Chapter 7280 Returning to the Academy

As a divine emissary, Yi Nuo knew of the shadow pawns, and she even had a way to recognize them. It was not a matter of knowledge or techniques, but a matter of bloodline. The other divine emissaries were oppressing her, and that was precisely because her bloodline was the purest amongst this generation of the Golden Wing Heaven Devils. With such a high-level bloodline, it was almost impossible for a shadow pawn to escape her senses; the only ones who could elude her were those whose power vastly exceeded hers.

“Lord Long Chen, what...?” Li Chengfeng was stunned to see this.

Of those three, he knew two personally. They were heavenly geniuses from powerful factions.

“Those three were shadow pawns, tools of the outsider devils. I’ll leave them to you. It’s up to you how you want to deal with them,” said Long Chen.

Li Chengfeng felt a chill. Long Chen had just thrown him a scalding hot potato.

No, he threw me a goddamn piece of red-hot steel!

Whether or not they really were spies of the outsider devils, it would cause a huge disturbance. These three people and the forces behind them would cause a storm.

If they weren’t spies, then he would definitely be blamed by their sects. It would be useless for him to try to blame Long Chen. If it turned out that they were in fact spies, then the three forces would have to make up some kind of excuse for their existence, in which that case, they would definitely hate him for the trouble.

“What, you don’t even dare to deal with the pawns of the outsider devils?”

Long Chen gazed coldly at the conflicted Li Chengfeng. Although he had been mentally prepared, Li Chengfeng’s appearance still made him royally pissed. Though he was the city lord and it was his responsibility, he didn’t dare to take any responsibility. He just wanted to spend his time doing nothing. These useless people were the real scourge to the nine heavens!

Seeing Long Chen’s gradually sharpening gaze, Li Chengfeng jumped and hastily said, “Lord Long Chen, don’t worry about it! I will definitely announce this matter to the world and summon the major forces to investigate. We will definitely give you a satisfactory explanation!”

Long Chen had to restrain himself from slapping him to death. Even now, this fellow still refused to take any responsibility! With such a useless old bastard as the city lord, even if there were outstanding geniuses here, they would be wasted. People like him, who were too afraid to take responsibility but lusted for more authority, were like chains dragging the nine heavens into the depths of despair.

Who knew how many people like Li Chengfeng there were in the nine heavens? Even if Long Chen didn’t care about infamy, he couldn’t possibly kill them all.

Long Chen didn’t say anything. He led the Earth Barbarian race to the transportation formation. Once they vanished, Li Chengfeng finally sighed in relief. He realized that his back was soaked in sweat. Just now, he had felt Long Chen’s icy killing intent, and he was well aware that he had just walked past the gates of hell.

Even a half-step Heavenly Sovereign like him was an ant in front of Long Chen. His life and death were entirely up to Long Chen. He had finally experienced the terrifying power of the human race’s number one heavenly genius.

“City lord, what do we do?”

Those three people were still screaming in pain. Everyone looked at the city lord.

What do we do?! How am I supposed to know what to do?! Li Chengfeng cursed inside. Even after being sent to such a dogshit place, he had still ended up encountering such misfortune.

Suddenly, he was struck by an idea. “The Four Cardinal Alliance has been making moves nearby! Immediately sent them to the Four Cardinal Alliance. Also, spread word that Long Chen has subdued a group of outsider devils. Apparently, the outsider devils have been placing so-called shadow pawns among us, and there is a blonde woman among his underlings who has the ability to sense these shadow pawns!”

Li Chengfeng didn’t want to take responsibility for something this big, so he immediately tossed the suspected shadow pawns to the Four Cardinal Alliance. According to what he had heard, the Four Cardinal Alliance had a bit of a relationship with Long Chen. Li Chengfeng could hint to them that this was a mission Long Chen had given them, and they would definitely be happy to accept. That way, this hot potato would be successfully tossed to the Four Cardinal Alliance. No matter what happened, he wouldn’t be responsible.

Furthermore, the Four Cardinal Alliance was rapidly expanding. They showed some signs of being able to reach the peak of the human race. In that case, this could be considered a gift to them. By killing the traitors, they would be contributing to the nine heavens, and showing that they weren’t afraid of the consequences. They had no reason to refuse.

As for spreading word of Long Chen accepting outsider devils, that was also a way for him to avoid responsibility. After all, he had let Long Chen into the city and allowed him to use the transportation formation. If something happened as a result of that, Li Chengfeng had to make sure that the blame was solely on Long Chen, not him.

...

By the time Li Chengfeng’s plan was in motion, Long Chen and the Earth Barbarians had already appeared in another city. Devil qi instantly unfurled within the city, sending everyone into a panic. The alarm rang.

As expected, when they saw that it was Long Chen leading these outsider devils, they were all dumbfounded. They didn’t dare to believe their eyes.

Long Chen didn’t waste words. He used astral energy to suppress the city. There were over ten half-step Heavenly Sovereigns here, but they could only kneel towards him. They were absolutely terrified; they genuinely thought that they were going to die here.

But then, Long Chen ordered Yi Nuo to pick out the shadow pawns. This city was on a much higher level than the last one; as it turned out, there were over a hundred shadow pawns here. Long Chen directly tossed them to the city lord and then moved on to the next city.

In one day, Long Chen visited over thirty cities with the Earth Barbarians, and he picked out over ten thousand shadow pawns in total.

Meanwhile, news of his companions was rapidly spreading. Although there were people amongst the nine heavens who had subdued outsider devils and used them as servants or mounts, they did so covertly and on a far smaller scale. No one dared to show off their outsider devils so brazenly. Long Chen was basically announcing that he had accepted these outsider devils as his companions, and that caused huge waves.

“What is he doing? Does he not know that he is forcing countless people to be his enemies? When the time comes, he will be pushed out from the nine heavens and rejected by the outsider devils! He’ll be attacked on all sides!”

Many people were shocked and enraged by Long Chen’s foolishness. Had he lost a screw somewhere?

Wherever Long Chen went, he caused a massive upheaval. Countless people were shaken, and countless others started planning on how to take advantage of this. Naturally, they were preparing to use the Earth Barbarian race against Long Chen.

“Master, aren’t you worried about the chaos you’re causing?” Seeing that Long Chen truly had no misgivings about his actions, even Yi Nuo couldn’t help being shocked. If she dared to act like this in the devil race, she would have died a hundred times over by now.

“I’m causing chaos? How could things possibly get more chaotic than they are already?” retorted Long Chen.

Yi Nuo was speechless. Indeed, she had picked out many shadow pawns on the way. As long as they existed, the nine heavens were doomed to be fractured and filled with conflict. It seemed that it really was difficult to make it worse.

When Long Chen arrived back at the first academy with the Earth Barbarians, the academy’s disciples were given a bad fright by the powerful devil qi that they exuded. However, Long Chen possessed absolute authority in the first academy. No one commented. They followed his instructions and designated a part of the academy’s estate for the Earth Barbarians to live in.

...

“Yi Nuo, you can take the pill now. I will guard you.”

Long Chen was fairly excited. If Yi Nuo succeeded, then he could raise a powerful outsider legion. He would use his enemies’ own power against them.

Yi Nuo didn’t hesitate to swallow the pill that Long Chen had given her. Immediately, a terrifying aura burst out of her, like a long-dormant volcano erupting at full power.