable, his hand rested on the blade handle. The Spiritual Qi circulated all over his body silently. His eyes narrowed and stared at their chests, and he was ready to draw his sword and launch an attack at any time. Influenced by him, more than a hundred soldiers behind him were also in such a posture. Although the figures before them were scary, just by standing there they made people feel tense, they knew that if they started to attack, they would be more ominous than propitious. But no one was afraid.

Earth Beast Chen Jizhen was displeased. He disdainfully glanced at Zhu Wen and snorted coldly, “The immortal is here, and seeing an immortal is a blessing and a great honor to you mortals! You should be on your knees and kow-towing in salute. Yet you’re all still on your horses with your weapons at the ready, are you trying to start something with immortals?”

The voice was getting stronger, and the coercion was spreading deeper and deeper. The guards that gritted their teeth were gradually faltering under the pressure. Some with lower cultivation just fell down from their horses. Those with high cultivation were pale and trembling. Only Zhu Wen, who was of the Spiritual Master Realm, could just maintain his composure.

Chen Jizhen looked at Zhu Wen, his brows gradually wrinkled and his face was becoming more displeased. He was losing his patience. In his opinion, the fact that Zhu Wen was breathing smoothly showed that he was neither afraid nor angry. And his mind was surprisingly stable. The fact that Zhu Wen’s mind was calm was not because he had no thoughts. On the contrary, his intention to kill was pure and firm, so there was no need to undulate.

Zhu Wen stared directly at Chen Jizhen. The color in his eyes was very simple. It was the kind of color when looking at an adversary. And the hand that pressed the blade, was now gripping the blade handle tightly. He slowly drew his horizontal blade. He didn’t have any extra movements, his body remained steady, only the hand holding the blade moved. The clear sound of metal grinding continued. The sound was neither quick nor sharp, and it was quite constrained like the cry of a woman at night, which was extremely uncomfortable to hear.

The long blade had come out three inches.

Clearly feeling Zhu Wen’s intention to kill, Chen Jizhen was furious, and the coercion he released was even stronger! Those cultivators who were of lower Qi-refining level fell to their knees next to their horses and their bones creaked. Blood even poured out from their seven apertures, and men fell down one after another and died then.

As immortals, how could they tolerate mortal rebellion? Like officials in high positions, how could they tolerate ordinary people’s offenses? There was such a huge disparity in stature that in Chen Jizhen’s view, it was the difference in nature of each other’s lives. The offense of the low lives to the noble was suicide.

The guards fell down one after another, then dozens of corpses appeared on the ground. Most cultivators with lower Qi-refining levels had died. During this process, none of the guards had made a sound. Even when they were dying, not a scream was heard. It was not that they did not want to scream, but that they couldn’t.

Seeing that Zhu Wen did not submit, Chen Jizhen was ready to kill all his men. These hundred or so Qi-refining cultivators were Zhu Wen’s core force. They were the strongest pillar for expedition on the battlefield. They were what he depended on to kill enemies and save his own life. However, in Chen Jizhen’s eyes, these people were obviously worthless.

As a cultivator of the Spiritual Master Realm, Zhu Wen did not have to look back to know that his soldiers had been seriously wounded. But he didn’t even blink much less to look back. His red eyes kept staring at Chen Jizhen, and at the same time, he slowly pulled out his blade.

The two had the stance of fighting to the death. If they went on like this, it wouldn’t take a long before all of Zhu Wen’s soldiers would die. Although he could save his own life, he was bound to suffer major injuries.

During this process, Earth Beast Huang Jingyuan had not moved or spoke either. His eyes were neither deep nor shallow. It had a hint of inspection, and finally, he shook his head and sighed. “Old Chen, stop.”

Those words were obviously directed at Chen Jizhen. He was extremely surprised.

As the head of the seventy-two Earth Devils, Chen Jizhen did not have to listen to Huang Jingyuan. He stared at Huang Jingyuan and murmured in a voice that only Huang Jingyuan could hear, “If I stop now, it’d be the same as admitting defeat! Can’t you see that this guy is so swollen with pride that he does not intend to respect us and obey us?”

“Of course I can see,” answered Huang Jingyuan, “Not only that, I can also see that even if you kill all his men and make him get on his knees and vomit blood, he still won’t obey you.”

Chen Jizhen was taken aback. He looked at Huang Jingyuan in a funny way and said, “Really?”

Huang Jingyuan did not answer for it was a question he should answer. An immortal never repeats himself.

The reason why Chen Jizhen, Huang Jingyuan had come down to earth with their men this time was for the heavenly secret of Hedong. The other reason was for Zhu Wen. They needed to snatch the secret and also assist Zhu Wen, which was their task. Unlike the reincarnated immortals, the Immortal Court wasn’t going to send their immortals to serve Zhu Wen. Contrarily, they wanted Zhu Wen to serve them, worship them and obey them.

