"Could this really be the work of human hands?"
The Devil Master hid in the shadows. Seeing this scene, he only felt his entire body go numb.
Although the Devil Master had expected Ren Xiaoyao to be powerful, when he saw that mountain collapse before his eyes, he realized that he had still gravely underestimated Ren Xiaoyao.
Too powerful!
Ying Huai was merely an ordinary person.
Witnessing this scene, his eyes widened round, and his breathing became incredibly rapid.
In that instant, Ying Huai only felt that the masked man before him was not a mortal, but an immortal or god descended from the heavens.
"Do you want to die, or do you want to live?"
Ren Xiaoyao paid no attention to the Devil Master or Ying Huai. His gaze fell upon Phoenix as he asked calmly.
"I... want to live!"
Phoenix answered with difficulty.
Although she was already on the verge of collapse, upon hearing Ren Xiaoyao's words, she still hurriedly replied in a trembling voice.
"Good. Since that is the case, deliver a message to the Empress for me."
Ren Xiaoyao spoke.
"Tell the Empress that I will protect Ying Huai's life. If Ying Huai dies one day, whether by accident or not, I will make the Empress accompany him to the grave."
Ren Xiaoyao's voice was calm.
Upon hearing Ren Xiaoyao's words, Phoenix froze.
Logically speaking, these words were the height of disrespect. If the Empress heard them, she would surely fly into a towering rage and leave a million corpses in her wake.
Yet when these words came from Ren Xiaoyao's mouth—
Phoenix did not find them strange in the slightest.
After all.
No matter how sturdy the walls of the Imperial Palace were—
They could not compare to the mountain that had collapsed before Phoenix's eyes.
No matter how overwhelming the Empress's power and authority—
At the end of the day, she was only flesh and blood.
She had only one life.
Phoenix could only nod stiffly.
Then she hurriedly left this place, afraid of being slapped to death by Ren Xiaoyao if she was even half a step too slow.
Seeing this, Ren Xiaoyao merely smiled faintly.
The reason he had spared Phoenix's life was to let the Empress know that such a terrifying existence stood behind Ying Huai.
He wanted the Empress to fear breaking the rat's vessel for fear of hurting the rat.
He wanted her to no longer dare lay a hand on Ying Huai in secret.
Ying Huai was an exceptionally intelligent man, so he naturally understood Ren Xiaoyao's intentions. He hurriedly bowed to thank him.
Ren Xiaoyao nodded as well and asked, "Now that you and the Empress have torn off all pretense, what do you plan to do next?"
After hearing Ren Xiaoyao's words, Ying Huai spoke.
"I dare not conceal it from you, senior. Since I was fortunate enough to survive, I will continue fighting the Empress. If the Empress is allowed to refine Blood Pills for her own selfish desires and slaughter the common people, all of Great Gan will descend into chaos. Should the borders become unstable and enemy states invade, the people of Great Gan will suffer terribly!"
Ying Huai's attitude was resolute.
Ren Xiaoyao nodded and said,
"Though I have no interest in saving the world and relieving the suffering, I am happy to see someone willing to step forward at such a time. In that case, I can send my servant to your side. He will obey your command and assist you in your affairs."
Then.
Ren Xiaoyao's gaze fell in the Devil Master's direction.
The Devil Master naturally did not conceal himself any longer. He appeared before Ying Huai, removed the mask from his face, and chuckled. "Ying Huai, it has been many years. Do you still remember me?"
"You are... the Devil Master!"
Recognizing the Devil Master, Ying Huai was utterly astonished.
He had never expected that the servant Ren Xiaoyao referred to would be the Devil Master!
After all.
The Devil Master was the head of the Demonic Sect.
What an arrogant figure he was.
Yet now, he had actually submitted to Ren Xiaoyao!
However, Ying Huai recalled something and said, "Weren't you in Youzhou? I heard you had unified the Demonic Sect and the Dragon Capturing Organization, preparing to make a grand show of opposing the Empress. Why are you here?"
Hearing this, the Devil Master naturally gave a bitter smile. After explaining, Ying Huai nodded.
He had not expected it either.
The Empress's schemes ran so deep.
The Devil Master who had now unified the Demonic Sect and the Dragon Capturing Organization—
Was actually nothing more than the Empress's puppet!
"Then I roughly understand the Empress's purpose in doing this!"
Ying Huai took a deep breath and said,
"The Blood Pills refined through the Demonic Technique the Empress possesses, using the Vital Blood of ordinary people, are likely mediocre in effect. But if she could draw the Vital Blood of Martial Artists, or even top Martial Artists, the Blood Pills refined would likely be far more effective."
"The Empress is merely using the Demonic Sect and the Dragon Capturing Organization to secretly capture Martial Arts Masters as raw materials for refining Blood Pills!"
"After all, under normal circumstances, if large numbers of martial arts masters disappeared from the martial world, it would surely cause panic throughout the entire martial world!"
"But now that the Imperial Court, the Demonic Sect, and the Dragon Capturing Organization are at war, the disappearance of large numbers of martial arts masters amid the chaos of battle becomes reasonable!"
The Devil Master immediately understood and said,
"So that is it! This Empress truly is ruthless. To conceal the truth of capturing Martial Arts Masters to refine Blood Pills, she did not hesitate to sacrifice the lives of countless Imperial Court soldiers!"
Even Ren Xiaoyao—
Could not help but sigh at the Empress's ruthlessness.
