Chapter 2021: Everything Leads to the Endless Abyss

The Darkmourn Mountains had been the most famous ancient battlefield in the history of the nine states in the Central Region. There had been several large-scale wars, and countless bones had been buried there. The place reeked of negative energy and evil spirits.

More so in the interior of the Darkmourn Mountains, where bones had been piling up within a thousand miles of its periphery. The place was infested with crows. It was the last place where people would want to go.

According to legends, there were many strange things happening deep in the Darkmourn Mountains. It was a place where not even Supreme Saints could easily walk away without encountering something bad.

It was strange that the two Golden Beast Kings had ordered the sacred altar to be moved to the Darkmourn Mountains. The reason was unknown.

Shangguan Que hemmed. “We were following the orders of the two Golden Beast Kings to move the sacred altar into the Darkmourn Mountains. We finished the job, and we didn’t ask why. So I am afraid that we don’t even know who has the sacred altar now.”

Zhang Ruochen’s brows were knitted together. If this was the case, there was no way he could find out the secrets of the altar.

Now that the two Golden Beast Kings are fighting the Infernal Court in the outer sky of Kunlun Realm, there was telling when he could meet them.

“Ruochen and I once saw a coffin with the handwriting of Emperor Ming in the imperial ancestral shrine. There was a word ‘Chen’ written on it. I think that coffin should be used to hold the body of Ruochen in his previous life. But when we opened it, we found it empty. Shangguan Que, do you know about this?” asked King Mingjiang.

King Mingjiang was surprised at the appearance of a coffin in the imperial ancestral shrine. But that coffin was empty, which puzzled him even more.

What was the purpose of Emperor Ming placing the coffin in the imperial ancestral shrine? Why was the body in the coffin missing?

Shangguan Que turned around, walked back to the stone table, cast his gaze on Zhang Ruochen with a grave face.

Just as Zhang Ruochen was about to speak, Shangguan Que spoke. “At the beginning, the prince was assassinated, and His Majesty sealed the prince’s body in a coffin. Under normal circumstances, the prince’s body should be buried in the imperial family tomb. But the prince’s situation was unique.”

Speaking of this, Shangguan Que paused, as if something bothered him.

“What is so about Ruochen?” asked King Mingjiang.

Just then, Zhang Ruochen’s heart skipped a beat. He could vaguely understand what Shangguan Que meant. Probably things had something to do with his half Immortal Vampire bloodline in his previous life.

Shangguan Que continued after a moment of silence. “Your Highness, you had the Immortal Vampire bloodline in your previous life. If buried in the imperial tomb, it might cause a backlash and destroy the Feng Shui of the imperial tomb. But His Majesty did not want to bury Your Highness’s body in some other places, so he planned to place it in the imperial ancestral shrine. With the help of the special environment and power of the imperial ancestral shrine, he hoped to preserve Your Highness’s body.

“Later, a revolt rose and Shengming quickly collapsed. Naturally, no one knew about the imperial ancestral shrine. Probably no one was thinking of burying Your Highness’s body in time like that.”

King Mingjiang’s expression changed at once. “What did you just say? How could Ruochen possess the Immortal Vampire bloodline? Did you mean the emperor’s wife…”

Emperor Ming had never mentioned this secret to him, and neither Zhang Ruochen told him. So King Mingjiang was beyond shocked now.

If news of the prince of Shengming possessed the Immortal Vampire bloodline leaked out, it would be a bombshell instantly.

Even the former officials of Shengming would find it hard to accept if they were told of this truth.

“Grand Tutor is right. My cousin’s biological mother in his previous life was Empress Blood. So he did possess half Immortal Vampire bloodline,” said Kong Lanyou.

“I can’t believe that my brother’s wife is Empress Blood. No wonder he hurriedly buried his wife’s body after his wife died from giving birth to Ruochen. He did not let us see his wife for the last time,” said King Mingjiang Wang.

He then looked at Kong Lanyou. “The empress is your aunt and the daughter of Kong Shangling. How could she be an Immortal Vampire?”

“Empress Blood is actually not Grandfather’s biological daughter. Back then…” Kong Lanyou explained to King Mingjiang about Empress Blood.

After listening to her explanation, King Mingjiang finally understood. He could not help but sigh because Empress Blood was too cunning. She had deceived everyone, and even Emperor Ming almost fell for it and became her puppet.

“Since the emperor placed the body of Ruochen in the imperial ancestral shrine, why was the body missing?” asked King Mingjiang again.

The imperial ancestral shrine was the important place of the Zhang family of Shengming. No way outsiders could have entered. Not even Supreme Saints could have trespassed.

Shangguan Que sat down again, picked up a teacup, took a sip. “It was I who stole the body of His Highness.”

“Why did you want to do that?” It baffled King Mingjiang.

Shangguan Que’s expression turned serious. “Because of Empress Blood. Your Highness, I want to tell you that Empress Blood was not an Immortal Vampire born in the Kunlun Realm. She… she… poof!”

Before he could finish speaking, he burped up a mouthful of blood, his chest bursting open in a massive hole, almost all of his internal organs shattering.

“Teacher, what’s wrong with you?”

Zhang Ruochen’s expression crashed at seeing what happened. He quickly got up to help Shangguan Que.

Others were also shocked. They did not know why while Shangguan Que was talking, there was such a turn of events.

Shangguan Que kept puking blood, his skin quickly shriveling, and he looked several hundred years older in an instant.

The next moment, something astonishing happened again.

The wound in Shangguan Que’s chest rapidly healed.

Newly grown flesh had replaced the hole in Shangguan Que’s chest. Even the shattered internal organs had regrown.

On the surface, Shangguan Que seemed to suffer no injury. But his vitality had been severely hurt. He now looked extremely old.

“What is going on?”

Everyone was in shock.

The fact was, not even Saint Kings of martial art possessed such an amazing recovery ability. This was nothing short of an immortal body.

But Shangguan Que was not a martial-art Saint King. He specialized in spiritual power, and his physique was actually extremely fragile. If he was wounded, he would never recover so quickly.

Zhang Ruochen burrowed his brow as Shangguan Que’s amazing recovery ability reminded him of the Immortal Vampires.

However, Shangguan Que was apparently a human. How could he have the ability of the Immortal Vampires?

“I knew it; I shouldn’t have spoken about it. I paid such a heavy price for only uttering half a sentence.”

Shangguan Que had stopped puking blood. He looked at Zhang Ruochen. He was very weak. “Your Highness, forgive me for it is not up to me. If you want to know the truth about 800 years ago, go to the Endless Abyss.”

Zhang Ruochen’s heart missed a beat; it was the Endless Abyss again.

Back then, the Divine Scripture Maiden came to Shangguan Que to ask about the Immortal Vampire Secrets. But a note led her to the Endless Abyss.

Not only that, even the Sect of the Blood God’s former leader and his wife had an inextricable connection with the Endless Abyss.

Nowadays, this strange thing that happened to Shangguan Que, where he was forbidden to tell the truth, seemed to point to the Endless Abyss, too.

It seemed that all things led to the Endless Abyss.

Zhang Ruochen thought to himself. It seemed that he really had to go to the Endless Abyss and uncover the mysteries there.