The three of them left the Wine God Palace and were very quickly surrounded by a group of experts wearing the Grand Han’s robes.

They numbered in the fifties and were all young Soul Transformation experts. Their leader was even a rank nine Celestial. He was of medium build and had shoulder-length hair. The thing about him that gave the deepest impression was his large face. His face was very large, or perhaps it should be called wide. For normal people, two hands would be enough to cover their face, but this person would need three hands.

“Xia Yunchong, what do you think you’re doing?! This person killed people of my Grand Han repeatedly, and you’re actually walking with him? Is this your public provocation toward my Grand Han? You want a war between our two nations?” demanded the rank nine Celestial.

Clearly, this person was finding trouble for Xia Yunchong, infuriating him. These fellows always kept saying that the Grand Xia was provoking the Grand Han, that they wanted war, all while clearly aware that the Grand Xia didn’t want a war.

The Grand Xia knew how frightening war was. Many people would die. War was not a crafty trick, it was barbaric plunder. The goal was to get the most benefits through fighting. But whether you won or lost, the ones who suffered the most were always the innocent commoners.

Just how many true experts could the Grand Xia and Grand Han really utilize in a war? Their main force would still depend on their army.

And where did that army come from if not the commoners? The pain of the battlefield would fall on them.

The Grand Xia was profoundly aware of how much pain war brought. Only idiots like the Grand Han would repeatedly say that they wanted a war whenever they didn’t get what they wanted.

Because the Grand Xia had simply endured, the Grand Han had continuously increased their provocations, thinking that the Grand Xia was afraid of them. That was what infuriated Xia Yunchong the most.

Before Xia Yunchong could even reply, Long Chen slapped that rank nine Celestial across his large face. He spun through the air in a beautiful arc, landing in the distance.

“Did your parents never teach you not to point at others when speaking to them?” snorted Long Chen.

If it was before, perhaps he would have directly launched a sudden attack to kill, because a rank nine Celestial would have posed some threat to him.

Now that the Divine Gate Star had grown stronger along with the other four stars, Long Chen’s power was so great that he no longer cared about rank nine Celestials.

Only Empyreans could be his opponents. As for this rank nine Celestial, he was nothing more than a clown.

Long Chen might not care about rank nine Celestials, but that didn’t mean that other people didn’t. Even Xia Yunchong and Xia Youluo jumped in shock. Long Chen was even stronger than the legends.

That rank nine Celestial had only just landed when Long Chen appeared in front of him like a phantom. Long Chen pressed a finger right against his head.

“Do you want to live or do you want to die?”

Lightning revolved around Long Chen’s finger. It could erupt at any moment.

“Who… who are you?!”

The rank nine Celestial didn’t even dare to move. He was pale, shocked and infuriated. He hadn’t expected such a terrifying expert to appear in the Grand Xia.

Long Chen once more slapped him, sending him flying.

His face was originally large, but now it was swelling even larger. He coughed up blood, and half his teeth were knocked out. His head was buzzing so hard that he couldn’t even form the will to resist.

Long Chen’s finger pressed against his head once more. “If you answer besides the point again, I guarantee that you won’t see tomorrow’s sun. Tell me, do you want to live or do you want to die?”

“I… I want to live…” The rank nine Celestial was now completely terrified. He wasn’t able to resist at all, and his life was completely in Long Chen’s hands. No one could save him.

“Where do you come from?” demanded Long Chen.

“I’m from…”

“Think well. You’ll only have one chance. As soon as you lie, you’ll lose your chance at living,” said Long Chen coldly.

“I’m from… the Grand Han…”

“You’re asking for it.”

The lightning runes on Long Chen’s finger began to shine brightly, and a terrifying pressure descended.

“I’m not lying… I really am… They are the ones who were invited over. I’m really a native of the Grand Han. If you don't believe me, just look at my signature large face, and you’ll know…” The rank nine Celestial pointed at his own face in terror. The Grand Han’s faces were a bit large, but this person’s face was definitely an exaggeration.

“They were all invited? Invited from where?” demanded Long Chen. The fact that this rank nine Celestial would bring up his own face at the end meant that he might be telling the truth.

“I…”

Only now did the rank nine Celestial realize that he had said something he shouldn’t have, and he gulped.

The thunderforce on Long Chen’s finger brightened once more.

“They come from many places! They’re all from other regions!” cried out the rank nine Celestial.

Long Chen nodded. That seemed to be true. If they came from the Eastern Xuan Region, people would have long since found mistakes in their identity. Even if they were disciples from secluded sects, there couldn’t possibly be this many experts.

They came from other regions. That was about what Long Chen had guessed. It was just that he didn’t know their goal. What was the point of all this?

To use the Grand Han to provoke the other four nations, who would benefit from a war between the four ancient nations? Or were they testing the Wine God Palace?

“Die!”

Just as Long Chen was considering this, the rank nine Celestial, who had been trembling in terror, suddenly unleashed his aura, and his Heavenly Dao runes surged into existence. He sent a punch at Long Chen’s chest.

A banging noise shook everyone’s ears.

The rank nine Celestial had a twisted smile. He had succeeded in attacking Long Chen. At such a close distance, there was no way he could have survived.

Everyone jumped in shock from the sudden change, even Xia Youluo and Xia Yunchong.

Then they found that Long Chen hadn’t even twitched in the face of this powerful punch. He didn’t even bat an eye.

It was the rank nine Celestial’s arm that had cracked and broken. His sinister smile vanished, replaced with terror.

“I originally didn’t want to kill you, but you really just had to ask for it.” Long Chen looked down and patted his chest a few times as if brushing off some dust.

The rank nine Celestial was just about to try and flee, but as soon as he moved, Long Chen captured his throat and tossed him to the ground.

The bricks blew apart, and the rank nine Celestial turned into a mass of flesh. He hacked up blood and broken fragments of his teeth. Simply smashing a rank nine Soul Transformation Celestial shouldn’t have caused such injuries normally, but Long Chen had sealed his spiritual yuan when Long Chen had gripped his throat. If Long Chen really wanted it, he’d already be dead.

Long Chen was as quick as lightning. His angle, timing, speed, they were all perfect. This person might be a rank nine Celestial, but his battle experience was clearly lacking. He had no ability to resist.

After half-crippling the rank nine Celestial, Long Chen turned to the other experts that had come with them.

Long Chen waved a hand, and dozens of chains pierced through their backs and out their chests. These chains were like vipers, and there was a hook at the end. If they wanted to extract them, they would pull out their insides as well.

This was actually a weapon used by the Corrupt path. Long Chen used them to chain these experts, but he didn’t immediately kill them. They were screaming in pain, but they didn’t die.

Long Chen suddenly took out a carriage and jumped in. He coldly said to those people, “If you want to die, kill yourself quickly. If you don’t want to die, then listen to my orders and pull my carriage!”