Chapter 201: Acting

Within the gladiator residence.

The human gladiators had all been locked up in a single, cramped cell. A rancid smell permeated through the air of the cell.

Su Chen frowned, staring intensely at these human captives.

Their gazes were dull and lifeless, filled with hopelessness.

Su Chen drily asked, “They’re living in this kind of environment?”

Bott, who was following behind him, replied, “These guys are all going to die anyways, and they’re also humans. What point is there in giving them better accommodations?”

Bott’s reply lacked any sort of formality or courtesy.

That wasn’t too surprising.

He was the person responsible for maintaining the arena, so the Terror Lizard’s escape had been entirely his fault.

Even though Su Chen had obtained Anubi’s praises because of the event, Bott had still been punished.

The only reason he hadn’t been arrested on the spot was because Anubi had been in a good mood and had shown him mercy.

Under these circumstances, why would Bott speak politely with Su Chen, who was the one responsible for landing him in such an embarrassing situation?

In that sense, Kenwo’s comment had been correct. Even though Su Chen’s tactics had allowed him to rapidly rise through the ranks, he had offended too many other Ravagers.

Su Chen, however, didn’t seem to care in the slightest. Instead, he esoterically replied, “Only healthy, vigorous slaves can put on the most beautiful of performances…… I’m planning on taking these humans with me. Do you have any problems with that?”

Bott shrugged. “No problem. They already belong to you, all seventy-six of them. Just sign here and then I will release them to you.”

Even though he detested Su Chen, Bott wouldn’t make any trouble for him. After all, Su Chen was now his superior, and a close subject of His Majesty.

He could only wait patiently for an opportunity to take revenge.

Of course, he had no idea that that day would never come.

Su Chen quickly signed the document and brought the seventy-six captives away with him.

The gladiators had special ropes tied around their necks before they were loaded onto the carriages and taken away.

Su Chen had requested for the carriages to be sent outside the city.

Bott then asked, “Where is Sir Lontu planning on taking them?”

Su Chen replied, “Of course to somewhere that’s a suitable training area. What? Are you worried I’m going to take advantage of this opportunity to set them free or something?”

Bott replied, “Of course not. In truth…… I would rather you do something like that.”

Su Chen chuckled. “That’s true. Unfortunately, it seems that I’ll have to disappoint you.”

Bott snarkily replied, “It’s not a problem if you disappoint me. Just don’t disappoint His Majesty.”

Su Chen looked at him deeply, but didn’t say anything else. He motioned for the carriages to leave.

The carriages slowly left the gladiator arena, trailing along Gullan Castle’s main street. After leaving the city, they continued advancing through a forest before they finally came to a stop in front of a small hill.

Su Chen stopped the carriage procession here. “You guys stay here. All of the human warriors will come up the mountain with me.”

“Sir Lontu!” a Ravager soldier said with some agitation.

“What? Are you worried about me?” Su Chen stared at that Ravager soldier. “Do you think that these humans can kill me even if their shackles were removed?”

As Su Chen spoke, he stretched out his palm, slamming it against a nearby boulder.

Bang!

The rock was immediately smashed into a fine powder.

Shattering boulders wasn’t anything too extraordinary, but powderizing a boulder wasn’t something that could be accomplished through pure physical strength. The crusher also needed to have impeccable control over their Origin Energy. A Blood Boiling Realm human cultivator would have been able to achieve this result, but to the Ravagers, it was something that could only be done by someone who had gone through at least three baptisms ⁠— in other words, a Light Shaking Realm existence.

Given the strength of the seventy-six captive humans, they would not be able to do anything to Su Chen at all.

The Ravager soldier respectfully replied, “Yes, sir!”

Su Chen brought all the human captives up the mountain.

Upon arriving at the top of the mountain, Su Chen stopped, turning his cold gaze at the humans around him.

He stayed silent, the pressure causing those human soldiers to grow more and more anxious by the second.

Eventually, one of the soldiers broke under the pressure and yelled, “Ravager, if you’re going to kill us, then kill us. I am not afraid of you!”

Su Chen icily replied, “I brought you all here not to kill you but rather to torment you. Right now, kneel and curse the human race and worship the Ravager race.

“Don’t even think about it!”

“You’re dreaming!”

“You can kill a soldier, but you cannot humiliate him!”

All of the soldiers began to howl and yell furiously.

“Is that so? Since that’s the case, then I’ll start killing and see if you’re still so resolute!” Su Chen suddenly attacked, placing his palm on a soldier’s heart.

The soldier spat out a mouthful of blood. He quivered a few times before falling to the ground, no longer breathing.

“If you kneel, you can live. Otherwise, only death awaits you!” Su Chen yelled harshly.

“You’re dreaming!” all the soldiers yelled in unison.

Su Chen’s figure flickered among them, striking out with repeated palm strikes and causing a few of the fiercest soldiers to toppled over with each ‘bang’.

Su Chen darkly said, “Kneel, now! As long as you are willing to betray your country and your race, you can continue to live. Not only that, but I can also grant you your freedom. You will be allowed to live under the name of a slave.”

Finally, someone could bear the fear no longer.

A soldier fell to his knees. “Don’t kill me! I am willing to swear allegiance to you! The Ravagers are mighty, and the humans are shameless!”

“You bastard!”

“Don’t bow to him!”

“Get up! Don’t insult the dignity of us humans!”

The soldiers around him cursed vehemently, and there were even some soldiers who tried to pull him up, but Su Chen immediately felled them with his palms.

