Chapter 41: Chapter 40: Gone
’Three years.’
’This is the first time I’ve changed back to my original appearance.’
’I’d almost forgotten how devastatingly handsome I am.’
After examining himself in the Copper Mirror for a moment, Su Chen opened a hidden compartment beneath the medicine cabinet. Inside were three Treasure Medicines he had carefully selected to help him break through to the Second Grade Internal Organ Realm.
A three-year-old Blood Bursting Vine!
A one-year-old Bone Tempering Grass!
And a Drilling Marrow Flower that had only just begun to form!
Blood, bone, and marrow.
Once these three herbs exceeded a hundred years of age, they became superb Holy Medicines for the Body Refining Realm. Their value was immense, nearly immeasurable, and they were so rare in the current world as to be almost extinct.
Even after three years of searching, Su Chen had only managed to find these three specimens. They had fallen into his hands precisely because their age made them practically useless.
’After stepping into the Fourth Grade Realm of the Longevity Qi, if I want to use the Fifth Grade Realm ability, Rapid Maturation Treasure Medicine, I have to undo the Shapeshifting and Face-Changing I used in the Fourth Grade Realm. It’s quite troublesome.’
’Originally, the Five-organ Grass and the Six Viscera Flower Leaf would have been more suitable for breaking through to the Second Grade Internal Organ Realm. Unfortunately, the last time either of those appeared was a hundred years ago, during the reign of Emperor Wen of Liang...’
Su Chen left the pharmacy.
The process of using Rapid Maturation Treasure Medicine created quite a disturbance.
He had no desire to expose his true identity right now.
Dark clouds rolled in, covering the Bright Moon.
The night was pitch-black.
Walking through the somewhat deathly silent Imperial Palace with his hands behind his back, Su Chen soon arrived before a towering, nine-story pavilion. Built with red bricks and green tiles, it covered an area of several thousand square feet.
A thick blanket of snow covered the courtyard, as well as the proud, half-broken Hibiscus Tree that stood within it.
’So Han actually managed to build the Library Pavilion?’
Su Chen stepped into the Library Pavilion’s courtyard, stroking the bare, broken trunk of the Hibiscus Tree. His mind drifted back to that stormy night of slaughter, and to the friend who had died under this very tree, staring up at the sky.
’Perhaps you were right.’
’Perhaps Great Liang truly deserves to die.’
Su Chen murmured.
The next moment.
The wind and snow surged. From the roof of the Library Pavilion, a figure in a Blue Robe shot out. His eyes flashed like lightning as he locked onto Su Chen, his voice booming like a thunderous roar.
"Insolence!"
"Who are you? How dare you trespass in the Library Pavilion!"
"This is the territory of my Lord Xu! A petty thief like you dares to set foot here? You’ll be leaving your life behind!"
BOOM!
The next instant.
A wave of Qi surged, carrying with it wind and snow.
The expert in the Blue Robe attacked without hesitation.
He was a Peak Third Grade expert! He was a significant figure in the Inner Imperial Palace—the kind of person who could make the whole palace tremble with a stomp of his foot.
He was even qualified to serve as the Vice Chief Steward, a position second to only one man and above all others.
He even had a chance of one day reaching the pinnacle of power: the red robe.
However.
In response, Su Chen simply pressed down with a single finger.
"Noisy."
In an instant, the dignified Third Grade expert, a master at the Peak of the Bone Marrow Cleansing Realm, plummeted from mid-air. He was completely immobilized, forced to his knees in the courtyard, prostrating before Su Chen.
"Second Grade?!"
"Ah!"
"A black robe... How can you be a Second Grade expert?"
The Blue Robe shrieked, his soul nearly scattering in terror as a chill plunged him into an icy abyss.
He had caught only a fleeting glimpse of the man’s Black-robed Eunuch Robe.
He had assumed the intruder was just some reckless, petty eunuch thief he could swat aside, but who could have guessed he was such a towering figure! Someone on the level of the Chief Steward of the Imperial Palace.
Moreover, even for a Second Grade expert, this person gave off the feeling of an extremely seasoned master—perhaps even a terrifying old monster at the Peak of Second Grade, with a chance of reaching First Grade...
’I’m doomed!’
’How could I run into someone like this tonight?’
’Is he an assassin? Is someone else trying to kill the Emperor of Great Liang, and I just happened to run into them?’
The Blue Robe figure cried out in his heart, overcome with despair. He felt death beckoning to him, certain he was about to be silenced forever by this powerful Second Grade expert.
"Second Grade?" Su Chen responded faintly. "You’re not entirely wrong."
Although he was also in the Third Grade Marrow Cleansing Realm, he had reached it by pushing through the Extreme Realms of Blood Flame, Nine-Nine Thunder Roar, and Jade Marrow Third Grade. He and a normal Third Grade Marrow Cleansing cultivator were practically two different species.
Calling him a Second Grade expert was hardly an exaggeration.
After all, who had ever heard of a Third Grade Marrow Cleansing cultivator who could suppress a Peak Second-Grade Anger Gang Realm expert with a mere wave of their hand?
"Which of Xu Xiaohan’s god-sons are you? To be stationed here at the Library Pavilion, you must be one of his most trusted confidants."
"Has he stepped into the Second-Grade Fury Gang Realm?"
In the courtyard, snow fell heavily. With his hands behind his back, Su Chen looked up at the tree, and at the Bright Moon hidden above the clouds.
’Wait.’
’That voice sounds so familiar...’
The Blue Robe, who had been terrified and certain of his impending death, suddenly looked up at the figure in the Black-robed Eunuch Robe. His body trembled violently as a frightening thought surfaced in his mind.
The Library Pavilion. Under the Hibiscus Tree.
A Second-Grade Expert!
And what’s more...
