Chapter 90: Chapter 72: Liang People Assassinate Zhou

In the Great Yu Tomb, countless White-haired Immortals at the bottom of the lake watched the departing Long Xuanjun.

Perhaps it was a trick of the eye.

They seemed to be looking at the Princess of Qii, and the emotion in their eyes was... envy?

"Seal the mausoleum!"

The moment he was clear of the Imperial Mausoleum, Long Xuanjun let out a great roar.

In an instant, a Heaven-Ascension Tower First Grade expert rushed over.

"You can’t seal it!"

"Long Xuanjun, you can’t! There are dozens of our Great Zhou’s First Grade and Minor First Grade experts inside, and Prince Emperor Long hasn’t come out yet!"

The Heaven-Ascension Tower First Grade expert was sent flying.

"I said, seal the mausoleum!"

Long Xuanjun was still roaring in fury.

And just like that,

countless laborers were conscripted for the monumental task of sealing the mausoleum.

In the encampment,

Long Xuanjun scanned the registered list of Great Zhou First Grade experts who had entered the Imperial Mausoleum, his body swaying.

"Great Zhou... is finished."

...

「Ten miles from the encampment.」

The wind howled and the rain poured down.

A carriage was stopped in a withered forest.

Su Chen, having reverted to Xu Ge’s appearance, dug up the Burial Coffin, preparing to return to the Imperial Palace.

The Burial Coffin was unearthed.

On the Burial Coffin, a blood-red eye opened. It was about to let out a sinister "JIE JIE JIE" laugh and see which unlucky bastard had become its new master.

Unsurprisingly, it was seared by a powerful presence, and it squeezed its eye shut, retreating once more.

The Burial Coffin trembled, seemingly aghast.

’What’s going on?’

’This guy went into the Great Yu Tomb, where the Immortals are—a place that dangerous—and he’s still not dead?’

"No one but a Grandmaster can survive the Great Yu Tomb. I’m afraid Xuan can’t be saved."

"Still, this Burial Coffin seems to be an Immortal Treasure. It can nurture corpses and be used as a weapon. Not a total loss, I suppose..."

Su Chen was still thinking about those two Secret Treasure Beads.

’He thinks of me as a prize?’

This time, the Burial Coffin didn’t dare object. It played dead, not even daring to open its eye.

CRACK—

Lightning flashed and thunder roared as the storm intensified.

The rain was coming down harder and harder.

The carriage set off.

In the distance,

the Imperial City was just visible on the horizon.

Just then, a figure appeared on the side of the road, covered in mud, his robes tattered, though a vermilion color was still faintly visible.

He was stumbling along, using a tree branch as a staff, braving the downpour. Soaked to the bone, he trudged toward the Imperial City.

Seeing the carriage, he hurriedly waved his hand.

"You there, in the carriage! Which Prince Imperial do you serve? I am Sikong of the Inner Palace, Master of the Seal Supervisors..."

The rest of Sikong’s words caught in his throat.

He had gotten a clear look at the carriage.

Xu Ge.

This was, without a doubt, the same carriage that had appeared in the encampment—the carriage of Captain Xu Ge of the Western Depot.

’That brat isn’t dead?’

’Those little bastards from the Imperial Guard, are they really this unreliable? Were they too scared to offend the Military Supervision Bureau’s Killing Sin Tiger, so they secretly let this man go behind my back?’

Sikong was so furious his nose was practically crooked.

’Since when does the Imperial Guard of Great Zhou dare to defy me, the Seal Supervisor!’

The next moment,

a head poked out from the carriage. He was in his early twenties, with rather delicate features. Who else could it be but Xu Ge.

"He really isn’t dead."

Sikong, the Chief Eunuch of the Imperial Seal, laughed in anger.

Little did he know,

Su Chen was also surprised.

’This guy actually survived?’

’I kicked him off a thousand-zhang cliff. Even a Peak First Grade expert should have died from that, yet this First Supervisor is still alive.’

’He’s hard to kill.’

"You’re the Seal Supervisor, right? I am Xu Ge of the Library Pavilion. The storm is so fierce. I wonder if Eunuch would like to come inside and take shelter from the rain?"

"As it happens, I’m also on my way back to the Imperial City."

Su Chen offered.

"Get the hell away from me!"

"Even if my True Essence is depleted, even if I’m blown to death by the gales or battered to death by the waves of rain, I would never get into a carriage of your Western Depot or accept a favor from you, Xu Ge...!"

Sikong cursed angrily.

"Is that so."

