Chapter 17: Visitors from the Holy Assembly

Inside the Library, Su Chen was practicing a set of fist techniques, testing his current level within the Bone-Tempering Realm.

Boom!

With muscles as hard as steel, Su Chen’s body erupted with rolling waves of air, churning his black eunuch robes.

He did not wear the red robe bestowed by Emperor Jianwu as the Library Superintendent; instead, he had even taken off his green eunuch robes, hanging them up high.

The World Martial Rankings, through fame and status, secretly incited great martial sects and even First-Rank experts into feuds and killings. This was no small matter and would inevitably invite mortal danger.

But Su Chen did not regret it.

Because he also disliked these First-Rank experts, who treated the Imperial Palace like a lawless land, popping up from time to time to stir up trouble.

It was better for imperial power to remain stable.

After all.

He was to reside in this Imperial Palace for a very long time.

"If all else fails, I can fake my death, use the 'Golden Cicada Shedding its Shell' technique to change my identity, and then return to this palace later..."

"In any case, I rarely leave the Library, so not many people know me."

As Su Chen was thinking, the set of fist techniques he was practicing finally reached its conclusion.

Boom!

The airwaves danced wildly, triggering nine successive peals of thunder.

"Not bad."

"Nine thunderous claps?"

"I am only at the early stage of the Bone-Tempering Realm, yet I am almost catching up to the usual peak of the Bone-Tempering Realm?"

Su Chen retracted his fists and stood upright.

In the courtyard, the churning dust gradually settled.

This set of fist techniques, which Su Chen had learned from the Great Liang Martial Pavilion, was a method for tempering bones and muscles through the Path of the Body, named "Thundering Body Tempering."

By relying on this method in the Bone-Tempering Realm to refine one's bones and muscles to the extreme, one could trigger ten layers of thunderous sounds and step into the Third-Rank Marrow Cleansing Realm...

And for those with extraordinary talent, the limit was naturally more than ten layers of thunder.

According to the records of this method, the founding ancestor of Great Liang was the record holder among the geniuses of martial arts; he triggered seventy-one thunderous sounds, reaching the ultimate limit, and killed an encroaching peak Third-Rank Marrow Cleansing expert with a single punch, finally entering the Third-Rank Realm.

For an ordinary Bone-Tempering practitioner, the limit was merely nine thunderous claps.

Su Chen had only just begun tempering his bones and had not yet fully refined them, yet he could trigger nine thunderous claps. This showed his talent was peerless and unprecedented.

"Even that founding ancestor of Great Liang probably wasn't as peculiar as I am..."

"I wonder how far I can reach at the limit of this Bone-Tempering Realm. Seventy-one layers of thunderous sound was recorded in the history books of Great Liang as an unparalleled talent and a once-in-an-era genius."

"I wonder if I can surpass it..."

A long time passed.

His breathing stabilized.

Only then did Su Chen sit back down at the stone table in the courtyard. Using chopsticks, he picked up fine charcoal to slowly brew tea and boil water. Beneath his sleeve, a small white jade bottle quietly appeared.

"Since you've come, there's no need to hide your head and show your tail. If you want to investigate something, show yourself."

"Perhaps if you ask, I might just answer truthfully."

Su Chen spoke suddenly.

The scene remained silent, without a sound.

It was as if Su Chen were merely talking to himself.

"If you continue like this, I shall fire the signal arrow."

"When that happens..."

As he spoke, Su Chen prepared to pull something from his bosom.

In the next instant.

A figure swiftly swept over the wall of the Library.

Clad in red as bright as fire, with eyes like deep pools and eyebrows as sharp as swords, the newcomer possessed a cold temperament. Looking at him, the figure spoke slowly.

"Su Chen, it is I."

The newcomer was none other than Zhang Gui.

But Su Chen only sneered. The vial of Heart-Devouring Powder in his sleeve was instantly gripped tight, while his other hand pulled out the signal arrow from his bosom, making a gesture as if to throw it directly into the brazier.

Once ignited and soaring into the sky, even Emperor Jianwu would be alerted.

This was because it was a highest-level warning signal arrow, held only by the Grand Eunuch of the Inner Palace. As the Sixth Red-Robed Superintendent of the Library personally bestowed by Emperor Jianwu, Su Chen naturally had the qualification to possess one.

"At least try to act more convincing."

"Zhang Gui never puts on airs in front of me, let alone the pretentiousness you are displaying now."

Su Chen sneered.

"You petty thief, either get lost or tear off that human-skin mask on your face and show your true self before we talk further."

"Hmm?"

The signal arrow was only an inch away from the brazier.

