Chapter 423 - The Former High Chieftains

“Heh heh heh heh heh…”

There was no other voice or noise save for the hollow cackling laugh that seemed to curdle the blood in the veins in everyone in the square. Every pair of eyes looked his way and upon every face was a look of fear, consternation, or bewilderment. Even the Blood Corpses seemed to tremble, although they were more frightened of his growing Rancorous Qi rather than his sinister laughter.

The Great Immortal from Hell shared a dark look with Ye Wuxin as men began to fret and squirm restlessly with fear. Knowing that things were not boding well for them, the two men quickly weaved spells to recall their Blood Corpses. But no amount of spell they used could move the legion of Blood Corpses. They just would not respond to the call of their masters, standing rooted to where they were, trembling and shaking quietly.

“Heh heh heh heh heh…” Xiao Chen let loose a snicker and leaped into the air suddenly with blood dripping from his blood-drenched arms and body into horrid spatters on the ground. With the opened chest wound still coruscating with moist blood, he could have looked very much more terrible than the army of monstrosities now standing around him.

The hundreds of Blood Corpses winced with a strong shudder and their knees buckled, prostrating themselves humbly like men bowing down to their liege lord. Yet even with their backs arched and their knees bent, the Blood Corpses never stopped shaking.

Yelps and gasps of surprise and shock ensued when the Corpses fell. Even Su Lianyue who was still watching from afar scarcely expected to see anything like this. It was a sight that no one had ever once witness for that matter. More so, for the men of the Corpse Refinery Sect especially the Great Immortal and Ye Wuxin who could not believe what they were seeing.

Amongst the frightened, the terrified, and the startled, was another man who could also hardly believe his own eyes: Zuoqiu Yang. He gazed up at Xiao Chen who was still hovering in mid-air, morbid and ghoulish like a lord of the dead. Then he looked down, feeling a tingle in his hand. Then again. And again until his hand could not stop shivering. Even his breath was racing. Not far away was an equally-awed but afraid Xiaoyue. She was no longer in her usually-placid self; her hands were also trembling as if her greatest nightmare had come true, that even the Autumn Water was shaking in her grasp.

Up above the air, Xiao Chen loomed over his fresh subjects with a terrible look on his face, absorbing the Rancorous Qi from them like tributes. In mere heartbeats, the damp wound on his chest began to heal at an impossible rate; a sight both surrealistic and outlandish, a phenomenon beyond logic and explanation.

“Heed my command: KILL!” With a growl, the legion of Blood Corpses sprang up with impeccable obedience like soldiers loyal to their king’s orders and threw themselves at the defenders of the Sect, crushing and obliterating them with tremendous efficacy.

Pandemonium pervaded the square once more. No ordinary mages of the Corpse Refinery Sect could barely defend themselves against the Blood Corpses which mowed them down with as much a difficulty as slaughtering sheep. Before long, more acolytes of the Sects fell at their hands that the Great Immortal and the rest of the Sect’s Elders were distraught with anxiety. None of them had expected such a turn of events.

And up above the sky, Xiao Chen watched his heinous subjects at work with only hatred and fury in his eyes.

His Blood Corpses pounced into the midst of the defenders, killing with an unstoppable and deadly zeal like predators on a blood scent. Ordinary Corpse Puppets could put up a fight or two, them still being under control of the members of the Sect while the Blood Corpses, killing monsters turned from living humans, contained human emotions that allowed them to be controlled by Xiao Chen.

At the far end of the square, the mages of the Orthodox Path looked on the massacre of the Sect with fearful looks. They looked at Xiao Chen, still hanging in mid-air and finally realized the full extent of his abilities. This was a young man, blessed with insurmountable talent and the flair to accomplish the impossible, able to summon wraiths and spirits, and even Blood Corpses answer to his beckons. There was little doubt that his name would travel far and wide once this day was over.

Among the flank formed up by the mages of the Order of the Divine Fire, Qi Heng watched with an uncertain and worried look on his face, feeling the stress of having such a rival in Xiao Chen. Su Yue was the same; wearing a grim and stony frown and a robe of dark purple, slightly bespeckled with the blood of her fallen enemies. But they were hardly the only ones; jealous and envious looks trained upon Xiao Chen, the champion of the hour.

