<h4>Chapter 251: Reunion Continued</h4>


    "Ho, is that so?"


    Hao Xuan slowly made his way towards Jiang Ling.


    Steel, Ox, and Monk moved out and stood in front of him, blocking his path forward.


    Jiang Ling waved his hand once again, ordering them to stand down. He smiled looking at Hao Xuan.


    "My offer still stands from that time. Serve me, you are more than worthy now. Stand on the winning side. It will be pretty fun~" his smiled turning into a bright grin.


    Hao Xuan returned his gesture and came to a stop just a few meters away from him. The soldiers surrounded him from every side, making sure he wouldn''t be able to escape no matter what.


    "Alright, how about we go and talk about it somewhere else then?" Hao Xuan asked, meeting his gaze.


    *Sigh*


    Jiang Ling''s smile vanished as he looked back at him coldly. It looked like he was out of patience.


    "Are you sure you wanna do this?"


    Hao Xuan nodded, still maintaining his smile, "Mhm."


    Jiang Ling shook his head helplessly, "Fine. So be it. Take him away. Drag that gate out, now!"


    As he gave the order and turned around to walk away, Hao Xuan''s voice came again.


    "Here, catch."


    He turned his head halfway and saw something flying towards him from the corner of his eye. It looked like an...ocotpus?


    "Eh?"


    "MINE!"


    *SNAP*


    The little octopus''s tentacles expanded to dozens of meters and before anyone could even make a move, it had already surrounded Jiang Ling from head to toe. He just looked like a ball of tentacles right now.


    "WHA-"


    "Assualt Of the Mad God!"


    Before the soldiers even had time to process what had just happened to Jiang Ling, another shout reverberated from where Hao Xuan stood.


    *BOOM*


    *BOOM*


    2 elite warriors closest to him shot out like deted balloons. The two Divine Serpents on his shoulders expanded in the blink of an eye, reaching the size of almost 200 meters.


    Their massive bodies mmed into the surrounding Jia soldiers, sending them flying away as well. Wave after wave of ck and white mes spewed out of their gigantic maws, covering the entire area.


    "AHH!"


    "ARGH!"


    "UP!"


    More than 80 Mind Pces appeared around the battlefield. There were over 15 Spirit Realm cultivators among this group of elites.


    They quickly got back up to their feet and unleashed their full powers. Brilliant lights covered the space above as a multitude of pces upied the sky.


    From Hao Xuan throwing Fortis towards Jiang Ling like a cooked grenade to the soldiers releasing their full powers, less than 5 seconds had transpired.


    "PROTECT THE PRINCE!"


    Steel shouted while sprinting towards Jiang Ling with all his might. His armor shone with a ck light that kept the mes at bay.


    All the others did the same. The 15 or so Spirit Realm warriors were the first ones to run back into the fight.


    Monk clenched his teeth and took out another spear from his storage ring. He didn''t move from the spot and instead looked for Hao Xuan''s silhouette in the mes that had reached a height of 30 meters within a few seconds.


    He held his breath and squinted his eyes hard, focusing all his senses to try and see any sign of a movement when his pupils dted into the size of coins.


    The mes right in front of him parted slightly as the head of a ferocious-looking ck beast peaked out.


    His heart almost skipped a beat.


    Time seemed to havee to a crawl as the beast''s massive body moved iprehensibly quick, standing right in front of him before he could even blink.


    "What the fu-"


    But before he could finish his sentence, a gigantic ive came out from the left side of the beast, aiming for his head.


    "Huk!"


    All muscle in his body expanded and moved in tandem. The veins on his neck bulged to several times their size as he barely stepped away from the ive''s path.


    Just as was about to let out of a breath of relief, a ck longsword that looked like it was created out of darkness itself came out from behind the ive. It was several times faster, not even giving him enough time to think let alone react in any way.


    *Squelch*


    With one simple motion, quick enough that he couldn''t even catch it with his eyes, the sword pierced his chest and came out of the other side.


    His massive body lifted up like a lifeless ragdoll and got dragged away with the beast, with the ck sword still embedded in his chest.


    "Bring him with, I want to try something..."


    "Yes, master."


    These were thest words Monk heard before he lost consciousness.


    *BOOM*


    *BAAANG*


    *WHIP*


    Back on the battlefield, a multitude of explosions and loud noises sounded from all around.


    "WHERE?!! WHERE ARE THEY?!"


    Steel''s angry yells echoed in the air. He, along with the other Spirit Realm Cultivators,bed the battlefield, putting out the mes bit by bit but could find no sign of Hao Xuan, Jiang Ling or even the massive snakes.


    All of them were gone.


    "Here! Over here!" Dagger shouted from the west side, gathering the group''s attention.


    All high ranking elites quickly ran over. Dagger was standing above a small pool of blood, looking outwards.


    Steel walked up with hurried steps, "What?"


    Dagger looked around once and sighed, "It''s Monk. He''s gone. This is probably his blood. There are tracks leading deeper into the swamp. I''m guessing these are ''his'' doing," he pointed at the set of massive footprints embedded deep into the ground.


    "Goddammit!" Steel stomped on the ground, cracking the entire area around him with raw strength.


    ''How could this happen right under my nose?!''


    "Get ready! We''re going after them. NOW!" he ryed his order to the others.


    "Yes!"


    The soldiers regrouped within a few seconds and summoned their mounts. Steel threw onest hateful look towards the Red Gate before following after Hao Xuan.


    First, Du Xun, Su Zemin, and Lu Jian watched the 200+ soldiers leave on their beasts. None of them had anything to say.


    Hao Xuan somehow managed to ''capture'' Jiang Ling and used him as bait to bring the others away. It was a foolproof n. No matter what they weren''t gonna just let him leave with their prince like that, so giving chase was the only logical option left.


    But what surprised them the most were the myriad of tricks Hao Xuan pulled out of nowhere. The biggest one being able to capture Jiang Ling so easily.


    It should be noted that Jiang Ling had the blood of the true Giants running through his veins. Not to mention that he was near the top of the Spirit realm himself.


    "Get them ready, let''s go," First mumbled under his breath. His fists were clenched so tight that they were turning white. The others kept silent and quickly walked out of the tent.