Chapter 420: Internal Conflict, Internal Strife
“Go, kill him!”
The four great champions had always cooperated well with each other. Four beams of light shot into the skies with splendid radiance, each of them wielding their own weapons.
Such a seemingly simple attack was actually split into four quadrants, sealing off all space. This was a common tactic they used.
Although it didn’t count as the mysteries of a formation, they cooperated very well together, and so their strength was enormous.
Jiang Chen snorted softly as he was holding the high vantage point, waved with his hand, and sent out four golden beams of light.
The golden beams streaked through the air, transforming into four shooting stars, and vanished into thin air.
Suddenly, the four champions felt their bodies grow cold as a golden colored light flashed in front of their very eyes. A gout of cold air blew straight at them, making their necks feel cold.
“No!”
In that critical moment, when they realized that something was wrong, the four beams of golden light had already flashed past their necks.
The golden light churned!
A strong crisp sound akin to snapping a wooden stick in half rang out at this point, so sharp it made one’s hair stand on end.
In the next moment, the momentum of the four great champions halted as they froze in midair.
Four bloody beams of light shone out at almost the exact same time as the four heads shooting into the skies. Their eyes were filled with incredulity as they looked towards the ground below, watching their heads somehow bizarrely separated from their bodies.
All sorts of thoughts they had at this moment soon withered into dreadful misery.
They knew that this would be the last thing they would ever witness in their lives.
Bam, bam, bam, bam!
The four headless corpses plummeted first. They crashed despairingly into the dust as blood poured out from their necks in great gushes.
Next, the four heads that had shot to a peak height in the sky began to descend as well.
Bam, bam, bam, bam! They too landed at the same time.
Dying with dissatisfaction and everlasting regret.
The four greatest spirit realm champions of the Shangyang Kingdom had been slain in the skies above the palace with one move.
The entire palace, which had at least a hundred thousand of spectators, had seen this happen.
In that moment, Wu Hong almost collapsed to his knees on the ground. Their nation’s four greatest champions had been slaughtered in a second!
The opponent was so strong to the point of being terrifying.
What was even more horrifying was that this opponent came for Wu Hong.
If it were before, he would’ve been a key target to protect because he was the crown prince. Even the four great champions would’ve given their all to protect him.
It was difficult to tell just how much of that loyalty remained after the four champions had been beheaded with one stroke.
After all, this opponent was simply too strong. He was so strong that they couldn’t fight him.
King Wu Tan also felt this throat grow dry. He’d thought that even if the combined strength of the four champions couldn’t win against Jiang Chen, they’d at least be able to fight him to a draw.
But the battle situation had changed simply too quickly, so fast that he didn’t even have time to react.
The four champions’ heads were separated from their bodies in the blink of an eye.
They were of the seventh level spirit realm! They would be high levels of existence even in the Purple Sun Sect. If it wasn’t for Wu Tan having quite a bit of face, he never wouldn’t be able to mobilize these four cultivators to become the nation’s champions!
Wu Tan’s strength was indeed above them, but that was on a single combat basis. If the four acted together, Wu Tan felt that he wouldn’t be able to hold up beneath their onslaught either.
And now, they’d been incredulously killed in front of the formation.
Thanks to that scene, the fighting spirit of Wu Tan and the royal experts were almost all instantly completed shattered.
Strong cultivators abounded amongst the royal experts, but even the strongest leader wasn’t as strong as the four champions.
Even they had been instantly slaughtered, what else did the rest of them have to compete?
“Your Majesty, please return to the palace!”
“Protect the king! Protect His Majesty! Retreat to the palace, and reinforce the defenses!”
Bitterness filled Wu Tan’s mouth. Retreating to the palace meant lowering his head in front of Jiang Chen. As the ruler of a nation, bowing his head now would be a fatal blow to both morale and his authority.
When they saw the king was hesitating, the royal experts all advised, “Your Majesty, this villain is strong and we cannot withstand him. We must seek succor in the palace and defend with our lives until the sect reinforcements arrive!”
“Royal father, let us take cover for now.” Wu Hong also had a long face on. He knew that he had gotten himself into great trouble this time.
However, now that things were like this, Wu Hong also knew that there was no point in regretting it. He knew that since all this had been done with authorization from the Purple Sun Sect, he had no other choice but to do as they say.
If he had refused to heed the intentions of the senior executives, then the position of the Wu family would be endangered as well.
Therefore, he was well aware that he had to have done what he did, and there was no turning back once he set down that path.
However, never in his wildest dreams had he thought that Jiang Chen would be able to escape the Eternal Spirit Mountain, and also unleash all his wrath at Shangyang Kingdom without mercy!
“Father, we can always live on to fight another day! This brat is so arrogant that the Purple Sun Sect will be sure to destroy him. We’re just being ordered by the Purple Sun Sect, and Jiang Chen’s true target is them. The senior executives of the Purple Sun Sect will not sit idly by. There’s no big deal if we lose all face in front of this little thief. Wasn’t a genius such as Long Juxue also slain by this brat?”
Wu Hong wasn’t thinking as much as Wu Tan did at this moment.
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He only wanted to stay alive right now and hang on until reinforcements from the Purple Sun Sect arrived.
Jiang Chen glared downwards.
“Wu Tan, I gave you a chance and you didn’t treasure it. From now on, regardless of where they are, I will come take all the lives of your Wu family clan! I will return to you tenfold the number of Jiang family members you killed!”
Jiang Chen’s voice was full of lethal intent.
Wu Tan’s face was ashen as he shouted, “Jiang Chen, every wrong has a source and every loan its creditor! If you really have the ability, you should go to the Purple Sun Sect! What are you doing here, causing a fuss in our secular kingdom? Sect disciples cannot intervene in the matters of the secular kingdoms. This is the rule of the sixteen kingdom alliance!”