Someone who liked to wear a Black-robed Eunuch Robe...
He thought of someone.
The person who had vanished without a trace three years ago, enraging Emperor Jianwu and evading a three-year manhunt across the Nine Commanderies.
The "cripple from the Library Pavilion," whom the Purple-robed First Supervisor of the Tianwu Tower had personally declared to be far more talented than Zhang Gui...
"Eunuch Su!" he asked, trembling. "Is that you?"
"It’s me! I’m Xu Zhuzi!"
In response, Su Chen glanced sideways at him.
It was like a thunderclap in the Blue Robe’s mind.
Beneath the moon stood a young man in a black robe. His features were as beautiful as a painting, and he radiated a heroic spirit, possessing a beauty that surpassed any woman and a handsomeness that outshone any man. It was a face impossible to forget after a single glance.
’It really is Master Su!’
’Master Su hasn’t changed at all in three years! He must be around thirty now, but he still looks the same. The only difference is that he’s stepped into the Second Grade—and an extremely powerful, seasoned one at that...’
’Doesn’t this mean... if he continues cultivating normally, Master Su is on track to become the youngest First-Grade Minor Grandmaster in the world!’
’He could even become the one and only Human Race Grandmaster Realm expert in all of Great Liang!’
The figure in the Blue Robe sucked in a sharp, cold breath.
Having followed Xu Xiaohan far and wide, witnessing countless Demon Fiends and learning many secrets, he knew exactly what a terrifying existence a Human Race Grandmaster Realm expert represented...
"I don’t remember you."
"After Lord Xu left, I was the one who always delivered the meals to the Library Pavilion..."
Now, Su Chen remembered.
"However," Su Chen said, "you should go to sleep."
"It won’t do you any good to be awake tonight..."
With a flick of his sleeve, Su Chen released the Mist Star Grass powder he had prepared. It drifted on the wind and snow, blanketing the entire Library Pavilion. In an instant, the Blue Robe figure and all the Little Eunuchs inside the pavilion fell into a deep sleep.
At that moment, the clouds parted. Beneath the Bright Moon, faint moonlight shone upon Su Chen’s black robe as he placed a hand on the broken tree.
Instantly, white branches and leaves sprouted, and clusters of Hibiscus Flowers, shimmering with a silver radiance, bloomed furiously across its crown.
’See?’
’This tree looks much better when it’s in bloom!’
On a snowy night, the hibiscus flowers bloomed.
Beneath the tree, a young man began his breakthrough into the Internal Organ Realm.
A torrential tide of Longevity Qi, like a rushing river, split into three streams and poured into the blood, bone, and marrow Treasure Medicines Su Chen had prepared. Instantly, they pulsed with vitality and began to grow continuously.
Ten-year-old medicine!
Hundred-year-old fine medicine!
Thousand-Year Treasure Medicine!
Even after they were matured to the level of Thousand-Year Treasure Medicines, the Longevity Qi continued to pour in frantically. A thousand years was not the limit; Su Chen wanted to use his Inference to push them even further, to two thousand years of age...
But in the end, he couldn’t do it.
In an instant, his Longevity Qi was completely depleted.
’So twelve hundred years is the limit, huh?’ Su Chen murmured.
At the same time, the overwhelming fragrance of the three Thousand-Year Treasure Medicines could no longer be contained. Not that Su Chen wanted to contain it. In that moment, it alarmed countless cultivation experts throughout the nearby Imperial Palace.
"Is that the scent of a Thousand-Year Treasure Medicine?"
HISS!
"A Thousand-Year Treasure Medicine has appeared in the Great Liang Imperial Palace! As expected, even in its decline, the cultivation foundation Great Liang has accumulated from its founding Grandmaster and three hundred years of plundering the Nine Commanderies is not to be underestimated!"
"Take it!"
"No matter what, get into the Palace and seize it for me!"
"A Thousand-Year Treasure Medicine! This is a Thousand-Year Treasure Medicine! If I can get my hands on it, not only will I recover completely, I can advance even further and become an even greater Powerhouse among the First Grade!"
In that moment, the fragrance of the three Thousand-Year Treasure Medicines didn’t just waft through the Inner Court; it also reached those hidden deep within the Imperial Palace, like the Black Abyss Sect Leader, as well as the First Grade experts from the Great Zhou waiting outside. All of their eyes turned red with greed.
Countless figures, their robes whipping in the wind and snow, leaped across palace rooftops and pavilions, rushing toward the Library Pavilion.
The appearance of a Thousand-Year Treasure Medicine would inevitably be followed by a bloodbath.
Tonight, the Great Liang Imperial Palace would know no peace.
And this was exactly what Su Chen wanted to see!
"The storm is here."
Holding the three Thousand-Year Treasure Medicines under the Silver Radiance Hibiscus Tree, Su Chen watched as one ferocious figure after another arrived, their robes snapping violently in the wind and snow.
Among them were a Second-Grade Red Robe Chief Steward, a withered old man who reeked of Death Qi like a corpse, a portly boss in rich brocade, and an armored First Grade expert from the Great Zhou...
Without exception, their eyes gleamed with greed, their expressions were crazed, their auras were turbulent, and their hearts were filled with Killing Intent. They stared intently at the three Thousand-Year Treasure Medicines in the Library Pavilion, which emanated an otherworldly fragrance.
"You want these?"
A smile touched the corners of Su Chen’s lips. The next instant, right in front of all the Peak Second Grade and First Grade experts, he opened his mouth wide and swallowed all three Thousand-Year Treasure Medicines in one gulp.
In that instant, he burst into laughter.
"Want them? They’re gone!"
"I ate them."
"Hahaha!"
In that moment, monstrous killing intent surged as the crowd of figures converged on the Library Pavilion.
"You... deserve to die!"
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter