Cloud Butterfly Fragrance, the finest spice, was extracted from the Cloud Butterfly Flower.
Even if it was just one or two, it would still fetch a high price of 100,000 silver coins.
Many of the women in the martial arts world loved Cloud Butterfly Incense, not only because of its light and long-lasting scent, but also because of its power to calm the mind and tranquillise the spirit.
With one use of Cloud Butterfly Incense, the scent would last for a month on the body, and even bathing would not be able to wash the scent away.
At the same time, after using the Cloud Butterfly Incense, the martial artist’s other scents could be completely concealed. Just like Zhang Ruochen at this moment, he could only smell the Cloud Butterfly Incense on top of that piece of gauze, but he could not smell any other scent from that Demon Sect Demoness.
The woman who liked Yun Diexiang in the martial arts world was not the only one in Duanmu Xingling, so even if Zhang Ruochen obtained that piece of gauze scarf, it was impossible for him to link the Demon Sect Demoness to Duanmu Xingling.
“Rumble!”
The ground shook and bell horses hissed.
Under the leadership of a stout-bodied Vice Marshal of the Forbidden Army, in blackness, a large swath of armoured soldiers rushed from both ends of the street, forming a closed circle and stopping in front of Zhang Ruochen.
That one Vice Marshal of the Forbidden Army jumped down from the back of the savage beast and knelt on one knee, saying, “The last general was too late to save the army, please punish His Highness the Ninth Prince.”
With Zhang Ruochen’s current martial cultivation, how could those forbidden soldiers dare to treat him with disrespect? Even if a Vice Marshal level figure saw him, he would have to carefully kneel and salute.
One was a genius prince and the other was a waste prince, in a world where martial arts were honoured, the treatment they enjoyed was naturally different.
Zhang Ruochen put away a face scarf and stared at that one Vice Marshal, saying, “How is the situation in the royal palace?”
That one Vice Marshal of the Forbidden Army said, “The evil martial practitioners of the Moon Worshipping Demon Cult have retreated, the Great King has regained control of the situation, and the Forbidden Army in the King’s City, all of which have been mobilised, are doing their best to capture those evil martial practitioners.”
Zhang Ruochen nodded and said, “Has the Nine County Lord returned to the palace yet?”
“Subordinate doesn’t know.”
That one Vice Marshal of the Forbidden Army was afraid of angering Zhang Ruochen, so he added, “Commander Wan has already rushed to the Martial Market Fighting Arena in person, and Her Highness the County Lord will never be alright.”
“In that case, you guys escort me back to the palace first.” Although Zhang Ruochen wanted to rush to the Martial Market Fighting Arena immediately, but in his current state, even if he rushed there, he wouldn’t be able to help in any way.
Moreover, Chang Qi Qi was already seriously injured and unconscious, and had to be treated immediately.
The two Forbidden Army martial artists lifted Chang Qi Qi up and followed the Forbidden Army team, returning to the Royal Palace.
After returning to the Royal Palace, Zhang Ruochen immediately sent someone to ask the best Pill Master in the Royal Palace to personally heal Chang Qi Qi’s injuries.
Only after that one elixir master had determined that Chang Qi Qi’s life was safe, did Zhang Ruochen drag his tired body to the Jade Gargoyle Palace.
After seeing the wounds on Zhang Ruochen’s face and left shoulder, Concubine Lin naturally could not help but feel a surge of shock, and tears fell as she watched her heart sink.
Zhang Ruochen just tried his best to comfort her, as a martial artist, once one embarks on the path of martial arts, how could one not be injured?
Not long after, under the escort of the forbidden army, the Nine County Lords also returned to the Royal Palace.
The main targets of the Black Market and Moon Worshipping Demon Cult’s attack were originally the disciples of the Yuntai Sect House and the students of the Martial City Palace, and the Nine County Lord was only a fish in the water, and didn’t suffer from the fiercest attack.
With both the Battle Map and the Wings of the Wind, it would not be difficult for the Nine County Lords to stay alive.
Hearing that Zhang Ruochen had returned to the Royal Palace first, the Ninth County Lord rushed to the Jade Rustle Palace, and after seeing Zhang Ruochen, she immediately hugged Zhang Ruochen and lost her voice as she cried bitterly, her head constantly burrowing into Zhang Ruochen’s arms.
