Strongest War Emperor

Zhang Tianyue clapped a large hand firmly on Shen Lang’s shoulder. "Excellent, Shen Lang. You’ve done very well! On behalf of everyone, thank you!"

"We are all disciples of the Profound Dao Sect. It was my duty. No thanks are necessary," Shen Lang said with a wave of his hand.

"Good. With Shen Lang protecting you, I can rest easy. Continue onward. Someone will arrive to meet you soon. The six of us will go scout ahead at Wuling Creek," Zhang Tianyue said, then disappeared over the horizon with the five Thunder Guards.

...

By the time the group met up with the rescue party and returned to the Profound Dao Sect, the sky was already growing dark.

"You guys go on ahead. I want to walk for a bit by myself," Shen Lang said suddenly at the foot of the mountain, where they were to ride the Seven-Colored Spirit Vultures.

While Jie Fengqing and the others were still processing this, a Thunder Guard stepped forward and said coldly, "Apologies, but the Sect Leader and several Elders are already waiting on Heaven-Reaching Peak. As a key figure in this incident, you are not permitted to leave alone."

Everyone around them immediately fell silent.

The Thunder Guards’ cultivation and status were both extremely high. They were also very mysterious; unless a major incident occurred, they were practically never seen.

A flash of ferocity crossed Shen Lang’s eyes. He enunciated each word, "I. Said. I want to walk up by myself."

The atmosphere immediately grew tense. Jie Fengqing, Kou Xiaotian, and the others tried to placate Shen Lang while simultaneously pleading with the Thunder Guard.

Just then, the leader of the rescue party, Tang Zhida, the Peak Master of Ten Thousand Mountains Peak, walked over.

He glanced at Shen Lang, who was in a standoff with the Thunder Guard, and said in a low voice, "Shen Lang, this incident is no small matter. Whatever it is, we can talk about it later. As you can see, all the Peak Masters of the Inner Sect have been mobilized, and several high-ranking Elders are waiting on Heaven-Reaching Peak. If we’re late, none of us can bear the consequences."

The moment Tang Zhida finished speaking, a young woman darted out from behind him and said coldly, "Father, why are you wasting so many words on him? No matter how strong these Bone Demons are, their cultivation is only around the Xuanwu Realm Second Heaven, Third Heaven at the absolute most! But many of the powerhouses from the Beast Emperor Palace who died were at the Xuanwu Realm Fifth and Sixth Heaven. Claiming these Bone Demons worked together to kill them? Only a ghost would believe that! This kid is definitely hiding something!"

Before Tang Zhida could speak, the young woman continued, "Besides, I asked around on the way here. Although these Bone Demons have Xuanwu Realm cultivation, they can’t fly at all! Just these few, capable of killing powerhouses at the Xuanwu Realm Fifth and Sixth Heaven? Is he taking us for fools?"

"Zhenzhen, that’s enough!" Tang Zhida snapped.

’Of course I know all that,’ he thought, ’but the full truth will be revealed once we get to Heaven-Reaching Peak. Asking these questions now is like interrogating a criminal. It’ll just cause a backlash.’

Tang Zhenzhen snorted through her nose and turned her head away.

The woman was dressed in pristine white, a longsword slung across her back. Her black hair cascaded like a waterfall, and her figure was graceful. She looked to be around nineteen or twenty, with an expression of pure arrogance.

Even when looking at Shen Lang, she tilted her head slightly and glanced at him from the corner of her eye, her expression dripping with disdain.

Jie Fengqing and the others who had just come from Wuling Creek all wore indignant expressions, and they began chattering all at once, trying to explain on Shen Lang’s behalf.

However, for Shen Lang’s sake, Jie Fengqing had previously forced those who witnessed Shen Lang’s actions to swear a poison oath. They had only told the latecomers that the Bone Demons had worked together to kill the people from the Beast Emperor Palace. Now, when they truly needed to explain things for Shen Lang, they found themselves at a loss for words.

