Sovereign of the Ashes

“You’re injured?” Sein asked when he saw Gongsun Wudi again.

A deep wound was visible on her right shoulder, radiating fluctuations of law power.

There were smaller wounds on other parts of her body as well, but none were as serious as the one on her shoulder.

The legions from Myriad Manifestations World were different from those of Divine Descendants World. Their civilization’s development had not been restricted by some eccentric overlord ruling over their homeworld.

Within the vast Myriad Manifestations World army led by the two venerables, there was more than one peak Rank Six being.

The wound on Gongsun Wudi’s right shoulder had been sustained during her battle against two of those peak Rank Six Wanderers.

Even someone as powerful as Gongsun Wudi could not emerge completely unscathed from a battle on a plane like this.

Of course, her condition also had much to do with her habit of leading from the front and personally engaging the enemy’s most dangerous experts.

During this battle, Gongsun Wudi had personally slain a peak Rank Six female powerhouse from Myriad Manifestations World named Wanderer Tianyun.

What Sein and the others did not know was that, within Myriad Manifestations World, this Wanderer was widely regarded as one of the top-tier powerhouses most likely to ascend to the ranks of the venerables.

She had followed Venerable Muge, Venerable Tianyang, and the others as part of the advance force to the Magus Civilization battlefield in order to temper herself and seek a path to even greater heights.

Unexpectedly, before this female Wanderer could reach the summit, she had already been reduced to bleached bones on the path upward, becoming one of the stepping stones on Gongsun Wudi’s journey to an even greater realm.

Just before her death, Wanderer Tianyun managed to wound Gongsun Wudi’s right shoulder.

The Dawn Empire possessed abundant treasures, and as a princess, Gongsun Wudi naturally had access to all kinds of rare elixirs.

Yet the wound on her shoulder continued to trouble her, stubborn as a maggot burrowed in the flesh.

When Sein arrived, Gongsun Wudi was still attending to official business.

Although the war on Phylis Plane was already nearing its end, many battlefields in the surrounding planes still required her strategic decisions and deployments.

Furthermore, the Dawn Emperor had already issued the order to launch the next offensive against Divine Descendants World, and Gongsun Wudi would be dispatching a contingent of the Raging Tiger Army to join the campaign.

“It’s nothing serious. Just a minor injury,” Gongsun Wudi replied calmly, her gaze still fixed on the battle reports before her.

Sein frowned slightly as he looked at Gongsun Wudi’s shoulder. This wound, inflicted by a peak Rank Six being, was far more severe than any injury he had ever seen before.

He then walked up to her and asked, “Do you mind if I take a look at it?”

Gongsun Wudi paused briefly while leafing through the battle report in front of her, then replied, “Go ahead.”

Sein sat down beside her and took out a large assortment of laboratory equipment from his spatial storage.

Most of these instruments were meant for body tempering experiments and dissections. With a single glance, Sein could tell that simply administering potions would not be enough to treat Gongsun Wudi’s injury.

At the very least, he would have to directly excise the infected flesh around the wound.

This surgery could not be performed carelessly. If it were just a matter of scraping away the corroded flesh, Gongsun Wudi could have done that herself.

What Sein needed to do was supplement the procedure with large quantities of potions and other law-imbued materials, while simultaneously suppressing the corrosive law within Gongsun Wudi’s body to prevent it from further damaging her flesh and skin.

Before Sein arrived, Gongsun Wudi had primarily been relying on her internal energy and Dragon Qi to suppress the corrosion.

As she herself had said, perhaps to her, this was merely a minor injury. With her innate physical vitality, she could likely suppress it for a period of time and gradually recover on her own.

But Sein did not see it that way.

When Sein took out his equipment, the female guards and maidservants inside the princess’s imperial chariot exchanged surprised glances. Seeing that Gongsun Wudi remained calm and composed, they bowed and withdrew.

They stood guard outside the chariot, driving away anyone who attempted to approach.

At that moment, Gongsun Wudi had yet to finish reading the stack of battle reports in her hands. Most likely, she had no other urgent official business to attend to for the time being.

