Chapter 248 - 246: A Life for a Life, a Debt for a Debt

Chapter 248: Chapter 246: A Life for a Life, a Debt for a Debt

Panic and fear gripped Yang Lianzhenjia’s heart.

’The Corpse Puppet is gone. I’ve played almost all my trump cards.’

’I can barely handle Yang Yanxing as it is, let alone Chen Yuan. His strength is astounding—he truly has the combat power of a Primordial Pill Realm Grandmaster.’

With a deafening CRACK, the Mulan Continuous Jail-Piercing Arrow shot forth. The incredibly powerful force slammed into Yang Lianzhenjia instantly.

A dark, blackish Buddha Light flared around his body. With a resounding BOOM, Yang Lianzhenjia was sent flying.

He used the momentum from the blast, unleashing a burst of power to flee backward.

However, neither Chen Yuan nor Yang Yanxing would give him that chance.

Yang Yanxing’s Qi and Blood Power flared, boiling over. With the sinister, evil energy that had suppressed him gone, he could finally unleash his true combat strength.

He thrust his spear, channeling his battle intent and valiant power to their absolute peak. The strike moved like a dragon, tearing apart everything in its path.

The White Bone Prayer Wheel in Yang Lianzhenjia’s hand spun furiously, unleashing a torrent of black Buddha Light. But it failed to block the spear. He was sent flying once again, vomiting a mouthful of blood.

Seeing Yang Yanxing charge at him, Yang Lianzhenjia flung out a jumble of strange, unholy objects.

There were infant skulls, various other skeletons, and even Human Skin Magical Artifacts.

Yang Yanxing spun his Long Spear, instantly conjuring a raging tempest. The area for dozens of yards around him became a storm-wracked domain, and everything within was ground to dust by its power.

Yang Lianzhenjia gasped, about to flee, but in the next instant, a blazing Buddha Light erupted before his eyes.

The sound of Buddhist Chanting descended abruptly as the Three Generations of Bright King’s Demon-Suppressing Spell fell upon him. It was a spell to suppress evil, vanquish demons, and make the Three Realms submit!

The black Buddha Light around Yang Lianzhenjia was instantly destroyed. In the next moment, Chen Yuan formed a Seal Technique. Dao Essence permeated his being as a silver-white, liquid-like lightning appeared in his hand, scintillating with terrifying power.

Amid a deafening roar of thunder, Chen Yuan drew his sword from within the boundless radiance of lightning.

He thrust his sword, and the thunder of Shenxiao descended. In an instant, the area for a hundred yards around was bathed in silver-white light, its power utterly terrifying.

Shenxiao Evil-slaying Sword!

This sword strike was designed to slay evil and exterminate demons. Its righteous, majestic power was the ultimate counter to a Martial Artist like Yang Lianzhenjia, who cultivated Evil Techniques.

Sensing this ultimate power, a look of sheer terror filled Yang Lianzhenjia’s eyes.

"Don’t kill me! I’m from the Corpse Forest Secret Institute! If you kill me, the Corpse Master won’t let you get away with it!"

Chen Yuan raised an eyebrow, and the lightning in his hand only grew more intense.

Amidst the searing, whistling light of the lightning sword, Yang Lianzhenjia let out a final, agonizing scream. His body instantly exploded, completely obliterated.

Chen Yuan let out a long breath, a thoughtful expression in his eyes.

’Just now, Yang Lianzhenjia said he was from the Corpse Forest Secret Institute. What in the world is that?’

’That sect isn’t on the Jianghu Wind and Cloud Rankings, and I’ve never even heard of it in the original story.’

’Most importantly, the sect is called Corpse Tower Forest. What’s its connection to the Demon Spear Corpse Tower Forest?’

’Of course, it’s possible this so-called Corpse Forest Secret Institute is just some insignificant little faction on the Grassland, which would explain why I’ve never heard of it. But that seems highly unlikely.’

’Yang Lianzhenjia himself was quite powerful. If even he claimed to be from the Corpse Forest Secret Institute, one can only imagine how strong the faction must be.’

