The Human Emperor

Chapter 1399: The Faction Concealed in the Shadows!

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

“Master, be at ease. I’m still okay.”

Wang Chong waved his hand, trying to indicate that everything was fine, but the beads of cold sweat on his forehead said otherwise.

The task of fighting the Righteous Alliance experts and Five Ancestor Alliance experts singlehandedly had placed an immense pressure on him, and in certain aspects, he had been in even more danger than his master.

“I had already finished calculating the amount of time. I’ve reached my energy limit. If we had gone on any longer, I would have really been in danger. But now, I just need to rest for a while to recover,” Wang Chong sternly said.

The Demonic Emperor Old Man breathed a long sigh of relief upon hearing this.

He was extremely familiar with his disciple and knew that he would never lie about such a thing. It was obvious that Wang Chong had calculated everything before making his move. This was yet one more reason he was so proud to have Wang Chong as his disciple.

“Mm!”

The Demonic Emperor Old Man nodded.

“Rest for a moment. The Rest Gate is relatively safe, and given that we’ve just been through that explosive wake of attacks, we should be safe for the time being.”

“That’s right! The master and disciple should focus on cultivation while I stand guard!”

As the Formation Elder spoke, he threw out several stones around Wang Chong and the Demonic Emperor Old Man. As these ten-some stones struck the ground, they formed a simple formation around the pair.

Wang Chong nodded and joined the Demonic Emperor Old Man in sitting down and beginning to meditate.

As time passed, one scream after another came from within the formation as innumerable martial artists were turned to dust. In comparison, it was abnormally quiet around Wang Chong’s group.

Meanwhile, three figures were watching from above, their eyes fixed on the Rest Gate, where Wang Chong’s group currently resided.

“Milord, we failed again. That young man seems to be even more formidable than that old scholar!”

“I didn’t think that even Song Yuanyi and the Black Yin Ancestor together couldn’t deal with them!”

They had altered the rules of the formation, moved over Song Yuanyi and Luo Qiyin, and used various kinds of traps and tricks, but in the end, this group had still managed to easily escape.

All was quiet as the leader stood motionless, their cold eyes glaring at the three individuals in the Rest Gate.

A somber and dangerous energy erupted from their body. The moment the two subordinates sensed this, they shivered and immediately shut their mouths.

The two were now keenly aware that Wang Chong’s group of three had now supplanted in importance all the other martial artists in the formation. They were now a thorn in the side of their leader, as after making a circle, Wang Chong’s group had once again managed to get back to the Rest Gate.

This was an enormous humiliation for this group.

After a long while, the leader suddenly burst out with a voice as cold as ice and somber as could be, “Carry out my order! Operate the formation to force them out of the Rest Gate! I want them pushed step by step into the Death Gate and crushed to powder under the formation’s power!” Their hands clenched into fists, the sound of cracking bones instilling dread in their subordinates.

“But Milord, the Rest Gate was just shifted and the formation’s power already used! We have no way of continuing to pursue them!”

“We need to wait at least twelve hours until we can move against them again. Pushing the formation in reverse again might set off a chain reaction that will cause the entire formation to collapse.”

The two subordinates were stricken with panic.

Buzz!

Upon hearing these words, the face of the leader went slack and the air seemed to freeze.

That thick killing intent also seemed to freeze. For a moment, there was clear shock in the leader’s eyes, as if they had been suddenly punched. That belly full of rage was instantly vented.

Finally…

“Then let them live for another twelve hours. After another twelve hours, activate the seal and exterminate all these martial artists!”

The leader shot one last glare at Wang Chong’s group before leaving with a shake of their robe.

……

Several hours went by in the blink of an eye.

Wang Chong finally began to open his eyes. At the same time, the nearby Demonic Emperor Old Man also began to cease the circulation of his energy, his complexion a much healthier color.

“Wonderful! You’ve finally recovered!”

The Formation Elder gleefully walked up to the master and disciple.

“Wang Chong, kid, how is your condition?”

Wang Chong stood back up and confidently declared, “There are no longer any major problems.”

His condition hadn’t been that serious in the first place, as his energy had yet to run rampant. Thus, all he needed was some rest and meditation to recover.

“Haha, great! Now we can think of a way to leave this place. Your calculation ability combined with my understanding of formations means that we can find the Life Gate and get out of here.”

The Demonic Emperor Old Man spoke up in his deep and dignified voice. “That’s right. There was no Origin Immortal Mountain here at all, only this extremely dangerous formation. It’s about time for us to leave.”

