Nine Star Hegemon Body Art

“What’s going on Long Chen?”

Tang Wan-er was the first to notice Long Chen’s change in expression.

Long Chen didn’t reply. He took out a map and followed along a certain path, finding a familiar name: Phoenix Cry.

“Wan-er, I have to leave for a while. I’m putting you in charge temporarily.” Long Chen put away the map and gave Tang Wan-er the jade tile.

That jade tile was called a transmission tile, and it was used to pass along information. The runes inside were able to transmit information through spiritual fluctuations.

Long Chen had just seen that the diagram of which large sects were protecting which areas had come out. He had seen the Bloodnet Sect’s name.

He remembered that name. The Bloodnet Sect had tried to devour the spirit stone mine underneath the Phoenix Cry capital all for themselves. But in the end, they had failed.

From the diagram, he had seen that the Bloodnet Sect was in charge of defending the Luo Mountain Range, a perimeter of four hundred miles.

That was only three thousand miles from the capital and was considered the border of the Phoenix Cry Empire. If the Corrupt path invaded but the Bloodnet Sect acted as if they couldn’t stop them and let them through, then those Corrupt disciples would unleash a calamity on the capital.

Back then, all the powerful sects had split the spirit stone mine up. Only the Bloodnet Sect had been kicked out.

An Elder from the Bloodnet Sect called Zhao Changxing had even wanted to humiliate Long Chen, only to be driven away by Tu Fang.

Now that they were in charge of guarding the area ahead of Phoenix Cry, then with their hatred from that matter, it was very likely for them to do something sinister.

That was why Long Chen’s expression changed. His parents were still in Phoenix Cry. He was worried and he had to make a trip there.

Tang Wan-er was given a fright when Long Chen held out the transmission jade to her. The others also looked at Long Chen in shock.

Long Chen was the pillar of their entire group. If he left, that would be a severe blow to everyone’s spirits.

“I don’t have time to explain. I have to leave for a trip, but I’ll be back quickly.

“My estimate is that the Corrupt path’s main forces will only arrive three to five days from now.

“The ones that are coming now are only some minor powers trying to sneak some easy profit. They’re not that frightening.

“After the last two battles, you should have already overcome your fear of them. As long as you work together, those inferior Corrupt disciples aren’t a match for you.”

Long Chen smiled slightly to Tang Wan-er and pressed the jade tile into her hand. “You’re the goddess in our hearts, so I trust you’ll be able to properly lead everyone!”

Holding the jade tile, Tang Wan-er felt as if it was incomparably heavy. Long Chen was placing everyone’s lives in her hands.

She found it hard to breathe. This burden was too heavy. Now she finally understood just how much pressure was on Long Chen’s shoulders.

“Don’t be afraid. There shouldn’t be any large-scale battles for a couple of days. With Wilde present, it definitely won’t be a problem. Wilde, you stay here and listen to sister Wan-er. Smash whoever she tells you to,” Long Chen told Wilde.

Wilde nodded his head straightforwardly. Although he didn’t understand why Long Chen had to leave all of a sudden, he was used to listening to him.

Long Chen then told the other core disciples, “It’ll be up to you guys to protect the monastery’s disciples. I’ll return as fast as I can.”

Long Chen formed a hand seal in front of him, and an enormous Spiritual Strength spread out. A snow-white figure appeared before everyone.

“Wu!” Little Snow roared up at the sky. 

Normally, Little Snow was kept within Long Chen’s spiritual space. If Long Chen brought him out all of a sudden during a battle, he would definitely be of great assistance.

But this time he was summoning Little Snow for his speed. Jumping onto his back, Little Snow shot out, immediately disappearing from everyone’s vision.

Tang Wan-er tightly clenched the jade tile. She turned to everyone, “Now that Long Chen’s left us temporarily, we’ll need to be even more careful. No one can slip-up during this time, otherwise, I won’t even have the face to see him again.”

“Yes!” Everyone’s expressions were grave. They all understood Long Chen’s temperament. He had already told them that his greatest hope was to return to the monastery with everyone alive.

Right now, their lives were not their own, but everyone’s. If they stayed alive, then there would be greater hope for the people beside them to stay alive. That was what it meant to be a team.

…

Six hours after Long Chen had left them, a huge number of commoners began to crazily withdraw from the border of Phoenix Cry.

None of them had imagined that the Righteous and Corrupt battles that they had heard of in stories would suddenly occur near Phoenix Cry. The soldiers near the border were all urgently helping them evacuate.

“Lord Marquis, these commoners are evacuating too slowly. If the Corrupt path attacks, there won’t be enough time to get everyone out.” A soldier respectfully reported to a middle-aged man in golden armor.

That middle-aged man had a lion’s nose and a wide mouth. Even without any expression, he still seemed extremely imposing, like a sheathed sword. Although he had yet to unleash his sharp side, he still gave off a powerful pressure.

That person was Long Chen’s father, the Border Suppression Marquis, Long Tianxiao. Once everything in the capital had calmed down, he had declined to stay within the capital. Instead, he brought his wife to the border station. 

Long Tianxiao had deep ties with this place and compared to the capital with those little hidden schemes, he much preferred living a simple and sincere life amongst the commoners. Here he could be free and unrestrained.

“Even if they’re too slow, there’s nothing we can do about it. We can’t leave anyone behind, young or old. Sect disciples are up ahead protecting us. We should have enough time to evacuate. Just send out an order to try to speed things up,” said Long Tianxiao gravely.

“Yes.” That soldier turned and left. 

A very large and burly fellow hastily walked over. “Uncle Long, the emergency signal has come from ahead! The Corrupt disciples have probably killed their way over.”

