Nine Star Hegemon Body Art (WN)
Chapter 94: Extreme Urgency

Once Long Chen had dragged the Savage Marquis dozens of miles away, he threw him to the ground. Zhou Weiqing was already so heavily wounded that just this little impact caused him to spit out more blood.

Having been hit by the arrow which Long Chen had thrown so powerfully, his organs had already been shaken into pieces. But as a Blood Condensation expert, the blood in his body contained a great deal of life energy, so he wouldn’t die immediately.

“Zhou Weiqing, tell me, how should I kill you?”

Long Chen looked down at this man who was once a powerful expert in his eyes, his voice filled with bone-chilling coldness.

If it had just been a personal enmity between the two of them, Long Chen wouldn’t have minded giving him a quick death. But thinking back to the corpses of those villagers and their sorrowful expressions, his hatred of this bastard exploded.

He didn’t know just what manner he could kill Zhou Weiqing that would relieve his anger. He only coldly contemplated this, thinking of a suitable method.

“Long… Long Chen, don’t kill me! I’ll tell you all my secrets! I was also forced, so I was also helpless!”

Zhou Weiqing was as pale as a sheet of paper. He could feel his life force quickly fading. Right now, the only one that could save him was Long Chen who was a pill cultivator.

In order to save his own life, this proud and arrogant noble no longer cared about anything and even begged Long Chen for mercy.

“Does saying that have any meaning at this time? I already know that everything was planned by the fourth prince. As long as I return to the capital, everything will be revealed. There is no need for you to talk,” snorted Long Chen coldly.

“No, no, Long Chen, the situation is definitely not as simple as you think! As long as you promise to let me go, I’ll tell you something extremely urgent. It definitely won’t disappoint you!” said Zhou Weiqing hastily.

Long Chen coldly said, “Speak. If it really is helpful to me, I won’t mind leaving you alive.”

Zhou Weiqing celebrated and hastily said, “Your household has already been captured and placed into prison. They’re currently waiting to be executed.”

“What?!”

Long Chen’s expression changed and he harshly shouted, “Bastard, you dare try to trick me?”

“No! I definitely don’t dare trick you!”

“Once Wilde returned to the capital, he should have immediately gone to protect my family. How could they possibly be captured? Furthermore, even if Wilde didn’t inform him, how could grandmaster Yun Qi just watch without lifting a finger?” Long Chen raged.

“Wilde truly did rush to your family as soon as possible, but he wasn’t able to protect your household.”

“Why not?” Even with Long Chen’s calm, he was still panicking now.

“Cough, cough… I…” Zhou Weiqing wanted to speak but an intense bout of coughing overcame him.

Long Chen coldly snorted. Zhou Weiqing was getting smart and resorting to petty tricks. He threw down a medicinal pill. “Take it, it’ll heal your wounds.”

“Thank you, young master.”

Zhou Weiqing hastily swallowed. He had always kept an eye on Long Chen for years, and he knew that he was just like his father and would take his promises seriously.

But so far he had only agreed to let him go and hadn’t promised to heal his wounds. If Long Chen left, he wouldn’t even be able to support himself for more than a couple of hours before the spiritual qi in his blood was exhausted.

And within those few hours, he would be completely unable to walk out of this forest to find help, so he would definitely die. For him to be able to force Long Chen into giving him a medicinal pill in his state, there was no choice but to admit that Zhou Weiqing truly did have a cunning side.

“If I tell you everything, you have to keep your promise and not make things hard for me.” After taking that medicinal pill, Zhou Weiqing was surprised to see that his damaged organs were slowly healing back, meaning Long Chen’s medicinal pill truly was very effective.

But he once more repeated himself in order to be cautious. If Long Chen were to back out from his promise, it would be impossible for him to survive.

“Don’t worry, I will use the Long family’s reputation to guarantee it,” snorted Long Chen coldly.

Hearing that, Zhou Weiqing was relieved. With Long Chen’s pride, the chance of him reneging on his promise was low.

