1728 Bounty Ranking

The deafening silence made the atmosphere particularly strange.

A stream of people entered, and the people gathered in the venue increased. Some of them had such a strong presence that even Zhang Ruochen was cautious about them. Those were evidently top-tiered experts.

After about an hour, from within the darkness, a light fluctuation of energy could be felt.

Zhang Ruochen felt it, and looked towards the direction of the disturbance.

Standing beside Zhang Ruochen, Ji Fanxin lightly told him, "They are here!"

Buzzzz...

A fog appeared within the darkness, and quickly expanded.

A black stone then emerged from within. It was like a stone box flying towards them. As the stone box drew closer, the cold Yin Qi became more apparent. 

Zhang Ruochen could finally see clearly. It was an ancient stone plaque with a unique material that was bordered by metal. The words on the plaque were as big as a grindstone, yet they were blurred, and it was difficult to recognize them.

On the stone plaque, there were a dozen figures. Each of them wore a black robe and carried a dark purple scythe. The killing aura emitted from their bodies condensed onto a cloud of red.

"Ten Saint level assassins, with two Heavenly King level assassins." Ji Fanxin transmitted a message to Zhang Ruochen.

Zhang Ruochen was curious. "How do you know?"

The twelve assassins had all practiced advanced concealment spells, and even with Zhang Ruochen's immense spiritual prowess, he could not see their cultivation levels unless he opened his heavenly eyes.

Ji Fanxin explained, "Even though they are all wearing black robes and holding similar scythes, the quality of the robes and the scythes are different."

Looking carefully, Zhang Ruochen could indeed see the differences.

Within the twelve assassins, two of them had dim inscriptions on their collars and sleeves. It seemed almost like pieces of scales. The other ten assassins only had a light red glow in the same locations.

Not only that, their scythes indeed seemed to be different.

Ji Fanxin continued, "They are the core assassins of the God of Death Palace. Their equipment is all designed for assassination. 

"Their robes and scythes are all equipment that can be upgraded. However, to upgrade those, they need to have sufficient assassination credits."

Zhang Ruochen lightly looked at her. "Fairy, you seem really knowledgeable about them."

Ji Fanxin smiled. "This is all basic knowledge. The only reason why I am telling you this is because you have been standing out too much. If we encounter any high ranking assassins, it would be best if you stay low.

"Moreover, if you wish to become an assassin of the God of Death Palace, this is also knowledge you must have."

As long as one had reached Half-Saint, one could enter the God of Death Palace and become an assassin.

At this moment, one of the Heavenly King Assassins bowed a little, and said, "Good day, customers. Now, please show us the token of the God of Death Palace, before stepping on the Plaque of Yellow Springs. I will bring you to the meeting place."

The people around all walked up in an orderly fashion.

Ji Fanxin had the token, so Zhang Ruochen, who was accompanied by her, walked onto the Plaque of Yellow Springs without any issues.

At this moment, an explosion occurred.

Turning around, Zhang Ruochen saw that one of the Heavenly Kings had attacked, and with just one attack using his palm, he tackled a goat-headed old man away. Huge amounts of Saint blood spurted from the old man's mouth.

"How dare you come here without a God of Death Palace's token. You are asking for it."

That Heavenly King's speed was extremely fast, almost as though he was teleporting as he attacked again. This time he hit that old man on the head. Immediately, that old man's body turned into a crimson red crystal.

Boom!

The crimson crystals exploded, and turned into pieces of red gemstones.

A Saint King level expert was killed within two breaths. That fact shook everyone on the Plaque of Yellow Springs, and many were left trembling.

Zhang Ruochen spoke softly. "He was killed merely because he did not have the token. Wouldn't that be too harsh?"

Ji Fanxin, however, seemed to feel that there was nothing wrong with it, and justified that assassin's actions. "Those without tokens would surely not know the meeting time and place. Yet that person was about to find his way here. Isn't that strange in itself?"

Zhang Ruochen sank deep into thought.

Ji Fanxin continued, "Moreover, they are the God of Death Palace after all. Their job is to kill, so how could they be soft-hearted? Thus, we need to be particularly careful when we head to the meeting place, else we might not be able to return."

When all the customers had boarded the Plaque of Yellow Springs, the bottom of the Plaque lit up with countless inscriptions that gathered into a circular formation.

Whoosh!

The plaque flew off into the darkness.

On the plaque, a curtain of darkness was drawn that could obstruct everyone's senses, causing them to be unable to see what was outside.

Moreover, the inside of the plaque seemed to have a unique force that froze up spiritual powers.

Even as Zhang Ruochen tried to probe the outside with his spiritual powers, he failed.

