Butterfly Incense was a superior class herb extracted from the Butterfly Flower.
It was extremely expensive. One gram of the incense was worth 100,000 silver coins.
Many of the female warriors who practiced Martial Arts liked Butterfly Incense not only for its long-lasting smell but also its calming power.
The odor would last an entire month each time they applied it. Bathing would do nothing to wash away the fragrance.
After applying Butterfly Incense, a warriors’ breaths would be completely concealed. Other warriors would not be able to detect them. Like Zhang Ruochen now. He could only smell the odor of Butterfly Incense on the scarf rather than the actual breath of the female heresy.
Aside from Duanmu Xingling, there were countless female warriors who liked Butterfly Incense. It would be impetuous for Zhang Ruochen to assume the female heresy was Duanmu Xingling.
BOOM!
The ground shook and the horses groaned.
Under the leadership of the well-built imperial guard deputy general, a group of soldiers clad in black armor rushed from both sides of the street, surrounding the area in a circle. They stopped in front of Zhang Ruochen.
The imperial guard deputy general jumped down from the back of his savage beast, kneeled down on one leg and said, “I’m deeply sorry, Your Highness. We are late.”
With Zhang Ruochen’s martial cultivation, none of the imperial guards dared to be impolite in front of him. The deputy generals needed to be aware of their manners, they kneeled down and saluted.
The treatment of a genius prince and a crap prince was completely different in the world of Martial Arts.
Zhang Ruochen put away the scarf. He stared at the deputy general and asked, “What’s happening in the Royal Palace now?”
The imperial guard responded, “The Evil Warriors of the Moon Worship Demonic Sect have all retreated. Your Majesty has full control over the situation. The imperial guards in Yunwu City are all on their way to catch the Evil Warriors.”
Hearing that his father had taken back control of the Palace, Zhang Ruochen nodded and asked, “Has the Ninth Commandery Princess returned to the Palace yet?”
“That I don’t know, Your Highness.”
The imperial guard was scared of making him angry. He added, “Commander Wan has rushed to the Martial Market Coliseum in person. I’m sure the Ninth Commandery Princess will be safe.”
“In this case, please accompany me back to the Palace!” Although Zhang Ruochen was eager to go to the Coliseum right away, his condition didn’t allow him to protect himself or save anyone. Therefore, it was a wise decision to return to the Royal Palace.
Moreover, Chang Qiqi was badly injured and had fainted. He needed medical treatment immediately.
Two imperial guards lifted him up. They followed the troop of the imperial guards and returned to the Royal Palace.
When they arrived at the Palace, Zhang Ruochen ordered the servant to send for the best Pill master in the Palace to treat Chang Qiqi personally.
He had been waiting for the Pill master to confirm that Chang Qiqi’s condition had stabilized. He went to the Jade Palace exhausted.
When Concubine Lin saw the wounds on her son’s face and left shoulder, she was shocked. Tears fell down from her eyes.
Zhang Ruochen comforted her instantly. He told her that once a warrior decided to go with Martial Arts, injuries and wounds were an inevitable part of the way.
Shortly after, the Ninth Commandery Princess returned to the Palace safely under the escort of the imperial guards.
The major targets of the black market and the Moon Worship Demonic Sect were the disciples of the Yuntai Suzerain and students of the School of the Martial Market. The Ninth Commandery Princess being attacked was a fish in the wrong net. Luckily, she hadn’t encountered a severe attack.
Anyhow, it wasn’t hard for the Ninth Commandery Princess to protect herself. She had the help of the War Map and the Wings of Wind.
She heard that Zhang Ruochen had already arrived at the Palace and rushed to the Jade Palace instantly. When she saw him, she grabbed him tight and cried out loud. Her head drilled into his arms.
It was understandable for a ten year old princess to be scared to death after experiencing such tragic fights. If she hadn’t been a warrior of the Black Realm, she would have collapsed.
Zhang Ruochen touched her head gently the way a brother would and said, “The Martial Arts road is indeed very brutal. You’re going to encounter more and more dangerous situations like the one you’ve just seen. It’s not going to be as peaceful as the Palace.”
The Ninth Commandery Princess nodded. Sobbing, she said, “I know. But this was the first time I’ve seen so many people being killed. There were hundreds of dead bodies all piled together…their blood turned the whole area into a giant blood pool. I’m still frightened just thinking about it…” “I wouldn’t have been able to crawl out from the dead bodies if you hadn’t given me the War Map. I’m afraid…I would have been torn to pieces by the Evil Warriors. Just like my Third and Sixth Brother.” ..
Zhang Ruochen’s whole body shook. “What? The Third Prince and the Sixth Prince are dead?”
The Ninth Commandery Princess replied, “I saw my Sixth brother being slashed in half by one of the Evil Warriors, his blood almost splashed onto my body. As for my third brother, he was slain to death by three Evil Warriors. His body was badly mutilated.”
Both the Third Prince and the Sixth Prince had gone to the Martial Market Coliseum just to see Zhang Ruochen be humiliated. No one could imagine that they had been killed in the Coliseum while Zhang Ruochen had escaped.
Zhang Ruochen sighed slightly and continued to comfort the Ninth Commandery Princess. After accompanying her back to her room, he entered the internal space of the Time and Space Spinel to start healing.
He didn’t want to know how severe the fight had been while he was healing.
This was the brutality of the Martial Arts field. The strong lived while the weak died.
