Nine Star Hegemon Body Art (WN)
chapter-9

BANG!

An explosive noise rang out, causing everyone to become completely dumbfounded. No one had noticed how, but at some point, Long Chen had appeared right in front of Li Hao just like a demon. This was due to his Windchasing Steps. This technique increased his speed to the max, especially in close range, and the explosiveness was something that was impossible to guard against.

Li Hao’s two claws hit nothing while Long Chen’s leg viciously kicked out and hit him between the legs with such a ferocious force that his whole body was lifted into mid-air.

After the explosive noise passed, a little ball flew out of Li Hao’s trousers and was flung towards the crowd.

Wang Mang was still imagining Li Hao tormenting Long Chen and making Long Chen suffer a life worse than death. But the current situation completely shattered this delusion of his, and his jaw dropped, dumbstricken.

He was completely oblivious to a small, grape-sized thing that was now flying towards his mouth. By the time he noticed it, the thing had already entered into his open mouth.

Before he could even react, that slippery thing passed through his throat into his stomach, bringing with it a grotesque, foul smell.

“AHH!”

Only now did Wang Mang react and desperately began using a finger to dig at his throat, causing him to vomit. After a while, a small ball was vomited out.

When Zhou Yaoyang and the rest of the people beside him saw that ball, they also started retching, swiftly scattering away from it.

“AHH!!!”

On the martial arena, Li Hao was tenaciously holding onto his crotch, his face twitching and contorting. If he hadn’t set up his spiritual qi to protect himself, he would have long since lost consciousness from the pain.

For a moment, the whole audience was completely silent. Everyone’s eyes roved from Li Hao on the stage to the distant round thing on the ground, and their expressions became extremely odd.

“This is good for you. Now you’ll be able to walk without slanting and tripping,” Long Chen said, nodding his head.

“You…!”

Li Hao’s furiously glared at him, wanting to tear him apart. His last family jewel was stripped off him, and now that it had entered Wang Mang’s stomach, it had already been corroded to the point that even if he collected it, he wouldn’t be able to use it.

One was taken away by a wild dog while one was no longer usable; Li Hao was now destined to become a sterile person incapable of reproducing.

“You fucker, go die! Stone Crushing Fist!”

Li Hao crazily roared, forcefully circulating his spiritual qi to restrain the pain coming from his lower body. His fist shot towards Long Chen, the wind whistling as it passed.

The full power of his third Heavenstage of Qi Condensation cultivation base exploded out. By now, he had already descended into madness and completely forgotten about Zhou Yaoyang’s instructions. The only thing on his mind was to completely destroy Long Chen.

Seeing Li Hao became completely berserk, a cold killing intent appeared within Long Chen’s eyes. He roared, the sound like violent thunder capable of shocking the sky, blasted the surrounding people’s ears.

An incorporeal aura engulfed Long Chen. Not taking any actions to avoid it, he also attacked with a fist.

“Spirit of the Bull!”

BOOM!!!

An explosion was followed by the sound of bones breaking. Li Hao let out a miserable scream, his blood flying everywhere. People were shocked and horrified to see that one of Li Hao’s arms had been completely crushed.

Long Chen was still resting in his punching position. His eyes were icy cold and completely apathetic. A terrifying killing intent spilled out from him, shaking people’s souls.

The current Long Chen seemed like a cold-blooded death god. His whole body brimming with an icy cold killing intent that caused everyone to tremble in fear.

The whole crowd was deathly still. The amount of power that he had released just now was something that even Zhou Yaoyang at the seventh Heavenstage of Qi Condensation felt somewhat afraid of.

“How is this possible?! He can use Battle Skills?”

“Isn’t it impossible for him to cultivate? What the hell is happening?”

“His expression is absolutely terrifying!”

People were unable to hold back their shock, and as for the ones who had previously ridiculed and sneered at Long Chen, they were all completely filled with dread. Seeing Li Hao lying on the martial arena, it was like they were seeing images of themselves. They couldn’t help but to tremble, their spirits shivering.

Even Long Chen himself was somewhat shocked. It appeared that even he had underestimated the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art; otherwise, if it was a normal person using a low grade Battle Skill, it would not be able to release such a terrifying strength.

