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Chapter 47

Lian Ren frowned on what the demon general said. He unsheathed his sword quietly, readying himself to turn around if ever the demon king is really behind them but when he looked at his back, there was no one. What does she mean by your majesty? Is she.... referring to me?

Lian Ren froze and pondered on a thought that he suddenly remembered. Yin Meng said that demons familiarize themselves on the demonic energy around them.... Does that mean.... The Demon King also has his ice attribute techniques?

The demon general was reaching out to him, filled with ecstasy on her flushed face. However, her face twisted into a disbelief when Lian Ren released spiritual energy and tilted his head at her. The demon general snarled and her short nails immediately grew longer and sharper, enough to tear a flesh of a cultivator.

Shao Ling pulled Lian Ren's sleeves and whispered to him,

Lian Ren replied with a big smile.

The demon general struggled on the chains wrapped in her body and opened her mouth, her mouth contains breath that creates an illusion so Shao Ling immediately infused spiritual qi on a golden talisman that he had and threw in on the demon general's mouth.

Shao Ling said as he brush the dust in both of her hands. He was about to twist the door knob open when Lian Ren spoke from behind.

Shao Ling stared blankly at him for a while before eventually getting a grip of himself.

Shao Ling insisted.

Lian Ren gazed down at the glaring demon general. His large hands gripped the demon's head tightly, followed by a beam of icy blue light radiating at the center of his palm.

The head of the demon general was slowly getting frozen. The ice stopped when the eyes of the demon eventually froze and the demon loss her consciousness. Lian Ren closed his eyes and an image of reminiscence materialized inside his pitch black vision.

It was a palace made of the most bloodiest color of stone down to the most pitch black. The image was gazing up at a blood red throne. The window from above was radiating a light from the ceiling of the hall, causing the people from below covered in the darkest shadow. In the midst of these shadows, a silhouette of a man was sitting on the throne, his glowing blood red eyes staring back at the vision of the image.

"Heed my order."

"Yes, your majesty." The image spoke back.

That was the only fragment of memory that Lian Ren was able to see. He let go of the demon general's frozen head and heave a heavy breath, turning around to see Shao Ling's anticipating expression.

Shao Ling replied.

Lian Ren sighed. Shizun's decision is rash but we have no other choice. Doing nothing right now will lead to more weakness and time is also ticking. I guess we have to get ready to leave for tomorrow then.

Lian Ren replied.

The two went out of the cave and discussed the situation to Yin Meng. Yin Meng insisted that she will come with them but Shao Ling reasoned that she needs to be there for her people.

Yin Meng exclaimed.

Shao Ling sighed and shook his head.

Yin Meng replied with a sad expression.

Shao Ling was astonished on what she said and responded with a soft and sweet smile. He raised his hand and patted Yin Meng's head.

Yin Meng responded, trying to make a dignified expression on her saddened face.

Yin Meng helped them pack up and they bid farewell to the people in town. She gave them medicine, cultivating pills, soft and warm blankets for the night, snacks as well as white talismans that might protect them from demons. It might not be as better as the golden talismans but it can still protect them from small fry demons.

Yin Meng handed them two winter coats. White for Shao Ling and Blue for Lian Ren.

Shao Ling bowed as a sign of gratitude.

Shao Ling insisted.

The two ventured straight north riding their horses. Every time they encountered a demon, they always kill or sometimes burn them with white talismans. However, even after two days of their journey, they still haven't encountered a demon general, which means the rumor that Shao Ling instructed had successfully reached to the Demon King's palace. The demon general must've stopped scouting the areas and stayed at the palace to guard the Demon King.

One more mountain until they reached the Empire, Shao Ling decided to separate from Lian Ren.

Shao Ling frowned and pressed his index finger on Lian Ren's lips. Haa.... It's futile to persuade him on coming with me. I'm sure Shizun can do it on his own. I'll just hurry up and kill the Demon King before he can arrive.

Lian Ren sighed and gently grabbed Shao Ling's hand. His Shizun stared at him with his head bewilderingly tilted. Lian Ren whispered, his fingers caressed Shao Ling's palm before he decided to let go, riding the horse straight north without glancing back. He knew that he wouldn't be able to go if he took one last glance on Shao Ling.

