The Great Ruler (Web Novel)

Su Ling’er stood on the mountain peak, staring wide-eyed at Mu Chen’s terrifying appearance. She didn’t know why Mu Chen had assumed this form, so she wiped her tears and asked, “What are you planning to do?”

She wondered what he was planning. Did it matter? The end had been foretold — Bai Xuan was simply too powerful. Even her big sister wouldn’t be able to defeat him. So how could Mu Chen, who was only at the Heavenly Fusion Stage, possibly do anything?

“Wait for the chance to escape with your big sister and the others. Run far and don’t come back for me. Understand?” Mu Chen demanded, even as the strength in his eyes weakened as his voice grew hoarser. It seemed as if there was an endless baleful aura surging within his voice, and made it sound ice-cold to others.

Su Ling’er was so frightened that she took two steps back. Mu Chen seemed as though he was trying to suppress something. The bloody marks covering his body constantly flickered, like a murderous Asura that’d climbed out from Purgatory.

She speechlessly stared at Mu Chen, then nodded.

Mu Chen accepted her acknowledgement, then turned away without another word. Then, he moved like a streak of lightning towards the horizon. His hoarse voice echoed over the land. “Bai Xuan. The item you seek is in my possession. But as to whether or not you can take it back… that depends on your ability.”

Bai Xuan coldly smiled as he watched Mu Chen with eyes like flying blades. “Haha! So you came back, in the end.”

“Mu Chen, you…!”

Su Xuan and the others grew even more distressed — they’d desperately managed to delay Bai Xuan in order to buy time for Su Ling’er. But now, Mu Chen had suddenly come charging back?

However, Mu Chen didn’t bother with what was going through their heads. The ripples in his scarlet eyes were growing weaker by the moment; eventually, they disappeared entirely.

He tightly clenched his fist, then slowly loosened it.

If they had the power to see into his body, they’d find the baleful energy raging through his meridians with frightening power. But every time it pulsed through him, his meridians moved a little in response. An indescribably baleful aura filled him.

However, it was this pain that allowed Mu Chen to keep a clear mind, even as the baleful energy invaded him.

“What a madman.”

The Nine Netherbird couldn’t help shaking its head as it looked upon the carnage in Mu Chen’s aura sea. The baleful energy was an extremely oppressive force and excelled at corroding the mind; once Mu Chen’s mind fell under the the baleful aura, he’d turn into a murderous puppet, forever unable to wake up.

The baleful energy was powerful, but also risky to engage with. A single misstep and Mu Chen would be giving himself to it. What a daring individual!

Mu Chen quietly stood in the sky. The instant the ripples in his eyes disappeared, his aura nearly faded away as well.

The blood-red marks stuck to Mu Chen’s skin and wriggled like worms. It was an uncomfortable sight, to say the least.

“We’re already this far, and yet you’re still trying to deceive me? What a reckless fool!”

Bai Xuan coldly smiled when he saw the strange look in Mu Chen’s eyes. He didn’t feel threatened by Mu Chen’s current form; after all, Bai Xuan was a Heavenly Transformation Stage Late Phase. Plus, Bai Xuan had a High Rank Spiritual Artifact and his combat abilities were top notch, even among his peers. Wouldn’t it be easy for him to deal with a single Heavenly Fusion Stage brat?

“Die!”

Bai Xuan burst forward and the bloody spear in his hand rippled with Spiritual Energy as it tore through the air towards Mu Chen.

“Mu Chen, watch out!” his allies cried.

Mu Chen didn’t seem the register their warning. The moment before the bloody spear pierced his chest, he reached out a hand and grasped its shaft.

Creak! Creak!

The infinitely sharp spear emitted an ear-piercing screech as fresh blood flowed from Mu Chen’s hand, down the tip of the spear. The bloody marks on Mu Chen’s skin darkened.

Bai Xuan’s expression slightly changed. He was starting to feel uneasy.

This Mu Chen was different from the one he’d met back inside the treasury.

Mu Chen gripped the spear tip as he raised his head to show his bloodshot, scarlet-red eyes. It was as if his eyes were two seas of blood, rolling and overflowing with a baleful aura.

Bloody marks appeared on his face and gave him the image of a bloodthirsty Asura.

“Boom!”

The baleful aura surged out of Mu Chen’s body like a bloody sea. The sky turned dark red.

Thin bloody lines were slowly trickling down Mu Chen’s skin, from places where his veins had burst through. Even though Mu Chen himself was a powerful force, the baleful energy was still too powerful and oppressive for his body to handle.

“This…”

Bai Xuan, Su Xuan, and the others all watched in astonishment at the familiar scene before them.

