Chapter 209: Free Will, the Origin of the Empress Dowager

"Mr. Zhong, this is a private matter of mine; please step aside for a moment." As Chu Danqing spoke, he gave Da Bao a look, signaling him to take Zhong Ting further away.

Doing this was naturally to avoid triggering the other party's forced repatriation, which they might use to survive after leaking information related to the Paradise.

Although the penalty for leaking information is now more severe than before, it is only a -1 point reduction to all attributes, which is a bargain compared to losing one's life.

Zhong Ting sensed the pressure of the aura emanating from Da Bao, so he nodded and stepped aside to avoid suspicion.

After Zhong Ting left, the apostle was dragged over by Yue Lan Wu Ying.

During the process, he took two more punches, and the deformation of his body slowly faded as he suffered heavy injuries.

"Buddy, it's true that I snatched your kill, but you are really..." Chu Danqing stopped halfway, then suddenly paused: "Wait, who are you? Do we have a grudge?"

Chu Danqing had originally assumed that this apostle attacking him was the same one from whom he had snatched the Spirit Control Basics.

After all, the other party had claimed to have locked onto him with an item, so a sudden attack made perfect sense.

But after waiting for the other party to change back and taking another look, it wasn't the same person, but someone else entirely.

"It seems you've offended quite a few people." This apostle gave a laugh and then said, "Want to know why I came to kill you?"

"Let's sign a notarized agreement; I'll tell you, and you let me leave."

"Forget it, it's more convenient to just kill you." Chu Danqing naturally couldn't agree to that.

From the other party's tone, he could confirm one thing: the other party wasn't acting out of greed, but had planned this long ago.

After saying this, Yue Lan Wu Ying prepared to strike.

"Wait, I'm a member of Free Will, and I have a Vengeance Brand on me." The other party said immediately, "If you kill me, you will face retaliation."

Chu Danqing, however, sneered: "So that's it. I must have offended some high-ranking apostle of Free Will."

A Vengeance Brand isn't a nuclear weapon. Chu Danqing didn't want to offend major factions, but if he were to act timidly because of it, wouldn't that be ridiculous?

"That's right." This apostle let out a sigh of relief, thinking his intimidation had worked, and then said, "You killed a follower seed being cultivated by a member of our faction's management."

"He paid a huge price to get the Paradise to approve bringing this follower seed from a dangerous Western fantasy world to a stable, low-level martial arts world to develop."

"Just as it was about to break through to Rank 3 and become a harvest, it was killed by you."

"This caused everything he did to go down the drain; this matter is definitely not over."

"But brother, rest assured, if you don't kill me, I absolutely won't work against you in this trial. We can have this notarized."

"His item can only be used once, and the Paradise won't allow him to repeatedly suppress a low-rank apostle for the sake of vicious competition."

"If he insists on acting recklessly, not only will he be punished by the Paradise, but Free Will will also be implicated."

"But if you kill me, it's different. The Vengeance Brand lasts for at least three trials."

"If you kill the pursuer as well, the duration will be refreshed again."

"Endless trouble, like stepping in dog shit; nobody wants to get that on them." The apostle explained the pros and cons, indicating he shouldn't be killed.

Chu Danqing remained silent. He wasn't hesitating about whether to kill or not, but rather because he hadn't expected the Empress Dowager to be a character intentionally planted by a Dimension Apostle in the previous trial world.

No wonder her art style felt so out of place. Now it seemed that the Tiefling gene seed, Succubus bloodline, Bloodline Warlock profession, and Nine Hells Meditation Method in his hands were not native.

They were things belonging to this member of the management within the Free Will faction.

And this kind of behavior didn't seem to be supported by the Paradise, even if he had paid a great price.

There was nothing impossible about that; after all, the Paradise doesn't encourage you to go to low-rank worlds to profit.

If you can go on a rampage and mow down enemies at the same rank, as long as it's legal, the Paradise can ignore even the most excessive behavior; after all, it's your own ability.

Going to low-rank worlds to profit might cause negligible damage to interests, but it affects the growth of low-rank apostles.

The foundation of the Paradise is its apostles; how could it watch you affect them?

"How do you think your Free Will's Vengeance Brand compares to the Long Hu Alliance or the Tiance Prefecture?" Chu Danqing said with a smile.

This caused the apostle's pupils to shrink. How could he not understand what Chu Danqing meant by that?

It was nothing more than the fact that the other party had killed people from those two factions.

Their Free Will really couldn't compare to those two factions.

"I'm willing to pay a ransom; let's get it notarized." Now that things had reached this point, he understood that his idea of using the Vengeance Brand for intimidation had failed.

The Vengeance Brand isn't invincible; quite a few factions have been wiped out by fierce individuals precisely because of this thing.

High-rankers cannot interfere with low-rankers, and fierce individuals who grow up will kill their way through. Forget about revenge; they'd end up losing their own lives too.

The atmosphere of the Paradise is indeed not that cruel, but while the base is large, it is also full of opportunities everywhere, and every so often, a fierce individual will pop out from some unknown corner.

And there are quite a few lone wolves like Chu Danqing, who are powerful but lack fame, focusing solely on improving themselves.

