Chapter 1261: Besieged on All Sides

“Vastsea! You’ll regret this!” A terrifying ray of blinding light burst out of Emperor Shura’s eyes. Fiery red beams abruptly floated over his body, turning him into a ball of flames shooting up into the sky. He’d summoned the Shura flames by igniting his bloodline!

The move wasn’t new to Jiang Chen. Emperor Shura had used it once during the final round of the Vassal Meeting.

“I’ll kill all of you! Die!” Emperor Shura’s battle intent grew more and more bloodthirsty as his bloodline powers burned.

Jiang Chen smiled blandly. “Hmph! Futile struggles by a trapped beast!”

He brought out an ancient talisman as he spoke. It was the Skyclearer Talisman that he’d taken from Imperial Prince Zhao during the fight with Demon Emperor Bloodmalva. It was an incredible talisman from the ancient ages. Even the demon emperor’s demonic miasma had been no match for its powers, let alone a mere sealing glyph. Sadly, modern talisman masters were no longer capable of creating talismans of this level.

Jiang Chen activated the talisman without hesitation.

The Skyclearer Talisman materialized as an ancient celestial god and instantly shattered the sealing glyph with an overwhelmingly formidable aura.

Jiang Chen was completely dumbfounded after witnessing this might.

Ah.. I’ve put such a fine talisman to ridiculously petty use. He was filled with regret when he saw how powerful it was. He never would’ve imagined that it would be so useful. Fortunately, this talisman can be used thrice. I’ve wasted it once, so I’ll have to use it sparingly in the future.

Jiang Chen stowed the talisman back safely and activated the Ancient Crimson Formation Disk. A formation designed for trapping enemies instantly connected with the Nine Sparks Petalstorm Formation. The mountain was completely wrapped in formations.

“Everyone, it’s time for you to display your skill!”

The three great emperor assassins that Emperor Pillzenith were rushing up the mountain to encircle Jiang Chen, but they found themselves trapped in a formation instead. When they looked up the mountain again, their target had drifted away.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh! Figures kept surging out from all directions around the mountain.

“Kill them!” Jiang Chen shouted.

Emperor Wellspring took the lead. The precious sword in his hand slashed forward a dazzling arc of radiance that roiled towards Emperor Shura.

Mo Wushuang didn't hold back either as he deployed his arts and thundered towards Emperor Shura.

In terms of cultivation, Emperor Wellspring was possibly superior to Shura, and Peerless’ was on par with Shura. Throwing in Vastsea into the mix made for a three against one situation. Shura burning his bloodline powers didn’t help it one iota. He’d been gravely injured by Vastsea’s blow, so his battle strength was a far cry from his usual peak form.

Emperor Wellspring was teaming up with Peerless on the mountain while the other nine wandering great emperors split into three groups, surrounding the three assassins and attacking furiously.

Given how the premises were enclosed by a formation that Jiang Chen was constantly monitoring and powering with the Earth Bodhisattva Orb, the would-be attackers were fish in a barrel. Their only function was to be beaten up. There was no escape to be had.

Although they had many trump cards to help them flee, they didn’t have a chance to use them at all. Everyone was facing off with three opponents. There wasn't much a cultivation gap between fellow great emperors, so being disadvantaged in numbers meant that victory was impossible.

Besides, given the formation surrounding them, they’d have to leave the current area first before they could use any escape glyphs. As wondrous as their glyphs might be, they were useless when trapped in the formation.

Increasing surprise assaulted Shura as he battled on. He’d recognized the sword in Wellspring’s hand. “Emperor Wellspring, I have no feud or conflict with you. Why do you force me so threateningly?”

Peerless however, shouted. “Shura, you upset the natural order of things and even the heavens despise you! What more do you have to say for yourself?”

“Pah! Mo Wushuang, I'd thought you were a man, but to think you're willing to be Sacred Peafowl Mountain’s loyal dog! Is this all that a wandering heavyweight is good for?” Shura may be receiving a beating, but his mouth was working overtime.

Emperor Wellspring responded blandly. “Shura, I wouldn’t make a move against you if we were outside Sacred Peafowl Mountain. The young lord has paid us to protect him on these grounds, so I’m afraid my actions will give offense. Just like young lord Zhen said, you wouldn’t be faced with death if you didn’t go looking for it.”

Shura roared angrily as he’d been hit repeatedly as they conversed.

“Vastsea, you traitorous scum who sells out his own master! When have I ever mistreated you?? How dare you betray your master for personal gain? Do you think you can wash yourself clean if you throw yourself to this brat’s mercy? Do you want me to reveal all the ugly things you’ve done?” Shura now turned his attention to Vastsea.

