Chapter 145 : Chapter 145

Chapter 145: Everyone Was Switching Sides

Since there was no way to explain away both colluding with Prince Qing’s Remnants and acting as a turncoat to trap them, Cheng Zhenjiang could only weigh the two evils and choose the lesser one.

He made his decision in an instant.

He had planted people inside Prince Qing’s Remnants and personally come to Jiannan Circuit for only one reason—to eliminate a great scourge beneath the heavens!

Though his methods were somewhat unsavory, they still fit Great Hero Cheng’s stirring image as a chivalrous man who would save the people from fire and water.

The moment those words were spoken, everyone who did not know the truth was stunned.

Has the situation changed again?

So Great Hero Cheng had been plotting everything from behind the scenes in order to wipe out Prince Qing’s Remnants. He was still that same righteous and awe-inspiring Great Hero Cheng!

Only Cheng Yu let out a mocking sneer. Some people truly were shameless beyond measure.

He could twist black into white like this and still be honored as a great hero.

What a complete joke!

The others were astonished by Cheng Zhenjiang’s sudden change of sides.

Only Prince Qing’s descendants had completely red eyes.

From the very beginning, the Cheng Family had been plotting against them!

Betrayal was far more hateful than the open hostility Cheng Yu had shown without the slightest attempt to hide it.

Their rage surged to the heavens, and they wanted to curse him aloud.

But all of their attention had already been seized by the incoming River-Severing Sword Strike.

This was an attack from a Heaven Ranking expert!

Its power already faintly bore the air of a Grandmaster. How could a group of Seventh and Eighth Rank martial artists possibly block it?

All they could do was curse in despair.

“Cheng Zhenjiang! May you die a miserable death!”

“Hmph! Do crafty villains like you deserve to speak?” Cheng Zhenjiang snorted coldly.

The overwhelming might pouring from him did not diminish in the slightest as he raised his sword and charged at Prince Qing’s descendants.

“Today, I shall rid the world of one more great scourge!”

Everyone stared blankly at the scene before them, and in their hearts, there was only one possible outcome.

Once a late Ninth Rank expert made a move, Prince Qing’s Remnants were doomed beyond all doubt!

But at that very moment, a shrill and furious roar rang out.

“Cheng Zhenjiang! How dare you treat my Heavenly Fate Lineage like this?!”

From the direction of that voice, Xiao Teng pushed himself up from the ground. Because of his injuries, his entire body was twisted into a grotesque and ghastly shape.

Half crouched, he stared at Cheng Zhenjiang like some vicious beast crawling out of the underworld.

At that moment, he finally understood everything.

From Cheng Fang watching helplessly as Xiao Qian was taken away by Cheng Yu, to Xiao Qian being beguiled into ambushing him and betraying the Great Undertaking of Heavenly Fate—

It had all been a plot!

Their Heavenly Fate Lineage had been nothing more than a pitiful group of fools toyed with in the palms of others.

In the next instant, a mad aura ignited around him. Steam rose from his body as his flesh rapidly shrank and burned away, only to be filled again by Vital Blood.

Power comparable to Xiao Teng at his peak erupted from him.

The Blood-Burning Technique!

He was going to use his own life to make Cheng Zhenjiang pay the price!

“Die!! ROAR!!”

Xiao Teng’s furious, shrill howl no longer sounded like a human voice.

It sounded more like the roar of some primeval giant beast.

Cheng Yu’s heart shook.

That was a dragon’s roar!

He recalled the coiling flood dragon in the murals within the Prince Qing Secret Realm. That was the true source of the power possessed by Prince Qing’s descendants!

Just as he had guessed, the Blood-Burning Method came from the inheritance of the Prince Qing Secret Realm.

It was the method of transforming all the Vital Blood in one’s body into a dragon!

Every trace of the Vital Blood that belonged to Xiao Teng as a human burned away, leaving behind only Dragon Blood.

His figure blurred, and behind him appeared a Vital Blood flood dragon over a hundred feet long.

It lunged savagely toward Cheng Zhenjiang.

He wanted to drag him down to death with him!

“Your Highness!”

Prince Qing’s Remnants cried out with tears in their eyes. Xiao Teng was using his life to save them.

Their gratitude surged, and their hatred for Cheng Zhenjiang rose to an even greater height.

“Still struggling at death’s door!”

