Assassination Suspicions, Yuan Tiangang Arrives

"Everything's in chaos!"

"The entire Capital City is in chaos!"

A few days later, Ying Huai brought Fang Yuan to the Imperial Observatory and told Li Chunfeng and Ren Xiaoyao everything about the Empress's assassination attempt, from beginning to end.

The Devil Master had used the Art of Disguise to become an Imperial Palace guard.

He had seized the moment when the Imperial Palace guards changed shifts to assassinate the Empress, and had nearly succeeded.

But the Empress had supreme Martial Dao experts at her side as well. Shadow Guard Commander Phoenix had protected the Empress with her life, blocking the crucial sword strike and ultimately allowing the Empress to escape alive.

Yet the Devil Master's cultivation was truly terrifying. Even when facing numerous Super-Rank Experts within the Imperial Palace, he had still withdrawn calmly.

As Ying Huai spoke of this, he could not help but sigh with emotion. He had never imagined Martial Dao could become so terrifying.

Fang Yuan also wore a grave expression.

"Even if the Devil Master has not entered the Heavenly Human Realm, he is likely not far from it. Ren Xuanji, the True Martial Sect Master, is also in the True Man Realm, yet he could not withstand even three moves from the Devil Master!"

"Is that so?"

Li Chunfeng could not help clicking his tongue.

He knew Ren Xuanji.

Although Li Chunfeng did not like him,

Ren Xuanji did have genuine strength.

Yet he could not withstand three moves from the Devil Master?

Could it be that his former Senior Brother had truly reached the Heavenly Human Realm?

Ren Xiaoyao's attention was elsewhere. He asked curiously, "It could not have been easy for the Devil Master to disguise himself as an Imperial Palace guard. There must have been Undercover Agents within the Imperial Palace secretly assisting him, right?"

"Naturally!"

Ying Huai nodded and said,

"Based on my current investigation, the Devil Master has several Hidden Agents among the Shadow Guard. The Shadow Guard answers directly to the Empress, bypassing the supervision of the True Martial Sect and Facing Heaven Pavilion. That was what gave the Devil Master an opening."

"After such an incident, Phoenix, as the Shadow Guard Commander, should originally have been unable to escape the death penalty. But because she risked her life to save the Empress, the Empress spared Phoenix from punishment and merely began reorganizing the Shadow Guard."

Even Ying Huai, who had seen great winds and waves, could not help trembling with lingering fear when he recalled the scene from that day.

"Why did the Devil Master want to assassinate the Empress?"

Li Chunfeng frowned. "Logically speaking, my Senior Brother is an exceedingly cautious man who has never been willing to take risks lightly. Why would he personally assassinate the Empress?"

"That is the heart of the matter."

Ying Huai took a deep breath and said,

"Although the Empress has targeted the Demonic Cult and the Demonic Sect, she has not had any great conflict with the Devil Master overall! In my view, there are only two groups who truly want the Empress dead."

"The first is naturally the Imperial Clan. The Empress seized the Great Gan Realm from her position as Empress Consort, and after ascending the throne, she slaughtered the Great Gan Imperial Clan. The surviving members of the Great Gan Imperial Clan naturally hate her to the bone and wish to kill her, so that Great Gan may emerge from darkness into light once more."

"The second is the Empress's Wu Family. Though the Wu Family rose like a fish leaping over the Dragon Gate because of the Empress's ascension, suppressing the Imperial Clan and becoming Great Gan's foremost lineage, the Empress can also restrain the Wu Family. She does not wish for them to meddle in Great Gan's core authority. Thus, it is entirely possible that heirs within the Wu Family want the Empress dead, so they can inherit the Great Gan Realm afterward!"

Hearing Ying Huai's analysis, Li Chunfeng nodded. "Then you mean that someone from these two groups colluded with the Devil Master, leading to the Empress's assassination attempt?"

"I do not know, nor do I dare draw a conclusion. Every clue in this matter has been Severed. Even after mobilizing all my resources, I have not found the slightest trace."

Ying Huai Shook His Head and said,

"All I know is that the Empress is about to go mad again. She is already bloodthirsty; who knows how many people she will vent her fury upon this time! After all, if the Empress cannot provoke a Heavenly Human, can she not provoke ordinary people?"

"Are Heavenly Humans really that powerful?"

Ren Xiaoyao could not help asking.

"Naturally!"

Li Chunfeng then explained.

Once ordinary Martial Artists reached the Super-Rank Realm, even if they were merely at the most ordinary Grandmaster Realm, they could become Invulnerable to Blades and Spears when using True Essence for defense.

But that did not mean Grandmaster Realm experts were invincible beneath heaven, nor did it mean they could disregard everything.

The True Essence contained within a Grandmaster Realm Martial Artist's body was limited. In a large-scale battle, as long as there were enough enemies equipped with armor and other defensive measures, they could exhaust all the True Essence within a Grandmaster Realm Martial Artist.

The same was true for True Man Realm Martial Artists, except the True Essence within their bodies far surpassed that of Grandmaster Realm experts. To wear a True Man Realm expert to death, one would need at least ten thousand fully armed elite soldiers.

That being the case, it was far, far too difficult to wear a True Man Realm strong person to death!

However, once one entered the Heavenly Human Realm, everything became entirely different.

The Heavenly Human Realm was the realm of unity between heaven and man. It was said that when such Martial Artists fought, the True Essence consumed within their bodies could be replenished rapidly.

No matter how much True Essence they expended in battle, it would soon be restored.

Thus, even an army of a thousand troops and ten thousand horses could do nothing to a Heavenly Human Realm existence.

