God Emperor

It took them five days to return to the ground. Looking at the snowy mountains, brilliant sunshine, and the icy stream flowing beneath mountains, everything seemed wonderful after the near death experience.

Meanwhile, the Saint Lady had recovered from her injuries. Her skin was glistening amidst the fog, looking angelic like how she had always been.

She stood beneath a snow mountain to bid Zhang Ruochen farewell.

“Do me a favor before you leave!”

Zhang Ruochen took out the icy box he’d found on Mei Lanzhu, and said, “This box is sealed with complicated spells. I cannot open it with my Spiritual Power.”

The Saint Lady took the box over and studied it for a moment.

She then hovered her hand over the box.

Immediately, the protective layer of spell shattered like a piece of fragile glass and disappeared.

Zhang Ruochen was impressed.

His Spiritual Power was nowhere close to the Saint Lady’s. He promised himself to spend more time on practicing his Spiritual Power in the coming time.

Gaining control over the power of time and space required incredibly strong Spiritual Power.

In order to perfect his skills of the Eight Changes of Scales, he had to strengthen his Spiritual Power.

The Saint Lady passed the box back to Zhang Ruochen, Her eyes twinkled, hesitating to speak further.

There were some words that she swallowed in, those that she knew Zhang Ruochen had been avoiding.

“Hope to see you again.”

Those were the only words that came from her. She turned around and took a step forward. Before her foot touched the ground, she was already a few miles away, and only a blurred image of her back was seen.

The blurred image soon disappeared as she took another step forward.

Zhang Ruochen let out a sigh and stared at the icy box.

Without the seal, the box was even colder than before.

The lid opened to reveal a translucent pill surrounded by four rings of saint light it emitted, along with the irresistible scent it radiated.

It filled the air with vitality, making people feel energized and recharged.

“Grade Four Divine Origin Pill.”

Zhang Ruochen was very surprised.

He had never expected opening to something he had always wanted – the Divine Origin Pill.

What a happy coincidence.

“Mei Lanzhu was a Level Three Half-Saint. He must have kept this to help him in achieving Level Four.”

Zhang Ruochen closed the lid with his lips curled upwards. He was pleased to have the pill, for he was a step closer to achieving Level Four of Half-Saint.

A floating scroll was approaching Zhang Ruochen from afar, through the mountainous terrain, above the clouds.

Blackie dashed out from the scroll and landed next to Zhang Ruochen. Circling around him, its beady eyes stared at him, a cross between wonder and disbelief. “Zhang Ruochen, you managed to climb back up from the Bottomless Abyss? That means the first gradient exists! What have you found there? Are there any ancient saint weapons?”

“There was nothing there.”

Zhang Ruochen had no intention of replying to its question. He extended his palm and requested, “My four letters, give them back to me.”

Blackie lowered its head and stammered, “I thought… you would not come back alive. So I gave the letters to Murong Yue on the second day of your departure, asking her to have them delivered through the Black Market.”

Zhang Ruochen’s forehead started creasing. As much as he was annoyed with Blackie, he tried to tone down the anger in his voice and said, “Ask her to send someone and get my letters back. Immediately!”

Blackie was never reliable.

Everything written in the four letters was from the bottom of his heart. They contained many secrets.

If he had died in the Bottomless Abyss, he wouldn’t have minded spilling those secrets.

But he came back alive.

“Hopefully Blackie will make it on time.”

Zhang Ruochen let out a long sigh, staring at the black streak of light Blackie disappeared into.

He was not worried whether the people from the Black Market would disclose the content. He had complete faith in their allegiance since they were sent by Murong Yue.

Rather, he was more worried if the letter had been delivered to Chi Yao.

The Black Market had a network of informants across the continents, and there was nothing they could not deliver. They must have possessed some secret channels to deliver the letter to Chi Yao.

For example, they could have had it delivered to Chi Yao as forged classified military information.

That way, the letter would not have to go through the security screening check.

Meanwhile, Zhang Ruochen sent a signal to the Saint Lady, who had just left, through sound wave transmission, asking her to do him a favor to halt the delivery.

In case the letter had been delivered to the Ziwei Palace, the Saint Lady could stop it from being delivered to the Empress with the authority she had.

The Saint Lady owed Zhang Ruochen a huge favor; she would not reject his request.

In fact, she was curious about the reason that Zhang Ruochen would write the Empress a letter.

What would the content be?