Slowly walking over towards Li Hao, each of Long Chen’s steps rang out loud and clear. The sound of it was like the overture of a murderer, each step pressing down on the people’s hearts.

Step… step… step….

By now, Li Hao’s previous expression of anger had vanished, replaced with complete terror. Shaking and quivering, he stuttered, “Don’t… don’t come over!”

Li Hao wanted to run away, but the completely terrified him only noticed now that his body couldn’t exert even the slightest strength. To him, Long Chen who was slowly but gradually walking closer to him was like a nightmare which he couldn’t run away from.

“Don’t… don’t kill me! It was because of Zhou Yaoyang’s instructions!” Li Hao sobbingly begged.

Below the stage, Zhou Yaoyang’s expression changed, and he angrily shouted, “Li Hao, what nonsense are you saying?”

“I’m not saying nonsense. You told us to handle Long Chen and that afterward, you’d give us some benefits! All of this is because of you!” Li Hao pointed towards Zhou Yaoyang as he hysterically rambled. In the face of death, he had already forgotten everything.

“Li Hao, you’re asking for death!” Zhou Yaoyang’s face turned ashen, and his two eyes were filled with killing intent.

“Zhou Yaoyang, you bastard! You used me for your advantage! Long Chen, I’ll tell you. Zhou Yaoyang is nothing more than a henchman dog, in reality-”

Long Chen suddenly felt a chill in the air ordaining an attack; sensing the air of death, he quickly retreated without even thinking about it.

However, even after Long Chen had retreated, it didn’t appear like anything had happened. But when Long Chen once again looked at Li Hao, he saw that Li Hao’s eyes had already lost focus, and he had already taken his last breath.

Long Chen’s expression changed slightly; turning to look at the crowd, all he managed to see was a figure wearing a conical bamboo hat who was quickly fleeing the scene. With just a few strides, he had already disappeared from the crowd.

The unexpected events caused an uproar amongst the crowd. Obviously, that mysterious figure had killed Li Hao!

“Long Chen wins!”

After a brief spell of confusion, the martial arena’s overseer still ended up announcing this final outcome.

Although Li Hao wasn’t killed by Long Chen, Long Chen had already defeated him. If he had wanted to kill Li Hao, it would have been as easy as turning his hand, so in the end, they still announced that it was Long Chen’s victory.

Following Long Chen’s victory, countless people sighed in regret. With this outcome, they had no way to take back their bets.

As for the tens of people who had bet on Long Chen, they all crazily shouted in joy. Fatty Yu and the others shouted out especially loudly.

Lying on the martial arena, Li Hao would never again be paid any attention to. The martial arena’s organizers would send a message to his family, and they would come to pick up his dead body.

The life and death battles were all protected by the imperial capital. No one was allowed to secretly take revenge. Li Hao was only a low-born noble whose status was not especially high. If he died, then he died; there would not be any waves following his death. This was one of the unbreakable rules of the imperial capital.

Long Chen walked off the stage, receiving a heroic welcome from fatty Yu and the others. Shi Feng tightly hugged him.

“You brat, when did you become so strong? And you didn’t even tell anyone about it! My heart almost leaped out watching you,” grumbled Shi Feng.

“Brother Long - no wait, elder brother Long, in the future, we’ll all be muddling along with you; you have to cover for us,” said fatty Yu and the others with bright eyes.

Long Chen laughed, “Of course. Come on, let’s go to the betting place.”

In front of countless admiring stares and everyone’s cheers, Long Chen received no less than three million gold coins.

At the moment when the crystal card with three million gold coins landed in his hand, Long Chen was actually even more excited than when he had been beating Li Hao.

He had known that Li Hao was nothing more than a little dog. But the words that he had said right before he had died caused Long Chen to become even more cautious than before.

Originally, he had thought that all the bullying had been because of enmities with his parents’ generation, but that didn’t match with what Li Hao had said. It seemed that it was not such a simple affair as he had thought; most likely, he was just a single pawn.

He was just a trashy teen, and his family was completely impoverished now. There was no need for someone to actively plot against him in such a deliberate and methodical manner. The clear reason would be due to someone clashing with his father who was stuck guarding the barbarian border.

