"When in the world did the Red desert have these many Desert Centipede Kings roaming under it?!" Princess Meixiu said as she lashed out at the trio in front of her whom was running faster than them as if people running away from their debt collector. She gritted her teeth and hated their guts.
"How do you expect us to know that? We are not living in the desert! Maybe it's your intrusive activities recently that led them to chase us in a frenzy like this! You better confess, you cooked some of their eggs for dinner before this, right?!" Shen Murong replied with a similar but even harsher tone!
Pu!
The Princess and her expedition party almost puked out their gastric acid on the mention of cooking the Desert Centipede's eggs!
"Motherf*cker! Don't you dare go overboard! You think we from the Doulou Empire are impoverished nomads to be eating their eggs that tasted like cr*p? I'll slap you!" Ling Shin that was equally overbearing in his language retorted.
The Desert Centipede eggs were known to be the most foul-tasted food that the Tian continent had ever recorded. On the outside, their shell looked as ordinary as that of a desert ostrich's. But as soon as the contents poured out, it smelled no different to that of the human feces or even worse!
Thus, how could he tolerate it when the other party mentioned that they had been eating such eggs? Wasn't that like saying that they had eaten sh*t?
"Hah! That's what you said, but aren't you guys here right now scouring for some useless treasure to be sold for a hefty sum? What is that if not being poor? Ah?" Shen Murong wickedly smile and felt good when he talked trash to them like this!
"Silence!" Elder Cheng Chao could no longer tolerate their constant bickers and shouted at them while defending against the hundreds of acid attacks from the dozens of Desert Centipede Kings chasing the back of the group!
As she was the most powerful of them all right now, she had to stay behind and cover their retreat while they moved forward! Otherwise, just a single acid attack would be enough to melt the princess's expedition party into an ugly gooey state!
"Silence your father! Why do we have to listen to you? This granddaddy here have never bothered to submit to anyone's whims before, so you shut up, you filthy invader!" Shen Murong replied with a darkened face.
He was extremely angry at these haughty people who tried to do as they pleased in the territory of the Jiu Empire as if it was their home ground. Against people like them, he wouldn't even feel guilty if he cursed their ancestor!
On the other hand, Elder Cheng Chao almost swerved to the front right away to kick Shen Murong in the stomach for resorting to violent language against someone of her age. If not for the last bit of rational she had in defending their retreat, Shen Murong would have been a goner!
".... just you wait!" she thought to herself feeling indignant, focusing back her attention in deflecting all of the acid attacks from the Desert Centipede Kings behind them!
As they ran and ran along the tunnel, they seemed to go deeper into the ground and everyone's complexion started to change as they felt the spiritual Qi in the air to become even thinner the further they went!
It was only until they finally reached the exit of the tunnel that the Desert Centipede Kings halted in their footsteps and didn't dare to go even a single step into the exit area to chase them, their body shivering as if they were afraid of something!
Noticing this peculiarity, Shen Murong, Wang Dong and Wei Wang stood back to back with each other as they scanned their surroundings.
This new area was just as vast as the open space from before, but the air felt even more pressing as if something was currently watching them in secret!
"These tracks.. are there more Desert Centipede Kings here?" Wang Dong said warily as he saw the many larger foot prints on the ground.
"Hmm?" Princess Meixiu, Ruo Hen, Ling Shin and Elder Cheng Chao whose attention was also attracted to the numerous large footprints on the ground frowned.
Since they were now in the same boat, they no longer cared to waste their energy to bicker and fight each other. After all, with the almost negligible amount of spiritual Qi in the air, it would be a foolish thing to do if monsters surrounded them!
"No, these can't be foot prints from the Desert Centipede Kings, they are far more smaller than this! The indentation in them is quite deep too, signifying the massive weight of whatever these foot prints are from!" Elder Cheng Chao said with a grim expression. She had a bad feeling about this.
If even the Desert Centipede Kings are afraid to enter this zone, then it must've meant that this is the territory of a monster far stronger than them!
Soul Sense!
Wenggg!!
Elder Cheng Chao finally used the unique ability of a Nascent Soul realm, casting her senses far around them. She found out that this ability of her that could easily scan more than 400 meters in radius was now suppressed to just 50 meters, making her shook her head.
What is wrong with this place?
"I guess I'll have to forcefully extend the range by burning more spiritual Qi.."
Hengg!!
Finally, her soul sense managed to go beyond 50 meters.
60 meters..
70 meters..
When her soul sense reached 100 meters, her grim expression visibly changed, turning pale like a white sheet!
"W-What is.. that?!"
...
"Is this plan really necessary?" Duan Li scratched his head with unwillingness in his voice. Right now, he was wearing a unique full plate armor of glistening black in color!
Each step he made produces clanking noise that sounded heavy and powerful, a type of armor that signified his overwhelming might, as only the most powerful cultivators would be able to don and use this armor casually as if it were a normal piece of clothing!
In their previous meeting, after he gave the Superior quality spirit stone, the Liu Emperor and Jiu Sheng Duhai told Duan Li the rest of their plan to defeat the incoming invasion army from the Xian and Yuan Empire.
The plan was for him to lead the Imperial Extermination Knights, sort of like the First Subjugation Squad of the Jiu Empire.
They would then make a blockade to stop the invading army, and if they resist, Duan Li were to command the Extermination Knights to fight them!
If the Extermination Knights then showed signs of being in a disadvantage, Duan Li must pull them back and take action personally. By showcasing his shocking might, they were hoping for the enemy to run between their tails with terrified looks and traumas.
This way, the Liu Empire would not appear weak in front of all of the other empires, and they would think twice before offending them again!
"It is necessary if things were to be smooth! Just make yourself appear dignified in front of them!" Liu Sheng Duhai said and reminded Duan Li.
He was worried that this young man would be a terrible actor and acted like his usual self.
"Sigh.. fine." Duan Li replied as he put on his helmet, completing the full plate armor that he was wearing.
Now, Duan Li became one of the Execution Knights of the Liu Empire!
...
Inside a big room, 11 people were sitting impatiently and some of them appeared to be restless.
"Damn it! Why do we have to listen to the command of a no-name Execution Knight?!" one of them could no longer held it in and spoke out.
A few of them snorted and grunted, while some nodded silently, signs that they agreed with him. They were wearing the same armor set as Duan Li, just that they were grey in color and not black!
"Calm down. Her Majesty must've had her reasons for doing this." a person beside him said. The color of his armor was unique. It was silver in color and appeared to be holy-like as they reflected off the image of their surrounding.
"But Leader, we have been following you ever since forever. To suddenly be placed under the command of someone else that is not qualified, how can we sit still? This is injustice and questionable practice towards your capability leader!" the man continued.
The man was about to continue talking before his brows and the rest of them in that room twitched their eyebrows. They immediately look towards the door.
"He is finally here!"
...
First release this week! You can support this novel on my Patre0n if you like it by searching for my name there! Enjoy and thanks for reading! ;)