That large man was Shi Feng. Although he was the emperor’s son-in-law[1] now, he had idolized Long Tianxiao since childhood. He had asked the Emperor to always stay by Long Tianxiao’s side at the border.

Currently, Shi Feng had reached the peak of Blood Condensation. He was just one step away from Tendon Transformation. He was the strongest member of the junior generation in Phoenix Cry.

Long Tianxiao’s pupils shrank. He asked, “How did they break in so fast? Were all those sect disciples defeated?”

Just a while ago, they had seen a large number of Magical Beasts flying over them. There had been experts who had shouted down to evacuate calmly and avoid any panic.

They had said that there were sect disciples ahead. How were they defeated so quickly? Were the Corrupt disciples so powerful?

“The situation is still unknown. All we saw was that the ones at the front lit up the emergency signal. The Corrupt disciples will probably reach us here very soon.” Shi Feng’s expression was also extremely grave.

“Gather up all the troops. No matter what, we can’t let the Corrupt disciples slaughter these innocent commoners.”

Following Long Tianxiao’s orders, those soldiers that had been helping everyone evacuate gathered together. There were a total of fifty thousand soldiers here.

That was the total military power of this border. The majority of these soldiers had grown up here. They had thick ties to this place.

Now that the Corrupt path had invaded, they all stood at the front of the city gates, tightly clenching their weapons and ready to fight at any moment.

At the same time as Long Tianxiao was gathering his soldiers, a hundred miles away, there were a dozen young men wearing robes of the Bloodnet Sect. They were quietly observing Long Tianxiao and the others.

“Senior apprentice-brother Luo, is it really ok for us to do this?” asked one of them worriedly.

“What are you so afraid of? Elder Zhao Changxing has already given us approval.”

A man with an extremely gloomy expression icily responded, “Those damn idiots from Phoenix Cry should all die. Especially that father and son from the Long family. They should die a hundred thousand times over.

“Originally, Phoenix Cry’s spirit stone mine was long since noticed by our Bloodnet Sect. If it weren’t for that father and son from the Long family ruining our plans, all those spirit stones would have landed in our Bloodnet Sect’s pocket.

“Fuck, just thinking about it makes me want to murder them. It was so difficult for me to arrange such an easy mission for my little brother. I still can’t believe he ended up dying from it. I’m so fucking pissed, I wish I could personally go cut off the heads of the Long family!” That man, who had been called senior apprentice-brother Luo, clenched his teeth.

That white-robed man, who Long Chen had killed back then, was his little brother. He had thought to give his little brother an opportunity to stand out a bit, but his little brother had ended up dying instead. Even he had ended up punished afterward.

The matter of the spirit stone mine had caused the Bloodnet Sect to suffer a double loss. Furthermore, they were then treated as a laughingstock by the other surrounding sects.

And so by now, everyone within the Bloodnet Sect hated Long Chen and Long Tianxiao. They were delighted to find out that they were lucky enough to be appointed to this position that was near Phoenix Cry’s border.

They could borrow this opportunity to let someone else do their dirty work. Zhao Changxing, the Elder who had been kicked out of the spirit stone mine discussion by the other sects, had directly told the disciples to purposely let a squad of Corrupt disciples through to slaughter everyone near Phoenix Cry’s border.

Although they would be punished for negligence, the punishment wouldn’t be that bad. For a couple of commoners to die wouldn’t bring about many repercussions.

They couldn’t personally go kill Long Tianxiao, but letting him die to the Corrupt disciples was also pretty good revenge.

“Fuck, I can’t believe that Long Chen managed to join the Xuantian Monastery. If they had been together, we could have sent them both to hell together,” snorted senior apprentice-brother Luo.

Those other disciples around him didn’t say anything. They were all old disciples, and their status was similar to the law enforcer senior apprentice-brothers from the Xuantian Monastery.

They weren’t allowed to directly participate in the battle this time. That was a tacit agreement that had been held up for countless years by the Corrupt and Righteous paths. They would all use only new disciples for these battles in order to temper their wills.

“In a bit, as long as Long Tianxiao dies, we’ll stealthily issue the signal to bring the other disciples to save the others. As long as not too many people die, there won’t be anyone who will suspect that we’ve done anything. Does everyone understand?”

Those people nodded, closely watching the city gates.

Long Tianxiao had only just gathered all the warriors. He had yet to even say anything to them when his expression suddenly changed and he looked into the distance.

Over thirty Corrupt disciples wearing blood-colored robes were rushing over, all smiling sinisterly.

Long Tianxiao had wanted to give everyone a morale-boosting speech, but once he saw those disciples’ cultivation bases, his heart turned ice-cold.

They were all in the Tendon Transformation realm. Although it was only the early Tendon Transformation realm, each one of their auras was over ten times stronger than his own late Tendon Transformation realm’s aura.

Long Tianxiao took a deep breath. He had spent his life in battle, and he had never despaired. But this was the first time he fought a battle where his opponent outclassed him so greatly.

Although he knew he would die, Long Tianxiao still took out his saber. There was no possible retreat from here. Looking at the Corrupt enemies, he saw that they were less than three hundred meters away. He suddenly roared and charged at the Corrupt disciples.

Following Long Tianxiao, all the other soldiers charged forward without the fear of death. Those Corrupt disciples smiled cruelly, taking out their own weapons.

Buzz…

Just as the two were about to collide, a huge wind blade sliced through the Corrupt disciples, and a loud shout shook heaven and earth.

“Warriors of Phoenix Cry, retreat! Leave this place to me.”

[1] Due to Chu Feng's status as Emperor, when Shi Feng marries into his family, he automatically becomes a 驸马, which literally means an emperor's son-in-law.

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