If a Heavenly Human Realm expert had the patience to keep killing, they could slaughter an army of tens of thousands. Therefore, Heavenly Human Realm experts feared no worldly power and could challenge Imperial Power!

As Li Chunfeng spoke, his eyes filled with longing. In truth, reaching the Heavenly Human Realm had been the obsession of his entire life.

Unfortunately, he had failed back then. He had even gone astray, causing all his efforts to come to nothing.

As Ren Xiaoyao listened, he also sank into thought.

Though he had never seen a Heavenly Human Realm expert and could not directly compare himself to one, according to Li Chunfeng's description, with the Chaos God-Demon Body Refining Technique protecting him, even peak True Man Realm experts could not harm Ren Xiaoyao in the slightest.

As for methods of killing, Ren Xiaoyao possessed the Pure Yang Void-Breaking Gang Sword.

This sword consumed spiritual power.

But Ren Xiaoyao could rapidly absorb spiritual energy from the void to replenish his spiritual power, and the rate at which he absorbed it could balance the rate at which he expended it.

That meant Ren Xiaoyao could likewise shake an army of a thousand troops and ten thousand horses.

"So I'm already this powerful?"

Only then did Ren Xiaoyao realize what kind of powerful existence he was in this world. In the words of his previous life, he was a Humanoid Nuclear Weapon.

But powerful as he was, Ren Xiaoyao still had no desire to fight and contend with others.

Wasn't it better to lie low and grow stronger?

Ying Huai came and went in haste. His most important purpose in coming to the Imperial Observatory this time had been to warn everyone there not to have any form of contact with the Devil Master during the coming period.

Otherwise, no one would be able to bear the Empress's wrath.

The turmoil in the Capital City was immense, but the Imperial Observatory lay outside the city and thus was not greatly affected. The greatest impact was that the Huben Guards camp originally stationed at the foot of the mountain had been transferred back into the Capital City to assist the Empress in her purge of the city.

One day, Liu Ruyan quietly came to the Imperial Observatory again.

But this time, Liu Ruyan looked somewhat bedraggled, as if she had been injured again. Seeing This, Ren Xiaoyao asked, "Miss Ruyan, what happened to you?"

Liu Ruyan gave a bitter smile and said,

"You must have heard the rumors outside—that my father, the Devil Master, assassinated the Empress. Because of this, the Empress has naturally launched a frenzied sweep against our Demonic Cult. Even my Master, Tantai Wanwan, was severely wounded and has now returned to the Western Regions. I came to bid you farewell as well."

"It would be good to go back and avoid the storm for a while. After all, the Empress cannot possibly Swallow Down this humiliation."

Ren Xiaoyao nodded.

But at that moment, Liu Ruyan Shook His Head and said,

"Let me tell you: the one who assassinated the Empress was not my father. Not long ago, the Seven Kill Demonic Cult within the Demonic Sect wanted to submit to the Imperial Court and betrayed the Demonic Sect. My father had returned ahead of time to clean up the mess. How could he possibly have had the energy to assassinate the Empress?"

"It was not the Devil Master's doing?"

Ren Xiaoyao was quite surprised. He knew Liu Ruyan had no reason to deceive him, so he asked curiously, "Then someone wanted to frame the Devil Master? Who was it? Do you have any leads?"

"According to my Master, it was most likely Yuan Tiangang. But she has no evidence, and even if we discovered it really was Yuan Tiangang, it would be meaningless."

Liu Ruyan sighed.

The Demonic Sect and the Empress had already been like fire and water. Now that such an incident had occurred, regardless of the truth, the two sides had already been driven into an endless struggle. Naturally, the Demonic Sect no longer cared what the truth was.

Yet upon hearing Yuan Tiangang's name, Ren Xiaoyao became interested. Whether the assassination of the Empress had been done by the Devil Master or Yuan Tiangang, it seemed to have considerable ties to the Imperial Observatory.

But interested as he was, Ren Xiaoyao merely treated it as gossip. He had no intention of getting involved in the matter.

Liu Ruyan soon left Fulong Mountain, and Ren Xiaoyao's life temporarily returned to peace.

During this period, the Imperial Observatory also had a piece of good news: Bai Su had finally broken through from the First Rank and entered the Super-Rank Realm, becoming a top-tier strong person.

And because Bai Su herself was a woman, she received particular attention during the Empress's reign. The Empress appointed Bai Su as a Third-Rank Female Official, her status equal to Li Chunfeng's and Song Duanyang's.

But now that her treatment had improved, the Empress naturally assigned Bai Su many tasks. Bai Su became busy, and she was rarely seen at the Imperial Observatory.

Not long afterward, the upheaval from the Empress's assassination case finally passed. Many great lineages and powerful factions in the Capital City had been implicated, and after a round of blood flowed into rivers, the Capital City seemed to return to how it had been before.

Yet the Imperial Court had no ability to capture either the Devil Master or Yuan Tiangang, so it could only let the matter rest.

One evening, Ren Xiaoyao finished a day of cultivation.

At that moment, lines of text appeared before Ren Xiaoyao's eyes once more.

[It has been detected that Yuan Tiangang is about to arrive at the Imperial Observatory. As one of Yuan Tiangang's targets, you are destined to clash with Yuan Tiangang. You have the following choices.]

[One: Act conspicuously. Defeat Yuan Tiangang before everyone's eyes and become famous throughout the world. You will gain the attention of the Empress of Great Gan.]

[Two: Act discreetly. You may conceal your identity and quietly defeat Yuan Tiangang. Upon completion, you will obtain the cultivation technique: Imperial Sword Art.]