Su Chen nodded, pulled his head back into the carriage, and sped up, ready to leave.

RUMBLE—

The downpour was torrential.

The fierce wind was like a furious dragon, whipping up waves of rain no less powerful than the great ocean tides, crashing down upon the Human World.

BOOM!

Boulders were dislodged from the mountainside.

A torrent of mud and rock erupted.

The rain grew even heavier!

This level of nature’s might was something a Second Grade expert would be wary of, and a Third Grade would flee from. But Sikong’s expression changed.

His True Essence had long been exhausted.

"Captain Xu, please wait! Wait up!"

Sikong, leaning on his staff, limped and hobbled as he chased after the carriage in the storm.

「A cup of tea’s time later.」

Inside the carriage,

Su Chen poured a cup of warm tea for the First Supervisor of the Inner Palace, who was now disheveled, his face pale and effeminate beneath a mess of white hair.

"I will not drink it!"

"It is best that Old Liang and New Zhou keep their boundaries clear!"

"A lowly eunuch like you is not qualified to serve me tea. If it were your Western Depot’s Killing Sin Tiger, that might be a different story..."

Sikong sneered relentlessly.

"Suit yourself."

Su Chen paid him no mind, holding a scroll and studying it intently by lamplight, completely absorbed.

It was a historical text, one of the burial items from the Great Liang Imperial Mausoleum.

The book detailed the Five Hundred Years of Great Yu, as well as the chaotic war between Zhou and Liang as they vied for supremacy and carved up the world.

And before Great Yu, there was a chaotic three-hundred-year period when humans and Immortals lived together, known as the Heavenly Fall Era.

The historical text was vague about the Heavenly Fall Era, offering only a single, simple sentence.

The heavens collapsed, the Great Immortals fell, and thus, it became the Human World.

"Hmph."

Sikong snorted coldly and closed his eyes to rest. But he soon took a faint sniff, opened his eyes, and looked around, his gaze finally landing on the cup of warm tea before him.

Inside the tea was a slice of Cyan Fruit.

In an instant,

Sikong was stunned.

’What is this?’

’It looks like a Hundred-Year-Old Cyan Fruit, an exceptional Treasure Medicine for restoring True Essence...’

’The last time I consumed a Hundred-Year-Old Cyan Fruit was when I performed a great service and achieved the First Grade. The late emperor bestowed it upon me, and it was only half a fruit!’

’Is the Western Depot really that wealthy? Using a Hundred-Year-Old Cyan Fruit to make tea for a Black-robed Eunuch who doesn’t even practice cultivation?’

The tea had nothing to do with the Western Depot. Now that Su Chen had his medicinal field, Treasure Medicines were the one thing he didn’t lack.

GULP. GULP.

Sikong couldn’t resist. He downed the tea in one go, swallowing the slice of Cyan Fruit along with it.

If not for the other person present, he probably would have licked the bottom of the cup clean.

His True Essence began to regenerate.

His strength returned.

In that moment, he returned to Peak First Grade.

But as he looked up, his eyes met Su Chen’s, who was holding the scroll and watching him.

The atmosphere grew slightly awkward.

"Didn’t you say you wouldn’t drink it?"

Su Chen asked.

"Old Liang and New Zhou are as distinct as night and day! The Seal Supervisors and your Military Supervision Bureau are mortal enemies!"

"Don’t think you can make me indebted to you!"

"So what if I drank it? I oversee all affairs of the Inner Palace. You think I can’t repay you for a single Hundred-Year-Old Cyan Fruit?"

Sikong, his face flushed red, slammed his hand on the table—which happened to be the coffin placed in the carriage.

The Burial Coffin was enraged.

’Nowadays, any random stray cat or dog dares to lay a hand on it.’

’Not even a Grandmaster, just a First Grade ant, dares to strike it! Courting death!’

However,

the moment it opened its eye, it was seared by Su Chen’s Qi and blood, which burned like a Great Sun. It shrieked and retreated again.

’Who the hell is this man! Didn’t they say he was going to take it into the Imperial Palace and refine a Demon Corpse?!’

’Why hasn’t anyone come to save it?!’

’Are they not refining the Demon Corpse anymore?’

"Suit yourself."

Su Chen withdrew his gaze and continued reading.

The carriage entered the Imperial City.

In the distance,

the Palace Gate was in sight.

"I have returned!"

"Jie jie jie."

Sikong laughed sinisterly as he stepped out of the carriage. His spirits restored and his hands clasped behind his back, he once again looked like the First Supervisor who stood at the pinnacle of power, aside from his tattered vermilion robes.