Sein was unaware of what was happening outside the imperial chariot. His full attention was focused on the princess.

Since his arrival in the Dawn Empire, Gongsun Wudi had helped him greatly. Sein felt that he owed her, and now was a chance to repay that favor.

In addition to the experimental equipment, Sein finally took out a Golden Silver Potion.

This was the last concentrated potion essence he had left.

Due to his frequent participation in high-intensity battles during this Clash of Civilizations, Sein was consuming his potions at an alarming rate.

Of course, the rapid progress he had made in body tempering was also closely tied to the support of those high-grade potions.

Gongsun Wudi glanced at the Golden Silver Potion Sein had taken out, but said nothing. She simply continued flipping through her reports.

After finishing his preparations, Sein said, “This may hurt a little. You’ll need to bear with it.”

Gongsun Wudi did not reply. She merely continued reading.

***

With a sharp scalpel in hand, Sein treated Gongsun Wudi’s shoulder injury inside the antique imperial chariot.

Most of the flesh corroded by the power of law had to be cut away. Even the same injured area required several rounds of debridement, followed by the application of various potions.

Sein took out the Golden Silver Potion and poured nearly a quarter of it directly onto Gongsun Wudi’s shoulder for external application.

The potent life force contained within the potion would stimulate the wound to heal as quickly as possible, while also reducing the drain on Gongsun Wudi’s life force.

Sein asked if she wanted him to use a numbing potion for local anesthesia, even though he was not entirely certain whether his numbing potion would work on a peak Rank Six being like her.

Gongsun Wudi responded only by silently flipping through the reports, so Sein did not proceed with the numbing process.

For a while, the only sounds inside the spacious imperial chariot were the soft scrape of the scalpel against bone and the rustle of pages as Gongsun Wudi read through her reports.

Bathed in candlelight and the faint scent of ambergris incense, the scene hardly felt like a place for medical treatment or official work.

From beginning to end, Gongsun Wudi exposed only the injured skin on her shoulder. She had not even taken off the military uniform she had worn since arriving at the frontlines of the Divine Descendants Star Domain battlefield.

For a long while, only the faint sounds of scraping and page-turning filled the chariot. At long last, the lengthy treatment finally came to an end.

Gongsun Wudi’s expression remained calm. She casually drew her cloak over the wound on her shoulder.

Sein, on the other hand, was utterly exhausted. Beads of sweat formed on his face, only to evaporate and vanish into the air.

He exhaled deeply and said, “Given your robust constitution, and with my treatment, this wound should mostly heal within half a year.”

Pushing a vial toward her, he added, “Take the remaining Golden Silver Potion with you. Half of it should be enough.”

Gongsun Wudi nodded slowly. She had just finished reading the report in front of her.

Sein looked at her closely and asked with genuine concern, “Would you like me to treat the wounds on the rest of your body as well?”

This time, Gongsun Wudi did not remain silent. She replied directly, “No, thank you.”

Since he would not have to go through that exhausting process again, Sein naturally had no objections.

Of course, closely examining the wounds of a peak Rank Six being would have held immense experimental value for him. Unfortunately, the treatment was simply too mentally draining.

More importantly, Sein could not possibly treat Gongsun Wudi as an actual test subject. There were many techniques he could not use during the procedure.

Seeing that Sein had also taken out a potion for himself, Gongsun Wudi tilted her head back and drank half of the Golden Silver Potion he had given her.

After pausing briefly to consider the remainder, she pushed it back toward Sein.

Before Sein could refuse, Gongsun Wudi said, “The Emperor has issued the latest battle orders. From now on, you’ll join me in leading the elite forces of the Raging Tiger Army in the war against Divine Descendants World.”

“However, before we head there, there are a few low-level planes along the way that I need you to take care of,” she added.

“Not a problem,” Sein replied.

The battlefield of Divine Descendants World had gradually evolved into a chaotic melee among overlords.

The two venerables from Myriad Manifestations World were both fleeing toward Divine Descendants World, along with the elite legions under their command.

The final decisive battle of the Divine Descendants Star Domain would inevitably take place there, and Sein wanted to be part of it.