The closer one got to Sacred Brightness City, the sights around them became more and more familiar. Even after eight hundred years had passed, some of the famous places and monuments had not been destroyed.
“Sacred Brightness City, I’m finally back again!”
Zhang Ruochen stood at the bow of the boat, looking out over both sides of the great river.
Not far away, at the top of Kong Le Mountain, stood a seventy-four-story tower that was built by an ancient saint. Eight hundred years ago, Zhang Ruochen and Chi Yao had climbed up there together to view the beautiful mountains and rivers of the Sacred Bright Central Empire.
At the entrance of the city, there stood two sixty-nine feet tall bronze-cast golden geibeys, symbolizing the totem of the Sacred Brightness Central Empire, and it was surprising that the war had not destroyed them.
The towering city wall was like a row of black lofty mountains, and the city gate was very magnificent, much like a holy gate leading to the Heavenly Palace.
Arriving at the pier outside the city, Zhang Ruochen was lost in his thoughts, surveying everything around him, reminiscing about some past events, his calm heart, rippling in circles.
On the pier, there were many dignitaries gathered, shooting into a long line, at least hundreds of people, like they were receiving some important person?
Zhang Ruochen stared at Chu Siyuan and said, “Senior Chu, your reputation is indeed great, to have so many people rushing to receive and welcome you.”
“Is that so?”
Chu Siyuan was a little surprised, his eyes turning, secretly saying, this time when he came to Shengming City, he had always kept a low profile and did not notify the students of the Ru Dao in advance, how could someone come to receive and welcome him?
Chu Siyuan organized his clothes and walked out, looking towards the pier, but saw that those people were not welcoming him, but were staring towards another direction.
In that direction, a metal ship more than a hundred meters long, slowly docked.A group of dignified bigwigs stepped down and entered Sacred Brightness City, surrounded by the crowd.
Zhang Ruochen said lightly, “So I’m not here to receive you, senior doesn’t seem to have much influence in Sacred Brightness City.”
He deliberately said this, mainly because he wanted to infuriate Chu Siyuan.
Chu Siyuan was instantly a bit displeased and grunted, “If old me had notified in advance, the number of Confucian and Taoist students and court officials who came to receive and welcome him would definitely be ten times, or even a hundred times as many. But Lao Fu is low-key and unwilling to make such a big fuss.”
“Perhaps!”
Zhang Ruochen just laughed and said, “There is no feast that doesn’t end in heaven, since we’ve already arrived at Sacred Brightness City, let’s each go about our own business.”
After saying this, Zhang Ruochen immediately executed his Body Technique and entered Sacred Brightness City first with a bizarre speed.
Chu Siyuan stroked his beard, his eyes narrowing into slits, “This brat is in a hurry to get rid of old me, what exactly is he going to do? There must be some ulterior secret.”
If it was an ordinary person, Chu Siyuan would not be interested in him at all, the problem was, Zhang Ruochen was not an ordinary person, this son had done many great things that shook the world.
Chu Siyuan shook a pair of wide sleeves and followed.
“Old man Chu really followed, is the Hall Painting Sect Master so idle?”Zhang Ruochen was somewhat speechless.
He didn’t immediately rush to the Imperial Tomb, but, instead, using a not-so-slow and not-so-hurried step, he wandered around the city.
Just as Zhang Ruochen entered the Sacred Brightness Imperial City, the experts of the Hall of Brightness stared at him and followed him in the shadows, monitoring his every move.
Sacred Brightness City, with its ancient history, had existed since the ancient times, not only was it the imperial city of the Sacred Brightness Central Empire, but even more distant times, there were also some ancient civilizations that had once set their capitals here.
After millions of years of prosperity and development, the urban area of Sacred Brightness City had continuously expanded, and by now, it had covered thousands of miles of land, with at least a billion humans living in the city.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a country within a city.
After strolling around the outer city for most of the day, Zhang Ruochen traveled towards the inner city, where the streets and alleys were even more prosperous, and some human powerhouses with not-so-weak cultivation could be seen everywhere.
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen smelled a faint bloody aura coming from a mansion on the left.
Outside the mansion, there was a group of soldiers wearing black armor.
They were riding on the backs of savage beasts, exuding a cold and fierce aura that surrounded the entire mansion.
Among the army, there were even four Formation Masters who had set up a Perimeter Formation that enveloped the mansion, preventing anyone from escaping from inside.
Zhang Ruochen pulled a Heavenly Extreme Realm Martial Dao cultivator and asked him what was going on.
The martial dao cultivator said, “That’s the Cang Long Army of the Ling Xiao Heavenly King’s Mansion, and they’re apprehending the remnants of the former dynasty.”
“Remnants of the former dynasty …… Mingtang?”Zhang Ruochen asked.
“It’s not Mingtang, it’s said that this mansion, inhabited by a descendant of the Imperial Zhang Family, has been lurking in Sacred Brightness City, and has only recently been discovered.”The martial cultivator, whispered.
Hearing this, Zhang Ruochen revealed a strange light, and then, sent that Martial Dao cultivator away.
After circling around this mansion, Zhang Ruochen found a weakly defended location, used spatial power to break open a gap in the formation, and quietly broke in.
All along, Zhang Ruochen had no news of the Imperial Race’s Zhang Family, and now, having a clue with great difficulty, he naturally wanted to go in and investigate.
Entering the mansion, the bloody aura became even more intense.
On the ground, it was full of dead bodies, not just some cultivators who had practiced martial arts, but also many ordinary people, and even the corpses of children and old people.
On the corridors, there was blood all over.
In some of the houses, fires were emitting, and someone was screaming inside, before they quickly became quiet and lost their voices again.