"So that’s the Shenxiao Sect’s Shenxiao Evil-slaying Sword? What incredible power!"

Just then, Yang Yanxing walked over, clicking his tongue in admiration and interrupting Chen Yuan’s train of thought.

"Lord Yang, you flatter me. It was merely a natural counter."

Yang Yanxing sounded frustrated. "It was a natural counter, for sure. This fight was so stifling. I couldn’t even use thirty percent of my strength. Slaying that Demon Monk was all thanks to you."

He specialized in spear techniques and physical conditioning. His Qi and Blood Power was incomparably fierce and powerful, the very definition of a Fierce Battle General.

But that Demon Monk, Yang Lianzhenjia, used all sorts of sinister Secret Techniques to restrict his Qi and Blood. Unfortunately, Yang Yanxing’s Martial Dao lacks versatility, so he was suppressed the entire time. The fight was indeed a frustrating one for him.

"Lord Yang, don’t say that. If you hadn’t occupied the Demon Monk’s attention, I wouldn’t have been able to destroy his Corpse Puppet and then kill him."

Chen Yuan wasn’t just flattering Yang Yanxing; he was speaking the truth.

The Demon Monk Yang Lianzhenjia’s arsenal of bizarre Secret Techniques was nearly impossible to guard against. The Corpse Puppet in particular was unnervingly strange and incredibly powerful.

If Chen Yuan had faced both Yang Lianzhenjia and the Corpse Puppet by himself, he surely would have been defeated.

Fortunately, Yang Lianzhenjia had focused on Yang Yanxing at the start, underestimating Chen Yuan and letting the Corpse Puppet deal with him alone. This gave Chen Yuan the opportunity to take them down one at a time.

In Yang Yanxing’s eyes, however, Chen Yuan was just saying that to give him face, which only made him think more highly of the man.

Of course, he had already liked Chen Yuan from the start. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have sided with him when Chen Yuan stepped up to turn the tide of the battle.

Jiang Xibai was the adopted son of his sworn brother, Xie Wenyan, which made the boy his nephew.

Furthermore, the Po Jun Guard was now under the jurisdiction of the Lady of the Grand Commander, Yun Zhaolan. Since Lady Yun herself couldn’t stop praising Chen Yuan, Yang Yanxing naturally felt a certain affinity for him.

Yang Yanxing still had energy to spare, as he hadn’t been greatly taxed. After exchanging a few more words, he plunged back into the fray, slaughtering his way through the Hu Yan Tribe.

Chen Yuan, however, had expended a great deal of energy and did not plan on fighting further. Instead, he observed the unfolding situation.

Yang Lianzhenjia was dead, and Nihachu was at the end of his rope.

Previously, with the aid of some unholy magical artifacts from Yang Lianzhenjia, he had been able to fight Li Tiancheng to a standstill.

But as the effects of the artifacts began to fade, he started to be overwhelmed by Li Tiancheng.

Watching the two fight, Chen Yuan frowned slightly.

’This Li Tiancheng... he seems a bit weak.’

’He’s the Commander of the Celestial Martial Guard. Logically, he shouldn’t be this weak.’

’But I feel like his combat power isn’t even a match for Feng Wushang’s.’

’The Celestial Martial Guard is supposed to be a core force directly under the Grand Commandant’s command. How can their Commander be so weak?’

’And the overall strength of the Celestial Martial Guard doesn’t seem to match the Po Jun Guard’s either. They’re only slightly stronger than the regular White Tiger Guards.’

’The only member of the Celestial Martial Guard who ever impressed me was Qiu Sheng. He competed with me for a spot in the Furnace Opening Assembly, and the strength he displayed back then was considerable.’

’But Qiu Sheng was nowhere to be seen among the reinforcements for the White Tiger Hall this time.’

Seeing that Li Tiancheng still hadn’t finished off Nihachu, Yang Yanxing jumped in and joined the assault.

Li Tiancheng hadn’t wanted to share the glory with Yang Yanxing.

