Sovereign of the Three Realms (WN)
chapter-255

Chapter 255: The Bewitching Lotus Reveals Its Might

“Ole Gold, do you have confidence in taking them all out in one fell swoop?” Jiang Chen asked.

The Rat King sighed, “The greatest weakness of our Goldbiter Rat tribe is our capability of flight. Until we evolve to the point of growing wings, the fighting prowess of the Goldbiter Rats remains limited. I’m confident in killing them all so long as they don’t scatter, but I’m unsure should they try to flee; particularly that Zhou Yi, he’s fast and won’t be easy to take down!”

Jiang Chen felt somewhat regretful when he heard these words. “Then it turns out that you can’t be seen. See if you have the opportunity to ambush some of them.”

“Heh heh, my best target is Liu Chengfeng. Young master Chen, honestly speaking, your Bewitching Lotus of Fire and Ice is actually the best weapon for ambushes at the moment. With the current strength of your Lotus, you’d have no problem devouring four second level spirit realm practitioners in one go should you command four vines at one time.”

Jiang Chen’s eyes gleamed.

“Young master Chen, the devouring abilities of the Lotus are quite strong. I feel that many disciples from the Purple Sun Sect are suitable targets. They specialize in fire attribute methods and some specialize in ice attribute attacks as well. If these people were to be swallowed, the power of their spirit oceans will in turn nurture the Lotus, indirectly strengthening your own spirit ocean.”

The Rat King’s suggestion made Jiang Chen’s heart hammer.

Of the other Purple Sun Sect disciples with Luo Huang, most practiced fire attribute methods whereas Yu Jie’s men practiced ice attribute fighting techniques. Jiang Chen had already learned of the latter from the battle at the Second Crossing.

When he thought of Yu Jie, the situation at the Second Crossing once again rose in Jiang Chen’s mind.

“Alright, ole Gold, it’s settled. You feed whenever there’s a good opportunity, but remember not to expose yourself. It’s not time for that yet!”

The Rat King was cowardly by nature and would never have exposed himself, even without Jiang Chen’s reminder. The Goldbiter Rat tribe found most joy precisely in sneaking around, it was in their nature. Even when they held an overwhelming advantage, they still preferred to keep a low profile.

Luo Huang and Zhou Yi were leading the pack as everyone rushed into the mountain valley.

Liu Chengfeng was close behind, following them inside.

The rest of the crowd similarly swarmed into the mountain valley according to their respective speeds.

Jiang Chen silently counted off beneath the ground, slowly spreading out four Lotus vines in formation from below.

His first target was naturally Yu Jie.

That fellow had strutted around and crowed to his face at the Second Crossing, putting on airs as if he lorded over all. Jiang Chen had a deep impression of him.

If it hadn’t been for that fellow, he likely would’ve killed Long Juxue long ago.

“He’s only at the second level spirit realm, his training is nothing much. I shall destroy him first! Lotus, activate; follow him!”

It wouldn’t be difficult to kill Yu Jie, but he’d need to time it right if he wanted to do so without alerting the others.

It was a good thing that everyone was focused on charging into the valley now. So long as he went about things carefully, he’d still have the chance.

Shrubbery and trees grew vibrantly within the valley, providing a natural cover.

Jiang Chen used the Ear of the Zephyr and listened for the rhythm of Yu Jie’s footsteps on the ground, as well as the distance he was maintaining from the other people.

“Mm, this is a chance. Lotus, rise!”

As Yu Jie ran ahead, he suddenly felt the ground beneath his foot give way and just when he was about to look down, a strong force sucked him underground.

An enormous ice lotus suddenly emerged from the ground as its petals unfurled, enclosing Yu Jie like a giant mouth.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The ice lotus swiftly returned below the ground after it’d succeeded.

Everything had been completed within a second and hadn’t left a single trace behind on the surface.

First one, check!

With this experience, Jiang Chen was like a fish in water in his subsequent attempts. His second target was Xiao Yu. That fellow had likely trained in ice attribute techniques was keenly picked up by another ice lotus vine as it was very sensitive in this regard.

Xiao Yu’s strength was roughly on par with Yu Jie’s.

He’d expended no effort with Yu Jie, and thus Xiao Yu was easily captured as well.

Coupled with Zhou Yi’s large numbers, no one even realized that Xiao Yu had gone missing. After all, the only person who really paid attention to Xiao Yu was his master Liu Chengfeng.

After Xiao Yu was taken, another two fire lotus vines chased after two Purple Sun Sect disciples, locking onto their targets.

These two disciples were Luo Huang’s junior brothers and roughly on par with Yu Jie.

However, these two were smarter and hadn’t separated from the pack as they charged in.

“These two then!”

Jiang Chen listened in on their footsteps after he surveyed their surroundings and noticed no one was particularly close to these people.

The two fire lotus vines broke through the earth before dragging those two below the ground as fast as lightning.

The petals folded, completely entangling the duo.

Once they’d been enclosed by the Lotus, the victims had no way to struggle free at all. The level of the Lotus was able to rank first beneath the heavens, it was laughable for an ordinary practitioner to even think of breaking free.

Although Jiang Chen’s current ability with the Lotus wasn’t to the point of being overwhelming, the Lotus’ innate strength was still there, so even its weakest form wasn’t something that a couple second level spirit realm practitioners could hope to break free of.

One of the ice lotuses slowly unfurled a gap, revealing the beet red and almost suffocated Yu Jie.

His head immediately poked out when the petals loosened up and he gasped for air. Although all was dark in front of his eyes and he couldn’t move a muscle from his waist down, he didn’t have time to consider where he was at all.

He only wanted to breath, greedily lusting for air.

After panting a couple times, he finally discovered that he’d been entangled by an ice-colored lotus.

Some petals were still stuck to his body and had created an incredible suction, thoroughly holding him in place. He couldn’t move a muscle no matter how much he struggled.

“What… what the hell is this?” Yu Jie panicked and reached a hand out to grasp the weapon on his back. His palm had only just reached his weapon when an enormous strength sent his right arm flying!

A dripping, right arm flew out into the air.

“Ah!!” Yu Jie screamed ghastly, scared witless.

He’d never been a part of such a bizarre scene in his life.

“Scream, scream all you’d like. Your desperate screams are music to my ears, Yu Jie.” A calm voice suddenly spread from the darkness.

“Who? Who is it?” Sweat beaded on Yu Jie’s forehead from pain, but him hearing a human voice at this moment was like a drowning man suddenly finding a floating log.

“Can you not make out who I am?” Jiang Chen chuckled softly in the darkness.

“Who… just who are you?” Yu Jie started. “Brother, no matter who you are, please, I beg you, save me! I’ve been entangled by this demonic thing, you…”

Yu Jie tried to hold up beneath the soul-searing pain and begged for help when his voice suddenly croaked silent, his eyes widened in stupor.

This was because he’d suddenly discerned the other’s face in the darkness.

“You’re, you’re Jiang Chen!” Yu Jie’s teeth chattered in fear as he felt like he’d fallen into an icy cavern as he trembled uncontrollably.

“Your memory’s not bad, hmm.” Jiang Chen walked closer with a supercilious smile. “Well? It hurts, doesn’t it?”

Yu Jie sweated profusely as he rasped out, “Jiang Chen, what… what are you doing here?”

Jiang Chen’s face sank. “What am I doing here? You’re asking me that? I should ask you what are you doing here? Lusting after my Goldwing Swordbirds, hmm? Want to capture my followers to ask for a pat on the head from that bitch Long Juxue, eh?”

Yu Jie’s face was ashen, “I… I… JIang Chen, this is a misunderstanding, absolutely a misunderstanding. I have no grudge with you, I only followed my master’s orders. If you let me go, I swear to the heavens that I’ll be your dog in the future. I’ll fight in whatever direction you point me to, and bite whoever you want me to!”

Jiang Chen paused.

He’d almost suspected that he’d captured the wrong person!

He took a closer look, It was indeed Yu Jie.

However, that particular Yu Jie had carried himself with such dignity and airs, such aloof nobility that day; placing himself in such a lofty position and acting as a lord above the world!

But now, this Yu Jie was voicing words such as these! His posture was so low, beneath even an ordinary, mundane practitioner.

Jiang Chen had extreme difficulty in connecting these two scenarios together. A sect disciple would be so afraid of death that he would even stoop so low?

Jiang Chen sighed, “Yu Jie, I’ve seen the greedy, tyrannical, hypocritical, and arrogant sides of sect disciples. But it’s the first time I’ve seen something like your ugliness in cravenly clinging to life instead of bravely facing death. You’re teaching me a lesson alright. It seems that the so-called sect disciples are all like this. I truly wonder how the sects will continue to survive into the future?”

Yu Jie had a long face on, “Sect disciples are human too, and humans are afraid of death. Jiang Chen, I’ll do anything you want as long as you let me go! I’m very close to junior sister Long Juxue now. I know you hate her. I can even trick her to leaving the sect so she’ll be at your mercy, how’s that? Long Juxue may be a bitch, but she’s still a virgin. Jiang Chen, if you’re interested, you can take her first and then kill her. You can do as you please. You know it, I’m useful to you!”

Jiang Chen smiled. He hadn’t thought that a sect disciple could sink to such depths.

He once again thought back to how cocky this fellow had been before.

Jiang Chen lightly raised an eyelid. “Yu Jie, you disappoint me. I rather wish that you’d be as arrogant as you’d been at the Second Crossing. You’d said then that no one beneath the heavens or on earth could save me. You’d also said that you only needed one finger to destroy me. Should I return these word back to you now? Do you still remember how many of my Goldwing Swordbirds you slaughtered then? You lorded it over me with your strength of second level spirit realm that day, but how come beg in front of us for mercy in the blink of an eye?”

All color drained from Yu Jie’s face as a chilling feeling gripped his heart and spread throughout his body.