Chapter 2018: The Puzzle Solver

Kong Lanyou and others were all in silence. The secrets Blackie revealed were real shockers. If news leaked out, it was going to cause a stir—one that was beyond imagination.

It had been 100,000 years ago when it last happened. Many truths had been buried in history, of which only those living beings who were powerful 100,000 years ago and had lived to this day could know.

After a long while, Blackie had calmed down a bit when it said, “The empress was my benefactor, and I decided to follow her and became her protector.”

“During that era, the empress had impressed everyone with her talents. But it was a shame that the Sky-connecting Tree had been cut down, and that had hurt the Kunlun Realm’s fortune. The Kunlun Realm no longer had the conducive environment it once had. No matter how talented the empress was, she could not attain immortality in the Kunlun Realm. This could be the reason the empress left the Kunlun Realm and enter the underworld.”

“She has disappeared for 100,000 years, but I still believe that she is still alive. One day, she will return.”

Before this, it quietly left for the underworld looking for Han Xue. But that was just one part of it. More importantly, it wanted to find the Empress of Thousand bones.

It was a pity that it did not find any lead. It did not even know if the Empress of Thousand Bones was still alive.

“Don’t be sad. The empress will return.” Han Xue said, trying to comfort Blackie.

Han Xue had inherited the skills of Empress of Thousand Bones, including God’s Fall and Void Sword. She was now coached under Zhang Ruochen, but in reality, she the Empress of Thousand Bones’ disciple.

In particular, Han Xue shared the same physique as the Empress of Thousand Bones, and so she had always wanted to meet this peerless empress in person. She hoped she could have the same attainment as that of the Empress of Thousand Bones one day.

“I don’t know what the reason was back then. In the battle between the Kunlun Realm and the Infernal Court, the Kunlun Realm was defeated so badly,” said Zhang Ruochen.

“I wanted to know, too. Unfortunately, I had been imprisoned at that time. Anyway, I believe that there must be a lot of untold stories behind this. Back then, the Kunlun Realm was a powerhouse. There were Lord Wentian of the Ten Tribulations, the powerful ones in the Ying Yang Sea, and also the old bald donkey Xumi. How could it lose so badly?” Blackie had many questions on its mind.

There was no way for future generations to know exactly which peerless powerhouses existed in the Kunlun Realm 100,000 years ago, as if there was someone behind the scenes deliberately concealing all the facts about the people and things in the Kunlun Realm back then.

Zhang Ruochen knew that there was one person who knew the truth. That person was Yueshen, who refused to divulge too much because she thought he was too weak.

He also understood that Yueshen was protecting him. With his level of strength, knowing too many secrets could be a bad thing. It would not only increase his worries but also get him killed.

With these thoughts flashed in his mind, Zhang Ruochen looked at Kong Lanyou and the others with a serious face. “You all must not tell others about what Blackie has said just now.”

Kong Lanyou and others nodded. They would divulge nothing, as it was about the secrets of 100,000 years ago.

There was a silence in the room.

After a long while, Zhang Ruochen looked at Kong Lanyou. “Lanyou, do you have any news about my father?”

It was difficult to get answers to what happened 100,000 years ago, but there was still hope for a revelation of the mystery from 800 years ago.

Zhang Ruochen was more interested in what happened eight hundred years ago. After all, he had been involved, and there had been many people he cared about.

Among them was Emperor Ming. He wanted to find out if Emperor Ming was still alive and his whereabouts.

Why did Emperor Ming suddenly disappear? And it happened right after Chi Yao killed him. When did Emperor Ming and Qing finish the chess game? Why did they both want to lose? Was there any connection to this?

Perhaps only Emperor Ming and Qing themselves could answer these questions.

Just that hundreds of years have passed. Not only Emperor Ming was missing, but Emperor Qing also had not appeared for many years. People had almost forgotten him.

Kong Lanyou shook her head. “Uncle disappeared suddenly 800 years ago. No one knows where he has gone. I spent a lot of time investigating the reason for his disappearance and his whereabouts, but to no avail.”

“Indeed. Master disappeared so suddenly that he did not even leave behind any words for us,” said Jin Yu.

Zhang Ruochen couldn’t help frowning upon hearing that. Although this was expected, he still felt disappointed. “It seems that I can only wait for me to become a Supreme Saint and visit the Buddha Realm in West to find out the answer.”

“Cousin, don’t worry. I believe Uncle is fine,” said Kong Lanyou..

Zhang Ruochen looked up. “There is one person who may answer all my questions.”

“Who is it?” asked Bao Lie.

Zhang Ruochen screwed up his face. “My former mentor, now Saint King Que.”

“Grand Tutor Shangguan Que? He knows everything?” Jin Yu had a puzzled look on his face.

Shangguan Que might hold a prominent position, but when even the disciples of Emperor Ming did not know what happened 800 years ago, how did Shangguan Que know about it?

“Because he is a member of the Empyrean Pavilion of the Guardian Dragon Pavilion. My father once ordered the Guardian Dragon Pavilion to move the treasury of the Shengming to build a special altar. I believe this teacher of mine must know a lot of secret. So I have to pay a visit to the Shangguan family,” said Zhang Ruochen.

He did not know about it at first. It was Lu Huaiyu, a descendant of Sixth Senior Brother, told him that Shangguan Que was also a member of the Guardian Dragon Pavilion.

Besides, Shangguan Que was responsible for the compilation of The Immortal Vampire Secrets, and he was exposed to far more secrets than others.

If he could meet Shangguan Que, he believed he could solve many pieces of the puzzle in his mind.

“If this is the case, then we will go with you, Junior Brother. Hope that Shangguan Que can really know some secrets,” said Jin Yu.

Like Zhang Ruochen, they wanted to clarify something about 800 years ago. Since it was determined that Shangguan Que was an insider, they had no reason not to meet with him.

After getting some preparation, Zhang Ruochen and his mates wasted no time and set off their journey to the Shangguan family.

Blackie was depressed and so it did not follow them.

Han Xue stayed with Blackie and held down the fort in the Peacock Manor.

To void prying eyes, Zhang Ruochen took out a pre-arranged cross-realm teleportation array and directly teleported themselves from the Peacock Manor.

He had to do this because he had already attracted too much attention. He would be inviting troubles if he still did not stay low key.

With Zhang Ruochen’s current attainments in the Path of Dimension, he could reduce the margin of error of transmission to an extremely low level, even if it is a non-fixed-point teleportation.

The Shangguan family was based in the southern part of All Saints’ Land, opposite the Sect of the Blood God in the north.

Unlike other old members of Shengming, the Shangguan family not only suffered no loss after the fall of Shengming but also became more prosperous.

Shangguan Que, the former Grand Tutor of Shengming’s prince, had changed to become the Saint King Que of the current imperial court. It was a respectable position, and Heaven knows what agreement he had reached with the Central Chiqing Empire.

At first, Zhang Ruochen thought Shangguan Que was to protect himself, and so he betrayed Shengming and defected to the Central Chiqing Empire.

But later, when he learned that Shangguan Que was a member of the Guardian Dragon Pavilion, he knew that this was not the case. Maybe all this was Emperor Ming’s secret arrangement.