Strongest War Emperor

Nangong Jianqiu, feeling utterly frustrated, directed a question at Shen Lang.

Everyone immediately pricked up their ears.

Ye Juexin, who was standing to the side, said coldly, "If he had truly gone all out, the other party would have certainly retaliated with their full strength."

"Two Xuanwu Realm Sixth Heaven experts fighting him in such a confined space... they would be fine, but we would be the ones to suffer."

Nangong Jianqiu retorted petulantly, "I know that. I was just so angry I had to say a thing or two."

A fight between Spirit Martial Realm Martial Artists would have been one thing, but a Xuanwu Realm Sixth Heaven Fire Jade Qilin is terrifyingly powerful.

If they had attacked with their full power, it’s hard to say whether those four Bone Demons could have protected the people from the Shadow Tower.

A full-powered battle between Xuanwu Realm Sixth Heaven experts...

If the stone house couldn’t withstand their attacks, it would immediately collapse, and not a single one of these people would escape.

And if it could withstand the attacks, the incredibly powerful Qi would just rebound off the walls, and the group from the Shadow Tower would still end up suffering all the same.

"Forget it, forget it. You’re one of those guys who has everything calculated, every second of the day. You win... Huh? Jue Xin, you rarely ever speak up. Why did you jump to his defense the moment I said something about him?" Nangong Jianqiu turned her head to look at Ye Juexin.

The corner of Ye Juexin’s eye twitched. She subconsciously glanced at Shen Lang’s back and said, "I was merely stating a fact."

Just then, Shen Lang turned around.

Ye Juexin hastily averted her gaze, casting her eyes to the ground.

Shen Lang slowly sat down on a long bench and asked, a hint of confusion in his voice, "How many people knew about the Shadow Demon Flower? How did you let a traitor mess you up this badly?"

"A traitor..." Nangong Jianqiu’s face contorted with fury. "We were completely wiped out this time! The only survivors from the Ghost Fire Swamp are the people here now, plus Qu Cheng who went to ask for your help, and four others who were away on a mission. Finding the traitor among them will be child’s play!"

"After I find them, I’ll make sure they suffer death by a thousand cuts! Only then will this hatred in my heart be satisfied!"

Shen Lang waved his hand dismissively. "I’m not interested in the Shadow Tower’s internal affairs. Just give me the Shadow Demon Flower. I need to get back on the road."

"Bastard! We’re in this state, what are we going to do if more people show up? Have you no compassion?!" Nangong Jianqiu exploded in anger.

Shen Lang rolled his eyes and said, "They came for the Shadow Demon Flower. Once it’s in my hands, they’ll be coming after me. Who’s going to remember you? There’s no benefit in killing you."

"You’re not leaving! If you don’t escort us to a safe place, I’m not giving you the Shadow Demon Flower!" Nangong Jianqiu turned away in a huff, pouting defiantly.

"..." Shen Lang was instantly dumbfounded.

"What the hell? Can you please be a little reasonable? I trekked over mountains and through rivers to come save you. You haven’t said a single word of thanks, and now you’re blackmailing me into continuing as your free bodyguard?"

Nangong Jianqiu rolled her eyes and said, "Well, I’m sticking to you now. Deal with it!"

Ye Juexin and the others on the side couldn’t bear to watch any longer. They turned around, one by one, and began to "admire" the swamp scenery outside.

"Right..." Shen Lang suddenly turned to look at Ye Juexin and said, "Gao Jingtian, the leader of the Lone Wolf Mercenary Corps in Illusion Mist City, was killed with Celestial Silkworm Silk."

Ye Juexin’s eyelashes trembled, but she continued to stare at the swamp outside and said coldly, "I don’t know."

"About that matter..." Nangong Jianqiu said, drawing out her words.

Ye Juexin snapped her head around, her gaze sharp enough to kill.

Seeing Ye Juexin’s murderous glare, Nangong Jianqiu said meekly, "I don’t know either."