Kou Xiaotian and Xia Xiaoting had personally seen Shen Lang cut down the men from the Beast Emperor Palace one by one, but revealing that in this situation would likely only make things more chaotic.

As for the group that had arrived later, although they were grateful to Shen Lang, Tang Zhenzhen’s words had planted seeds of doubt in their minds. Come to think of it, while the Bone Demons were powerful, they didn’t seem... strong enough to annihilate more than ten Xuanwu Realm Powerhouses from the Beast Emperor Palace, did they?

"Shen Lang?" Seeing that Shen Lang wasn’t answering him, Tang Zhida started to feel he was losing face.

’He’s just an Outer Disciple, and word is he got into the Profound Dao Sect through the back door.’

’So what if your Bone Demons are powerful and you saved some Profound Dao Sect disciples? Is that any reason to be so arrogant?’

’I am, after all, the Master of One Peak in the Inner Sect!’

"So you suspect me?" Shen Lang asked coolly, glancing at Tang Zhida.

Tang Zhida fell silent at once.

Of course they were suspicious. Everyone else naturally knew the things Tang Zhenzhen had pointed out.

But with no concrete evidence, it was difficult to say anything.

Besides, at the end of the day, these people were only here to provide support, not to investigate a crime.

Any issues were meant to be handed over to the Sect Leader and the Elders.

Just as Tang Zhida was about to say a few perfunctory words to smooth things over, a young man rushed out from behind him and barked, "You bastard, what right do you have to speak to my master like that? So what if we suspect you? What are you going to do about it?"

"..." Tang Zhida was furious, almost slapping the young man himself.

’Is this idiot trying to make the scene even more chaotic?!’

Unexpectedly, the young man wasn’t finished. He put his hands on his hips and sneered, "Kid, I watched you during the Wooden Man Alley trial. The only reason you passed was because you used High Tier Talismans and relied on Shang Xiaoran from Luoyan Peak the entire time!"

"You’re not going to tell us you used Talismans to kill those powerhouses at the Xuanwu Realm Fifth and Sixth Heaven, are you?"

"Junior Sister Zhenzhen is right! Whether it’s you or these Bone Demons, dealing with even one or two Xuanwu Realm Powerhouses would be incredibly difficult. And you expect us to believe you killed more than a dozen powerhouses from the Beast Emperor Palace? Along with the powerful Demon Beasts they brought with them? Are you calling us idiots, or are you the idiot?!"

The young man had just finished speaking and was about to turn to Tang Zhenzhen to seek her praise when a hand shot out.

SLAP!

An impossibly fast slap sent the man flying. He tumbled twice on the ground before passing out cold!

The one who had struck was Shen Lang.

’Such fast movements! Such a strange slap! It seemed to envelop Zhao Heng’s entire body!’ Tang Zhida’s heart clenched.

Everyone on the scene stood stunned for a moment. Then, with a flicker of movement, the five Thunder Guards immediately surrounded Shen Lang!

The entire atmosphere became incredibly delicate and oppressive!

"Aha! You resort to violence when you can’t talk your way out of it! You really are hiding something!" Tang Zhenzhen shrieked.

"Father, this kid is definitely trouble! Have the Thunder Guards seize him now, before he goes on a killing spree! Men, surround them!"

At Tang Zhenzhen’s command, a group of Inner Sect disciples immediately formed another circle behind the Thunder Guards.

Swords and sabers were drawn, and the tension was thick enough to cut with a knife!

Tang Zhida was a meticulous man who was also extremely averse to trouble.

Seeing his daughter worsen the situation with just a few words, he cursed his luck internally.

’We’re already at the foot of the mountain, how could something like this still happen?’

’If we just rode the Seven-Colored Spirit Vultures up, I could have handed everything over to the Sect Leader. I would have been free and clear without offending anyone. I can’t believe I got dragged into this mess.’

Whether Shen Lang was suspicious or not, the fact that he and his four Bone Demons had slain more than ten Xuanwu Realm Powerhouses was indisputable.

Jie Fengqing and the thirty-plus others could all attest to it, even if their accounts were vague.

