Nine Star Hegemon Body Arts

Chapter 5294 Probing

“Patriarch, the Stone Spirit race has launched a sneak attack!”

The moment that Long Chen and Chu He appeared, someone immediately reported the news.

Chu He’s expression darkened, and they rushed toward the fortifications. From there, Long Chen saw a vast army of giants with stone-like skin.

These giants emitted icy auras, their bodies covered in black lines. They were entirely different from Shi Tongtian, the Stone Spirit Long Chen had previously encountered. It was as if their auras were brimming with darkness.

Long Chen had also encountered members of the Stone Spirit race in the Heavenly Flame Devil Domain, but there were clear differences between the two. It was likely that they belonged to different branches of the Spirit race.

Uncountable Stone Spirit race’s experts now stood in front of the fortifications, wielding stone hatchets in their hands. Their eyes—rainbow-colored gems radiating with divine light—were unsettling. Though the gems were beautiful, their placement on the giants’ faces made them appear more sinister than striking.

Amongst this mass of Stone Spirits stood a single human. His face was gloomy, and his hair was long. Also, four six-vein Emperors stood behind him.

When Long Chen arrived, the Tianyu City’s side was already ready for combat. The giant crossbows on the fortifications were aimed at the Stone Spirit army.

Long Chen’s gaze swept through the army before ultimately fixing on that long-haired man, whose gaze also locked onto Long Chen. The man had an unusual face, a wide protruding forehead, small triangular eyes, and a mouth that stretched almost to his ears.

“Young fellow, you’re clearly still wet behind the ears. If you don’t want to die, leave Tianyu City while you can. You’ll suffer a miserable fate if you stay,” the ugly man said, smiling sinisterly, his grin resembling a viper ready to strike.

Long Chen smirked. “You must be Jiang Yiming, right? Hehe, no wonder you’d leave Tianyu City. I’ve seen countless lifeforms in both the mortal and immortal worlds, but there aren’t many people uglier than you. If Senior Chu hadn’t told me about you, I’d have thought you were a toad that somehow turned human. You really fit in with these stone monsters.”

How could Long Chen not understand the reason for this sudden invasion? Jiang Yiming had come to test the waters after learning that an outsider had arrived in Tianyu City.

The Stone Spirit race hadn’t come with their full force, signaling they had no intention of launching a full-scale attack. They merely wanted to probe Long Chen’s abilities and gauge whether he posed a threat to their plans.

There were definitely traitors within Tianyu City who had informed Jiang Yiming about Long Chen. If Long Chen had been an ordinary person, Jiang Yiming wouldn’t have cared. However, the fact that Long Chen had arrived on a three-vein Emperor Gold Lion and entered the ancient tower with Chu He was enough to make Jiang Yiming cautious. This was why Jiang Yiming had brought his troops to test the waters.

Hearing Long Chen’s response, Jiang Yiming almost exploded. His ugly-ass face had always been a sore spot with him, twisting his personality. Because of it, he had become reclusive and antisocial, and he would resent anyone who dared to bring up his looks. Later, once he was strong enough, he would kill everyone who had mocked him. It had been years since anyone dared to insult him to his face, but Long Chen wasn’t one to hold back.

“Brat, you are courting death!” roared Jiang Yiming.

“And who will kill me? A hideous piece of shit who betrayed his master and his race?” Long Chen retorted without hesitation, seeing that he had hit a sore spot.

The experts standing on the fortifications directly nodded, silently cheering. They hated Jiang Yiming as well, but this traitorous bastard was just too strong, having become the vice race leader of the Stone Spirit race. Despite him being a dirty traitor, they didn’t dare to curse him. After all, they were profoundly aware of his modus operandi—anyone who had cursed him would be hunted down and killed. Many feared that Tianyu City would one day fall to him, and cursing him would only hasten their demise.

Thus, Long Chen’s bold taunts were like a release for their own emotions. Previously, some had doubted Long Chen’s confidence, especially after he refused Liao Yong’s challenge. They had speculated that perhaps Long Chen had some trick to control the Gold Lion but wasn’t actually powerful.

However, his fearless verbal assault on Jiang Yiming won their approval, regardless of his strength. At the very least, no one else in Tianyu City dared to curse Jiang Yiming like this.

Jiang Yiming’s fists clenched so tightly that they creaked, and a bulging vein appeared on his forehead. His already ugly face became even fuglier as his killing intent surged, almost taking tangible form.

“Are you shitting yourself? Sorry, but that’s against the rules here. If you’re going to poop, do it somewhere else!” advised Long Chen kindly upon seeing Jiang Yiming’s ugly expression.

BOOM!

Jiang Yiming directly lost control and exploded with the full aura of a four-vein Emperor. A wave of divine power shook the very air.

Jiang Yiming’s aura locked onto Long Chen. Seeing this, Chu He stepped forward for fear of Jiang Yiming injuring Long Chen. However, Long Chen stopped him, knowing that Jiang Yiming was testing him.

Typically, when a cultivator’s aura was locked onto by such power, their own power would instinctively react. However, Long Chen’s control over his own power was so refined that he didn’t respond at all. There was no way for Jiang Yiming to gauge his strength through this lock.

Long Chen’s Root Qi quivered inside his Dantian, instinctively wanting to release its power to resist this lock. But Long Chen controlled it, not letting it release its energy.

With his hands clasped behind his back, Long Chen looked down on Jiang Yiming and smiled derisively. He didn’t say anything, just looking at him indifferently.

Tianyu City’s defenders tensed, ready for battle at a moment’s notice. However, to everyone’s surprise, Jiang Yiming withdrew his aura and waved his hand, leading the Stone Spirit army away.

“Damn brat, just you wait!"