Heaven-Surpassing Divine Emperor

A dense curtain of blazing fire arrows shot toward them.

Billowing waves of heat washed over them, and the hundred or so experts on the plank road stared with expressions of terror and fury.

"Bing Long... you’re asking to die!"

"No...!"

The experts roared one after another.

They all unleashed powerful attacks, striking at the fiery projectiles.

BOOM! RUMBLE!

The blazing arrows exploded one after another, their shafts shattered mid-air.

However, as the arrows shattered, the oil pouches strapped to them burst open, unleashing a blazing inferno that rained down from above.

SIZZLE! CRACKLE!

The endless flames fell like a torrential downpour, crashing down upon the Ice Wing Demon Cave.

Suddenly, the entire Ice Wing Demon Cave fell deathly silent, as if this corner of the world had been muted.

Then, a low buzzing sound began to emanate from within the Ice Wing Demon Cave.

The faces of the crowd changed in unison.

"Run! The Ice-Winged Demon Insects are stirred up!"

"Damn the Royal Family and the Ice King Race! If I make it out of this alive, I’ll annihilate every last one of you..."

"Don’t leave the plank road! Follow it to the end of the passage!"

The experts all shouted at once.

One man ignored the warning and flew directly off the plank road, trying to escape into the open air.

But the moment he left the path, tens of thousands of Ice-Winged Demon Insects swarmed out from the caves above and below. The insects were all finger-sized and shaped somewhat like ants, only they were pitch-black with a pair of icy blue wings on their backs.

Below their heads were two sharp mandibles that looked like large iron pincers.

A single bite could tear a chunk of flesh from even a master of the Union Palace Realm.

BUZZ! BUZZ!

Two swarms of Ice-Winged Demon Insects shot out with incredible speed, enveloping the expert who had left the path.

"No—"

The expert only had time for a single, wretched scream before his body was torn into countless pieces. The individual Ice-Winged Demon Insects then carried the bloody fragments back into the caves.

The stench of fresh blood filled the air, acrid and metallic!

BUZZ! BUZZ! BUZZ!

More Ice-Winged Demon Insects poured from the caves, a dense, endless ocean of them.

"Everyone hold your breath and don’t move! They won’t attack us then!" Jiang Chen quickly sent via voice transmission. He immediately held his own breath and stood as still as a statue.

The experts on the plank road all held their breath.

Not daring to move a muscle.

BUZZ! BUZZ!

A swarm of Ice-Winged Demon Insects circled above their heads, coalescing into dark clouds. The oppressive atmosphere was so intense that it felt like their hearts had stopped beating.

SWISH...

An Ice-Winged Demon Insect hovered before Jiang Chen’s face.

It slowly landed on his nose.

It vibrated its wings, its scarlet tongue licking its pincer-like mandibles as it slowly turned its body. Its pair of tiny, rice-grain-sized eyes stared straight at Jiang Chen.

Their eyes met.

Jiang Chen remained perfectly still, not daring to even blink. A drop of cold sweat slid down the bridge of his nose, threatening to roll right onto the insect. The hearts of Jiang Chen, Zifeng Jun, Purple Wind Frost, and Zhao Hongluan leaped into their throats. If that bead of sweat touched the Ice-Winged Demon Insect, it would surely be startled.

And that would cause the entire swarm to attack!

But luckily, just as the sweat fell, the insect vibrated its wings and flew off.

Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Bing Long and his group, watching from the foot of the mountain, saw everything.

Bing Long spat. "Damn it, he’s gotten way too lucky."

"He got out of that unscathed?"

Bing Xu also looked indignant.

"It’s fine. Just watch. I’ll put that kid in a death trap without lifting a finger."

A cunning smile appeared on Bing Long’s face. His sinister gaze fell upon Jiang Chen’s group as he sent a voice transmission to the others on the path. "If you don’t want to die, make Jiang Chen and his friends leave the plank road on their own. Do that, and we won’t attack you again. Otherwise, you can all die with them!"

At these words, the expressions of the experts on the plank road shifted.

All eyes fell on Jiang Chen and his three companions.

Zifeng Jun’s expression changed. "What are you thinking?" he sent via voice transmission. "Don’t forget, if it wasn’t for Jiang Chen, none of you would have gotten a single thing from the Underground Treasure Vault!"

