Liang Chen didn't have Yumao carry them back the same direction from which they had approached Final Curse Island. Now that their cultivation had increased somewhat, it was time to head for the Heaven and Hell Dominion so that he could enter Purgatory's Cradle. But before they embarked on that journey, there was a division of the Golden Branch sect located on an island that was about a month's flight away from Final Curse Island.
He could deal with that division and then use the spatial array inside the city to head for one of the larger cities that had a spatial array that would take him to one of the planets that carried a spatial array leading all the way to the Heaven and Hell Dominion. Of course, when Liang Chen calculated that the trip would take about a month, he had done so before Yumao finished his evolution. As a result, it was only about 11 days after leaving Final Curse Island that Yumao's voice brought him out from his silent cultivation.
"Father, I think that's the villain's nest over there? It certainly gives off that evil lair vibe, perfect for baddies who like to skulk around while doing shady shit."
Liang Chen opened his eyes and gazed upon the distant island, which was only about 200 or so kilometres across, a fairly small island that was about to be shrouded by the darkness of night. Maybe as a result of the size of the island, practically every inch of it was covered by a single vast city, only a small sliver of the island disconnected from the city. This small sliver was occupied by a harbour, but seeing that there was another harbour that was actually connected to the city, Liang Chen guessed that the two harbours served different purposes. But rather than think about the purposes of the harbours, he was a bit more preoccupied with Yumao.
"Where did you even learn half of those words?? Not even Ling'er talks like that, so who could possibly talk like that??"
Liang Chen was damn sure that he hadn't said words like that around Yumao before so there was no way he could have picked them up from him. But Yumao refused to answer, choosing to instead snicker sneakily as if he was part of some grand conspiracy. And with Yumao refusing to confess, Liang Chen was forced to shove the blame onto the one person who might have a hand in it, Yan Ling. Thinking about her personality, he wouldn't consider it beyond her to teach Yumao a bucketload of strange words just to mess with Liang Chen once Yumao became able to talk.
Liang Chen let out a long sigh and returned his gaze to the island-wide city, which seemed to be built using a type of pale blue stones or corals that had been dragged up from the sea. The entire city was actually surrounded by a large metal wall covered in arrays, even the part by the harbour was defended by a wall, forcing arrivals to use a sluiceway to actually reach the city from the harbour.
He could just barely see people moving about atop the wall, probably guards, so he guessed that not even covering most of the island was enough to prevent the city from being attacked by Demonic beasts. Although looking at their location, it seemed like they had to contend with sea-borne and air-borne Demonic beasts more than land-borne Demonic beasts.
Yumao flapped his wings and flew over the harbour that wasn't connected to the city, descending in front of the metal gate that served as the entrance to the city. Liang Chen jumped down from Yumao, his gaze landing on the group of armoured soldiers standing ready just beyond the open gate. His attention landed on the man leading them, a bronze-eyed middle-aged man with swept-back black hair that had a few grey strands in it.
"I didn't expect a welcoming procession. Let me guess, the Golden Branch sect?"
Looking at how they stood there fully armoured as if they were going to face a great enemy, it wasn't hard for Liang Chen to guess the affiliation of these people. The man leading them had even reached the early stage of the Primordial Immortal realm, but if the Golden Branch sect still thought that something like that was enough to stop him then he felt that they were a bit too naive. But contrary to his expectations, the bronze-eyed man leading the group shook his head and gave a polite bow.
"No, we're not from the Ocean's Willow sect, I'm Zeng Lao, the city governor, and these are guards employed in the city."
The man, Zeng Lao, might only have introduced himself, but the quick introduction also told Liang Chen that Zeng Lao knew that the Ocean's Willow sect, his target here, was tied to the Golden Branch sect. And if he knew that, then there was a chance that he also knew a bit more about them, and about why Liang Chen was here. Liang Chen pat Yumao on the head, signalling him to shrink as he started to walk forward.
"The last city governor I met tried to kill me, but I take it you aren't planning on following in his footsteps so to what do I owe this pleasure?"
The armoured soldiers around and behind Zeng Lao shrank back slightly as Liang Chen started to walk forward, his reputation had clearly preceded him. Zeng Lao didn't shrink back like the guards, but a somewhat bitter expression appeared on his face as he laid out the simple facts.
"It's quite simple, the citizens are scared. Of the last four cities you've been in, three have experienced great massacres. From what we've heard, Final Curse Island has even been reduced to nothing more than a land where not even the dead can roam. And now you've arrived here, so how can our citizens not be terrified out of their minds?"
This was a fact that was already well-known since Liang Chen didn't really bother to hide his actions, the murderous nature of the Wrathful Scourge Lord was already extremely well-known. Zeng Lao didn't state it outright, but Liang Chen could guess what he was trying to hint at.
"So you wish for me to turn away and not enter the city, correct?"
