The Human Emperor
chapter-1364

Chapter 1364: The Men in Black Retreat!

“Retreat! Everyone, retreat for now!” the golden giant on the summit growled thunderously. The Righteous Alliance was far more difficult to deal with than they had imagined, and it would be very difficult for them to win in the situation as it stood.

Buzz!

When a tree fell, the monkeys would scatter. The men in black at the base of the mountain were the first to retreat, and then the men in black midway up the mountain frantically fled into the darkness. Finally, the three bamboo hat men began their escape.

“Hmph! Don’t even think about it!”

With a bone-chilling cry, the Righteous Alliance Vice Lord gave chase, his robes flapping in the wind.

But a moment later, a white fog swept toward Song Yuanyi and the vice alliance lord.

“Careful!” a voice warned from behind him.

The vice alliance lord also seemed apprehensive. One could see at a glance that there was poison in this fog, but he was not too worried. Rumble! White Stellar Energy roared out of his body, instantly scattering the fog. The remaining power in this attack rumbled forward and struck the bamboo hat man who was farthest behind in the back.

Fwoosh!

This attack came with incredible speed, and even though the third bamboo hat man had somewhat prepared himself, he still could not endure the power of the Universal Sundering Art. His Stellar Energy instantly crumpled as a grievous injury was inflicted on his body, causing him to vomit blood.

This energy caused his body to hurtle forward, flipping over in the air several times, but he was also able to use this energy to swiftly escape into the darkness.

“Guangting, forget it! Don’t pursue a cornered enemy!” Seeing that the vice alliance lord wanted to continue the chase, Song Yuanyi called out to stop him.

This momentary delay was enough for all the men in black in the distance to completely vanish from sight.

Since the enemy had fled, Xie Guangting could only give up on the pursuit and turned to Song Yuanyi.

“Yuanyi, what’s going on here? Where did such powerful opponents come from, and with such bizarre arts?”

“The origin of these men in black is unknown, and I cannot answer your question. We should treat the wounded first and talk about this matter later.”

Song Yuanyi’s face was rather pale. It was clear that he had been injured in that fierce battle. Slowly, he walked down from the sky.

Swish!

He scanned the area, a hand reaching out from his sleeve and lightly flicking. Ten-some bolts of energy flew through the air, each one entering the body of a wounded Righteous Alliance disciple who had fallen.

Song Yuanyi had not dared to consume too much energy before the defeat of his opponent, but now that the battle was over, he could spend his energy liberally.

“Ah!”

With cries of pain, those motionless Righteous Alliance disciples began to cough and slowly get up.

Their breathing was still weak, but color was rapidly returning to their faces while their wounds were rapidly closing.

“Alliance Lord!”

Seeing Song Yuanyi, these people all bowed, but Song Yuanyi ignored them, swiftly walking past these people. Boom! With a wave of his sleeve, he sent out a boundless wave of Eternal Spring Stellar Energy. Wherever this wave passed, many of the fallen Righteous Alliance disciples began to stand up, the injuries on their bodies healing.

Even some of the Righteous Alliance disciples who had been poisoned by the Celestial Powder were cured by Song Yuanyi’s Eternal Spring Stellar Energy and began to awaken.

Rumble! Song Yuanyi’s Eternal Spring Mantra poured down the slopes of the mountain. Many Righteous Alliance disciples stood back up, but many more remained motionless on the slopes.

Many of these people had been killed in the battle with the men in black, but a significant portion had also taken in too much Celestial Powder. Not even Song Yuanyi’s Eternal Spring Mantra had any effect on them.

As Wang Chong made his way up the mountain, he also noticed the miserable condition of the disciples who had been poisoned by the Celestial Powder.

The Celestial Powder this time is different. It seems to be much stronger!

The men in black had also used the Celestial Powder on him at Liuyao City, but that odorless and tasteless powder was meant for paralyzing Stellar Energy and capturing the target alive. The poison this time was much more lethal.

Fortunately, the night wind blew in only from one side, or the losses would have been much worse, Wang Chong quietly said to himself.

The vast majority of these dead disciples were on the eastern face of the mountain. The organization of men in black had sprinkled the poison powder in the wind, catching these disciples completely off guard and poisoning them.

Wang Chong could see that their skin, fingernails, lips, and faces had started to shrivel up and turn black. They were already thoroughly dead, and their bodies were contorted as if they had experienced immense pain before death.

Although Song Yuanyi’s Eternal Spring Mantra was said to be able to regrow bones and heal mortal wounds, even it was powerless in this situation.

Everything had calmed back down, but cleaning up the situation would take a very long time.

