Chapter 882: Method of Ascension Obtained

Zhao Ruizhi was alarmed. However, he wasn’t someone who gave up easily, and he bit right back. With his cultivation, his bite possessed enough force to crush even the sturdiest of metals.

But the tentacle was too slippery. Its viscous surface neutralized a large portion of the force. On the contrary, rather than wounding the octopus monster, the tentacle took the chance to get in a bit further. It was already practically in Zhao Ruizhi’s throat!

Zhao Ruizhi wanted to vomit. When had he ever been humiliated like this before?! Not only was his life in critical danger, his pride and dignity were being trampled right now! He frantically tried to pull the tentacle out of his mouth, but he felt as if once it had entered his mouth, a portion of it had broken down into liquid form and entered his stomach. Afterward, his strength quickly weakened. He could only watch as the tentacle reached deeper and deeper down his throat.

…

Zu An shivered when he saw what was happening in the distance. This really was a terrible way to die… If I were… Ah pah pah! Why am I jinxing myself!

Xu Fu’s laughter emerged from the octopus’ mouth. “Hahaha, turns out you were possessing someone else! What a great opportunity; I’ll just use your soul to compensate for my deficiencies after so much time has passed.”

Zhao Ruizhi struggled frantically. Unfortunately, his movements became weaker and weaker, eventually becoming still. Then, a soul body that looked like Zhao Han was ripped out of his body, bearing an expression of extreme pain. However, Xu Fu’s tentacle wrapped around him, making him unable to even put up the slightest resistance. His soul grew dimmer and dimmer, eventually shattering with a loud noise. He turned into specks of golden light and was sucked into the large octopus’ mouth.

“Ah…” Xu Fu released a moan of pleasure. It was clear that he had just felt something incredible.

…

𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Elsewhere, a certain someone didn’t feel great at all. In the Imperial Palace outside of the dungeon, Zhao Han had been meditating in his study. His expression suddenly changed, and blood sprayed out of his mouth. His face turned as pale as a sheet of paper, and his aura immediately became significantly weaker.

“What’s wrong, your highness?” Two lesser eunuchs ran over when they heard the activity. They jumped in fright when they saw the emperor’s condition, and were scared badly.

A glint flashed through Zhao Han’s eyes. The two lesser eunuchs felt as if an invisible hand had gripped their necks. Then, with a crack, they fell to the ground lifeless. How could they have known that their concern would instead become the cause of their death? How could the emperor let anyone who could potentially speak about his weakness live?

Zhao Han didn’t even give the two corpses a look. Instead, he moved over to the window and looked in the direction of the Royal Academy with an awful expression. His split soul had actually been erased! Even though there was a world separating them, so he couldn't tell what happened, the two of them came from the same source. He had immediately felt it when his split soul disappeared.

He was incredibly shocked. Until that point, he had believed that everything was within his grasp. No matter what King Qi Manor had planned, even if he didn’t know about some of it, he believed it didn’t matter at all since his soul was in the crown prince’s body. It could just as easily take care of any situation, so why had it died?

Even though a new dungeon had appeared, he refused to believe that a new dungeon could threaten his split soul. Was it possible that Zhao Jing was also inside the dungeon?

Zhao Han quickly shouted, “Servant!”

Eunuch Wen came in and asked “What orders does your majesty have for me?”

He didn’t even give those two lesser eunuchs a single glance. He had already served the imperial study for many years; he knew what he should and shouldn’t be asking, and when he should be entering and when he shouldn’t. The two lesser eunuchs were just too young…

Zhao Han had already wiped away the blood on his lips, and his aura returned to normal. He said seropis;y, “Bring in King Qi for an audience… Wait, no, forget it. Have our network find out where King Qi is right now no matter the cost!”

He was worried that King Qi would be able to sense his body’s condition if he met him face to face. That would only further increase that man’s confidence and the number of variables.

Eunuch Wen hesitated for a moment. “That might expose the network we placed in King Qi Manor.”

