Fairy Waner’s corpse turned into flames and vanished.
Gu Hai maintained his hugging posture as he cried in pain and despair. After a while, his body trembled. Then, he boarded a flying ship and flew south.
Not long after Gu Hai’s flying ship vanished, a veiled, red-clad woman suddenly appeared where Fairy Waner died. This woman watched as Gu Hai’s flying ship coursed away from Major Metropolitan City.
As Gu Hai left on the flying ship, he struggled to suppress the Samādhi True Flame in his body. After a while, he finally managed to return the Samādhi True Flame to the fire calabash. After swallowing some medicinal pills, he turned his head towards Major Metropolitan City with bloodshot eyes.
“Waner, I promised you that I would return to Chaoge City. However, our enemy is not dead yet. He is in Major Metropolitan City. Xi Yong? I’ll kill him and leave. You want me to forget you? That’s impossible. Hah! Hahahaha!” Gu Hai showed a ferocity that was filled with grief and pain.
Gu Hai turned his head and looked in Major Metropolitan City’s direction, his eyes blazing with increasing ferocity.
“Xi Yong? I did not desire to kill you, but you insist on trying to kill me. Now, you have killed my beloved wife?” Gu Hai clenched his fist tightly.
The flying ship continued towards a forest. Gu Hai rubbed his eyes, drying his tears. The redness in his eyes cleared; he did not want to show his weak side before his subjects.
Whoosh!
When the flying ship landed in a valley, a group of people appeared.
“Your Majesty!” Ju Lu immediately came over.
The Han Nation officials all managed to leave Major Metropolitan City. Now, they looked at Gu Hai in joy.
However, Gu Hai showed an incredibly sullen expression.
“Your Majesty, we all managed to leave. Are we going back now?” Ju Lu smiled.
“You all go first. We still have things to deal with,” Gu Hai said.
“Ah?” Everyone appeared somewhat confused.
“Ju Lu, dig another tunnel for us. After that, immediately return to Chaoge City and wait for us there,” Gu Hai instructed.
“Your Majesty, are you not coming with us?” Ju Lu felt slightly startled.
“You go back first,” Gu Hai commanded.
“Yes!” Gu Hai’s various subjects responded.
Then, Ju Lu took out a map, and Gu Hai pointed to a few locations. After making arrangements for the Han Nation officials, Gu Hai walked to a nearby cave.
“Your Majesty, are you returning to Major Metropolitan City?” Ju Lu asked worriedly.
“Just do what you need to do. You don’t have to bother with our matter,” Gu Hai said.
“Yes!” Ju Lu nodded with a solemn expression.
Afterwards, Gu Hai sealed off the cave and returned to the city using the tunnel. He still had vengeance to exact in the city.
Xi Yong? He has to die!
Gu Hai’s manor:
Gu Hai arrived in Major Metropolitan City after traveling through the tunnel for a while.
The city was no longer shaking. At the very least, when Gu Hai came out of the tunnel in his manor, the commotion had already died out.
In the manor, some Divine Strategy Battalion disciples were watching the sky of Major Metropolitan City together with Li Shenji.
The black hole that appeared from Gu Hai and Fairy Waner’s opening the Nine-by-Nine Sun Sealing Ritual Array earlier was gone.
Rather, the black hole had enlarged and now covered a significant portion of Major Metropolitan City’s sky.
An illusory scene appeared in the sky like a mirage.
The image of an expansive city appeared high in the sky. It had a huge palace in the center, surrounded by tall walls clearly separating it from the rest of the city. Large banners fluttered all around the palace; all of them had a large character for “slaughter” on them.
This palace was split into three zones. The center zone seems to be the main palace zone. Plenty of blessings hovered above it, forming a gigantic golden dragon coiled up. The signboard on the largest palace hall said “Divine Palace.” Many armored soldiers stood in the surroundings, simply standing there without moving, like corpses that had stopped breathing long ago. However, they still exuded a ferocious aura. They appeared both dead yet not dead at the same time.
There were more than five million soldiers around the Divine Palace.
There were two groups of officials in the other two zones—one on the left and the other on the right. The left group shone with white light, appearing to overflow with boundless noble spirit. The largest palace hall there had the words “Civil Palace” on its signboard. However, the ground was littered with exceptionally sinister, withered bones.
The right side had a dark energy that appeared extremely baleful. The largest palace hall there had the words “Military Palace” on its signboard. The ground was likewise strewn with countless withered bones.
At this moment, the entire Major Metropolitan City was silent as the people looked at these three palaces.
In Gu Hai’s manor, Li Shenji narrowed his eyes.
“Battalion Commander, is that what’s inside the Nine-by-Nine Sun Sealing Ritual Array? After Gu Hai opened the entrance, that black hole sucked in countless things before turning into this screen in the sky. Are these three palace zones the Slaughter Heavenly Dynasty’s imperial palace?” one of Li Shenji’s subordinates exclaimed.
“That’s right. The Divine Palace is the main one, the Civil Palace is on the left, and the Military Palace is on the right. The Civil Palace has countless secret techniques of the calligraphy Dao, all plunder from around the world when the Slaughter Heavenly Dynasty waged war. Among these are two scrolls of “holy Dao scriptures,” the greatest treasures of the Slaughter Heavenly Dynasty’s Civil Palace,” Li Shenji said.