This was their first meeting, which meant that Chen Jizhen’s actions were not just for the simple purpose of putting Zhu Wen in his place. What he wanted was to make Zhu Wen bow to him. At the end of the day, it was a battle for superiority—In the future when they would take over the world, who would be in charge? Zhu Wen or the Immortal Court cultivators.

During their meeting, based on Zhu Wen’s cultivation and knowledge, he had to have detected Chen Jizhen and Huang Jingyuan were extraordinary. But his first reaction was not to get off his horse and salute out of respect. He actually pressed down on the handle of his blade to get ready for attack at a moment’s notice. He was extremely disrespectful towards the immortals. However, Chen Jizhen was not upset and angry because of Zhu Wen’s lack of manners, but the message behind the disrespect.

What Huang Jingyuan meant was that Zhu Wen would “rather die than yield”.

Though Chen Jizhen was the head of the seventy two Earth Devils, he was prolific in cultivation and strength. As it pertained to strategy and knowledge, Huang Jingyuan was a level above him. Their relationship was very much like one between a general and an adviser. Chen Jizhen rarely questioned Huang Jingyuan’s opinion, and Huang Jingyuan was rarely wrong.

The fact that Huang Jingyuan said Zhu Wen would rather die than yield was not what he had expected. He said to Huang Jingyuan in a low voice, “He is a mortal, yet when he sees an immortal on earth, his first reaction was not to respect and worship. Instead, his hand was pressing on his weapon, ready to attack. That is a weird reaction is it not?”

Huang Jingyuan replied calmly, “Zhu Wen is a monarch, how would a ruler of men respect others? His first reaction of pressing on his weapon proved that he was a monarch because he had to ensure his safety first and foremost.”

Chen Jizhen was silent for a moment, and then added, “Though he is a ruler of men, the Immortal Court is the ruler of heaven and earth. We represent the Immortal Court Taoist sect! In other words, even if he becomes the son of heaven, he must know that we, the Immortal Court Taoist sect, are the heaven. He must obey us! Thus how could he not get off his horse and bow down to us?”

Huang Jingyuan let out a bitter laugh. “We are not the Immortal Emperor.”

That was true, Chen Jizhen’s face turned dark and anger showed from his frown.

As soon as his anger was about to erupt, he quickly retracted the pressure he had exerted. If he didn’t do so, Zhu Wen and his men might have all died. By then, the already tight situation would take a turn for the worse and who knew what conflict would arise.

Zhu Wen might disregard everything and go crazy, then the Immortal Court really had no idea where to find another ally if Zhu Wen decided not to cooperate. It was not easy to find a replacement from Zhu Wen after all. He was experienced at operating in chaos. Zhu Wen was not your common folk, but someone with big luck.

When Chen Jizhen retracted his pressure, Zhu Wen and others all felt a burden lift off their shoulders. Then the guards reacted differently. Some were shocked and frightened, some were happy, but many were angry. They all took out their magic tools and were ready to put their lives on the line and battle Chen Jizhen and Huang Jingyuan. It was clear how loyal Zhu Wen’s men were.

Zhu Wen signaled them to halt their attack. Zhu Wen didn’t even need to yell for everyone to retract their cultivation power. They then reorganized their formation and supported their comrades.

Zhu Wen put his blade back into the sheath and looked at Chen Jizhen and Huang Jingyuan. Suddenly a smile appeared on his face, and it was a smile that only could be seen when one had won a battle, “Two great immortals, are you here to assist me to take the world?”

...

Li Ye slowly opened his eyes, retracted his cultivation and got up. When he came outside, the first thing he saw was Su Emei, who had her sword in her hand and acted as his guard. Seeing him come out, Su Emei’s eyes lit up. She had sensed that Li Ye’s cultivation had steadied and even elevated to another level.

The Son of God, Holy Child and Nangong Diyi had been waiting for a long time. When they saw Li Ye finally come out, they too came to him. The Holy Child got to him first, when he approached Li Ye he stopped and crossed his arms. He looked Li Ye up and down and said softly, “Not bad sonny boy, your cultivation has elevated exponentially!”

Nangong Diyi and the Son of God were both displeased with the Holy Child’s actions, Nangong Diyi even sniped at him in a sarcastic tone, “Child, your facial hair hasn’t even grown yet, but you dare to imitate the tone of an adult? Aren’t you afraid that your daddy will beat you?”

The Holy Child got angry and two fire snakes popped out of his nostrils. “You ignorant mortal!” “Do you want to die?”

Adding fuel to fire, the Son of God quickly added, “He’s been asking for death for a long time. Yet he’s still alive, you could grant him his wish!”

Li Ye waited until they were done arguing before adding, “The eighteen arhats suffered great loss, Buddhism Immortals are at their weakest now. We should take this opportunity and take Qinzhou city. The Immortal Court has been watching without making a move, but they won’t remain that way. If my senses serve is right, they should be on their way. We must prepare for them.”