Chapter 1196: The Final Winner

The one that both Yang Kai and Wu Ke were the most worried about was the straw-caped old man. The old man’s combat prowess was no weaker than theirs. Hence, Yang Kai targeted him first. Unexpectedly, the old man managed to trick Yang Kai and survived.

If the two half-step Martial Emperors fought with Xiao Chen, the one to benefit in the end would be this old man. Perhaps all the treasures would end up in the old man’s hands if that happened.

Thinking of this, Yang Kai and Wu Ke could not help feeling a chill down their spine.

“You really hid yourself well!” Yang Kai said through clenched teeth.

The straw-caped old man smiled and said, “This old man already lived for more than eight hundred years. What kind of tricks have I not seen before? You are still far from being able to scheme against me. Do you think that I did not notice the small actions you took to communicate with the baldy in secret?”

Then, the straw-caped old man changed the topic, saying indifferently, “However, this is fine as well. There are now much fewer people. There will be more to go around. It is best for one to not be too greedy. Young man, don’t you agree?”

The meaning in the old man’s words was clear without having it pointed out.

The old man meant for them to stop here and not think about fighting anymore. If the two did not listen, he would stand on Xiao Chen’s side and go down together with the two. No one would be able to benefit at all.

Yang Kai and Wu Ke exchanged glances as they quickly discussed the pros and cons.

Given Xiao Chen’s and the straw-caped old man’s strength, if they worked together, they would surely be able to kill Yang Kai or Wu Ke, who would definitely suffer tremendous losses by continuing alone.

The two quickly came to a decision. Yang Kai squeezed out a smile and said, “What senior is saying is that one cannot be too greedy. In that case, we should begin the split now.”

“Wait a moment,” Xiao Chen said suddenly.

After that, Xiao Chen walked over to Dugu Ao’s corpse step by step. Dugu Ao had stopped breathing, and his corpse was cold already.

The others did not know what Xiao Chen was going to do. They only saw him cut his hand with his saber and let his blood drip into Dugu Ao’s mouth.

As the blood slowly seeped into Dugu Ao’s mouth, his pale complexion slowly turned reddish. In the end, his body showed signs of life.

Dugu Ao was a mixed-blood between a human and a Blood Demon, similar to the Blood Sword Sovereign from fifty thousand years ago.

Blood Demons lived for very long and would not die easily. If they had not lost their lifeforce for long, they could be revived with blood.

This was especially so for Dugu Ao. Xiao Chen had been watching him all along. This person was rather special. Even at the final critical moment when fighting his opponent, he did not use the abilities that came from his Blood Demon bloodline.

For some reason, Dugu Ao seemed to prefer to die than use the Blood Demon’s bloodline. Xiao Chen could not be bothered with his back story and just wanted to save this person. He felt that it would be such a pity for this person to die.

Saving him was just something convenient to do; Xiao Chen did not lose anything.

“Whoosh!”

Suddenly, Dugu Ao opened his eyes. His eyes appeared scarlet, containing an uncontrollable bloodthirst.

“Die!” Dugu Ao shouted coldly as he raised his palm, sending an attack towards Xiao Chen’s chest.

What a fast speed!

When Dugu Ao shot out his palm, it was like a sharp knife. It was so fast that there was no wind at all, as if it would pierce through Xiao Chen’s chest and dig out his heart.

Dugu Ao seemed even faster than before he was injured. Fortunately, Xiao Chen’s hand was rather close to him.

At the critical moment, Xiao Chen quickly caught Dugu Ao’s hand ahead of the blow and pressed on his wrist.

The knife-like palm stopped one centimeter away from Xiao Chen’s chest, unable to go further.

Little Yellow Feather, who was circling in the air, quickly flew over like a beam of light. It spread its wings out and screeched loudly as it glared at Dugu Ao. The flames in its mouth looked like they would spew out at any moment.

Xiao Chen knew that Dugu Ao attacked while under the control of his bloodlust, so he did not take this to heart. He only suppressed Dugu Ao and waited for him to recover gradually.

“This fellow!”

Upon seeing Xiao Chen revive Dugu Ao, an unhappy light flashed in the eyes of Yang Kai, Wu Ke, and that straw-caped old man.

The reason was none other having to split the treasure with one more person in the party.

The scarlet light in Dugu Ao’s eyes slowly receded as that uncontrollable bloodlust disappeared. When he completely regained his calm and saw Xiao Chen’s posture, he was somewhat stunned.

After a while, Dugu Ao said, “I owe you a favor.”

Favors were the hardest to accrue and the hardest to pay back.

In this world of cultivators, everyone had their own pride. A favor was extremely serious. Even a cultivator with a terrible reputation would honor such words.

Xiao Chen smiled faintly and did not say anything more. This was just a matter of convenience; it was pretty good to earn a favor like this.

Xiao Chen let go of Dugu Ao’s hand and stopped restraining him. After Dugu Ao got up and saw Yang Kai and Wu Ke standing beside each other, the straw-caped old man, and the corpses that littered the burial ground, he more or less guessed what happened after he “died.”

The straw-caped old man looked at Xiao Chen and said with a cold smile, “Unexpectedly, Little Brother still has a pure and innocent heart. However, this world is filled with white-eyed wolves. In the future, you might get bitten by a white-eyed wolf. I hope you don’t regret what you did today.”

[TL Note: White-eyed wolf means thankless wretch.]

Dugu Ao’s expression immediately froze, and a murderous intent flashed in his eyes.

Xiao Chen said indifferently, “Is Old Sir referring to yourself? I think you must be referring to yourself. If you are not a white-eyed wolf, how could you live to more than eight hundred years old as a quasi-Emperor? If you are not a white-eyed wolf, how could you fear death so much that you do not dare to undergo your Great Tribulation of wind and fire?