Finding out King Qi’s whereabouts wasn’t something any old intelligence group could accomplish. Only the highest level spy in King Qi Manor had a chance of knowing. But once such a person was used, with King Qi Manor’s sharpness, that person would be quickly exposed. That position in King Qi Manor wasn’t easy to obtain. It would be too much of a pity if the spy was lost because of this matter.

Zhao Ruizhi’s expression turned cold. “This emperor has already said ‘no matter the cost’.”

“I will obey the emperor’s decree!” Eunuch Wen shivered. The emperor clearly didn’t care about that person’s sacrifice at this point.

Sigh, so what if you were chosen for such an important position? Aren’t you still nothing but a chess piece in the end? I wonder when the same fate will await me…

But he didn’t dare to show any of those thoughts on his face. He slowly withdrew. Before leaving, he brought the two lesser eunuchs’ corpses with him. It was as if nothing had taken place there.

Zhao Han nodded in satisfaction. This servant understood tact well and dealt with things properly. But his mood only improved for a split second. Immediately afterward, his expression became ice-cold.

He stared in the direction of the Royal Academy rear mountain’s dungeon. What had happened inside?! His eternal life project of many years had been completely spoiled at the last step!

…

Inside the dungeon, Zu An’s mood was similarly grave. He was frantically cursing Zhao Han for being freaking useless inwardly. This guy had always been shooting his mouth off, so why had he been eaten by that octopus so easily today? Not only had he failed to bring the monster down with him, he had even ended up feeding the octopus, making it stronger? What the hell was the point of even having him fight it then?!

Zu An abandoned all thoughts of attack. Instead, he moved back to Mi Li’s side to protect her. However, he didn’t run. The other party had already absorbed a portion of Zhao Han’s soul, so Zu An wouldn’t be able to get away even if he wanted to.

The octopus’ body twisted and warped, returning to a humanoid form. Then, the blood liquid seemed to coalesce together. All kinds of cracks covered its body, and a lot of the blood came off, revealing a person inside.

Compared to the human monster from before with indistinct features, the individual now looked no different from an ordinary person. However, his body’s form still warped from time to time, exposing the fact that he still wasn’t a completely tangible body. Zu An wondered if it was something similar to Mi Li’s soul body or not.

The figure’s eyes burned with desire as he looked at Zu An, licking his lips. “A pure yang body, and furthermore transcendent grade. The heavens really are on my side today.”

Zu An felt a shiver run through his body under the other party’s gaze. Fuck off, you homosexual pervert!

Mi Li spoke up. “Xu Fu, you still haven’t answered my question. Why are you here? Also, didn’t you disappear together with the three thousand people you led?”

After absorbing Zhao Han’s soul, Xu Fu was feeling incredible, so he wasn’t in a hurry to kill anyone. On the contrary, not having people to share one’s accomplishments with was a type of torture in itself. Now that there was an audience here to listen, he couldn't be happier.

“Ying Zheng sent me to bring him the elixir of immortality. I went out into the boundless sea several times in hopes of finding the legendary sacred mountains, but the better question would have been, do immortals even exist? Failure after failure made Ying Zheng lose patience with me. Everyone in the world believed that I wouldn’t succeed, but I actually found a potential method of immortality in the east sea.”

“What?!” Forget about Zu An, even Mi Li was shocked. There was a method of immortality in this world?

Xu Fu chuckled. “It isn’t really the method of immortality all of us were thinking about, but rather a kind of sorcery that can slow down aging. This technique needs a large amount of blood essence to compensate for time, and it also needs metal, wood, water, fire, and earth bodies to use as sacrifices. Of course, the most important things I needed were a pure yang body, as well as a pure yin body. With all of that in place, I would ascend to immortality, achieving an undying and imperishable body.”

He paused for a moment and gave Mi Li a look. “Otherwise, why did you think Ying Zheng chose to take a spoiled brat like you from the Chu State as the empress, even though he was clearly going to attack the Chu state? Did you really think you were succeeding your older sister?”

Mi Li’s expression changed. She hadn’t expected there to be such a reason.

Xu Fu then asked, “Didn’t you find it strange at all that even though Ying Zheng already married you for so many years, he never touched you once? That he chose to leave you as a virgin?”