Roughly fifteen minutes had passed, but the runner who announced that he would go to the prisons and bring their prisoner back still hadn't returned. Long Xiaoxuan was the first to grow impatient. "Hey Ke, I'm not as patient as my brother is. If you can't bring our guy over in another seven and a half minutes, we'll teach you a lesson."
Still, Elder Ke maintained an inscrutable expression as he chuckled. "Relax, someone will show up eventually. That, I'm sure of."
Long Xiaoxuan snorted, but ultimately decided to shut his mouth. However, his expression spoke volumes, he was hoping very much that the guy wouldn't show up so that a fight could break out.
Fifteen minutes later, the guy who went to pick up the prisoner finally returned. They muttered a few code words beside Elder Ke's ears. Jiang Chen heard them clearly, but couldn't understand their meaning at all.
"Where is our guy?" Jiang Chen asked in a low tone.
Elder Ke laughed. "I'm sorry, but the guy you're looking for is no longer in our custody. You better go ask the Moon God Sect if you want him."
"Are you toying with me?" Jiang Chen asked again in a surprisingly calm tone.
Elder Ke brayed with laughter. "That's right, I'm toying with you! You beat up my men in front of our doorstep and dare ask to make a deal with me like nothing happened? Just who do you think you are?"
Liu Zhen's face turned green with realization. No wonder Elder Ke had suddenly changed his attitude even though he'd about to erupt just now! It was because he wanted to gain the five hundred million saint spirit stones first!
Jiang Chen nodded slightly before shooting a glance at Liu Zhen. "Liu Zhen, we'll deal with this. Back off a little and don't get caught in the crossfire."
Liu Zhen stared at Jiang Chen in shock and hesitation. He was obviously still reeling from the loss of five hundred million saint spirit stones.
"Don't worry, I promise you that he'll spit out every stone he took in a moment. If your friend is still here, I promise you that they'll return him to you as well!" Jiang Chen wasn't boasting in the slightest. To Elder Ke though, it was of course the joke of the century.
"Boy, I think you've lost your mind. The Heavensfall Society has never had the habit of returning what they took, not to mention his accomplice here completely deserves his punishment for breaking our rules. Forget five hundred saint spirit stones, one billion or even two billion saint spirit stones are still insufficient to cleanse his sin!" Elder Ke declared righteously.
"Elder Ke, I'm not sure where you're getting your confidence from, but I can tell you one thing: I knew from the start you won't return our guy. I purposely gave you the five hundred million saint spirit stones." Jiang Chen smiled calmly.
Elder Ke stared blankly at him for an instant before laughing out loud. "Boy, do you think I'll really believe such nonsense? Or are you trying to make yourself feel better? Hahaha…"
Jiang Chen stared at Elder Ke like he was staring at an idiot. "If you hadn't stolen our money, we wouldn't have the right to destroy you, would we now?"
This time, Elder Ke wasn't the only one who was stunned. Emperor Peerless looked blank for a moment and Long Xiaoxuan was also staring at Jiang Chen in surprise. They'd all noticed that Jiang Chen wasn't actually joking.
Long Xiaoxuan started laughing. "No wonder! I was surprised when you suddenly turned so easy-going, but it was all just a trick! You're even more treacherous than I am."
Long Xiaoxuan's provocation tended to be too stiff. In comparison, Jiang Chen's were more skillful. A logical excuse was critical when picking a quarrel because the party in the right would always have the upper hand, regardless of the scale of the disagreement.
Elder Ke's proud expression froze. He realized that Jiang Chen might really have been playing a trick from the start. Although he didn't think that Heavensfall Society would mind a petty trick like this at all, he minded because his intellect had been challenged and beaten by the other party. The flustered elder ordered angrily. "Destroy them!"
Jiang Chen let out a chuckle. "Brother Mo, as you can see they're the ones who's bullying us. It's not the other way around."
Emperor Peerless wasn't a good-tempered person to begin with, and his disgust towards the Heavensfall Society only deepened when he saw how shameless the gang was. They'd detained Liu Zhen's friend for no reason and refused to release their prisoner even after receiving the ransom. Most importantly, Emperor Peerless was inclined to fulfill Jiang Chen's wishes right now, so he wasn't going to show the Heavensfall Society any mercy.
Jiang Chen's words implied that the bigger the commotion, the better. But on the other hand, Jiang Chen and Long Xiaoxuan wouldn't get to have any fun if he were to go all out from the beginning. That was why he courteously decided to train his gaze on Elder Ke and Elder Ke alone. He didn't bother looking at anyone else.
