Chapter 385 You Had It Coming
“Who I really am is immaterial,” sneered Chu Xun. He beheld the Winged smugly and declared loudly, “Just so you remember, we humans are the true rulers of Earth.”
The face of the elderly Winged could not have been any more sour. His live broadcast proclamation earlier was a wound that he would never recover from and Chu Xun’s mention of it could just as easily make him go insane.
Being a Winged who valued pride and pedigree above all else, he had never once suffered such indignity before.
“You’re a champion of your kind and I respect that. But you’d do well to reciprocate that respect especially towards the Winged race,” growled the elderly Winged. “If only I had prevented Chu Xun from taking the Reality Painting,” he mused grimly. The Relic was the only thing between him and a bloodbath of every human present, as indicated by his fuming aura redolent of blood and malice.
“We humans have always been amicable. As for you, I’d say you lot had it coming. Your disdain for humans brought this all. What gave you such a right?” Chu Xun never thought of coming to make friends. The rumors that the Winged race demanding the forces of the Fire Dragon Palace to surrender Maple Canyon had caused him great anger.
Not to mention the injuries that his subjects Yan Chong and the others had suffered. In fact, the Fire Dragon Palace would have long turned into a smoldering heap of ruins if not for Emperor Ao’s timely intervention.
And that was exactly his purpose for coming back to the capital: to cast out the scourge of these avian-folks that had long plagued the capital, the prime jewel of Huaxia’s pride. This represented everything about the honor of his people, and he could not allow this half-bird, half-man to besmirch it.
Such was Chu Xun in his usual form: a domineering bully who protected his own with utmost jealousy.
“All of you Wingeds, listen up. You have until sundown to withdraw from the capital. Where you go, I don’t care. You can occupy the woods or mountains and build a stronghold of your own, for all I care. But so long as you disrupt the peace and order that we humans have maintained for so long, rest assured that I’ll make you pay.”
Haughty and arrogant the Winged legionnaires found those words to be, and they stirred with brimming discontent.
“Incompetence, Mo Qian! How dare you allow a human to trample upon us Wingeds!” a sonorous voice thundered from the horizon.
Several flashes of light came from afar like stars descending from the sky, coming at great speed.
“Hail, Tenth Presbyter,” greeted the elderly Winged, presenting their race’s highest form of salute.
The newcomers arrived quickly. All it took were mere breaths and the newcomers landed. The leader of this new group was a middle-aged person to whom the elderly Winged showed great respect. He had to be much older than he looked. Additionally, the feathers of his wings glittered with flakes of golden sparkles, a distinct trait that made him stand out from the rest of his kin.
The entire Winged Legion bowed and saluted to him.
“I’ve failed my duty,” admitted the elderly Winged morosely, whose name everyone now knew to be Mo Qian from the loud, sonorous voice earlier.
That prompted onlookers to wonder if all Wingeds carried the same surname Mo.
In addition to the Winged identified as the Tenth Presbyter, two more elderly Wingeds had extremely powerful auras. At first glance, their power levels were much higher than Mo Qian’s.
“I’d love to see how you intend to justify your mishap in losing the Reality Painting,” hissed one of the two elderly Wingeds with glee.
A hint of suppressed rage wiped across Mo Qian’s face for one fleeting moment. “I’ll explain myself to the Ninth Presbyter when I get back. There’s no need for you to butt in on this matter, thank you very much.”
The elderly Winged who taunted him chuckled and smirked, saying nothing.
“You there, young man. Return the Reality Painting and get down on your knees. Beg for forgiveness and your life shall be spared,” demanded the Tenth Presbyter imperiously to Chu Xun, demanding the return of the Reality Painting.
And not without good reason, as the one whom the Wingeds called the Tenth Presbyter exuded a redoubtable presence that indicated insurmountable might, leaving anyone nearby at a loss for breath.
“You want the painting? Come get it yourself,” muttered Chu Xun placidly.
The Tenth Presbyter regarded him coldly for one split-second before uttering, “Kill him.”
“Whoosh! Whoosh!”
The two elderly Wingeds who accompanied him as escorts hurled themselves at Chu Xun with the speed of a lightning bolt. They reached right beside Chu Xun in just the blink of an eye, and both men attacked in unison with deadly precision.
Hardly fazed, Chu Xun’s lips curled into a wry grin that did little to add warmth to his gaze. He channeled his powers, and his fists blazed with a soft purplish burnish of Hong Meng Immortal Qi as they barreled forward.
“Boom!”
Chu Xun’s fists slammed savagely into the hands of the two elderly Wingeds lunging at him, and as soon as they collided, the resulting shockwave of golden energies pulsed along the ground, spiraling out in every direction.
Both the Wingeds’ faces flushed with fits of shock. The forces of their blows—amounting to at least several hundred jins—could easily pound huge boulders into pebbles and gravel. Yet they had positively felt an inexplicable force several dozen times greater transmitting from the fists of this human whelp, blasting them both off their feet.
