Chapter 413 Sailing Close to the Wind
The mention of Jing Hong’s name made Chu Xun stop in his tracks and he turned back.
“Aren’t you leaving? What are you coming back for?” Yan Guilai would have looked genuinely surprised if not for the curling of his lips.
“I just remembered how imprudent it would be to leave you here alone,” said Chu Xun pensively. “Here’s a counteroffer. A discount, if you like it. Five hundred magical shrubs.”
“Deal,” Yan Guilai stretched out a hand with anticipation.
“What is this?” Chu Xun was flabbergasted.
“I thought you said you’re giving me five hundred magical shrubs,” teased Yan Guilai playfully.
“You’re sailing perilously close to the wind, do you know that?”
“All right, all right. I really can’t afford to make an enemy out of you, can I?” Yan Guilai stepped sideways with a flourish of his arm, beckoning Chu Xun to go, “I’d have to say the environment here is not too kind for someone of your stature, Chu Xun. Perhaps you’d fare better somewhere else.”
He brusquely strode off to talk to a few of the elders of his house.
The acolytes who had gone off to get some tents came back not long later.
They erected several tents and canopies and left two extra ones empty.
“Keep those two for Wushuang and Lady Jing Hong. Watch it. Make sure no vermin slips inside,” yapped Yan Guilai.
Chu Xun pursed his lips, immensely annoyed.
“Chu Xun, my friend. The hour is growing late. You should get your tents quickly if you intend to stay!” chuckled Yan Guilai, “Warriors like us might be accustomed to spending nights under starry skies in the wild, but only when the situation calls for it. At any rate, you should get your tents while you’re still in time.”
He did not wait for any response from Chu Xun. He turned around and called all members of his family into the large and spacious canopies and stayed inside.
His voice could be heard amidst the boisterous chatter from inside the tents once inside.
“Wow, the meat and liquor are good! And here we are, out here in the wild, enjoying good food and booze… It’s gratifying…”
Apparently, the acolytes came back with cartfuls of meat and liquor when they came back with the canopies and tents.
At the roof of the canopy was a little transparent sunroof that Yan Guilai could look at in the sky. He raised his liquor glass and swayed slowly to a tune, “I lift my glass, awaiting the sun to pass…”
Yan Guilai gulped down the contents of his glass as he sang a few songs that hardly made any sense at all.
“Should I go get a tent of our own?” asked Long Yi.
Chu Xun’s brows raised up as he came up with another devious plan. He waved him off, “There’s some here for the taking, why should we go through the trouble of buying one?”
“I came, I see, I conquer. Understand?” On that note, Chu Xun dove into Yan Guilai’s tent.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The noise of fist slapping on flesh came, accompanied by the painful howls of Yan Guilai.
Long Yi and Long Er shared a quick glance before they each dove into another two tents occupied by two Yan elders.
“What’s the meaning of this, Devil!? Lemme go!” boomed Yan Guilai defiantly.
Bang!
Chu Xun flung him out of his own tent, badly bruised on his face and the blackened eyes even darker than ever.
“Elders! To arms! We slay this Devil here and no—!” Yan Guilai called loudly.
Before he could finish, two more men were tossed out of their tents.
“Master!”
Two Yan elders, each with purplish-green swelling all over them, looked up at Yan Guilai pitifully from the ground.
“Wh-what… What a disgrace, both of you!” he scowled at them.
“As if you’re any different. Your eyes are blacker than ours!” The elders almost screamed out loud.
“That’s too much, Devil!”
Slurp!
“Too much booze but not enough friend, I guess. I’d just have to enjoy this fine draught on my own!” Slurp!
“Long Yi, Long Er! Come and quit dawdling there. Drink up, drink up!”
“Yes, sir.”
Answered Long Yi and Long Er as they joined him.
“I’ve heard the old village head singing a rhyme before when he drinks, Master Chu Xun? Wanna hear it?” said Long Er.
“Let’s hear it then.”
“Whenever he drinks, he’ll say this: One gulp, two gulps, drink and gargle! Three gulps, four gulps, not enough to marvel! Five gulps, six gulps, a drowsy numbness pains! Seven gulps, eight gulps, is there more to drain!”
Chu Xun giggled. “Long Qingquan sang that?!”
“He did.”
It was amusing that an old redneck like Long Qingquan could sing such a song too.
“COME OUT, DEVIL, YOU MURDERING ROBBER!” cried Yan Guilai from outside, absolutely angry that Chu Xun had occupied his tent and was drinking and eating his food.
“Come and take it back if you can,” Chu Xun remarked with derisive nonchalance.
Outside, Yan Guilai was stomping his foot in rage. He rolled up his sleeves, ready to charge into the tent to duke it out with Chu Xun and it took two of his elders to keep him at bay.
“Just give up, Master. You would only end up taking more beating if you went in.”
Yan Guilai threw his man so nasty a look as if he had just been stabbed in the back, “What on earth are you talking about?! If I’m allowing him to have the tents, it’s only because I’m being magnanimous! Or else, I would have long beaten him into a mess that his old man won’t even recognize him!”
“Certainly, Master! Certainly! Which is what we’ve done to that two companions of the Devil too! After all, they are friends of Master Wushuang. We have to be courteous to our guests, see?”
“Yes, correct! I have been soft on him otherwise I would have given him a tight slap on his cheek!”
“You’ve done well, both of you. We Yans are men of substance, unlike a certain abomination who’s only good at robbing, killing, and looting.
That remark made the two elders wince and quickly jerk their heads into the direction of Chu Xun’s tents with fright. Seeing no commotion coming from inside, only did they heave breaths of relief.
“You can use one of the two empty tents, Master. I don’t think Master Wushuang will be here soon.”
