Chapter 77: The Rout

The death of the Qi clan chief did not halt the advance of the Qi clansmen; on the contrary, this incident seemed to make them even more uninhibited.

A crowd of Qi clansmen, whose combat prowess could hardly be considered supreme, showed no further mercy when killing. Chen Hongxu and Jiajia, the pincer-beast, were limited by the fact that they could not unleash their ultimate attacks for fear of injuring the innocent, leaving them somewhat overwhelmed at times.

For a moment, Chen Hongxu gnashed his teeth in frustration and stopped holding back entirely. Although their cultivation realms were roughly similar, Chen Hongxu was a freak of nature capable of challenging opponents of higher realms. Moreover, after observing for a long time, Chen Hongxu discovered that while the people here might be comparable in realm to outsiders, their offensive and defensive methods were extremely scarce, completely devoid of skill, and he had yet to see a single ranked comprehension-based technique.

Chen Hongxu formed some conjectures, yet his movements remained lightning-fast. Practically every strike he delivered was accompanied by the fading of a life.

It had to be said that the old man of the Shangguan clan had been somewhat exaggerating when he claimed they could fight the Qi clan to a mutual destruction. Judging by the steady stream of Qi clansmen still pouring in from the perimeter, there were at least eighty if not a hundred of them.

Given that the individual strength of the Shangguan clan was a notch weaker, let alone fighting thirty against a hundred, even a match of thirty against thirty would result in a desperate situation with zero chance of survival.

However, this was ultimately a life-or-death crisis of annihilation. After experiencing a brief period of chaos, the members of the Shangguan clan also began to organize a resistance. On the other hand, although the Qi clansmen had superior numbers, they were essentially a mob of opportunists who had rushed in to pick up scraps after hearing the Qi chief shout about a pseudo-immortal master. With no one to command them at the moment, they were completely like loose sand.

After dividing, encircling, and defeating more than half of them one by one, the Qi clan, despite still holding a numerical advantage, was thoroughly terrified. Of course, the key factor in this was Chen Hongxu.

The looks the Qi clansmen cast at him were filled with sheer terror. Whoever crossed paths with him met certain death, utterly without reason. Furthermore, the pet following him was not a creature to be ignored; a single snap of its pincers would generally result in bodies being cleanly severed, with almost no one capable of offering resistance.

A trend of rout had formed. On one side, like a knife cutting through bamboo, the morale soared under Chen Hongxu's leadership; on the other side, they were terrified out of their wits by the slaughter, with no one knowing who would die next, leaving not a shred of fighting spirit remaining.

Before long, the Qi clansmen, who had come full of vigor, retreated in disgrace. After chasing them all the way and leaving another score of corpses behind, Chen Hongxu had the Shangguan elder recall the troops. After all, the Qi clansmen had scattered and fled in all directions; if they split forces to pursue them, aside from Chen Hongxu's group which was guaranteed victory, who knew if the dispatched troops might fall into danger? Of course, the ultimate reason was simply that Chen Hongxu had grown lazy.

Making a symbolic statement was enough; why bother hunting them down to the last man? If the members of the Shangguan clan had known Chen Hongxu's thoughts, heaven knows what reactions they would have had. Still, a battle that wiped out over seventy of the opposing side's active combatants in such a small clan feud was a relative rarity.

At the very least, the Qi clan would likely have no time to trouble the Shangguan clan for quite a while. After all, not only had they suffered heavy casualties in this battle, but even their chief had laid down his life here.

Upon returning, the mere process of electing a new chief would plunge the Qi clan into another round of internal infighting. Moreover, a weakened Qi clan would inevitably have to guard against the counterattacks of neighboring minor clans.

The thoroughly pacified Shangguan clan once again burst into song and dance. The survivors puffed out their chests, basking in the flattery of the crowd with excited expressions.

They buried the clansmen who had fallen in this battle with the highest honors—which essentially meant digging a hole on a small dirt mound to bury them—and then resumed their singing and dancing. Naturally, Chen Hongxu had no mood to participate.

