"You're digging your own grave!" Ma Kun's anger had hit the roof, all his fears from earlier vanished and his anger burst out once again - he only had one thing on his mind. No matter what his punishment would be, he wanted to kill this man first. So, he dashed towards Chu Li and launched another fist.
Chu Li shriveled and narrowly dodged it.
Under the circ.u.mstances, there was no need for him to do anymore, making a move would only lead to a backfire.
"Ma Kun, from today onwards, you're no longer a Centurion! You'll be the Second in Command!" After witnessing this, Fu Mengshan said quietly.
Ma Kun was not bothered at all, he dashed again towards Chu Li, even if he were to be demoted to second in Command, he had to slaughter Chu Li no matter what!
"Chu Li doesn't have a Second in Command yet. As such, you'll be his Second in Command," Fu Mengshan continued coldly.
Ma Kun suddenly regained consciousness and stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes widened in disbelief. "Commander!"
Fu Mengshan rolled his eyes at him. "What's the matter, you don't want to accept this?"
"Commander, I'm fine with being a second in command, but why do I have to be under him? Commander, you know that our relations.h.i.+p is beyond salvageable!" Ma Kun called out.
Fu Mengshan grunted at the remark. He did not seem to be bothered. "If you don't want to do it, then you can guard the Imperial Mausoleum!"
"Commander! All these years, I've been conscientious and upright, even if I have not done many meritorious deeds, I have put in so much hard work, right? How can you do this to me!" Ma Kun shouted out loud.
Fu Mengshan ignored his pleas. "You need to increase your knowledge and learn well, take a look at how Chu Li does things and learn from him. It's not like you won't become the Centurion again. I'm doing this for your own sake, you have to understand!"
"I'm irreconcilable with that man!" Ma Kun said in desperation.
Fu Mengshan shook his head. "Looks like you value this enmity more than being the Centurion of the Secret Guardians Hall – in that case, I guess that there's nothing left for me to say. It'll be up to you if you want to take the job or not, either you guard the Imperial Mausoleum, or you become the Second in Command, you choose."
"Commander!" Ma Kun cried out.
Chu Li said, "Commander, it'll be hard for an idiotic fool like him to be competent enough as the Second in Command, I'm afraid that…"
"Ma Kun is not as dumb as you think. He's still more than competent as a Second in Command. Let me warn you beforehand if anything happens to him and he loses his life, I'll hold you solely responsible for it!" Fu Mengshan interrupted him.
"Sigh… Commander, if this is how you treat a meritorious man like me, it's really…" Chu Li shook his head and said.
When Ma Kun heard his mystifying words, he became furious again, he could not wait to pounce on Chu Li to kill him.
Fu Mengshan, however, quickly retorted, "Am I not treating you well enough by sending Ma Kun to you for you to do as you please?"
Chu Li laughed and said, "There's no need for him to come over if I wanted to toy with him, Commander. At the end of the day, we should still receive the rewards that we deserve."
"Of course! I won't forget about that part." Fu Mengshan smiled.
Ma Kun stood beside him with a damaged spirit. As he watched Chu Li and Fu Mengshan joke around, he felt angry and alone.
Chu Li took a glance at Ma Kun and said faintly, "Second in Command Ma, report to me early in the morning tomorrow!"
Once he said that Chu Li waved his hand. "You may leave!"
Ma Kun grit his teeth and glared at him.
Chu Li laughed. "There's nothing you can do about this situation, I believe that you're a talented man too, Second in Command Ma, as such, I believe that it would be best for you to adapt to the circ.u.mstances. Now leave!"
"… Very well!" Ma Kun gritted his teeth and nodded slowly.
He did a fist salute to Fu Mengshan and stormed out.
Ning Boyuan and the others quickly made way for him, they watched as Ma Kun strode out, shoving people out of his way in the process.
Xu Huande avoided Ma Kun and entered the main hall, he turned to look in confusion. "What's wrong with Ma Kun, why is he in a towering rage?"
Chu Li did a fist salute and replied with a smile. "Commander Xu, the Commander has just demoted him to Second in Command. He'll be my Second in Command, so I think his rage is somewhat justified"
Commander Xu looked at Fu Mengshan. "Isn't that going a little overboard?"