"Oh." Shen Lang rested his arm on the railing, gazing at the misty swamp without saying another word.

...

Outside Celestial Palace City, the Holy Light Sect’s Qian Luo had waited a full five days for Shen Lang. The wind and rain had completely worn his patience thin.

On the fifth day, Qian Luo finally couldn’t take it anymore.

’You bastard, are you planning on living in Celestial Palace City forever? Would it kill you to come out just once?’

In the end, Qian Luo gave up on the idea of entering Celestial Palace City to kill Shen Lang.

Celestial Palace City was managed by the Profound Dao Sect and the White Rainbow Sect. These two sects had always been at odds with the Holy Light Sect, to the point of being as incompatible as fire and water.

They would fight whenever and wherever they met. If disciples from the opposing sides encountered each other in the wild, a battle to the death was an absolute certainty.

If he were to make a move inside Celestial Palace City, he would definitely not be able to hide it from the experts of those two sects.

If he were discovered by their people, they could easily use it as an excuse to gang up on him and ensure he, Qian Luo, never left Celestial Palace City alive.

With no other choice, Qian Luo found a local ruffian to inquire about Shen Lang’s whereabouts in Celestial Palace City, only to be told that Shen Lang had already left.

This made Qian Luo so angry he nearly went berserk.

’So I stood here waiting in the pouring rain for four days, all for nothing?’

’A dignified Xuanwu Realm Fifth Heaven expert, a Master of One Peak in the Holy Light Sect’s Inner Sect, soaked in the rain outside the city for five days for that bastard, and then the kid just slips away without so much as a polite word?’

Qian Luo felt like the biggest idiot in the world!

He had been running around chasing Shen Lang’s tail, trying to kill him, and in the end, forget killing him, he hadn’t even managed to touch a single hair on his head. Instead, he had lost two of his own disciples...

"Damn it! Revenge is a dish best served cold. I’ve got plenty of time. Shen Lang, you just wait! I won’t let you get away with this!"

Qian Luo cursed at the high city walls, then, filled with immense resentment and reluctance, left Celestial Palace City in the rain.

The moment he left Celestial Palace City, Shen Lang entered through another gate with Nangong Jianqiu and the others.

...

With no other option, Shen Lang truly had no choice but to act as a free bodyguard for Nangong Jianqiu once again.

He had Qu Cheng go to Celestial Palace City and find a group of people to carry Nangong Jianqiu and the others back to the city.

The Ghost Fire Swamp was over two hundred li from Celestial Palace City, and Qu Cheng didn’t have something like the Ghost King’s Wings, so how could he possibly be fast?

He rode a Spirit Beast to find people, and then the whole group returned to Celestial Palace City under Shen Lang’s protection.

By the time all these trips were done and Shen Lang had settled everyone in the neutral zone of the Treasure Pavilion, two days had already passed.

In total, five full days had passed since he had first arrived in Celestial Palace City.

Although he had been delayed another two days, Shen Lang had an unexpected reward to show for it.

The Treasure Pavilion had been gathering the materials he needed, and in these five days, they had surprisingly managed to collect quite a few.

Among them, all the materials needed for the Refinement of the Thousand-leaf Fruit had been found.

This made Shen Lang ecstatic, sweeping away his displeasure at being held up by Nangong Jianqiu. He immediately grabbed the materials and rushed back to the Profound Dao Sect, burning with impatience.

Still some distance from the Profound Dao Sect’s Mountain Gate, Shen Lang, not wanting to attract too much attention, landed and switched to riding his Fiery Demon Wolf.

But who would have known that just after he mounted the Fiery Demon Wolf and ran for a little over ten meters...

A figure dropped from the sky, blocking his path!

Although the Fiery Demon Wolf was not a Demon Beast meant for combat, it was enormous and fast, and the force of its charge was still immense.

Because they were running at high speed, the person appeared so suddenly that it was too late for Shen Lang to dodge!