“All right.”
Yan Guilai patted the dust off his clothes and gave a snort at Chu Xun’s tent before entering one of the two empty tents.
Inside his tent, Chu Xun smirked. “Shameless bastards! Bragging when they’ve been beaten up so badly?!” And he shook his head, grinning to himself.
...
Zang Fengling ran as quickly as he could like a beaten dog. He did not even dare to hazard a respite in case Chu Xun might catch up to him and kill him.
For three long hours, he did not stop. By the time he reached the gates of the Zang Family residence, he was so exhausted that he fainted right outside.
When the Zang acolytes watching the gates found him, they quickly carried him inside.
Zang Fengling being found unconscious outside the house sent the entire household into chaos.
Zang Yuanzhi, a tall and surly middle-aged man dressed in rich silk, came in. His eyes burning with cold fury.
His mere presence made everyone shivered.
It was public knowledge to everyone who knew the Zangs that Zang Fengling was the only living son of his generation. Anything that happened to the Zang Family’s only living heir could easily cause tremors.
Flanking Zang Yuanzhi was a pair of tall and burly men. They have red ruby-like eyes to adorn their sinisterly misshapen faces. Both Macro-primate champions, one was called Jin Wei while the other Jin Cheng.
Zang Yuanzhi examined Zang Fengling and finally sighed easily at last. The cold and silent rage radiating off him finally defused.
“How is Young Master Fengling, sir?” only now did a highly-ranked Zang elder dare to ask.
“He’s just has a shock and he’s exhausted his Internal Breath. That’s all. Nothing serious,” said Zang Yuanzhi placidly. Even so, he did a second examination to confirm nothing was wrong. He could not dare risk anything with Zang Fengling being his only son.
The stronger and more powerful one becomes, the weaker becomes his fertility.
Zang Yuanzhi injected some of his Internal Breath into his son and fed him a pill that would help him recuperate.
Zang Fengling woke up groggily not long after that.
“Father! Save me… save me…” Zang Fengling fell into a manic fit of delirium, wildly agitated as he grabbed and tugged at Zang Yuanzhi’s arm.
Zang Yuanzhi intensely angered to see his son so horrified, his eyes flaring with icy fury.
“Don’t worry, son. Father’s here. No one will hurt you,” he consoled his son.
Zang Fengling calmed down at last.
“What happened, Young Master Fengling? Why only you came back?” asked Jin Wei first and foremost. He was not so much as concerned about the Zangs than about the five Macro-primate champions who did not make it back at all.
But the demented Zang Fengling was still in a state. He heard Jin Wei’s question and fell into a momentary stupor before squealing like a pig out of the blue, “Dead! All dead! NOOO! PLEASE! NOO! DON’T KILL ME!”
Zang Fengling’s deranged state shocked and frightened everyone.
But everyone heard him: they were dead. Everyone was dead.
They could not believe their ears. More than one hundred and fifty warriors had been mobilized for this invasion, including more than twenty Human Kings. Reinforced by champions of the Macro-primate Race, who on earth would have such power to kill them all?!
Jin Wei and Jin Cheng shared a dark look, their ugly faces twisting more hideously. “Can you elaborate more, Young Master Fengling?” pressed Jin Cheng.
“DEAD! THEY’RE ALL DEAD! I SEE BLOOD AND BROKEN LIMBS EVERYWHERE!” Zang Fengling trembled hard. He seemed to be regaining his senses and his words were clearer now.
“I need you to be precise, Master Fengling. What really happened?!” urged Jin Wei, repeating his question again and again with building frustration.
Zang Yuanzhi was nowhere near pleased to see his son subjected to such interrogation. “Please have patience, Jin. My son has had a shock. Perhaps we should wait till he’s more comfortable.”
Jin Wei was about to protest but Jin Cheng urged him tacitly not to, shaking his head at the former.
Silence filled the emptiness as everyone agreed that any questions could wait.
Jin Wei’s morbidly-red eyes never stopped glancing at Zang Fengling, musing at how inept a warrior he turned out to be.
Jin Cheng had been giving him numerous looks and signals to warn him. They were guests of the Zangs and it would do them no good by harassing Zang Fengling for answers, and even though Macro-primates did not fear the power of the Zang Family, angering the doting father in Zang Yuanzhi was tantamount to lighting a match beside a powder keg, which could easily jeopardize their relationship as allies.
About half an hour passed, and Zang Fengling could finally speak.
“No one else survived. I was the only one.”
“How did they die?!” urged Jin Wei, “Did the Chamber have any strong warriors hiding there?”
“That was one hundred times worse than any warrior you can find,” Zang Fengling’s voice quivered with lingering fright, “No warrior could be capable of such carnage.”
“What on earth did you find there, son?” Zang Yuanzhi couldn’t hold back his curiosity finally.
“Chu Xun. The Devil.”
Those words robbed all color from the faces of everyone in the chamber.
“You encountered the Devil?!” cried one of the Zang elders present.
Zang Fengling nodded. “We did. We were winning, and the Chamber was all but spent. But the Devil appeared out of nowhere and began killing every man we had. By the time he was done, not a man was left standing.”
“Is he really so powerful?!” Jin Wei muttered doubtfully, “What about Jin Zhong? He’s a Ninth-grade Beast Lord!”
“Master Jin? The Devil destroyed both his arms with one punch before savagely smashing his corpse into halves with just one stomp of his foot. None of your champions could withstand even one punch from him.”
Jin Wei and Jin Cheng traded bewildered stares and recognized shock and awe in each other’s eyes. If none of their champions could take even one hit from Chu Xun, then Jin Zhong must have been killed in just the blink of an eye.
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