Madam Jade Face's body slammed to the ground.
The next moment—
Ding!
[Host has killed Su Yan? Unbelievable, but it's a fact. Host actually joined forces with Yun Jinghuai and Hu Po to kill Su Yan.]
[With just Martial Saint cultivation, teamed up with someone freshly revived and a worn-out old maid, you managed to kill a Divine Refining-level powerhouse. This is nothing short of a heaven-defying miracle. Host, you truly defy the heavens.]
[Mission has achieved epic-level success. Reward: one drop of Nine-Tribulation Star Tear.]
[Reward has been issued. Host may receive it at any time.]
"Uncle, drag her away and bury her," Yang Cheng said through voice transmission. "If you notice anything unusual, don't make a scene. Just quietly inform Father and Mother."
He had no intention of removing the mask from Madam Jade Face.
After all, Master Mingxin was considered a literary icon in Great Zhou.
If it became known that the revered Master Mingxin was secretly a bloodthirsty demon who disguised himself as a woman, it would damage the empire's reputation.
Since he liked being Madam Jade Face so much, Yang Cheng would let him die as her.
As for the name "Master Mingxin," let it vanish into silence and become a mysterious legend.
"Understood," Yun Jinghuai replied smoothly.
But no one noticed that, just before Madam Jade Face died, a flash of black light flickered in her eyes.
Silently, the black light shot toward Yang Cheng's chariot.
Inside the chariot—
[Alert! Major alert! Host is under attack from an ancient demonic entity—Vast God-level expert Duanmu Chong.]
[Five hundred years ago, Duanmu Chong's fragmented soul was discovered and unsealed by Su Yan from a Primordial ruin. At the time of awakening, Duanmu Chong's soul power was only at the Martial Grandmaster level.]
[After five hundred years of quiet recovery, his soul power has now returned to the Nirvana God level.]
[This is the most dangerous crisis the host has faced since beginning the comeback path.]
[Host must do everything possible to survive.]
[Mission Reward: Absolute Godblade Technique (Stages One to Nine).]
What?
I'm being attacked?
Yang Cheng was completely caught off guard.
He had no idea there was a hidden monster inside Su Yan's body.
And this wasn't just any monster, but an ancient demonic entity—a Vast God-level being.
Aside from Lin Xinglan, this was the scariest being Yang Cheng had ever known.
Now he finally understood why the upright Master Mingxin had turned into a blood-drinking demon.
But Yang Cheng quickly calmed himself.
Duanmu Chong's soul power five hundred years ago was only Martial Grandmaster level?
And right now, it was exactly five hundred years ago.
So, technically, he had nothing to fear.
The next instant—
Yang Cheng sensed a black-robed old man appearing in his sea of consciousness.
"Hehehe, little brat, your talent is unreal. Compared to you, Su Yan was complete trash."
The old man's eyes gleamed with greed. "And you're not even two years old yet—you're still highly moldable. Hahaha, this must be fate helping me!"
"Who are you?" Yang Cheng feigned panic.
"Don't be afraid, kid. I am Duanmu Chong, a Vast God expert from ancient times," the black-robed elder said.
"What's a Vast God?" Yang Cheng asked, looking confused.
"…" Duanmu Chong paused, then replied, "Almost forgot, you're just a baby, not that Martial Sovereign Su Yan. No need for you to know what a Vast God is. Just understand this—if I wanted to, I could crush Great Zhou's strongest warrior with a finger."
"I mean you no harm. As a senior, I'm simply pleased to see such promising talent. Meeting me is your greatest fortune. If you accept me as your master, I'll train you into a peerless powerhouse who'll conquer the heavens..."
Before he could finish, Yang Cheng exploded his mental power, which had been quietly building.
His soul force instantly condensed into a sword infused with sword intent and stabbed straight at Duanmu Chong.
Caught off guard, Duanmu Chong's soul was pierced through.
Yang Cheng's soul power wasn't much weaker than his—this blow definitely caused real damage.
"Damn it!" Duanmu Chong roared in fury. "What are you doing, brat?"
Yang Cheng didn't waste time pretending anymore. The spirit sword kept stabbing.
Duanmu Chong immediately realized this brat was harder to manipulate than Su Yan.
Su Yan had been tricked step by step into walking the path of demonic cultivation.
Even after Su Yan realized the truth, it was too late to turn back.
"I had planned to slowly shape you and harvest you once fully ripe..."
Now enraged, Duanmu Chong growled, "But you've left me no choice. I'll just take over your body now!"
He knew he couldn't merge perfectly with this body right now. If he forced it, there would be serious aftereffects.
But he had no other options.
"Seed of the Dao Demon!"
In an instant, his soul released a strange black mist.
As it emerged, Yang Cheng's mind became dizzy.
If it had been a real baby, Duanmu Chong would've succeeded then and there.
But Yang Cheng had cultivated for five hundred years in his past life. His willpower was nothing a child could compare to.
That let him barely maintain a sliver of clarity.
At the same time, he sensed a stream of cool energy flowing into his soul.
"The Great Divination Breathing Technique!"
Without hesitation, Yang Cheng activated it at full power.
As it ran, a phantom of an ancient ginkgo tree rose within his sea of consciousness.
The black mist released by Duanmu Chong slammed right into it.
"Ahh!"
He let out a miserable scream and stared in horror at the phantom of the ginkgo tree. "Mist Lord… Primal Chaos God Tree… Dao Ancestor of Great Divination—this is the Great Divination Ancient Seal. Only those who cultivate the Great Divination Breathing Technique can manifest it.
Impossible! That technique was lost ages ago. How could you possibly have it…?"
