The King Was Wrong

"Strange, where's Lin Shuguang?"

Ji Feng searched around, even releasing his perception, but couldn't find any trace of Lin Shuguang. If he hadn't had some confidence in his own strength, he might really have thought Lin Shuguang had been kidnapped.

Guessing that Lin Shuguang had just clashed with the Ninth Prince and was therefore hiding himself, Ji Feng nodded secretly. "He doesn't have that foolish streak Baojian Sect is known for. Baojian Sect really struck gold this time. Not bad."

After fiddling with the jade pendant Sima Tingwei had given him a couple of times, Ji Feng glanced at the empty corridor around him. Then he hummed a little tune and turned back, planning to hand over the jade pendant after Lin Shuguang returned.

Inside the Spatial Altar.

Lin Shuguang still had no idea how many people's minds he had thrown into turmoil single-handedly.

At that moment, he had just offered Qiao Shanling's corpse as a sacrifice.

In an instant, it began raining inside the entire altar space. Golden Dew gushed out of the altar with a rattling roar.

A full four hundred drops.

It was even more than he had gained from killing someone in the True Fate Realm at the Demonic Moon Sect. Lin Shuguang guessed that this was because Qiao Shanling had cultivated his demonic secret art to a sufficiently profound level, allowing him to obtain so much Golden Dew after the sacrifice.

He swallowed fifty drops in one breath.

Surging vital essence poured into Lin Shuguang's limbs and bones. His blood energy churned violently, increasing his Blood Energy Value by no less than five hundred thousand cards.

Lin Shuguang felt as though he had stuffed himself after swallowing that mouthful of Golden Dew. He probably wouldn't be able to continue taking it for some time. Seeing so much Golden Dew sitting there unused... "What a waste."

He averted his gaze.

Lin Shuguang took out the two items before him that he was unable to refine.

One was the Divine Bone he had stolen from the Southern Dynasty Marquis, Gu Beishan. The other was the Nine Demon Scroll he had openly snatched from the current Great Gan Dynasty's Ninth Prince.

Lin Shuguang held the Divine Bone in one hand and the Nine Demon Scroll in the other.

"The Divine Bone—just the name alone suggests it's extraordinary. Unfortunately, I haven't found much useful information about it so far. Perhaps it's simply too precious, so all relevant intelligence has been sealed away within a fixed circle.

"As for the Nine Demon Scroll, that fellow who called himself the Ninth Prince did mention that anyone who could sign their name would become his contracted servant... Hm? Someone really did sign it."

Lin Shuguang carefully made out the writing on the Nine Demon Scroll.

"Wang... Fugui."

He raised an eyebrow. To be honest, the name was quite beyond his expectations. "The Ninth Prince isn't a fool. Anyone he takes a liking to must have something going for them. Otherwise, their name couldn't possibly have appeared here."

Besides that, there were two other names on the Nine Demon Scroll... Sima Hengdao and Gu Qingshan.

Compared to the unfamiliarity brought by the name Gu Qingshan, the surname Sima in the former made Lin Shuguang raise an eyebrow.

In their earlier conversation, the Ninth Prince had mentioned that he had supported and assisted the Sima Family back then. It seemed that this Sima Hengdao fellow came from the same family as Sima Tingwei.

"Interesting." The corners of Lin Shuguang's lips lifted slightly.

After playing with the Nine Demon Scroll for a while, Lin Shuguang couldn't bring himself to sacrifice it as he had the others.

The reason the Ninth Prince valued this scroll so highly was that it could control other people.

What Lin Shuguang valued wasn't the chance to vent his anger on the Ninth Prince, but the scroll's ability.

"Someone valued by that fellow Gu Changhe absolutely can't be ordinary. Since the Nine Demon Scroll is in my hands now, I might as well see whether I can refine it. If I really can refine it and take true control of it, wouldn't that mean Gu Changhe had drawn water with a bamboo basket, only to make a wedding dress for me?"

At the thought of that outcome, Lin Shuguang couldn't help laughing.

