Strongest War Emperor

BOOM!

Stone fragments exploded from the ground as Ji Chengwu shot toward Shen Lang like an arrow loosed from its bow.

Ji Chengwu was far too arrogant. Although he knew Shen Lang possessed the Profound Dao Sect’s Thunder Element Technique, the Thunder Control Divine Technique, he had no idea that Shen Lang, at such a young age, had already cultivated it to a considerable level. All he lacked now was Thunder Power.

But the amount of Thunder Power was relative. At the very least, the Thunder Power within Shen Lang’s body could easily dispel the Soul-Devouring Demon Technique at its current intensity.

Thunder Power was the embodiment of Supreme Yang and Firmness in the world. How could a mere Soul-Devouring Demon Technique possibly harm Shen Lang?

The majority of the Demonic Qi from the Soul-Devouring Demon Technique was blocked by the Inner Armor Shen Lang wore. The tiny bit that seeped into his body was instantly purged by his circulating Thunder Power before it could do anything.

This Inner Armor was, of course, the one he had taken from the Young Sect Leader of the Holy Light Sect.

Shen Lang had simply refined it a little.

That was why he was completely unharmed. The moment he landed, he slapped on an Earth Escape Talisman and began burrowing rapidly into the distance.

He really had Yao Chengjie’s Inner Armor to thank for this. Otherwise, if he had encountered such a tyrannical Demon Technique and been the slightest bit careless, Shen Lang would have likely met a bitter end right then and there...

As the saying goes, show-offs get struck by lightning. Ji Chengwu had put on quite a profound act, but it only gave Shen Lang the perfect opportunity to drastically widen the distance between them.

The two were now over three hundred meters apart, and the speed Shen Lang was displaying was nearly equal to his own.

Trying to catch up again in this kind of mountain forest would be no small feat.

...

His Silver Eyes of Truth had determined that the man in the black cloak was around the Spirit Martial Realm Sixth Heaven. Although Shen Lang had already raised his Cultivation to the Qi Martial Realm Fifth Heaven—a huge improvement from when he killed the Gu Corpse—even with a Secret Technique like "Burst" that could stimulate his potential and increase his power for a short time, it was still far from enough to deal with an expert at the Spirit Martial Realm Sixth Heaven.

At the Spirit Martial Realm, the difference of a single Heaven was like the difference between heaven and earth, let alone a gap of five or six Heavens, or even more.

So Shen Lang was shamelessly pragmatic. He chose to play dead, then used the Earth Escape Talisman to flee.

"Get back here!"

Ji Chengwu roared in fury. The cooked duck had flown away again, and he had been thoroughly played. He was so enraged that he shrieked like a madman...

"Haha, are you sick in the head? If I told you to stop, would you?"

Shen Lang no longer held back. He poured all his Spiritual Power into his legs, running at extreme speed, as fast as a phantom!

Just over a hundred meters ahead was a cliff, and below it raged the turbulent Phoenix River.

As long as he jumped into the Phoenix River, he would quickly be able to shake off the Demonic Cultivator behind him.

However, just as Shen Lang seemed about to escape from Ji Chengwu, a figure shot out from a pile of rubble without any warning!

The hair on Shen Lang’s body stood on end. Without a second thought, he switched from running in a straight line to a winding path and slashed his saber to the side.

"If you’re looking to die, I’ll grant your wish!" a deliberately altered voice echoed through the woods.

The black figure that had suddenly appeared was incredibly fast. With just a flicker of movement, it dodged Shen Lang’s slash.

Then, a hand in a pitch-black glove pressed against Shen Lang’s shoulder.

BANG!

Unable to dodge in time, Shen Lang took the full force of the palm strike. He was sent flying through the air, breaking through three large trees before he finally stopped and fell into the undergrowth...

"An ant trying to shake a tree. You overestimate yourself!" The black-clad man who had suddenly attacked snorted coldly as he slowly approached.

Struggling to his feet, Shen Lang raised his long saber and took two steps back, a self-deprecating, bitter smile on his face. "I knew you were nearby, but I didn’t expect to run into you even after picking a random direction. Lord City Lord, we must be fated to meet!"

The approaching black-clad, masked man faltered for a moment, then immediately sneered. "I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was wondering who the hell kept ruining my plans, but now I see you’re nothing special. If you hadn’t been protected by a Profound Level Inner Armor just now, you wouldn’t be standing here talking to me... Hand over the Nine Immortals Lingzhi, and I’ll leave you a complete corpse."

Shen Lang touched his chest, unable to stop himself from feeling a little grateful toward Yao Chengjie, the Young Sect Leader of the Holy Light Sect.

’If I hadn’t been cautious enough to refine that Inner Armor I took and wear it, that palm strike from Ye Xiao Zheng just now would have been devastating.’

’Even though someone like him is nothing but an ant in the eyes of a War Emperor, and even though his attacks are full of openings and flaws, the difference in power is just too great. My body’s speed can’t keep up with my reactions... Escaping this time is really going to take some serious thought.’

’It seems no matter how high one’s Cultivation is, it’s never wrong to be cautious.’

"Oh, leaving me a complete corpse? I guess I should thank you, thank all eighteen generations of your ancestors, huh? Heh, do you really think I’m just a fish on the chopping block?" Shen Lang said sarcastically.

The black-clad, masked man sneered. "Running your mouth is useless. Do you really think you have any chance of survival?"

"Damn you, kid! I’m going to slice you into a thousand pieces and perform Soul Extraction and Refining on you!"

Just then, the fuming Ji Chengwu caught up from behind, joining Ye Xiao Zheng to flank Shen Lang, trapping him in the middle.

The three of them stood in a formation resembling an equilateral triangle.

