Chapter 5350 Underhanded Methods
Space twisted violently, and Long Chen felt the laws of space become chaotic. The aura of the Heavenly Daos also became turbid, like a hot spring contaminated with mud.
This nasty feeling shocked Long Chen—the aura of Endless Desolation. Why was it that he hadn’t noticed it before?
After pondering a bit, Long Chen understood why those with higher cultivation bases could not cross the Endless Desolation. No matter how strong an expert was, they would be unable to resist the corruption of the laws in the Endless Desolation.
For Long Chen and his group, this aura only caused discomfort without affecting their combat abilities. However, when Tang Wan-er took in their surroundings, her expression shifted to shock.
“This... this isn’t the Fiend Blood Battlefield! We’re way off target!” one of her retainers exclaimed after quickly checking the map. They were indeed nowhere near where they should have been.
“Tch, as expected, they’re using underhanded tricks,” scoffed Long Chen.
“Long Chen, are you saying they did this intentionally? No way!” Tang Wan-er found it hard to believe. Such blatant abuse of power seemed too far-fetched.
“I personally saw that old fellow do a switcheroo. Your master saw it too but chose not to say anything, “ said Long Chen.
“But this is a major mistake! They have to take responsibility!” Tang Wan-er was still in disbelief.
“What responsibility? Did you not hear him tell everyone not to make any odd movements during the spatial transportation, or it would affect the accuracy of the transportation? He repeated it three times. Now that we’re off target, they’ll blame it on us, saying someone didn’t follow the rules. It’s the perfect excuse, and there’s no proof to refute them. What can you do?” Long Chen shrugged.
“How hateful! They’re nine-vein Emperors! Do they really have no conscience?!” Tang Wan-er gritted her teeth.
Long Chen rubbed her face gently, calming her. “Tang Wan-er, you silly girl. You still don’t understand your master’s intentions. She is letting you see the ugliness of the world. Do you think people are born like this? No, most people have a conscience. But the pressure from the world erodes their bottom line until it snaps. Once that happens, they’ll do anything for their goals—shameless, depraved acts—and feel completely justified.
“Do you remember how prideful you were when we first met? You were an unbending fairy. But now? You’re constantly enduring their abuse. Sooner or later, as your own bottom line sinks, you’ll start using similar means. They no longer care about karma and act purely out of self-interest. If someone sees this every day, they will start to feel like there’s nothing wrong with acting according to their own interests. After all, all people are like this.”
Tang Wan-er’s heart shook. She finally understood her master’s deeper intentions, but she hadn’t realized it until Long Chen pointed it out.
“Big brother Long Chen is right. These wretched people don’t believe in karma. They will do anything for their goals,” said Xiao Yue.
Long Chen smiled. “No, little sister, you’re half-right. This doesn’t mean that people can do bad things just for their own interests. This karma is different from karma between people. It’s about a person who doesn’t cultivate their morals or restrain their desires. Eventually, they’ll be sentenced by the karma of the heavens.”
Long Chen viewed the warriors of the Hidden Dragon Legion as his own little sisters. After all, many of them might one day become his sister-in-laws. They were one family, so he didn’t need to be that reserved with them.
Hearing that, they were surprised. So karma had such a meaning. Long Chen continued, “That’s enough of that. No matter what underhanded tricks they play, they’re all nonsense in front of absolute power. Xiao Yue, you should be more familiar with this area, so tell me what you know. I’ll guess what those old fogeys are planning.”
Xiao Yue was clever and quick-witted, so she often acted as Tang Wan-er’s strategist. She would usually come up with plans, and Tang Wan-er chose her actions from them.
Xiao Yue handed the map to Long Chen and pointed out their current location, which was two days’ travel from where they were supposed to be. Worst of all, there was no way to shorten that time since they had to go around a region controlled by bone devils.
These bone devils were a type of devil creature with bones that grew outside their bodies, giving them an incredibly strong defense. Although their devil cores contained powerful metal energy, they were too hard to obtain, so people rarely hunted them.
The bone devil stronghold wasn’t massive, but it housed millions of them, including at least seven-vein Emperors. They couldn’t afford to confront them head-on, so they would have to go around, adding two days to their journey. And that was assuming they faced no sneak attacks from other devil races along the way.
“We only have seven days. After that, any achievements we make will be invalid. Losing two days like this... they’re truly despicable,” Tang Wan-er fumed, clenching her fists in frustration. But there was nothing she could do other than curse them for being shameless.
Long Chen had originally suspected they would be transported into the heart of the Fiend Blood Battlefield, hoping they’d be annihilated. Now, it seemed their plan was simply to delay them.
“We have no choice but to go around. We’ll have five days left, but with our power, we should be able to catch up,” said Xiao Yue, trying to remain optimistic.
However, Long Chen shook his head. “You’re thinking too simply. They want us to be eliminated and already know our path. My guess is that they have two plans. One is to go to our intended destination and kill all the devil creatures there, leaving us with nothing to hunt. The other, more vicious option, is to lure powerful devil creatures to our location and get us killed.”
Everyone’s expressions darkened. If Long Chen’s guess was correct, their best-case scenario would be elimination. Worst case, they could suffer heavy casualties. After all, in the heat of battle, it was possible to fail to crush the transportation tablet in time.
“Alright, I get it. Now it’s time to get to work.” Long Chen clapped his hands and led them straight towards the bone devils.
“If you want to win, you can’t walk the ordinary path.”