The Almighty Ring

Jiang Fei didn’t bother to raise his head to meet their eyes as he spoke, “Gentlemen, must you insist on stopping me?”They were high and mighty but Jiang Fei was never one to show respect when it was not yet earned. That was the first step in displaying his confident persona.

“Insolent, you are. Punished, you must be,” said the shortest of the three archbishops.

Although they were not political figures, they held a certain influential power and stood second to the emperor himself. While the emperor held the highest authority and ruled as a sovereign figure, he still had great respect for the three archbishops.

Given their position, it was infuriating to have a young boy with a combat level of only four million speak to them so disrespectfully.

“Reserve yourself, Third Brother,” said a fatter man as he held out his hands.

Unlike the shortest one, this fatter archbishop had a face that reflected Buddha himself—a blinding sight of kindness and compassion. That being said, Jiang Fei could see that he was the most cunning of the three.

Not only had Jiang Fei committed murder within the grounds of the royal palace, and in the pressence of the emperor no less, he had also shown absolutely disrespectful behaviour to the three archbishops. There would be repercussions.

That being said, precautions must still be taken. Even though his combat level was a mere four million, Jiang Fei had displayed a great show of power when he swiftly killed the Highlord Advisor and disarmed the entire army of tens of thousands of soldiers.

It could be said that Jiang Fei showed no respect to the three and retracted his powers. Some would say he must have used all his energy and could not fight anymore. But the fatter archbishop knew better.

He could have simply hidden his powers instead of retracting them! It could be a plot meant to trap them! That is why the fatter one stopped the shorter archbishop from charging towards Jiang Fei.

Jiang Fei played it cool. When putting on a front, the first impression was the most important thing. He had to make the opponent start thinking twice before making a move. This tactic would be effective against the wise, but practically ineffective against those who were hot-headed.

The art of pretense was like maintaining a poker face during a high-stakes card game. It would work on others on the same level as you. On the other hand, it would fail if there was a novice at the table who would simply jump to conclusions and throw in the pot.

Competent, wise players, or in this case, those three old farts, should know how the strong behave, and this would make things easier.

Maintaining his smug expression, Jiang Fei spoke telepathically, “0541, you said something about help. How do you know there are reinforcements coming?”

Though pretending was second nature for Jiang Fei, having a solid foundation such as knowing for sure that reinforcements were on the way would help him perform better.

To think that that ‘thing’ had taken over his body and placed him in the dead center of the enemy’s territory. Then, all of a sudden, 0541 said that reinforcements were coming. To be honest, Jiang Fei found it hard to believe, but he had no other choice.

0541 answered vaguely, “Perhaps… maybe… I guess, there will be?”

His confidence in helping Jiang Fei depended on Umbral Jiang Fei, and now that he was gone, things were unpredictable.

“Second Brother, do you believe that he is not what it seems?” asked the muscular old man, the oldest and strongest of the three.

He was the one who lacked just a little bit more to become as strong as the Hidden Ones.

“I suspect so.”

The shortest one grunted loudly. “Do you not see that he is just simply pretending?”

He was the kind of person that Jiang Fei feared the most —one who would simply jump ahead without planning. Though his expression remained stoic and smug, he was panicking internally.

“He’s going to reveal me!” he thought to himself.

Dreading the thought of being exposed, Jiang Fei turned to face the three. “It’s funny. To think that you have lived to be so old, to know so much, and yet you can’t recognize death when he is standing right in front of you!”

“What did you say?!” the shorter one burst out with rage.

This time, the fatter one had to physically restrain the short one. “Calm down.”

Jiang Fei had struck a nerve and the short one was not going to stand still. He roared at the top of his lungs, “Second Brother! I’ve had it! Let me at him!”

“In that case, go ahead. Have at it,” said the eldest, still maintaining a calm composure.

He had never got along well with the shorter one. Coincidentally, if his suspicion about Jiang Fei was true, it would be a great way for the short one to learn some humility or maybe even get himself killed.

The fatter one immediately froze. He never thought that his senior would go that far. He knew that his senior had never liked the shorter one. He acknowledged that the reason was the shorter one’s own fault, since he had single-handedly caused all three of them to be in fatal situations.

When they got stronger and reached their current positions, the fatter one thought that his senior would have forgotten about past mistakes. He had not expected that what he assumed to be water under the bridge was still brewing in his senior’s mind.

“Hmph. That’s so you, thinking too much about such a simple thing. Can’t you see that he’s nothing he says he is? Eldest Brother is allowing me, so don’t stop me now!” said the short one, glaring at the fatter one.

Sadly, he was too straightforward in nature to even suspect that his Eldest Brother was trying to use him as bait.

The fat one sighed and let him go. “Sigh… do what you want…”

He knew that the Eldest Brother and the Third Brother had always been at each other’s throats. When both of them were going against him, why bother to speak otherwise? He would only be making himself look bad.

“Now! You die!”

Like a bullet, the shorter one shot across the palace grounds towards Jiang Fei.

“DAMMIT!”

All was lost. There was no way to keep up the pretense anymore. He was exposed.

The shorter one may be old, but seeing as the man was coming at him, Jiang Fei was still scared. Even at his best, Jiang Fei could only muster a combat level of nine million. Compared to this man, a nine million combat level was nothing.

0541 gasped. “Oh no!”

Even though he was weaker, Umbral Jiang Fei could still do something since he had a combat level of 15 million. Jiang Fei, on the other hand, was akin to a branch about to be plucked by a gorilla!

“HNNG!” grunted the shorter one.

He clenched his fist, pouring so much power into it to f*** Jiang Fei up real good.

Jiang Fei was completely thrown off guard. There was no way for him to maintain his composure when an enemy with almost twice his strength was coming at him with a fist that could destroy a planet. Without him realizing it, Jiang Fei’s face exposed his fear and bewilderment.

“Hah! I knew you were just pretending!”

The short one got it right. The expression of fear on Jiang Fei’s face could not have been faked. It was obvious that this young boy was all bark and no bite!

Seeing how Jiang Fei reacted to the shorter one’s incoming attack, the fatter one was shocked. Was he really just all talk with absolutely no power?

It all happened in nano-seconds. The short one’s fist was a few hundred meters away, and in the next instance, it was a hair’s width away from Jiang Fei’s nose. If the attack connected, Jiang Fei’s face would be vaporized immediately.

However, the short one suddenly panicked as his fist unexpectedly froze in midair.

A pillar of dark green light came down from the heavens, separately enveloping both Jiang Fei and the shorter one. The former felt warmth and light, while the latter felt like he was drenched in a cold tundra.