“Once Wilde returned to your home, he immediately alerted your mother. But they were unable to leave the Long household.”

“Why not?”

“Because they had all been poisoned,” answered Zhou Weiqing.

Long Chen’s expression became incredibly unsightly. “Who did that?!”

“You mother’s family did it. They’re actually spies of the fourth prince. They had always been secretly controlling the Long household. When Wilde returned, he was too weak and also too hungry to fight back. As soon as he warned the Long household, they were all poisoned with an extremely undetectable poison. Normally it will conceal itself in the body. With your experience, you should also have heard of the Soul-Scattering Powder?” probed Zhou Weiqing carefully.

Long Chen’s expression became even gloomier. The fact that Zhou Weiqing had said the Soul-Scattering Powder meant that he was telling the truth.

Soul-Scattering Powder was an extremely rarely seen medicinal ingredient. Its poisonous nature wasn’t actually strong, but it could confuse a person’s spirit, causing them to enter a suspended animation state of fake death. Other than some people with strong Spiritual Strength, there were few that could block it.

And this kind of medicinal ingredient was colorless and odorless. Ordinary people were unable to recognize it. As soon as they smelt the Soul-Scattering Powder, they would immediately sink into a deep sleep.

Long Chen had never thought that the fourth prince’s schemes would be so profound. His hatred of his mother’s family also grew as he recalled their hypocritical faces. At this time, they had landed a fatal blow against his family.

Thinking of his mother, who had been captured, a burning urgency filled him. He needed to rush back to the capital immediately to save his mother.

“What happened with grandmaster Yun Qi?” Long Chen suddenly felt that something was strange. Was grandmaster Yun Qi being obstructed?

“At that time, grandmaster Yun Qi was in seclusion to refine pills. Furthermore, this matter was done extremely covertly. Grandmaster Yun Qi didn’t know of it, and once he knew, your family had already been imprisoned. At that time, he personally went to the imperial palace to demand that they release them, but the Empress Dowager showed him the photographic jade evidence of you killing the Grand Xia’s prince, and thus, grandmaster Yun Qi was also helpless,” explained Zhou Weiqing.

He had truly been too careless. Long Chen regretted his own stupidity. Obviously, that photographic jade had been brought back by Marquis Ying.

Him killing Xia Changfeng had entirely been part of the fourth prince’s plans. Despite grandmaster Yun Qi’s illustrious status, his position was not one that could directly participate in the matters of the empire. And so he could only watch powerlessly.

“Chu Xia!” Long Chen ground his teeth angrily. It was as though he could see the fourth prince’s mocking face, and killing intent overflowed from him.

“What else is there?” Long Chen took a deep breath and suppressed his anger.

“Well, furthermore, they plan on executing them,” said Zhou Weiqing carefully. Seeing Long Chen’s frighteningly sinister expression, he was afraid he might forget himself in his anger and kill him.

“Since they haven’t captured me, they’re using my household to make up for it?” Long Chen tightly clenched his fists. The flames of fury within his eyes almost took physical shape.

“That’s most likely correct.”

“Hmph, then their goal is to draw out my father, correct?” Long Chen snorted. Although he was incredibly angry, Long Chen was still able to figure out the fourth prince’s intentions.

To the fourth prince, Long Chen was just a single chess piece. All the circumstances he had forced him into were just to draw out Long Tianxiao.

He naturally also knew that the capital was filled with crouching dragons and hidden tigers waiting for Long Tianxiao to take the bait.

Being treated as a chess piece by others was definitely a dislikable feeling. But for Chu Yao, Long Chen had been willing to play his part as a chess piece.

He hadn’t expected the fourth prince to be so ruthless. Not only had his plans involved Long Chen, but he had also implicated Long Chen’s entire household. That was something which no one would be able to endure.

“Chu Xia, wait for me! If I don’t chop off your head this time, then I wouldn’t be Long Chen!”

