Book 2: Chapter 110: The Mysterious Shangguan Hen
Above the Soaring Palace Hall in the Han Royal Dynasty:
A gentle breeze blew, causing the clothes of twenty cultivators to flutter. There were people of both genders, and they looked different from each other. Right now, they coldly eyed the plaza in front of the Soaring Palace Hall. When they saw Gu Hai, their faces sank.
After all, when the information spread throughout the Thousand Islands Sea, word of Gu Hai’s ferocity did as well. Gu Hai had destroyed Nine-Five Island’s five major sects, even defeated Li Haoran.
A Golden Core Realm cultivator? No one bothered considering Gu Hai’s cultivation anymore. Otherwise, twenty Nascent Soul Realm cultivators would not have allied with each other.
“Archers!” guards immediately roared out on the plaza.
A large number of guards quickly drew their bows.
Gu Hai slowly raised his hand, stopping the attack. Then, Gu Qin, who was at the side, silently moved to the rear.
“Everyone, you have traveled a long way. Might I ask if you have any advice for me?” Gu Hai said coldly.
The twenty cultivators looked at the plaza. When they saw Yao Zhengtian, their eyes skipped past him, as though they did not know him.
A white-clad man, the group’s leader, stared at Gu Hai and said, “Mister Gu, this humble one is the sect master of Eight-Six Island’s Grand Origin Sect. My fellow cultivators and I heard that Mister Gu obtained a dragon vein. Is that true?”
“What is the point of asking? He now has a royal dynasty. There is no way to do that without a dragon vein. The dragon vein is in his imperial seal!” one of the cultivators at the side yelled.
Gu Hai smiled faintly and said, “That’s right. I have obtained a dragon vein. Did everyone come unannounced because of that?”
“Hand over the dragon vein, and we can spare you from death!”
“That’s right! Hand over the dragon vein!”
The group started shouting. However, the white-clad leader held up his hand, stopping everyone from speaking.
“Mister Gu, the dragon vein belongs to those of virtue. We came today for the dragon vein. I hope Mister Gu will not continue hiding it away!” the white-clad man said with a smile.
Gu Hai smiled coldly and said, “Everyone, do you know the fate of the sects of my Nine-Five Island?”
“Huh?” Everyone felt startled.
“You come here today to snatch my dragon vein. However, have you thought about my revenge? In the future, I can visit your twenty sects one by one. Do you believe that I can massacre all twenty sects?” Gu Hai glared.
The expressions of all twenty Nascent Soul Realm cultivators changed. The eyelids of one of them twitched wildly as he said, “You are just trying to trick us. Kill him!”
“Ha! Are all your sects going to merge after obtaining the dragon vein? Am I wrong? Do you think you can stop me if I come to you one by one?”
Gu Hai’s cold shout made the twenty Nascent Soul Realm cultivators hesitate.
Instantly, the ferocity that this group arrived with seemed to weaken significantly. One of the cultivators even glanced at Yao Zhengtian.
Yao Zhengtian narrowed his eyes, and that person promptly looked at Gu Hai. “Humph! Gu Hai, you are still going to massacre our sects? You no longer have a chance! We will not give you this chance! Fellow cultivators, as we discussed earlier, we attack and retreat together. Kill Gu Hai. His royal dynasty is nothing!”
“That’s right!”
“Take down Gu Hai!”
Shing! Shing! Shing! Shing! Shing!
The group quickly drew their weapons.
Whoosh!
Just at this moment, a surging fog suddenly encased the surroundings.
“Oh no! The Twenty-Eight Line-Pair World Ritual Array!” someone exclaimed.
The group immediately charged at Gu Hai.
Yao Zhengtian stared at Gu Hai. However, Gu Hai remained standing still with his hands behind his back, not moving at all.
What is up with this ritual array?
Yao Zhengtian appeared confused.
Boom!
Suddenly, the fog filled the place. The twenty Nascent Soul Realm cultivators initially charging over suddenly lost their sense of direction.
“What’s going on? Where is he?!”
“I can’t get my bearings! Fly up! Fly up!”
“Ah! That is not up!”
The group of Nascent Soul Realm cultivators exclaimed within the fog.
“I have the strength to pick up mountains, and my might conquers the world!”
“I have the strength to pick up mountains, and my might conquers the world!”
What sounded like twenty Xiang Yus shouted at the same time, twenty voices ringing out.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
A string of miserable cries pierced the fog.
All the civil and military officials of the imperial court goggled. These are immortals who can fly, yet they are screaming so miserably?
His Majesty did not move. What is going on?
Meng Tai also goggled as he looked at Gu Hai. Twenty Nascent Soul Realm cultivators? Although these cultivators are just on the same level as Song Pingsheng, they are still Nascent Soul Realm cultivators. To think that he can trap them so easily?
