Strongest War Emperor

Shen Lang didn’t know that even though he had been so decisive and ruthless, he still hadn’t managed to completely tie up all the loose ends.

Just as he had slain Shui Tianji with a single slash, a million miles away on Blood Evil Island in the Yunfeng Country, a blood-red mist billowed before a waterfall, suppressing all the water vapor and blanketing the sky.

Suddenly, the sky-filling mist rapidly converged, transforming into a completely naked woman.

The woman’s long hair fluttered in the wind as she floated silently above the water’s surface, facing the waterfall.

Her back alone was a vision of unparalleled beauty, enough to make everything else in the world seem dull in comparison.

Only a goddess from the legends could possess such a beautiful body, shimmering resplendently in the wind.

"What an audacious, death-courting whelp, daring to slay the doppelganger I worked so hard to refine!"

"I won’t be able to quell the hatred in my heart until I’ve ground your bones to dust and performed Soul Extraction and Refining on you!"

As the woman spoke, an incomparably sinister blood-red flame suddenly ignited on her naked body.

Within the crimson flames, countless twisted, wailing faces faintly appeared, creating an image of extreme eeriness and terror.

Then, the blood-flame clung to her body, condensing and solidifying until it became a translucent gossamer skirt, identical in style and color to the clothes Shui Tianji had been wearing!

"The people from the Imperial Dragon Sect are on high alert, so trying to enter the Purple Chu Country now would be quite risky. Damn whelp, I’ll let you live for another year or so!"

As she spoke, the woman slowly turned around. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

And who was it but Shui Tianji, the very one Shen Lang had slain with a single slash near Celestial Phoenix City!

Hellfire seemed to burn in the depths of Shui Tianji’s blood-red eyes, and with her long hair whipping about, she looked like a goddess and a demon all at once.

’Why does that kid have the Feather Flower Purple Copper Mirror? Isn’t that the Lifebound Magical Treasure of the Flower Sect’s Elder Ancestor, Nangong Yan? And that long saber in his hand... even a casual glance from a distance gives one the feeling of their spirit leaving their body. Its power is definitely no less than that of the Feather Flower Purple Copper Mirror.’

’A mere boy possessing so many heaven-defying Magical Treasures is truly incredible. It seems I’ll have to be careful when I finally go for revenge. I can’t let an old hand like me be bested by a child...’

Shui Tianji hovered in the air, tilted her head back, and stretched her arms out to her sides.

"AHH!"

Shui Tianji let out a long cry to the heavens. The surging, powerful force distorted the very air before her, sweeping out in all directions like a tempest.

The waterfall behind her was actually caught by this immense power and began to flow upward!

"Detestable brat! For killing my doppelganger and disrupting my Cultivation progress, you must die!"

With a sharp cry, this Shui Tianji transformed into a red cloud and vanished over the horizon in a flash.

...

Inside the three-meter-high stone cave, Shen Lang was cultivating to help Hong Yu activate the antidote’s medicinal power.

"Sister Hong Yu, you’ve been afflicted by the Blood Evil Soul-breaking Powder for quite a while. The Blood Evil Qi has already spread throughout your body. Though it hasn’t reached your heart meridian, the antidote alone won’t be able to expel it all in a short time. I’m now going to use golden needles in conjunction with the antidote to purge the poison. It might be a little painful, so bear with it. You just need to control your Spiritual Power and guard your heart meridian."

"Mm," Hong Yu replied softly.

With a flip of his wrist, several golden needles instantly appeared between the fingers of both his hands.

He then placed Hong Yu in the center of the cave and began to circle around her at high speed with strange footwork, his hands accurately and continuously plunging the golden needles into her body.

Shen Lang had already removed Hong Yu’s veil, revealing her exquisite face.

But at this moment, her features were haggard, and black blood continuously trickled from her mouth, a terrifying sight.

As Shen Lang inserted more and more golden needles, a mist began to rise. Faint, mournful cries seemed to be mixed within the mist, making the scene inside the cave particularly eerie and horrifying.

When all the golden needles in his hands were used, Shen Lang sat down behind Hong Yu and pressed his palms against her back.

He began to continuously channel the incomparably pure Spiritual Power from his Tai Chi Diagram into her.

With Shen Lang’s all-out effort to purge the poison, it was over an hour before the blood Hong Yu coughed up finally returned to its normal, bright red color.

Although her face was pale, the Blood Evil Qi on it had vanished without a trace.

"Cough... Blood Evil Island’s Blood Evil Soul-breaking Powder is truly formidable. No wonder so many people rank it just below the dreaded ’Ten Extremes Poison.’ If it weren’t for that... thing inside my body... I’m afraid I wouldn’t have seen you again this time."

Hong Yu exhaled a murky breath, her voice laced with lingering fear.

Shen Lang’s expression first brightened with joy, then immediately turned bone-chillingly cold. "The people of Blood Evil Island... I will not let them go. One day, I will wipe these Demonic Dao Sects from the face of this world and avenge you for this treachery, Sister Hong Yu!"

A flash of astonishment crossed Hong Yu’s face, but she quickly returned to normal.

If such words were spoken by anyone from the family Shen Lang was born into, it would have been considered normal.

However...

After all, Blood Evil Island was a Spirit Copper Level power, and the Black and White Impermanence had even reached the Emperor Martial Realm.

For an ordinary person to dare say they would wipe out such a Sect was a bit...

’Lang’Er has really changed so much during this time. I hope...’ Hong Yu’s eyes held a complicated look.

On Blood Evil Island, while Shui Tianji had her eyes on Shen Lang, she had no idea that Shen Lang also had his eyes on Blood Evil Island...

