Imperial Cultivation

Chapter 550: Chapter 547 Trouble

Li Hongzhao immediately straightened up, leaning forward again, ”Can it really be concealed from Chu Zhiyuan?”

Zhou Ling nodded lightly, ”Judging by their expressions, they seem certain of it.”

Li Hongzhao pondered silently.

Zhou Ling said, ”These people are fanatical believers of the Venerable; their words may not be trustworthy.”

”These brainless fools, of course their words can’t be trusted,” Li Hongzhao said. ”However, one thing is certain, these damned Venerables have begun to join forces against him.”

Zhou Ling nodded solemnly.

These Venerables are Outer Heaven Demons. Although they cannot descend directly, they can kill through these monstrous people.

Sometimes they impart power, directly infusing it into the bodies of these monsters, causing their cultivation to surge, and even delivering a devastating last strike, a Jade and Stone Burning, with astonishing power, impossible to defend against.

Having one such Evil Demon targeting you is frightening enough; having all of them targeting you is truly terrifying.

Li Hongzhao pondered silently.

Zhou Ling whispered, ”Your Majesty, if the Princely Heir falls, there will be no one left to restrain the Evil Sect.”

Li Hongzhao snorted, ”The Evil Sect isn’t that strong, don’t be intimidated. If they were that powerful, they wouldn’t be suppressed by him alone.”

Zhou Ling fell silent.

It’s not that the Evil Sect is weak but that Chu Zhiyuan is too strong. Only those who have witnessed his sword technique would understand how strong he truly is.

The Prince couldn’t help but say, ”Your Majesty, regardless of Da Jing’s circumstances, the Princely Heir still needs our assistance.”

Li Hongzhao said, ”If we use the Evil Sect to eliminate Chu Zhiyuan...”

”Your Majesty!” the Prince urgently interjected.

Li Hongzhao acted as if he hadn’t heard, ”Chu Zhiyuan is very likely to take up the Emperor’s Sword. If he truly becomes the Emperor of Da Jing, our troubles with Da Meng will increase greatly.”

Zhou Ling whispered, ”I’ve heard of the Princely Heir’s methods. They are indeed formidable, but if we were to use the Evil Sect against him, once it leaks out...”

”Just don’t admit it,” Li Hongzhao said, ”claim that someone deliberately tried to cause discord between our two empires. Anyway, it’s not as if Da Meng and Da Jing can truly be allies.”

Zhou Ling nodded lightly.

Li Hongzhao said, ”Everyone knows the Evil Sect’s hatred for Chu Zhiyuan. The Evil Sect is desperate to kill him, and if he’s killed, no one would suspect anything.”

Zhou Ling asked, ”Without our assistance, could they kill the Princely Heir?”

”Your Majesty!” The Prince’s face turned grim.

Li Hongzhao still pretended not to hear and shook his head, ”These disgusting Venerables are all useless, they can’t kill him.”

”So strong?” Zhou Ling asked in surprise, ”Can the Princely Heir alone withstand the combined forces of all the Venerables? And all the elites of the Evil Sect?”

Li Hongzhao said indifferently, ”Without experiencing it firsthand, it’s hard to understand how formidable he is.”

Zhou Ling said solemnly, ”What if we fail? If the Princely Heir is indeed so powerful, our intervention could also fail. If we fail...”

”They’ll just come and kill me,” Li Hongzhao snorted.

”Your Ma—jesty!” The Prince shouted longingly, ”Think carefully!”

Li Hongzhao looked at him helplessly, ”Sixth Uncle, couldn’t you tell we were joking?”

”A ruler does not joke lightly,” the Prince said with a stern face, ”such jokes cannot be made!”

”All right, all right,” Li Hongzhao waved her jade hand, ”I can’t even get past my own conscience to join forces with the Evil Sect, how could I possibly do it?”

The Prince quickly said, ”Your Majesty is wise.”

He let out a discreet sigh of relief.

But based on the manner of speaking just now, the Emperor didn’t seem to be joking at all.

The relationship between the Emperor and the Princely Heir is indeed complex, beyond what outsiders could fathom.

Some speculate that the Emperor is closely related to Da Jing’s Fourth Prince, possibly involving romantic affairs.

But now it seems like utter nonsense; there’s definitely no romantic involvement between the two!

Zhou Ling whispered, ”Your Majesty, the Evil Sect continuously attempts to assassinate the Princely Heir.”

”He’s shifting the disaster eastward, bringing trouble to our Tianjing,” Li Hongzhao snorted.

Zhou Ling said, ”After all the Venerables combine their forces, the Evil Sect’s experts from various sects under the heavens will pounce on the Princely Heir. Wherever he is, that place will become a gathering point for the Evil Sect’s experts. We need to prepare for Tianjing City.”

Li Hongzhao pondered silently.

The Prince quickly said, ”This is also our chance to eradicate the Evil Sect’s monsters; the more that come, the more we kill!”

Zhou Ling whispered, ”Prince, they have cultivated Secret Techniques which can conceal their aura, thereby evading the Great Grandmaster’s detection; it’s quite troublesome.”

