674 Returning to Huang Quan City

Emperor Yi Deng arrived at the Purple Snow Mountain, and he surveyed the vast expanse of rubble below him as a crimson sea flashed before his eyes.

"From all visible signs, it looks like there were at least eight people involved in this assassination. That's really strange… How could Laden not have detected an attack of this magnitude beforehand?"

Emperor Yi Deng fell silent as he looked down at the gargantuan crater in the center of the spell formation.

He continued to simulate the situation, which led him in a certain direction. He then stopped once again at another gargantuan crater nestled amid a series of mountains. "What terrifying lightning… to think that my son would die from tribulation lightning…"

Emperor Yi Deng stood in mid-air as crimson clouds surged in the sky, transforming the world around him into a crimson hell.

He stood for a long time at the same location before turning toward the east. "There can only be one culprit… It was a traitor of the Blood Tribe who cooperated with people from the Heavenly Court to strike and kill my son during his time of vulnerability! Detestable!"

Boom!

An extremely monstrous streak of crimson light pierced through the air as it flew toward the east.

Chaotic lightning suddenly fell from the sky, obstructing the path of the crimson streak of light.

Another earth-shattering battle erupted, which laid waste to Dark Marshlands in a catastrophic disaster of epic proportions, reducing many cities and landmarks to rubble in the process…

In the end, the crimson streak of light fled toward the central region of the Dark Marshlands.

The lightning pursued the crimson streak of light for over ten thousand kilometers but was unable to deliver the killing blow in the end. It then flashed away into the distance.

Thus, the battle drew to a conclusion, but the real influence caused by its aftermath was only just beginning to take effect.

Laden was the Blood Tribe Return to Void Stage mighty figure with the best hopes of progressing to the Dao Integration Stage. However, he was slain in the central region of the Dark Marshlands. Such a shocking headline made its way throughout the entirety of the Dark Marshlands, creating a massive stir.

"My God, Laden was at the Return to Void Pinnacle Stage; who could have killed him? A Dao Integration Stage super mighty figure?"

"Impossible. If a Divine Palace of Life mighty figure was involved, they would definitely be unable to escape the detection of the Emperors in the Divine Palace of Life. It was most likely other Return to Void Stage mighty figures that were involved."

"To be able to kill Emperor Yi Deng's son right under his nose! That's crazy!"

"Apparently this was accomplished by mysterious powerful beings from the Heavenly Court with the cooperation of a Blood Tribe traitor. I wonder who the traitor is."

"It looks like the strained peace between the Dark Marshlands and the Heavenly Court is going to come to an end…"

"I don't give a sh*t! Let's go find some blood to drink."

This was one of the vital flaws of the Blood Tribe. They would hold heated discussions like this, but their sense of unity left a lot to be desired. Even if they were to participate in some sort of battle, it would have to be able to net them some sort of personal benefit too.

However, on the flip side, if the entire Blood Tribe banded together to try and exact revenge on the Heavenly Court just because one of their mighty figures had been slain, then the Blood Tribe would've been extinct a long time ago. Even Emperor Yi Deng temporarily set aside any plans of vengeance and chose to survey the situation from the shadow.

He had no choice but to do this. It wasn't like he could beat that lightning user, so what was he supposed to do?

News of Laden's death spread through the Kingdom of the Nine States, and after learning of the fact that the Heavenly Court was most likely responsible for this, everyone was extremely proud, and a bustling, impromptu festival took place.

The Blood Tribe was one of the main enemies of the human race, so it was obviously good news to all humans that one of their top-rate mighty figures had fallen. Furthermore, the reliability and strength of the Heavenly Court were once again re-established in everyone's heart following this incident.

If they knew that the main force behind this assassination consisted of just a few students from the Heavenly Court along with the slaves of one of those students, they would probably be even more shocked beyond belief.

Meanwhile, An Lin and the others had returned to Huang Quan City under the aura-concealment cloaks provided to them by the Celestial Thearch. No one else knew about their mission, and the mundane days of staring out into the distance atop the city wall continued.

