War God Long Ao

Dugu Bai chuckled. Of course, he knew what Long Ao was up to.

"Brother Long is trying to mess with their minds. After all, he's facing ten Celestial Venerables and one Great Venerable."

"Let's just wait and watch the show."

Dugu Bai had great faith in Long Ao. Just as Xia Army had said, Long Ao's comebacks were always beyond their imagination. If it happened once or twice, it could certainly happen again.

Everyone seemed to have grown accustomed to Brother Long's shocking comebacks.

"Are you scared?"

"Hmph, why wouldn't I dare?"

Before that Celestial Venerable could accept the challenge, Su Chen suddenly waved his hand to stop him. The confidence his opponent was showing finally made Su Chen realize something was wrong. But he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. 'Just what feels so off about this?'

"Long Ao, you want to challenge all eleven of us by yourself?"

"That's right. I doubt any of you are my match in a one-on-one fight. Since that's just a hassle, you might as well come at me all at once. It'll save me the time I'd waste taking you out one by one."

Arrogant. Long Ao's arrogance knew no bounds.

To challenge ten Celestial Venerables and a Great Venerable all alone... besides Long Ao, who would dare do such a thing? Especially as a mere Earth Venerable.

Even though they knew something was off, the Ten Great Celestial Venerables were still enraged. Their faces flushed red, and they wished they could charge forward and tear Long Ao limb from limb.

Shaking his head, Long Ao said mockingly, "So you're all just a bunch of cowards. Your parents would be ashamed. My apologies, but since you don't have the guts, I won't play along. Farewell."

Without another word, Long Ao turned and left, disappearing without a trace in moments.

Watching Long Ao leave, the Ten Great Celestial Venerables ground their teeth in hatred. However, out of deference to Su Chen's status and power, they held themselves back. But this was an insult they absolutely could not swallow. As proud Celestial Venerable Martial Artists, they had just been scorned by a mere Earth Venerable.

If word of this got out, not only would they lose face, but the Long Family's reputation would be completely ruined.

"Elder Su Chen, are we just going to let this go?"

Su Chen's expression was grim. Of the eleven of them, he was the one who wanted to kill Long Ao the most, as he was here on a mission from the family. But what now?

Though he was unwilling to admit it, Su Chen knew he had been successfully bluffed.

"Long Ao is far too confident. If I were him, I would have left ages ago. Why did he wait here? What is he trying to do? Does he truly believe he can take on all eleven of us by himself?"

Hearing Su Chen's words, all ten of the Celestial Venerables rolled their eyes, silently despising him.

'Some Great Venerable he is. Great Venerable my ass! He's not even as decisive as us Celestial Venerables.'

Although they were inwardly resentful, the ten Celestial Venerables didn't dare say anything more. The gap in power between a Celestial Venerable and a Great Venerable was simply too vast.

"Elder Su Chen, I believe Long Ao is doing this on purpose. His goal is to frighten us off. I refuse to believe the Dragon Sect can withstand the combined might of the eleven of us. I just probed his Cultivation—he's merely an Earth Venerable."

"I know that. But for Long Ao to be so bold... I can't shake the feeling that something is wrong."

Seeing Su Chen dither, the ten men grew extremely frustrated. They wondered where the domineering Su Chen from a few moments ago had gone. It hadn't even been a few minutes, yet he seemed like a completely different person.

A Great Venerable was a top-ranked, renowned figure in the Kyushu Spirit Realm. This was especially true for Su Chen. He had relied on his own formidable strength to force his way into the Long Family and become a Foreign Elder, a position of extremely high status. Otherwise, the Long Family wouldn't have dispatched him to deal with Long Ao.

That was precisely why the Ten Great Celestial Venerables couldn't possibly understand why such a powerful man would be so wary of a mere Earth Venerable.

On the Celestial Martial Continent, Martial Artists reigned supreme, beings who stood above all else.

The ranks among Martial Artists were strict. Normally, challenging someone of a higher Level was exceedingly difficult, especially after one's Cultivation surpassed the Innate Realm.

In the Eight Realms of Void, each promotion to a new Level signified a qualitative leap in strength. The gap between an Earth Venerable and a Great Venerable was two full Levels.

Su Chen only needed one glance at the Ten Great Celestial Venerables to know exactly what they were thinking. 'Better safe than sorry.' His earlier domineering air had indeed vanished.

If Long Ao had appeared desperate or miserable, Su Chen wouldn't have wasted a single word; he would have simply killed him and returned to the family with his corpse.

But just now, Long Ao had been unyielding from beginning to end, even preparing to challenge all eleven of them alone. What did that even imply? Forget him being a mere Earth Venerable; even a Great Venerable wouldn't dare be so brazen.

Su Chen simply couldn't figure out what had given Long Ao such immense courage.

"Elder Su Chen, are we really returning empty-handed? The shame of going back like this would be too much to bear."

The other nine Celestial Venerables remained silent, but their silence spoke volumes. All ten of them felt the same way. After all, the Third Level Long Family had dispatched one Great Venerable and ten Celestial Venerables with great fanfare. And for what?

Ten Celestial Venerables and a Great Venerable had actually been bluffed by a mere Earth Venerable.

The ten of them could easily imagine that if word of this got out, all of them—including Su Chen—would be laughed to death by everyone.

Su Chen sighed deeply. 'I've always considered myself a rather domineering person. Before I came here, I planned to attack the Dragon Sect directly, no questions asked.'

With their combined strength, annihilating the Dragon Sect should have been a matter of minutes.

But for some reason, after seeing Long Ao—and especially the confidence on his face—Su Chen suddenly had a bad premonition. He couldn't stop wondering, 'Does Long Ao really have some hidden backing? Is that why he's so fearless?'

'It's always better to be safe than sorry. What if Long Ao really was confident he could handle them? Wouldn't that put all eleven of them in a very vulnerable position?'

"Elder Su Chen, if Long Ao truly had some ace up his sleeve, he wouldn't have acted that way. If he really had the power to deal with us, do you think he would have just let us walk away?"

Hearing this, Su Chen's eyes suddenly lit up. He said in a deep voice, "He's feigning indifference to reel us in. Long Ao deliberately acted so confident, but in reality, he must have been terrified. Trying to pull an empty-fort bluff on us... He's still a little too green for that."

"Elder Su Chen, what should we do now?"

The Ten Great Celestial Venerables seemed impatient, eager to rush in, destroy the Dragon Sect, and capture Long Ao to torture him mercilessly. 'If we hadn't held our ground,' they thought, 'we really would have been scared off. That was too close for comfort.'