God Emperor

Zhang Ruochen put away the threads of Holy Qi and frowned. He looked at the stone beauty whose body was cold, feeling confused.

“There is no Holy Qi in her body. Even her Qi ocean and meridians are gone. Now she is no more than an ordinary person. Maybe she’s not Ling Feiyu, just someone looks like her?”

A monk, especially a monk at the saint level, would have left traces of meridians or the Qi ocean, even if all of their meridians were cut down and Qi ocean broken into pieces.

Unless she didn’t have any Qi ocean and meridians at first.

Zhang Ruochen looked at the stone beauty again, and shook his head immediately to deny the last thought.

Although the stone beauty was so weak that he couldn’t find the strength of her body, her skin was crystal-clear like fairy jade, giving out a fresh aroma. Apparently she had been fed with the Holy Qi for a long time, and was not some ordinary person.

The body of a saint contained the essence of the heaven and the earth, which went along with the Rules of Saintly Way like saint herbs which had lived for thousands of years. Even the hair of a saint had incredible value.

Zhang Ruochen poured Holy Qi into his eyes to activate the Eye of the Deity Print. He stared at the wrist, and space between the eyebrows of the stone beauty, checking her wounds again.

This time, Zhang Ruochen had found something new.

There were indeed a Qi ocean and meridians inside the stone beauty’s body, but they had almost withered away.

Zhang Ruochen could have never detected them if it was not for his Eye of the Deity Print.

“She has been severely wounded at the beginning. Now it gets worse. If it continued in this way, she would probably have lost her cultivation of hundreds of years.”

Finding Ling Feiyu made Zhang Ruochen happy and worried at the same time.

Zhang Ruochen had detected the saint soul of Ling Feiyu with spiritual power, and found her saint soul unhurt.

Then, how could she become like this?

“Put this aside for now.”

Zhang Ruochen reached out his hands to lift Ling Feiyu up, preparing to take her away and cure her. Even so, Ling Feiyu didn’t resist. She was like a puppet.

Meanwhile, Yan Jinyao climbed on the platform at the lakeside and stopped Zhang Ruochen. He said in a surprised voice, “Lord Gu, what are you doing?”

“I’m taking her away,” answered Zhang Ruochen.

Yan Jinyao shook his head, “The stone beauty was brought back by an elder in our sect, and is also a famous specialty for the Pearl Light Pavilion. You can’t take her away.”

Zhang Ruochen sneered and found it funny. The great one of the Nine Palace Rulers of the Demonic Sect was used here to attract guests by her underlings of the Demonic Sect.

Was there anything funnier than this?

Zhang Ruochen was about to reveal the true identity of the stone beauty, and he realized that something was wrong.

According to Yan Jinyao, the stone beauty was brought back and sent to the Pearl Light Pavilion by an elder of the Demonic Sect.

It was normal that ordinary monks couldn’t find her different.

But, how could an elder of the Demonic Sect regard the stone beauty as an ordinary woman, since even Zhang Ruochen had found her unusual.

There was something wrong.

Was it someone inside the Demonic Sect who wanted Ling Feiyu to be destroyed?

Or did the elder of the Demonic Sect truly fail to find the Qi ocean and meridians?

“If it was someone inside the Demonic Sect wanting to deal with her, why didn’t he just kill her and save the trouble?”

Zhang Ruochen couldn’t figure out why, but he was sure that the thing wasn’t as simple as it looked.

It might not be good to expose the identity of Ling Feiyu.

Zhang Ruochen didn’t reveal the true identity of the stone beauty after all. He gave Yan Jinyan a glare, and said, “I like her and would like to take her away. Are you going to stop me now?”

Yan Jinyao naturally didn’t dare to offend the Son of Deity of the Blood God Sect. He put on a pained face. “Please calm down, Lord Gu. It’s her luck that you take a fancy to her. But, I can’t make the decision here. I have to ask the elder’s permission first.”

Zhang Ruochen pretended well. “Is the elder here in the Pearl Light Pavilion?”

“He is,” said Yan Jinyao.

When Yan Jinyao was about to retreat, a thick voice sounded under the platform, “Yan, you don’t have to call the Elder Qi. This guy is only a Fourth Level Half-Saint. He is just too proud of himself that he dreams about taking the stone beauty away from the Pearl Light Pavilion.”

