The Steward Demonic Emperor

Chapter 773: Life and Death

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“Universal Righteous Sect, Zhao Dezhu!”

Zhuo Fan squinted at the loathsome face. The girls were stunned.

They never thought the one to come after them would be the last of the superior-three sects, Universal Righteous Sect.

[No wonder they sent a Soul Harmony expert. A superior-three sect sure had the power]

Strutting over, with dozens of strong Ethereal Stage experts behind, Zhao Dezhu sneered, “Well, Zhuo Fan, you didn’t see this one coming, did you?”

“Yes, it was truly unexpected.”

Zhuo Fan was solemn, “I know I stepped on many toes, but I never thought I’d be meeting you. Based on hatred, Mystical Heaven Sect hates me the most, but I crushed it. The next would be Venerable Shi, but with High Venerable around, they can’t move as they want to set an ambush for me. Third would be Heaven Trailing Sect, but since they’re the last middle-three sect, I had my ways to cope with them. But out of all of many others, Universal Righteous Sect was the last I thought would come.

“Ha-ha-ha, taking it logically, our setting off and paths were set. You and my sect are quite far too, hardly communicating. So how did you know about our path so clearly? Either you had it prepared from the start to ambush me, or there’s someone in the Demon Scheming Sect feeding you info. But my falling out with the old coots is fairly recent. So when did you make contact?”

Frowning, Zhuo Fan pondered, then he chuckled, “Right, the Double Dragon Gathering, Lu Xie and Venerable Shi. You got in touch then.”

Zhao Dezhu’s heart sank, looking hard at Zhuo Fan and laughing, “Ha-ha-ha, they all say you’re shrewd and a thorn in the side. Now I know for sure. If a demon like you isn’t purged now, you’ll soon cause havoc in the world. Today, my Universal Righteous Sect will vanquish demons for the good of humanity.”

“Sigh, what a blunder.”

Facepalming, Zhuo Fan ignored Zhao Dezhu’s bragging and sighed, “I didn’t much care about the Demon Scheming Sect at first. It was not the Luo clan who was built step by step anyway. So many problems were ignored. I thought I would go back to the Luo clan after the job was done and not get involved in its politics. But who knew that would come back to bite me…”

Shaking his head, Zhuo Fan pointed at the girls and spoke in a hard tone, “Brother, you want to purge demons, that’s fine. But leave the righteous cultivators out of this.”

Chu Qingcheng tightened her hold on Zhuo Fan’s hand as she shook her head. Shui Ruohua and Dan’er were firm in staying as well. But Zhuo Fan didn’t look at them, only at Zhao Dezhu.

“Humph, being around a demon like you, no one is innocent. They’re all taken in by the demonic way. They all must die…”

Whoosh!

Zhao Dezhu raved, but was cut short as something came at him. He felt death looming and slanted his head in reflex.

Whoosh~

The attack passed his face and sent a cold shiver down his spine. Then he heard the cries from behind. Five Ethereal Stage experts were headless, falling to the ground.

Then their souls came out and shouted their anger at losing their bodies.

Divine Eye of the Void’s 2nd stage, Void Annihilation!

“Zhuo Fan!”

Zhao Dezhu roared. He didn’t think Zhuo Fan would be so savage, striking without a signal and killing five of his brothers. He almost died as well.

As he turned around to Zhuo Fan, he found Zhuo Fan had grabbed Chu Qingcheng’s hand as they all fled.

It was blatant disregard!

Zhao Dezhu was fuming mad, “Men, start the array!”

“Yes, sir!”

A ripple crossed the entire space and like a net, sealed the town. At the edge of it, Zhuo Fan could see five hundred Ethereal Stage experts sitting cross-legged and holding the barrier.

Shui Ruohua’s brow shook as she cried, “Five hundred Ethereal Stage experts! Only someone like the Universal Righteous Sect can unleash such a force. This is like a lower-three sect’s entire power!”

“Humph, that’s why I said meeting the Universal Righteous Sect is the worst. Besides the sect guardians that never leave home, they could send any kind of force and could easily crush a lower-three sect. We four are now facing such a destructive power!” Zhuo Fan gnashed his teeth, sweat gathering on his forehead.

Dan’er was afraid, “Brother Zhuo, w-what do we do?”

“Don’t worry, with me here, you’ll be safe!”

Zhuo Fan revealed a smile as two golden halos appeared in his right eye, “Divine Eye of the Void 2nd stage, Void Annihilation!”

Hum~

A ripple shot out that slammed into the barrier and punched a hole in it.

Blood spurted out as dozens of Ethereal Stage experts paled instantly from the heavy backlash.

Zhuo Fan just then arrived before the barrier. He saw the hole in it and flicked his right hand, punching as it oozed a brutal red color.

Boom!

In that instant, Qilin arm’s power was unleashed, cracking the barrier. With a loud explosion, he made a gap in it and forced dozens of more Ethereal Stage experts to puke blood and collapse. The others maintaining the array were shaking like leaves, but the signs they made were firm. 

A shame it was of no use. Zhuo Fan had breached a path for them to escape.

“Run!”

Pulling Chu Qingcheng, Zhuo Fan shouted. The four rushed through the gap and flew away.

Zhao Dezhu stomped in anger, “Curses, this prick has a skill to break arrays. The barrier is useless on him. You damn fools! He escaped so what are you holding it up for? Get it down and chase after them!”

The men finally reacted and took down the barrier to give chase.

Almost five hundred Ethereal Stage experts went after only four people. Their mighty auras felt like that of a tsunami.

“Brother Zhuo, they’re almost caught up. What do we do?” Dan’er saw the savage energy behind and panicked.

Zhuo Fan was solemn, “Keep running and don’t look back. Don’t falter or it’s over. This is life or death!”

“Yes!”

Dan’er shook in fright but then recovered as she focused on flying. Chu Qingcheng was also solemn, grabbing Dan’er with one hand and Zhuo Fan with the other as she rushed forward.

But then she noticed one hand was empty. Zhuo Fan was not there.

Chu Qingcheng looked back to see Zhuo Fan stopping.

“Zhuo Fan…”

Chu Qingcheng cried out.

Zhuo Fan shouted before she stopped, “Don’t look back and just run!”

“Qingcheng…” Shui Ruohua looked back knowing what he planned. 

With tears in her eyes, Chu Qingcheng saw Zhuo Fan’s determination and gnashed her teeth. She pulled Shui Ruohua and Dan’er as she flew faster.

Shui Ruohua cried, “Qingcheng, are you really leaving him? He’s going against five hundred Ethereal Stage experts and a Soul Harmony expert!”

“I don’t want to, but I have to…”

Chu Qingcheng’s eyes were red, “I’m too weak and will only burden him. It’s better to leave first and escape from their chase. Then he can find his own way to escape. I believe that even in this dangerous situation he can still come out alive…”

Chu Qingcheng might have spoken to the girls or maybe to herself, to give her belief and to trust Zhuo Fan.

But she knew deep inside that the Universal Righteous Sect’s force could wipe out a lower-three sect. Zhuo Fan’s chances were slim at best. The girls could only pray for him.

Chu Qingcheng held the other two with shaky hands as she flew, biting her lip till it bled.

Shui Ruohua saw her pain and tightened her grip on Chu Qingcheng’s hand, “Don’t worry, he’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, brother Zhuo always comes out alive. He got the strength and the wits.” Dan’er consoled.

Chu Qingcheng lowered her head as she kept flying. She really hoped that was true, but only she knew Zhuo Fan saying for them to not look back was the same as saying goodbye…