“There are two holy Dao scriptures in the Civil Palace? No wonder…no wonder the imperial academy’s chancellor, Gongyang Sheng, refused to leave after learning of this. Holy Dao scriptures? That is the highest level of accomplishment for the calligraphy Dao!” one of the subordinates exclaimed.
“The one with the white noble spirit is the Civil Palace. So, what is in the Military Palace that it is actually covered in black energy?” a subordinate asked, feeling curious.
“I don’t know, either. However, it has to be something extraordinary,” Li Shenji said seriously.
“There are five million soldier corpses around the central palace? Those are the bodies of the five million Divine Blood Army soldiers? So, when the Divine Blood Army soldiers’ souls came out, they were trying to reclaim their bodies?” A subordinate’s eyes lit up.
Then, everyone looked to the center, where the blessings gathered.
The soldiers surrounding the central palace looked extremely ferocious.
That palace hall had the civil and military officials standing respectfully in two columns. There was a throne at the entrance, at the very north of the plaza.
An emperor wearing imperial robes sat on that throne.
That emperor wore a crown, and his eyes were closed, apparently asleep. He rested his arms on the armrests with a stool with a tray on each side of him.
Golden silk covered something on the left tray. No one knew what was there.
On the right tray, however, the golden silk had been pulled off. The tray had the outline of a saber, but the saber was nowhere to be seen.
“The Slaughter Heavenly Emperor’s body?”
“The left and the right, what were there? The right one was Blood Prison? That should be right. That outline should be Blood Prison’s. Does that mean that Imperial Emperor Xi Yu has already entered the palace?”
“No, that’s impossible. Imperial Emperor Xi Yu cannot possibly have entered. Perhaps he used a special method to retrieve Blood Prison. However, he could not use that special method again after that.”
“The Slaughter Heavenly Emperor? The Divine Blood Army? These are their bodies?”
“There are two trays. One had Blood Prison. What about the other one? It has to be an extraordinary treasure for the Slaughter Heavenly Emperor to treasure it as much as Blood Prison.”
Everyone looked skyward in shock.
Countless cultivators in the city stared at the sky.
Some cultivators even flew into the sky.
However, when they reached the sky, they grabbed nothing but air. They could not touch the Slaughter Nation’s palace image at all.
Li Shenji narrowed his eyes slightly as he stared at the sky. He had tried it himself earlier with the same result. It seemed like a mirage, visible but intangible.
“Battalion Commander, the three palaces of the Slaughter Nation already appeared. All the palaces must be full of treasures, but we cannot obtain them. What should we do?”
“Indeed. Earlier, I saw Imperial Emperor Xi Yu extend his hand to the sky, but he also failed to grab anything. The Bat Ancestor and the various factions have made a move, but no one could touch anything. If so, what is the difference between the entrance being open or not?”
“It was Gu Hai who opened the entrance. If only Gu Hai were here. Perhaps he might know how to enter the Slaughter Nation’s palaces.”
The Divine Strategy Battalion disciples sighed.
“Gu Hai? Ha! That was just a coincidence. Humph! Even if he were here, so what? He cannot possibly know how to enter. That is an independent world hidden in the void. Gu Hai cannot enter. Furthermore, who knows whether Gu Hai is still alive or not?” Li Shenji said coldly.
Li Shenji knew about Xi Yong chasing after Gu Hai to kill him. Perhaps he was already dead.
“Ha! Lord Li, you don’t have to worry about whether I am dead or alive!” A voice suddenly rang out nearby.
The Divine Strategy Battalion disciples’ expression changed as though a powerful enemy suddenly opened the doors to the hall they were in.
Then, Gu Hai entered the hall.
However, he currently had a scarily sullen expression.
“Gu Hai? Didn’t you leave long ago?”
“Why did you return?”
The Divine Strategy Battalion disciples looked shocked.
They knew that the Han Royal Dynasty’s people had already left. No one knew whether Gu Hai survived or not, but he had left the city. Why did Gu Hai return?
Gu Hai ignored the Divine Strategy Battalion disciples. Instead, he raised his head and looked skyward, watching the many surrounding cultivators soar into the sky and fail to touch the Slaughter Nation’s mirage-like palaces.
However, Li Shenji narrowed his eyes at Gu Hai.
He survived? Does this mean that Xi Yong failed to assassinate Gu Hai?
“Mister Gu? Ah, why are you back?” Li Shenji asked with slightly narrowed eyes.
“To kill Xi Yong!” Gu Hai said coldly.
After that, Gu Hai ignored Li Shenji and walked out of the manor.
“Mister Gu, where are you going?” Li Shenji asked in shock.
“To kill Xi Yong!” Gu Hai repeated in an icy tone.
Gu Hai’s tone was glacial but sounded full of boundless determination. Those few words sent a sudden chill through Li Shenji’s heart. Gu Hai was not very strong, so his words should not give such a shock. However, Li Shenji felt shaken for some reason as if a ravenous wolf had eyed him, like Gu Hai’s every move radiated murderous intent.
Whoosh!
Gu Hai left the manor.