The Prince said, ”They may evade detection, but they cannot evade the Princely Heir. Since they need to kill the Princely Heir, we can use him as bait to hunt the monsters!”

”Prince, if we hunt them too relentlessly, it may provoke the Evil Sect into retaliating.”

”If we don’t hunt them, do you expect them to stop killing innocent people?”

”...” Zhou Ling was left speechless.

”Your Majesty, we can cooperate with the Princely Heir,” the Prince earnestly suggested, ”to maximize the hunting of the Evil Sect’s monsters, thereby exterminating them!”

”I’m afraid they can’t be exterminated,” Zhou Ling whispered, ”even if we don’t leave any alive, they will find ways to retaliate. The retaliation could be endless, very troublesome.”

”With the Princely Heir standing in front, what do we have to fear?” the Prince said.

Li Hongzhao pondered silently.

Eliminating the Evil Sect is not part of her plan; it is not a rewarding task.

If it goes wrong, it could lead to resentment and a loss of public support.

The Evil Sect is indeed difficult to eradicate, not only because of their elusive nature but also because their roots—the Outer Heaven Demons—cannot be harmed.

Even if all the Evil Sect’s main altars were destroyed, the heavenly Evil Demons could not be dealt with.

The heavenly demons always find ways to stir the human heart. Once people’s hearts are stirred, it allows their power to descend, enabling the Evil Sect to rebuild.

The ashes will always rekindle.

Chu Zhiyuan’s hard work is destined to be in vain; no matter how thoroughly he cleanses it, it will have no effect.

As long as human hearts are greedy, they cannot resist the return of the heavenly Evil Demons.

”Let’s do this; we’ll wait and see how it develops,” Li Hongzhao said. ”Let’s observe the situation.”

She received numerous reports about Chu Zhiyuan killing the Evil Sect’s monsters.

Hearing is not as good as seeing for oneself; she wants to see with her own eyes how Chu Zhiyuan eradicates the monsters.

Then judge the situation between the two sides.

If the Evil Sect truly fails, then strike when they’re down and cooperate with Chu Zhiyuan.

If the Evil Sect is dominant and Chu Zhiyuan is not adequate, then she’ll pretend nothing happened.

——

Chu Zhiyuan surveyed his small courtyard.

This small courtyard was in the Da Jing style, standing here felt like being in Yujing City.

He floated onto the rockery, watching the Emperor’s Sword in the void above.

The Emperor’s Sword seemed almost within reach, the blade faintly etched with patterns, slowly flowing.

Countless fine lines were converging on the sword.

He hadn’t been able to see these lines before, but now he could see them clearly.

Extremely fine, vaguely transparent.

Could these be like the red lines on the Venerable Statue? Also considered the Power of Faith?

Does the Emperor’s Sword have two forms?

The Emperor’s Sword was like a giant umbrella, covering the Imperial Palace, impenetrable.

He shook his head helplessly.

Zou Fang brought one box after another, placing them in the middle of the courtyard, then opened each one.

Inside lay one Venerable Statue after another.

Chu Zhiyuan withdrew his gaze from the Insight of the Emperor’s Sword and looked at the Venerable Statues.

Each Venerable Statue was gathering thick red lines.

The original fine lines had almost all become thick lines, clearly arriving here.

Chu Zhiyuan narrowed his eyes, revealing a smile.

Time to harvest another wave.

After experiencing so much slaughter in the Sealing God Realm, so many Evil Sect monster souls, it was nearing perfection.

Once perfected, he hoped to break through the Third Layer of the Great Grandmaster, and also to deal with the Outer Heaven Demons.

To completely eradicate the Evil Sect, these Outer Heaven Demons must be destroyed.

The Sealing God Realm alone cannot achieve this; continual killing of monsters is needed to advance.

To break through the Sealing God Realm, it will depend on whether there are enough monsters coming here.

”Princely Heir,” Ma Tianhe and Zou Fang entered together, cupping their fists in salute.

Chu Zhiyuan said, ”Don’t rush to make contact with the spies; Da Meng is surely watching us.”

”There’s a problem,” Ma Tianhe whispered.

Chu Zhiyuan looked at him.

Ma Tianhe lowered his head, embarrassed, and finally mustered the courage to speak, ”We’ve lost contact with the spy leader here.”

Chu Zhiyuan looked at him in surprise.

Ma Tianhe’s servile smile vanished, replaced with a heavy expression, ”He likely has been taken by Da Meng.”

”The leader was captured?” Chu Zhiyuan asked, ”Is there anything more ridiculous?”

Ma Tianhe gave a bitter smile, ”I wouldn’t have believed it before, but...”

Chu Zhiyuan sighed, ”Alright, what do you plan to do?”

Ma Tianhe hesitated, embarrassed, and eventually spoke boldly, ”I wonder if we can negotiate with Da Meng for his release.”

”Do you think that’s possible?” Chu Zhiyuan snorted, ”In Yujing, have we found Da Meng’s spy leader?”

Ma Tianhe shook his head.

”Then why would Da Meng agree?” Chu Zhiyuan said irritably, ”It’s not like they’re the ones desperate for us now.”