Nine Star Hegemon Body Arts

Li Canghao was absolutely incensed.

He had been waiting all along, deliberately holding back from showing himself in the plaza. Yet when Long Chen declared that everyone was present, he had cleanly ignored him—the palace master himself.

Even with his improved temper, Li Canghao was about to curse Long Chen.

He felt like if he didn’t vent the curses brewing in his chest, he would fall ill. This brat’s talent to enrage people was unmatched.

“You’re coming?” asked Long Chen.

That single sentence nearly made Li Canghao curse out loud.

As the palace master, how could he not participate in something so big?

“Long Chen, Master has been waiting the entire time. He cares a great deal about this matter,” Qu Liushang interjected, trying to mediate.

With these two’s famous tempers, they could just start fighting right there and then. However, the Starry River Palace couldn’t afford such an incident. It needed them both.

If both of them stormed off in anger and left the already crippled palace behind, Qu Liushang wouldn’t even know who to cry to.

“Then if you’re coming, bring the Heavenly River Silk. We will need its power,” said Long Chen.

“You... what are you planning to do?!” Li Canghao exclaimed, shocked by the mere mention of that name.

The Heavenly River Silk was the starry river formation above their heads. More than that, it was a divine weapon that maintained the karmic luck of the Starry River Palace. It was also their greatest protection.

It had been personally forged by Heavenly Sovereign Li Yaochen. He had crafted only two such divine weapons in his lifetime, and one had been destroyed during the primal chaos war.

The Heavenly River Silk was the last one.

Its name was only told to the successive generations of palace masters. For Long Chen to speak of it meant only one thing—the Heavenly River Silk itself had acknowledged him.

In other words, Long Chen was capable of wielding it.

Previously, Long Chen had obtained the approval of the formations in the Starry River Palace. But unexpectedly, even the Heavenly River Silk approved of him.

Even Li Canghao had spent three hundred years cultivating within the starry river before earning that recognition. How could he not feel envy?

The Heavenly River Silk was the Starry River Palace’s ultimate trump card. If it were taken away, the palace would be like a snail stripped of its shell—unable to withstand even a single blow. Any powerful enemy could annihilate it outright.

“Without the Heavenly River Silk, I won’t be able to wipe out the outsider devils in the Black Wall,” said Long Chen.

“Wipe out?” Qu Liushang gasped. The others couldn’t believe their ears either.

After all, the outsider devils had been building their fortress for eons. With their deep foundation in this place, none of the powerful factions had been able to wipe them out.

For just the Starry River Palace alone to attempt it was no different than asking an ant to knock down a tree.

And that was without accounting for the fact that the Starry River Palace had already crippled itself. Was this not throwing themselves straight into their death?

At first, Qu Liushang had thought that Long Chen wanted to go to the Devil Slaying Battlefield because he had discovered some legacy of the Starry River line inside, and he wanted to seize it with their help. But now, he realized that Long Chen was planning a fight to the death with the devils beyond the heavens.

“Do you have a plan?” Li Canghao asked, his expression turning grave.

“Yes, but you don’t need to know. Just listen to me,” Long Chen replied.

“You—!” Li Canghao snapped. “At the very least, I need to know whether this risk is worth taking. If the Heavenly River Silk is taken away, then the Starry River Palace will be in danger!”

“Didn’t you say that I am the person the Starry River Palace has been waiting for? In that case, why are you wasting my time?”

Li Canghao’s hands twitched.

He truly came close to hitting Long Chen, but he found himself unable to refute a single word.

Qu Liushang hastily said, “Long Chen, don’t blame Master for being cautious. After all, this matter relates to the very survival of the Starry River Palace. Master has no choice but to be prudent.”

When Long Chen heard this, his expression softened.

He said, “In truth, I prepared two plans. If you didn’t participate, I would slaughter my way into their hive and destroy their foundation. However, that would be the limit of what I could achieve.

“But if Palace Master Canghao and the Heavenly River Silk participate, I am fifty percent confident of eradicating them completely. Also, this is a sneak attack, not a prolonged battle. Victory or defeat will be decided in at most three days. So, as long as the Starry River Palace is not attacked during these three days, everything will be resolved.”

“Fifty percent? Three days?”

Li Canghao’s heart shook. If that was truly the case, then this gamble was worth taking.

Qu Liushang and the others were also shocked. They didn’t know the plan, but they knew Long Chen’s character—he never risked everything on an impossible mission.

“In that case, let’s do it!” Li Canghao said at last.

Then, Li Canghao gritted his teeth and formed a series of hand seals.

The starry river above them quivered. In front of everyone’s shocked gazes, it shrank down into a three-meter-long silk ribbon coiled around Li Canghao’s arm.

As the Heavenly River Silk left the Starry River Palace, the surrounding buildings dimmed, as if their vitality had been drained away.

Long Chen nodded.

Li Canghao truly had guts. Long Chen had previously looked down on him, but this decision earned his respect.

“Everyone, don’t worry. During our assault on the Devil Slaying Battlefield, if the Starry River Palace faces any threat, we will immediately give up our fight over there and rush back. The Starry River Palace is our foundation, and we will not let anything happen to it,” promised Long Chen.

The Starry River Palace’s experts were all frightened. With the Heavenly River Silk gone, any attack from their foes would spell disaster.

With Long Chen and the others leaving, the Starry River Palace was basically an empty stronghold. There was no way it could block any attacks. If it were destroyed under their watch, they would be sinners before their ancestors.

Long Chen’s words eased them slightly. At least, the dread no longer felt suffocating.

“In that case, let us move out. The sooner we go, the sooner we’ll be back,” said Li Canghao.

He raised his hand, and the Heavenly River Silk flared with light, activating its spatial transport.

“One second!”

Long Chen stopped him.

He took out sixteen formation discs and placed them around the group.

When the formation discs lit up, spatial energy enveloped all of them. In the blink of an eye, this group vanished from the plaza.

“Highest alert!” someone shouted. “Activate all sentries! Extend our surveillance as far as possible! The Starry River Palace must survive for three days!”

The entire palace mobilized.

With their strongest forces gone, every remaining cultivator was on high alert to brace for the unexpected.