But since Yang Yanxing had already dealt with his opponent while he was still struggling with Nihachu, he had no choice but to swallow his pride and accept the help.

Under their combined assault, it only took a few dozen exchanges before Yang Yanxing pinned Nihachu to the ground with a single spear thrust, killing him instantly.

Chen Yuan, however, was unaware that in the future, this Hu Yan Tribe chieftain, Nihachu, was fated to be absorbed by the Hachal and Lin Khanate and become its Northern Court King.

His son was even destined to successfully usurp the throne and take control of the Hachal and Lin Khanate, elevating the Hu Yan Tribe from a lowly Grassland tribe to the status of a Grassland Royal Family.

With both Nihachu and Yang Lianzhenjia dead, the remaining members of the Hu Yan Tribe naturally lost their will to fight. Many chose to surrender.

These Grassland People of the Hu Yan Tribe had originally belonged to various smaller factions, only joining the Hu Yan Tribe after being routed by the Hachal and Lin Khanate.

If they hadn’t been afraid to die, they would have fought the Hachal and Lin Khanate to the bitter end. Why else would they have joined the Hu Yan Tribe?

So, seeing that both their own chieftain and the powerful Master Yang Lianzhenjia were dead, why would they keep fighting to the death?

"Lord Chen, what should we do with these people from the Hu Yan Tribe?" Yang Yanxing asked as he walked over.

Li Tiancheng looked toward Chen Yuan as well.

The Celestial Martial Guard and the Po Jun Guard had both come as reinforcements. Now, the only person here with the authority to make a decision was Chen Yuan.

They didn’t want to—and couldn’t be bothered to—handle the cleanup.

"Kill them."

Chen Yuan spoke the two words without hesitation, stunning both Li Tiancheng and Yang Yanxing.

"There are over ten thousand surrendered members of the Hu Yan Tribe. You want to kill them all?" Li Tiancheng said, his voice laced with disbelief.

"’Those who are not of our kin are sure to have different hearts!’

"They pillaged the borders of Ning Province. The casualties among the common folk in over a dozen prefecture cities number far more than ten thousand—perhaps even over a hundred thousand!

"A life for a life, a debt for a debt. Does Lord Li disagree with such a simple truth?"

Chen Yuan’s face was impassive. "Besides, if we don’t kill them today, they won’t be grateful. They’ll just think the Central Plains are an easy target.

"In the future, they’ll just keep plundering when they think they can win and surrender when they can’t. What have they got to lose?

"Kill them all. Leave their bodies here as a warning to any other Grassland Tribes that dare to invade. This will be their fate!"

Yang Yanxing agreed. "Good! They deserve to be killed!"

Li Tiancheng frowned and waved his hand dismissively. "If you want to kill them, go ahead. My Celestial Martial Guard can’t be bothered to act as executioners."

It wasn’t that he was soft-hearted; he just felt that slaughtering over ten thousand people at once was a major affair.

If the Main Hall had any objections later, the blame wouldn’t fall on him.

Since the Celestial Martial Guard wouldn’t participate, the White Tiger Guard and the Po Jun Guard carried out the order, beginning to behead the prisoners one by one.

Seeing that the Zhenwu Hall intended to exterminate them, the surrendered Grassland People began to resist, but it was useless.

In the blink of an eye, over ten thousand corpses piled up on the border between Ning Province and the Grassland. The scene was utterly gruesome.

Li Tiancheng shot Chen Yuan a complicated glance.

A scene like this wasn’t enough to frighten him.

He was a veteran of the Zhenwu Hall. In his youth, he had even followed Chao Hongtu in rebellion and had killed his fair share of men.

He had even seen things like piling up corpses into monuments on the battlefield to intimidate the enemy.

But those had always been decisions handed down from above; he was merely the one carrying them out. And even then, he hadn’t been comfortable with it at first, and he had been much older than Chen Yuan is now.

But Chen Yuan was only in his twenties, yet he could order the execution of over ten thousand people without so much as blinking.

Such composure, such ruthless methods... it was truly rare to see in someone of the younger generation.