They trembled as they became overwhelmed with shock. Wasn’t this exactly what’d happened to the demonic black pillar, when it first broke its seal?

But now, the baleful energy was far more horrifying than it’d been before.

But why was this happening to Mu Chen?

Su Ling’er remembered Mu Chen’s demand and quickly made her retreat, even as she towed the other three along.

Mu Chen made sure that they’d escaped a good distance before he flashed a smile filled with bloody marks. But now, it was an extremely savage sight. The animosity on the wind even affected Bai Xuan’s aura.

“What a façade!”

Bai Xuan glared as he snarled. His palm trembled as he pulled back on the blood-red spear and tore it from Mu Chen’s hands with a red shower of blood. He stepped forward, then swept the spear back towards Mu Chen, this time with enough force that it left dizzying afterimages.

Boom!

A blood-red baleful aura surged from Mu Chen’s body, like a shell of red armour. He allowed Bai Xuan’s sharp spear to reach him.

Shhhhiiiiiii!

The moment the powerful spear met the shell of baleful aura, it was corroded away. However, the spear’s gale still ripped open new wounds on Mu Chen’s body.

But those new wounds weren’t enough to deter Mu Chen. On the contrary, his scarlet eyes deepened in colour and a deep roar built up in his throat. He released it as his torrential baleful energy took the form of a second bloody spear.

Shhhhuuuuu!

Mu Chen trembled from the surges in his body and his clash with Bai Xuan. Powerful shockwaves rippled from the impacts, and the nearby mountain peaks crumbled.

On one faraway mountain peak, Su Xuan and the others stood and watched the confrontation with fear and worry in their eyes. They realised that right now, Mu Chen was capable of standing his own against Bai Xuan!

Guo Xiong couldn’t help his astonished murmur. “How could he have grown so much?”

Something flickered in Su Xuan’s charming eyes. “That’s the same power as the black demonic pillar back in the Spirit Treasury. My guess is that Mu Chen has been taken by its baleful aura.”

When Su Ling’er heard that was said, she instantly grew anxious. “Then Mu Chen…?”

“I think he’s trying to use the battle to expel the baleful aura inside his body. But if that’s true, then he’s in an extremely dangerous position, right now. That baleful aura is extremely oppressive; if Mu Chen doesn’t handle it properly, he could be devoured. The baleful aura would take over his senses and he’d turn into a massacring puppet.”

Su Xuan sighed as she stared at the faraway figure shrouded in red. “The best we can do right now is trust in Mu Chen.”

Clang!

The two blood-red spears clashed and the force rippled out. Even the space around them began to twist.

Bai Xuan’s face turned steel-grey and astonishment filled his eyes. He refused to believe that Mu Chen had actually kept up with him for several exchanges, and still didn’t show any signs of slowing.

It was as if Mu Chen’s strength had caught up to his.

Bai Xuan was in disbelief. But he wasn’t your average expert — he slowly began piecing together the clues and filling in the rest with calculation.

“Is he borrowing the baleful energy that’s invading his body?”

Something flickered in Bai Xuan’s eyes as he stared at Mu Chen’s blood-marked face. There wasn’t the slightest hint of emotion in Mu Chen’s eyes. Just a pure bloodlust. Bai Xuan flashed a savage smile. “How are you any different from a bloodthirsty beast?”

It was clear to him that Mu Chen had borrowed the power of the baleful energy; but in exchange, he’d lost consciousness and had turned into the massacring puppet.

“Since you’re in such deep pain, let me free you.”

Bai Xuan abruptly shot up, stirring up waves of Spiritual Energy. He roared and a boundless Spiritual Energy rose from behind him, like a colossal blood-red beast. A dense animosity soared into the heavens.

“Demonic Blood Beast, Blood Smelting Sea!”

Bai Xuan shouted as his scarlet beast suddenly exploded. It turned into waves of blood that filled everything between heaven and earth.

Onom!

The bloody sea carried an earth-shattering power as it swept down from the heavens and ground every mountain in its path into dust.

“Die!” Bai Xuan savagely smiled. Mu Chen slowly raised his head as a mocking smile spread across his strangely marked face. The scarlet pupils, that’d been filled with animosity, rippled.

“Roar!”

An endless sea of baleful aura surged from Mu Chen’s body, forming its own version of a bloody, starry sky. Within this bloody sky, a massive white tiger took shape. One with scarlet-red eyes.

This Divine Seal of the White Tiger, which contained a boundless killing intent, slowly merged with the baleful aura, becoming an even more fearsome force. Even heaven and earth trembled before it.

Mu Chen hovered as the animosity filled the sky around him. As he floated before the huge white tiger, the mocking smile on his blood-marked face grew even wider.

“It’s you who’ll die!”