Roaming along the road covered in thick snow, Zhang Ruochen muttered to himself, “Out of the four recipients, the Royal Capital is the nearest. Kong Lanyou may have received her letter already.”

Given that the state of Tiantai and the Royal Capital were connected by a mere wormhole, she might have received the letter already, provided that the Black Market was fast enough.

Zhang Ruochen did not mention where he had been in the letter, only casually mentioning their childhood past.

If Kong Lanyou had seen the letter, she would have known he was still alive.

“She will find out sooner or later. What am I worrying about?”

Zhang Ruochen shook his head.

Eventually, he would have to visit the Royal Capital to visit his mother’s royal tomb. Letting her know that he was alive before his visit would probably be better.

Now that the Saint Lady was no longer in danger, his priority was finding ways to refine the Blood God Venomous Worm.

Though he could withstand the influence of the Venomous Worm with his Holy Qi, the fact that it was residing in him made it a deadly threat.

It had only been a couple of days, yet the Venomous Worm had grown a lot stronger, close to achieving Level Six of Half-Saint.

The stronger it became, the more harmful it was to Zhang Ruochen.

A few days ago, he had asked the Saint Lady.

After all, she was known as the “Know-it-all” in the Kunlun’s Field.

Yes, the title was a little exaggerated.

But her knowledge on the Blood God Venomous Worm was far beyond Zhang Ruochen’s. She told him, “The Venomous Worm is a derivative of the corpse worm found on the Blood God’s corpse. If you could find the corpse of the Blood God, it might leave the host and return to its original state.”

When she was asked the question, she was suspicious of his intention already and had been questioning him since then. Of course, Zhang Ruochen did not tell her the truth.

“Where would they store the Blood God’s corpse? I must not leave the Blood God Sect. Not yet.”

Zhang Ruochen went back to the Cangtian Canyon, returning to the Nether Heavenly Palace.

His arrival at the gate, however, triggered a long, blaring horn.

The horn persisted for a few minutes to the point where the ground started rumbling.

Following after, an ever-growing number of mounted soldiers rushed out from the canyon, sandwiching Zhang Ruochen in between.

The mounted troops consisted of 200 men. Zhang Ruochen could feel all of their eyes fixed on him, determined to take him down.

Beyond the troops, another force of armed soldiers was rapidly accumulating.

“Gu Linfeng has gone missing for so many days. I never would have thought that he’d come back alive. This is unbelievable.”

“How did he survive when so many did not? We should interrogate him about the death of the Deity!”

“Banner King Wuliang too has been missing for days. I wonder if he is alive still.”

…

Within a couple of days, the Nether Heavenly Palace had lost five of its Banner Kings, and even the Deity of the Blood God Sect was found dead.

On top of that, there were two Banner Kings who had gone missing. One, Zhao Wuliang, was from the sixth camp, and the other was the newly elected Gu Linfeng.

These series of occurrences had caused quite a stir at the Nether Heavenly Palace, in addition to the disruption they caused to the Blood God Sect. The Hierarch of the Sect was furious, and ordered the Nether Heavenly Palace to investigate the root cause.

Zhang Ruochen was not panicked at all. He had anticipated this the moment he decided to return to the Nether Heavenly Palace.

Among the crowd, the Saintess of the Blood God Sect was the only thing that stood out to him. She was glowing in her saint light. Somehow the saint light she emitted was rather different – both enchanting and pure. Nothing like the other saintesses.

Her eyes met Zhang Ruochen’s, smiling. It was a mysterious smile that would enchant millions.

Zhang Ruochen then shifted his gaze quickly to Zhao Shiqi, one of the Banner Kings.

He rode down the aisle between the soldiers on the back of a beast toward Zhang Ruochen while giving him an ice-cold stare. “Tie Gu Linfeng up! Vice Palace Ruler Yao is going to interrogate him!” he commanded.

Two of the soldiers stepped forward and chained Zhang Ruochen up.

Zhang Ruochen did not resist the arrest nor did he comment on anything.

The death of a Deity was indeed a serious matter. Anyone who had been in contact with the Deity would be suspected. Him being arrested was within Zhang Ruochen’s anticipation.

If he resisted, he could have been killed on the spot. The Nether Heavenly Palace could have then put the blame of Mei Lanzhu’s death on him, putting this case to rest. There wouldn’t be any evidence or witness left if he was dead.

The fact that Zhao Shiqi was alive meant that there was nothing Zhang Ruochen should be afraid of. All he had to do was remain cautious.