“Ah! Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me! Mister Yao! Mister Yao!” Suddenly, a loud shout came from the fog.
Mister Yao?
Outside the palace hall, many of the officials’ expressions immediately changed as they looked at Yao Zhengtian.
At this moment, Yao Zhengtian suddenly sent a palm strike at Gu Hai. This palm strike contained vast force, as though wanting to kill Gu Hai in one strike.
Boom!
A loud sound rang out as the ground shook intensely.
However, Gu Hai had taken out the Heaven Suppressing Divine Imperial Seal and charged at Yao Zhengtian while pressing it down.
Boom!
Yao Zhengtian’s manifested palm shattered, instantly crushed under the Heaven Suppressing Divine Imperial Seal.
“What?! Why did you…?” Yao Zhengtian’s expression changed.
“Why did I keep my guard up against you, right?” Gu Hai suddenly revealed a faint sneer.
Yao Zhengtian stared at Gu Hai with incredulity flashing in his eyes.
Yao Zhengtian had planned to sneak-attack Gu Hai, so how did the reverse end up happening?
Under the Heaven Suppressing Divine Imperial Seal, Yao Zhengtian seemed like he would change back to his true form. However, the Heaven Suppressing Divine Imperial Seal instantly felt like it weighed a million tons, preventing him from moving.
“There is a dragon vein in my Heaven Suppressing Divine Imperial Seal. The dragon vein is as heavy as this Nine-Five Island. This is not even the full power of my Heaven Suppressing Divine Imperial Seal. Haha! Yao Zhengtian, what a great scheme! Using twenty Nascent Soul Realm cultivators to distract me, then attacking me from behind? If I did not keep my guard up against you, you might have succeeded earlier!” Gu Hai said coldly.
“Why? Why did you keep your guard up against me? Why did you do that? Also, those are twenty Nascent Soul Realm cultivators. How did they get trapped in the ritual array so easily? That should not be the case! That should not happen! I was preparing to fight them alongside you, then change sides in the middle of the battle. Why did everything fail to go as planned?!” Yao Zhengtian roared.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Suddenly, a loud sound rang out. The twenty Nascent Soul Realm cultivators had been beaten into the ground before the surrounding fog scattered slowly.
As the fog dispersed, it revealed twenty mangled figures sprawled on the ground. All of them had wounds covering them, shattered bones, and a bleeding hole at their dantian. They showed unreconciled expressions in their eyes as they instantly aged significantly.
Gu Qin strolled over from nearby these twenty figures.
“Imperial Father, I have already taken down these twenty intruders. I have also shattered their dantian, completely crippling them!” Gu Qin said with a respectful bow.
“It was the crown prince? It was the crown prince who laid the ritual array earlier?” the officials said in shock.
Meng Tai’s eyelids twitched as he looked at Gu Qin. Twenty Nascent Soul Realm cultivators all fell to this unremarkable Han Crown Prince?
Previously, Meng Tai believed that he was the strongest person in the Han Royal Dynasty aside from Gu Hai. Now, he felt a chill in his heart as he looked at Gu Qin.
What ritual array was that? Those were twenty Nascent Soul Realm cultivators. Although they were the weakest of Nascent Soul Realm cultivators and could not match me independently, I would not dare to clash head-on with them if they worked together. However, Gu Qin crippled them all in the blink of an eye.
Old Mister Guan Qi’s inheritance? Meng Tai suddenly felt startled.
Everyone saw Gu Hai’s strength, but they overlooked this Gu Qin. He is the person who obtained Old Mister Guan Qi’s inheritance. But, unfortunately, no one knows what this inheritance is.
However, he managed to cripple twenty Nascent Soul Realm cultivators in the blink of an eye as an Innate Realm cultivator.
Meng Tai felt fearful as he looked at Gu Qin.
“Imperial Father, what should we do with these twenty intruders?” Gu Qin asked.
“Pin them to the cliff outside the imperial palace. Let anyone who comes see the fate of people who offend my Han Royal Dynasty!” Gu Hai said.
“Yes!” Gu Qin answered.
“Old Mister Guan Qi’s inheritance. Cough! Cough! Cough! I understand now. Hahaha! Gu Hai, I underestimated your Han Royal Dynasty! However, I still don’t understand. Why were you guarded against me? I attacked you from behind. Did you already have your guard up?” Yao Zhengtian said, feeling unreconciled.
With a slight sarcastic smile, Gu Hai said, “Since you arrived in my Han Royal Dynasty, someone, naturally, informed me immediately. Don’t you feel that it is strange? Why did you inform Shangguan Hen first, then get Shangguan Hen to inform me?”
