n

n

n

"Ho, is that so?

"

nHao Xuan slowly made his way towards Jiang Ling.

nSteel, Ox, and Monk moved out and stood in front of him, blocking his path forward.

nJiang Ling waved his hand once again, ordering them to stand down. He smiled looking at Hao Xuan.

n

"My offer still stands from that time. Serve me, you are more than worthy now. Stand on the winning side. It will be pretty fun~

" his smiled turning into a bright grin.

nHao Xuan returned his gesture and came to a stop just a few meters away from him. The soldiers surrounded him from every side, making sure he wouldn't be able to escape no matter what.

n

"Alright, how about we go and talk about it somewhere else then?

" Hao Xuan asked, meeting his gaze.

n*Sigh*

nJiang Ling's smile vanished as he looked back at him coldly. It looked like he was out of patience.

n

"Are you sure you wanna do this?

"

nHao Xuan nodded, still maintaining his smile,

"Mhm.

"

nJiang Ling shook his head helplessly,

"Fine. So be it. Take him away. Drag that gate out, now!

"

nAs he gave the order and turned around to walk away, Hao Xuan's voice came again.

n

"Here, catch.

"

nHe turned his head halfway and saw something flying towards him from the corner of his eye. It looked like an...ocotpus?

n

"Eh?

"

n

"MINE!

"

n*SNAP*

nThe little octopus's tentacles expanded to dozens of meters and before anyone could even make a move, it had already surrounded Jiang Ling from head to toe. He just looked like a ball of tentacles right now.

n

"WHA-

"

n

"Assualt Of the Mad God!

"

nBefore the soldiers even had time to process what had just happened to Jiang Ling, another shout reverberated from where Hao Xuan stood.

n*BOOM*

n*BOOM*

n2 elite warriors closest to him shot out like deflated balloons. The two Divine Serpents on his shoulders expanded in the blink of an eye, reaching the size of almost 200 meters.

nTheir massive bodies slammed into the surrounding Jia soldiers, sending them flying away as well. Wave after wave of black and white flames spewed out of their gigantic maws, covering the entire area.

n

"AHH!

"

n

"ARGH!

"

n

"UP!

"

nMore than 80 Mind Palaces appeared around the battlefield. There were over 15 Spirit Realm cultivators among this group of elites.

nThey quickly got back up to their feet and unleashed their full powers. Brilliant lights covered the space above as a multitude of palaces occupied the sky.

nFrom Hao Xuan throwing Fortis towards Jiang Ling like a cooked grenade to the soldiers releasing their full powers, less than 5 seconds had transpired.

n

"PROTECT THE PRINCE!

"

nSteel shouted while sprinting towards Jiang Ling with all his might. His armor shone with a black light that kept the flames at bay.

nAll the others did the same. The 15 or so Spirit Realm warriors were the first ones to run back into the fight.

nMonk clenched his teeth and took out another spear from his storage ring. He didn't move from the spot and instead looked for Hao Xuan's silhouette in the flames that had reached a height of 30 meters within a few seconds.

nHe held his breath and squinted his eyes hard, focusing all his senses to try and see any sign of a movement when his pupils dilated into the size of coins.

nThe flames right in front of him parted slightly as the head of a ferocious-looking black beast peaked out.

nHis heart almost skipped a beat.

nTime seemed to have come to a crawl as the beast's massive body moved incomprehensibly quick, standing right in front of him before he could even blink.

n

"What the fu-

"

nBut before he could finish his sentence, a gigantic glaive came out from the left side of the beast, aiming for his head.

n

"Huk!

"

nAll muscle in his body expanded and moved in tandem. The veins on his neck bulged to several times their size as he barely stepped away from the glaive's path.

nJust as was about to let out of a breath of relief, a black longsword that looked like it was created out of darkness itself came out from behind the glaive. It was several times faster, not even giving him enough time to think let alone react in any way.

n*Squelch*

nWith one simple motion, quick enough that he couldn't even catch it with his eyes, the sword pierced his chest and came out of the other side.

nHis massive body lifted up like a lifeless ragdoll and got dragged away with the beast, with the black sword still embedded in his chest.

n

"Bring him with, I want to try something...

"

n

"Yes, master.

"

nThese were the last words Monk heard before he lost consciousness.

n*BOOM*

n*BAAANG*

n*WHIP*

nBack on the battlefield, a multitude of explosions and loud noises sounded from all around.

n

"WHERE?!! WHERE ARE THEY?!

"

nSteel's angry yells echoed in the air. He, along with the other Spirit Realm Cultivators, combed the battlefield, putting out the flames bit by bit but could find no sign of Hao Xuan, Jiang Ling or even the massive snakes.

nAll of them were gone.

n

"Here! Over here!

" Dagger shouted from the west side, gathering the group's attention.

nAll high ranking elites quickly ran over. Dagger was standing above a small pool of blood, looking outwards.

nSteel walked up with hurried steps,

"What?

"

nDagger looked around once and sighed,

"It's Monk. He's gone. This is probably his blood. There are tracks leading deeper into the swamp. I'm guessing these are 'his' doing,

" he pointed at the set of massive footprints embedded deep into the ground.

n

"Goddammit!

" Steel stomped on the ground, cracking the entire area around him with raw strength.

n'How could this happen right under my nose?!'

n

"Get ready! We're going after them. NOW!

" he relayed his order to the others.

n

"Yes!

"

nThe soldiers regrouped within a few seconds and summoned their mounts. Steel threw one last hateful look towards the Red Gate before following after Hao Xuan.

nFirst, Du Xun, Su Zemin, and Lu Jian watched the 200 soldiers leave on their beasts. None of them had anything to say.

nHao Xuan somehow managed to 'capture' Jiang Ling and used him as bait to bring the others away. It was a foolproof plan. No matter what they weren't gonna just let him leave with their prince like that, so giving chase was the only logical option left.

nBut what surprised them the most were the myriad of tricks Hao Xuan pulled out of nowhere. The biggest one being able to capture Jiang Ling so easily.

nIt should be noted that Jiang Ling had the blood of the true Giants running through his veins. Not to mention that he was near the top of the Spirit realm himself.

n

"Get them ready, let's go,

" First mumbled under his breath. His fists were clenched so tight that they were turning white.. The others kept silent and quickly walked out of the tent.

n