Zhang Ruochen took a deep breath and came to the outside of the lobby.
Outside the door of the lobby, there was a team of cold Cang Long Army standing on each side, guarding it.
One of the generals of the Cang Long Army, sitting at the top position, was in his thirties, with a tiger-like appearance and eyes that radiated an icy cold aura.
This person, was named Xie Kui.
In the lower position, there were thirteen cultivators with gorgeous clothes kneeling, not ordinary people.
On top of that, there were dozens of people who had fallen on the ground, all of whom had their necks cut.
Xie Kui said in a deep voice, ”You’d better give an honest account of where all the other remnants of the former dynasty are hiding? Whoever speaks first, this general will spare his life.”
With that, Xie Kui’s finger, pointed at an eleven or twelve year old teenager and said, “You say it.”
A sergeant with a height of two meters, carrying a broad heavy sword, walked up to the teenager’s side, with a cold smile in his eyes, and suspended the heavy sword above the teenager’s head.
Obviously, that teenager would immediately be killed if he didn’t say something valuable.
That teenager was still very young, and was very fearful in his heart, but his eyes revealed a determined look, trembling while saying, “You …… you shall not die …… wait until the Great Emperor returns, we will definitely be able to take back everything that we once had!.”
Xie Kui shook his head and gently waved his hand.
The lanky sergeant, who was two meters tall, hemmed and hawed as he raised his heavy sword and swung it violently downwards.
The thirteen cultivators kneeling on the ground, all of them closed their eyes tightly, and one of them, a woman, even cried in a low voice.
“Snap!”
A crunching sound rang out.
That wide, heavy sword actually broke into two pieces out of thin air.
Half of it, with a clang, fell to the ground.
“What kind of person?”
The Cang Long Army present, at the first moment, all of them would draw their blades, exuding an astonishingly fierce aura.
Xie Kui was still sitting on top of his chair in a calm and steady manner, his eyes scanning the four directions, and he let out a laugh, “Have the Zhang Family’s experts finally arrived? This general thought that it would be impossible to force you guys out.”
“Wow!”
Zhang Ruochen stood beside that teenager in his Meteor Invisibility Clothes, his body taking on a semi-transparent form as he said, “You are the people from the Lingxiao Heavenly King’s Mansion?”
Knowing that the other party was an expert, Xie Kui didn’t dare to take him lightly and immediately stood up, saying, “The Lingxiao Heavenly King’s Mansion sits in Sacred Brightness City in order to clean up the remnants of the former dynasty and establish a peaceful and prosperous world. You people of the Zhang Family are too obsessed with the idea of restoring the country even after eight hundred years have passed.”
When Zhang Ruochen confirmed the identity of the other party, he nodded his head, his voice was a bit cold as he said, “You have killed so many innocent people, shouldn’t you pay some price?”
“If you want us to pay the price, you have to see if you are that capable?”
Xie Kui ordered, saying, “Make your move.”
The lanky two-meter tall sergeant closest to Zhang Ruochen swung the broken sword in his hand and slashed at Zhang Ruochen’s neck.
“Boom!”
Zhang Ruochen pressed out with a palm and struck his chest.
Immediately, all the bones in that sergeant’s body turned into powder, spreading out on the ground like a ball of soft meat.
Immediately afterward, Zhang Ruochen’s fingers, pinched into a sword technique, and thousands of sword qi condensed in the air above the entire mansion and flew out at the same time.
“Pfft.”
As the sword qi flew out, the Canglong Army’s soldiers, one by one, fell to the ground.
Xie Kui was shocked in his heart, not realizing that the expert who had rushed over was so powerful. Thus, he immediately took out a light talisman and burned down a message, wanting to send the message out.
Only, before he could strike the light talisman out, a palm imprint from Zhang Ruochen had already landed on his body.
Above the palm print, it carried a blazing flame that burned Xie Kui’s body into a crimson color, and in the end, it completely turned into ashes.
The entire mansion, became rather quiet.
In just a few moments, the Cang Long Army’s soldiers had actually died a clean death.
“Many thanks to Your Excellency for coming to the rescue.”
“Dare I ask what is the name of Enkong?”
……
On the ground, thirteen descendants of the Zhang Family stood up one after another and thanked Zhang Ruochen.
“I am also a descendant of the Zhang Family.”
Zhang Ruochen, wearing the Illusory Gold Mask, fixed his gaze on one of the men with the highest cultivation level and asked, “Can you guys take me to see the other Zhang Family members?”
That man, who was the owner of this mansion, was named Zhang Fengxing, and his cultivation had reached the Fourth Transformation of the Fish Dragon.
A difficult look appeared on Zhang Fengxing’s face.
Obviously, he was not completely at ease with Zhang Ruochen and had concerns.
That eleven or twelve year old teenager, however, greatly admired Zhang Ruochen, just now, Zhang Ruochen had demonstrated his battle power, simply like a war god descending from the earth, with an unrivaled aura, killing an expert like Xie Kui with a slap.
Being able to meet such a strong person made the teenager quite excited, wanting very much to have the same powerful strength as Zhang Ruochen.
Thus, he immediately said, “Father, this big brother, who killed hundreds of Canglong Army’s soldiers in a row, surely won’t be from the imperial court.”
Zhang Fengxing was a sophisticated man, not as innocent as his son, and did not gullibly trust Zhang Ruochen, saying, “In this matter, I must report to the top before I can make a decision, I hope that Your Excellency can understand.”
“That’s fine, it just so happens that behind me, there are still some people I haven’t gotten rid of, so there’s no harm in waiting a little longer.”Zhang Ruochen said.