Gu Changhe relied on the Ninth Prince's identity to act arrogant and conceited. If the talent he had painstakingly cultivated in secret really ended up under Lin Shuguang's control, it might truly make him cough up three pints of blood!

Activating the cultivation method within his body, Lin Shuguang attempted to refine the Nine Demon Scroll. For a time, when the energy in his body surged into the scroll, it seemed to run into a wall that blocked its path.

Lin Shuguang seemed to have anticipated this obstacle. His expression didn't change as Thunder Tribulation Annihilation came crashing down in a single overwhelming wave.

It was as though the God of Thunder had descended.

Having used money to cultivate Thunder Tribulation Annihilation to a profound level, Lin Shuguang's thunderbolts seemed to have transformed into a certain force of rules.

This force of rules, which only those in the True Fate Realm could normally come into contact with, had already been grasped by Lin Shuguang in part—even though he had yet to reach the True Fate Realm.

Otherwise, he could never have killed someone in the True Fate Realm while cultivating in the Spirit Transformation Realm.

With the power of Thunder Tribulation Annihilation bolstering him, the resistance from the Nine Demon Scroll instantly became as fragile as tofu, crumbling beneath Lin Shuguang's barbaric bombardment.

"Creak!"

A harsh metallic sound suddenly rang out through the air.

"Lin Shuguang!"

The Ninth Prince's familiar, exasperated voice rang out on the spot.

The Nine Demon Scroll was, after all, something he had refined.

Although Lin Shuguang had used the Spatial Altar to completely sever its connection with the Ninth Prince, Lin Shuguang's refinement had now triggered the core of the Nine Demon Scroll. A tiny fissure was left behind, drawing the Ninth Prince's investigation.

Unfortunately, this was still Lin Shuguang's home ground.

The Spatial Altar was a divine object that the Ninth Prince was still unable to touch. With his strength, he naturally couldn't shake it in the slightest.

In that instant, the Ninth Prince had tried to summon the Nine Demon Scroll back to his side.

After all, even he didn't know how much effort he had spent investigating the scroll's whereabouts after Lin Shuguang snatched it away.

Now that he had finally seized an opportunity, he naturally wanted to recall the treasure immediately.

But he was utterly incapable of shaking the Spatial Altar.

"Damn it! What kind of secret art has this fellow used?"

The Ninth Prince suppressed his fury. "Lin Shuguang, I'll give you one more chance. Return the Nine Demon Scroll at once!"

Before he could finish speaking,

Lin Shuguang directly severed the mental connection between them.

The rest of the Ninth Prince's sentence could only be spoken to himself. In an instant, he felt as though his lungs and heart were about to explode from anger!

When had he ever been ignored like this—especially by Lin Shuguang, a fellow who hadn't even reached the True Fate Realm?

Thinking of his exalted status as the dignified Ninth Prince, only to be defeated by a disciple from the criminal sect Baojian Sect, the Ninth Prince's face darkened until it seemed ready to bleed ink.

His hands clenched tightly around the massive python carvings on the throne.

He knew that Lin Shuguang was certainly trying to refine his Nine Demon Scroll.

For a moment, he was frantic with worry!

After roughly three breaths, the Ninth Prince sensed something again. With a movement of his mind, he once more established a mental connection with Lin Shuguang.

He hurriedly shouted, "Lin Shuguang, my magical treasure isn't so easy to refine. I advise you not to ruin yourself. Refining my possession will only turn your future into a complete mess, and it will even implicate the entire Baojian Sect."

The outcome was the same again.

This time, before the Ninth Prince had finished speaking, Lin Shuguang severed the connection once more, showing him no consideration at all.

The Ninth Prince's face grew even darker and uglier.

Suddenly, his expression changed slightly.

The Nine Demon Scroll seemed to have developed some kind of separated state. He wasn't sure whether this subtle change was merely psychological, but for now, all he could do was fret helplessly.

"Where the hell did Shi Wenliang die off to? Why hasn't he succeeded yet!"

Another three breaths passed before Lin Shuguang's mental presence arrived again.

The Ninth Prince was like a drowning man who had grabbed a straw. He hurriedly began, "Lin Shuguang, I was wrong. Could you—"