Chapter 2209: Protection

“It’s a long story...” Gao Ying sighed. “In the end, it’s actually because I trusted Pei You too much.”

“Pei You?” Zu An repeated, stunned.

Could it be that he was harmed by Pei You? But how is this possible?

“That’s right.” Gao Ying gritted his teeth and said, “If it wasn’t because I trusted that Pei bastard so much and attended that banquet without any vigilance, I wouldn’t have been ambushed. Control of the Imperial Palace wouldn’t have been stolen so easily...”

He then explained what happened that day in full detail.

Zu An frowned as he listened. He hadn’t expected those guys to already start something that big in just the short time he was away from the human side. Even though Gao Ying had died early and he didn’t know much about the details, he was able to deduce who the main culprit was after just a bit of thinking. If he were to think about who had the motive and patience to do all of this in the capital, who else could it be but Bi Qi?

But the Bi clan alone likely wouldn't have enough power to achieve all of this. They had likely allied with other powers, and as for who they were, he would have to go back and take a look. He wondered if Liu Ning and Linglong were in danger...

Zu An gathered his thoughts and said seriously, “I believe Pei You was also kept completely in the dark. With his nature, he definitely wouldn’t do something like sell out his friends.”

Gao Ying sighed when he heard that. “Actually, I also realized that was probably the case after my head cooled and I thought about it. But in the end, it was still the Pei clan who schemed against me and I couldn't swallow that resentment down. Later, he seemed to have found my body and burned a lot of paper money for me, but I didn’t want anything from the Pei clan, and so I threw it all away. That was how I ended up in Tragedy City.”

Zu An was speechless.

This guy really is stubborn. If he took the money and got the virtue, he might have been able to cross over and pass through the Mirror of Evil to reincarnate.

Why did he need to come all the way to Tragedy City and experience all of this bitterness?

He quickly said with a smile, “But I guess all of it was a blessing in disguise. It was because you were so stubborn that we could reunite here. I’ll bring you back and see if I can save you.”

“Huh? I can still be reborn even in this current state?” Gao Ying was shocked and overjoyed.

Zu An smiled. “A normal person might not be able to do it, but did you forget who I am now?”

“Underworld emperor!” Gao Ying also laughed.

“But you need to make some mental preparations too. The conditions to save you might be quite harsh and we might not be able to succeed,” Zu An said seriously. He was a bit worried.

What if his body was already completely destroyed...

“That’s only natural,” Gao Ying said seriously. “I’ve already ended up like this, so even just a bit of hope is already unexpected good news.”

Zu An nodded. Then, he stored Gao Ying's soul away for now.

The Netherworld Book of Life and Death managed the various affairs of the underworld, so it could naturally store some souls too. Even though it had been taken into the keyboard’s F8 key, that hadn’t ended up affecting its function.

Then, he opened up a path back into the world of the living through the Netherworld Book of Life and Death. A spatial vortex appeared in front of him. He was about to return to the world of the living when a voice spoke next to his ear, leaving him completely stunned.

...

Meanwhile, on the Tomb of Ten Thousand Dragons’ cliff, Shang Liuyu was watching for any activity all around her vigilantly. It was to the extent that she had hardly gotten any sleep out of fear that she wouldn’t be able to notice anything because of a slight moment of carelessness.

At first, she had constantly watched the mysterious giant statue vigilantly. She had just felt that he was trying to draw her away, causing her to remain guarded. At the same time, she was a bit curious. This was a being that gave off such a terrifying pressure naturally, so why would he need to go through such tricks?

But since she couldn't figure it out, she'd decided to just stop thinking about it.

Just like that, several days passed, and she discovered that the giant statue suddenly grew silent. No matter how she tried to test the waters and talk to it, there was no reply at all. Only then did Shang Liuyu feel a sense of deep loneliness.

This Tomb of Ten Thousand Dragons was the Dragon race’s grave, so it was filled with strong yin energy. There was also the massive and terrifying black whirlpool below. Even just a glance from a distance would make one feel as if one's very wits were being sucked away. Furthermore, the cliffside was also extremely large, and yet she could only see darkness around her, as if she was standing at the very edge of the world.

Shang Liuyu was someone who enjoyed a blue sky with white clouds more than anything. This kind of environment felt especially awful. Fortunately, she had her music to keep her company. She gently played the song Zu An had given her while examining his face from up close, which could still be considered a happy thing.

“No wonder big sis likes him. This guy is pretty handsome.” Shang Liuyu remembered his relationship with her big sister. There was suddenly a bit of melancholy in her song. Even so, she still understood her current task fully well. She restricted the music to this region so she wouldn't end up drawing mysterious enemies.