“Rule?” Jiang Chen laughed heartily. “Did the Wu clan think about the rules when they slaughtered all those people in my clan? Did you speak of rules when you seized the Hall of Healing for yourself?”
“Don’t talk to me about rules! The rules of the sixteen kingdom alliance aren’t worth shit! I only have one rule—I will not attack unless I am attacked, and if I am, I will return it to you tenfold!”
Jiang Chen pointed at the circular moat. “From now on, everyone is only allowed to enter the Shangyang palace and not a single soul shall leave it. Those who dare cross this moat will be executed!”
When he finished speaking, he waved his arm and the swordbirds dived down like a rain of shooting stars. He had deployed the million strong swordbird army this time, and it really was quite a sight.
Under the leadership of hundreds of Goldwing Swordbirds, the aura of the swordbird army was ten times more impressive than their previous deployment was at the Second Crossing.
The million strong Swordbird army started screaming shrilly in unison. They created a current that swept into the cloud layers furiously. The upper skies of the Shangyang Kingdom became filled with dark storm clouds in an instant, as if the heavens were ready to pour forth a great storm.
This kind of scene was as if calamitous disaster was about to descend upon the Shangyang Kingdom. It put pressure on everyone in the kingdom, and they were frightened beyond belief.
When Wu Tan saw Jiang Chen displaying his prowess, a light had danced in his darkened face. He finally gave a wave of his hand and gritted his teeth. “Retreat into the palace and activate the highest level defenses. Open the underground tunnels and be ready to cover the retreat of the royal children and the disciples! Summon the three external branches to assist and coordinate with us on the inside.”
The three external branches of the Purple Sun Sect were all within the Shangyang Kingdom. The journey wasn’t far, and they would be here almost as soon as they were summoned.
Jiang Chen watched Wu Tan retreat into the palace with a cold smile, and was in no hurry to pursue him.
He had utmost confidence, and these folks were only struggling on the edge of death in his eyes.
Since the Wu family clan had hardened their hearts to resist to the end, then Jiang Chen naturally wouldn’t have any room for leniency in his heart.
After all, the Purple Sun Sect had never shown any form of benevolence when they were suppressing him.
Neither had the Wu clan when they slaughtered the Jiang clan or taken over the Hall of Healing.
Since they were enemies and also robbers to boot, they should naturally be exterminated. Was there any need for mercy?
So now, Jiang Chen was going to visit upon them the exact same treatment he’d received.
The Purple Sun Sect was domineering and viewed people to be as worthless as grass. They always thought they themselves were strong, and so it was the natural course of order to suppress, oppress, and take from others.
To the Purple Sun Sect, strength was everything and conferred upon them legitimacy.
Those who were lesser than them were ants, and so should be stepped on, crushed, and slaughtered.
Therefore, Jiang Chen was only returning the way of the Purple Sun Sect to their kind, that was all.
His heart was as calm as still water, without the slightest ripple in it.
He’d had enough of the Purple Sun Sect. This time, he was going to etch his image upon them so vividly that their scalps would tingle with numbness and the hairs of their bodies stand on end whenever they evoked his memory!
Defenses were heavy around the inner courtyard of the inner palace. All of the palace’s mechanisms and restrictions had been activated.
But even so, Wu Tan and son still didn’t have the slightest feeling of security at all.
Their opponent was simply too strong, to the point that they couldn’t even estimate his strength.
“Royal father, when will the Purple Sun Sect reinforcements arrive?” Wu Tan’s heart was in his throat as he felt fear he’d never known before.
Wu Tan’s face was grave as he shook his head without another word. Now that things have escalated to this extent, they could only leave their fates in the hands of heaven. It was hard to tell whether the defenses of the palace could last until reinforcements from the sect arrived.
The father and son duo usually leisurely controlled the life and death of others in their everyday rule of the Shangyang Kingdom.
However, they had come to the disastrous conclusion that their fates were now at the mercy of someone else.
They’d always been the ones calling the shots, and the others were mere fodder. But now they had become the hunted instead.
“Your Majesty, this is bad! The manor of the Prince of Benevolence has been subjected to unknown attack! The Wu clan family members…”
“What of them?” Wu Tan’s eyes widened as his scalp tingled with numbness. The Prince of Benevolence was his younger brother.
“None… none had managed to escape.” The messenger almost didn’t dare meet Wu Tan’s eyes.
“Your Majesty, tragic tidings! The Prince of Kindness was killed in his manor!”
“Your Majesty, the manor of the Prince of Humility was ambushed, and the prince is nowhere to be found…”
“Your Majesty…”
All sorts of bad news filled in like the tidewaters. Danger suffused the entire palace like the rainwaters flooding in an old, shabby house during a downpour.
“Your Majesty, there are large numbers of royal relatives, clan relatives, and royal concubines outside requesting to enter the premises and seek protection!”
They were currently in Wu Tan’s bedchambers, and Wu Hong wouldn’t be allowed in here under normal circumstances. However, Wu Hong was temporarily allowed to be in here due to the ongoing crisis.
He hadn’t thought that when fright struck into the hearts of everyone, they would all flock to Wu Tan’s chambers as they knew the defenses around his chambers were the strongest.
Wu Tan was in a conundrum all of a sudden. There wasn’t enough space for everyone, and chaos would easily ensue when there were many people.
But if he didn’t accept them, that meant he was giving up on these relatives, which would undoubtedly send an exceedingly bad signal.
“Jiang Chen, don’t you dare push me too far!” Fire spat out of Wu Tan’s eyes.