"Alright, alright, I get it. You’ve already said that seventeen or eighteen times! Can’t you come up with something new?" Shen Lang chuckled, then turned to Ye Xiao Zheng. "I can’t beat you, but there’s still a chance to survive... Hey, the guy behind you is about to strike you with his sword. Aren’t you afraid he’ll cleave you in two?"

"JIE JIE JIE, a simple diversion like that could never fool... Who’s there! How audacious!" An alarm blared in the masked Ye Xiao Zheng’s mind. His body flickered, and he dodged to the side, throwing a punch behind him.

A shocking sword light immediately collided with the shadow of his fist!

Amidst a deafening explosion, the sword light shattered, and the immense shockwave of energy snapped and toppled many of the surrounding trees.

Although the sword light was powerful, it was still a notch below Ye Xiao Zheng’s attack.

"Holy crap, are you kidding me? I finally get a chance to launch a sneak attack, and you go and expose me! That’s just not right!"

A white figure flashed, and a person dressed in a white robe, wearing an Evil Ghost Mask identical to Shen Lang’s, appeared beside him.

"What do you mean ’not right’? I’m protecting your reputation. You should know that sneak attacks are addictive. Once you start, you won’t be able to stop," Shen Lang scoffed.

"Now that you mention it... Mmm, your analysis is very reasonable." The white-robed, Ghost-faced Person nodded.

Ji Chengwu’s black cloak trembled, and then his slightly hoarse voice rang out, "He’s the one who killed my Gu Corpse!"

"Is that so? Good, good, you’ve all gathered in one place. Perfect. This saves me the trouble. I’ll take care of you all at once," Ye Xiao Zheng snorted, his entire momentum flaring as if he was about to strike at any moment.

"What’s the plan?" the white-robed, Ghost-faced Person asked in a low voice.

Shen Lang laughed loudly. "What other plan could there be? We can’t beat them, so of course, we run!"

"Run in separate directions... You probably wouldn’t like that, would you?" the white-robed man said, as if it were obvious.

"No kidding! The Nine Immortals Lingzhi is on me. Do you think they’re going to chase you?" Shen Lang said irritably.

"I knew it... Alright, give it to me then." The white-robed man flickered in front of Shen Lang, turning his back to Ye Xiao Zheng and Ji Chengwu.

The unique aura of the Nine Immortals Lingzhi immediately emanated from between the two of them.

"You two juniors are courting death!" Ji Chengwu clearly didn’t have Ye Xiao Zheng’s patience.

Seeing the two of them bantering back and forth like actors in a play, he let out a furious roar. The long whip in his hand suddenly straightened, stabbing toward the white-robed man like a sword!

"The heat is on, let’s scram!"

Shen Lang let out a great laugh and sprinted toward the cliff ahead.

The white-robed man was no slower than him. At the very last second, just as the whip was about to strike, he narrowly dodged it and dashed off in another direction.

"Damn it!" Ji Chengwu was practically insane with rage. "What do we do?"

Before, the Nine Immortals Lingzhi had been on Shen Lang. If the two of them split up, it was unlikely anyone would have chased the white-robed man.

But after their little act just now, it was hard to say who actually had the item.

Ye Xiao Zheng spread his arms and soared like a great bird, then kicked off a large tree trunk, shooting like an arrow after the white-robed man.

"I’ll chase the one in white! The one in black is yours. Leave no survivors!" Ye Xiao Zheng’s voice came from the distance.

Killing intent surged in Ji Chengwu’s eyes. His aura exploded, and with a flick of his long whip, he was already chasing after Shen Lang.

...

In the mountain forest where the grass grew tall, the sound of rushing wind from flashing figures was incessant.

The sound of exploding energy was also continuous, like a string of firecrackers.

Ji Chengwu no longer dared to show off. From the get-go, he attacked with his full strength, relentlessly bombarding Shen Lang’s back.

"Kid, get back here!"

"Old dog, you tell me to stop, so I should stop? How embarrassing would that be? If you’ve got the guts, why don’t you stop and show me!"

"You can’t escape!"

"That’s not for you to decide."

"WAAAAAGH..."

"Waaagh your sister! All your wailing is useless. If you can’t catch me, you can’t catch me!"

"Die!" a cry filled with chilling killing intent echoed through the sky.

Ji Chengwu’s attacks in his towering rage were extraordinary. Every fist and every palm smashed into the ground ahead like a meteor, sending out ripples of powerful Qi that pulverized the nearby rocks and trees.

"Old dog, aren’t you tired of this? You haven’t even touched the corner of my robes, yet you’re still barking wildly over there!"

Shen Lang’s movements were incredibly bizarre. He moved like a ghost along an elusive path, seemingly predicting every attack with perfect accuracy.

And even while sprinting in this winding, circuitous manner, his speed did not decrease.

This made Ji Chengwu, who was in pursuit, grow more alarmed and more frantic with every strike.

He had roamed the Celestial Defying Demon Realm for many years and killed countless people... A dignified expert at the Spirit Martial Realm Sixth Heaven, just one step away from touching the threshold of the Xuanwu Realm, and yet he couldn’t even handle a mere Qi Martial Realm brat!

If word of this got out, who would believe it?

Besides, he had clearly thought he had seen all of this kid’s trump cards last time, but now he found it even harder to gauge his opponent’s true strength...

...

Within the jungle, which was filled with jagged rocks and numerous obstacles, Shen Lang weaved his way forward. In just a few breaths, he had already reached the edge of the cliff.

Without hesitation, he grabbed a vine and began to descend the cliff face.

BANG!

Amidst a shower of stone fragments, in less than three seconds, the vine Shen Lang had just grabbed was severed by a palm strike from the pursuing Ji Chengwu.

"Just die!"