After all, she was only a county princess in her teens and had never seen such a tragic scene before, if she wasn’t a Xuanji realm martial artist, she would probably have already broken down.
Zhang Ruochen gently patted the Ninth County Lord’s head as if he was the older brother and comforted, “The path of martial arts is just so perilous, and in the future, there will be more and more dangers encountered, it’s not possible to always be as comfortable as staying in the royal palace.”
The Ninth County Lord nodded while whimpering, “I know, but the first time I saw so many people killed, hundreds of corpses piled up and blood gathered into pools of blood, thinking about it makes me feel scared. If it wasn’t for the battle map that you gave me, it would have been impossible for me to climb out of the pile of corpses, and I’m afraid …… that I would have been just like Sixth Brother and Third Brother by now, having been split up randomly by those Evil Dao martial artists.”
Zhang Ruochen shuddered and said, “The Sixth Prince and the Third Prince are dead?”
The Ninth Sheriff Lord said, “I saw with my own eyes that Sixth Brother was split in half by an Evil Dao Martial Artist with a single blade, and the blood almost splattered on my body. Third brother was hacked to death by three Evil Dao martial artists, and his body was a bloody mess.”
The Third Prince and the Sixth Prince went to the Martial Market Fighting Arena because they wanted to go and watch Zhang Ruochen make a fool of himself, but they didn’t expect that Zhang Ruochen escaped while they died in the Martial Market Fighting Arena.
Zhang Ruochen sighed softly and comforted the Nine County Lords with a few more words, and after sending the shocked Nine County Lords away, he entered the inner space of the Space-Time Crystal Stone and began to heal his wounds.
As for how tragic this battle was, Zhang Ruochen didn’t want to ask more for the time being.
In the Martial Dao Realm, it was just so cruel, the strong survived and the weak died.
Even if the Yunwu County Kingdom’s royal family was exterminated, Zhang Ruochen wouldn’t find it strange in the slightest. Just like when the extremely strong Shengming Central Empire was so strong, didn’t it also disappear now?
Therefore, only the stronger one’s self was, would one have a greater chance of surviving.
In the inner space of the Space-Time Crystal Stone, it took nine days of convalescence in a row for Zhang Ruochen’s injuries to heal, and even the scar on his face completely disappeared under the repair of the True Qi and medicinal power.
After this life and death battle, Zhang Ruochen’s cultivation seemed to have risen quite a bit more, and he was one step closer to the late stage of the Earth Extreme Realm.
People, when they were pushed to the brink again, it was true that it was only when they were pushed to the brink that their body’s potential could be stimulated, and they would break through the realm at a much faster rate.
Walking out of the inner space of the Space-Time Crystal Stone, Zhang Ruochen immediately rushed to visit Chang Qi Qi.
Chang Qi Qi’s physique was powerful, although she was heavily injured, but after these few days of healing, she had recovered 20-30% and could walk on the ground.
“Many thanks to Senior Brother Zhang for saving my life, Mister Chang will never forget it.” When Chang Qi Qi saw Zhang Ruochen, he was immediately about to kneel down and salute.
Zhang Ruochen held Chang Qi Qi back and said, “We are fellow disciples, why be so polite?”
Chang Qi Qi was quite grateful to Zhang Ruochen, if it wasn’t for Zhang Ruochen’s insistence on taking him away without regard to his own safety, he would have surely died physically.
Chang Qi Qi sighed, “I’ve already enquired, this time our Martial City Academy Palace suffered heavy losses, just the Inner Palace trainees alone died thirteen people, and the Outer Palace trainees died twenty-seven people. This is only the cadets whose bodies were found, there are still twenty-four cadets missing, presumably either dead or captured.”
Zhang Ruochen said, “The Black Market and the Moon Worshipping Demon Cult were already very powerful, so I’m guessing that they’ve already deployed the evil experts from several surrounding counties to the King City. The Martial City Academy, however, only lined up young disciples to deal with them, how could they not lose?”