At the Palace Gate, one Chief Eunuch after another had already heard the news and gathered.

They were all Chief Stewards and Stewards; even many of the other supervisors had come.

They numbered in the hundreds, if not thousands, a dense crowd.

One eunuch held an umbrella.

Another offered a hand warmer.

Another presented a brand-new vermilion robe.

And yet another eunuch knelt on the muddy ground, offering his back as a stepping stool for Sikong to dismount.

"We respectfully welcome the Chief Eunuch back to the palace!"

Not only were the Seal Supervisors bowing, but even the Imperial Guard was paying their respects.

Such was the power of the Seal Supervisors!

"Brat."

"Do you see this?"

"This is my power..."

Sikong sneered, his hands clasped behind him. He remained on the carriage step, as if trying to reclaim the face he had lost inside.

"Get down from there, you!"

Inside the carriage, Su Chen had grown impatient and kicked the First Supervisor off.

The carriage turned and headed in another direction.

"Supervisor!!"

The scene fell into a deathly silence.

After a long moment, the dumbfounded Chief Eunuchs finally snapped out of it, rushing over to help Sikong to his feet.

As for Su Chen,

he hid the carriage, transformed into his Black Lotus persona, and returned to the Black Abyss’s stronghold in the Imperial City—a certain merchant house.

He hid the Burial Coffin in the underground secret chamber.

The Black Abyss operated from the shadows.

Its reach extended across the world.

Perfect for gathering intelligence from all corners.

「Soon.」

One intelligence report after another was delivered.

Even Su Chen, who had been prepared for it, felt his pupils shrink in shock.

’The Flame Bird chased the escaped Immortal for three days and three nights, then, in full public view, transformed into an azure pearl and fell to the earth, sparking a mad scramble from all sides?’

’After conquering the Three Commanderies and unifying the world, the Flame Emperor was assassinated. His return to court has been delayed, and he is now recuperating by the Jinjiang River...’

’Long Xuanjun sealed the Imperial Mausoleum, cutting off the path to Immortal Fate, drawing the ire of the world. Three days ago, he repelled the Seven Great Peaks with a single move, shaking all nations. The first Grandmaster of the Human World, his name now resounds throughout the land!’

’Old Liang’s Three Sects have allied with the Nine Noble Families, intending to usurp the Zhou dynasty?’

Su Chen’s feelings were complicated.

The world was unified, and the fortune of the nation was surging, yet First Grade experts were still as rare as a phoenix feather, dragons among men.

However,

in the turmoil at the Imperial Mausoleum, Great Zhou had cleared the field, hoping to monopolize the Immortal Fate for itself, but instead ended up losing three batches of the nation’s foundational experts.

Among them were over thirty First Grade experts, and the number of Second and Third Grade experts was as vast as a school of crucian carp crossing a river.

This was something that couldn’t be hidden.

The world was shaken.

The factions of Old Liang, already dissatisfied with the tyrannical Zhou, began to stir. He feared that they were the ones who had invited the Seven Great Peaks to test Long Xuanjun, this Supreme First Grade expert.

Countless undercurrents were converging on the Imperial City.

"The great chaos is coming."

Su Chen was reminded of the grand vow he had made when he broke through to First Grade.

He wanted to find the Great Yu Library and ask something.

Can a grand vow be taken back?

Night fell, dark and heavy.

The wind and rain raged on.

Su Chen left, changing back into his Xu Ge disguise. Holding a bamboo umbrella and carrying a gift for Cyan Sparrow, with a palace travel token hanging from his waist, he stepped through the Palace Gate.

But the moment he stepped through, he regretted it.

The Palace Gate.

Blood covered the ground.

More than thirty figures with powerful auras, clad in something resembling Black Dragon Armor, slowly pulled their blades from the corpses.

For a moment, the atmosphere was silent and tense.

Their eyes met.

Killing intent erupted.

"Guess it’s your unlucky day..."

The First Grade expert in the lead spoke in a hoarse voice, walking toward him with his blade drawn.

"Don’t kill me!"

"I’m just a little eunuch from the palace."

"Spare me, brave sirs! I’m one of the Liang People too! I know which bedchamber the Crown Prince is in, I can lead you there!"

Su Chen raised his hands without hesitation.

「Third year of the Xuanlong Dynasty, eighth month.」

The heavy rain washed away the stench of blood.

Some of the Liang People

entered the palace to assassinate the Zhou.

Their purpose? To sever the Imperial Blood of Great Zhou.

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