Signing In for an Ultimate Emperor Weapon

Lu Zhou's sudden appearance out of thin air immediately stunned Chen the Bearded and his group.

People like them, who lived with their lives on the edge of a blade every day, naturally had some discernment.

The moment they saw how Lu Zhou had appeared, along with his indifferent tone, they knew they had run into a formidable opponent today.

If things went wrong, disaster might be upon them!

"Who are you? Do you know who we are?"

Chen the Bearded spoke, putting on a fierce front despite his inner weakness.

Lu Zhou could not be bothered to waste words on them. He simply stretched out one hand again, preparing to suppress all the bandits at once.

Seeing this, Chen the Bearded decisively tried to flee through the air.

But Lu Zhou slapped him straight down to the ground.

Pfft—cough, cough!

He coughed up blood in great mouthfuls!

His underlings were not so fortunate. Every last one of them was killed by Lu Zhou's single slap.

Then golden light surged between Lu Zhou's brows. His Divine Sense forcibly entered Chen the Bearded's mind and searched through his memories.

A few breaths later, Chen the Bearded was killed by Lu Zhou. From his body, Lu Zhou found a piece of Wushi Emperor Jade.

The people of Stone Village witnessed the entire scene.

Some were frightened and uneasy, while others wore looks of satisfaction.

They were glad that the bandits who had long oppressed Stone Village had finally received their retribution and been wiped out by Lu Zhou.

Yet they were also fearful of this mysterious man who had suddenly appeared. His methods were decisive and ruthless, and they had no idea how Lu Zhou would treat them next.

In the end, the old man whom Chen the Bearded had called Old Man Zhang earlier led several people from Stone Village over to Lu Zhou.

They cupped their hands and thanked Lu Zhou for eliminating the bandits and saving Stone Village from misery.

"You needn't stand on ceremony. I was already pursuing them."

As Lu Zhou spoke, he returned the bag of source that the old man had previously handed to Chen the Bearded.

The old man surnamed Zhang tried to refuse, but Lu Zhou said, "This belonged to you in the first place. Now it is merely being returned to its rightful owner. To be honest, I have another matter I wish to ask you about."

"Oh? What would our benefactor like to ask? We will certainly tell you everything we know."

"I heard Chen the Bearded call you Old Man Zhang just now. May I ask whether you are a descendant of Zhang Lin, the fifth-generation Origin Master?"

When Lu Zhou mentioned the Origin Master, Fifth Master Zhang paused before nodding in acknowledgment.

There was nothing to hide!

"This old man is indeed a descendant of the Origin Master. But to be frank, this old man did not inherit the Origin Master's legacy. The Origin Scripture was lost in Emperor Mountain long ago alongside our Zhang Clan's ancestor Jiye."

The world called Purple Mountain the Demon Mountain. Only the descendants of the Zhang Clan referred to Purple Mountain respectfully as Emperor Mountain.

The instant Fifth Master Zhang heard Lu Zhou mention the Origin Master, he had already guessed that Lu Zhou was most likely after the Origin Master's inheritance.

Thus, he straightforwardly told Lu Zhou everything he knew.

Lu Zhou had naturally known these matters long ago.

Still, he patiently listened until Fifth Master Zhang had finished.

Once he was done, Lu Zhou said to Fifth Master Zhang, "It is getting late today. I would like to stay here for the night. Would that be convenient? Also, there are some things I would like to ask you."

"Look at me, how neglectful of our benefactor. Benefactor, please come into the village with me. As long as you do not find our Stone Village too humble, you may stay for however long you wish."

As Fifth Master Zhang spoke, he gestured invitingly and led Lu Zhou into the village.

Lu Zhou smiled and nodded, saying to Fifth Master Zhang at the same time, "You do not need to keep calling me benefactor. My name is Lu Zhou. Just call me by my name."

After that, Lu Zhou entered Stone Village with them. Fifth Master Zhang led Lu Zhou directly to his home.

As for the other villagers, they did not need Fifth Master Zhang's instructions. They had already begun setting up cooking fires and slaughtering sheep, preparing to properly entertain Lu Zhou and express their gratitude.

Some of the men also went to deal with the corpses of Chen the Bearded and his group.

Before long, Lu Zhou arrived at Fifth Master Zhang's home. A thought suddenly struck him, and he remembered his system.

Without even looking at the system panel, he directly muttered "sign in" in his heart.

He was certain that Stone Village fulfilled the system's requirements for signing in.

Sure enough, the instant he silently finished those two words, the system gave Lu Zhou a notification.

Ding! Host has successfully signed in at Stone Village in the Northern Region. Host has obtained the Ultimate Emperor Weapon—Gouchen Seal. It has been stored in the host's Qiankun Pearl!

Lu Zhou: (☉☉)!!!

His mind nearly crashed!

The surprise had come far too suddenly!

What had he just heard?

An Ultimate Emperor Weapon?

The Gouchen Seal?

He had expected that the Stone Village inhabited by the Origin Master's descendants would allow him to sign in.

But Lu Zhou had assumed that whatever he obtained would likely be related to source. He had never expected to sign in here and directly obtain the Ultimate Emperor Weapon he had been longing for!

Lu Zhou had never heard of an Ultimate Emperor Weapon called the Gouchen Seal in the original novel Covering the Heavens.

But the word "Gouchen" made him think of the Gouchen Ancient Star!

He remembered that during the Dark Turmoil, the original novel had mentioned that the Gouchen Ancient Star had produced an emperor. It had once been the center of the universe, drawing tribute from all directions.

Yet it had only been mentioned in passing. The name of the Gouchen Ancient Star's emperor, and even how many emperors that Ancient Life Star had produced, seemed never to have been written.

That went without mentioning any Emperor Weapon related to Gouchen.

The matter had happened too suddenly. At this moment, all of Lu Zhou's attention had already entered his Qiankun Pearl.

With a thought, he saw a square black seal flashing with dragon patterns, quietly rising and falling within Qiankun Heaven and Earth!

"It is the Gouchen Seal, forged from Dragon Pattern Black Gold!"

Although Lu Zhou had never seen Dragon Pattern Black Gold before, the moment he saw the flashing dragon patterns flowing across the Gouchen Seal, he recognized that the entire seal had been forged from Dragon Pattern Black Gold.

The Gouchen Seal was four inches square, with nine lifelike black dragons entwined around it. Their scales gleamed coldly, their dragon heads roared toward the heavens, and they exuded a majestic aura of supreme nobility and dominance.

Lu Zhou discovered that nine imperial characters he could not understand were engraved upon the base of the Gouchen Seal!

He suppressed the urge to take out the Gouchen Seal and study it properly right away.

Having suddenly signed in for an Emperor Weapon, Lu Zhou's emotions were far too turbulent.

It was not his fault. After all, this was the ceiling of combat power in the world of Covering the Heavens.

Before the Dark Turmoil erupted, before those undying old monsters who had self-severed and hidden within the forbidden zones emerged from those forbidden zones—

It could be said that as long as one held an Emperor Weapon, and did not act excessively arrogantly, one could go anywhere under heaven!

Lu Zhou became even more confident.

Almost instantly, one thought after another sprang into his mind.

Some of the cultivation plans he had originally made were continuously being overturned and revised.

As Fifth Master Zhang was speaking to Lu Zhou, he suddenly noticed that Lu Zhou seemed somewhat different.

He pondered it for a long time but could not figure out exactly what had changed.

He only felt that, in that brief moment, Lu Zhou had somehow become far more confident than before.