Strongest War Emperor

"Mmph, mmph, mmph!"

The two of them shook their heads frantically.

They already knew it was poison. Wouldn’t they be complete idiots to nod?

Shen Lang let out a strange laugh. "Don’t be so worried. As strong as I am, I’m not strong enough to pick a fight with the Imperial Dragon Sect. I’m just taking a precaution, having you help me with a little something. Once it’s done, I’ll give you the antidote. No hard feelings if a deal falls through, right? We can still be friends afterward."

"D-Do... what?"

The two of them froze, staring pleadingly at Shen Lang.

Shen Lang slapped the man Bone One had just knocked unconscious awake, then said, "It’s nothing major. You captured this Demon Martial Artist because you wanted to take him to the Martial Arts Arena in Celestial Phoenix City, right? Then you were going to claim that Xu Daolin of the Xu Family discovered that City Lord Ye Xiao Zheng was colluding with Demon Martial Artists, and that Xu Daolin was the one who captured him, correct?"

"You know about that too?! Who the hell are you? Let me tell you, we’re disciples of the Imperial Dragon Sect!" the man who had just woken up blustered.

Without even looking up, Shen Lang slapped him again.

The man clearly saw Shen Lang’s palm coming but was utterly unable to dodge. The slap landed squarely on his face, and he spat out a mouthful of blood, looking so pitiful that he didn’t dare make another sound.

Only then did Shen Lang say leisurely, "What I want you to do is very simple. At the tournament in Celestial Phoenix City, you will explain that I was the first to expose the collusion between this Demon Martial Artist and Ye Xiao Zheng. Then you’ll say that the Demon Martial Artist died at my hands, that you saw it with your own eyes, and that you even helped me besiege him. That’s how this Demon was slain."

"But... but... brother, this is what Master Yuwen told us to do. If we say it was you, he’ll skin us alive!"

One of them stammered.

An impatient look crossed Shen Lang’s face. "Are you more afraid of that old scoundrel Yuwen Huaji skinning you alive, or are you more afraid of me chopping you in half right now? You said yourself he’s your Master. What could he really do to you? Besides, when you get back to the Imperial Dragon Sect, you can just say you only did it because I threatened you. How big of a deal could it be?"

"Then, that poison..."

The young swordsman pointed at the Elixir Pill in Shen Lang’s hand, his eyes still full of terror.

"This is called a Corpse Bone Insect Pill. It’s refined from corpse insects. After you swallow it, the insects inside the pill will take root in your heart and slowly grow. Without my antidote, in less than three days, your hearts will become a nest for these insects. At that point, even dying will be a luxury. You will suffer inhuman agony before transforming into a sentient Demon Corpse. Sigh, you guys are getting off easy. You should know, I spent a lot of time and many precious materials to make these pills..."

"BLEGH!"

Before Shen Lang had even finished speaking, the three of them were already puking their guts out.

"Life or death. You can choose now."

Shen Lang waited until the men had more or less finished retching before speaking in a grim tone.

As he spoke, he stood up, and the light from the Celestial Water Blade in his hand flared. If the three of them uttered a single word of refusal, he would cut them down on the spot.

Nearby, the four Bone Demons glared menacingly, coordinating with Shen Lang. They scraped their Bone Blades against their bodies, producing a harsh CLANGING sound, ready to cleave the three men’s heads at any moment.

A bitter taste filled the mouths of the three Imperial Dragon Sect disciples.

"If we take it and do what you ask, what happens if you don’t give us the antidote afterward?"

Though he was terrified, the saber-wielding Martial Artist still had to ask.

Shen Lang pursed his lips and frowned. "Can’t you use your brain? Why would I go through all this trouble? It’s because, at the end of the day, I am wary of the Imperial Dragon Sect. If you help me with this, we can still be friends. But if you help me and I don’t give you the antidote, you’ll turn into Demon Corpses. Then the Imperial Dragon Sect would hunt me down. What good would that do me?"

"I’m having you do this because I want to drive Xu Daolin’s forces out of Celestial Phoenix City and have my family take his place. Otherwise, why would I need you as witnesses? That being the case, are you really afraid I’ll run off or withhold the antidote? Weigh the pros and cons, understand?"