Chang Qi Qi nodded and said, “I guess the Academic Palace didn’t expect the Black Market and the Moon Worshipping Demon Cult to be so ferocious, to the extent that even the older generation of Heavenly Extremity Realm Martial Myths had deployed five of them. After this fiasco, I’m afraid that the Academic Palace will also have to start rearranging its layout, or at least lining up a few Silver-robed Elders to sit in the Yunwu County Kingdom.”
Zhang Ruochen said, “The Black Market and the Moon Worshipping Demon Sect are by no means in a good position either, they must have suffered heavy losses this time as well.”
“That’s right, it’s said that those evil martial artists have died nearly a thousand times, and the number of evil martial artists that have been imprisoned in the Heavenly Prison is up to a thousand.”
Chang Qi Qi clenched her fists and said, “But how can the lives of those Evil Dao martial artists be compared to the trainees of the Martial City Academy Palace?”
“A random outer palace trainee definitely possesses the talent to break through to the Earth Extreme Realm as well. An inner palace cadet also has at least a 30% chance of breaking through to the Heavenly Extreme Realm.”
“It can be said that a hundred Evil Dao Martial Artists combined are not worth the life of one Outer Palace Cadet.”
Zhang Ruochen patted Chang Qiqi’s shoulder and said, “Don’t worry! After taking such a big loss, the older generation of the Academy Palace’s powerhouses will definitely fight back.”
Chang Qi Qi nodded, and suddenly, as if he remembered something, he said, “Senior Brother Zhang, I heard that you and Zixi are very close?”
Zhang Ruochen’s heart sank, but he didn’t show it on his face and asked without leaving any traces, “What happened?”
Chang Qi Qi said, “When you and Zi Yin Yang fought on the battle stage, at the very beginning, it was Senior Sister Zi who discovered Zi Yin Yang’s identity and told Eldest Brother and Senior Sister Chen Xi’er. Senior Sister Chen Xi’er suspected that she was a spy from the Earth Sect and detained her, perhaps putting her to death.”
The Martial City Palace had always treated spies with the principle of “Better to kill than to let go”.
In order to save Zhang Ruochen, Zixi must have said something she shouldn’t have said, causing Chen Xi’er’s suspicion.
This was a big trouble!
No matter what, Zixi was suspected by Chen Xi’er because of him. Zhang Ruochen had to go and rescue Zixi no matter what, he couldn’t just watch her being executed.
Zhang Ruochen said, “I see, I guess it’s a misunderstanding. Senior Brother Chang, do you know where Senior Sister Zi is being held?”
Chang Qi Qi shook his head and said, “I’m not too sure, but there are only three secret strongholds of the Martial City Academy in the King City. It is said that you and Senior Sister Chen Xi’er are very close, so you can go and find her. As long as you make things clear, Senior Sister Chen Xi’er should release you.”
Subsequently, Chang Qi Qi told Zhang Ruochen the location of those three secret strongholds, along with the secret way to contact the students of the Martial City Palace.
Since Chang Qi Qi’s injuries were too severe and he had to continue recuperating, Zhang Ruochen left the King Palace alone.
Right now, the situation in the royal city, was still chaotic, so Zhang Ruochen did not blatantly walk out of the royal palace as the Ninth Prince. Instead, he took advantage of the night, wearing a metal mask, and slipped out unnoticed.
Zhang Ruochen knew Zixi’s true identity and that she was indeed an assassin of the Hellmouth Sect, so he didn’t dare to go to Chen Xi’er rashly.
If Chen Xi’er found out that Zhang Ruochen actually wanted to save a Hellmouth Sect’s killer.
How would she feel?
If Chen Xi’er suspected that Zhang Ruochen was also a tipster in the black market, it would be quite unfavourable for Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen and Chen Xier’s relationship, although not bad, had not yet reached that level of complete trust.
Zhang Ruochen decided to go to Duanmu Xingling first, and learn from her about the situation of the Martial City Academy in the King City. Then, he would make his plans.
Rescuing a black market sharpshooter at the hands of his fellow disciples was not a trivial matter, rather, it was a very treacherous matter.
If one wasn’t careful, one could get Zhang Ruochen killed, and even implicate the royal family of the Yunwu County Kingdom as well.
……
