Chapter 160: Inexperienced Robbers

Floating in the air with the Wind Spirit Wings spread behind him, Xu Chen looked down at Wu Ming, who had been suppressed by him the entire time.

The twelvefold power intertwined within the Golden Blade Technique alone had driven Wu Ming to the verge of despair.

Everyone in the stands stared in utter shock, their eyes filled with disbelief, seeing how Xu Chen could suppress Wu Ming using merely a single Golden Blade Technique.

"Boom!"

Wu Ming attempted to break free from Xu Chen's assault, but another Golden Blade Technique struck him squarely, slamming him back into the ground.

At this moment, Wu Ming's face was twisted with a violent expression, and the aura he emitted grew increasingly dangerous.

Three thunder spears hovered around Xu Chen. The moment Wu Ming made any unusual move, a Thunder Spear Technique would be unleashed to nail him firmly to the earth.

"To step on me..."

As he spoke, another Thunder Spear Technique pierced into Wu Ming's body.

"...is simple. All you have to do is be stronger than me."

"Uhh..."

Wu Ming emitted a low, beast-like growl, the light of reason slowly fading from his eyes.

Just as Xu Chen was about to drive down another thunder spear, Wu Ming suddenly erupted. His dark red blood-qi physical avatar transformed into a demonic shadow.

Defying Xu Chen's Golden Blade and Thunder Spear techniques, he stepped through the void and surged upward.

"Die!" Wu Ming whispered like a wild beast.

His speed was so extreme that he left nothing behind but a streak of red afterimages.

However, Xu Chen was even faster. With a mere whisper of wind, Xu Chen vanished, reappearing on the other side of the sky.

"That's it. Bring out all your strength."

Xu Chen's hands blurred into afterimages as he formed hand seals, sending a torrent of spells crashing toward Wu Ming.

The spells moved at breathtaking speed with tricky trajectories, making it impossible for Wu Ming to evade, even at his absolute fastest.

Wu Ming was once again pinned to the ground.

At this point, a solemn expression appeared on Xu Chen's face. He realized that Wu Ming's strength was growing at a rapid pace.

Even while suppressed, the opponent still retained the power to counterattack.

"If it weren't for the rule against killing, this would have been over long ago."

Right now, Xu Chen was gradually increasing the power of his spells bit by bit, terrified that he might accidentally end Wu Ming's life.

"After all, this is a minor world. Even with the foundation of the extreme Blood Qi Realm, the mastery of techniques and combat prowess are still somewhat lacking."

Xu Chen formed a seal with one hand, causing several wind blades to trace graceful arcs through the void and slash across Wu Ming's blood-qi avatar.

Seeing that the timing was right, Xu Chen formed hand seals with both hands, causing countless thorny wooden vines to bind Wu Ming tightly.

The barbs on the vines slowly pierced through Wu Ming's blood-qi avatar.

"Things have come to this. I'll give you a chance—how about you concede defeat?" Xu Chen asked leisurely.

"Die! Just die, all of you!!"

Wu Ming let out a sudden, ferocious roar, detonating his blood-qi avatar to break free from the wooden vines. Transforming into a blurred shadow once more, he lunged toward Xu Chen.

"Stubborn and unyielding."

A single thunder spear cleaved downward like a bolt of lightning.

Just when Xu Chen thought the battle was drawing to a close, a blood-red demonic shadow seemed to cross the void, abruptly drilling straight into the center of Xu Chen's brow.

In that very instant, Xu Chen instantly suppressed six folds of the thunder spear's power.

"So this was the true purpose of the mission. They could have just said so directly."

After the demonic shadow penetrated deep into Xu Chen's brow, the mission jade token stored within his spatial treasure flared with spiritual light, directly drawing the demonic shadow out of his mind and into the token to suppress it.

As for Wu Ming in mid-air, having taken the brunt of the thunder spear, he promptly fainted and plunged into unconsciousness.

In the distance, a young girl flew across the sky, her face etched with deep sorrow.