Long Chen suddenly thought of something and he asked, “What’s the date of the execution?”

Zhou Weiqing was startled and replied, “Counting the days, it should the day after tomorrow.”

Hearing that, Long Chen no longer bothered with Zhou Weiqing. He called over Little Snow and started to wildly rush over to the capital.

“Ao!” Little Snow suddenly howled as they rushed.

Long Chen was slightly startled. “You want me to ride you?”

Little Snow let out a quiet roar. Not caring whether or not Long Chen wanted to, he flipped Long Chen up with his head, and Long Chen immediately felt his body become light as he was lifted up onto Little Snow’s back.

Now that the forest god had awakened Little Snow’s spirit, he was now even larger than a horse. His body was over three meters long. He was no longer that adorable little fellow anymore.

“Roar!”

Long Chen smiled slightly, “Don’t worry, once I’m steadied, I won’t fall… aiya!”

Little Snow had already charged forward before he had finished speaking. Being caught by surprise, Long Chen was almost thrown off. He hurriedly grabbed onto Little Snow’s fur.

Only now did Long Chen experience just how terrifying the speed of a second rank Magical Beast was. The trees to either side blew by. The wild wind that whistled around made it difficult for him to even keep his eyes open.

“Good job Little Snow!” Long Chen praised Little Snow. Originally, he had been worried that he wouldn’t be able to rush back to the capital in time. But with Little Snow’s current speed, that didn’t seem to be that much of a problem anymore.

His worries also dissipated slightly. Looking at the quickly retreating trees, Long Chen’s eyes flashed with a harsh intent. I’m coming.

…

Zhou Weiqing watched as Long Chen left. He was relieved that he had managed to keep his life. At the same time though, he was also filled with hatred.

When he was young, he had been struck by Long Tianxiao’s palm and his Dantian had been shaken, causing his cultivation base to forever stop at the early stage of Blood Condensation.

Over ten years had passed, and now he had been suppressed under his son. Furthermore, he had been suppressed even more miserably. If he hadn’t begged for mercy, even his life would have been lost.

Zhou Weiqing couldn’t help but grind his teeth. But then a sinister smile appeared on his mouth. Long Chen should just give up any thoughts of surviving now that he had gone to the capital.

But before he followed Long Chen back to the capital, he still had one thing he had to do. That was to completely slaughter those villagers. Long Chen had definitely left behind some medicinal pills for them.

“AH!” Zhou Weiqing screamed suddenly. An intense pain came from his arm. He looked over and saw that without realizing it, a red-colored ant had crawled up his arm and was now biting down on him.

“Heart Devouring Ant?!”

Zhou Weiqing was terrified. As soon as he recognized that small ant, it was as though he had seen a demon. That was a terrifying poisonous ant.

It was said that this kind of ant wasn’t that strong. It only had a slight poisonous nature that wasn’t life-threatening. But when they bit you, it would be incomparably painful, as if your heart and insides were being devoured.

Zhou Weiqing swatted that ant, killing it in a single blow. Just as he was about to move, his eyes were suddenly filled with terror. He didn’t know at what time, but now all the surrounding trees were covered with Heart Devouring Ants.

He suddenly thought of the medicinal pill Long Chen had thrown to him. He remembered seeing a twinkle of ridicule in his eyes when he had given that to him.

“AHHHH!!!”

Just at this moment, thousands upon thousands of Heart Devouring Ants smelled a special smell coming from Zhou Weiqing’s body and charged over. They went all-out to devour as much of him as they could. In their eyes, his body was a huge delicacy.

His miserable screams continued endlessly. The Heart Devouring Ants’ poison wasn’t strong and wouldn’t kill him. But the intense pain would wrack his body so much that he would be unable to move.

In this world, the most painful way to die was to clearly sense endless pain and want to faint, only to have losing consciousness become a luxury that wasn’t given to you, and to have that pain continue until you were nothing more than a pile of bones.