Less and less mortal was seen around the places. Yin Meng must've already rescued most of them and evacuated them to the town. Another more night, Lian Ren was able to arrive at the wrecked entrance gate of the Qiaochen Empire.

Yin Meng didn't lied. The beautiful and soft snow was replaced with freezing ice and rough blizzard. There were only but destruction seen in the Capital of Qiaochen Empire. Not far from his location, the said Blood Red Palace was already greeting him, looking tall and sturdy, as if even the most powerful attack from the spiritual cannons won't even leave a scratch to the blood red walls. It was as if these walls were made from human blood itself.

Lian Ren unsheathed his sword and jumped down the horse. Alright. Let's get this over quickly—

One, two, three........up to nine demon generals immediately appeared from the shadows. Their forms are from different demonic tribes. Spider, Centaurus, Fox, Snake, Wolf, Tiger, Hyena, Centipedes as well as Ravens, they all look ferocious and undoubtedly strong.

Approximately ten to fifteen clones of Lian Ren himself emerged from the thick and freezing ice. Before the demon generals could even react, the clones immediately radiated a demonic energy similar to Lian Ren and jumped on the demons.

The snake and Centipede demon that were about to grab Lian Ren immediately froze and was stuck on the gigantic ice wall that emerged from the ground.

Lian Ren murmured to himself as he ran towards the palace.

Even if he somehow deny it, without Shao Ling around, he can freely wreak havoc on the empire. If ever Shao Ling was with him, he would've fought the demon generals first then walk to the palace. Lian Ren hates taking step by step, after all. Patience and process was not on his vocabulary.

Every demon that tried to attack him ended up either headless from his blade or frozen from his ice. Lian Ren was able to enter the palace smoothly. As soon as he opened the door, a thought popped on his mind.

Yin Meng said that the Shao Ling from this world was locked down on the deepest part of the palace and was taken care by the demons. Lian Ren kneeled down the cold floor and put his palm of the floor, releasing demonic qi to scan the surroundings. His eyes radiated a deep blue glow. Gazing down at the floor, he can already see the patterns, doors and stairs beneath the floor and the large door on the deepest part caught his attention. So that's were Shizun is....

His two fingers slid down on the blade of his unsheathed sword. As it slid down, demonic energy flowed down to the tip of the blade that looked like a luminous sharp sword aura. He then stabbed the floor, the glowing blade penetrated through the thick and sturdy floor as he cut a rectangular shape on the floor like it is a smooth tofu.

The cut cement fell to the deep pitch black abyss and made an echoing loud thud as it reached the very surface of the floor. Lian Ren steady his body and jumped down the hole. The cold air slowly compressed and burned his skin as he break through the gravity on continuously falling down the dark abyss. After a while, Lian Ren can feel the surface slowly approaching. He used his left palm to illuminate the area and his right palm made a curved shape ice so he can smoothly slid down as a landing.

With the bright light of ice on his left palm, he glanced at the gigantic wooden door in front of him. As soon as the tip of his finger touched it, a blue flame appeared from the door and burned his fingers.

Lian Ren frowned and tried to pass through the wall. However, the wall is also embedded with a barrier and there was no way in.

Soon after, the door radiated a clicking sound, a sign that someone will exit from inside. Lian Ren hid on the side of the door and readied his stance when the door opened and a demon came out.

The demon shrieked at the glowering eyes of Lian Ren.

The demon ran away immediately as soon as Lian Ren threw him on the stairs. He stared down at the amulet on his hand that look like a snake with an eye. He then touched the gigantic door but this time, there were no blue flames appearing and he was able to successfully enter inside the room.

The room was spacious, quite lonely and the light coming from above was concentrated on the center where there is a stone tomb with a man wearing pure white clothes lying on top. As he took his step forward, the feature of the man's face seems to get more and more vivid.

Shao Ling's emotionless face was like that of a pure white snow. His both hands was resting on his stomach, his body lying straight and his eyes tightly closed. It really was like a lifeless body lying on a coffin.

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