Seeing that the situation had gone awry, Cheng Zhenjiang shouted loudly, hurriedly turned to evade Xiao Teng’s attack, then changed targets and slashed out with his sword.

The thunder of a surging river roared out.

The River-Severing Sword Strike descended, cutting through the great river itself.

A cripple already weighed down by grievous injuries still wanted to perish together with him?

The sword slashed directly into the roaring, pouncing Vital Blood flood dragon and split it cleanly into two.

Though Cheng Zhenjiang had spent some strength on that blow, he still maintained the posture of towering righteousness.

“Your line has slaughtered the common people for generations and committed monstrous sins, violating the righteous path of chivalry. Today, I shall end it here and rid the people of this evil!”

Once he killed off Prince Qing’s Remnants, then apart from the Jinyiwei—whom the people of the Jianghu never trusted—much of the news could surely be suppressed.

When he had forged the glorious reputation that spread across the world, he had used methods like these more than once.

The power to shape the story was more important than the truth.

Watching this scene, Cheng Yu raised a brow. Naturally, he understood Cheng Zhenjiang’s motives.

After a brief moment of thought, he began transmitting his voice to Prince Qing’s Remnants.

Elsewhere, Xiao Teng smashed heavily into the ground, blood pouring from all over his body. His flesh had shriveled so badly that only a rough outline of him remained.

He vomited blood mixed with fragments of internal organs.

Panting, he looked at the remaining Prince Qing descendants behind him.

He had shielded them.

“Your Highness!”

The others let out heartbroken cries and approached him with tears in their eyes.

For a moment, the scene was almost moving.

Only Cheng Yu let out a cold sneer.

Everything was still firmly within his grasp.

In the next instant, several Prince Qing descendants exchanged glances, then suddenly erupted into motion. A strike packed with Vital Blood blasted straight through Xiao Teng’s gravely wounded body.

“You...”

Xiao Teng’s eyes widened.

No matter what, he had never expected this scene.

His own people had betrayed him too!

The Prince Qing descendants who had attacked him revealed savage expressions.

“We have abandoned darkness and turned toward the light by slaying the chief villain. Lay down the butcher’s knife and become a Buddha on the spot. Great Hero Cheng, you must not kill us!”

They had changed sides as well!

Now that the secret realm had suffered catastrophic damage and the Heavenly Fate Lineage stood on the brink of destruction, the ideals in their hearts had lost all value.

If they joined the righteous side, then Great Hero Cheng would not be able to kill them for the sake of his own reputation!

Cheng Zhenjiang stared at this scene in astonishment. He had not expected them to have such a move in reserve.

In an instant, he was plunged into a dilemma. Great Hero Cheng had always been known for his tolerance. There were more than a few under his banner who had once committed monstrous crimes, only to abandon evil and return to righteousness.

If he continued to kill these people today, there might be serious trouble.

Since when had these madmen become so cunning?

In the end, he hardened his heart and gritted his teeth.

“A leopard cannot change its spots. Dream on!”

No matter what, he had to kill all of them first!

But in the next instant, when Prince Qing’s descendants saw that Cheng Zhenjiang’s killing intent had not diminished, panic spread across their faces.

They shouted, “We are Thousand-Household Commander Cheng’s captives! If you lay a hand on us, you are making an enemy of Great Qian!”

They turned toward Cheng Yu as though he were the last straw that could save their lives.

Cheng Zhenjiang’s eyes widened.

At that moment, he finally understood.

The reason these people had suddenly become so cunning was Cheng Yu!

“You little beast!”

Cheng Yu raised a brow and looked at Cheng Zhenjiang with a cold, mocking smile.

“Could it be that Great Hero Cheng intends to make an enemy of the entire Great Qian court?”

At once, Cheng Zhenjiang felt his blood surge upward. He could resent the Great Qian court, but he could not openly and resolutely set himself against it.

That would hand the other eight great sects a perfect excuse to use against him!

This unfilial son!

He had ruined him yet again!

No matter what, he had to capture this unfilial son today and take him back, lest even greater disaster arise.

With reddened eyes, Cheng Zhenjiang was just about to make his move when sudden laughter rang out.

“Hahahahaha! Heavenly Fate? We are all people who cling to life and fear death!”

Utterly weakened, Xiao Teng revealed an eerie smile and seized one of the traitors by the hand.

A terrifying suction force burst forth.

The traitors could not pull their hands free. Their eyes widened in horror.

“My Dragon Blood!”