“It seems like it’s very complicated…”

But staring at the three million gold coins in his hand, Long Chen was filled with endless confidence. Was that the confidence that came with being rich?

Leaving with the huge crowd, Long Chen found a teahouse and invited his friends to eat whatever they wanted and returned them their money.

However, the money that had been earned was kept with him. Long Chen gave his friends a promise that caused them to be endlessly excited:

Everyone’s future cultivation would all be taken care of by him.

This caused fatty Yu and the others to go mad with joy. They were all completely incapable of cultivating, and if someone else promised this to them, then they wouldn’t believe it.

However, Long Chen was originally the same as them. Now that he had managed to dispatch Li Hao in such a quick way, how could they not believe him?

Hearing Long Chen promise this, everyone was overjoyed. However, Long Chen told them to keep this secret, and they all frantically nodded.

Their future cultivation was something that was basically just as important as their life, and adding on to how solemn Long Chen’s words were, they would not dare to treat it unimportantly.

After fatty Yu and the others left, Long Chen stayed behind to chat a bit with Shi Feng. Shi Feng was a genius whose aptitude was the greatest amongst all the noble heirs. He was already at the eighth Heavenstage of Qi Condensation and could enter into the ninth Heavenstage at any time. Entering the Blood Condensation stage before twenty should not be that difficult for him.

Through how Shi Feng had acted during these last two matters, Long Chen knew that he was definitely a person deserving his trust. After asking about Shi Feng’s current stage of cultivation, Long Chen split up with him and went directly to the alchemist guild.

The alchemist guild was in the south part of the imperial capital. It was the most sacred part of the entire imperial capital. Not even members of the royal family would dare to be rude towards the members of the alchemist guild.

Alchemist guilds were said to be spread throughout the entire world, and as for the guild in the imperial capital, it was nothing more than one of their branches.

What Long Chen needed to get this time was an alchemist’s official identification. Having that status would mean that in the future, it would be extremely easy and convenient for him to do what he wanted.

No matter where you went, alchemists were an extremely scarce occupation. With this identification, Long Chen’s status would no longer be the same. Even the Phoenix Cry Empire would have to think carefully before they would act against him.

The most important thing was that he could use an extremely favorable price and get a preferential treatment when buying the alchemist guild’s rare ingredients, letting him save the maximum amount of money.

Although the alchemist guild only took up a few tens of acres of ground, it rose dozens of meters into the air, making it extremely imposing and causing people to revere it.

Entering the lobby, two maids received Long Chen. They were surprised when they heard that he wanted to take the examination for an alchemist identification.

After all, Long Chen appeared to be only fifteen or sixteen years old, and he didn’t have any fluctuations of a cultivation base. However, the two of them still brought him into the refining hall.

At this time, the refining hall only had a dozen or so men inside. They were currently urging on their Pill Flames, appearing to be refining medicines.

“Huh? Why are you here?”

Just as Long Chen entered, an old man asked with an astonished expression.

When he saw that person, Long Chen’s heart erupted with a concealed anger. That old man was precisely the one who had treated his wounds. This person had clearly known that his injury had been no big deal, but by saying that he could possibly lose his memory, he managed to con his mother into selling her jewelry.

“I came here to take the alchemist exam.” Long Chen calmed the anger in his heart. He’d pay back the bill to this old man later.

“Alchemist exam?” The old man examined Long Chen from top to bottom. “Looks like your wounds from last time still aren’t healed. You should go back and heal them.”

Long Chen frowned slightly and insisted, “I really am here to take the alchemist exam.”

The old man’s expression sunk. “I don’t have time to waste on a little kid! Hurry up and beat it! Otherwise, I’ll get the guards to throw you out!”

Long Chen’s anger once again exploded. Glaring at the old man he shouted, “If your ears aren’t completely deaf yet, then I’ll repeat myself one more time: I am here to take the alchemist exam!”

By the end, Long Chen’s shout was already a roar that reverberated through the entire alchemist guild.

“What person is making such a loud ruckus?”

Suddenly, a thin old man walked over with a displeased expression. When Long Chen turned his eyes and saw him, a naughty grin appeared on the corner of his mouth.