As the city governor, Zeng Lao had to make sure that his citizens were safe and comfortable, and doing so became a whole lot harder if there was someone like Liang Chen roaming openly around the city. It wouldn't be a problem if he had been more low-key and stealthy in his actions previously, even the slandering of the Tranquil Lake and Golden Branch sect wouldn't have worked nearly as well if Liang Chen had just acted more under the table. But he didn't, he charged straight ahead and didn't bother to conceal himself in the slightest, making it even easier to slander him. But once again, Zeng Lao defied Liang Chen's expectations and didn't actually try to chase him away from the city.
"Not quite, we just hope that you'll allow us to follow you around while you are in the city, it'll give the citizens at least a bit of peace of mind so that they can relax."
Most of the citizens were just normal people, they didn't have a proper grasp of how strong Liang Chen was supposed to be. So even though he was dangerous, if they saw that the governor and his men were following him around, they would feel much safer. Liang Chen pondered over it for a bit, Yumao resting on top of his head and sweeping the soldiers with his gaze, remaining quiet as Liang Chen nodded his head.
Zeng Lao let out a stealthy sigh of relief and then had the soldiers open a path for Liang Chen, personally following right at Liang Chen's side in a very open manner to ease the fears of his citizens. The soldiers around them were extremely tense, a stark contrast to Liang Chen and Yumao's nonchalance. But while they were walking, the soldiers guiding them to a hotel, the voice of Zeng Lao reached Liang Chen's ears, a bubble of Qi around the voice sending it directly into his ears so that the others around them couldn't hear it.
"I know what you want to do, it's fairly easy to guess at by looking at what you've done previously. But... I can't let you do it openly, I'll have to stand against you if you try to do so. Some of us might know the truth, but that truth is shrouded to most others, so while you can be considered to be doing a good thing, that's not how others will see it. And thus, if I let you openly attack the Ocean's Willow sect, the resulting backlash from the citizens will lead to chaos, something we cannot afford due to our precarious location. So even if I have to act to defend people who can be considered evil, I must stand against you if you try to go against them."
The Golden Branch sect might do its best to act lowkey so that they would look good to the populace, but as a city governor, it was only a little more than troublesome for Zeng Lao to learn parts of the truth. But the fact that the Golden Branch sect was so lowkey made it hard to actually do anything against them, he couldn't act like Liang Chen and just attack them without any clear purpose.
If he acted against the division of the Golden Branch sect without being able to produce sufficient evidence that they were who they were, then the citizens would lose all faith in him. And that would be the perfect opportunity for the Golden Branch sect or the Tranquil Lake to sow chaos, eventually disposing of Zeng Lao and implanting a governor who was on their side.
Liang Chen glanced at Zeng Lao, whose expression contained a mixture of bitterness at not being able to apprehend the Ocean's Willow sect and a bit of worry at the thought that he might have to send his men to die against Liang Chen. Liang Chen pulled back his gaze, maintaining his nonchalance while assuring Zeng Lao.
"You don't have to worry, I don't have a habit of massacring innocents."
Zeng Lao let out another stealthy breath, but his brows still carried a bit of worry, it was clear that he wasn't quite sure just how much he could trust Liang Chen's words. The group reached the city's finest inn just as the sun finished setting, the governor taking care of all the expenses as he brought Liang Chen to his room.
It was called a room but it actually occupied half of the third floor of this inn, consisting of five different rooms filled with any luxury that someone staying there might need. The governor and his men joined Liang Chen into the room, the guards not even giving him any privacy while he walked around in what seemed to be a living room filled with an excessive amount of couches and fragrant plants.
Liang Chen was just casually walking around the room, seemingly inspecting the plants and the like. He sent a sweeping glance across the six guards that had joined him in the room, they were currently sitting at a table and chatting while sharing a simple meal. He pulled back his gaze, but his pupils narrowed sharply just as he was about to start walking again.
His head snapped to the side, his gaze landing on the couch that his pupils had just slid over. There was now an unknown white-haired youth sitting in the couch, leaning back into it while looking at Liang Chen, whose muscles instinctually tensed up. The youth rested his cheek on his fist, his pitch-black eyes roaming over Liang Chen's body with a tinge of interest.
"You don't need to look so tense, I haven't come to harm you."
The youth spoke casually, but just his words weren't enough to undo the instinctual reaction that Liang Chen was experiencing. He felt like a prey facing a predator, it almost felt as if the gaze of the youth contained a very well hidden hunger that pricked his skin. But his mind was still clear, his pupils flickering towards the seemingly unaware guards.
"That's pretty clear. Looking at how you got in here without anyone noticing, and at how those guys don't even seem to notice anything strange, you could have killed me without me knowing anything. So, I take it that you want something from me?"
