As Wang Chen's face lit up with a broad smile, the nine disciples felt a wave of excitement wash over them. They knew that their senior would be pleased with their performance in completing the mission.
"I am thoroughly satisfied with your work," Wang Chen praised them, his words carrying the weight of his approval.
This was not fake praise; Wang Chen was genuinely impressed with their performance. He had thought that these nine disciples would only be able to gather around 50-70 disciples of their faction, but they had exceeded his expectations and managed to gather more than 200 disciples.
"Senior, this is what we disciples should do," the nine disciples said, cupping their hands and bowing slightly as a sign of respect to their so-called senior.
Wang Chen nodded approvingly at the respectful demeanor of the nine disciples. "You have done well in completing this mission. Your dedication and hard work will not go unrewarded," he declared, waving his hand in a gesture of magnanimity.
The disciples tried to keep their cool upon hearing Wang Chen's words, but inside they were buzzing with excitement. They knew that whatever he gave them would be a major boost to their cultivation journey.
"Ah! Senior, is that a sword you're giving us as a reward?" One of the disciples asked eagerly, noticing the weapon in Wang Chen's hand.
Wang Chen shook his head, a sly smile playing at the corners of his lips. "No, no, my young disciple. What I have here is a gift that is even better than a sword. It's just a way to give you your reward."
"A way to give us the reward?" The disciples looked at each other in confusion, unsure of what Wang Chen meant by this cryptic statement.
As Wang Chen walked towards them, he declared, "You guys have performed splendidly in carrying out Yue Jang and the Great Elder's mission. The reward I'm about to give you is the best you deserve."
The disciples exchanged confused glances, unsure of what Wang Chen had in store for them. Just as one of them was about to ask for clarification, a sudden, sharp pain jolted through him as a sword pierced his heart, leaving the others gasping in shock.
The wounded disciple cast a frightened look at his attacker, who turned out to be none other than Wang Chen. As he struggled to speak, blood oozed from his mouth. "S-sen..." he managed to utter, but before he could say anything more, Wang withdrew his sword from his body, causing the disciple to fall lifeless to the ground with a loud thud.
The remaining eight disciples stood there, stunned and speechless. "Why did you kill him, senior?" one of them finally managed to ask, his voice trembling with fear and confusion.
As they began to regain their senses, they saw that Wang Chen had suddenly attacked the disciple who had just asked the question.
"Agghh!"
The disciple cried out in agony, but to everyone's surprise, he wasn't gravely wounded. Beneath his clothes, he was wearing a sturdy chest plate armor, which proved to be his savior as it successfully blocked Wang Chen's attack and saved his life.
"Who are you?" the guy asked as he tried to punch Wang Chen.
The other disciples watched nervously, unsure of what was happening but sensing that something was off. They looked at each other, silently communicating their confusion and concern.
They were now aware that Wang Chen was not the senior and was someone imposing as a senior. If he was a senior, the chest plate would have been pierced as well if the cultivation was on Core Formation Realm, but from the attack, the strength was of an Innate realm Cultivator.
If Wang Chen wasn't a senior, then who was he? And why was he pretending to be one?
And just now when Wang Chen dodged the punch using cloud step movement technique, it confirmed their guess because no senior practitioner would use such a basic technique when they had access to more advanced ones.
The fight continued between them as they realized that their opponent was only at the Innate realm, the same as them, so they had a chance to survive and started attacking.
"You think you can defeat us, imposter?" one of them yelled as he swung his sword.
Wang Chen dodged the attack and smirked. "You underestimate me," he said, before launching a counter-attack.
As the fight went on, the eight disciples realized that they were no match for Wang Chen's skills. One of them fell to the ground with a thud, followed by another.
"You're just a fake senior," one of the disciples spat out, trying to catch his breath.
Wang Chen chuckled. "I never claimed to be a senior," he said. "You guys were the ones who made me senior."
"You will all pay the price for betraying your sect."
Wang Chen retorted, "Oh, so now it's me who's betraying the sect? Meanwhile, you all were planning to kill disciples from the opposing faction."
In the end, Wang Chen finished off the remaining disciples, one by one. As he stood among the lifeless bodies.
Wang Chen's eyes glimmered as he looked at the lifeless bodies lying in front of him.
He slowly walked towards the corpses and put a hand on the first disciple's chest. A surge of energy flowed into his body, and he felt a wave of power coursing through his veins. He closed his eyes and concentrated, letting the Devouring Physique do its work.
As the energy was absorbed, the disciple's body started to wither and shrink until there was nothing left but his clothes and weapons. Wang Chen repeated the process with each of the remaining disciples until he was the only one left standing.
Finally, he opened his eyes and looked around. The once peaceful forest was now silent, and the only sound that could be heard was the rustling of leaves in the wind. He took a deep breath and felt the power within him surge even higher.
He gathered the remaining weapons and scattered them around the area, making it look like a skirmish between two rival factions, knowing that he needed to cover his tracks.
If anyone were to come across the scene, they would think it was just a fight between two opposing factions and leave it at that.
After that, he turned his gaze towards the cave entrance. "It's time to send them to their death as well," he muttered under his breath.
MONTHLY GOAL :-
100GT - 1 Bonus Chapter
200GT - 2 Bonus Chapter
500 PS - 1 Bonus Chapter
800 PS -2 Bonus Chapter
1 Magic castle - 5 Bonus Chapters