The only thing different was that a seedling was sprouting from the top of An Lin's head.

"Pffft…" Atop the city wall, Miao Tian couldn't help but burst into laughter upon seeing An Lin. "Haha… Big Brother An, you have some green on your head there. Are you trying to tell us something with that?"

An Lin's face darkened. "You don't know shit! Do you know what life energy is? This seedling can give me energy!"

Miao Tian doubled over with laughter as she waved her hands feebly. "Alright, alright, alright, whatever you say. Haha… I can't… Let me laugh for a while longer…"

An Lin left with a thunderous expression. What he had said was actually true.

After transforming into a seedling, Bryce stood on An Lin's head and transferred a part of the energy he obtained through photosynthesis into An Lin's body as life-force energy.

Which meant that he would grow stronger as Bryce grew stronger! This was like having a wearable power generator for himself. He was obviously not going to pass up this opportunity no matter how weird it looked. After all, he was a person who cared more for what was on the inside over appearances.

Take his dao partner-to-be, Xu Xiaolan, for example. He didn't know if Xu Xiaolan was beautiful, but she was certainly a woman with a fantastic personality and temperament, and that was enough!

An Lin stood idly on the wall. The homeroom teacher had prohibited all recreational activities, so he had nothing to do. After thinking for a while, he could only play some blind chess with Xu Xiaolan.

"Bishop to f4." An Lin sighed with a dejected expression as he stared off into the distance.

Xu Xiaolan's brows furrowed slightly. "Rook to e8."

"Pawn to c7!" An Lin's eyes lit up.

After an intense battle, An Lin was able to deliver a checkmate on Xu Xiaolan.

This was not only a contest of chess skills, but also a battle of memory, spatial logic, and wills.

An Lin managed to secure victory in all these aspects!

"Hahaha… I won! Thanks for the game, Xiaolan!" An Lin was elated.

Xu Xiaolan rolled her eyes adorably at him. "Can I use both my rooks this time?"

"Sure, sure, you can have both rooks, but you have to sacrifice a knight first."

"… Alright."

Thus, the two of them began to battle it out again, and their games of blind chess were actually quite fun.

Xuanyuan Cheng found an open patch of ground for himself to further experiment with his domain.

There were fearsome explosions erupting from time to time, sending tremors running through the earth, but all the soldiers and students on the city wall were accustomed to this and no longer made a big deal out of it. At times, they would even enjoy the sight of flames and soil soaring into the sky and discussed how the latest explosion was different from the previous ones. Everyone was bored out of their minds.

Time trickled by slowly, and another day passed.

Morning came and the small seedling began to stir atop An Lin's head.

Tina opened her emerald eyes and stretched lazily. She felt like all her energy had been replenished, and she was raring to go again.

She turned to An Lin, who was still sleeping, and a mischievous smile appeared on her face as she clamped down on An Lin's nose.

An Lin's brows knitted together in discomfort.

Tina fought to suppress her laughter as she maintained a clamp on An Lin's nose.

Slap!

A palm flew through the air before colliding with Tina's tiny body.

Boom!

Her tiny body flew back like a cannonball before creating a massive crater in the city wall.

"Giant An Lin!" Tina glowered at An Lin's palm as she flew back toward him in a disheveled state.

However, An Lin was still sound asleep, so that slap was clearly just a subconscious reaction.

People with lower cultivation bases would have to refrain from playing pranks like this, or they could get slapped to death.

Tina heaved a resigned sigh, and a dazzling white light burst forth from her hand before sweeping toward An Lin.

Whoosh!

The two of them disappeared from this world.

In the next instant, they had reappeared in the Divine Mirror World.

It was also at this moment that the voice of God entered An Lin's ears.

The voice was like the paramount judgment delivered by the heavens.

"Giant An Lin, get up!!!"In China, wearing a green hat is a common analogy of being cucked, so it's considered rather strange to wear something green on one's head.