“White-eyed wolves may be very repulsive, but if one uses the existence of white-eyed wolves in the world as an excuse to become a white-eyed wolf, that is more abominable.”

Xiao Chen’s words stabbed into this straw-caped old man’s heart like a knife, touching on the thing that he was the most sensitive about.

Even with the self-restraint that the old man cultivated after eight hundred years, his lips could not help trembling as he shouted lividly, “You are seeking death!”

The straw-caped old man released all his aura, putting his horrifying cultivation on full display. An oppressive aura like that of a mountain pressed down on Xiao Chen.

Together with his aura, the old man quickly swung his fishing pole. The fish hook that was covered in barbs silently flew towards Xiao Chen’s throat.

Xiao Chen’s reaction was lightning fast. He pointed to the air, and his fingertip gave off a cold light, which crushed the seemingly insignificant but fatal fish hook into powder.

An icy light flashed in the straw-caped old man’s eyes. He pushed off the ground and threw a palm strike at Xiao Chen.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

With this one palm strike, the straw-caped old man brought out his dense and vast cultivation to its fullest. His aura did not lose out to a half-step Martial Emperor’s at all.

Such a scene caused Yang Kai and Wu Ke to think to themselves, Fortunately, we did not make a move on Xiao Chen earlier.

It looked like with this straw-caped old man’s strength, he would have no problem instantly inflicting severe injuries on them with a sneak attack.

“Since you want to play for real, I will accompany you.”

Xiao Chen stabbed the Lunar Shadow Saber into the ground. Then, he raised his hand and executed the Thousand Year Death. Multiflora roses drifted about, and a scarlet moon soared into the air.

Every flower petal contained Xiao Chen’s grief and worries. The force in the palm strike was unending, chained together. It spoke only of worry and nothing of joy.

“Bang!”

The two palm strikes clashed. Using the superiority of his Martial Technique, Xiao Chen drew even with the straw-caped old man, whose cultivation far surpassed his.

This outcome shocked the straw-caped old man. Then, Xiao Chen’s state of grief silently penetrated his heart.

Scenes of cruel memories from his long life quickly flashed in his mind.

Unexpectedly, the straw-caped old man with the more vigorous and denser Law Energy was the first to pull back in this clash of palm strikes. After finding his footing, the old man no longer dared to make a move casually.

This fellow is also someone not easy to deal with!

Xiao Chen’s Thousand Year Death also completely revealed his strength. Now, Yang Kai and Wu Ke no longer underestimated him.

“Never mind. So many people died already. There is no need to fight each other anymore. Let’s split this pile of treasures first.”

Yang Kai, who orchestrated this tragic scene, became the peacemaker and spoke such grandiose words.

Xiao Chen scattered his Martial Technique and gripped his Lunar Shadow Saber once again. Then, he glanced coldly at the straw-caped old man and held his silence. Given a way out of the embarrassing situation, the old man did not linger on this and turned calm once again.

The group now divided the spoils. The twenty-five thousand Essence Stones were divided equally into five, so Xiao Chen obtained five thousand Essence Stones.

For some reason, Dugu Ao directly gave his share to Xiao Chen without saying anything, not taking a single Essence Stone.

This action upset Yang Kai and Wu Ke greatly. However, this was not a good time to fall out with Xiao Chen.

If Yang Kai and Wu Ke attacked Xiao Chen and Dugu Ao, they might end up paying a price for it. For the sake of self-preservation, the straw-caped old man would definitely not let Yang Kai and Wu Ke succeed. No matter how they looked at it, there was still no chance.

As for the latter Dragon Race Secret Treasures, Dugu Ao also gave his share to Xiao Chen.

As for the complete set of True Dragon bones, since no one trusted each other, no one was willing to let another take custody of it and split the profits after selling it. Thus, they could only divvy up the bones here, and everyone got a share.

As a result, Xiao Chen obtained ten thousand Essence Stones, eight Dragon Race peak-quality King Grade Secret Treasures, and one share of True Dragon remains.

Xiao Chen was the one with the most gains on this trip. Earlier, he also managed to gather one hundred Dragon Blood Flowers, a huge gain.

Despite all of Yang Kai’s and Wu Ke’s schemes, their gains were not as much as Xiao Chen’s. This made them feel extremely frustrated, but they could not do anything about it.

“You all can probably tell that although this is a burial ground, the master of the dragon grave is not buried here. There should be even more chances to profit further on. Shall we work together and explore the deeper parts of this dragon grave?” the somewhat dissatisfied Yang Kai suggested.

With the slyness gained from experience, the straw-caped old man maintained an expressionless face and did not respond. Clearly, he was waiting for Xiao Chen to say something. If Xiao Chen did not agree to go, the straw-caped old man would absolutely not travel with these two half-step Martial Emperors.

Xiao Chen thought to himself, This dragon grave is definitely extraordinary. The peak killing move that the Azure Emperor left behind is the best proof of this.

Rationality told Xiao Chen that it was best to withdraw while things were going well.

However, the curiosity in his heart was simply too hard to extinguish. What situation could prompt the Azure Emperor to leave behind a killing move and then leave silently?

If Xiao Chen just left, he would not be able to unravel this mystery for a long time. Just thinking about remaining in suspense made him regret it.

Fortunately, Xiao Chen had never been a wishy-washy person. He quickly came to a decision and said, “It is fine to go and take a look.”

There were some things that if one did not make clear, one could not be at peace. Xiao Chen knew himself well. If he did not go and take a look, he could not let the matter rest.

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