"God of Death Palace is really careful," Zhang Ruochen softly exclaimed.

The plaque did not fly for too far. After about fifteen minutes, the black curtain disappeared and one could finally see the outside scenery.

In the middle of the air, there was a huge graveyard floating. It looked like a crouching tortoise, and there was a dark red glow being emitted from it.

At the top of the graveyard, there was a three-hundred-meter-tall human skeleton. Within its bones there were all kinds of gemstones, giving off a rainbow glow like a nebula.

Zhang Ruochen could clearly feel that that skeleton and the gemstones could obstruct surveillance from even Heavenly Mysteries, and could suppress spiritual powers of anyone around, essentially hiding this location.

After entering this region, one could no longer communicate with people outside.

Zhang Ruochen transmitted a thought to Ji Fanxin. "This place is too strange! What if the God of Death Palace wanted to kill any of us? We couldn't escape from this place at all."

Ji Fanxin replied, "The fact that the God of Death Palace could become one of the three assassination organization is a testament to it's reputation. As long as we do not actively seek out trouble, we should be fine."

The Plaque of Yellow Springs flew into the tomb.

Only after everyone had alighted did the plaque fly to a lake and stay on the lakeside.

On the lakeside, there were already over a dozen plaques.

Evidently, there were other gathering points to come to this tomb.

Within the tomb, it was spacious. There were lakes, corridors, huts, buildings, hills, cliffs, and an abyss. It was also well lit with lanterns, with a huge moon above.

That moon was actually a huge Saint Jade with a diameter over a few dozen feet.

"This place is so scenic, is this really just a temporary meeting place for the God of Death Palace?"

"This place doesn't look like a place where people's lives are traded."

….

For those who were here for the first time, they were all amazed by the scenery.

Yet Zhang Ruochen felt chills running down his spine. That was because, after opening his Heavenly Eyes, he found that everywhere seemed dangerous. Even the gardens that seemed beautiful were filled with deadly inscriptions.

If the God of Death Palace utilized these inscriptions, Zhang Ruochen was sure that he could not escape.

"We will head to the Life and Death Cliff first," Ji Fanxin said.

"What is that?"

"That is where the customers leave their orders."

The Life and Death Cliff was situated right below that bright moon, and was over three hundred and seventy feet tall.

As Zhang Ruochen and Ji Fanxin arrived, the Life and Death Cliff was already crowded with large numbers of people. However, only a few of them were here to make orders. Most others were here to watch any interesting changes on the Bounty Rankings.

On the cliff, there were many different regions. Every region had a name and a description attached to it.

At around three hundred and sixty feet, Zhang Ruochen found his own name.

"Bounty Ranking: 18. Zhang Ruochen. Ex-Crown Prince of Kunlun's Field Sacred Central Empire. Now he serves as the Priest of Guanghan Field, and cultivates both Space and Time…."

In that area, there was a brief description of Zhang Ruochen with about two hundred words.

However, there was a portrait of Zhang Ruochen there. It was lively and accurate, and was obviously made by a master. Whoever drew it must have had close contact with Zhang Ruochen before.

"Two hundred and seventy thousand saint stones. My life is so expensive." Zhang Ruochen did not seem to be afraid. Instead, he smiled.

Ji Fanxin rolled her eyes and said, "And this is merely the God of Death Palace's bounty. In the other assassination organizations you are also quite famous. The total bounty for you is over a billion. Luckily you were still at Truth Heavenly Domain. If you left there, I'm afraid even a Supreme Saint level expert would bare their fangs at you."

Zhang Ruochen shifted his gaze to the top of the Life and Death Cliff, and saw that the bounty was about three million. It was about ten times his own bounty.

"Heart Demon! What did this guy do for people to offer so much to kill him?" Zhang Ruochen curiously enquired.

Ji Fanxin's expression changed, seemingly quite fearful of that person, and replied, "That is a devil that we must never offend. It was rumored that he could control other people's hearts. As long as he stared into someone's eyes, that person would become his puppet, and would be controlled by him. Even Nine-step Saint Kings are not exempt.

"The key is that no one has really seen him before, and no one knows what he looks like. The only fact we learned in the past was that the number of Nine-step Saint Kings he controlled was over twenty.

"Heart Demon was the same as you, and only rose to fame in the past few years. His fame knows no bounds, and many Supreme Saints have wanted to kill him. Yet none can find him."

Zhang Ruochen exhaled a breath of cold air. To enslave over twenty Nine-step Saint Kings by himself...didn't that mean that he could easily destroy factions? Or even wreak havoc in an entire Field?