Walking over to the grassy area beside the plaza, Chen Hongxu noticed Qi Hui's somewhat peculiar expression and asked with a puzzled look, "What, having regrets?"

"No!" Qi Hui shook her head, biting her lip as she said, "I really didn't plot against you."

"What?" Hearing Qi Hui suddenly come out with such an inexplicable statement, Chen Hongxu was even more baffled.

"For my sake, not even the Saintess's father would have brought the entire clan. I'm afraid you'll misunderstand that I plotted against you," Qi Hui explained. "If that's the case, there's only one possibility: the immortal master who took a fancy to me up on the Immortal Mountain has grown impatient and is currently inside the Qi clan's territory."

"Oh, an immortal master?" Chen Hongxu was somewhat dismissive. After all, having fought against the King of Men, although the Longevity Realm was not yet something he could casually knead at will, if they truly possessed no special methods like the ranked experts of this world, Chen Hongxu would find killing them truly effortless.

"I know you're not afraid. I'm just afraid you'll misunderstand that I was using you."

"Mn," Chen Hongxu nodded.

Qi Hui let out a breath and continued, "I mentioned the matter of my value to you last time. Actually, I know of a place on the Immortal Mountain that holds the method to make someone an immortal master."

"Huh?" This time, Chen Hongxu was genuinely surprised. There was actually a method here to advance to the Longevity Realm? Although he had no psychological burden regarding his own advancement, if he mastered this method, the small world of Earth would be entirely up to him to dictate...

Immediately afterward, Chen Hongxu shed his cool, passive demeanor and eagerly asked this and that, but unfortunately, Qi Hui kept her lips tightly sealed.

Putting on a fierce expression, Chen Hongxu threatened viciously, "Speak quickly, or else I'll resort to soul-searching and spirit-refining techniques."

"You're not that kind of person." The face that Qi Hui had kept icy suddenly broke into a smile.

"Sigh." Chen Hongxu let out a sigh, reflecting that being a bad guy is truly difficult...

Meanwhile, those scattered Qi clansmen had gathered together once more.

"What do we do?" said a fellow who bore a seven-to-eight-part resemblance to the previous Qi clan chief. "The chief was killed by someone, the Saintess wasn't recaptured, and the immortal master in the territory is still waiting. Let's all put our heads together."

"Naturally, we must first elect a chief for the tribe. Otherwise, with a group lacking a leader, we won't even have a unified opinion. I suggest we simply let Qi Sanqing lead everyone, seeing as he is the chief's younger brother." The person who spoke had a shifty, rat-like appearance, and at a glance, he was clearly a plant. The man who resembled the former Qi clan chief smiled and accepted the proposal without the slightest attempt to avoid the appearance of nepotism.

"How can this do?" An old man raised his eyebrows and voiced his opposition, saying, "According to the clan rules, a single lineage cannot produce two consecutive chiefs. Have you all forgotten?"

"Humph, at a time of life and death, you're still digging up those absurd rules. I truly wonder what your motives are." The rat-faced man frowned and immediately shot back.

"Impertinent! Is there any place for you to speak here?" The old man snorted coldly, raising his hand as if he wanted to slap the retort-giver across the face, while continuing aloud, "When we first attacked the Shangguan clan, I didn't say anything about how you cowered in the perimeter fearing death, because given your thick skin, you'd certainly claim that standing guard was equally important. But right when we were routing and scattering, you deliberately injured your fellow clansmen so they could draw the enemy's fire—that's a bit hard to justify, isn't it?"

"You old immortal, I've tolerated you for a long time. Stop spitting blood with false accusations!"

Excitement flared up once again. The remnants of the Qi clan were divided into two factions, each with their own supporters.

Meanwhile, the young man who was still holding a fur-clad young woman in the Qi clan's territory impatiently swept all the food off the table onto the ground, cursing, "A bunch of trash! Even a minor clan took you this long?"