Nine Star Hegemon Body Art (WN)
Nine Star Hegemon Body Art (WN) - Chapter 69: The Secret Troubles of Long Tianxiao

“Of course, I believe you. That’s because if you have lied just now, the current you would already become a corpse.” Long Chen’s light words were filled with self-confidence.

Chen Fei was greatly alarmed. But examining his body, he didn’t notice any changes.

“That pill that I threw out is called the Soul Burning Pill. Even if you completely stopped your breath just now, it would be pointless. That poisonous gas directly erodes your pores and enters your bloodstream. If you use too much strength or fight intensely, your blood will begin to flow quicker and the poison will immediately invade your soul. At that time, your death would be doubtless,” explained Long Chen.

Chen Fei’s expression changed. He had never imagined that Long Chen’s poison pill would be so terrifying. But since Long Chen already trusted him, he definitely wouldn’t deceive him now.

“The reason why I believe you is because I am confident in my pills. If you had lied when I questioned you just now, your blood would have begun circulating faster. By then, blood would flow out of your seven apertures. Here, eat this.”

Long Chen handed Chen Fei a medicinal pill. Chen Fei directly swallowed it.

“After taking this pill, the poison in your body will be detoxified. However, the effect is a bit slow, so you cannot undergo any intense fights for the next three days. Okay, let’s go.”

Long Chen directly started walking back home. Chen Fei hastily went to keep up with him. They left behind a miserable area of blood and severed limbs.

...

“Bastard, you actually dare try to kill Long Chen behind my back? Do you think that I won’t dare to kill you?” Within a secret room, a white-robed man was angrily cursing at Xia Changfeng. A murderous aura came from him.

At the same time, a terrifying killing intent seemed to take a solid form and locked Xia Changfeng in place. Xia Changfeng felt as if a cold blade was pressed against his neck. As long as the white-robed man wished it, his life would be over in an instant.

“Brother Luo, listen to me. This wasn’t done by me! My sister ordered my subordinates. I knew nothing about it!”

Xia Changfeng was completely terrified as he tried to explain the situation. Sweat had completely drenched his robes, as that killing intent was just too terrifying. Even he, a Blood Condensation expert, was unable to block it. He felt as if he were a tiny ant that was completely unable to resist.

“Do you think I’m an idiot? Do you really think your guards would follow the orders of your sister without your go-ahead? You obviously wanted to remove that thorn Long Chen before you left. It’s lucky that Long Chen didn’t die, otherwise, this matter would have truly blown up. Even if you had ten lives, you wouldn’t be able to block the anger from those higher-ups,” shouted the white-robed man coldly.

Xia Changfeng lowered his head and didn’t dare say anything. It was true that the assassination attempt of Long Chen had been arranged by Xia Baichi, but the white-robed man was entirely correct. He had lent his personal guards to her.

He had hoped that once Long Chen was dead, he could push the blame onto Xia Baichi. With her Pill Adept status, she should be fine.

Having already borrowed so much money from Xia Baichi at the auction, he had been forced by her to provide help.

However, he hadn’t expected that a group of Blood Condensation experts would fail and only have three of their members return. But before he could even clearly ask about what had happened, that white-robed man had already arrived.

“Xia Changfeng, this is your last warning. Your job is minor. If the bigger plots go wrong, even your entire Grand Xia is unable to handle the punishment, let alone you. Go back and tell your stupid sister that if she dares to take such a rash course once more, I will personally twist off her head. That old pervert Wei Cang never once truly placed her in his eyes,” snorted the white-robed man coldly.

“Yes, yes, Changfeng will definitely properly instruct his sister. I definitely won’t cause any more trouble.” Xia Changfeng nodded his head over and over.

“Long Tianxiao has already stated that if anything unexpected happens to his wife or son, he will give up his border post and kill his way into the capital. That is the situation we want to avoid the most, do you understand?” The white-robed man coldly continued, “We’ve been constantly testing his bottom line, but Long Tianxiao refuses to give us any reaction. However, that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t care about his wife and son. He is someone who either doesn’t take action or strikes like lightning. That is him warning you guys, but you idiots weren’t even able to understand that.”

“Brother Luo, I still don’t understand. With brother Luo’s skill, why don’t you go and directly kill Long Tianxiao?” asked Xia Changfeng.

“Idiot, if I really could just take action in the open, do you think I’d still need you guys? Furthermore, Long Tianxiao is also a Tendon Transformation expert. How is he so easy to kill? If I don’t succeed in one blow and news of it spreads, who is going to take responsibility for that?” cursed the white-robed man.

Xia Changfeng immediately felt awkward, but he didn’t dare retort. He just endured it obediently. But his hatred towards Long Chen only continued to grow.

Xia Baichi’s actions were actually something he had also wanted. But since Long Chen hadn’t died, the anger inside him could only continue to be stifled.

He really had never imagined that over ten Blood Condensation experts working together would still be unable to kill him. Moreover, his losses were actually so great.

When Xia Changfeng returned to his room, that white-robed man sighed. It had been troublesome for him to get such an easy mission, but perhaps it wouldn’t be as easy as he had thought.

He had been so enraged just now that he had almost slaughtered Xia Changfeng. But he couldn’t actually do that. The plan had been in motion for many years. In fact, he had originally come here to reap the final profits that someone else had worked for.