But there was only a growing cold in Xiao Chen’s eyes. He extended a hand and waved, magically drawing Ye Wuxin from where he was standing into his grasp. Held in a vice-like grip, Ye Wuxin croaked in the quivering voice for the first time with fear for his life, “You…”

“What do you think now…” Xiao Chen’s growl turned into a fierce snarl, “Do you think my hatred is strong enough now!” He closed a fist on the High Chieftain’s throat and skewered his other arm through his chest. Blood sprayed and flew around.

“Did you not wish to consume me?” Xiao Chen shouted, “Look where are we now. You, a prey of mine now!” He channeled his power and Ye Wuxin’s eyes bulged wide as he felt his life seeping out of him quickly. Frantically, he stammered, “P-please! S-stop!”

“Stop?! Why did you not stop when you took Muxue!” Xiao Chen felt his anger rising and he willed himself to quicken the consumption of his enemy’s lifeforce. Xiao Chen’s Malicious Grudge was gradually growing beyond his control and imagination.

He finally understood what Feng You had once said during the battle at Tianyuan City, “I advise you not to have any thoughts about him, or you will die very tragically. A more tragic death than your mentor, Yu Yangzi…”

“Y-you… I know it now… You are brought back to life at the cost of another…” Ye Wuxin uttered, his eyes fraught with horror. But there was only ice in Xiao Chen’s eyes. In a similarly frosty tone, “I have once made a promise to take your life as revenge for him. Let it be today then…”

Xiao Chen increased the pace, feeling more lifeforce soaking into him from Ye Wuxin’s body. The High Chieftain’s face quickly swallowed and crumpled as Death drew nearer towards him. His long life was only due to the supply of Malicious Grudge in him, but it too was quickly sapped away by Xiao Chen.

Ye Wuxin’s eyes stretched, finally comprehending something: No mortal man could have been able to absorb the Malicious Grudge of Corpse Puppets for his own. No living man could withstand that amount of foul energy and emotions. But Xiao Chen could and this only proved that his physical body was something beyond the ordinary, least of all human!

But who?! Who else in the world possessed the ability and resources to produce the most perfect physical body and fuse it with the soul of another man with unflawed perfection, that the man reborn could feel pain, could train and study magic, could grow old, and even experience and feel the sensations o all emotions; happiness, anger, sorrow, and the like! A man reborn with such perfection that he looked no different from ordinary people! Who? Even across the Six Domains, was it even possible that anyone had such power? Not even the foremost founder of the Corpse Refinery would have such a capacity!

What Puppet-refining Technique is this… What is the full extent of this man’s, whoever he is, skill? Ye Wuxin mulled with his final breath as he felt everything slowly turning dark around him. He had always prided himself in his magic of producing Corpse Puppets. But now, finally knowing the truth behind Xiao Chen’s body, he knew. He knew that the Sect, or anyone in the industry for that matter would avail much before this mysterious man’s formidable skills.

Ye Wuxin was relenting himself to his fate, prepared to accept the coming of his end, when a dark nimbus raced from the distant horizons and drooped all over the square. The skies darkening suddenly was enough to draw the attention of the people below and everyone looked up and the fighting paused, instantly feeling the rich and colossal powers of whoever it was hiding atop. The Blood Corpses too came to a rest, stopping every movement that they looked like lifeless scarecrows.

The extraordinarily-perceptive Xiao Chen quickly felt it too. The Malicious Grudge emitting from within the dark, sinister plumes overhead made him wary. Then he remembered something. They had found a great many stone sarcophaguses during his infiltration into the Chamber of Repose with Su Lianyue in their search for Yu Yangzi and unspeakable dread rose in him…

On the other side of the square, a relieved Great Immortal breathed easily at last. With a weak smile, he gasped, “So, it all comes down to this nevertheless… The might of the former High Chieftains…”

“WHO DARE OFFENDS THE CORPSE REFINERY SECT!” A powerful voice thundered from inside the dark nimbus, a voice so powerful that many cowered and so many more nearly collapsed at the colossal aura limned behind the voice that struck down like a terrible bolt of lightning.

Qingfeng and Zi Mo were standing with the fellow mages of the Jade Qing Sect when the voice resounded and their faces immediately turned ugly. Hurriedly, Zi Mo yelled at Xiao Chen, “Come back, boy! For your sake come back this instant!”

But before he could finish, two men emerged from within the dark billows. Two bearded men, both likewise clad in long robes of red, landed in front of the Great Immortal. He regarded them with a bleak grin, “Surely that is not the full strength of the former Chieftains?”