"Ngh..." Hong Yu tried to push herself up from the ground to turn around, but winced in pain and let out a muffled groan.

Behind her, Shen Lang quickly steadied her by the arm. "Don’t move yet. I need to draw all the golden needles out first."

After retracting all the golden needles, Shen Lang carried Hong Yu over to the cave wall. He placed a thick layer of Beast Hide on both the ground and against the wall before gently setting her down.

Held in Shen Lang’s arms, Hong Yu showed no trace of shyness. Instead, she stroked his long hair and said, "You’ve gone through such earth-shattering changes in such a short time. I don’t know whether to be happy or worried for you."

"For the ten years since I came here, I’ve been watching you in secret. Watching you grow up, watching you train desperately in the mountain forests..."

"Even though I knew you were unreconciled to your fate, I always thought that things were actually pretty good that way."

Hong Yu’s hand slowly moved from his hair to his face. "I don’t know if it’s because I’m too selfish, but I’ve always wanted... for you to live a peaceful life, to forget everything from the past, and to have no more ties with the outside world."

As she spoke, tears began to well up in her eyes. "But now, the issue with your Celestial Vein Sacred Body is resolved. Not only can you practice Cultivation, but you’ve become so powerful in such a short time... Does this mean... you’re going to leave this place?"

Shen Lang was silent for a moment. He took out a silk handkerchief and wiped the tears from her face before speaking. "Sister, I have no ambition... Even with my Cultivation soaring, I have no desire to command the world or contend for supremacy... I’m not interested in any of that."

"I care about you, and the people around me. I want to become stronger simply to protect all of you and to break free from the shackles of fate... That’s all."

"If I really do leave, I’ll take you with me."

"Whether it’s Blood Evil Island or the Murong Family, I’ll deal with them sooner or later. But you don’t have to worry about me. Lang’Er isn’t some self-righteous fool; I won’t act recklessly. When I truly make a move, it will be when I am absolutely one hundred percent confident."

As Shen Lang spoke, he placed a Profound Celestial Clear Spirit Pill into Hong Yu’s mouth.

Hong Yu was exceptionally weak right now; she would need a large amount of Spiritual Power to recover.

「Two days later...」

Another joyous event occurred in the already bustling Shen Family.

Shen Lang had brought back a woman in red with a veiled face. Though her face was hidden, her unparalleled grace and bearing still stunned the Shen Family and the entire populace of Celestial Phoenix City.

Shen Haotian and his wife, along with the Clan Leader Shen Haoxuan and several Elders, confirmed that the woman’s name was Hong Yu, and she was Shen Lang’s older cousin.

She was the daughter of the older cousin of Shen Lang’s mother, Luo Dieqi, and had ended up in Celestial Phoenix City after her family met with disaster.

The people of Celestial Phoenix City gossiped amongst themselves, not quite believing the Shen Family’s story.

But who would dare to question it?

According to rumors spread by some of the younger generation of the Shen Family, as Luo Dieqi and Hong Yu talked about Hong Yu’s family matters, the two of them ended up holding each other and crying their eyes out.

No amount of consoling could stop them.

Even Shen Moran, who was at their side, was crying beautifully, unable to hold back her tears. It was a heart-rending scene.

At that time, the Shen Family was at the height of its power in Celestial Phoenix City, backed by the Imperial Dragon Sect, the Li Hen Sect, and the Flower Sect. Forget an older cousin showing up at Shen Lang’s home; even if the Emperor himself arrived and claimed to be a distant relative of the Shen Family, it was doubtful anyone would dare to question it.

Moreover, even though Shen Lang had reached a point where Xuanwu Realm powerhouses from the Imperial Dragon Sect would bow and scrape before him, he remained exceptionally friendly to the people of Celestial Phoenix City.

Not only did he not put on any airs, but he also secured some slots for the various family powers in Celestial Phoenix City to join the Imperial Dragon Sect and the other two of the Three Sects.

The people of Celestial Phoenix City were grateful to him beyond measure, and every family power treated him as a great benefactor.

After all, in the past, for the disciples of these families to enter a powerful Sect like the Imperial Dragon Sect was something they could never have even imagined.

And so, tranquility returned to all of Celestial Phoenix City.

Time flowed on. The warmth of spring gave way to blooming flowers, which then yielded to the scorching summer sun. Five months passed in the blink of an eye.

During this period, Shen Lang dedicated himself to his Cultivation, raising his level to the Spirit Martial Realm Fifth Heaven.

He made further progress in the "Nine Revolutions of Life and Death Mysterious Technique," and his Sword Intent could now take form with a single thought, its Attack Power incomparably formidable.

The highest level in Tayun Academy’s Gravity Cultivation Hall was the twenty-times Gravity Chamber. By the fifth month, this Gravity Chamber could no longer satisfy Shen Lang’s needs at all.

The effects of cultivating within it had become minuscule, so Shen Lang had no choice but to give it up.

He hardly involved himself in any of the Shen Family’s affairs. Besides cultivating, he spent his time with his parents and sister.

He occasionally chatted with friends like Yin Kuang and Shui Buyu, and gave pointers to Shen Jianfeng, Ling Chen, and the others, living a free and easy life.

In the fifth month, under the stimulation of two consecutive drops of Life Spiritual Liquid, Zuo Wentian finally woke up.

Although Shen Lang’s Cultivation grew ever higher and his physical body became increasingly formidable, the Sword Intent in his eyes had gradually faded. His aura became restrained, Returning to the Essence.

He no longer appeared sharp and overbearing. When he went out and people greeted him, he would always respond with a smile, making him seem more like a boy next door.

’It’s about time I went to the Profound Dao Sect...’