This was simply digging her own grave.
However.
Ren Xiaoyao also had a doubt in his heart.
According to the Four Great Royal Princes from before, they had already pledged allegiance to the Empress ten years ago.
That meant the Empress should not have only recently acquired the means to refine Blood Pills. At the very least, she had mastered this Demonic Technique ten years ago.
Yet why had the Empress kept a low profile for more than ten years—
Only to go completely mad in recent times?
Ren Xiaoyao naturally could not find an answer to this for the moment, so he could only let it go. Afterwards, Ren Xiaoyao instructed the Devil Master to obey Ying Huai's arrangements before riding the wind away.
The Imperial Palace.
Within the grand hall.
Listening to Phoenix's report as she knelt on the ground, the Empress was filled with towering fury. "So not only did Ying Huai not die, I also lost four Martial Artists of the Heavenly Human Realm?"
"This subject is useless! This subject deserves death! I beg Your Majesty to punish me!"
Feeling the Empress's anger, Phoenix was naturally scared out of her wits and hurriedly kowtowed to beg forgiveness.
At this moment, she was somewhat hesitant, for she had yet to tell the Empress the words Ren Xiaoyao had asked her to bring back.
The Empress also sensed Phoenix's hesitation. She snorted coldly and said, "Is there anything else you have not reported to me?"
Only then did Phoenix speak cautiously.
However.
After Phoenix said those words, she did not dare look at the Empress at all, for Phoenix could already guess how ugly the Empress's expression would become!
"Ha ha ha!"
The Empress's fury was incomparable at this moment. She was even so enraged that she laughed instead, saying,
"Threatening me! Someone actually dares threaten me again! Do all the Martial Artists in this world think I am easy to bully? How laughable. In their eyes, could I possibly be a joke? Hahaha..."
The Empress laughed madly.
Phoenix could only lower her head even further.
After an unknown amount of time.
The Empress's laughter finally stopped. She spoke darkly, "Sooner or later, I will tear into ten thousand pieces every last one of you. None of you will escape!"
Within the Imperial Observatory.
The words before Ren Xiaoyao's eyes appeared as promised.
[You successfully rescued Ying Huai and received a reward—Advanced Martial Skill: Supreme Yang Divine Art.]
Ren Xiaoyao decisively accepted the inheritance. Soon, all information regarding the Supreme Yang Divine Art surfaced in his mind.
The Supreme Yang Divine Art was an external cultivation technique of utmost hardness and pure yang.
After mastering this technique, even ordinary fists and kicks could unleash tremendous destructive power.
The Supreme Yang Divine Art was a system reward.
Therefore, after accepting the inheritance, Ren Xiaoyao instantly mastered the Supreme Yang Divine Art.
Although the Supreme Yang Divine Art was an extremely terrifying martial skill to ordinary people, its usefulness to Ren Xiaoyao was not particularly great.
What Ren Xiaoyao truly anticipated was what he might comprehend from the Supreme Yang Divine Art.
Then.
Another line of text appeared before Ren Xiaoyao's eyes.
[Your Heaven-Defying Comprehension allowed you to cultivate the Supreme Yang Divine Art. Reward obtained—Ultimate Martial Skill: Radiant Sun Celestial Venerable!]
Radiant Sun Celestial Venerable.
An Ultimate Martial Skill?
Simply hearing the introduction—
Ren Xiaoyao could tell that this Radiant Sun Celestial Venerable was terrifyingly powerful.
Thus, he did not hesitate. He began accepting the information regarding the Radiant Sun Celestial Venerable and learned of its terrifying power.
By using this Ultimate Martial Skill—
One could effortlessly sweep aside any Martial Artist of the same realm.
The Radiant Sun Celestial Venerable was a martial skill Ren Xiaoyao had comprehended on his own. Therefore, he had not immediately mastered it and still needed to cultivate it before completely grasping it.
Over the next few days.
Ren Xiaoyao naturally took Qi Gathering Pills to accelerate his cultivation while also practicing the Radiant Sun Celestial Venerable.
Very soon, he had initially mastered this Ultimate Martial Skill, the Radiant Sun Celestial Venerable.
That night.
The Devil Master hurried from Ying Huai's residence to the Imperial Observatory.
He had come both to deliver the medicinal ingredients needed for alchemy to Ren Xiaoyao and to bring important news.
The Devil Master's identity had been replaced by the Fake Devil Lord controlled by the Empress.
Regarding this matter.
Very few people knew.
Apart from the Devil Master himself—
There were only Ying Huai, Ren Xiaoyao, and the Devil Master's daughter, Liu Ruyan.
After all, the Devil Master had only this one daughter.
Naturally, he could not allow Liu Ruyan to mistake a thief for her father.
And the news the Devil Master brought was also related to Liu Ruyan.
"Ruyan told me that a Martial Artist claiming to be from Qianqiu Pavilion contacted her and wished to take her as a disciple, bringing her into Qianqiu Pavilion."
The Devil Master looked at Ren Xiaoyao and continued, "The person who wishes to take Ruyan as a disciple is named Luo Mengxian."
"Luo Mengxian?"
Ren Xiaoyao frowned.
The Devil Master hurriedly said,
"Master, I remember that your mother is named Luo Mengshen. Shen and xian differ by only one character, and both of them are from Qianqiu Pavilion. I suspect that Luo Mengxian has a deep connection with your mother, which is why I urgently came to report this to you."
Before you continue