However, the result was that he felt as if everyone around him was completely stupid, infuriating him. He had a stomach full of anger that he had nowhere to let out.

He didn’t dare show himself publicly, so he needed to work together with the Grand Xia. A cold smile appeared on his face.

If you really ruin my plans, then all of you can just die here!

…

It was already late into the night by the time Long Chen returned home. Once he was in his room, he carefully looked over Chen Fei. He was surprised to find that his aura was extremely veiled. Even with Chen Fei right in front of him, it was still difficult to sense his existence.

“I train in a special cultivation technique that increases my ability to hide my aura. Young master doesn’t need to think it’s strange.”

Although he was modest, inside he was still a bit conceited. He had absolute confidence in his aura concealing techniques.

Long Chen nodded. Chen Fei was truly quite good at that, as he hadn’t noticed the slightest trace of him until that time.

Today, when his sword had been shattered, and it seemed as if he might be in danger, Chen Fei had ended up giving off some of his aura. Otherwise, he still wouldn’t have noticed him.

At that time, he had clearly been about to intervene. Also, Long Chen hadn’t sensed any hostility at that time, so he knew Chen Fei was trying to save him.

That was why Long Chen had originally guessed that Chen Fei didn’t have any evil intentions against him. But to be safe, he had still decided to use the poison pill.

The current Long family was in an extremely unstable position. At any moment, it might capsize. He didn’t dare to be the slightest bit careless, and he refused to gamble the lives of his Long household’s people.

“How are things where my father is?” Taking a deep breath, Long Chen go to the point. He was extremely curious about what was going on with his father.

So much time had passed that even his memories of his father had become indistinct. But his father’s love from his childhood still remained deeply buried in his heart.

“Your father is safe and sound. However, in the most recent years, the battles with the barbarian tribes have become increasingly intense. Not to mention the lack of reinforcements from the capital, his original army of fifty thousand troops has shrunk to only twenty thousand. Luckily, the surrounding commoners care about your father’s benevolence, sending him women and sons to supplement his army as well as army provisions. If it weren’t for them, we’d have long since been unable to persevere.”

Anger could be heard within his voice.

The capital’s attitude towards Long Tianxiao truly was a bitter disappointment. If it weren’t for them seeing the many commoners’ ardent gazes, they would have already left.

The barbarian tribes were actually many separate tribes. They were simply grouped together as barbarian tribes as a generic group term. Born in the savage wilderness, they had to use cruel methods just to survive in their harsh environment. They hunted and gathered their food, just barely managing to survive. But that harsh environment actually ended up tempering them, and most of their population was much stronger than an ordinary commoner.

As they grew stronger, they naturally began to develop and spread out, claiming more and more lands. In the end, they had found the border of the Phoenix Cry Empire with its rich lands and produces. Plundering this place was much easier than hunting.

The reason they were called barbarian tribes was also because they lived their lives very differently from ordinary people. Whole families would sleep together on the same bed. They also copulated without any regard to generation or sex. It definitely seemed chaotic to others.

Other than their own tribe, the other tribes were just prey. Tribes would attack other tribes indiscriminately. And if they ended up capturing Phoenix Cry’s commoners, the men would just be killed and stored as food, while the women would be used for sex and then killed for food.

Phoenix Cry’s commoners both hated and were afraid of them. The barbarian tribes ended up plundering more and more as time went on, and only once that had reached a shocking point had the empire finally reacted.

Unfortunately. the barbarian tribes actually had a surprisingly large population. They traveled like the wind, disappearing one night and appearing at a whole new place. They weren’t like Phoenix Cry’s commoners who had set residences. It was basically impossible to find their nest, and so Phoenix Cry’s troops could only stay on the defense.

But once Long Tianxiao was sent to the border, he repeatedly launched sneak attacks against the barbarian tribes, causing the rivers to run red with their blood. This ended up intimidating the barbarian tribes, while the commoners near the border could all take a breath of relief and live in peace. That was how Long Tianxiao ended up becoming a military god in the eyes of the commoners.

As Long Tianxiao’s army fought with the barbarian tribes, the frequent raids ended up costing a great deal. Without reinforcements, the army’s troops quickly dwindled.

Seeing this happen, the surrounding commoners all helped and supported him to the best of their abilities. If they had extra manpower, then they sent their sons to join the army. If they had extra money, then they sent food over. Everything they could afford was sent to Border Suppression Army.

However, that kind of supply was far from enough. When the army wasn’t fighting, they would always go help the commoners farm, which was also a way to increase their own supplies.

So, the commoners and army men along the border were basically all one family now. Recalling their eyes that were filled with hope and expectation, Chen Fei’s eyes reddened slightly. Even if they had to die, they definitely wouldn’t allow those commoners to suffer any harm.

Chen Fei told all this to Long Chen, allowing him to finally understand his father’s secret troubles. On one side were his wife and son, while on the other were the lives of millions of innocent commoners.

If it was Long Chen instead, he would also be hard-pressed to choose. That grievance he had had against his father melted into nothing, and pride filled his heart. A brave expert who fights for an empire’s people; that was a true hero!

“Chen Fei, return to where my father is.” Long Chen thought about it but still ended up wanting him to return.

Chen Fei’s expression changed. “I absolutely cannot.”