Emperor Vastsea’s possessed an incredibly thick face and he retorted coldly. “Shura, there’s no point in trying to drive a wedge between people now. I won’t regret any decision I’ve made. This way is still better than yours to hell! I tried to convince you not to come back to Veluriyam Capital, that you shouldn’t take the risk. But you decided to strike out on your own anyways and dragged me down without my consent. Did you ever ask if I wanted any of this?”

“Pfft, look at you finding excuses for being afraid of death!” Emperor Shura was incensed beyond believe.

“That’s right, I’m afraid of death. It’s been a long and arduous journey to reaching great emperor. Why should I accompany you when I know that only death awaits me?” Emperor Vastsea didn’t deny things at all.

“Shameless, shameless!” Shura bellowed, apoplectic. “I’m going to kill you, traitor, if that’s the last thing I do!”

A ghastly scream sounded in the distance. One of Emperor Pillzenith’s great emperors was just a hair weaker than the rest. He’d suffered a critical blow in his fight, which meant that the fight was soon to be decided. Scrapes and surface injuries wouldn’t determine the winds of battle, but fatal wounds could.

Repeated moves blasted into that great emperor as he shrieked and howled in agony. His body was tossed up like a sandbag and light from a sword flashed by behind him. It graced his neck, shooting a large head up into the sky. Blood spurted out in arrows, marking the fall of a great emperor.

None of the wandering great emperors were foolishly kind people. Since they’d decided to take action, they wouldn’t just stop at first blood.

After offing one opponent, nine of them circled the remaining two. The two fought with the desperation of a caged beast, but their mindsets had become fragile with the demise of their companion. They put their backs to each other and barely managed to defend their stance, but their situation was perilous.

Emperor Inferno charged ahead, sending a dominating dragon of fire churning towards the two. Emperor Reliance wasn’t to be outdone and notched an arrow onto her bow, Lifereaper. She too was ready to take their lives at any second.

“Daoist Inferno and Reliance, please hold!” The two broke down and begged for mercy when they saw that the two great emperors had readied their killing moves. The would-be assassins were in a disguise, so it was impossible to tell who they were from appearances.

Emperor Inferno blinked when he heard the cry and sniffed coldly. “How do the two of you know this great emperor?”

Lifereaper remained taut.

“Fellow daoists, we’re all wandering cultivators here, why seek our deaths?” The two ripped off their disguises to reveal their true faces.

“It’s you two?” Emperor Inferno started. He and Reliance actually did know the two.

“The Jiao brothers of Mt. Huai?” Emperor Reliance was startled as well.

“It’s us, it’s us.” The two begged piteously as they knew they were dead without a doubt if the fight continued. “Daoist Inferno and Reliance, we have the same roots, why torment each other like this? Why do wandering cultivators have to make life difficult for other wandering cultivators?”

Emperor Inferno hesitated. He was a straightforward man, but not someone who enjoyed killing for the sake of killing. If the two hadn’t revealed themselves or had they been sect experts, he would’ve given the kill order without another thought. But the two were actually wandering cultivator experts and they all knew each other.

Even though the Jiao brothers weren’t as famed as he, they still ranked at the top. In the world of wandering cultivators, the top experts rarely tried to kill each other.

This was a slightly dicey situation now. Emperor Inferno’s eyes flitted over to his counterpart, wondering what thoughts she had.

Emperor Reliance giggled. “Don’t look at me. Ole Brother Hui’s over there dealing with Shura. You’re in charge here. We’ll kill them if you say so and refrain if you say no.”

The other great emperors with them didn’t say anything, but the answer was clear in their eyes. They would listen to Emperor Inferno. He smiled wryly. “This is nuts. Jiao Yun, Jiao Feng, are you two mad? Why are you involved in Veluriyam Capital’s internal conflict?”

The Jiao brothers complained ruefully. “Daoist Inferno, we’re equally resigned. We’re not interested in this conflict at all! But we owe some people some favors and they wanted us to come here to attack young lord Zhen. There’s nothing we can do about it either.”

“This complicates things. We have a business transaction with the young lord. If we let you go, we’ll be violating the principles of the transaction.” Emperor Inferno mused. “It’s up to the young lord whether you live or die.”

Sweat beaded the Jiao brothers’ forehead. They were tremendously shocked that so many wandering cultivator heavyweights were willing to listen to the young lord’s orders. What was going on here?