Chapter 960: Annihilation
Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Millman97
Peng!
The Greenleaf King crashed onto the ground, and his back tore a deep gorge of a dozen meters long on the ground.
Following which, blood spurted from his mouth furiously. His face was as pale as a sheet of paper, as if he had been depleted of his blood and vitality.
He and the Goldenleaf King were cultivators with strength equaling one another. The latter had struck him suddenly with his full might, and even though he had managed to remain alive through channeling his energy at the very last moment, all of his organs had ruptured, leaving him in a state of near death.
At this rate, it was likely that he wouldn’t last for too long.
The Greenleaf King clenched his jaws tightly together and howled frenziedly, "Why?"
He and the Goldenleaf King were both Otherworldly Demon Kings. While the both of them didn’t have much interaction with one another, they were still comrades undertaking the same important mission for the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe. Yet, in face of an enemy, the latter had actually attacked him instead of the enemy. Why?
He just couldn’t understand it. At this moment, a voice suddenly shouted, "Why? Because he is the master teacher in disguise! Greenleaf King, kill him! Otherwise, we might both end up losing our lives here!"
Turning around, the Greenleaf King saw another Goldenleaf King standing right behind him. Following which, the second Goldenleaf King charged forward to attack the first Goldenleaf King ferociously with a finger jab.
Hong long!
A pure and concentrated killing intent crushed down on the first Goldenleaf King.
On the other hand, the first Goldenleaf King’s face was completely flushed. He opened his mouth several times, seemingly wanting to say something, but his voice just wouldn’t come out.
"He is the master teacher in disguise?"
"Indeed! That fellow disguised himself as me so as to conveniently attack the both of us! Help me, I can’t hold my ground against him alone!" the second Goldenleaf King roared anxiously as he was pushed back under the retaliation of the first Goldenleaf King.
Upon hearing the explanation and glancing at the two Goldenleaf Kings, how could the Greenleaf King still be ignorant to the situation?
That Zhang Xuan fellow who had saved all of the master teachers was using the same ploy against him once again! How could he have been so foolish as to fall for the same trick twice?
"So that’s the case! Damn it..."
Roaring angrily, the Greenleaf King ignited the blood in his body, and in an instant, his withered vitality was abruptly restored. Regaining his strength, he charged at the first Goldenleaf King, who had severely wounded him earlier.
The Otherworldly Demonic Tribe’s Blood Ignition Art! Once activated, one would die without fail. But in the short period of time before then, one would obtain strength far beyond one’s limits.
Upon seeing the Greenleaf King using that move, the first Goldenleaf King immediately panicked. He quickly shook his head as fear and horror appeared in his eyes.
However, his body had been completely suppressed by the other party’s unbelievably pure killing intent, rendering him unable to speak for the moment.
"It’s too late for regrets. I will have you know that master teachers aren’t the only ones who are unafraid of death. For our ultimate goal, we, the Otherworldly Demons, are willing to give our all as well!" With a determined glint in his eyes, the Greenleaf King’s fist crashed down, like a comet from the heavens, upon the first Goldenleaf King with a frenzied roar.
On the other hand, the first Goldenleaf King struggled with all his might, but his body was temporarily immobilized under the powerful suppression of the second Goldenleaf King. Eventually, he wasn’t even able to put up any defense against the immensely powerful strike of the Greenleaf King.
Peng!
Struck squarely in his chest, the first Goldenleaf King was sent flying while furiously spurting blood. He crashed heavily onto the ground before blacking out altogether.
It was impossible for him to hold his ground against the simultaneous assault of two equally powerful Kings.
Pu!
After activating the Blood Ignition Art and utilizing his ultimate strike, the Greenleaf King’s injuries aggravated further, and a mouthful of blood spurted from his mouth. His body collapsed powerlessly to the ground as he gasped desperate for air, unable to speak a word.
However, there was a hint of a smile in his eyes. He knew full well how mighty his strike was. There was no way the other party could have survived after taking it head-on.
At least he had killed that human principal before his death. His sacrifice was not in vain.
