Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
The plains around 500 miles from Zhilin Pass were the Immortal Vampires’ camp. All one could see were densely packed tents. There were many lights, like stars reflecting on the dark ground.
The sky was covered in thick blood clouds that extended for thousands of miles. Huge formations were operating in the clouds, preventing the imperial court from attacking secretly.
A tent of one general in the Qingtian Tribe was made out of human bones. There was a large flag outside the tent. A human’s skin hung from it. More accurately, this was the skin ripped off of a human Saint.
The blood hadn’t dried yet. It shone with crimson light.
Two powerful runes were burned into the skin using Rules of Saintly Way: Situ.
Situ was a large surname in the Qingtian Tribe. It represented an ancient and glorious family, second only to the royal family.
As the pride of the Situ Family and top figure of the younger generation in the Qingtian Tribe, Situ Fengcheng sat in the uppermost seat of the tent. He held the communication rune he’d just received with extremely hard eyes.
“Such a terrifying message. The world will be upended.”
The message had come from Serene Wind Mansion. The content truly shocked Situ Fengcheng.
Just a while ago, the Saint Elder of Sacred Central Crypt had broken into the mansion city and beaten King Zhongying to the ground. Situ Fengcheng’s teacher, King Zhongying, was heavily injured.
Then Blood Emperor Qingtian had tried to stop them. He fought with the Saint Elder and shattered half of the mansion city. Millions of Qingtian Tribe members had died in the shockwaves.
The northern region only had 36 mansions. Each mansion city was an ancient city with more than 10,000 years of history. They had the firmest defenses. The defensive formations connected the cities and no disasters could destroy them.
However, more than half of Serene Wind Mansion’s city had been destroyed. One could imagine how terrifying the battle had been.
In the end, Blood Emperor Qingtian lost miserably and almost died in the Saint Elder’s hands.
According to the communication rune, the pavilion lord of the Immortal Pavilion had calculated that Blood Emperor Qingtian and King Zhongying were in danger. He fought against the Saint Elder across the void and saved Blood Emperor Qingtian and King Zhongying. He brought them back to the Immortal Pavilion to recover.
The Saint Elder seemed to have been hurt in the fight with the Immortal Pavilion Lord. She left Serene Wind Mansion and disappeared.
Situ Fengcheng had an advanced mindset. He quickly recovered from the shock and muttered to himself, “I wonder how incredible a fight between these figures is. If I could observe from a close distance, it would definitely help with my cultivation.”
The Qingtian Tribe suffered greatly from this battle. Both Blood Emperor Qingtian and King Zhongying were close to death. Around 50 Blood Saints had died. Half-Saints and those in the Fish-Dragon Realm who’d died were innumerable.
The Saint Elder of Sacred Central Crypt was able to deal such harm to the Qingtian Tribe by herself. The tribe was now probably the last of the ten Immortal Vampire tribes.
The Qingtian Tribe had been taken by surprise, but the Saint Elder could escape from the Immortal Pavilion’s lord and go freely in Immortal Vampire territory. Her abilities far surpassed what the Immortal Vampires had predicted.
“Why did this happen? She’d cultivated for 800 years and should be a very logical and talented figure. Why did she risk dying to enter Serene Wind Mansion and fight against my master?” Situ Fengcheng didn’t understand.
The Immortal Vampires didn’t only have ten Blood Emperors. They also had the mysterious Immortal Pavilion. They were like a pit of dragons. No matter how high one’s cultivation was, breaking into Immortal Vampire territory alone was practically certain death.
The Saint Elder couldn’t have done this without reason. But Situ Fengcheng just couldn’t think of a reason.
“In the following period, the Qingtian Tribe will have hardships. I must prepare beforehand.”
Situ Fengcheng sat beside the table and carved more than 30 communication runes. With a wave of his sleeve, the runes transformed into light and flew out of the tent, disappearing in the night.
Tap, tap.
Footsteps sounded. A soldier in blood armor walked in and lowered onto one knee. “General, Blood Saint Sijian and Miefeng request to see you.”
Situ Fengcheng’s eyes narrowed. “Only those two?”
“Yes.”
According to the news he received, Blood Saint Sijian and Miefeng had already entered Xianji Mountain and taken the formula for the Hua Divine Pill. Now that they’d returned, why wasn’t there news of Zhu Qingyi?
Situ Fengcheng had a bad feeling. “Let them in.”
Blood Saint Sijian and Miefeng were Heaven Pass Blood Generals. They had extremely high status, but they were still polite when seeing Situ Fengcheng. Together, they said, “Greetings, General.”
Situ Fengcheng nodded, gesturing for them to rise. “No need to be so polite. I am curious about what bad news you’ll give me.”
“Zhu Qingyi was poisoned by the golden cobra in Xianji Mountain,” Blood Saint Miefeng said. “She was captured by Zhang Ruochen.”
Despite being prepared, Situ Fengcheng was still surprised. “Zhang Ruochen? Which Zhang Ruochen?”
