NOVEL NEXT Chapter 437: Sect Leaders in Shock
Jiang Chen's words rippled through the illusion. "Ying Luo, jump to another sub-space!"
"Big brother, I'm hungry," Ying Luo whined.
"One piece of Space Essence Gold," he countered.
She gave a dramatic shake of her head. "I'm still just a kid, you know. This is too much."
"Three pieces."
Her eyes lit up. "Three? …Fine. But I'm only doing it one more time."
A surge of spatial energy burst from her, and in the blink of an eye, she slipped into another sub-space, reappearing even farther away.
"We lost him!" Lu Yi said, relief flashing across his face as his divine sense found no trace of the Compassionate Sword Immortal Palace genius.
"No. We've only opened up the distance—he's still chasing," Jiang Chen cut in. "And he's marked us with some kind of tracking art. Hide your aura, now."
Lu Yi's smile vanished. "Cleansing Breath, Restraining Aura Precious Art." He quickly sank into the technique, suppressing every trace of his presence.
"Ying Luo, jump to another sub-space!" Jiang Chen called.
"Three pieces of Space Essence Gold. No bargaining." Ying Luo unleashed another wave of spatial power, and in a blink, they vanished—reappearing even farther away.
"I'm wiped out," Ying Luo groaned. "That's it for me—no more space jumps."
"You've done enough. We're in the clear now; he won't catch up anytime soon," Jiang Chen said from within the illusion.
"Awesome! That's incredible!" Lu Yi lit up. "With Ying Luo around, we'll never have to worry about being chased down again."
"Hmph. Payment first—six pieces of Space Essence Gold."
Lu Yi's mouth twitched. Feels like I just took a ride in a rigged taxi.
"Ahem. Don't worry, Ying Luo—I'll cover it for him," Jiang Chen said.
"Thank you, Senior!" Lu Yi clasped his hands in thanks.
"Think of it as a loan," Jiang Chen replied.
Lu Yi shook his head with a grin. "You really don't let a coin slip by, huh?" Still, he didn't mind—being rescued was already a big enough favor.
What Lu Yi didn't realize was that over half of what just happened had been Jiang Chen's doing from the start.
The "genius" from the Compassionate Sword Immortal Palace chasing them? That was Jiang Chen's real body.
The Jiang Chen floating above Ying Luo's head was nothing but an illusion, every word coming from a transmission jade Jiang Chen had hidden inside it.
Ying Luo, on the other hand, wasn't acting. Jiang Chen hadn't given her a script—partly because she was still young, partly because he was worried she'd accidentally blow the whole plan.
"Alright, let's keep moving," Jiang Chen said. "Lu Yi, start cultivating the Cleansing Breath, Restraining Aura Precious Art."
"Got it!" Lu Yi nodded and immediately began running the technique.
...
Back at the battlefield, Jiang Chen—who'd just been pretending to chase his own illusion—returned using the Nine-Pointed Radiant Star Ring.
Not far away, Nangong Wan and Shangguan Ning were locked onto the six Nirvana Peering realm cultivators fleeing for their lives.
Both women had already stepped into Late-stage Nirvana Peering realm. Even as soul remnants, they'd once been Void Tribulation realm great powerhouses with one foot in the Fourth Step of the Cultivation Path, their methods countless and deadly.
For them, keeping tabs on six panicked Nirvana Peering realm cultivators was child's play.
One of the Late-stage cultivators was darting away as fast as he could—until Nangong Wan caught up and tangled him in place, cutting his speed to almost nothing.
Whoosh!
A beam of light streaked toward them from the distance—it was Jiang Chen, still wearing the face of a prodigy from the Compassionate Sword Immortal Palace.
The fleeing Purple Crest Immortal Sect cultivator froze at the sight of him, terror flooding his face.
"Die." Jiang Chen's blade flashed, and the man was gone in a single strike.
He pulled Nangong Wan back into his Void Tribulation Soulring, stored the body, and shot off after the rest of the Purple Crest Immortal Sect.
With the power of a Nirvana Cleansing realm powerhouse and the Nine-Pointed Radiant Star Ring, his speed was something no Nirvana Peering realm cultivator could even dream of matching.
In no time at all, Jiang Chen cut down the last five Nirvana Peering realm experts one after another.
A crisp chime rang out in his Sea of Consciousness.
[Ding! Plot alteration detected! You've successfully prevented Protagonist Lu Yi from gaining any prominence, cutting off some of his opportunities. Lu Yi's Heavenly Fate Value has dropped by 10,000 points!]
[Ding! You have earned 20,000 Villain Value points!]
Ten thousand points… not bad. A faint smile tugged at Jiang Chen's lips. He gathered up the spoils from the battlefield and headed toward Ying Luo.
Meanwhile, news of the battle was already racing back to the upper ranks of the Purple Crest Immortal Sect, carried by the few who'd managed to escape.
In the same moment, the Life Tablets of Bian Zhilin and the other nine shattered one after another.
It didn't take long before word spread like wildfire—ten Nirvana Peering realm experts had tried to trap Jiang Chen and Lu Yi, only to be completely annihilated by a so-called genius from the Compassionate Sword Immortal Palace.
...
At the Dragon Roar Thousand-Mile Waterfall, news of the failed ambush on Jiang Chen and Lu Yi hit the Purple Crest Immortal Sect almost immediately.
Faces stiffened. They tried to keep their composure, but the shock was too much to hide.
What? Even Bian Zhilin's group failed?
How is that possible? That was ten Nirvana Peering realm cultivators at their peak!
Since when did the Compassionate Sword Immortal Palace slip this deep into our territory—and wipe out all ten of our powerhouses?
Unforgivable. I'll find a chance to wipe out every last so-called genius from the Compassionate Sword Immortal Palace.
You Shaojun, Sun Xiangyuan, and Sun Anming felt like earthquakes and tidal waves were crashing through their chests, the force of it almost making them explode.
At Giant Spirit Ghost Mountain, Lu Tingze, Lu Tingguang, and Sun Ancheng reacted much the same. Their glares burned into the three from the Compassionate Sword Immortal Palace, eyes blazing like they wanted to flay them alive and swallow them whole.
Meanwhile, Liang Youwen and the other Compassionate Sword Immortal Palace members got the shocking report—supposedly, their own Half-step Nirvana Cleansing realm genius had wiped out ten Nirvana Peering realm experts from the Purple Crest Immortal Sect.
They were stunned, and completely confused.
Half-step Nirvana Cleansing realm genius?
When did we ever have someone like that?
And none of our people have gone deep into Purple Crest Immortal Sect territory. Could this report be wrong?
What's going on here?
Liang Youwen and the others traded baffled looks, their faces full of doubt.
Then the blue-crowned elder, who had already been shaking with rage thanks to You Shaojun and Sun Xiangyuan, finally exploded. His face twisted with contempt as he barked, "Ignoble scum of the Purple Crest Immortal Sect! No one from our Compassionate Sword Immortal Palace has stepped into your inner territory, so how could we have killed your men?"
"And we don't even have this so-called Half-step Nirvana Cleansing realm genius!" He snorted. "You lost to Jiang Chen, got humiliated, and now you're spreading nonsense? Pathetic! You think this will wash away your shame? You've only made yourselves look worse!"