My Crazy Upgrade System

After their group walked out, Xu Fei said his goodbyes to Yi Tianyun and quickly departed.

"Yi, it seems you’re quite interested in him?" Ren Long asked curiously.

"Yes. He has a good character—resolute and persevering. I want to recruit him as a Grand General to help me be a Commander-in-Chief for a group of people." Yi Tianyun didn’t hide anything.

"Oh? It seems you have your own faction, Yi. May I ask what it is?" Ren Long inquired.

"A newly established third-grade faction. Many people don’t know about it, so there’s no point in naming it," Yi Tianyun said with a faint smile.

"A third-grade faction? For a third-grade faction to have someone with your abilities, Yi, I imagine becoming a fourth-grade faction is only a matter of time." Ren Long smiled. "He must be a disciple of the Xu Family. The Xu Family supports our Ren Family. The Qin Family is more neutral. Plus, given his somewhat lacking strength, it’s only natural they’re unwilling to let their precious daughter marry him."

Although Ren Long hadn’t been back for many years, he still remembered a fair amount. A great family wouldn’t be completely destroyed in just a few short years.

"Of course. I’ll have him go on ahead, and I’ll follow later. As a future Grand General under my command, I’ll definitely help him out. What’s more, I’ll make sure he marries the young lady of the Qin Family in grand style!" Yi Tianyun chuckled.

"In that case, do you need my help, Yi?" Ren Long already considered Yi Tianyun a friend. With such power, he was more than worthy of being his friend.

"That won’t be necessary. If I have to rely on others for even something like this, it won’t be very convincing." Yi Tianyun looked at him and smiled. "We should head back now, or Zhirou will get anxious."

"Right. I’m finally back. The Dragon Chancellor... I will make him pay!" A murderous glint flashed in Ren Long’s eyes.

"Ding! Successfully completed temporary quest ’Rescue Ren Long’. Reward: 10,000,000 EXP, 50,000 Madness Value, Ren Long’s Favorability +100."

The temporary quest was completed instantly, rewarding him with a good amount of experience. Yi Tianyun was quite satisfied.

The two of them quickly flew back to the Imperial City, hoping nothing had changed.

「In the Celestial Dragon Imperial City.」 Not much had changed. However, with so many days having passed without any news from the Six Brothers of Sealed Dragon, the Dragon Chancellor found it very strange. Logically, it shouldn’t be taking this long.

’Have the Six Brothers of Sealed Dragon met with some misfortune?’ The Dragon Chancellor frowned. When he had dispatched the Six Brothers of Sealed Dragon back then, they had even managed to besiege and kill Emperor Ren. How could they possibly fail to deal with those two?

As the Dragon Chancellor was lost in thought, a Guard burst in from outside in a great hurry.

"Report—Reporting to the Dragon Chancellor..." After entering, the Guard hurriedly knelt on the ground.

"What is it?" The Dragon Chancellor’s brow furrowed. He had a bad feeling about this.

"Emperor Ren Long... he has returned." As the Guard delivered the message, an explosive power erupted from the Dragon Chancellor’s body.

"ROAR!"

The tyrannical Celestial Dragon Power swept out, sending the Guard flying. The Guard coughed up blood endlessly before falling unconscious from his severe injuries.

’What’s going on?! Wasn’t Ren Long supposed to have entered the fourth gate? That’s a path of certain death, how could he still be alive?!’ The Dragon Chancellor’s eyes were filled with shock, but even more so with rage. It felt as if all his carefully laid plans were collapsing in an instant.

"Damn those Six Brothers of Sealed Dragon! Even if you aren’t dead, I’ll make sure you are!!"

The Dragon Chancellor was furious. His rage swept over everything around him. No matter how precious, everything was shattered by the Celestial Dragon Power. Even a thick wall was blasted to pieces. With the sound of a dragon’s roar, the small building was utterly destroyed.

The surrounding generals rushed over. Seeing the Dragon Chancellor’s collapsed study, their expressions changed. How could this have happened? Was he ambushed? But that didn’t seem right; with the Dragon Chancellor’s formidable cultivation, who would dare launch a sneak attack on him?

The Dragon Chancellor then emerged from the ruined study. His gaze swept coldly over the crowd as he said, "It seems even the heavens are forcing me to use harsh measures. Summon all our forces! Prepare to attack the Imperial City!"

All the generals’ faces paled. They hurriedly tried to dissuade him, "We absolutely mustn’t! If we provoke all the families that support the Ren Family into resisting, both our sides will suffer catastrophic losses!"

Their forces were not weak, but their opponents were just as strong. Once a war started, setting aside public opinion, the combined power of those families alone could crush them. Their original plan was simply to secretly capture the princess and fabricate a tragedy, just as they had done with Ren Long.

That way, they could have conquered the other families without losing a single soldier. It was such a perfect plan. But now that Ren Long was back, the difficulty had increased dramatically.

"Ren Long has returned alive. Do you think I have any other choice?" the Dragon Chancellor said coldly.

They fell silent. They had only just learned this news themselves and hadn’t expected the Dragon Chancellor’s reaction to be such intense fury. Of course, the Dragon Chancellor’s anger was inevitable. He had coveted the Great Emperor’s throne for so long. Being told that Ren Long was back was tantamount to a death sentence for his ambitions.

"But..."

"There are no ’buts.’ The National Preceptor of the Netherworld Empire is on his way. With the National Preceptor and his people to support us, it doesn’t matter how many factions come at us—they will all die! As for the Celestial Dragon Treasure, with the National Preceptor’s help, it too can be broken!" the Dragon Chancellor sneered.

"The National Preceptor of the Netherworld Empire is coming..."

They all fell silent again. They were well aware that the Dragon Chancellor was colluding with the Netherworld Empire. They just hadn’t expected things to escalate so quickly to a life-or-death battle. By the time they seized the Celestial Dragon Empire, it would be a shattered remnant of its former self.

This was not what they wanted to see. After wasting so much time, they were still forced to resort to brute force in the end.

"There’s nothing more to say. Make all preparations. We will march on the Imperial City with our full force!" the Dragon Chancellor commanded once again.

"Yes, sir!"

They all roared their affirmation, signifying their obedience to the Dragon Chancellor’s command.

Soon, they began to muster their armies in preparation for the assault on the Imperial City. Another vicious battle was about to begin. However, with the Netherworld Empire’s intervention, their victory was all but assured.

The Dragon Chancellor looked up at the sky. There wasn’t a single cloud in the vast azure expanse. "Since the heavens themselves don’t want me to take this throne, then I will shatter these heavens and take it by force for you all to see!"

"Nephew Ren Long, let’s have a proper reunion, you and I. We’ll see if you can hold on to that throne, or if it’s my turn to sit on it!" A cold, murderous light flickered in the Dragon Chancellor’s eyes. "The Great Emperor’s throne is mine. This entire empire is mine. No one can take it from me. Not even the Celestial Dragon Treasure can protect you!"

The fires of war had been lit.