Zhang Ruochen wasn’t surprised that the Royal Family of the Yunwu Commandery had been killed. It was as if the powerful Ming Dynasty had been conquered.
Warriors who possessed strong ability had a higher chance of living.
After healing for nine days straight in the internal space of the Spinel, the condition of his injury could finally be recovered. The scar on his face had also disappeared under the efficacy of the pills and Genuine Qi.
After encountering such a life and death battle, it seemed as if his cultivation had elevated to a certain level. He was one step closer to reaching the Advanced Stage of the Earth Realm.
When a human being was forced into a hopeless circumstance, they could always find a way to stimulate their potential, thereby increasing their speed of breaking through realms.
Zhang Ruochen visited Chang Qiqi as soon as he left the internal space of the Spinel.
Although Chang Qiqi was seriously injured, his powerful physical quality allowed him to recover 20-30% after these few days of healing. At least he could walk now.
“Thank you for saving me, junior fellow apprentice Zhang. I won’t forget how much you’ve helped me!” Chang Qiqi kneeled down and saluted when he saw Zhang Ruochen.
He held Chang Qiqi and said, “We’re brothers from the same School. Of course, I needed to save you!”
Chang Qiqi was grateful. He would be dead if Zhang Ruochen hadn’t insisted on carrying him away. He had even ignored his own safety.
He sighed, “I’ve heard that we, the School of the Martial Market have suffered a massive loss this time. 13 internal students and 27 external students are dead. This is only the number of bodies found. There are 24 students missing, either already dead or held captive.”
Zhang Ruochen responded, “The ability of the black market and the Moon Worship Demonic Sect are indeed powerful. I guess they dispatched evil masters from the nearby commanderies to Yunwu City. Yet, the School only sent the young students to deal with them, how could we not lose?”
Chang Qiqi nodded and said, “I guess the School didn’t realize how brutal the black market and the Moon Worship Demonic Sect would be. They even mobilized five senior myths of martial arts of the Heaven Realm to fight against us. With this loss, I’m afraid the School will have to change its tactics and send at least a few silver gowned Elders to guard at the Yunwu Commandery.”
Zhang Ruochen responded, “I’m sure that both the black market and the Moon Worship Demonic Sect have also suffered great loss.”
“Indeed. Rumor has it that at least a thousand Evil Warriors are dead while more than a thousand of them have been locked in the Celestial Prison.”
He clenched his fists tight and said, “But, how could the lives of the Evil Warriors compare to the students of the School of the Martial Market?”
“A random external student obtains the talent of breaking through to the Earth Realm. An internal student possesses not less than 30% chance to reach the Heaven Realm.”
“It could be said that a hundred Evil Warriors together is still incomparable to one of the external students’ lives.”
Zhang Ruochen patted his shoulders and said, “Don’t worry! The senior warriors of the School will definitely counter-attack after such a loss.”
Chang Qiqi calmed himself down and nodded. Suddenly, he looked as if he had thought of something. He asked, “Junior fellow apprentice Zhang, I’ve heard that you and Zi Qian are close friends?”
Zhang Ruochen was surprised. But he didn’t expose any facial expression. “What happened?”
He replied, “When you were fighting with Zi Yinyang in the Coliseum, it was junior sister apprentice Zi who discovered Zi Yinyang’s identity and informed senior brother and junior sister apprentice Chen Xier. Chen Xier suspects that she is one of the spies sent from the Hades Department, and thus locked her up. She might put her to death!”
“Killing without letting them go” had always been the way the School dealt with spies.
In order to save Zhang Ruochen, Zi Qian must have said something she shouldn’t have said and caused Chen Xier’s suspicions.
That sounded bad!
Anyhow, Chen Xier suspected Zi Qian’s identity because of him. Zhang Ruochen would have to get her out no matter what. He couldn’t let her die without doing anything.
Zhang Ruochen said, “I see. I guess it’s probably a misunderstanding between both of them. Elder brother Chang, do you know where she is being held?”
Chang Qiqi shook his head and said, “I’m not sure. However, the School has only three secret strongholds in Yunwu City. I know you and Chen Xier are pretty close. You should go talk to her. I think she will let her go after listening to you.”
Chang Qiqi told him the location of the three secret strongholds as well as the secret way of contacting students of the School of the Martial Market.
Since Chang Qiqi’s injury was too heavy, he had to rest. He was unable to accompany Zhang Ruochen to help Zi Qian. So, Zhang Ruochen left the Palace on his own.
The situation of the Yunwu City remained complicated. Thus Zhang Ruochen didn’t leave the Palace as the Ninth Prince flagrant. Rather, he wore a metal mask and left without a trace in the middle of the night.
He knew that Zi Qian’s real identity was an assassin of the Hades Department. He didn’t dare to meet Chen Xier right away.
If she found out that Zhang Ruochen wanted to save a killer of the Hades Department….
What would she think?
It would not help the situation if she also suspected that Zhang Ruochen was one of the spies of the black market.
Although their relationship was pretty good, they hadn’t reached that certain level of trust.
Therefore, Zhang Ruochen decided to go meet Duanmu Xingling to learn more about the situation of the School in Yunwu City before planning anything.
It was going to be very dangerous saving a spy of the black market in the hands of disciples from the same School.
If Zhang Ruochen wasn’t cautious, he would bring upon his own death. The Royal Family of the Yunwu Commandery would also be affected.
…
(Monday)