Shen Lang said, shaking his head repeatedly.

Before they could reply, he added, "Besides, if I really wanted to kill you, would I go to all this trouble? I could just kill two of you and leave one to help me. Wouldn’t that be easier? Am I not doing this to show some goodwill to the old-timers at the Imperial Dragon Sect? To give your masters some face?"

"Are you in or out? Hurry up! If you’re out, I’ll start killing and destroying the evidence!" Shen Lang was growing impatient.

"I’ll take it!"

The saber-wielding Martial Artist was the most decisive. He reached out, took one of the Elixir Pills from Shen Lang’s hand, and swallowed it.

The other two looked at each other, and after a moment, they also made up their minds and stuffed a pill into their mouths.

Then, the three young prodigies of the Imperial Dragon Sect stared pitifully at Shen Lang like wronged maidens, which made him roll his eyes repeatedly.

"Alright, now that that’s settled, we’re all on the same side. What are your names, my three big brothers? Go on, tell your little brother," Shen Lang said with a happy smile.

He was happy, but the other three felt their hearts pound in terror just thinking about the Corpse Bone Insect Pills in their stomachs.

The saber-wielding Martial Artist said in a hoarse voice, "I am Qiu Tianqi."

"My name is Hong Dahai," the young spearman said listlessly.

"Yan Congyun," said the young swordsman, his head hanging low.

Shen Lang laughed heartily. "I’ve long heard of your great names! They ring like thunder in my ears!"

Qiu Tianqi and the others all rolled their eyes. ’F*ck, "long heard of our great names"? You’ve never even heard of us before!’

"Alright, alright, stop looking so glum, my three big brothers. Hurry up and collect the shredded clothes and whatnot from the guy I killed. We need some physical evidence, right? If you don’t get back soon, what if the poison in your bodies acts up early? You know, the effects of many Elixir Pills vary from person to person. And I see that you all have remarkable frames, handsome features, and an aura of dominance about you. What if the effects kick in sooner... Holy hell, that’s fast! I’m truly impressed!"

The three of them didn’t even wait for Shen Lang to finish before they scrambled over and picked up the disgusting scraps of clothing from the ground.

Qiu Tianqi also grabbed the Black Dragon Halberd.

"Your Spiritual Artifacts and this Black Dragon Halberd are all of a high grade. Truly fine items..."

Shen Lang looked thoughtfully at the Spiritual Artifacts in their hands, then at the Black Dragon Halberd, and then at the four Bone Demons, who were still posing.

The faces of Qiu Tianqi and the other two turned green.

’Where did this Demon come from? He already took our Sumeru Rings, cleaned them out completely, didn’t even leave a single Spirit Stone. Now you’re going to steal the only things we have left, our Lifebound Spiritual Artifacts?’

’Isn’t this too ruthless?’

’Can’t you leave us a way out?’

Fortunately, Shen Lang only glanced at them before looking away, finally allowing the three to breathe a huge sigh of relief.

"Alright, you three can head back now... Oh, right. My name is Shen Lang, of the Celestial Phoenix City’s Shen Family. Don’t you forget it."

With that, Shen Lang recalled the four Bone Demons, shot into the sky, and vanished in the blink of an eye.

"I wouldn’t forget you even if I were turned to ash," Hong Dahai muttered.

Yan Congyun sighed and said, "We should get back too. Let’s get our story straight. We’ve already taken the pills, and we can’t beat him. If we don’t want to die, we have to do as he says."

Qiu Tianqi’s face was grim. "Damn it, this is all that bastard Xu Daolin’s fault! I won’t let him off the hook for this! Even if the original plan had succeeded, we wouldn’t have gained much. Instead, we got beaten to a pulp by those four Bone Demons and nearly sliced in half!"

"And it’s not just him, it’s Long Fong too! Long Fong was the one who came to us in Yuwen Huaji’s name. Son of a b*tch! Just thinking about it drives me crazy... My ten thousand-plus Spirit Stones, and all that Spirit Grass and those Elixir Pills! That damned Shen Lang took everything! AHHHH!" Hong Dahai roared at the sky like a madman.

