Nine Star Hegemon Body Arts

"They are innocent." Mu Qingyun nodded. She couldn't help feeling this way as she watched those people scream before their deaths.

Long Chen turned serious. "You are wrong. I'm going to give you all another lesson right now. When you face your enemies, there is no such thing as innocent people. You pity them now. But if that eruption hadn't occurred, when we fled from them, they would chase us down without hesitation and raise their butcher's blade against us. If we were just killed, then that would be one thing. But the female disciples would have to face a torment worse than death before dying. Do you think that they will let you off because you pity them? Do you think that they will consider you innocent? Are you still in the mood to pity others?"

Long Chen's gaze grew colder and colder until it sounded absolutely callous and merciless.

Hearing this, Mu Qingyun didn't know how to reply. Luo Bing looked at her and said, "Long Chen is right. You haven't experienced that kind of cruel slaughter before, so you have no idea about the reality of the cultivation world. You never know just how frightening the dark side of humanity is. Don't think that just because you have no grievance with Chu Kuang that he won't do anything to you. Even if it was just for us, he would kill you to keep you quiet. You lack that foresight because you haven't experienced the cruel battlefield and bloody slaughter. To pity your enemies because of something that hasn't happened yet is very foolish. It will not only harm yourself but also those that trust you. That is why Long Chen is angry with what you just said."

Luo Bing and Luo Ning were different from the others. Although they were young and their experiences were limited, the Luo family's teachings toward its disciples were very stringent. Before they set foot into the world of cultivation, the Luo family had shown them the bloody scenes of their fight against the Chu family, as well as the Chu family's endless despicable tricks.

Their first lesson in the family was not to have any mercy for their enemies. That would only harm themselves and their family. It might even implicate the entire family.

That was why Luo Bing and Luo Ning approved of Long Chen's words. Not ridiculing Mu Qingyun was already being courteous. This was the common sense of the cultivation world, but Mu Qingyun and the others actually didn't understand this.

"Brother San, I was wrong." Mu Qingyun hastily apologized when she saw Long Chen's expression.

Long Chen waved his hand, shaking his head. "Perhaps the path of your life so far has been too smooth. That is not a good thing. The sooner you suffer, the better. Otherwise, once you do suffer, it might be so great that you don't even have a chance to absorb the lesson."

Long Chen sighed. This was truly a group of flowers that had grown up inside a greenhouse. The world that Long Chen had experienced wasn't something that they could imagine.

Sometimes cruel reality was the best teacher, the miracle medicine that could catalyze a person's growth. Long Chen suddenly felt that he might have to thank his overwhelming bad luck for his current accomplishments. That was what had tempered him early on.

If he was like these disciples and had grown up in an environment where his safety was guaranteed, perhaps he wouldn't be much stronger than them. Thinking of that, his anger diminished.

Seeing Mu Qingyun staring at him, seemingly in fright, he sighed. "I'll only tell you this once. I hope you can remember these words in your heart. If you make a mistake in strategic decision-making because you want to be kind, just getting yourself killed would be getting off easy. More likely, you would cause the deaths of the people you care about, and then you'd spend the rest of your life in regret and pain. You can't imagine just how terrifying such a feeling is."

"Brother San… have you ever made a similar mistake?" asked Mu Qingyun curiously.

Long Chen's gaze instantly darkened. He thought of the final battle of the Martial Heaven Continent. Although he hadn't really made any mistakes, he still felt like he could have done better. But he wouldn't have that chance. Every time he thought of that, he felt unbearable. It seemed that it had become a heart-devil.

"Brother San, sorry." Seeing that pain in Long Chen's gaze, Mu Qingyun's heart shuddered. She immediately apologized.

That gaze was full of pain. It was just a look, but Mu Qingyun felt it clearly. She instantly realized that she had just poked one of Long Chen's scars.

Long Chen was about to speak when his expression changed. He turned around, almost in disbelief.

"Not dead even after all that?"

Long Chen looked through the flying boat's formation. He saw two figures flying out of the erupting volcano.

It was Chu Kuang and the Four Peak elder. The elder had a glowing bead in his hand. Its light pierced through the lava.

"Flame Setting Divine Bead. No wonder."

Long Chen instantly understood when he saw that glowing bead. So the elder had come prepared with a fire attribute treasure.

Once activated, it formed a special space around it, protecting whoever was inside from flame energy.

However, just as they charged out of the eruption, the Flame Setting Divine Bead exploded. Chu Kuang let out a cry. He was too close to the lava, and his body was instantly set ablaze.

The Four Peak elder wasn't much better off. His hair was instantly incinerated, leaving him bald.

He suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood. After that, he waved his hand, and his blood transformed into a strange diagram. The elder then dragged Chu Kuang into the diagram, and the two of them instantly vanished, reappearing far away from the lava.

With the elder dragging Chu Kuang along, they instantly vanished. They were all that remained of their party. The rest had been consumed by the lava.

"How regretful. That little fellow's life is quite tough." Long Chen shook his head. Originally, he had thought that this would be enough to kill them. But they had still escaped.

Luo Bing and the others felt a chill. Without even bloodying his blade, Long Chen almost wiped out his enemies. If that Four Peak elder hadn't had a Flame Setting Divine Bead, he would probably have been conned to death as well.

Now when they looked at Long Chen, there was reverence but also fear. He was truly a frightful existence.

Just a single late stage Divine Flame expert would be enough to wipe them out, but Long Chen had just killed hundreds of mid and late stage Divine Flame experts.

As for the Four Peak elder, to them, he was an unreachable existence. They didn't even have the bravery to face him.

It could be said that Chu Kuang had definitely brought a huge tool to solve a tiny problem this time. But despite that, he still almost lost his life.

"Long Chen, I know it might be wrong to ask you this, but I'm really curious. How did you do this? I'm begging you to tell me. Otherwise, I won't be able to die in peace." Luo Ning hesitated a long time before finally being unable to contain her curiosity.

Everyone else's ears also perked up. This was the question they all wanted to know the answer to. Even a Four Peak elder had been almost killed. How did he do this?