He was looking straight at the youth but it was as if he simply wasn't there, Liang Chen didn't even know how long he had been sitting there. If this youth wanted him dead it was probably incredibly easy, Liang Chen wouldn't be surprised if he ended up being a Universal Heart, probably a very powerful one. The youth smirked at Liang Chen's straightforward statement, not mincing his words.
"Heh, clever. I want to borrow your law of the void to open a gate to the void, it needs to be a pretty large one so I'll supplement some of my own power to help you. I need to deposit a few things into the void and take out something else, but opening such a large gate on my own is too tiring for me to risk it."
Liang Chen's pupils shrank even further when the youth stated his purpose. He not only knew about Liang Chen's law of the void, but he also wanted to borrow it. For him to know about the law, could it be that he was an associate of the Bloodwind Emperor or the Nine Star Demon God? The youth said it like a request, but Liang Chen knew his own position in this exchange.
"I'm not exactly in a position to say no, so fine. But I don't want to open the gate here, I don't want it to ruin this city and the people here."
Just a small gate had been enough to ruin Final Curse Island, it had been over a six month period but how quickly could it do the same if the gate was larger? If such a gate opened here in the middle of the city, there was no telling what sort of chaos it would cause. But the youth didn't seem too worried, waving his hand in a dismissive manner as he stood up.
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"No need to worry about that, I'll contain it so that nothing will spill. I'll also give you a reward, or rather payment for borrowing your law."
The youth reached Liang Chen before he could say anything, his hand landing on Liang Chen's shoulder and bringing with it an immense torrent of violent and vicious energy. The energy felt somewhat strange, it felt as if the energy itself was gleeful, bouncing around like an energetic child. But it also brought with it such a chill that it almost felt as if Liang Chen's soul was going to simply scatter and drift away.
With the torrent of energy rushing into him, Liang Chen could only focus his own energy and draw out the law of the void. The gleeful energy latched onto his own as he drew out the law of the void, drastically strengthening it as it left his body and formed a nearly 30-metre tall gate to the void in front of him, the gate even phasing through the ceiling above him.
And yet, even with such a commotion taking place, the six guards were chatting and eating as if nothing happened. One of them even glanced at Liang Chen for a bit before looking away again, his eyebrows not even twitching. The youth looked at the gate, his expression turning somewhat mournful as he looked at the barren landscape beyond the gate.
He then stretched out his hand and pushed it through the gate, a strange curly tree topped with extremely dark green leaves appearing in his grasp. He dropped the tree into the void, tossing out several more trees of varying shapes and sizes, even tossing out what looked like grass and bushes. Liang Chen couldn't help but tilt his head slightly at the youth's actions, something that the youth clearly noticed.
"You're curious as to why I'm dropping in these things, aren't you?"
Liang Chen straightforwardly nodded his head, from what he had seen of the void it didn't seem like a place that was capable of holding lifeforms like trees. But the youth glanced sideways at Liang Chen, a reminiscing smile forming on his face as he spoke.
"Would you believe me if I told you that the Void wasn't always like this? Once upon a time, the Void was a single untamed wilderness, other than the scorched or frozen wastelands, or the occasional ocean, there were trees as far as the eye could see. Of course, the trees are quite special, otherwise, they wouldn't be able to exist in the Void."
That was a scene that Liang Chen couldn't picture, the only thing he could associate with the void was the ashen sand and the strange stones. After all, what sort of lava and ice could possibly exist within the void? Hearing about such an unfamiliar void, a question couldn't help but pop up into Liang Chen's mind.
"What happened to change it?"
What sort of cataclysmic event could possibly change the void from an untamed wilderness into its current barren state? And the youth gave him a very simple question, his gaze turning back onto the void.
"I happened."
He didn't clarify any further, abandoning the subject altogether as he continued to toss in trees and plants, some so large that he actually had to fold them together violently before tossing them through the gate. He tossed out over 300 different plants and trees before he stopped bringing out things. Having thrown out the last plant, he actually stepped forward and entered the gate, vanishing into the void.
But he returned shortly after, brushing off his shoulders as he pulled back the energy he had inserted into Liang Chen. Without the support of that energy, the gate rapidly shrank, Liang Chen taking the chance to dissipate it as the youth started to talk to him.
"Alright, that's the last of them. As for your reward, there are two, a piece of information and a bit of help. The information is quite simple, a Void Born Ruler has been born somewhere, and they'll come for you sooner or later. To a Void Born Ruler, the three tastiest meals in existence are Multiverses, Spheres of Existence, and other Void Born Rulers, these three things can greatly increase their strength. So that Ruler will come for you eventually, you'd best increase your strength as much as you can until then. As for the help, you can check that book in your soulsea to see it for yourself."
The youth spoke rapidly, Liang Chen's expression hardening slightly when he heard about the Void Born Ruler. He wasn't worried about a new strong Void Born being birthed, he was worried about the fact that this Void Born was going to come after him to eat him.