"Brother~~!"

The young girl threw herself onto Wu Ming's chest and burst into tears.

"He's not dead yet. Stop howling like a mourner," Xu Chen said calmly, standing amidst the ruined battlefield.

The young girl paused. Not dead?

"Thank you for showing mercy," the young girl kowtowed to Xu Chen before scooping up Wu Ming and retreating outside the arena boundary.

Xu Chen glanced toward the judges' pavilion, signaling them to announce the result quickly.

Yet at that moment, on the highest viewing platform in the distance, nearly half of the powerhouses from the Six Realms saw their eyes flash with scarlet demonic light.

The entire sky turned a murky crimson.

"Kekekekeke, I originally intended to snatch away a few high-aptitude flesh vessels and leave, but I never expected to encounter such a supreme specimen."

"There is a scent about you that makes it hard for me to suppress my excitement."

Before Xu Chen could even react, he was grasped in the palm of a hundred-foot-tall blood magic avatar.

"My intuition tells me you harbor secrets."

A tremendous force stretched Xu Chen's limbs apart into an X-shape, binding him completely.

The sharp nail of the blood magic avatar's finger pressed directly against Xu Chen's Dantian.

"Good grief, is this a sudden emergency? Is this part of the mission?"

Even though he was restrained, Xu Chen felt not the slightest bit of panic.

The blood magic avatar was being arrogant; it had merely immobilized him without sealing his spiritual energy.

A wisp of Xu Chen's spiritual energy slipped into his spatial treasure and directly snapped off a corner of the mission jade token.

This was the emergency contact protocol for unforeseen crises.

In an instant, the formations within the Human Emperor City, the Outer Realm Department, and the Tianli Hall began to flash with crimson light.

The immortal officials on duty there instantly panicked.

"Quick, send reinforcements!" an immortal official urged anxiously.

"An alien race has severed the formation connection with the Tianli Realm. Contact the nearest Outer Realm Department and dispatch reinforcements immediately," another immortal official said quickly after checking the array.

A beam of red light shot straight out from above Tianli Hall and plunged into the void.

In the Starry Sea Domain, a human spiritual hall stood guard, observing the myriad realms.

"What is the situation? Something is wrong with the Tianli Realm! Human destiny indicates an alien invasion!" An angry voice echoed from within the human spiritual hall.

Meanwhile, Xu Chen, Wu Ming, and Li Yumo were trapped inside a blood spirit cage.

A demonic boat shrouded in a bloody glow was sailing through the Starry Sea Realm.

"Fellow Daoist, why aren't you panicking?" Li Yumo asked with lingering fear, having encountered such a situation the very first time he left his native realm.

"Death is unavoidable anyway, so I might as well be optimistic," Xu Chen grinned, patting Wu Ming beside him.

After the three of them were captured, all their spiritual energy was sealed before they were stuffed into this blood spirit cage.

To the terrified Li Yumo, Xu Chen felt slightly unhinged.

"I never imagined I'd run into outer realm demons the very first time I traveled far from home. I might never make it back," Li Yumo sighed.

"Not necessarily. Who knows, someone might come to rescue us in a moment," Xu Chen said softly.

He figured that the ones who waylaid them must be amateurish aliens; otherwise, they would never have allowed them to keep their storage bags and spatial Dharma treasures.

At that moment, an alien standing a zhang tall with entirely blood-red skin stood before the cage, looking at the three captives inside with excited eyes.

"Three prime physical vessels. Once I inject my children into your bodies, you will undoubtedly become the supreme blood demons."

"Especially you," the blood demon pointed at Xu Chen, his words brimming with endless pleasant surprise.

Yet Xu Chen inside the cage merely looked back at the blood demon calmly, his expression rather playful.

"Why aren't you terrified? Aren't you afraid I'll kill you?" The blood demon sensed something was amiss.

"Death comes to us all eventually. Being scared now would make me a coward."