She spent a long time there just like that. Just then, however, her expression suddenly changed. She stood up from Zu An’s side and watched the other side of the cliff vigilantly.

“Hmph, we’ve finally arrived!” A loud and arrogant laugh filled the air.

The Bloodthirst Crocodile and Shadowhorror Devil appeared nearby. Both of them were in sorry states. The Bloodthirst Crocodile had not only lost its tail; it even seemed to be missing a hand too. The Shadowhorror Devil wasn’t much better off. There was a gaping, bloody hole in its chest. Normally, with its earth immortal rank cultivation, it would be able to quickly recover from such injuries. But the bloody hole remained, which means that there was some chaotic energy wreaking havoc there. It couldn't remove the energy completely, so its injury didn’t improve. Their hair was disheveled and their clothes were in tatters, making them look like beggars.

Shang Liuyu recognized those claw marks. It was probably the terrifying reanimated monsters that had created these wounds.

The two had many subordinates under them before, each one an elite, but now, there wasn’t even a single one left. They had probably been completely wiped out by the reanimated monsters.

“Those monsters fear something in here and won’t come here, as expected.” The Shadowhorror Devil was really grateful for that fact.

“Damn it all! We’ve really lost a lot on this trip.” The Bloodthirst Crocodile cursed.

Then, their attention was quickly drawn to the giant black abyss. “What... Just what is that?”

Even with all of the things they’d seen and experienced, when they saw the incredibly dense deathly energy and the pitch-black abyss below, they still felt their knees weaken and started to sweat out of nervousness. There was a kind of natural pressure coming from this place; the higher one’s cultivation, the clearer one would feel that pressure.

“How despicable. That Skin-Flaying King definitely went down this way,” cursed the Bloodthirst Crocodile. He wanted to go down too, but the fear he felt toward the abyss prevented him from taking a single step.

“The death energy is so dense that it almost seems tangible. We probably won’t be able to enter.” The Shadowhorror Devil stopped him, and then looked at Shang Liuyu. “But this trip wasn’t made entirely in vain.”

When the Bloodthirst Crocodile saw Shang Liuyu and Zu An, his anger changed to happiness. “That’s right. The two of you really put us in a rough spot. It’s time to properly repay that debt!”

He was extremely depressed. Since they'd had four earth immortal rank beings with a huge army with them, he had thought that this mission was already in the bag. Even if the Skin-Flaying King was scheming something, they would still be able to overwhelm him through brute force.

But how could they have anticipated that the Lord of Myriad Transformations was just Zu An acting as an impersonator? Ont top of that, there were so many terrifying monsters in the Tomb of Ten Thousand Dragons, so they were almost completely wiped out there. Only by sacrificing the last of their subordinates had they been able to flee here. When they saw the main culprit, how could they not be angry?

His eyes shifted to the silent Zu An as he spoke, and he exclaimed in shock, “He’s already dead?”

The Shadowhorror Devil stared at Zu An. “It doesn’t seem like it. I can’t sense the air of death from his body; instead, there's actually a trace of life, as if he is feigning death. Hm? Could it be that it was through this death-feigning method that he was able to jump into the death abyss below?”

Shang Liuyu started to feel a bit of admiration. Even though this was her enemy, his insight was indeed extraordinary.

The Bloodthirst Crocodile laughed loudly. “That’s even better. Otherwise, with his strength, it might have been a bit hard for us to win. We can use this chance to make sure that he’s really dead.”

The Shadowhorror Devil also smiled. “That’s right. We’ll kill him first, and then we can use a similar method to look around this death abyss.”

Shang Liuyu took a deep breath before exclaiming, “Are you two pretending that I don’t exist?”

The two monsters exchanged a look, and then they roared with laughter. “Sorry, but whether you're here or not really won’t make much of a difference.”

What level were the two of them on? If not for the world barrier’s restriction, their cultivation ranks would be far above the earth immortal rank. But even earth immortal power was already more than enough to deal with this woman. She was only at the master rank at most. Any one of their subordinates would have been stronger than her.

The Bloodthirst Crocodile’s personality was the most fiery. Because he was missing his tail and a hand, he opened his terrifying mouth, saying, “Then just leave the flesh of the strong for me to enjoy to nourish my body.”

Even though he hated Zu An a lot, he had to admit that he was this world’s strongest being. Eating his flesh could help him recover - and it could even nourish him beyond that.

As for Shang Liuyu, her soft skin and tender flesh was definitely delectable.

As soon as the crocodile spoke, it extended its massive bloody jaws to bite two of them, as if it was scared that the Shadowhorror Devil would fight with it over this food.