However, in that moment, in his peripheral vision, he caught sight of the first Goldenleaf King struggling desperately to his feet with deep indignation in his eyes, as if unwilling to meet his end just like that. The body of the first Goldenleaf King trembled weakly as he stared at the second Goldenleaf King with a look of disbelief on his face and said, "Y-you... You are that human principal, aren’t you?"
At this point, he finally understood everything.
From the moment he saw the second ’him’ appear, he had already realized that something had gone really wrong and that he had fallen for that wretch’s trap.
From the very start, the very first Greenleaf King he had met was this bastard in disguise while the human he had been fighting against was his ally in disguise. Seeing the two of them clashing, he had automatically assumed that the Greenleaf King before him was the real one.
The setting of the password was also a scheme of the other party to make him mistake the real Greenleaf King to be a fake!
Naturally, there was no way the real Greenleaf King could have been aware of the password. Thus, when he tried to challenge the latter with the password, the latter had been unable to respond.
After which, when he made his move against the Greenleaf King, that fellow had appeared once more, this time disguised as him, to collaborate with the Greenleaf King against him.
Truly killing two birds with one stone! With just mere words and a Beguilement Formation, he had turned the both of them against one another, becoming the victor of the battle easily!
"Not bad, you are quite sharp after all!" The second Goldenleaf King chuckled as his appearance and physique warped into the form of a twenty-year-old human.
Zhang Xuan!
The two Kings were Saint realm 4-dan experts. Even with twenty Saint realm 3-dan puppets and a grade-7 Beguilement Formation, it would still have been nigh impossible for him to achieve victory.
After all, the Beguilement Formation only messed with one’s sense of direction, but it couldn’t isolate sound. If he were to attempt to focus his attack on one of the Kings, the ruckus and disturbance in the spiritual energy would surely have drawn the other King in too. He would then have had to face two of them simultaneously, and the only possible conclusion in that situation was defeat.
Thus, the best way was to make them turn against one another.
The Beguilement Formation could confound one’s senses, making it impossible for one to perceive one’s surroundings clearly. Making use of this advantage, as well his and his clone’s ability to disguise themselves, he was able to convince the Goldenleaf King that he was the real Greenleaf King and turn the Goldenleaf King against the real Greenleaf King.
Then, when the Greenleaf King was injured by the Goldenleaf King, the Greenleaf King would naturally think that the latter was him in disguise, especially considering what had happened earlier that day.
It was not that the two Kings were fools, but Zhang Xuan had crafted each situation convincingly, manipulating their current emotions and thoughts to nudge them to act. On top of that, his ability to wield the killing intent unique to Otherworldly Demons and almost perfect disguise made it even more difficult to guard against him. Even the smartest of people could have been easily tricked in the spur of a moment.
"You..." The Greenleaf King’s face paled in horror, as if a bolt of lightning had struck him. At this point, seeing the second Goldenleaf King morphing into the form of a human, how could he still not understand what was going on?
The Otherworldly Demonic Tribe had spent an astronomical price to send the both of them over, but before they could even push their forces beyond the Subterranean Gallery, they had turned against one another due to the despicable schemes of the young man before him. The immense frustration he felt at that moment sent another spurt of blood gushing out of his mouth.
"Even if I die, I will bring you down with me!" Roaring furiously with gritted teeth, the Greenleaf King struggled to his feet to launch a decisive blow against Zhang Xuan, but in that instant, an Otherworldly Demon puppet abruptly kicked his head before he could gather his strength.
Peng!
Completely unprepared, his body tumbled forcefully backward on the ground.
That puppet only wielded the strength of Saint realm 3-dan, and under ordinary circumstances, it would not have been a match for him. However, with the severe injuries that he had sustained and the backlash from activating the Blood Ignition Art, he was already completely depleted on the inside, making him powerless to fend against the attack from the Saint realm 3-dan puppet.
Lifting his gaze, he saw another dozen or so Saint realm 3-dan puppets encircling the Goldenleaf King tightly, pummeling the latter viciously, not giving him any chance to activate the Blood Ignition Art at all.
It would have been difficult for them to deal with so many puppets even at their peak, let alone in their current situation. It didn’t take long for the Otherworldly Demon Kings to be gasping weakly for air as they slowly fell into death’s embrace.
