This time, the unrest in the Imperial Palace involved no charging army of ten thousand rebels, nor any assassins grimly determined to take the Emperor's life. There were only seven First-Grade figures, standing with hands clasped behind their backs atop the palace ramparts.
The man at their head, dressed in a Purple Robe, stood proudly at the Peak.
First on the Martial Arts List.
Dual First-Grade Minor Grandmaster, Zhang Gui.
The Imperial Palace was in complete chaos.
Never before had there been a night as chaotic as this.
"Do you think Zhang Gui will succeed on this venture?"
Inside the Library Pavilion, a faint voice sounded from behind Su Chen.
It seemed to appear out of thin air.
And yet, it was as if it had been there all along.
At a ninth-floor window of the Martial Pavilion Book Collection Tower, Su Chen slowly closed the pane. Without turning his head, he stared intently at the seven resolute figures outside.
The Purple-robed First Supervisor.
Four First-Grade experts from the Major Sects of the Martial World.
And two First-Grade experts from the Jianghu who had only recently been recruited by and pledged allegiance to Emperor Jianwu.
'First-Grade experts are a rarity in this world. Where did these extra ones from the Jianghu come from? Could those two be from the Holy Sect?'
Su Chen turned his head to look.
There, on the ninth floor of the Martial Pavilion, stood a figure robed in ink-black. He was curiously examining the cultivation texts stored on the shelves. Hanging prominently at his waist was a Bamboo Wooden Token carved with a black lotus.
The Black Abyss Holy Assembly had one Sect Leader and one Saint.
The Sect Leader commands all the Believers in the world.
The Saint carries out arrests and assassinations, stopping at nothing to eliminate all enemies of the Holy Sect.
"Black Lotus Saint!"
"A dignified Second-Grade, yet you're not out there providing support. Why have you come here?"
Within Su Chen's mind were the memories of the body's original owner, so he naturally recognized the man before him at a glance. It was the very Black Lotus Saint who had recruited him into the sect.
The Sect Leader is First Grade.
The Saint is Second Grade.
One is the head, the other the deputy.
It was a Hidden Sect, after all. It couldn't compare to the two great sects of the world that recruited disciples far and wide, possessing only a single First-Grade Expert.
"Only one is the Sect Leader of our Holy Sect. The other is from the Rakshasa Sect! Three hundred years ago, the Rakshasa Country was destroyed by the Great Liang Grand Ancestor. The Rashamon Royal Family then founded the Rakshasa Sect and passed it down for three hundred years. As long as it contributes to the Fall of Liang, they'll always lend a hand."
"What's more."
"In this battle, there are a full six Minor Grandmasters. With such a high chance of success, how could those madmen from Rakshasa not show up?"
"As for me."
"Heh heh, ever since you entered the Imperial Palace, of the nineteen secret agents under my command, some are dead, others are missing. And yet you, Huang Jiu, the most Bottom Stream agent sent here, have managed to survive just fine."
"Black-robed Envoy, Vice Chief Steward Xu Sanmo! Huang Yi, Shen Linglong! Xuan Er, Vice Chief Steward Wuchen! Xuan Wu, Vice Chief Steward Luo Xuan! Xuan Liu, Vice Chief Steward..."
In that instant, Su Chen heard the names of four Vice Chief Stewards.
He thought for a moment.
Su Chen fell silent, thinking of the five Chief Stewards buried in the Library Pavilion's medicinal herb garden.
'Looks like I really have killed quite a few people from Black Abyss.'
"Everyone in the palace says you, Su Chen, are just lucky. That you relied on your relationship with the Purple-robed First Supervisor to gain your current power and status as the Sixth Chief Steward, Master of the Martial Pavilion. But I don't believe it..."
"You killed so many of my spies and hidden agents. How could you possibly not know any Martial Arts!"
"Eight years ago, when the Black-robed Envoy Xu Sanmo went missing, I should have come to clean house personally."
"Huang Jiu, oh, Huang Jiu!"
"Have you forgotten the hatred for Great Liang you held in your heart when you first joined the sect?"
As he finished speaking...
BOOM!
The Black Lotus Saint tore out a page. The paper exploded, turning into countless lethal fragments like iron leaves that whistled toward Su Chen.
In response.
Su Chen met it with a single punch.
Blood-red flames rolled like a dragon.
Gilded bones and tempered sinews chimed in unison!
Thunderbolt Force!
A terrifying gale of force swept out in all directions.
"Hah! And you said you had no cultivation?"
"Wait."
"Is this the Eighteen Golden Body Technique?"
"Peak Fourth Grade."
"No, that's not right."
The Black Lotus Saint's expression changed as he cried out in alarm.
"You're not cultivating the ordinary Eighteen Golden Body Technique, but the Extreme Realm of its every stage! If you received this method from Xu Sanmo, does that mean you've cultivated for eight years and have already reached two Extreme Realms?"