As he shrieked, the strange black mist broke apart at lightning speed, and his fragmented soul disintegrated right along with it.
In just a few moments, Duanmu Chong's soul vanished completely.
The phantom of the ginkgo tree also faded away, as if it had never been there.
Yang Cheng's eyes narrowed. Looks like the origins of the Great Divination Breathing Technique were even more profound than he thought.
Ding!
[??? How did the host pull that off? Incomprehensible. Completely illogical.]
[Host actually killed Duanmu Chong, who had Nirvana God-level soul power. This simply doesn't make sense.]
[Congratulations, host. You've achieved another epic-level feat.]
[Absolute Godblade Technique (Nine Levels) has been issued. Host may receive it at any time.]
"Receive Absolute Godblade Technique," Yang Cheng murmured.
A massive torrent of blade technique knowledge instantly flooded into his mind.
Half an hour later—
Yun Jinghuai had Madam Jade Face's body taken to the military camp.
After dismissing everyone, he peeled off the skin-like face covering and tore away a human-skin mask.
The face underneath made Yun Jinghuai's expression change drastically.
"Master Mingxin?"
Now he understood why the Crown Prince had sent a voice transmission earlier, warning him not to make a scene if anything seemed off.
The cultural figurehead of Great Zhou, disguising himself as a woman to assassinate the Crown Prince—if this got out, it would strike a huge blow to Great Zhou's reputation.
"Greetings, Your Majesty. Greetings, Your Majesty the Empress."
The voices of soldiers rang out from outside.
Soon, Emperor Qian Yuan and Yun Liyue entered the tent.
The moment their eyes landed on the corpse, both their expressions changed.
"Seal all news of this strictly. Also, have someone summon Lady Cheng. Tell her to come immediately," said Emperor Qian Yuan.
At Autumn Water Courtyard—
"Chengcheng, why were you late today?" Cheng Junyi asked curiously.
Yang Cheng answered, "Teacher, I was stopped on the way by a woman claiming to seek justice."
As soon as she heard that, Cheng Junyi's face changed. She blurted out, "Chengcheng, don't pay any attention to that woman!"
When Su Yan left yesterday, she'd had a strange feeling—like she had missed something important.
Now hearing Yang Cheng mention it, she instantly realized what she'd overlooked. Su Yan had probably made a move on Yang Cheng.
"Teacher, relax. I'm standing right here, safe and sound."
Yang Cheng said, "You don't know—she played the victim so well. But a few days ago, I happened to see her leaping across rooftops. She probably thought I wouldn't recognize her, but I only needed one glance to remember."
"So I immediately knew something was off and had Hu Po strike. That exposed her on the spot…"
He gave a general summary of what had happened.
After hearing everything, Cheng Junyi was now certain—the woman must've been Su Yan in disguise.
Her face grew even more tense. "Chengcheng, that woman isn't simple. She might've had a demon hiding inside her. Did you feel anything strange in your sea of consciousness?"
She quickly started inspecting Yang Cheng's body.
Yang Cheng shook his head. "Teacher, I didn't sense anything off."
Cheng Junyi let out a breath of relief but silently resolved to keep a close eye on him from now on.
After all, Su Yan hadn't shown any signs early on either—he changed slowly over time.
"Lady Cheng."
Chief Eunuch Su Jin suddenly appeared outside. "His Majesty is at the capital's military camp and requests your presence."
Cheng Junyi's heart stirred. She had a feeling what this was about.
"Chengcheng, Tangtang, continue your cultivation here. I'll be back soon."
She wasn't worried about Yang Cheng or Tang Xingyu.
Both children were very well-behaved. Besides, there were plenty of palace attendants around.
Not long after, Cheng Junyi followed Su Jin into Yun Jinghuai's tent.
The moment she saw the body on the floor, she froze.
"Lady Cheng," Yun Liyue said, "Master Mingxin wore a mask until the moment of death. That's why Chengcheng didn't know it was him and thought she was just a regular assassin. That's why he gave the order to kill."
Cheng Junyi let out a sigh. No one could be blamed for this.
It was Su Yan's fate to perish. He insisted on disguising himself as a woman to assassinate the Crown Prince.
No one could've guessed his real identity. Treating him as just another assassin was only natural.
"Your Majesty the Empress, you're overthinking," Cheng Junyi said. "Even if the Crown Prince had known his identity, I wouldn't blame him."
"He tried to assassinate the Crown Prince. For that alone, being killed was justified."
"And if he had survived and I found out he'd tried to assassinate the Crown Prince, I wouldn't have let him live either."
Hearing that, Yun Liyue, Yun Jinghuai, and Emperor Qian Yuan were all visibly surprised.
But then, they all felt genuinely pleased.
It proved Yang Cheng had chosen an excellent teacher.
"Lady Cheng, we've summoned you because we plan to secretly cremate the body. That way, the truth won't get out and tarnish Master Mingxin's reputation," said Emperor Qian Yuan.
Cheng Junyi thought for a moment and nodded. "That's for the best."
To her, this really was the best solution.
This way, she could always believe her senior brother still lived, while the one who died and committed evil was simply Madam Jade Face.
To avoid future complications, Emperor Qian Yuan gave the order directly to Yun Jinghuai—have the soldiers drag Su Yan's body away and burn it.
As she watched Su Yan's corpse turn to ash, Cheng Junyi let out a deep breath.
There was some sadness in her heart, but mostly it was relief.
After all, in her heart, Su Yan had already died a long time ago.
Half an hour later—
Cheng Junyi returned to Autumn Water Courtyard.
"Teacher, you seem a lot more at ease," Yang Cheng remarked.
He knew her mindset directly affected his mission.