Another two soldiers knelt down as well.

The other soldiers retreated, full of anger and sorrow, leaving behind the comrades who had betrayed them.

They glared at Su Chen as if he was their mortal enemy.

Never surrender, even unto death.

“There’s still too few.” Su Chen shook his head with dissatisfaction. “So it seems like I was only able to get three slaves? Since that’s the case……”

He unleashed a barrage of palm strikes, and soldier after soldier fell at his hands.

“Wait! I surrender as well!” A soldier began to yell as he knelt down.

“General Le!”

“General Le, you can’t!”

All of the soldiers began to cry out with grief.

The kneeling soldier crawled over to Su Chen, still on his knees. “Sir, I will agree to anything you demand of me. I only ask that you……”

Su Chen said, “You only ask that I what?”

General Le lowered his voice, making it hard to hear what he was saying.

Su Chen bent over to hear more clearly. Suddenly, General Le sprang up and roared, “I only ask that you die!”

He wrapped his hands around Su Chen’s throat as a violent burst of energy surged from his body. Even Su Chen was momentarily caught off guard. He was actually shoved off of the mountain, and he and General Le began to fall towards the ground below.

“General!”

The group of human soldiers began to yell loudly as they leapt forwards.

However, a scene which stunned them and filled them with despair suddenly took place before their very eyes.

That damned Ravager actually flew back up, holding onto General Le.

He could actually fly!

Flying was even harder for Ravagers than humans. They could only accomplish such a feat after undergoing five Origin Energy baptisms.

How was this Ravager this strong?

Everyone fell into the pit of despair.

In that instant, a soldier suddenly howled, “We cannot let him fly back up!”

He leapt forwards, hurtling towards Su Chen like a rock.

“Yes, let’s go all out!” the soldiers began to yell as they leapt off of the cliff one after another, descending towards Su Chen like meteors.

“Holy hell, you guys are really trying now, huh!” Su Chen cursed. As the soldiers came tumbling down from the sky, Su Chen made a motion with his arms. Suddenly, countless Air Tentacles appeared. With Su Chen’s current strength, it was no problem for him to make tens of them at once.

These tentacles began to wrap around the soldiers falling from the sky.

But as they continued to fall, Su Chen found that he actually had no way of catching them all.

Su Chen could only helplessly teleport to the top of the mountain and throw all of the soldiers he had caught inside, then bark, “Stay there for me!”

All of the soldiers immediately froze in place.

An instant later, his figure disappeared yet again, and he reappeared at the very bottom of the cliff.

At the same time, the remaining soldiers were still tumbling through the sky.

Su Chen appeared directly beneath him. His Air Tentacles wiggled like those of an octopus, snagging the falling soldiers and sending them flying back to the top of the mountain.

He wiped the sweat from his brow as he said, “Damn, thankfully I turned Whitetower Teleportation into a Natural Origin Skill. Otherwise, a whole bunch of them would have died! I need to be a bit more careful when playing around like this in the future.”

As he spoke, he gestured, and all of the soldiers felt their consciousnesses tremble as they regained their ability to move.

General Le glared at Su Chen with rage. “You Ravager bastard, I’ll……”

“Alright, alright, General Le Feng. It was my fault, okay?” Su Chen interrupted him.

General Le froze. “You recognize me? Your voice…… why does it sound so familiar? And how do you know how to speak human language?”

An instant later, a shocking scene unfolded.

Su Chen reverted to his original appearance.

“Commander Su!?” the soldiers began to yell loudly.

Some of them had seen Su Chen before, while others hadn’t. But regardless of whether they had seen him or not, they all were familiar with his name, as well as his reputation as the one who had saved the Heavenly Might Battalion.

Upon realizing that it was him, everyone grew excited and agitated.

“You…… how are you here? No, you must be a fake!” General Le said emotionally.

Su Chen sighed. “When did you hear of any Ravagers with disguising abilities? Didn’t I save you once during the battle at Purple Mountain? And now you repay me by pushing me down the cliff?”

Chalei said with shock, “It really is you! It really is Commander Su! Commander Su is here to save us!”

Everyone began to cheer and yell.

“Shh! Quiet down.” Su Chen held up a finger to his lips. “There are still Ravagers below us.”

“I never expected Commander to be here. But why did you……” some soldiers began questioning, unable to understand.

Su Chen replied, “Are you surprised? If I revealed my true identity to you just because you were humans, I would be the dummy, wouldn’t I? I had to first test who I could trust and who I could not trust, right?”

As he spoke, he waved his sleeves, and the soldiers he had ‘killed’ earlier once again stood on their feet, breathing just fine.

With Su Chen’s skill, pulling the wool over their eyes was too easy.

Everyone present was stunned.

So it had all just been a test.

What Su Chen truly needed was soldiers who were truly brave and unafraid of death.

Everyone simultaneously turned to look at the three kneeling soldiers.

Obviously, they were the ones who had failed to pass the test.

The three soldiers had heavy expressions. “Commander, we……”

“I know.” Su Chen nodded. “I can understand your helplessness, and I do not blame you. Anyone who could endure until now under these kinds of circumstances is a real man. Even if you could not endure, I understand. But I also hope that you can understand my actions.”

The three soldiers stared at each other before kneeling. “We are willing to accept Commander’s discipline. We just hope that Commander will not let our deaths to be in vain.”

Su Chen nodded in agreement. “Don’t worry. Your blood will not flow in vain.”

He raised his hand, then pressed his palm down on them.

This time, it was no act.