Immortal Martial Emperor

Inside the small house.

Hong Yu sat cross-legged in meditation. His closed eyes twitched slightly as threads of crystalline energy flowed around his body.

The Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi in the room was drawn into his body, circulating under the guidance of his Profound Skill before slowly converging toward his Upper Dantian.

In his hand, he held a translucent petal from the Five-Colored Golden Lotus.

Each petal of the Five-Colored Golden Lotus contained medicinal power as pure as a Tier Three Spirit Pill. Fortunately, Hong Yu’s body had become incredibly tough after cultivating the Eight Desolates Saint Slaying Technique; otherwise, he would have found it impossible to withstand the impact of the Golden Lotus’s potent medicinal energy.

Even so, a bloody red glow emanated from Hong Yu’s body as he cultivated with the Five-Colored Golden Lotus.

Droplets of blood seeped through his skin, a jarring sight.

A faint, foul, metallic odor filled the room.

Suddenly, the cross-legged Hong Yu trembled. A faint blue light could be seen with the naked eye, coursing between his muscles before finally gathering in his Upper Dantian.

Hong Yu slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air. The exhale was long and drawn out, as if he were trying to expel all the impurities from his body at once.

When he finally finished exhaling, he slowly opened his eyes.

As his dark pupils were revealed, two beams of divine light, like twin rainbows, shot out from his eyes.

A calm expression gradually appeared on Hong Yu’s face. He circulated his Profound Skill to feel the changes in his Elemental Power, then sighed in disappointment. ’A whole Five-Colored Golden Lotus only got me through five refinements of my Celestial Soul. At this rate, will I need to find a Tier Five Spirit Medicine just to complete all nine refinements?’

He rubbed his nose in extreme frustration, rendered completely speechless by the sheer amount of energy the Celestial Soul Nine Refinements required.

The Five-Colored Golden Lotus was a Tier Four Spirit Medicine.

Even reaching the Perfection stage of the Nine Refinements of the Primordial Spirit had only consumed one-fifth of the Five-Colored Golden Lotus.

But now, just reaching the Fifth Refinement of the Celestial Soul Nine Refinements had devoured the remaining four-fifths. Hong Yu couldn’t believe it!

’Oh well, I’ll just have to take it one step at a time. Speaking of which, I promised Sister Qin I’d meet her at the Royal Palace. Today is the fifth day. It’s time I went to see her!’

He stood up from the bed. With a shudder of his body and a sharp spin, he shook off the beads of blood clinging to his skin.

Cold water had already been prepared in the room. After a quick rinse and changing into a set of black martial attire, Hong Yu was ready to leave.

Just as he pushed the door open, Hong Yu’s advancing foot froze mid-step. A sharp glint flashed in his eyes as he abruptly pulled his left foot back.

Almost simultaneously, a stream of black liquid shot down from the doorframe, landing exactly where his foot would have been.

A cloud of black smoke immediately billowed up from the ground. As the smoke slowly swirled upward, the earth dissolved in the blink of an eye, corroded by the black liquid into a pit half a meter deep and two meters wide.

HISS!

Hong Yu sucked in a sharp breath.

’If I hadn’t stopped in time, wouldn’t I have been corroded into a human sieve?’

"Which rat is hiding up there? Get the hell down here!"

Hong Yu barked coldly.

He thrust out a palm, and his powerful Palm Force instantly pierced through the doorframe and roof beams. With a single strike, it passed through and exploded with a BOOM!

"Heh heh heh... worthy of being prey with a one hundred million Gold Coin price tag. You’ve certainly got some skill! To think you even dodged the Black Rot Venom. It seems we’ll have to expend a little more effort this time!" a chilling voice suddenly echoed from the rooftop, and three wraith-like figures appeared before him.

The three men were clad head-to-toe in black martial attire, leaving only their eyes exposed. Those eyes were now fixed on him, glowing with a red light.