The crowd parted. A skinny, black man in iron armor and battle boots walked to the platform with steady paces.

The man had a trimmed beard and a red monkey with six ears on his shoulder, giving out powerful might.

The sky seemed to have darkened with his arrival.

“This is one of the 108 Saint Generals of the Sacred Central Crypt, Huo Yin.”

“If Huo Yin has come to the Pearl Light Pavilion, then Kong Hongbi must have come as well. It is said that Kong Hongbi has already taken a fancy to the stone beauty and negotiated with the Pavilion Ruler and the elder of the Demonic Sect for a long time. He is going to buy her at a high price.”

“Young masters of the Sacred Central Crypt and the Black Market Excellence Hall are going to compete for the stone beauty. What a scene!”

“This is a place in the Central Region which is controlled by the Sacred Central Crypt. How could a young master of the Black Market Excellence Hall from the Eastern Region compete with Kong Hongbi?”

“Kong Hongbi doesn’t have to stand out. Huo Yin himself is enough to scare them off.”

…

With the appearance of Huo Yin, the crowd at the lakeside who was going to surround and watch retreated away, fearing that a battle between the Half-Saints could happen.

Huo Yin glanced at Murong Yue and cupped his hands slightly. “Huo Yin, from the Sacred Central Crypt, greets the Young Master Murong again. Our Young Master has taken a fancy to the stone beauty before and reached an agreement on her price with the Pearl Light Pavilion. I hope you can stop now, in case the peace between us be affected.”

Huo Yin spoke peacefully, but somewhat pressing them to agree to his plain words.

To Huo Yin, Murong Yue was the master and Zhang Ruochen was just a servant of hers.

He believed that Murong Yue would not offend the Young Master of the Sacred Central Crypt for a servant.

Murong Yue didn’t want to offend a strong enemy for a woman. So she turned back and looked at Zhang Ruochen, asking his opinion.

Zhang Ruochen held Ling Feiyu’s wrist in one hand, and stared at Huo Yin. “You should go back to tell Kong Hongbi this: I’m going to take the stone beauty with me. Whoever dares to fight with me is asking for death. This is also my ultimatum to you. Now, move away.”

Zhang Ruochen was furious and sad for Ling Feiyu, as if his master and friend had been insulted.

He would kill anyone who dared to stop him now.

The audience was astonished, thinking that they might have hallucinated.

“How dare he? For a woman, he has called out Kong Hongbi openly and scolded the Saint General, Huo Yin.”

“Did he lose his mind?”

“Few could remain sensible seeing the stone beauty.”

…

Far away, Bu Qianfan held the scrolls about Gu Linfeng in hand and looked them over quickly. Then he closed the scrolls and looked to the platform at the lakeside again.

Coldness showed in his eyes.

The soldier with a scar said sternly, “Gu Linfeng is not a good person. His conduct is wicked. His attitude is arrogant. And he has an obsession and lust for beauties. He has hurt too many women in the Blood God Sect to be fully recorded by the Ministry of War.”

“He must have used sweet words to fool Miss Murong. Your Highness, you see, he reveals himself once he sees a beauty. We should do the heaven a favor by hanging him.”

Bu Qianfan shook his head. “No. No.”

“Your Highness, what’s wrong?” asked the other soldier.

Bu Qianfan looked at Murong Yue, and said, “She’s a clever person. How could she not have looked into Gu Linfeng? Besides, if sweet words could fool her, how could she become the young master of the Black Market Excellence Hall?”

“What do you mean, Your Highness?”

Both soldiers felt confused.

“Murong Yue has made friends with Gu Linfeng, which means that the man is not an ordinary person.”

Bu Qianfan had confidence in Murong Yue, and added, “Let’s see. I would like to find out what kind of a person Gu Linfeng is. If he was truly like that on the record, I would deal with him by myself.”

On the platform at the lakeside, Huo Yin was a little shocked. Apparently, he didn’t expect a person to talk to him in this way.

“What did you say? I didn’t follow. Can you repeat it?”

Huo Yin looked glum. The strong Holy Qi poured to his right arm, forming a little whirlpool of powerful Qi in his palm.

Anyone could tell that Huo Yin was angry now. Many had put on a smile at the coming disaster of Gu Linfeng.