Gao Kui knew he was about to die. He wanted to take Imperial Prince Huo with him to the underworld.

So sudden was his attack that the imperial prince and the chief warden were both caught off guard. If Gao Kui was allowed to get near them and self-detonate, he would unleash incredible destruction.

It was hard for empyrean experts to defend against their fellows’ suicidal techniques. In fact, suicide attacks were the most dangerous kind in their duels.

If someone chose to ignore any danger to themselves, they would inevitably become significantly more dangerous to others in turn. Only an expert that could overwhelm them would have no reason to fear.

Gao Kui’s sudden charge sent Imperial Prince Huo into a panic.

“We go together!” cackled the Tritalent expert.

However, his ideas were cut short by a golden wall that had spontaneously materialized into being. The barrier completely cut him off from the imperial prince. No matter how hard he hit it, he could not get through.

Gritting his teeth, Gao Kui soared into the air in an attempt to get a different angle.

When he did so, however, a golden bell was waiting for him.

It opened its maw like an ancient consuming beast, ravenous enough to swallow up even the heavens and earth.

The bell smashed into Gao Kui, ringing with dragonsong. Potent energy radiated from the bell in the form of an immense pillar of light, enveloping its victim within.

Gao Kui was like a rabbit in a cage, entirely unable to escape no matter how hard he tried.

Jiang Chen stood in midair with stern majesty. His Evil Golden Eye opened wide, firing ray of consciousness into Gao Kui’s own eyes.

“Know your place!” There was a faint authority in his voice that naturally invoked awe in others.

Nearby, the Vermilion Bird was rather amazed. It had seen countless human experts from ancient times until now. Even so, even the ancient leaders of humanity could only equal the youth in authority. This Jiang Chen was a natural leader of the highest caliber.

He was more used to being in power than practically anyone else the bird had seen!

“That humanity would have a genius like him nowadays… I suppose there is a reason for the human race’s long standing vitality.” The sacred fowl was shaken.

Though it had attained godhood, it didn’t lord that achievement over its companion. It knew well that Jiang Chen would reach the same level someday soon.

In fact, the Vermilion Bird believed Jiang Chen to have much more future potential than itself. The young man’s capacity for achievement was immeasurable. Perhaps he would walk where no genius has walked before, and work miracles the world has never seen!

Something strange began to happen.

The arrogant Gao Kui’s fierce expression turned to helplessness and despair. His body hardened bit by bit, until his expression and extremities became totally frozen. 

He had become a statue!

Imperial Prince Huo and his men were positively astonished. Had he been turned into a statue by a mere look from Jiang Chen? What scary ability was this?

The imperial prince’s heart pounded. He’d always thought Jiang Chen’s strength to come from his prominent status and his partner the Vermilion Bird.

Though Jiang Chen was certainly a genius himself, his strength hadn’t been greatly perfected yet.

What he saw though, proved those assumptions naively false.

With the abilities he’d shown so far alone, Jiang Chen could easily cause a great deal of trouble for Rejuvenation without taking the Vermilion Bird at all into account.

His archery skills and his ocular skills seemed inescapable. The imperial prince wasn’t sure he would’ve been able to escape Gao Kui’s fate had their places been switched.

He exchanged a relieved look with Chief Warden Ding. They were lucky to have made the right choice in more ways than one. If they hadn’t sought a compromise, making an enemy out of Jiang Chen was absolutely suicidal.

Jiang Chen was no longer the same man as Jiang Huang the fugitive!

He was a force to be reckoned with anywhere in the Ten Divine Nations, let alone among the lesser factions.

The two left behind were even more clueless. They tried to run, but were caught and crushed by Long Xiaoxuan with little resistance.

The dragon was seventh level empyrean realm, and his draconic heritage allowed him to fight as well as a peak ninth level expert.

Taking down two seventh level cultivators was more than easy. He utterly outshone them in both power and speed.

Gao Kui’s twelve-man ambush squad had been fully wiped out.

Even Imperial Prince Huo felt like he was dreaming. He knew that Tritalent would no longer be a problem after receiving young lord Jiang Chen’s patronage, but he hadn’t expected such a smooth resolution to his problems. Rejuvenation’s life-and-death issues were trivial affairs for the Eternal Sacred Land’s young lord.

The imperial prince stirred with thoughtful emotion. At the end of the day, strength decided standing. Currying favors was only going to get them so far.

Jiang Chen glanced at Imperial Prince Huo. “I killed them, so I’m going to take the things they’ve left behind. There’s no problem with that, I trust?”

“Of course, of course. They are your spoils, young lord,” came the hasty reply. How could Imperial Prince Huo possibly want to dispute ownership? “Let me send out my men to collect the belongings for you,” he suggested thoughtfully.

The battlefield was tidied up in a few quick moments.

“Let’s keep going,” Jiang Chen remarked with a collected ease. “And while we have time, tell me what factions Tritalent has managed to garner as its allies. How many experts are there, approximately?”

Imperial Prince Huo was gleeful. “After suffering this devastating defeat, the Tritalent Isles will be severely hurt. We might be able to take advantage of this by quashing Tritalent itself. Everything will be solved then!”

“Well, then let’s follow that plan.” Jiang Chen nodded.

He lacked understanding about second and third rate factions in Myriad Abyss, but according to some common sense, the twelve dead empyrean experts would’ve been the majority of Tritalent’s higher end—plus a number of other factions’ as well.

Just Tritalent alone probably didn’t have that many advanced empyrean experts.

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