"You despicable..." the Greenleaf King uttered weakly as he glared ferociously at the young man before his eyes.
To think that he, an Otherworldly Demon King, an existence possessing unparalleled power in his territory, would actually have been toyed with by a twenty-year-old brat like that!
The overwhelming indignation that he felt left him so furious that he felt he might explode on the spot.
Facing the Greenleaf King’s rage, Zhang Xuan simply gazed down on the other party coldly, his eyes devoid of any compassion or pity. "Despicable? As one who has committed countless atrocities and feasted on the blood and flesh of humans, do you think that you are in a position to call me despicable?"
As a race who cultivated the Zhenqi of Slaughter and feasted indiscriminately on the blood and flesh of all other intelligent lifeforms to further themselves, it was just a matter of time before justice was brought upon them.
"This is simply survival of the fittest. It is the honor of lowly lifeforms like you humans to be ingested by us!" the Greenleaf King replied coldly.
"Honor?" Hearing those words, Zhang Xuan chuckled coldly. "I see. Since that’s the case, why don’t I offer you the same honor as well?"
Zhang Xuan raised his hands and commanded, "Beat him to death!"
Roar!
The twenty Otherworldly Demon puppets immediately nodded upon hearing the command and began launching another wave of vicious attacks against the two Kings.
Pilipala!
Three minutes later, the two Kings were lying powerlessly on the ground, devoid of any strength to retaliate anymore.
Not only so, their dantians had been crushed as well, causing the immense strength that they had once harnessed to disappear without a trace.
Gesturing for the puppets to stop, Zhang Xuan stepped forward and asked, "Alright, it’s time to come clean about how you managed to bypass the seal and get here, and what your motives are!"
If he wished to kill the two Kings, there would have been no need for him to waste so much effort on them. The reason he had kept them alive was to interrogate them on this.
"You want us to betray our tribesmen? Dream on!" the Greenleaf King spat coldly.
"Our Otherworldly Demonic Tribe doesn’t have despicable traitors who would sell out their kind for their own benefit!" the Goldenleaf King roared as well.
After which, a fresh mouthful of blood abruptly spewed from the Goldenleaf King’s mouth as his eyes burst apart. Following which, his head slumped weakly to the side, and his body fell completely motionless.
"What?" Astonished, Zhang Xuan quickly turned his gaze toward the Greenleaf King, only to witness the same happening to the latter as well.
"There was probably some kind of lethal poison placed in their teeth, which granted them instant death once activated. It is a countermeasure in case they were captured by the humans," Vicious explained.
Zhang Xuan harrumphed in anger. "If you knew earlier, why didn’t you tell me?"
He had just been a step away from possibly acquiring the intelligence he needed, and yet, the two fellows had actually committed suicide before his eyes. How could he possibly not be angry at this situation?
"I only recalled it just a moment ago," Vicious replied awkwardly.
"Forget it!" Sighing deeply, Zhang Xuan waved his hands in exasperation. As frustrating as it was, what was done was done.
Besides, it wasn’t guaranteed that he would have been able to pry open the mouths of those two.
After all, those who were dispatched here could only have been the most loyal of the Otherworldly Demons, and it would have been difficult to obtain any crucial information from them.
With his Soul Depth reaching a level equivalent to a 7-star master teacher, Zhang Xuan’s Impartation of Heaven’s Will was effective even on Spiritual Perception realm experts. However, against a Saint realm 4-dan experts like the other party, not to mention, ones with strong mental fortitude, it was impossible for his Impartation of Heaven’s Will to work.
To be honest, even if the two Kings were still alive at this point, the chances to obtain any important information from them was extremely slim.
"Alright. Kill all of the remaining Otherworldly Demons in the formation!" Waving his hand, Zhang Xuan issued an instruction, and the Otherworldly Demon puppets swiftly dispersed in all directions.
Hu!
Zhang Xuan walked up to the two Kings and took off their storage rings.
Immersing his consciousness within the rings, he took a peek at the contents inside.
S-so many treasures?
Upon seeing what was within, Zhang Xuan’s eyes lit up.