They had come to the northwest to search for the Origin Immortal Art so that Wang Chong’s cultivation defect could be treated, but it was now apparent that there was no Origin Immortal Art here at all.

Moreover, now that both the righteous and evil path martial artists had gathered, it was no longer proper to stay here for very long.

The Demonic Emperor was beginning to contemplate retreat.

To the surprise of the two, Wang Chong shook his head, his face solemn.

“Master, Senior Zhou, this matter is not as simple as it seems, and it won’t be that easy to reach the Life Gate. At the very least, those people will never let us leave.”

Buzz!

The Formation Elder and Demonic Emperor Old Man glanced at each other in shock.

“Chong-er, what do you mean?”

The Demonic Emperor Old Man was the first to speak, his brow tightly furrowed in confusion.

“Yes, what are you trying to say?” the Formation Elder asked, staring at Wang Chong.

After spending time with Wang Chong, the Formation Elder had become profoundly aware that Wang Chong was not someone who spoke without thinking. There was undoubtedly a reason he had said such things.

Wang Chong did not directly answer, instead asking a question to the Formation Elder. “Senior Zhou, do you remember when you said that you felt that someone was meddling with the formation?”

“That was just a guess of mine because the formation was moving rather strangely. Kid, why are you asking about this? Could it be…”

As the Formation Elder spoke, his eyes went wide in disbelief.

“Your guess was correct. There really is a third faction present here who is using the formation to target us, as well as the righteous and evil path martial artists.”

“What?!”

The other two were flabbergasted by this statement.

“Chong-er, are you sure?”

The Demonic Emperor Old Man raised an eyebrow, his expression completely different from before. If there really was a third faction here controlling the formation in secret, even luring over countless martial artists of the evil and righteous paths, then there was something else going on in this incident.

“Kid, do you know what you’re saying? It’s been several hundred years since someone has gotten their hands on the Origin Immortal Art, and countless martial artists have gone after it because no one owns it. But if it’s as you say, then it means that all those legends circulating outside are fake; that from beginning to end, this was all a conspiracy, a scam!”

The Formation Elder was extremely agitated. He wasn’t very interested in martial arts, but he was extremely interested in the ancient formations of the Origin Immortal Lord.

This was his lifelong desire as a formation master, but if the Origin Immortal Art was fake, then it meant the legends about the formation manuals could also be fake. In a flash, his face had turned ghastly pale.

“Senior Zhou, let’s put aside the matter of the Origin Immortal Art for now. After all, the treasure maps for the Origin Immortal Art have been circulating for some time. This matter is not guaranteed to be utterly baseless. But there is no question that someone has been secretly controlling this formation the entire time,” Wang Chong solemnly said.

In front of his two seniors, Wang Chong immediately voiced all the doubts on his mind, holding back nothing.

“Do you still remember how we were forced out of the Rest Gate? The entire formation has clearly been altered because of it. In addition, the Rest Gate should have been safe, but we were attacked twice in the span of twelve hours. None of this is normal.”

“But these are only suspicions, not actually indicative of anything. After all, this is an ancient formation left behind by the Origin Immortal Lord. No one knows its unique properties or how it actually operates. When you say the formation is odd, that’s only when considered using the usual rules, but those don’t necessarily apply here,” the Formation Elder said. Suspicion and certainty were two completely different concepts and indicative of completely different things.

“If that were all, there would naturally be nothing to say, but Master, Senior Zhou, do you remember how, not long after we were forced out of the Rest Gate, we encountered Song Yuanyi and the Righteous Alliance group?” Wang Chong sternly replied.

The Demonic Emperor Old Man frowned and said, “Chong-er, even that is not enough. Song Yuanyi entered the formation the same as us. To meet him within the formation is to be expected.”

It was clear that he did not share the same view as Wang Chong.

“Again, this isn’t enough, but… the Black Yin Ancestor?” Wang Chong asked, locking eyes with his master.

At that moment, he seemed capable of seeing through all secrets.

“To meet Song Yuanyi in the formation can be put off as coincidence, but to meet the Black Yin Ancestor so soon after meeting Song Yuanyi, is that still a coincidence? What exactly is the probability of meeting the two titans of the martial arts world at the same time within this formation?”

Wang Chong looked at his two seniors. The Demonic Emperor Old Man and Formation Elder immediately fell into a shocked silence, pensive looks in their eyes.