If Shen Lang wasn’t hiding anything, if he really did kill the people from the Beast Emperor Palace with his four Bone Demons, then he was a hero of the Profound Dao Sect!

To treat a hero like this—wouldn’t that be utterly disheartening to everyone?

Moreover, if he was truly that powerful, the entire Profound Dao Sect would be in an uproar. All the old-timers would be clamoring to treat him like a treasure!

What Sect, upon discovering such a young and powerful disciple, wouldn’t praise and pamper him?

And yet, such a person was being suppressed here. If word of this got out, how could he, a Peak Master, ever show his face again?

But if Shen Lang *was* hiding something, and he suddenly went berserk... whether he and the few Thunder Guards could even stop him was another question entirely!

Not to mention the large group of disciples present. If Shen Lang really was a problem and decided to make an example of these disciples and his own daughter, what then?

The more Tang Zhida thought about it, the more complicated it seemed, and cold sweat beaded on his forehead.

"Zhenzhen, all of you, stand down now!" Tang Zhida felt his own voice tremble.

Tang Zhenzhen turned away in a huff, her gaze toward Shen Lang still extremely hostile.

The disciples surrounding Shen Lang, however, didn’t dare to disobey and retreated behind Tang Zhida.

But Shen Lang remained as still as a mountain, and the five Thunder Guards also seemed unwilling to compromise. The two sides appeared to be locked in a stalemate.

Although Tang Zhida was a Peak Master, the Thunder Guards were only cooperating with him on this support mission; they were not his subordinates.

Without a direct order from the Sect Leader, he had no authority to command the Thunder Guards, which was why they didn’t react to his command.

To the Thunder Guards, the situation wasn’t as complicated as Tang Zhida imagined.

They were a special unit cultivated by the Profound Dao Sect, and their loyalty to the Sect was absolute.

Whoever threatened the interests of the Profound Dao Sect, they would strike.

If Shen Lang was indeed a problematic individual with the cultivation to slay those in the Xuanwu Realm, their first choice would undoubtedly be to join forces and erase him from this world!

As for now, since Shen Lang was not cooperating, the very least they should do was what Tang Zhenzhen suggested: seize him directly and hand him over to their superiors for judgment.

Meanwhile, Shen Lang was in an extremely foul mood, a wicked fire raging in his heart with nowhere to vent.

Seeing the Thunder Guards acting as inflexibly as robots, each beginning to exude Killing Intent, his gaze immediately turned savage.

"The Thunder Guard, established since the Sect’s founding... truly impressive," Shen Lang said coldly.

"I’ll count to three. If you don’t get out of my way, don’t blame me for being merciless!"

The moment Shen Lang’s words fell, four Bone Demons descended from the sky, forcing the five surrounding Thunder Guards back several meters!

By now, more and more people were gathering, many of them whispering amongst themselves from a distance.

"What in the world is going on? How dare that kid provoke the Thunder Guard? And what’s with all our martial brothers groaning on stretchers over there?"

"That’s Shen Lang, a disciple from the Outer Sect’s Songdu Peak. I heard that when he joined the Profound Dao Sect, his aptitude test results were the worst. He only got in because of a Celestial Profound Order."

"What? An Outer Disciple? The worst aptitude? And he dares to confront the Thunder Guard? Isn’t that just asking for death?"

"It must be because of those four powerful Bone Demons he has with him..."

"I heard the martial brothers who went to train at Wuling Creek were attacked by the Beast Emperor Palace. Shen Lang and his four Bone Demons fought them off and rescued everyone."

"Then he’s a hero, isn’t he? Why would the Thunder Guard be surrounding him?"

"He wanted to go up the mountain alone, and the Thunder Guard suspect he’s a spy... Because anyone with a brain would find this whole thing suspicious! With Shen Lang’s cultivation and the Bone Demons’ strength, killing more than ten Xuanwu Realm Powerhouses? How is that possible?! And without a single scratch on him, no less!"

Watching everything unfold, Jie Fengqing and the others were on the verge of tears...