"That’s right! You can’t repay his kindness with hatred!" Zhao Hongluan’s face was flushed with anger.

The crowd, however, showed no signs of shame. If anything, Zhao Hongluan’s words seemed to shatter their last vestiges of decency. One by one, they sent voice transmissions back: "It’s precisely because we remember your kindness that we’re asking you to sacrifice for us one more time. As long as the four of you step off, they won’t bother us anymore!"

"It’s for the greater good. The four of you dying to save more than a hundred of us... that’s not a bad deal!"

"Could you stop being so selfish? Especially you, Jiang Chen... We never asked you to undo our Bloodline Seals. We don’t owe you anything..."

"Don’t drag us into your personal grudges!"

"Exactly!"

The experts sent their transmissions one after another.

The cacophony of voices thundered in the ears of Jiang Chen and his companions.

Facing the verbal assault, a cold sneer appeared on Jiang Chen’s face. "Anyone else want to keep whining?" he said. "Believe me when I say I’ll lure every single Ice-Winged Demon Insect out of this cave and let them eat you all."

"..."

Hearing this, a flicker of fear appeared on their faces, and no one dared to speak again.

It takes a villain to put other villains in their place.

Seeing Jiang Chen so easily foil his attempt to sow discord, Bing Long’s expression turned ugly.

Zifeng Jie grinned, revealing a sinister smile. "Don’t worry," he said. "I have a special gift prepared for them right here."

"Oh?"

The others were taken aback.

Then, they saw a blue shortsword suddenly appear in Zifeng Jie’s hand. It was a Mid-grade Celestial Tier Profound Ice weapon, worth a fortune!

"What are you going to do with that?" Bing Long asked, startled.

Zifeng Jie had taken this Profound Ice weapon from the Underground Treasure Vault but had never dared to bond with it.

Zifeng Jie grinned. "Just watch."

Zifeng Jie gripped the shortsword, and with a swing of his arm, a sharp "SWISH" cut through the air.

The shortsword shot forward.

It flew straight toward Jiang Chen’s heart with unerring precision.

Zifeng Jie bared his teeth in a savage grin. "If you don’t block it, this sword will hit you. You’ll be severely wounded, if not killed outright. But if you do block it, you’ll provoke the Ice-Winged Demon Insects to attack, and you’ll still be dead for sure. Jiang Chen, it’s a no-win situation. You. Are. Dead. Hahahaha...!"

「Ice Wing Demon Cave, on the plank road.」

A look of both shock and fury filled Jiang Chen’s eyes.

’Zifeng Jie, Bing Long... their desire to see me dead is truly relentless!’

"Bing Long! Zifeng Jie! If I don’t kill you both, I, Jiang Chen, am not worthy of being called human!" A furious rage burned in Jiang Chen’s eyes. As the shortsword drew closer, his expression turned deathly cold. "Little Black, pull Hong Luan and the others into the Devouring Space!"

"Okay!"

The Black Emperor grinned, and as black light pulsed around him, he opened his great maw.

ROAR!

Amid a loud, piercing roar, a black vortex materialized in front of the Black Emperor.

Zifeng Jun and the other two had already received Jiang Chen’s signal. They offered no resistance and were immediately swallowed by the Black Emperor’s Devouring Space.

After swallowing the three of them, the Black Emperor returned to Jiang Chen’s shoulder.

"Where did they go?"

"That Demon Beast must have some kind of Secret Treasure that can suck people in!"

"Take us in too, quickly! Jiang Chen, don’t forget about us..."

The very same people who had just been trying to force Jiang Chen to sacrifice himself to save them, who had been heaping blame upon him, now wore a completely different expression as they pleaded desperately.

Jiang Chen swept his gaze over them, feeling not a single shred of pity.

He took a deep breath, rubbed the Black Emperor’s head, and said slowly, "Little Black, you’ll need to take care of yourself in a moment... because today, I’m going on a killing spree!"

[Author’s Note: 10 more Chapters to come! Little Tian is still at it. I had to get an IV and rest yesterday, but I’m recovered now. I’ll be pulling an all-nighter to get them written!]