But at the same time, as the youth mentioned the Chaos King technique that floated around in his soulsea, Liang Chen formed a slight idea of just who this youth might be. The youth clearly wasn't one to linger around after having finished his task, a maw-like crack in space forming behind him. But Liang Chen stopped the youth just as he was going to step into the crack, remembering something the youth had said earlier.
"Before you leave, mind if I ask a question? You said that you could open a gate to the void on your own, but I thought doing so required the law of the void."
The void was a place that existed despite the fact that it shouldn't, it wasn't a place you could enter just because you wanted to. And even if you could enter it, actually moving or existing there was difficult. When Liang Chen had last moved through the void, everyone in his interspatial ring and even Yumao had frozen completely, seeming like no more than statues. The youth halted his steps for a short second, shrugging his shoulders in a casual manner.
"Usually, but not always. If we count just this Sphere then we've got four people other than you who can do it, but if we count the two other Sphere's then we should have about nine or more, its too hard to get concrete information from those spheres."
The number was quite a bit higher than Liang Chen expected, a total of five people just in this Sphere of Existence. But looking at how many beings actually lived in this Sphere of Existence, the fact that only five could create a gate to the void meant that the ability was extremely rare.
The youth stepped into the crack and vanished, but it was then that Liang Chen latched onto something he had just said. He had definitely said 'two other spheres' at the end, could it be that there wasn't just one Sphere of Existence but actually three? If that was the case, just how where these Spheres of Existence created?
Liang Chen tried to wrap his head around it, but a question like that was so far above him that thinking about it only made him nurture a headache. As such, he abandoned the idea of thinking about it and instead sank his mind into his soulsea, checking out the Chaos King technique. And upon inspecting the floating book, he quickly learned what sort of reward the youth had given him, involuntarily sucking in a sharp breath.
A fourth chapter had appeared in the book, one simply tilted Chaos Sovereign. And the chapter was exceedingly simple, it carved a further three channels and enabled the cultivator to devour 100% of his targets Qi, soul, or body for his own cultivation. It sounded like a minor increase from 75, but it was a massive upgrade, resulting in no wasted resources.
And with the fourth chapter being added to the book, Liang Chen finally became practically 100% certain of the youth's identity. He was the creator of the Chaos King technique, and according to Elder Chaotic, he was someone standing at the same height as the Nine Star Demon God.
Liang Chen opened his eyes and let out a long breath, the six guards looking at him somewhat strangely now that the youth had vanished and undid whatever he had done to them. Liang Chen didn't bother with them, giving his thundering heart a bit of time to calm down. He acted calm and composed, but standing in front of such a powerhouse was nerve-wracking, it was the same as always being one step away from death.
He continued to breathe in a steady rhythm for a bit, his heart finally calming down after nearly half a minute. He then turned his gaze onto the six guards, who were looking at him somewhat curiously.
"You guys should go to bed."
It was a very simple, yet somewhat confusing, statement that caused five of the guards to tilt their heads. But just as one of them was about to speak up, the sixth member of their group, probably Zeng Lao's right-hand man, stretched out his hand to silence them. He looked deeply at Liang Chen before standing up from his seat, nodding his head understandingly.
"Yeah, it's getting pretty late so it's about time we get some nice and deep sleep."
The man's actions made it clear to Liang Chen that he probably knew a bit about what the Golden Branch sect did. So he knew what Liang Chen was going out to do, and he was fine with it, he wanted these people gone from his city. The five other guards moved their gazes between Liang Chen and their leader, but they chose to remain silent and follow his orders, none of them stopping Liang Chen as he walked past them and left the room.
When he stepped into the other room, a smaller room that seemed to be designed to greet guests, a somewhat strange addition to an inn room, he came face to face with Zeng Lao. The city governor wanted to say something, but a heavy pressure unfurled from Liang Chen's body and practically forced the man down into a soft recliner. Liang Chen stepped past him and pushed open the window, leaving behind a simple assurance.
"You don't need to worry. There won't be a trace, nor any chaos. Dawn will come quietly like always, there'll just be something missing this time."
Liang Chen hopped out of the window, vanishing without a sound and leaving behind the governor, whose entire back was now drenched in sweat. But the silence of the night wasn't broken by the clamouring of battle, nor were there any thunderous explosions or rumblings.
When dawn came, the Ocean's Willow sect had simply vanished, some of the buildings razed while others remained untouched. And while about 6000 of the 15 000 disciples and elders woke up in the rubble with confused expressions, the others were nowhere to be found, nor were about half of the treasures stocked within the sect's treasury.
As for the governor, he found several new jade slips and scrolls in the room, some containing admissions of guilt by elders from the sect while others showed records of deeds they had tried to keep hidden. Looking at the records and the result, the governor was only able to squeeze out a few stilted words.
"...What a monster..."