Chapter 336 - All Are Executed, the Shennong Cauldron
Chapter 336: All Are Executed, the Shennong Cauldron
Mr. Chen had been hiding behind the huge tree and witnessed how easily Ling Yun and Dugu Mo had killed the eight East Asian people. He knew that the trip had an ominous outlook. Without saying a word, he shook his head and prepared to escape.
Ling Yun and Dugu Mo had already guessed his intention and knew for certain that the Chen fellow wouldn’t be able to escape. The two of them continued to surround Tokugawa and dared not let their guard down even for a moment.
If an expert from the Xiantian realm tried his utmost to flee, they wouldn’t stand a chance of pursuing him in this dense forest.
Indeed, when Mr. Chen saw that Ling Yun and Dugu Mo had no intention of blocking him, he was about to flee when he discovered that his surroundings had changed!
The expression on Mr. Chen’s face changed as he stood dumbfounded. He was surrounded by dense vegetation that hid even the sky and sunlight from his view; it was virtually an impenetrable barrier that prevented him from escaping.
What’s happening? A thought flashed across Mr. Chen’s mind, and he turned his head to look in other directions. However, he soon discovered that his escape routes had all vanished. If he wanted to leave the area, the only way was to dash across Ling Yun and Dugu Mo.
However, he had clearly witnessed Ling Yun and Dugu Mo’s abilities. Either one of them could kill him within two moves, and he didn’t dare to take the risk.
Now, his only hope for survival was to band together with Tokugawa. Mr. Chen flicked his glance and dashed out from behind the huge tree. In a few leaps, he was standing beside Tokugawa.
“Mr. Chen, we have encountered an ambush, but you hid at one side to watch the show. This is rather unacceptable, don’t you think?”
Tokugawa’s face was gloomy, but he couldn’t turn against the Chen fellow in front of their enemies now and could only treat him with sarcasm.
“Mr. Tokugawa, what are you saying? You do know that both of them were unidentified enemies, so it wasn’t appropriate for me to show up just now. I seek your understanding in this…”
There was still a hint of a fawning smile on the Chen fellow’s face as he nodded his head and bowed before Tokugawa while replying.
“Hmph! Since you’re all from the Huaxia race and you represent the Chen Family, it’s only natural that you’d be handling this situation!” Tokugawa mentioned the Chen Family unhesitatingly. By implicating the Chen Family, he reckoned that it would be useless for Mr. Chen to evade suspicion and leave him no choice but to stand in solidarity with Tokugawa.
“Well said, well said…” Mr. Chen cursed Tokugawa inwardly while wearing a subservient smile on his face. Then, he turned towards Ling Yun and Dugu Mo and cupped his fists. “May I know the esteemed names of these two experts, as well as the clans and sects that you hail from?”
Ling Yun made a dismissive sound and remarked nonchalantly, “Didn’t you hear just now that we’re the left and right guardians of Shennongjia?”
Mr. Chen was defeated in words but seemed unaffected by it. With an ingratiating laugh, he replied, “Since these two gentlemen don’t wish to disclose their identities, I won’t probe any further. However, I’m from one of the seven big families in Beijing, I’m Chen Jianren from the Chen Family. Since we’ve had a chance encounter today, I’d wish for you two gentlemen to spare my clan some dignity…”
Ling Yun had heard from Cao Shanshan about the seven big families and knew that the Chen Family was indeed one of the legitimate families of the group. Moreover, he had already guessed it based on Tokugawa’s speech. Hence, Ling Yun laughed disdainfully. “What’s the big deal about the Chen Family? I’ve never heard of them before! However, your name suits you perfectly, you’re truly a despicable character!”
When Chen Jianren saw that the other party remained unconvinced and was utterly sarcastic to him, he was unable to stoop any lower than that. His countenance changed slightly. “Mr. Tokugawa belongs to one of the major families in East Asia. He’s one of the four male descendants of the Tokugawa Clan, Mr. Tokugawa Takeshi. If you two gentlemen act favorably towards us, both our prominent families would be able to promise you a lifetime of wealth…”
Chen Jianren had switched his strategy immediately and was trying to entice Ling Yun and Dugu Mo with the promise of future benefits.
