Chapter 1773: Train Assassination Scheme

That Emperor... is really going to die of old age?

Whenever this thought appeared in Lord Chong's mind, he couldn't stop the excitement in his heart. He wasn't hoping for Ying Fu's death; quite the contrary, he very much hoped that Ying Fu could live well...

The successive generations of Alchemist Association presidents had secretly investigated, and that Emperor seemed to be that person from history... If it really was that person, his obsession with immortality would undoubtedly become a springboard for the Alchemist Association to further control the world!

The Alchemist Association could refine the Philosopher's Stone, and the Philosopher's Stone could carry a person's consciousness to complete spiritual immortality. Added to the fact that the Alchemist Association had already found Li Shangfeng, the key to stitching together consciousness and homunculi, they could be said to have grasped the key to immortality... Lord Chong didn't believe that that First Emperor could resist the temptation of immortality!

With the key to immortality, they could influence the Emperor's life and death to a certain extent. As long as they operated reasonably, they could even turn that person into their puppet to control the world!

This secret missive was the beginning of that Emperor starting to heavily use the Alchemist Association... Lord Chong believed that the South Sea Prison would definitely become the first experimental field for them to refine the Philosopher's Stone.

The Alchemist Association had finally waited for this day.

Thinking of this, the uneasiness in Lord Chong's heart dissipated by more than half. He gripped the secret missive in his hand, his heart surging with emotion for a time.

Clang——!!

Lord Chong only felt his body sway, followed immediately by an ear-piercing screech of brakes. This carriage where he was the sole passenger continuously decelerated in the Gray World...

Ultimately, it quietly stopped on the desolate earth.

Lord Chong froze.

He immediately looked out from the window. There were no Calamities present in the surroundings. A Realm Train braking and stopping for no reason in the Gray World was something Lord Chong had never heard of.

"What happened? Why stop?"

"Train Stewardess... Train Stewardess!"

Lord Chong called out for the Train Stewardess in the carriage, but received no response. Inside and outside the carriage were completely quiet. The bizarre deathly silence made his scalp tingle.

The uneasiness in Lord Chong's heart became increasingly dense. Just as he was about to proactively open the carriage door, the latter slowly opened with a crisp sound...

Creak——

The carriage door opened wide into the desolate world. In the monotonous black, white, and gray world, a figure wearing a black and red python robe stood silently behind the door.

That was a majestic-looking man, with a jade pendant hanging at his waist and a Wooden Box carried on his back. On the gorgeous python robe, a four-clawed flood dragon soared through the clouds and mist. His entire person emitted an indescribable noble aura.

Seeing this person, Lord Chong first froze for a moment, and then spoke pleasantly surprised:

"Duke of Zhao?! Why are you here??"

This person before his eyes, Lord Chong naturally recognized. This was exactly one of the three contemporary Demigods, the Path of the Scholar God Demigod, Duke of Zhao. This Duke of Zhao was a divine dragon whose head is seen but not its tail, and was frequently dispatched by that Emperor to secretly execute missions. Before Lord Chong departed, he heard that the Duke of Zhao had also gone out, he just didn't expect to see the other party here.

"I am here naturally to wait for you." The Duke of Zhao calmly stood in the Gray World, looking at the joyful-faced Lord Chong, a subtle smile hooking up at the corners of his mouth.

"Did His Majesty send you?"

"...Yes."

Lord Chong finally sighed in relief, immediately speaking, "Many thanks to the Duke of Zhao... To tell the truth, I am heading to the South Sea Prison under His Majesty's secret missive this time, to handle a major matter concerning the survival of the dynasty... The Realm Train braked and stopped for no reason, but with the Duke of Zhao here, I am at ease."

"Lord Chong... you won't be able to reach the South Sea Prison."

The Duke of Zhao's voice sounded leisurely.

Lord Chong froze. Just as he was about to say something, a sharp brushstroke flew out from the Wooden Box behind the Duke of Zhao like a long spear piercing through heaven and earth!

The speed of this brushstroke was too fast, directly piercing through Lord Chong's shoulder blade, carrying him flying dozens of meters away amidst a howl, and then nailing him to death against a Gray World boulder with a boom!

Thud——!!

Hideous cracks spread on the surface of the boulder. Lord Chong violently spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, his face pale as paper.

He looked at the slowly approaching Duke of Zhao in astonishment, his face full of incomprehension... He immediately shouted loudly:

"Duke of Zhao! Is there some misunderstanding somewhere!? This trip of mine is under His Majesty's secret missive..."

"Secret missive?" The Duke of Zhao shook his head. "His Majesty never wrote any secret missive to you."

"It's true! The letter is in my clothes, it..."

"Does that have His Majesty's personal seal on it? Does it have His Majesty's signature? It doesn't even have a subject on it. Just based on the four words 'South Sea Prison', who can prove that it's His Majesty's secret missive?"

Lord Chong's body trembled, like being struck by lightning!!

"You..." He looked blankly at the Duke of Zhao, unable to speak for a time. "How do you know... But that was clearly handed to me personally by Eunuch Zuo... He even said His Majesty..."

Seeing that subtle smile at the corners of the Duke of Zhao's mouth, Lord Chong finally seemed to realize something, disbelief surfacing on his face!

"It's His Majesty... It's His Majesty who wants to kill me?!!"

Eunuch Zuo was His Majesty's trusted aide. When he handed that secret missive to himself, he only mentioned that His Majesty wanted it passed on, but didn't say a single word about anything else... The vaguely worded four words in the letter, a subtle conjecture, and a train ticket leaving the Chengtian Domain, everything had a reasonable yet bizarrely secretive feeling.

Lord Chong originally thought that the materials for refining the Philosopher's Stone were not honorable to begin with, so he could understand His Majesty being so secretive, but now it seemed that wasn't the case... Eunuch Zuo, the Duke of Zhao, they were both the people His Majesty trusted the most. For the two of them to join hands to trick him out of the Chengtian Domain and come to this desolate Gray World to kill him, to say His Majesty knew nothing at all was impossible.

The only possibility was that all of this was being secretly pushed by His Majesty. He used an obscure secret missive to make him leave the Taishi Division, leave the Chengtian Domain, and even made him not dare to explain to the people around him what he was going to do before leaving... He just left silently, and then his corpse would be discovered in the Gray World along with a Realm Train that "encountered an attack".

No one would suspect the Emperor. Everyone in the Alchemist Association, including Brand, would only push the cause of death onto the Calamities in the Gray World.

"No... I don't understand!" Lord Chong's emotions were somewhat agitated. "Why does His Majesty want to kill me?!"

"Lord Chong, are you truly stupid, or playing stupid?" The Duke of Zhao snorted coldly. "Do you really think... His Majesty wouldn't perceive those little thoughts of your Alchemist Association?"

Lord Chong's body trembled.

"I..."

"You still understand His Majesty too little... Did you think a Philosopher's Stone, an illusory opportunity for immortality, could hold His Majesty? Did you really think His Majesty would actually believe in your Alchemist Association?" The Duke of Zhao spoke unhurriedly,

"Everything you have seen, is what His Majesty wanted you to see... Everything you fantasized about, is also what His Majesty deliberately guided you to fantasize about."

"After all, if he didn't give you some hope, how could you be so dead set on serving His Majesty for over three hundred years?"