As they reeled in disbelief, they could conspicuously hear their very own bones groaning in protest for nearly snapping. Their arms throbbed with intense agony and their knuckles were left bleeding from the impact.
The eyes of the Tenth Presbyter shot wide with astonishment.
Everyone else present swallowed hard. “What inhuman strength! Two Wingeds attacked him, and yet he blasted them back single-handedly!”
“Bang!”
The ground beneath Chu Xun’s feet erupted, spraying up dirt and gravel in the air, then he was gone. With one stomp, he vaulted himself dozens of meters into the air and then came falling down with his fists at the ready, swooping down on the two old Wingeds.
That seemed to have pleased the two Wingeds. They broke into grins, confident that they could regain superiority in an aerial battle. The pair of Wingeds flapped their wings and flung forth hails of steely feathers, each glinting dangerously at Chu Xun.
The same attack that common Wingeds employed was only more destructive when wielded by these two Wingeds. With power and force at least 10 times greater than that of ordinary Wingeds, these steel-like feathers could easily rip and tear through even steel and iron.
Using only his mind, Chu Xun activated his powers. The atmosphere around him tensed and stiffened with thick magical aura, and countless strands of Reincarnation Lines materialized and shot out to meet the incoming salvo of arrow-like feathers.
“Clink! Clink!”
The Reincarnation Lines smashed into the torrential deluge of steel-like feathers, reducing them to harmless little flashes as fleeting as embers.
The pair of elderly Wingeds gasped with awe. These steel-like feathers were part of a natural arsenal exclusive only to their race, yet they were useless against this human whelp!
Chu Xun’s feet dipped down and stepped on one of his many Reincarnation Lines. Using it as a foothold, he launched himself higher into the air, propelling himself at the two elderly Wingeds with his fists readied and fully-imbued with his magic.
He threw his fists furiously forward, delivering his punches into the air to fire a pair of energy bolts at the elderly Wingeds, who drew in their breath sharply as they felt the huge concentration of destructive force the energy bolts carried.
The elderly Wingeds roared defiantly, ripping their swords free from their scabbards. The ornately forged weapons of gold shone with a bright glow at their magic being activated, and the Wingeds thrust their swords at Chu Xun’s attacks.
“Boom! Boom!”
A pair of deafening explosions resounded. As soon as the magic-imbued weapons came in contact with Chu Xun’s fist-like energy bolts, the resulting shockwave nearly caused internal injuries to the two old Wingeds, as their weapons were blasted out of their grip and they both began falling.
In their panic, the two Wingeds tried to regain their stability in the air, but to no avail. They continued plummeting to the ground.
“Whoosh!”
The Tenth Presbyter could stomach it no longer. With a powerful beat of his wings, he sped after his subordinates, raising an arm to cast strange white globs of light that expanded into a sudden rush of white light to cushion the fall of his men.
“Thank you so much, Lord!” they gasped apologetically for their failure.
Those words only just escaped their lips when their senses warned them of impending danger. They jerked their heads up and saw a gigantic monolith crashing down from the height of the skies and bearing down on them while the Tenth Presbyer saved them.
Reacting quickly, the Tenth Presbyter frantically unsheathed his golden sword and swung it fiercely, firing an energy bolt of his own at the falling monolith.
“Boom!”
The scythe-like energy bolt smashed into the monolith in a huge puff of smoke, leaving a long and deep gash, but it was no use; it hardly stopped the gargantuan colossus’s fall.
“Rumble!”
The monolith crashed down with a powerful tremor that shook the earth, kicking up ripples of dust and shockwaves, and a deep and wide fracture opened in the earth.
Before the dust settled and everyone could see what had happened to the three Wingeds, another monolith came down again.
“Rumble!”
The deafening noise that sounded like heaven had cracked open sent another pulse of shockwaves across the lands, causing all buildings and structures to shake at their very foundations, threatening to topple them over and make glass panes and pieces all shatter. Right at the epicenter of the disastrous calamity was a newly opened ravine several meters wide and 10 times as deep.
Gradually, the dust storm began to subside.
Everyone drew in a breath apprehensively.
When the two elderly Wingeds finally emerged from the pandemonium, they were as disheveled as beggars with their hair unkempt and frayed and their snowy-white wings now blotted with blood. Froth and more blood spewed from their mouths. They would have been dead if not for the Tenth Presbyter’s painstaking efforts to keep them alive—an attempt that pleased him not one bit.
Everything went as dead as a crypt. So quiet that one could have heard a pin drop.
There was no way humans could be capable of such might. This young human whelp was just as brutal as a wild beast, if not more.
Mo Qian and the Winged Legion stared with awe from their positions not far away in the air. The elderly leader gulped hard, thanking his good fortune that he had not yet picked a fight with this human monster.
Many among the crowd of onlookers wondered about the identity of this unknown young man and his ungodly strength.
Even the champions of the rest of the Lost Races watching the live broadcast were at a loss for words. Mulling dismally in silence, they wondered if they would be able to emerge triumphant against such an opponent with behemothic powers.