The enemy had the advantage in numbers over Long Xiaoxuan and Jiang Chen, but Emperor Peerless wasn't worried because both were monstrous geniuses who could challenge cultivators beyond their realm. Elder Ke was certain of his victory at first. But when he suddenly shuddered and realized that a single glance from Emperor Peerless was all it took to freeze him in place, he panicked completely. The gaze wasn't an immobilizing technique, but the power behind it was so great that Elder Ke's consciousness nearly crumbled on the spot. That was how he knew that any movement he made might be fatal for him.
Emperor Peerless smiled calmly. "Be a good boy and stay there. I don't want to lower myself by fighting you, but if you force my hand, I will end you quickly."
Elder Ke felt numb all over. Every word his opponent uttered felt like heavy weights pressing down on his entire body.
"You…" Elder Ke's teeth chattered. "Who on earth… are you?"
Emperor Peerless smiled leisurely. "Don't you think your question is a bit too late?"
Ping ping ping ping! By now the fight had broken out in full force. Jiang Chen wasn't too vested in the fight because it was just a simple warm up to him, but Long Xiaoxuan was the opposite. He might not be in his true form right now, but his dragon bloodline still gave him incredible combat power even though he was only using hand-to-hand combat techniques.
When he activated the power of his bloodline, his body became as tough as metal. It allowed him to crush any initial level emperor realm expert, be it in both offensive power and defensive power. He could also fight any mid level emperor realm on equal footing. He could even gain the upper hand if he was performing well. In short, almost no one beneath mid level emperor realm could beat him. He was currently crushing the senior executives of the Heavensfall Society to his heart's content.
The senior executives were actually quite strong, not to mention that there were a lot of mid level cultivators in the area as well. However, those inferior cultivators couldn't even get close to the battlefield. Whenever they tried, Long Xiaoxuan's terrifyingly strong dragon battle aura forced them away. Some on the weaker side spat blood the second the dragon aura washed over them.
So then, Jiang Chen actually looked like a third wheel in this battle. He didn't have a chance to show off his skills at all. He didn't mind the breathing space, however. It wasn't like he was weak, he just thought that he didn't need to expose his skills unless necessary. Long Xiaoxuan could show off all he wanted since he was more than capable of handling the situation, not to mention that the dragon had been holding back his thirst for battle for a long time.
Cold sweat poured out of every inch of Elder Ke's body as he heard the blood curdling screams. He had very good hearing, so he could tell who was screaming. The screams undoubtedly came from his men, and it wasn't hard to imagine those two youngsters slaughtering them like wolves among lambs. The reversal terrified him. He'd never imagined that the sure-prey in the palm of his hand would be so troublesome, and that they'd been planning to screw the Society over from the start!
Elder Ke was engulfed with regret and terror. He prayed that the Society lords would show up as soon as possible. If this situation were to continue, it wouldn't be long before they were all slaughtered. If their opponents were in a bad mood, they might even escalate their killing to the entire Society.
At first, Long Xiaoxuan's bloodthirst wasn't completely ignited. But as the battle went on, his cruel side began to show more and more. The number of casualties began to climb rapidly. At first, the sage realm cultivators were the only ones who were killed by his dragon aura. Then, some peak sage realm experts and even half-step emperor realm experts began to follow in their footsteps as well. Even the initial level emperor realm experts were pushed into dire straits by Long Xiaoxuan's perverse attacks. They repeatedly cried out for help.
"Elder Ke, if you keep doing nothing the rest of us are going to die!"
"What are still you waiting for, Elder Ke?"
"Elder Ke, the Society lords will punish you if you do nothing about this!"
The elder's expression flickered again and again. This situation was torture to him to say the least. The two youngsters might be extraordinarily skillful, but he was still confident he could deal with them. The problem was the mysterious expert who stood not far away from him. If the mysterious expert could almost shatter his consciousness with a single glance and a couple of words, then he was someone completely beyond the elder's level. A cultivator like this had to be at peak ninth level emperor realm or even a half-step great emperor at minimum.That was the limit of Elder Ke's imagination. He dared not imagine Emperor Peerless as a great emperor. It wasn't his fault for thinking the way, however. A great emperor wouldn't show themselves in the world, and very few great emperors would cause havoc in a bustling city like this. A cultivator at this level had to consider many things before they could act. As a result, they actually didn't fight as often as weaker cultivators. After all, the destructive power of a great emperor was too great, and the consequences of their appearance too severe to say the least. Any great emperor had to deliberate carefully before they engaged any opponent in battle. That was why Elder Ke thought of Emperor Peerless as a peak emperor realm cultivator.