“Huh? Shangguan Hen?” Yao Zhengtian looked at Shangguan Hen in confusion.
Meng Tai, Gu Qin, and the others gave Shangguan Hen strange looks. That’s right. Why was it Shangguan Hen who reported it earlier?
“Carry it over!” Shangguan Hen ordered coldly.
Soon, a company of guards carried over a pile of bones, totaling about one thousand sixty hundred meters in length.
“Mister Yao, do you recognize this? Do you know whose bones are these?” Gu Hai smiled grimly.
“This is…the flood dragon Fu Xue?” Yao Zhengtian’s expression changed.
The flood dragon Fu Xue, whom the bone saber devoured in the Peony Sect and left only bones behind?
“Even I did not think of it. It turned out that Mister Yao and Fu Xue were originally one body? A black tortoise? Tortoise and snake? The tortoise body and snake body separated and tried to evolve into dragons? The tortoise body evolved into the dragon-head-tortoise-body baxia, and the snake body evolved into a flood dragon? Haha! Since you were once the same body, your targets are the same: evolving into a dragon. Since Fu Xue wanted the dragon vein, why would you, Yao Zhengtian, not want it?” Gu Hai said coldly.
“You…how did you know?” Yao Zhengtian said in shock.
“If not for Shangguan Hen informing me, I would have been tricked by your performance. You knew that it would be difficult to fight for the dragon vein and that you would probably fail. Furthermore, you knew that I could solve the Twenty-Nine Line-Pair World Go Puzzle, so you befriended me, hoping I would gain the dragon vein; then, you would snatch it from me? You left the oceanic animal spirits at my residence not so that I could send you messages but to monitor me?” Gu Hai gazed at Yao Zhengtian coldly.
“You…how did you know?” Yao Zhengtian asked, horrified.
“Shangguan Hen discovered it. He had met you before, and when he saw these dragon bones, he discovered that your auras were identical. When he first informed me, I felt somewhat skeptical, so I got him to verify it again. When he reported that you arrived, he was actually secretly verifying that you and Fu Xue were originally one being. A black tortoise? Haha! Being a black tortoise is fine, but you actually want to evolve into a dragon?” Gu Hai said coldly.
“Shangguan Hen? Shangguan Hen? That’s impossible. My aura diverged from Fu Xue’s long ago. How did you notice it?” Yao Zhengtian stared at Shangguan Hen in disbelief.
However, Shangguan Hen looked at Gu Hai and said, “Your Majesty, this subordinate would like to ask Your Majesty for this baxia!”
“Oh?”
“Back then, Yao Zhengtian lied to Your Majesty. The tortoise shell sealing the dragon vein was not left by his father. Instead, it is an anxious black tortoise’s shell. That is useful to me. I sincerely request Your Majesty to bestow Yao Zhengtian to me!” Shangguan Hen said seriously.
“Permitted!” Gu Hai nodded.
Shangguan Hen sauntered to Yao Zhengtian.
Yao Zhengtian stared at Shangguan Hen, appearing confused. However, when Shangguan Hen suddenly placed a hand on Yao Zhengtian’s head, Yao Zhengtian’s expression suddenly changed. “This aura…you…you…you…you are actually…!”
Boom!
Shangguan Hen pressed down, and Yao Zhengtian’s eyes rolled back, no longer showing signs of life.
Rumble…!
Yao Zhengtian’s figure reverted to its true form, the gigantic baxia.
However, Shangguan Hen formed a few hand seals.
Buzz!
The gigantic baxia body suddenly shrank until it became palm-sized.
Gu Hai stretched out his hand and put away the Heaven Suppressing Divine Imperial Seal. Then, he marveled at Shangguan Hen.
Shangguan Hen tucked the shrunken baxia corpse into his sleeve.
The officials appeared horrified.
Meng Tai’s eyelids twitched as he watched Shangguan Hen.
Even if that Yao Zhengtian is no match for me, it’s one thing for the Heaven Suppressing Divine Imperial Seal to suppress it. But where did this Shangguan Hen come from? Why could he deal with Yao Zhengtian like Yao Zhengtian was a small chick?
Aside from Gu Qin, the Han Royal Dynasty still has such a monster? How many more secrets am I unaware of?
Meng Tai felt even more shocked.
The danger got resolved like it was nothing, dealt with in the blink of an eye.
“Alright, assembly dismissed!” Gu Hai said.
“Long live my emperor! May my emperor live for ten thousand years!” the officials greeted as one.
While Meng Tai felt shocked, the officials’ hearts were completely overturned as they respectfully sent off Gu Hai, the greatest winner of Nine-Five Island, the supreme one of the Han Royal Dynasty and Nine-Five Island.