Chu Xun’s style of battle had always been brutal and direct, and he was hardly one who liked pulling his punches just because an enemy was hurt. Enemies are what they are, as he always believed that being merciful was nothing but weakness to him.
“Whoosh!”
Chu Xun lunged at his foes, his fists shining with a sparkling purplish glow, and he drove his fists forward, firing two energy bolts from afar.
The Tenth Presbyter spread his wings wide and tossed his men to safety. He brandished his sword, its blade gleaming with a brilliant golden sheen, and swung it at the pair of energy bolts coming at him.
“Boom! Boom!”
Two dull booms erupted as the energy bolts collided with the blade of the golden sword, and with it came a deafening ring—a ring so loud that it made the presbyter’s ears ring. He staggered several steps backward, the ground splitting beneath his feet.
Gasps of shock and awe arose from the midst of the crowd and the Winged Legion. Even a Winged presbyter—greater champions of the Winged race—could not best this mysterious young man in combat.
The Tenth Presbyter’s face could have not been any darker. He had just been overwhelmed in a contest of strength right before the eyes of so many people, and his face was burning with shame because of it.
At the same time, he was truly amazed and terrified at the brute strength of his foe, which could only be fully comprehended through actual combat.
But Chu Xun was hardly amused. Instead, with his eyes still blazing with frosty rage, he renewed his charge.
The Tenth Presbyter beheld Chu Xun coming at him again and flailed his wings hard. Soaring up higher, he hacked with his sword, livid with rage, firing two scythe-like energy bolts.
Undaunted, Chu Xun saw no reason to slow down. With a simple cursory glance at the two incoming energy projectiles, he casually swatted them aside, disintegrating them into nothingness with hardly any difficulty.
“Bang!”
He drove his foot into the ground with a powerful stomp and launched himself up once more, speeding after the Tenth Presbyter now hanging in the air.
Another couple of fist-like energy bolts peeled out from Chu Xun’s fists, streaking after the Winged presbyter with a shrill scream that would have left any foe quivering.
The Winged leader studied the incoming attack with a cold glare. He drove his sword forward, unleashing another energy bolt at Chu Xun’s attack only to have his energy bolt smashed into mere dregs of magical aura that quickly dissipated, while Chu Xun’s dual energy bolts continued their rapid climb at him. But they came so fast that he could barely react. Wrapping himself up like a cocoon with his wings was all he could do as he hectically summoned his magic, shrouding himself in a glowing coat of white light.
“Bang! Bang!”
The energy bolts blasted the white feathery cocoon as if they were a pair of cannonballs smashing into a puff of feathers that fluttered helplessly to the ground. And with a long, screaming howl, the impact sent the Tenth Presbyter crashing down to Earth in a long winding curve along the horizon.
“Boom!”
“Boom!” In his rapid descent, he careened into a huge boulder that weighed hundreds of kilograms, smashing it to pieces.
Chu Xun landed quickly and bolted after him.
Everyone else could hardly take their eyes off the two men fighting, especially daunted by Chu Xun’s ferocity. “Good Heavens, what a fierce person! Could he have descended from one of the greatest monsters in the past?!”
Compared to the Winged presbyter he was fighting against, Chu Xun looked more beast than man.
Up until this point, the world knew only about the might of the Winged race. No one expected that they could be overwhelmed by a mere human to such unbelievable lengths.
“Bang!”
Rocks and stones burst into the air as the Tenth Presbyter freed himself from being buried below. Patches of blood mottled parts of his wounded wings, with many bare patches left from feathers that had been ripped off during the fight, and the presbyter no longer looked like the proud and majestic Winged that he seemed to be before.
Catching sight of Chu Xun approaching, he spread his wings and soared up into the air, putting at least a thousand meters and counting between Chu Xun and himself.
Malice and hatefulness swirled in his eyes now beholding Chu Xun coldly. “Human scum, how dare you disrupt the natural order of things and hurt a member of the esteemed Winged race! For this, I will inflict judgment upon you!”
“Inflict judgment? How? With your mouth?” hissed Chu Xun, stomping the ground again to launch himself into the sky after him once more.
Only this time, the Winged presbyter did not attempt to evade him. With a wicked grin, he waved his hand and produced a long ivory-white canine tooth at least a dozen centimeters long.
A palpable aura of bloodthirstiness and rancor burst out from the tooth as soon as it appeared. Just by looking at it could make anyone feel fidgety and anxious as if a monstrous and horrible beast was waiting to sink its fangs into them.
The white pulsing luminescence from the Winged presbyter’s hand vanished as if devoured and absorbed by the canine tooth. The Winged then proceeded to sprinkle a drop of True Blood on the tooth.
The droplet of blood burst apart as soon as it fell on the surface of the tooth, and a terrible pulse of scarlet flash swept forth as if heralding the awakening of a terrible monster from ages long forgotten by man.
“Behold, human scum, what I have here is the tooth from the ancient horror Suan Ni. No matter how powerful and able you are, you’re dying today,” growled the Winged triumphantly with wicked glee.
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