Once lit.

The turmoil from when the Prince of Zhenbei charged into the palace had not yet subsided, and now an assassin had entered the palace; heaven knows what actions the enraged Emperor Jianwu would take.

"Damn it."

"Zhang Gui" cursed under his breath. After hesitating repeatedly, he did not retreat. Instead, he tore off the human-skin mask on his face, revealing a pale countenance that was thirty percent refined and seventy percent effeminate.

His voice also changed from Zhang Gui's original cold and lonely tone to one that was shrill and raspy.

This was a eunuch!

"Not good!"

Su Chen sensed something was wrong and moved to throw the signal arrow into the brazier.

Sure enough.

In the next second, his suspicion became reality.

"Huang Jiu!"

"When I heard you were one of our own, I was truly startled. Hehe, to think that the sworn brother of the mighty Director of the Eastern Depot, Zhang Gui, is actually the lowest rank among our Black Abyss Nineteen Secret Spies..."

"Hehe."

"This servant, Xuan Er, offers his respects."

"The palace says there is a useless person in the Library who, by good luck, saved the life of Eunuch Zhang Gui, thus becoming the sworn brother of the famous Director of the Eastern Depot. In my view, Eunuch Su is the one truly hiding his light..."

"Though I am Third-Rank and my Shadowless Art is already perfected—to the point where even a Second-Rank expert would struggle to track me—I was exposed by Eunuch Su the moment I approached. Hehe."

The effeminate eunuch smiled without reaching his eyes. He had clearly learned from the Black Lotus Saint the intelligence that Su Chen was suspected of defecting.

If anyone else had defected, they would have been eliminated long ago.

Only Su Chen, hiding in the deep palace without going out and under the protection of Zhang Gui, had managed to survive until now.

"Grand Eunuch, Eunuch Wuchen, I don't understand what you are doing."

"What 'Xuan Er Huang Jiu'? I am Su Chen!"

Su Chen also smiled without reaching his eyes.

He tucked the signal arrow back into his bosom.

Eunuch Wuchen, ranked at the peak of the Third-Rank Qi-Condensation Realm, assisted a Grand Eunuch and managed the Inner Palace Secret Guards for the Emperor. He held great power and rarely walked the Inner Palace, enjoying the deep trust of the former Emperor. To think he was actually a sleeper agent for the Black Abyss, and only at the 'Xuan' level, not even 'Xuan One'—it was truly unbelievable.

The Shadowless Art?

Su Chen had heard of it; it was an extremely mysterious and difficult technique to master.

In terms of cultivation, he naturally could not see through it.

But on Wuchen, the glaringly obvious, rapidly depleting lifespan was something he could see with absolute clarity.

How could he fail to notice someone running toward him with such a blatant sign?

"A slip of the tongue."

"Hehe."

"Eunuch Su, this servant exposes his identity here upon the verbal command of the Saint, to retrieve an item from you."

"After the Black-Robed Envoy Eunuch Xu was killed by you, did Huang Yi—his daughter—come to seek revenge? If so, please return all her belongings, even her bones!"

Wuchen's narrow eyes stared intently at Su Chen. As he reached the end, his tone grew heavier, and surges of Qi began to churn within him, indicating an intent to attack Su Chen.

Huang Yi, the daughter of the Black-Robed Envoy Eunuch Xu.

Su Chen thought for a moment before remembering that during the night of the Prince's rebellion and the palace coup, such a person had indeed rushed through the chaos to kill him.

However, a Fourth-Rank Qi-Bursting expert had been killed by him—a Fifth-Rank Flesh-Refining early-stage practitioner—with a single leaf. She wasn't a formidable character, so he hadn't searched her body and had simply buried her hastily.

It turned out this fellow had something good on him.

Su Chen's eyes lit up.

"Presumptuous!"

"How dare you covet the things of the Holy Sect?"

Wuchen was furious.

"Hand it over!"

At that moment, terrifying Qi ravaged the entire courtyard. Countless flowers and plants were shredded by Wuchen's Qi, and the already dense phenomena within the courtyard intensified more than tenfold in an instant.

"And what if I don't?"

Looking at the shredded poisonous flowers and herbs, Su Chen felt pity for the other man.

"You won't hand it over?"

"Hehe!"

"Then this peak Third-Rank expert shall teach you a lesson, to see what filthy methods this 'useless person' of the Library used to dispose of the Black-Robed Envoy Eunuch Xu!"

With that, Wuchen's robes billowed. A whisk flew from his sleeve like a flurry of sharp swords or a long, silken whip, striking with the sound of thunder as it aimed straight for Su Chen's head.