Hong Yu frowned. "Who are you? Why did you ambush me?"

"Heh heh heh... Blood the Ninth, my favorite thing is to see that look of clueless confusion on our prey’s face!"

"Shut up, Blood the Eighth. You wasted that precious Black Rot Venom, and now the two of us have to help you take his life. I’m not happy about it."

"What’s with all the pointless chatter? Let’s just go. Kill this kid, and those one hundred million Gold Coins are ours!"

The three of them bickered back and forth before turning their gazes on Hong Yu in unison.

Their expressions were like those of beggars who had starved for half a month and suddenly spotted a large, fatty piece of meat.

Their cold, predatory stares sent a chill through Hong Yu’s heart. ’Who on earth are these three? What are they talking about, one hundred million Gold Coins? What’s going on?’

However, Blood the Eighth and his two companions gave him no more time to think.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

The three of them advanced side-by-side, charging toward Hong Yu at the same time.

Each of them held a weapon. Though they varied from daggers to longswords, every blade glinted with a sinister, dark light. They were clearly coated in a deadly poison.

Facing a simultaneous attack from three opponents—especially given their bizarre behavior and the vicious poison on their weapons—gave Hong Yu a sense of heart-pounding dread.

His brow furrowed. With a cold expression, he took a deep breath and activated the Wandering Dragon footwork, charging forward to meet them.

He held nothing back, immediately unleashing his Cyan Eyes and the Ice Divine Blade in concert. Three streams of pale blue light filled his vision before shooting forward.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

The three streams of pale blue light struck Blood the Eighth and his companions.

The three assassins visibly trembled, a flicker of confusion appearing in their blood-red eyes.

"Three Flames Palm!"

Nine Fire Dragons coalesced in his palm, like a massive, roaring ball of fire. With a flick of his arm, Hong Yu sent the dragons surging forward with a unified roar.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Three plumes of fire erupted, and a scorching heatwave rolled outward.

The very air in the courtyard grew hot and turbulent.

Blood the Eighth and his men had been momentarily stunned by the impact of the Ice Divine Blade, but the searing pain of the flames snapped them out of it.

"Dammit, what the hell was that?"

"The target’s Spiritual Attack is stronger than we estimated! Temporary retreat!"

"Go!"

Amidst the clamor, the three of them swung their arms in unison. A cloud of black smoke erupted from the ground, instantly shrouding the entire courtyard.

"Dispel!"

With a wave of his hand, Hong Yu extinguished the burning flames. He stared at the empty courtyard and frowned. ’What’s the deal with those three? And... what was that about one hundred million Gold Coins? Did someone hire assassins to kill me?’

At this thought, Hong Yu’s heart sank, and he rushed toward Little Feng’s courtyard.

Fortunately, Beichen Celestial Frost was with Little Feng, and everything seemed normal.

Beichen Celestial Frost saw Hong Yu’s grave expression and asked hesitantly, "Did something happen?" Ever since the incident with Beichen Ximen, Beichen Celestial Frost had stayed at the Beichen Mansion to look after Little Feng, never leaving his side.

Hong Yu glanced at Little Feng, who was sleeping soundly on the bed, a trace of pity in his eyes.

Ever since that day, Little Feng had been plagued by nightmares every night and could only get some proper sleep during the day. It was heartbreaking to see someone so young suffer so much.

Hong Yu motioned for Beichen Celestial Frost to step aside with him. Standing outside the door, he said, "Someone just tried to assassinate me. They were strong, and their methods were extremely strange."

"Assassinate you? Do you know who it was?" Beichen Celestial Frost’s fair face paled as she asked.

Hong Yu shook his head. "It seems that this attack was more of a probe than a serious assassination attempt. But they called me their prey and mentioned something about one hundred million Gold Coins..."

"What? One hundred million Gold Coins? C-Could it be them?"

Beichen Celestial Frost’s face turned white, and her body went limp as she leaned against the wall.

