Chapter 74: Chapter 65: Grandmaster Yu

The Great Yu Library had no answer.

In a thousand years.

This was the first time it had been stumped.

Its pinned-shut eyelids trembled violently. It seemed to want to open them, to see what this mortal who sought to reach the Extreme Realm First Grade looked like.

"So that’s how it is."

Su Chen was somewhat disappointed.

Atop the Heaven-Ascension Tower, he stood clad in robes as black as ink, surrounded by roiling dark clouds and an endless tempest of thunder and lightning. Yet even the might of heaven and earth could not draw near.

He prepared to leave.

’It seemed the Extreme Realm First Grade was truly difficult to achieve.’

"The Extreme Realm can fell Immortals."

Perhaps unwilling to miss this chance to foster goodwill, the Great Yu Library spoke urgently when it sensed he was about to leave.

"The Extreme Realm First Grade is your path to walk. You must find it for yourself."

"I am bound by certain Rules."

"I cannot speak plainly, but I can tell you this: with a foundation in the Extreme Realm, once you step upon the Immortal Path, you will be a king among them. Like a serpent transforming into a dragon, you will soar to the heavens in a single bound..."

Su Chen paused.

Though he didn’t know why the Great Yu Library regarded him so highly, he still spoke.

"Thank you."

He left.

He should have braved the storm straight out of the Imperial Palace and secretly returned to the Library Pavilion. Instead, Su Chen went back to the seventeenth floor of the Heaven-Ascension Tower.

"Why isn’t he leaving?"

"How is His Highness, the Sin Dragon?"

Below the Heaven-Ascension Tower, numerous First Grade experts paced in agitation. They wanted to rush inside to see if the Sin Dragon was alive or dead, but with Su Chen still there, they didn’t dare.

And yet, they knew.

A clash inside the Heaven-Ascension Tower...

...would inevitably end with one of them dead.

Su Chen came out.

The chances of the Sin Dragon still being alive were extremely slim.

Su Chen left.

"Quickly, go find His Highness, the Sin Dragon."

The First Grade experts rushed into the seventeenth floor of the Heaven-Ascension Tower.

They fell silent.

Inside, the seventeenth floor was a ruin, looking as if it had been incinerated by fierce flames and torn apart by a colossal beast.

In the very center stood a figure robed in white like snow. Though his flesh had withered and he had aged to death in an instant, his body still radiated the overwhelming aura of his peak, making the Qi, blood, and True Essence of every First Grade expert present tremble.

The Sin Dragon had fallen.

And yet, a smile of release graced the corners of the Sin Dragon’s lips.

As if to say.

’So, the Extreme Realm I pursued in my youth... it’s this powerful. Thirty wasted years, the prime of my life... even though I never reached it, it was worth it.’

’At least I sought it. A pity I couldn’t die with the spirit of my youth.’

’A great regret.’

’If I could do it all over again, I would gladly give up this Peak True Essence body, even if it meant being trapped by the Golden Marrow, just to pursue the path to the Extreme Realm. I would be willing.’

「Outside the Heaven-Ascension Tower.」

Su Chen gazed toward the seventeenth floor of the Heaven-Ascension Tower, at the white-robed corpse within. He cupped some rainwater as a libation, spilled it onto the ground, and said.

"Journey well."

At Peak True Essence, he could have lived for another two years. But to witness the sight of the Extreme Realm, he chose to fight Su Chen. Victory or defeat, the outcome was always death.

Was it worth it?

Su Chen didn’t understand.

But a Martial Zealot deserved respect.

Su Chen left.

Under the watchful eyes of the rebel Kings, the Flame Emperor, and all the people of the Imperial City, he swaggered out of the Imperial Palace and left the Imperial City behind.

The Chaos of this rainy night—the Kings’ plot to slay the Emperor—came to a brief halt, as if the protagonist of the entire affair had suddenly changed.

The people were astounded.

That someone in the Human World could storm the Great Zhou Imperial Palace alone, fight his way up the Heaven-Ascension Tower, sweep aside all of Great Zhou’s First Grade pillars, and then simply walk away... what level of cultivation was this? What peerless grace...

An umbrella in the rainy night, robes as black as ink.

The name Black Lotus...

...shattered the rebellious night.

After tonight, everyone in the world would know this name.

The Black Abyss, too, would catch wind of this and come searching.

After all, he was one of their former Saints.

And now, he was still so powerful.

There was no way they wouldn’t come looking.

This, too, was what Su Chen wanted.

"What are you looking at?"

"You traitors, you dare get distracted?"

"Now die!"

Roars of fury rang out once more.

Three hundred thousand soldiers resumed their bloody battle. The Kings and the Flame Emperor finally snapped out of it, the shock and horror fading from their eyes. They looked at one another, Killing Intent flared, and their eyes turned bloodshot once more.

The Imperial City was still in turmoil.

The slaughter in the Imperial Palace continued.

Some, unable to restrain themselves, finally joined the fray.

Others, however, held back, cautiously observing. They would only help whichever side emerged victorious tomorrow.

The Seal Masters.

The Military Supervision Bureau.

Both had entered the fray.

After this night, who knew how many familiar faces would remain.

Power...

So captivating that people would willingly die for it.

A pity Su Chen had no love for power.

He only wanted Longevity, to gaze upon the world for ages, and to roam the Human World in complete and utter freedom.

「Outside the Library Pavilion.」

「Five li away.」

Bloody slaughter was also underway.