……

With the battle over, the three bamboo hat men and the surviving men in black reconvened at a forest several dozen li away from the Righteous Alliance base. The bamboo hat man who transformed into a golden giant had undone his transformation and returned to normal size.

“What’s going on? After such a long time, did no one find any sign of the target?”

The bamboo hat leader’s face was pale, his body naked. He took a towel from a subordinate and wiped his face, which was drenched in cold sweat. If one looked carefully, one could see a tattoo of a golden man on the stomach of the leader, moving along with the tensing of the muscles and bursting with light.

The bamboo hat leader seemed extremely exhausted. Returning from that golden giant to his ordinary body did not consume much Stellar Energy, but it put the body through excruciating pain and required vast amounts of physical strength. This Righteous Alliance Lord had been much harder to deal with than he had imagined.

“No, we were searching the entire time, but we found no sign of him.”

The men in black lowered their heads.

The bamboo hat leader who had been wiping his face suddenly stopped, a cold light in his eyes.

Bang!

There was an explosion of Stellar Energy, and the several men in black who had spoken up just now were immediately sent flying into ancient trees with trunks that would take three or four men to completely encircle. Boom! Wood chips flew as these men were half-buried in these trees.

“Useless things!” one of the bamboo hat men cursed as he slowly withdrew his palm. This night raid had been a major defeat, completely different from the nearly assured victory they had initially expected. In the end, they didn’t even know where the target was! It was simply disgraceful.

A man in black lowered his head and muttered, “Milord, we were standing guard around the base of the mountain this entire time, but no one ever left. We also don’t know what happened. Logically speaking, the soul eagle shouldn’t have failed…”

“Trash!”

The bamboo hat man who had previously lashed out now stared at this black-clothed man, a stream of Psychic Energy surging forth. A moment later, this black-clothed man’s eyes went slack, and then his hands clenched around his throat as he fell to his knees. His eyes began to bulge outward, and then, plush! Black blood poured out of his eyes, mouth, ears, and nose. Thump! He dropped to the ground, devoid of any life.

Only now did the bamboo hat man’s mood seemed to improve. The other men in black fell into fearful silence, not daring to make a noise.

At this time, the third bamboo hat man finally spoke. “Forget it. The mission failed, and killing those people now will do us no good. Even the Immortal Lord has been alarmed by his multiple escapes and has been compelled to personally move out. This target isn’t as easy to deal with as we imagined. Our first priority should be to consider what our next move will be.”

The third bamboo hat man quickly turned to the ordinary men in black.

“You’re all dismissed! I’ll summon you again when you’re needed!”

“Yes, Milord!”

The men in black fearfully scattered like frightened birds.

Only when these men had dispersed did the three men finally turn back around.

“Milord, what should we do?”

The second and third bamboo hat men turned to their leader. Even though the others hadn’t realized and had only believed that their leader had undone the ‘Golden Warrior’ transformation, these two understood that his condition was actually rather poor.

“I underestimated him. I didn’t think that there was such a formidable individual amongst the sects of the Central Plains! To think he could cultivate that technique to such a level!”

The bamboo hat leader did not directly answer, his eyes turning to the mountain where the Righteous Alliance base was located. Slowly, a thin trickle of black blood seeped down his lips.

The other two bamboo hat men were alarmed at his sight. They were keenly aware of their leader’s strength. In this battle, he had seemed invincible in his golden giant form, but in the end, he had actually lost his battle with the Righteous Alliance Lord!

“…Although he isn’t stronger than me, his organs are far more tenacious than mine, even when I’m in my giant form. If I hadn’t seen it for myself, I would have never dared to believe it! We were truly too careless this time!” the leading bamboo hat man said.

“This Righteous Alliance is truly too bold! Some measly ants actually dare to oppose us gods! There can be no forgiving this crime. We should find a chance to completely exterminate this Righteous Alliance!” the second bamboo hat man said, his face radiating a terrifying chill.

“Now is not the time to think about such things!” The leader waved his hands and immediately rejected the idea. “The True Lord is about to descend. All of you know what will happen if we cannot find the target and complete our mission by the time the True Lord has descended.”

Buzz!

Hearing that the ‘True Lord’ was descending, the other two bamboo hat men paled, an intense and oppressive fear in their eyes.

“Milord, then we should….”

The two bamboo hat men swallowed, lacking the sharpness from before.

“Relax. The Origin Immortal Mountain will appear soon. We can deal with them then! And if all goes as expected, our target should appear there as well!” the bamboo hat leader said, his eyes profoundly turning to the northwest. A cold and callous smile emerged on his lips.