"We need to polish up Elder Ma. Don't worry, I understand him very well. He's one of those who can adapt to situations easily, he'll report to Chu Li conscientiously tomorrow and will listen to him." Fu Mengshan waved his hand dismissively.
"After all, he's an old man, let go when you need to," Xu Huande added.
Fu Mengshan shook his head and said, "This time, his mistake cost the lives of two Secret Guardians, sigh… Young Chu was right, an unable General will only lead soldiers to their death. At the moment, Elder Ma is genuinely incapable of being the Centurion."
Xu Huande fell silent, he had learned about the death of the two Secret Guardians as well.
He looked at Zhou Lingfeng who was on the ground.
After Chu Li reported everything to them, he continued the previous topic, "So, why wouldn't the Emperor kill him?"
"This involves the mystery of an Enlightened Master, I can't tell you much about it. In any case, just take my word for it that the Emperor won't kill him even if he could, and we can't kill him, as it would only cause more trouble." Fu Mengshan sighed.
"I've already killed him once," Chu Li said.
"Did he become stronger?" Fu Mengshan asked.
Chu Li nodded slowly.
Fu Mengshan continued, "That's why we can't kill him too many times. With each death, his powers will grow, up until the point that he'll be able to threaten an Enlightened Master. When that happens, n.o.body in the world will be able to repress him – the rivers will run red with blood!"
Chu Li asked, "Can he still resurrect himself if we chop his head off?"
"That's going to cause even more trouble; you must avoid doing so at all cost!" Fu Mengshan quickly said.
Xu Huande sighed. "When you exterminate their bodies, their divine light doesn't vanish. After they reincarnate, they'll regain their cultivation level when they turn eighteen, whereby they'll continue cultivating the Asura Power Technique and become much stronger than they are now."
"Will they regain memories from their past life?" Chu Li was shocked.
Xu Huande shook his head. "Memories can't be restored, they can only regain their cultivation levels and legacies, which was the terrifying part of Asura. You can exterminate those cultivate the Asura Power Technique in their first three stages, but once they reach the fourth stage and cultivate the Body of Asura, then they become immortal. Sigh… this is why the Tempest Temple has banned the skill, it's truly horrifying."
"They have not given up hope until now. They think that the mystery of achieving paramita lies within the Asura Power Technique. Apparently, if one can get their dharmic base and cultivation level to the point that they can master the Asura Power Technique, then that someone can become Buddha for sure." Fu Mengshan scoffed.
Chu Li nodded slowly, he could understand the Tempest Temple's train of thought.
The Asura Power Technique was rather similar to the Ten Lifetimes of Dharma of the t.i.tanium Temple, but cultivators of the Asura Power Technique would not enter Trayastrimsa to continue their cultivation after death. They would only hibernate and be sealed up; they would not be able to retain their memories from their past lives, unlike the Ten Lifetimes of Dharma.
Nonetheless, only those with superior insight could cultivate the Ten Lifetimes of Dharma, which is why only there were very few cultivators in the world. There were only a couple of them in the t.i.tanium Temple.
The Asura Power Technique was the complete opposite. Although it was not easy to cross the threshold required for this either, it was very different from cultivating divine power.
Chu Li pondered and said, "By the looks of it, we can only imprison this man. After all, we can't kill him, no?"
"That's right. He can only be kept captive, but where we are to imprison this man is another riddle to be solved too," Fu Mengshan said.
"This won't do, we can only send him to Sky Towering Peak!" Xu Huande said.
"Sky Towering Peak…" Fu Mengshan hesitated.
Chu Li smiled. He was pleased that they had some kind of plan. "And where is this Sky Towering Peak?"
"The location of the Sky Towering Peak is strictly confidential, it's best that you don't know." Xu Huande shook his head.
Chu Li only managed to capture a fleeting glimpse of an enormous peak from their minds, which towered into the clouds before they subconsciously refused to think about it anymore.
"Commander, Commander Xu, can a person who cultivates the Asura Power Technique be subdued? It'll be a useful weapon if one can be kept for our own purposes," Chu Li continued.
"Haha…" The two of them laughed.
Fu Mengshan laughed too. "Young Chu, you really have a wild imagination!"