"I’m going after Long Fong later! Damn it, I suffered such a huge loss just helping someone out. I won’t stand for it!" Hong Dahai roared.

The men vented their anger for a while, but remarkably, not one of them mentioned going after the Shen Family. They only spoke of settling scores with Xu Daolin.

It seemed Shen Lang had truly terrified them, leaving their hearts trembling with fear.

While they were seething, Shen Lang had already arrived at the square outside the City Lord’s Mansion in Celestial Phoenix City.

The area outside the City Lord’s Mansion was currently swarming with people. Many young Martial Artists had gathered in the square, creating a lively scene.

"I don’t get it. Something happened to the Shen Family, so they’re not participating in the tournament. That frees up fifteen spots. Why didn’t they allocate some of them to families other than the four great ones?"

In the crowd, a young man said with some frustration as he looked toward the registration area.

"The Xu Family and the City Lord’s Mansion made a private agreement. It seems both sides are deliberately controlling the number of participants, keeping it very small. They both want to settle this as quickly as possible. Heh, in the past, each of the four great families would send thirty people, and the Ye Family would send thirty too. But now, it’s half that."

A person next to him said with a sigh.

"Yeah, I heard the Xu Family has the Imperial Dragon Sect backing them, which is why they dared to challenge the City Lord’s Mansion. Most of the Mansion’s power is already in the Xu Family’s hands. I’m afraid the City Lord... I’m afraid Ye Xiao Zheng and his family will have a hard time turning this around."

"It’s so strange. Since the Xu Family has already successfully taken control of the City Lord’s Mansion, why are they even giving the Ye Family a chance? I heard they agreed that if a Ye Family disciple can make it to the end of the tournament and take first place, the Xu Family will hand over the City Lord’s Mansion and leave Celestial Phoenix City."

"You don’t get it, do you? This is all part of Xu Daolin’s scheme! The Xu Family has backers in the Imperial Dragon Sect, but so does the Ye Family. If they just killed Ye Xiao Zheng and the others, they would definitely anger the Ye Family’s own backer in the sect. So now, the Xu and Ye families have set up this wager. On the surface, it looks amicable, and both sides have a chance... As long as the Ye Family disciples prove their worth and gloriously defeat the Xu Family members in the arena, Celestial Phoenix City won’t change hands."

"Sigh, I don’t understand all these intricacies. All I know is that this competition will be extremely dangerous, and there’s no way the Xu Family will so easily give up the City Lord’s Mansion they’ve worked to conquer."

"Yeah, speaking of which, that’s what’s strange to me, too. Xu Daolin’s Cultivation is only at Qi Martial Realm Fifth Heaven, and the Xu Family doesn’t seem to have many impressive experts, do they? On what grounds do they think they can suppress the City Lord’s Mansion and dare to make this bet with the Ye Family? The Ye Family has occupied Celestial Phoenix City for many years. With all those resources supporting their disciples, even the four great families of Celestial Phoenix City combined can’t compete with them, can they?"

"Who knows? And that’s not for us to worry about anyway. All we need to do is get a spot, place in the tournament, and the rewards will be far greater than any previous competition. I heard the Xu Family put up three Spirit Level Third Grade Essence Enhancing Pills from the Imperial Dragon Sect, three Third Grade Spiritual Artifacts, and a number of Spirit Level Armors... Damn, if I could just get one of those Essence Enhancing Pills, I’m confident I could raise my Cultivation to Qi Martial Realm Fifth Heaven within a year!"

"You can forget about it. Look over there. There’s only one spot left, and at least thirty or forty people have their eyes on it. And the strongest among them is that martial artist in green robes drinking tea, Situ Tianyu! He’s an expert at the Peak of Qi Martial Realm Fourth Heaven. Are you confident you can beat him?"

"Damn it!"

As soon as the young man heard the name Situ Tianyu, his expression changed, and the corner of his eye twitched uncontrollably.

Such a great opportunity, yet it was out of his reach.

"With that guy here, what chance do we have?"

Many people in the surrounding crowd sighed, their voices filled with unwillingness to accept the situation.