Strongest War Emperor

"What is this...?"

Yi Hongchen and the others were shocked. They looked up at the sky, but it was empty, with nothing suspicious in sight.

"Judging by the color of the elixir pills in this jade bottle and the cloud patterns on them, it looks like... an Antitoxic Pill! Zhao Qing, your knowledge of the Alchemy Dao far surpasses ours. Take a look," Senior Sister Luo said in surprise.

Yi Hongchen quickly picked up the Jade Bottle and handed it to a gaunt young man.

The gaunt Zhao Qing examined the shape and color of the Elixir Pills, then cautiously opened the bottle and took a light sniff. A look of joy immediately spread across his face. "This is a Nine Tripod Qi Gathering and Detoxification Pill, a Spirit Level Fourth Grade Elixir! It’s actually a Spirit Level Fourth Grade Elixir! This bottle of five is worth a fortune!"

Senior Sister Luo’s expression darkened. "This is no time to be appraising its value! Get to the point!"

Zhao Qing flinched, appearing quite afraid of his senior sister. He said timidly, "The Nine Tripod Qi Gathering and Detoxification Pill can counteract hundreds of poisons. While it can’t completely purge the Poisonous Liquid from our bodies, it can neutralize most of it, suppress its effects, and allow us to gather our Spiritual Power for a short time. It’s an incredibly rare and precious elixir!"

"This is wonderful!" Yi Hongchen and the others were ecstatic.

Senior Sister Luo’s expression shifted several times before she gave an order. "Since we’ve confirmed it’s an Antitoxic Pill, let’s each take one now. Hurry! It seems we have a mysterious benefactor. We’re not fated to die here!"

Yi Hongchen subconsciously glanced at the sky again. His earlier despair slowly faded, replaced by hope—and courage!

He murmured, "The people from the Holy Light Sect have placed a Restriction in the sky. This expert was not only able to avoid our notice but also remain completely undetected by the Holy Light Sect. His Cultivation is truly unfathomable. We... we’re saved."

The group, who had just been plunged into despair, immediately swallowed the Antitoxic Pills and began to frantically gather their energy to recover.

The Poisonous Liquid had been ravaging their bodies, and the threat of death weighed heavily on their minds. They had lost all hope, merely hiding here, biding their time and waiting for the poison to finally burst forth...

Suddenly, hope shone like a ray of sunlight into the terrifying darkness, causing a feverish flush to appear on their excited faces.

...

At the edge of the canyon, a ball of black mist clung to the dark cliff face, seemingly fused with it. It was completely unnoticeable if one wasn’t looking carefully.

"Boss, none of these people are good guys. Wouldn’t it be simpler to just kill them all? Then we could seize that vein... and we wouldn’t have wasted a bottle of Elixir Pills..."

"Shut up. What the hell do you know? All you think about is ’kill, kill, kill.’ Do you understand anything about worldly wisdom? Do you have any idea how complicated things are between people, and between influences?"

"I don’t. I haven’t been human for many years."

"Damn it!" Shen Lang was speechless with frustration. "I can’t be bothered to argue with you. Let’s go. We’ll wipe out those guys from the Holy Light Sect first. As for the Demon Iron Vein, we’ll take our time. It’s not like it can run away, can it?"

...

On the small island, Yi Hongchen’s entire Essence, Qi, and Spirit had undergone a dramatic change. He had recovered his original carefree and composed demeanor.

He took a deep breath and continued in a clear voice, "Ji Chenhai, oh, Ji Chenhai. It seems you really do hate my guts. In last year’s Profound Iron Level Influence tournament, you were first defeated by my cousin and slapped twice by him. Then you lost to me, and I kicked you flat on your face. You lost all face in front of your fellow disciples and that so-called father of yours. It’s no wonder you hate me so much."

"I won’t let you die easily, Yi Hongchen! Now that you’ve fallen into my hands, even dying will be a luxury!" Ji Chenhai snarled. "Let’s see how much longer you can hold out!"

"Everyone dies eventually. It’s just a matter of sooner or later. Your aptitude is mediocre. You’re four years older than me, yet even with your so-called father secretly feeding you Spirit Medicine to boost your training, your Cultivation is still a full Heaven lower than mine—only at the Qi Martial Realm Fifth Heaven. It seems all your effort is useless. If you don’t make any more progress in your Martial Arts, you won’t live for many more years... Oh, my mistake. I’m overthinking it. Actually, I think your half-brother, Yao Chengjie, is quite the character. He went and stole your woman, just like that. Based on what I know of him, he probably won’t tolerate anyone competing with him for his position. Who knows, in a couple of days, he might just surround and kill you in the Holy Light Sect, just like you’re trying to do to us now! HAHAHA!"