The two men were two of the eldest seniors in the Sect who enjoyed greater eldership and standing over Ye Wuxin even. One was named Wu Tian and the other Wu Fa. The latter first spoke, “I’m afraid we don’t have a choice. This is the wish of the Tianxiang Chamber. We have to hold the Ridge for another six days. Afterwhich, the Divine Corpse shall complete its consumption of the Mystic Yin Body.”

Wu Fa immediately looked up and saw Ye Wuxin who was still having his lifeforce sapped by Xiao Chen. With a devilish glee, he breathed, “For all the good his position as the High Chieftain has done him. He has always been a proud one. I’d say he could use a good whipping to show him his place.”

Even from mid-air, Ye Wuxin, still with a sliver of his consciousness, heard him. He clenched his teeth and delivered a blow on his own chest, using the force to propel himself off Xiao Chen’s arm and fell to a crash near the Great Immortal and the two newcomers.

The dark plume overhead faded at the same time, revealing a dozen people. There were men and old people among them but they all carried the same dark look that showed that they were no longer alive.

On the ground, the mages of the Orthodox Paths beheld the sight of the reinforcements with their breaths held. This could not be ordinary Heavy Grudge Corpse Puppets, they knew full well. Then a shrill cry rang across the square, “T-these… These are the former High Chieftains of the Corpse Refinery Sect!”

The revelation brought panic to the invaders. No one had anticipated that the former leaders could be turned into Corpse Puppets. But that was hardly a surprise. The High Chieftains of the Sect ofttimes forsake their original bodies in favor of the physical bodies of Corpse Puppets which were stronger, more agile, and sturdier. But no High Chieftain had reigned beyond the tenure of three centuries and no one knew why.

This was the same even for Yu Yangzi, who also discarded his physical body for that of a Corpse Puppet to house his own soul for a lengthened survival. Only Ye Wuxin was different. The present High Chieftain of the Corpse Refinery Sect had always been coveting Xiao Chen’s body ever since they have met. That was precisely the reason he needed the millennia-old Corpse King; to help him defeat Xiao Chen to take his body.

Icy winds howled mercilessly in the night and the hairs of everyone billowed violently, lashing at their faces as they looked up at the twelve Corpse Puppets that materialized in mid-air betwixt the overcast gloom with a sheen of cold sweat on their foreheads.

Zi Mo shared a quick word with Qingfeng and the latter barked at Xiao Chen again, “Xiao Chen! Come back!”

Xiao Chen hovered in mid-air, his robes snapping in the whipping winds as he stared coldly at the twelve Corpse Puppets comprising of the twelve former High Chieftains. The newcomers reeked of the same deathly stench of decaying flesh and their leader came forth, booming loudly, “WHO DARES OFFEND THE CORPSE REFINERY SECT!”

“I will not only offend you lot,” Xiao Chen growled, “I will also decimate all of you!” The notion of Muxue’s soul being desecrated by these infernal scoundrels only served to fuel his anger and hatred. With a grunt, he lunged at the leading Corpse Puppet, much to the dismay and dread of everyone watching him, especially those of the Jade Qing Sect.

“IMPUDENCE!” The leader of the twelve hissed and he slapped a hand forward, his fist churning with a gauntlet of dark energies. Xiao Chen retaliated with a magic bolt of his own and the two energy projectiles met and resulted in a huge explosion that shook the entire square, whipping up strong winds that further pulverized the fallen rubbles to bits and gravel.

The two hung in mid-air, eyeing each other with enmity and anger. Man and corpse, living and the undead. They sent blows after blows at each other. And each time the Corpse sent a magic bolt of foul energy, Xiao Chen would reply with another similarly alike, but yet intrinsically distinctive bolt of magic to meet it. In matters of seconds, the crowds watching below felt something amiss. An invisible force was drawing them to the center of the square! A few unwary men lost their footing and were dragged into the center by gusts of vacuuming winds where they were shredded into smithereens! Then the others saw it: a powerful vortex! The cascades of explosions from Xiao Chen’s aerial battle had created a powerful vortex in their wake!

Everyone, the defenders of the Sect or the invaders of the Orthodox Realm, withdrew further to safety. Such was Xiao Chen’s present might; power that allowed him to fight as equals against the Corpse Puppet which was formerly one of the High Chieftains of the Corpse Refinery Sect.