Taking advantage of the night’s Chaos, even with Su Chen holed up in the Library Pavilion, people still came for his life. There were Seal Masters, rabble from the Eastern Depot, and even some among the Eight Tigers whose loyalties had shifted...

But without exception...

...they all died.

"AHH!"

"Demon Fiend! This is definitely a First Grade, no, a Grandmaster Level Great Demon Fiend!"

"But Grandmasters are extinct!"

"The Great Zhou World has been unified, and yet not a single Grandmaster has emerged! Isn’t this little Library Pavilion just home to that ordinary Eunuch? Why is there a Great Demon Fiend lurking here...?"

Cries of Despair, of mind-numbing terror.

It was a one-sided slaughter.

A giant Ink Jade Turtle, the size of a small hut, opened its massive maw and swallowed the few remaining Second Grade cultivators.

Among them were some of the Eight Tigers.

Fortunately, the Library Pavilion was remote. Between the Chaos at the Imperial Palace and the torrential rain that scoured the land, no one noticed the commotion here.

The bloodstains were quickly washed away.

The giant demon turtle shrank into a palm-sized Ink Jade Little Turtle. It scurried on its four stubby legs to the front of the Library Pavilion, staring ahead with eager eyes like a puppy guarding its home.

In the distance.

A figure in a Profound Robe approached, holding an umbrella.

The Ink Jade Little Turtle scurried over and nuzzled the hem of Su Chen’s robe.

"You may be the cub of an Upper-Rank Great Demon Fiend, but you’re still small and ungraded. Any random Cultivator could catch you and boil you for soup..."

The Little Turtle looked aggrieved.

’I’m very strong.’

The next moment.

A wisp of Longevity Qi flowed into the Little Turtle’s body.

"It’s chaotic out there."

"You should stay here where it’s safe."

Su Chen tapped the Ink Jade Little Turtle’s shell.

’I’m so weak.’

’More, I’m hungry.’

The Little Turtle yelped and rolled all over the ground.

’Just a little more, and I’ll be able to beat that big snake in the river! More!’

"Master Xu, where did you go?"

"It’s so chaotic outside."

"You’re just an ordinary Eunuch. What would happen if someone killed you?"

「In the Library Pavilion.」

Cyan Sparrow’s eyes were red with anxiety. Seeing Su Chen return, she threw herself into his arms, her eyes welling up.

"I was so worried about you."

She sobbed.

Su Chen was silent for a moment.

After a long while.

He finally said.

"I’m back, aren’t I? Even if I’m just an ordinary Eunuch, it’s not like just anyone can kill me."

Su Chen comfortingly patted Cyan Sparrow’s shoulder.

In the distance.

Atop the Heaven-Ascension Tower, Su Chen could see the Longevity Fire that represented a Grandmaster flaring up once again.

This time, Su Chen was puzzled.

’I took a strand of the Sin Dragon’s white hair and absorbed some of his memories. Great Zhou has never produced a Grandmaster. So whose is this Longevity Fire, this flame so powerful it makes even me wary?’

「On the seventeenth floor of the Heaven-Ascension Tower.」

Emperor Long surveyed the devastation on the floor, listened to the wailing First Grade experts, and stared at the corpse of the Sin Dragon, all without saying a word.

He ascended to the top of the tower.

And asked.

The Great Yu Library.

"Who killed this Sin Dragon?"

"At the height of his power, even a Peak expert couldn’t have killed him in a single move. Was it a Grandmaster?"

"Has another Grandmaster emerged in the Great Zhou World besides me?"

"The world has only just been unified; the fortune of the land has not yet surged. How could a Grandmaster possibly emerge in the Human World so soon?"

He was asking.

The Great Yu Library, though unable to see, began to laugh.

"Giving up the act, are we?"

"Yu the Old Ghost, you broke out of your coffin, stole Emperor Long’s identity, shoved nine of your peers back into the frozen Abyss, and plunged the world into chaos. Wasn’t it all so the world would be torn asunder, leaving you as the one and only Grandmaster?"

"You’re afraid."

"You’re afraid this mysterious Grandmaster will fight you for the Immortal Fate left behind by the Immortal Footprints."

"Please, Mr. Shu, enlighten me."

Emperor Long’s attitude remained deferential.

But.

The Great Yu Library grew vicious.

"Get lost!"

"A worthless Grandmaster like you isn’t qualified to ask me about him."

Emperor Long—or rather, Grandmaster Great Yu—was used to this. If his attitude wasn’t so vile, he wouldn’t be Mr. Shu.

In a thousand years.

No one had ever heard of the Great Yu Library, Mr. Shu, speaking to anyone in a normal tone.

Not even Innate Grandmasters were an exception.

"I shall take my leave."

Emperor Long departed. He would use his identity as Great Zhou’s World-Subduing First Grade to investigate the Grandmaster who had trespassed in the Heaven-Ascension Tower.

No matter who it was, the Grandmaster must die.

The Immortal has not yet descended.

He had woken up too early.

In that case.

Three hundred years from now.

The Immortal Fate that was destined to appear in the world could only be his.

Anyone who tried to take it would die.

「Meanwhile.」

「In the Library Pavilion.」

Su Chen held the Platinum Treasure Pearl he had taken from the Sin Dragon’s palm. Inside, he could faintly make out the shape of a small turtle.

’The Seal keys... aren’t there supposed to be only three?’

’So why...’

’...is there a fourth?’

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