Seeing her pale lips, Hong Yu frowned. "What? You know who they are?"

"If I’m not mistaken, they must be assassins from the Blood Killing Tower."

Beichen Celestial Frost gave a bitter smile. "The Blood Killing Tower is the strongest assassin organization in the Southern Ten Nations. Once they mark you as a target, not even a Primordial Core Realm expert has a chance of survival. To this day, no one in the entire Southern Ten Nations has ever survived an encounter with the Blood Killing Tower. If they’re really the ones after you, then you..."

Hong Yu raised an eyebrow. "If they’re assassins from the Blood Killing Tower, why did they run away when they couldn’t win?"

"They didn’t run away. Before the Blood Killing Tower makes a real move, they always send someone to probe the target’s strength. Then they combine that with their own intel to assign a suitable assassin. This was just a test. After this battle, they’ll have a deeper understanding of your power. The next assassin they send will be someone capable of killing you..."

Beichen Celestial Frost explained with an apologetic look and a wry smile.

Hearing this, Hong Yu fell silent.

Although the three assassins had fled as soon as they lost the upper hand, their violent methods and sinister, unorthodox tactics were nearly impossible to defend against.

’If what Beichen Celestial Frost says is true, then my Ice Divine Blade has already been exposed.’

’They also have a grasp of my basic methods and strength. If they send a Late-stage Celestial Soul Realm assassin after me, what are my chances of survival?’

A glint flickered in Hong Yu’s eyes. He realized that with his current strength, he had absolutely no chance of surviving an assault from a Late-stage Celestial Soul Realm assassin.

Unless... he could break through to the Celestial Soul Realm before the next assassin arrived.

’Unfortunately, my Celestial Soul Nine Refinements is still stuck at the Fifth Refinement. The Blood Killing Tower definitely won’t give me enough time to break through!’

With that thought, Hong Yu’s face grew solemn. "Miss Beichen, although I’m not sure who hired the Blood Killing Tower to deal with me, there aren’t many people I’ve offended in the Qin Kingdom. If it was one of them, Little Feng will most likely be implicated. For the time being, I’m planning to leave the Beichen Mansion. I’ll have to entrust Little Feng to you!"

"You’re leaving the Beichen Mansion?" Beichen Celestial Frost said, stunned.

Hong Yu nodded. "That was just a probe. I can feel that the next assassin they send will be even stronger. Once a real fight breaks out, it’s very likely that Little Feng and you will be caught in the crossfire. That’s the last thing I want to see. Right now, the only solution is for me to leave the Beichen Mansion and draw the fight away."

He glanced at the sleeping Little Feng inside the room and smiled. "When Little Feng wakes up, please say goodbye to him for me. Once this matter is resolved, I will naturally come back to see him!"

"Wait..."

Beichen Celestial Frost was still dazed and hadn’t fully processed the situation. Seeing Hong Yu turn to leave, she hurriedly called out.

"Is something wrong?"

As Hong Yu looked at her with confusion, Beichen Celestial Frost gently bit her lip. After a long hesitation, she finally asked, "W-Where are you planning to go?"

Hong Yu thought for a moment. "I haven’t decided yet. I’ll head to the Royal Palace first. As for where I’ll go after that, I’ll naturally inform you once I’ve figured it out."

"O-Okay, then. You need to be careful... I—no, that’s not it. Little Feng... Little Feng will worry about you..."

Beichen Celestial Frost stammered.

Hong Yu looked at Beichen Celestial Frost, stunned for a moment, then shrugged and smiled. "Alright. Then I’ll leave Little Feng in your care!"

Beichen Celestial Frost nodded hurriedly.

Hong Yu pressed his lips together lightly and turned to leave.

With his back to Beichen Celestial Frost, he frowned slightly, a trace of hesitation and doubt in his eyes...

’Sister Qin told me to find her today. She said she had something extremely important to tell me. I wonder what it could be?’