For the Black Lotus Saint, a Second-Grade Expert, this revelation was a titanic shock.
He had obtained the Eighteen Golden Body Technique, a Grandmaster Technique, from the Demon Monster Mountain Range. But a person's life is short. Following the path of the Extreme Realm, one would spend their entire life polishing it, never becoming a true expert.
It was too bland to be of use, yet too valuable to discard.
It was impossible for anyone to master this Grandmaster Technique, which is why he had casually treated it as a First-grade Technique and awarded it to the Black-robed Envoy Xu Sanmo.
And yet.
Someone had actually managed to master it.
"Very good."
"I was actually starting to admire your talent."
"However."
"I'll still have to ask you to die."
"With such talent, and having betrayed the Holy Sect, I absolutely cannot let you live!"
The Black Lotus Saint struck, a burst of Blood-colored Gang Qi erupting from his palm.
Second-Grade Fury Gang Realm!
The tyrannical Gang Qi, like a rolling Mad Dragon, ravaged everything in its path.
Clearly.
The Black Lotus Saint was well aware of the terrifying power of the Purple-robed First Supervisor, Zhang Gui, a Dual First Grade. He wanted to kill Su Chen quickly and didn't dare use his specialty, the Lotus Gang Qi. Instead, he used a different martial art to try and execute him.
In the chaos, a White Jade Porcelain Bottle shattered on the floor.
A colorless, odorless poison began to spread.
Su Chen was sent flying by the palm strike.
He was grievously injured, blood continuously seeping from his wounds.
"You've already mastered two Extreme Realms. It's a good thing I found out early. Otherwise, the Holy Sect truly would have been helpless against you, unable even to clean its own house..."
The Black Lotus Saint hadn't finished his cold sneer when...
In the next instant.
His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets in shock.
He saw that Su Chen, who had been heavily injured just a moment ago, had healed more than half his wounds in the blink of an eye. The injuries were becoming lighter and lighter, healing at a rate visible to the naked eye.
"What kind of constitution is this?"
"Could it be that you have Demon Blood in your veins?"
"Monster!"
"You're not even human!"
The Black Lotus Saint's killing intent burned even hotter.
It was at this exact moment.
Su Chen took a Ginseng Whisker from his robes and put it in his mouth.
In an instant.
A strange phenomenon spread out.
The Black Lotus Saint's eyes widened again, and his breathing grew ragged.
"This is..."
He recognized it.
This was the scent of the Thousand-year-old Treasure Medicine King, the Ginseng King.
It appears in the Current World once every three hundred years.
Each time it appears, it incites a storm of slaughter, bringing chaos to the land.
"Spit it out!"
"My Thousand-year-old Ginseng King whisker!"
The Black Lotus Saint charged, completely oblivious to the faint, sharp pain that had already begun in his chest.
"Sorry!"
"Since you've seen it, I can't let you live."
"Lord Saint!"
Su Chen stepped forward, his red robes billowing. A terrifying aura surged forth in that instant. Blood-red flames swirled around him, his bones and sinews sang in unison, and the foundation he had built from two Extreme Realms, combined with the immense medicinal power, poured into his bone marrow.
At that moment, Su Chen's aura transformed, and he leaped into the Third Grade Marrow Cleansing Realm.
"So what if you're Third Grade?"
"I am a Second-Grade in the Fury Gang Realm! I am the Black Lotus Saint, who holds the lives of ten thousand people in my hands!"
"Even if you were Second Grade, I could still kill you!"
At this moment, the Black Lotus Saint no longer held back. His dense Anger Gang surged, and he unleashed a brilliant, crimson lotus of True Qi.
A First-Grade Magic Technique, Fire Buddha Lotus.
The next moment.
A sharp, twisting pain erupted in his chest.
His Dantian was instantly emptied.
The surging Anger Gang, like a tangible lotus of flame, burst like a bubble.
The second-grade absolute poison, Heart-devouring Powder, after ten breaths of time, had finally taken effect.
"What is this?"
"AHH!"
The Black Lotus Saint was in disbelief.
Su Chen, however, landed a punch on his forehead. The blow made the Black Lotus Saint bleed from all seven orifices, and Su Chen couldn't help but offer a little reminder.
"Weren't you the least bit curious how the Black-robed Envoy, a Peak of Third Grade in the Bone Marrow Cleansing Realm, died at my hands back then? This is the answer. The second-grade absolute poison, Heart-devouring Powder..."
BOOM!
A Second-Grade of his generation, the Black Lotus Saint, opened his mouth in disbelief before collapsing silently to the ground, every last trace of Vitality gone.
He was Second Grade, Peak Second Grade even. He was just half a step from Breaking the Profound Gate, from generating True Essence and becoming a Minor Grandmaster—one of the peak experts of the Current World. Killing Su Chen was supposed to have been a trivial matter.
'He never imagined he would fall because of such a trivial matter...'