“That human Time and Space Descendant,” Blood Saint Miefeng said with a dark expression.
Then the two Blood Saints recounted what had happened in Xianji Mountain.
Sity Fengcheng kept frowning. He gradually accepted the truth. Zhang Ruochen had come to the northern region, captured Zhu Qingyi, caused so much bloodshed in Xianji Mountain, and nabbed the Thousand-leaf Saint Heart Grass, the main ingredient of the Hua Divine Pill.
Was this really something that a man with disabled meridians could do?
“Are you sure that Zhang Ruochen used both Spiritual Power and martial strength?” Situ Fengcheng asked.
Since King Zhongying said that he’d disabled Zhang Ruochen’s meridians, then they were definitely disabled. Situ Fengcheng didn’t doubt this at all.
“I fought against him,” Blood Saint Sijian said. “He definitely used martial strength. He doesn’t seem like he’s disabled.”
“Perhaps,” Blood Saint Miefeng guessed, “Gu Songzi helped him reconnect the meridians. They were close in the fight for the Thousand-leaf Saint Heart Grass and left together.”
Situ Fengcheng sank into deep thought. A beat later, he finally smiled. “Interesting. Very interesting. As expected of the Time and Space Descendant. He really never dies. Other than the five on the Heroes List, there’s finally a sixth human that I am impressed by.”
“Actually,” Blood Saint Miefeng said, “Zhang Ruochen’s abilities can only manage to fight against Saints in the early Heaven Pass Realm. My cultivation is enough to squash him. But his spatial tactics are too mysterious. If he wants to escape, even a Saint won’t be able to make him stay.”
Situ Fengcheng tapped the table. Staring at the candlelight, he said, “Zhang Ruochen captured Zhu Qingyi without killing her. It seems like he has a bigger motive.”
“Zhang Ruochen grows too quickly,” Blood Saint Sijian said. “We must kill him this time. We can’t let him escape from Xianji Mountain.”
“We naturally can’t let him out of Xianji Mountain,” Situ Fengcheng said. “Other than him, we also must take down Gu Songzi and Martial Saint Canglan.”
Blood Saint Miefeng looked happy. “General, are you going to fight personally?”
“With the current situation, I must fight personally. Rather than having Zhang Ruochen come find me, I’ll go find him.”
Situ Fengcheng already had some guesses. Zhang Ruochen probably didn’t kill Zhu Qingyi because of that thing Situ Fengcheng had.
“But Zhu Qingyi is still in his hands. He has the upper hand. I must get on equal grounds before fighting against him.”
Situ Fengcheng didn’t like being restricted. Since he chose to attack first, he naturally had to prepare sufficiently.
He walked to the bookshelf on the left of the tent and took out a thick stack of files. The cover had two big words: Zhang Ruochen.
Opening the material, he quickly scanned it all. “In a few short years, Zhang Ruochen had gone from the weak king of a small country in Heavenly Devil Mountain to someone who even intimidates the Immortal Vampires. It’s not an exaggeration to say he’s a human legend.
“Yunwu Commandery, Martial City Academy, Eastern Region Saint Academy, Yin and Yang Sect, Blood God Sect, and the Pluto Sword Tomb all have people close to him. Who should I choose?”
The materials recorded that Zhang Ruochen’s weak spot was his mother, Concubine Lin of Yunwu Commandery.
However, Situ Fengcheng had recently received news that the cultivators who’d gone to the Central Emperor City to capture Concubine Lin had all died.
It was clear that a powerful force was protecting her in secret. Thus, trying to get Concubine Lin wasn’t an easy thing. Situ Fengcheng would have to try something else.
Whoosh!
Just then, a communication rune flew into the tent and landed in his hands.
Looking at the information, he smiled. “The Immortal Vampires hidden in the Pluto Sword Tomb said that they found traces of Huang Yanchen. She’s hurrying toward the north with cultivators from the Pluto Sword Tomb.
“Zhang Ruochen’s fiancée, haha. I will personally lead a group to capture her. As long as I have Huang Yanchen, Zhang Ruochen will be meat for us to butcher. I’d like to see how he’ll escape.”
Blood Saint Miefeng volunteered to fight. Cruelty colored his eyes.
Situ Fengcheng felt that Miefeng wasn’t detailed enough. He shook his head. “Blood Saint Sijian must be the one who goes.”
“Why?” Blood Saint Miefeng couldn’t understand.
“If we want to kill Zhang Ruochen, we must have two options,” Situ Fengcheng said. “Go to the eastern region and capture the people written here.”
He handed a copy to Blood Saint Miefeng.
After the Blood Saints left, Situ Fengcheng finally muttered to himself, “When fighting someone who never dies and keeps getting stronger with every ordeal, two options aren’t enough. There must be a third and fourth option to make sure that he’ll die without ever coming back to life.”
Situ Fengcheng wrote two letters and had someone send them to the Qitian and Huangtian Tribe. These two tribes both hated Zhang Ruochen. He believed that they wouldn’t miss a chance to kill him.