"Let me ask you a question: did you bother to gather intelligence on the human race before acting?" Xu Chen asked out of curiosity.

"A minor race with at most a few Golden Immortals—why would I need to gather intelligence on them?" The blood demon laughed as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world.

"Sigh~" Xu Chen sighed.

One of the clauses in the mission jade token's information stated that upon encountering life-threatening danger or being taken outside the boundary of human destiny, the token would automatically trigger protection and teleport the bearer back home.

During the mission period, it remained bound to the token whether it was kept close or not.

Since the token hadn't activated yet at this stage, it proved they were still within the sphere of influence of human destiny.

"Little bug, what are you waiting for? Those pitiful reinforcements of yours?"

"My leader is an existence who has stepped onto the immortal path. Do you really think they can save you?"

Just as the blood demon laughed arrogantly, his eyes suddenly widened in shock. A massive hand descended from above, gripping the blood demon's head and slamming him straight to the ground on his knees.

A tall human figure appeared before the blood demon cage.

The towering, muscular man wore a grim expression as he directly crushed the blood demon's skull into a pulp.

"Uhm, Mission Emissary, could you put in a good word for me when we get back?" The muscular man forced an awkward smile onto his grim face as he looked at Xu Chen.

"Whether I speak up or not doesn't matter anymore, even though I'd love to help you."

Within the human race, city lords across various domains and the immortal officials of the Human Emperor Temples all held a fraction of human destiny authority.

If an alien race invaded and human destiny issued a warning, yet a disaster occurred due to dereliction of duty in monitoring, failure to detect it would be considered a major blunder for either city lords or immortal officials alike. In severe cases, they might be permanently imprisoned in desolate worlds resembling prisons.

Xu Chen knew there must be a similar system in place here.

"Forget it, I'll send you back first," the newcomer sighed.

"Who are you? What is a Mission Emissary? And where are we?" Li Yumo asked three questions in rapid succession.

With a gentle flick of the muscular man's finger, Li Yumo slipped into unconsciousness.

"I hope I can unearth some good loot by trailing this blood demon leader; otherwise, a thousand years of my merits are going to be wiped clean," the muscular man said in frustration as he shattered the cage and released the three of them.

"It's fine. If the three of us had really been hauled away and turned into those vessel things, you probably would have ended up on the Judgment Blade Platform," Xu Chen comforted him.

In the Tianli Realm, all puppet bodies possessed by blood demons had already been thoroughly cleansed.

A sword immortal looked out over the corpses covering the ground and couldn't help letting out a sigh.

"A moment of carelessness, and a thousand years of hard work go down the drain."

A spirit boat landed not far from the sword immortal. The muscular man who had rescued Xu Chen stepped off the spirit boat, carrying Li Yumo in one hand and Wu Ming in the other.

Xu Chen followed closely behind.

"Seniors, this junior has a question. Logically speaking, an alien race entering the realm shouldn't have gone completely unnoticed like this," Xu Chen asked out of curiosity.

"Although our human destiny governs these worlds, its focus is concentrated primarily on vital locations."

"Take him, for instance," the muscular man jerked the unconscious Wu Ming upward slightly.

"I originally thought you were only sent here to adjust the trajectory of this Child of Destiny."

"Never did I imagine that the anomaly was caused by an alien invasion from the Starry Sea Domain."

"Fortunately, that alien made a move; otherwise..." The muscular man shuddered at the thought.

"If not for your negligence, how could things have come to such a pass?" The sword immortal frowned as he looked at the man stepping off the spirit boat.

"Weren't I just indulging in a bit of wine at the time? Everything had been fine for a thousand years, who would have thought..." The muscular man wore the expression of someone who had suffered monumental bad luck.

"Seniors, since the matters here are concluded, I should be on my way." The mission jade token materialized in Xu Chen's palm. Theoretically speaking, his mission was already completed.

"Take care on your journey, Mission Emissary. We drew the short straw, but you certainly lucked out."

(End of Chapter)