"Get out of the way!"

Shen Lang shouted lightly, his body leaping into the air. Then, his right hand shot out, and he forcefully lifted the Fiery Demon Wolf’s enormous body!

Man and wolf flew through the air, over the person in front of them, and landed lightly on the ground.

The man appeared to be in his forties. He wore purple robes and had an ordinary face, but his aura was as deep as an abyss, profound and unfathomable.

"Might you be Young Master Shen Lang?"

The middle-aged man asked, cupping his fists in a salute toward Shen Lang.

Sensing the middle-aged man’s unfathomable aura, Shen Lang’s heart tensed. He asked, "I am Shen Lang. And who might you be, Senior?"

The middle-aged man bowed slightly and said, "I am Nanfeng Yao of the Imperial Dragon Sect. I have come specifically to deliver something to Young Master Shen Lang, and also to relay a message."

"Someone from the Imperial Dragon Sect?" Shen Lang breathed a small sigh of relief.

This Nanfeng Yao had a King Martial Realm Cultivation at the very least. With Shen Lang’s current abilities, unless Zuo Wentian himself intervened, resisting him would be all but impossible.

Nanfeng Yao nodded and said, "There are too many eyes and ears here. Let’s speak somewhere more private."

"Alright."

Shen Lang soared into the air and followed Nanfeng Yao for five or six li before they stopped.

"There are some things in this ring. They were sent back to the Imperial Dragon Sect by Luo Xingchen from Celestial Phoenix City. Some time ago, Celestial Phoenix City was attacked by the King Martial Realm expert Shui Tianji from Blood Evil Island. Miss Hong Yu used the Feather Flower Purple Copper Mirror to kill Shui Tianji on the spot, destroying her physical body, but her Primordial Spirit managed to escape."

As Nanfeng Yao spoke, he handed a Sumeru Ring to Shen Lang.

"I already killed Shui Tianji outside Celestial Phoenix City, and her cultivation was only at the Xuanwu Realm. But the one who attacked Celestial Phoenix City had a King Martial Realm Cultivation... Does that mean the one I killed before was just her clone?" A sharp glint flashed in Shen Lang’s eyes as he spoke.

Nanfeng Yao nodded. "Yes. It’s very likely that the clone you killed was extremely important to her, which is why that woman risked entering the Purple Chu Country to find you in Celestial Phoenix City."

Then, Nanfeng Yao recounted in great detail everything that had happened in Celestial Phoenix City for Shen Lang.

"Shui Tianji..."

Killing intent surged in Shen Lang’s eyes as he sent his Divine Thought into the Sumeru Ring in his hand.

Inside the Sumeru Ring was a giant python over thirty zhang long, and a damaged, strangely-shaped weapon: the Seven Evils Celestial Net.

"A Four-winged Green-scaled Python... I see. That was truly an incredibly dangerous situation!" Shen Lang’s expression changed drastically as he spoke.

Nanfeng Yao was taken aback. He hesitated for a moment before saying, "According to Luo Xingchen’s description, Miss Hong Yu had the clear upper hand during the battle that day. She unleashed a world-shaking sword strike, and when the demoness saw she couldn’t block it, she tried to use Blood Escape to flee. In the end, Miss Hong Yu used the Feather Flower Purple Copper Mirror to suppress her and killed her with a single strike."

"It seems that even without the Feather Flower Purple Copper Mirror, Miss Hong Yu was guaranteed to win."

"It wasn’t that simple." Shen Lang frowned and began to pace slowly. "Sister Hong Yu’s current cultivation is still far below her opponent’s. The main reason she could kill Shui Tianji was because that sword strike intimidated her, and then her timing with the Feather Flower Purple Copper Mirror was extremely precise."

"If Shui Tianji hadn’t been such an extreme coward, afraid of death, I’m afraid Sister Hong Yu would have been in grave danger this time!"

Nanfeng Yao was shocked. "This... How could that be?"