Xiao Teng madly drained the Dragon Blood from them, sucking several of them dry into withered corpses, then charged at the rest of his clansmen.

As he devoured their Dragon Blood, he laughed hysterically.

“Today, I will use your lives to help me seize the true power of the inheritance!”

A deranged smile spread across Xiao Teng’s face.

He erupted with utterly unrestrained Vital Blood. Every punch and kick he threw produced a sonic boom.

His top-tier Ninth Rank hard-body power exploded outward, and the other Prince Qing descendants did not even have time to scream before they were blasted apart into clouds of blood mist.

With another grasp, Xiao Teng drew several strands of incomparably concentrated golden-red blood from the exploded mist and pulled them into his body.

His already terrifying power instantly rose by another notch.

These people had chosen to betray him.

They wanted to trade the life of their prince for a way out.

But had he not also coveted their lives from the very beginning?

In just a few frenzied breaths, Xiao Teng had slaughtered the rest of Prince Qing’s descendants to the last man, and all of their Dragon Blood returned to his body alone.

A quantitative change brought about a qualitative one.

His aura grew stronger and stronger, and once it reached a certain point, a sudden mutation took place.

Within the aura surrounding him, the Internal Energy belonging to a martial artist vanished completely, leaving behind only frenzied and violent Vital Blood.

He was no longer like a human at all.

Cheng Zhenjiang’s eyes widened. He had dealt with more than a few terrifying Great Demons in the past.

In Xiao Teng’s current state, rather than resembling a hard-body martial artist, he looked more like a terrifying Great Demon.

At such a stage, could he still be called a martial artist?

Could he still be called human?

In the next instant, Vital Blood sprayed from Xiao Teng’s entire body, and his form grew hazy as a maddened voice rang out.

“The Progenitor was too cautious. He refused to abandon a martial artist’s Internal Energy, and in the end, he failed at the final step!”

“Now I have gathered all the Dragon Blood into a single body and obtained the true inheritance. I shall witness true power!”

Back then, Prince Qing had used the Dragon Blood throughout his body to break through to Grandmaster. But his rebellion failed, and he died within the imperial palace. His descendants stole back his corpse and continued passing down the inheritance.

After that, whenever each generation of Prince Qing’s line rose in revolt and sacrificed themselves for the great cause, their descendants would retrieve the Dragon Blood from their corpses and pass it down from generation to generation.

But there had never been anyone capable of bearing all of that Dragon Blood.

Xiao Teng had once come within a hair’s breadth of it.

Now Prince Qing’s line stood on the verge of utter annihilation.

With nothing left to hold back, Xiao Teng cast aside all restraint and used the Blood-Burning Technique, finally gaining a taste of the true power that belonged to Prince Qing’s inheritance.

And with it, he would take revenge for his monstrous hatred toward Cheng Zhenjiang!

“ROOOAR!!!”

With a single earth-shaking roar, his human form dissolved completely into Vital Blood and transformed into a savage crimson flood dragon.

Its entire body spewed out terrifying, scorching Vital Blood so hot that even the air around it seemed distorted.

BOOM!

The blood-red flood dragon smashed one claw violently into the ground, and in an instant, all of Iron Halberd Mountain shook as if heaven and earth were overturning.

The terrifying force of its Vital Blood swept outward, sending rocks tumbling down.

The Jinyiwei present hurriedly steadied their footing and dodged the flying stones.

The blood inside their own bodies trembled involuntarily, and fear rose in their hearts.

Their eyes widened in utter disbelief.

What kind of pressure was this?!

Even when Cheng Zhenjiang, a mighty Heaven Ranking expert, had struck earlier, his might had not been this terrifying.

Could it be that the monster Xiao Teng had transformed into already possessed the power of a Grandmaster?

Grandmasters rarely acted openly.

None of them had ever witnessed what a true Grandmaster’s strength looked like.

The captured Cheng Fang had seen a true Grandmaster expert before, and when he saw this scene, he went utterly stiff.

The power of that blood-red flood dragon was enough to make one’s heart tremble at a glance.

It had clearly already reached the level of Grandmaster!

Cheng Zhenjiang had schemed against him so viciously, only to provoke a monster like this in the end?

What had it all even been for?!

Jian A raised a brow and looked at the blood-colored flood dragon. Even he felt fear under that overwhelming pressure.

Its power was beyond imagination.