By the time you want to befriend them, they might have already ranked up, and you wouldn't be able to find them even if you wanted to.

"Oh." Chu Danqing responded calmly, and then Yue Lan Wu Ying moved, directly breaking the apostle's limbs.

But that wasn't the end; he also destroyed the other party's vocal cords.

The other party immediately understood what Chu Danqing was going to do.

The Vengeance Brand only takes effect on apostles, but it has no effect on natives.

There are Vengeance Brands that can trace causality, but that is simply not something their Free Will could possess.

Even if Free Will had one, it wouldn't be his turn to use it.

Destroying the vocal cords was to prevent him from leaking Paradise intelligence and being forcibly returned.

As for transmitting via mental intent? He would have to know how to do that first.

It's not just about having a brainwave and finding a solution; the prerequisite is having the conditions to implement it.

Chu Danqing had Da Bao bring Zhong Ting back and told him his intentions.

After listening, Zhong Ting frowned: "Young Master Chu, are you preparing to make me submit a letter of intent?"

"Not really, it's just that his background is unusual." Chu Danqing truly didn't have that thought, then said: "You do it, and I'll give you the Centipede Pearl directly."

With things said to this point, Zhong Ting knew he had no choice; he drew a dagger, thrust it into his throat, and twisted.

This apostle died with eyes full of unwillingness.

"It seems this person's background is huge, so huge that Young Master Chu isn't even afraid of me running away." Zhong Ting said, taking the Centipede Pearl handed over by Chu Danqing.

He didn't know the situation, but he wasn't incapable of analyzing the current state of affairs.

"Theoretically speaking, you're not wrong." Chu Danqing said vaguely.

Zhong Ting was actually not wrong; as a background, the Paradise is indeed huge.

On the other side, Yue Lan Wu Ying had already dug a pit and casually threw the apostle, whose name he didn't even know, into the pit and filled it in.

Chu Danqing was muttering about how many people that management member from Free Will had sent; he hoped it wasn't just this one.

This possibility wasn't small; the Paradise has always been very strict regarding high-rankers interfering with low-rankers and factions suppressing individuals.

Sending three or five people and consuming so many resources to hunt down a stranger—Free Will would be better off keeping them to use for their own growth.

Especially since this matter was a grudge between Chu Danqing and that management member, not a grudge against Free Will.

If that management member lost his mind, there would always be other management members to check him to avoid further losses.

Zhong Ting took a deep look at Chu Danqing; he suspected that Chu Danqing was a big shot from some warlord faction.

Otherwise, how could there be someone hunting him down?

"Let's go, it's getting late, let's not delay." Chu Danqing urged.

It was just killing an apostle; for Chu Danqing, it was merely a small interlude and didn't count as anything major.

As for taking revenge on that management member of Free Will.

If they met, he could take action; if they didn't, Chu Danqing wouldn't use his own resources to do such a thing.

Wouldn't it be better to use them on himself to get stronger? It's not worth it just to vent his anger.

Zhong Ting nodded in response and led Chu Danqing to continue walking toward the mountaintop.

With the arrival of dusk, the temperature began to drop; by night, it would be even colder.

If they were to stay in the wild, wild beasts and the temperature would be secondary; instead, various fierce creatures would begin to roam.

Day is Yang, night is Yin.

During the day, these fierce creatures fear the sun, but at night, they have no such scruples.

Instead, humans become the prey.

However, it's only because this place, the Cangmang Guling, is so sinister that this situation occurs; if it were any other place, it wouldn't be this terrifying.

It's just that the mortality rate isn't low either; after all, in the chaotic times of warlords, today you fight me, tomorrow I fight him, and it's common for a new commander to take over every few days.

The two climbed all the way to the top of the mountain and saw the Golden Dragon Temple.

"Are you sure this Golden Dragon Temple has long been without monks?" Chu Danqing looked at the temple.

If you want to talk about being dilapidated, it is indeed dilapidated; it's a hassle to transport building materials in here for repairs or to find craftsmen.

But no matter how you look at it, it doesn't look abandoned; at most, it just lacks pilgrims.

"This shouldn't be." Zhong Ting naturally didn't think his senior uncle had intentionally lied to him.

This was all information passed down; who knows if future successors would go to explore it.

"How high do you think the authenticity of what your senior uncle said is?" Chu Danqing asked.

"At least eighty percent." Zhong Ting carefully examined the Golden Dragon Temple and then said: "On the contrary, since this Golden Dragon Temple is located in the Cangmang Guling, it's possible it has undergone some mutations."

Chu Danqing also leaned more toward this explanation from Zhong Ting.

"Then let's go in and test it out." Chu Danqing said directly: "If there really are any demons or ghosts, let's just eliminate them together."

Since they were already here, if there were any abnormalities, they could just treat them as a reward to be dealt with.

Zhong Ting looked at Chu Danqing with a strange expression; the fierce creature in your shadow also counts in this category.

Heading toward the temple, as soon as they stepped inside, a thick smell of cosmetics rushed to their faces.

This scent didn't feel like a temple; instead, it felt more like a brothel.

(End of chapter)