Dugu Mo was irate and didn’t wait for Ling Yun’s reply. He brandished a sword at Chen Jianren. “D*mn you b*stard! Enjoy the wealth of the East Asian people? I’m going to kill you now with this sword, you despicable traitor. I’m gonna see how you’d be able to enjoy it after that!”
Ling Yun beckoned for Dugu Mo to restrain his anger. He laughed haughtily at Chen Jianren. “Chen fellow, if you reveal the real purpose of your visit to Shennongjia, I’ll let you off.”
Chen Jianren turned his head to look at Tokugawa Takeshi. He muttered, “Actually, we came to this place to search for a particular object. Whether we’re able to find it or not, we already planned to leave Shennongjia and don’t have any other motives.”
Ling Yun was already aware of this. He pretended to be interested in the subject. “You came to Shennongjia to find something? What is it?”
Judging by Ling Yun’s words, Tokugawa Takeshi perceived that there was an opportunity for him to negotiate. He immediately moved forward and said, “Mr. Left Guardian, it’s not important to discuss what we’re searching for because there are simply too many secrets hidden in Shennongjia. The primary objective of our trip here is to conduct scientific research, you see…”
He pointed at the corpses surrounding the faraway bonfire. As he did, Tokugawa Takeshi masked his heart-wrenching pain and fury and remarked nonchalantly, “These people were archaeologists and geneticists from our great East Asia. We guarded their passage here chiefly to ensure their safety!”
Ling Yun and Dugu Mo laughed disdainfully and viewed Tokugawa Takeshi’s words as rubbish. Ling Yun shook his head and replied, “Since you both don’t wish to tell the truth, I don’t have anything else to say. We’ll resume our conversation after fighting!”
When Ling Yun saw that the duo had deliberately refrained from mentioning the bronze cauldron in their meandering explanations, he knew that it was pointless to prolong their conversation. The only option left was to capture the duo alive and employ ruthless tactics to extract the truth from them!
He had only managed to obtain the bronze cauldron in the valley which had been sealed off. He regretted his failure to acquire the cauldron lid, so Ling Yun was greatly enticed when he heard them mentioning the lid previously.
In his telepathic signal to Dugu Mo, Ling Yun expressed his certainty that Tokugawa Takeshi wouldn’t be protecting Chen Jianren and allowed Dugu Mo to have free rein in his attack. He added that they would need to subdue Chen Jianren before moving on to other matters.
Ling Yun didn’t wish to waste any more time. He turned hostile towards them and used his Dragon Fish Phantom Ability to appear before Tokugawa Takeshi with a raised blade!
It was the first time that Tokugawa Takeshi and Chen Jianren had seen someone turn hostile as quickly as Ling Yun. They hadn’t expected him to carry out his threats of combat. Knowing that he could rely on the powerful martial arts realms he had attained, Tokugawa Takeshi wasn’t afraid of the situation at all. However, Chen Jianren fled in panic.
Although Chen Jianren had merely attained Houtian Realm Level Seven, he had a respectable grasp of Qinggong techniques. Making use of the surrounding vegetation as a cover, he played hide-and-seek with Dugu Mo. Despite being more highly skilled than his opponent, Dugu Mo was still unable to capture the evasive Chen Jianren.
Dugu Mo had thoroughly condemned Chen Jianren as a Chinese traitor previously. When he witnessed how slippery Chen Jianren was, Dugu Mo was infuriated and persisted in his hot pursuit. At the same time, he was felling the huge trees that Chen Jianren had used as a cover!
“Despicable person, let me see how you’re going to hide this time!”
In an instant, Dugu Mo had felled tens of huge trees. Although he had used up a lot of energy in the process, it had gotten rid of all the hiding places for Chen Jianren. Moreover, Little White had already cast its magic on a faraway dense forest which would deter him from entering it. As such, Chen Jianren could only hide amongst the felled trees.