Yet he did not look particularly alarmed, because from far away, he had already sensed that faint, familiar Sword Intent.

The Sword Chief was about to arrive!

A true Grandmaster expert!

And more importantly, he turned his eyes toward Cheng Yu again.

Not only was his master completely unflustered at this moment, he even seemed somewhat excited, without the slightest trace of worry.

His face was as calm as still water. Clearly, everything remained under control.

If his master was not afraid, then as a disciple, how could he panic?

Thinking back to how Cheng Yu had subdued that terrifying white snake not long ago without so much as a scratch, there was surely nothing difficult about this situation either.

Cheng Yu remained so calm that there was even a trace of excitement in his gaze.

That was because, as he felt the Demon-Slaying Sword tremble, a stream of information appeared in his mind.

The flood dragon that Xiao Teng had transformed into was an ancient demon!

A Frenzied Blood Flood Dragon!

The True Martial Inheritance was most adept at slaying demons and exterminating monsters!

In the next instant, the blood-colored flood dragon exhaled a savage breath, glared at Cheng Zhenjiang in uncontainable fury, and spoke in a voice that was half human and half draconic roar.

“Die!”

A gigantic claw tore down.

Vital Blood, condensed to the utmost limit, poured forth in a crushing torrent, and even the air around them seemed to freeze.

Cheng Zhenjiang’s eyes widened, and a trace of panic appeared on his face.

He hurriedly raised his sword to block. Behind him, the phantom of a vast, unending river emerged and surged toward the blood-colored flood dragon.

The roaring waves collided with the dragon claw, and the sword broke forth, severing the great river.

A shocking burst of might exploded outward.

But this time, the result was completely opposite to the last time he had split the flood dragon in two.

When the River-Severing Sword Strike crashed into that terrifying Vital Blood, it gained no advantage at all.

Instead, Cheng Zhenjiang had delivered himself straight into the path of the dragon claw.

The dragon claw slammed down violently.

The horrifying force smashed into him and sent him flying backward. He crashed to the ground and spat out a mouthful of blood.

What terrifying strength!

Cheng Zhenjiang ground his teeth together, grief and fury surging in his heart.

Xiao Teng had turned himself into this half-human, half-monster thing just to avenge himself, even at the cost of his life!

But Cheng Zhenjiang’s original goal had merely been to make a deal—help the man launch his uprising in exchange for Ancestor Cheng Yuan’s secret treasure.

Now look at what had happened.

Forget rebellion—Prince Qing’s line was about to be completely wiped out.

As for Cheng Zhenjiang himself, not only had he failed to achieve his original goal and lost the treasure to Cheng Yu, he had also thoroughly offended Xiao Teng in order to preserve his reputation, forcing the man into a state where he would stop at nothing to kill him.

How had everything come to this?

Almost instantly, Cheng Zhenjiang arrived at the answer.

That unfilial son!

It was all because of Cheng Yu, that unfilial son!

The moment he thought of how thoroughly he had been trapped by his own flesh and blood, the rage in Cheng Zhenjiang’s heart reached its peak.

But reality gave him no time to vent that fury.

The blood-colored flood dragon that Xiao Teng had become attacked once more with a sweeping claw, terrifying Vital Blood crashing down like a landslide.

Cheng Zhenjiang could do nothing but struggle to defend himself, but even then, he could not match the power Xiao Teng now wielded—a power comparable to that of a Grandmaster.

Xiao Teng had sacrificed his life and forcibly offered up every last clansman to obtain this inhuman strength. How could it possibly be easy to deal with?

Forget counterattacking—even defending himself consumed all of Cheng Zhenjiang’s strength.

Great Hero Cheng, who stood high above the entire Great Qian Jianghu.

A mighty Ninth Rank expert on the Heaven Ranking.

A figure looked up to by countless people.

At this moment, he had been reduced to a filthy and bedraggled state, new wounds appearing across his body one after another.

Again and again, he was smashed to the ground by the dragon claw. There was nothing left of the bearing of a Martial Alliance Leader in his miserable condition.

With his arms folded across his chest, Cheng Yu watched the scene and revealed a mocking smile.

Cheng Zhenjiang had reached this point entirely through his own actions.

No one had forced him to switch sides and deny everything at every turn.

On one hand, he did not want even the slightest stain on his name. On the other, his eyes were full of nothing but profit.

Utter hypocrisy!

A man who deceived the world and stole empty fame was always bound to meet such an end.