"Bullshit! I... Junior Brother Yao isn’t the kind of person you say he is! You’re trying to sow discord between us, but it’s not that simple! I won’t fall for your trick!" Ji Chenhai was furious, wishing he could charge into the Stone Forest and kill Yi Hongchen that very instant.

Though he claimed he wouldn’t fall for it, his expression kept shifting, a clear sign that Yi Hongchen’s words had hit home.

In fact, even without Yi Hongchen’s taunts, he had already considered these very possibilities himself.

Now, hearing Yi Hongchen say it all out loud in front of so many people simply reactivated those worries and caused them to grow and fester.

Yi Hongchen laughed heartily again. "I really don’t have the time to meddle in your brotherly relationship. The truth is, you know everything I’m saying is true! What’s more, you know perfectly well that among the group you’ve brought here today, some of them are Yao Chengjie’s men! You think killing us, seizing this vein, and achieving a great merit will let you live a little longer? You’re being naive. You’re using a Restriction to stop us from sending a Sound Transmission Talisman, but can you stop your own men from sending one? For all you know, Yao Chengjie has already gotten the message and is taking credit with that so-called father of yours right now!"

"Yi Hongchen... I will kill you! I will grind your bones to dust! I’ll skin you alive!" Every one of Yi Hongchen’s words struck a nerve, and Ji Chenhai completely lost his composure.

Yi Hongchen decided to strike while the iron was hot. "Then what are you waiting for? Come and get me! My cousin and I are both here, and we’re both injured. The others are severely poisoned. In front of all your junior brothers, do you dare to fight me? Never mind, I’m just talking. How could a coward like you possibly dare to fight me? You’re the kind of pathetic loser who’d applaud when Yao Chengjie stole your woman. I bet when he took her, you were standing on the sidelines shouting, ’Great job! A wonderful snatch! Absolutely brilliant!’ HAHAHAHA!"

"Fuck you!" The lavishly dressed Ji Chenhai’s eyes looked like those of a rabid Fierce Beast as he stepped out from behind a boulder. "Cut the crap! Your Provocation Technique is useless on me! In a little while, the Poisonous Liquid will fully take effect. Your companions will be in a state where they can neither live nor die. They’ll beg you to put them out of their misery! After you’ve personally killed off your remaining companions, I’ll come up and deal with you properly... hehe. The only pity is that bitch, Luo Fengling. I was originally planning to rape her then kill her, but since she’s been poisoned by the Poisonous Liquid, I won’t get the chance. Haha, that bitch is getting off easy!"

"You want to rape me then kill me, is that it?" Luo Fengling’s voice echoed from within the Chaotic Stone Array. "I’m poisoned by the Poisonous Liquid now and have completely lost my ability to fight. I’ll be right here waiting for you."

Luo Fengling’s voice was exceptionally cold. "Tsk tsk. A bastard is a bastard, and a coward is a coward. You insist on calling it a Provocation Technique just to pat yourself on the back. Why don’t you tell us, was Junior Brother Yi right or not? People from your Holy Light Sect told me that ever since you lost to Junior Brother Yi, you’ve been training desperately on the back mountain of the Holy Light Sect. The only reason you’ve been working yourself to death with your Cultivation is to defeat him and grind him under your heel, isn’t it? Now you have the perfect opportunity, so why are you still acting like a coward, too afraid to fight him?"

"We’re cornered, completely out of options in this place with no chance to escape. We’re poisoned and heavily injured. And even in a situation like this, you’re still this afraid. Are you even a man? Tch. ’Rape then kill’? It’s not that I look down on you, but with how pathetic you are, even if I stripped naked and lay right here, you still wouldn’t have the goddamn guts to come at me!"

As soon as Luo Fengling’s words left her mouth, the expressions on the faces of the Holy Light Sect members became complicated and strange. Inside the Chaotic Stone Array, her own companions started coughing dryly, lowering their heads in feigned contemplation to hide their own expressions.

Shen Lang, who was secretly hunting the Holy Light Sect’s Martial Artists, couldn’t help but chuckle when he heard this. ’So she’s a real firecracker,’ he thought. ’A woman who’s a match for any man. Impressive!’

As he thought this, he put strength into his right hand and snapped the neck of the black-clad Martial Artist in front of him.

That was the fifth one...