However, Dugu Mo was upset that the felled trees were better hiding places as compared to erect ones. Given that Chen Jianren was evading capture as though his life depended on it, he wouldn’t be an easy catch.
*How could it have been so troublesome? *Ling Yun frowned as the scene unfolded before him. With a vehement blow, he split Tokugawa Takeshi’s long blade and rushed to join the attack. While in mid-air, Ling Yun sprayed a bunch of steel nails at Chen Jianren!
The steel nails sealed off the route that Chen Jianren was heading towards. He quickly changed direction, but Ling Yun was frantically flipping his left wrist and out came six to seven steel nails, which instantly sealed off the other escape routes. Dugu Mo shook his longsword, rushed in front of Chen Jianren, and began poking at various spots on his body!
In a single breath, he had deactivated six to seven acupoints on Chen Jianren’s body. He ranted, “Despicable person, let’s see how you’ll run now? I’ll let you run! I’ll poke you to death!”
“That’s enough, let’s chase Tokugawa, he’s escaping!” Ling Yun had flown seven to eight meters backwards to assist Dugu Mo with capturing Chen Jianren, and he discovered that Tokugawa Takeshi was unwilling to fight any longer. Standing tiptoe, the latter proceeded to scale the treetops and was fleeing the scene!
“Little White, stop him!” The burst of speed by Tokugawa was comparable to Ling Yun’s Dragon Fish Phantom Ability. Unable to catch up to him in time, Ling Yun could only rely on Little White to do the job.
Little White had always been obedient to Ling Yun’s instructions. When it saw that Tokugawa was attempting to flee, it came out of its hiding place, and a white shadow was seen flashing across the treetops to confront Tokugawa.
“Hmph! It’s only a small fox which knows some magic, how can it compare to our formidable East Asian martial arts, the Ninjutsu?” Tokugawa Takeshi lifted his blade as fast as lightning to strike at Little White!
“Little White, quick, dodge!” Ling Yun had already arrived behind Tokugawa Takeshi and was horrified to witness the strike. He quickly wielded his Devil’s Blade and delivered a forceful blow on Tokugawa Takeshi’s back!
At the same time, Dugu Mo had also arrived on the scene and didn’t hesitate to pierce his opponent with a sword!
Little White leaped sideways into the air to dodge Tokugawa Takeshi’s long blade. However, Tokugawa Takeshi had been brandishing his weapon and sweeping his palm to generate a wind of ferocious Xiantian Qi, and he had managed to hit Little White’s body. Little White fell injured onto the ground!
“Courting death!”
When he saw that Little White had been hurt, Ling Yun turned livid. His left hand grabbed a bunch of steel nails and threw them at Tokugawa Takeshi, whose path was currently blocked. At the same time, the tip of Ling Yun’s feet brushed against the treetops as he dashed towards Tokugawa Takeshi while brandishing his blade!
Ling Yun’s steel nails were unable to penetrate Tokugawa Takeshi’s Xiantian True Qi that was protecting him. If Ling Yun wanted to tackle him based on strength, the only way was to use the Devil’s Blade in his hands!
Tokugawa Takeshi was indeed unable to dodge the steel nails and lifted his blade to intercept Ling Yun’s Devil’s Blade. However, the long blade in his hands was ineffective in fending off the weapon this time around, and it was severed by Ling Yun’s blade!
Tokugawa Takeshi was so preoccupied in dealing with Ling Yun that he didn’t dodge a blow from Dugu Mo’s longsword. He had only managed to twist his body, and his left arm got pierced by the sword. Blood was gushing out from his wound!
Once Dugu Mo had tasted success with that single strike, he was relentless in his attack and changed from a piercing motion to a paring one as he struck the injured Tokugawa.
Ling Yun also displayed the full power of his Celestial Destroyer Technique, which was utterly fearsome and domineering. The black tip of his blade was enveloping Tokugawa Takeshi’s body!
Already injured and left weaponless after his blade had been successively cut into four segments by Ling Yun, Tokugawa Takeshi was finally defeated and couldn’t activate his Qi to maintain a Qinggong stance. He fell to the ground.
Once again, Ling Yun shot a bunch of steel nails that were targeted at Tokugawa Takeshi’s injuries. Simultaneously, he made use of the Thousand Pounds Landing technique for a quick descent and lifted his blade with both hands to attempt to decapitate Tokugawa Takeshi!
Little White had been injured by Tokugawa, and Ling Yun felt utterly distressed because of that. Why would he care about sparing Tokugawa’s life at this time?
Tokugawa Takeshi was horrified and no longer concerned himself with the steel nails. He hurriedly raised his right hand to block the blow as he tilted his head!
In a single blow, the Devil’s Underworld Essence Blade had severed Tokugawa Takeshi’s right arm along with half of his right shoulder! Fresh blood was cascading from the wound and dyed his entire body red instantly!
“Ah!” Tokugawa Takeshi howled and quickly used a secret technique to stop the bleeding. However, Dugu Mo’s longsword re-entered the scene and pierced his left arm!
Tokugawa Takeshi couldn’t bother with any of that anymore. At this moment, he already knew that Ling Yun and Dugu Mo were bent on killing him. Hastily turning his left arm to clamp his right shoulder, Tokugawa Takeshi leaped to his feet and was still thinking of escaping!
“You can’t escape!” Ling Yun uttered and brandished his Devil’s Blade to strike Tokugawa Takeshi’s waist!
Tokugawa was greatly horrified. He was no longer able to clamp his injuries using his left hand and swiftly caught hold of a tree branch on top of him and pulled his body up abruptly!
With a single strike of his blade, Ling Yun had amputated the portion of Tokugawa Takeshi’s legs below the kneecap!
“I’ll leave it to you to settle it!” Ling Yun informed Dugu Mo and no longer bothered himself with Tokugawa Takeshi, who had been dismembered to the point that he resembled a human stick. In a flash, he appeared before Little White and was leaning over it to examine its condition.
Ling Yun performed a quick examination of Little White and discovered that it had only sustained minor injuries from the wind generated by the sweeping motion of Tokugawa Takeshi’s palm. After ascertaining that it was only temporarily immobile, he inwardly heaved a sigh of relief.
He retrieved the nine golden needles and Healing Talismans from his inventory and used the Spiritual Pivot and nine needles to treat its internal injuries before using the Healing Talismans to treat the bruises it had sustained. Then, he gently carried Little White and walked towards Chen Jianren.
“Toss Mr. Tokugawa here!” Ling Yun ordered Dugu Mo.
Dugu Mo acknowledged his orders and kicked Tokugawa Takeshi — who had turned into a bloody mess by now — over twenty meters. He quickly followed the body’s trajectory and kicked it again!
“I allowed you to eat the golden monkey’s brain and to injure our beautiful and adorable Little White!” Dugu Mo hadn’t finished venting his anger as he kicked the body. He continued to curse with each kick until it arrived beside Chen Jianren.
Ling Yun wasn’t the least bit affected by the fresh blood gushing from Tokugawa Takeshi’s body. From Tokugawa Takeshi’s pocket, he took out the photograph that Tokugawa had been viewing and knew just by a glance that it was the lid of the bronze cauldron.
“Now, are you willing to talk to me? What’s the object that you guys are searching for in Shennongjia?” The corners of Ling Yun’s lips curled into a radiant smile, and he laughed merrily as he spoke to the two of them.
“Hmph, I’m from the most esteemed Tokugawa Clan in our great East Asia, a soldier would rather be killed than be humiliated. I won’t divulge anything!”
As Tokugawa Takeshi had already attained the Xiantian Realm, he had an extremely strong will to live. Despite the amputation of his right arm and lower legs, as well as the severe loss of blood, he was still alive thanks to his Xiantian Qi.
Ling Yun laughed coldly, and a thought flashed across his mind. The gigantic bronze cauldron appeared from his spatial ring, and he grabbed it by one of its handles. Placing it on the ground with a thud, he queried indifferently, “Is this what you guys are looking for?”
“Ah! The Shennong Cauldron!”