Chapter 629: Fish Gut (Extra update, seeking monthly votes)

"We meet again, True Demon Lord!"

Lu Zhong sat at the guest table, picked up the teapot, and poured himself a cup of tea.

This tea was provided by the inn; it was nothing high-grade, and it had long since gone cold.

Yet he seemed not to care in the slightest, even taking a small, cherished sip.

"Mm, we are old friends, after all..."

Fang Xing smiled and nodded: "To think you could see through my disguise; is this a unique ability of the Avengers?"

"That is correct. Avengers wish to take revenge against the gods, so naturally, they possess the ability to scout the aura of gods... As early as our last encounter, I had already secretly memorized your aura."

Lu Zhong answered every question asked.

"I can see that you have matured much, and aged much as well..."

Fang Xing looked toward Lu Zhong's chest: "Is it because of that sub-artifact?"

"Oh? You can actually see it?"

Lu Zhong was somewhat surprised, reaching into his chest to pull out a short sword.

It was no longer than a chopstick, very petite, looking more like a child's toy than a sub-artifact!

"It seems it still needs to increase its concealment capabilities..."

Lu Zhong toyed with the short sword in his hand, lost in thought.

"You exhausted your lifespan to nearly its limit just to forge such a sub-artifact?"

The corner of Fang Xing's eye twitched slightly; from this short sword, he felt a faint sense of danger.

A professional above Level 20 holding an artifact already possesses the qualifications to pose a danger to a god.

Of course, only a little bit.

"I once incited several riots against the God of Redemption, and I once launched an insurgent army... I also trained batch after batch of Avengers..."

Lu Zhong coughed: "But after several years, I discovered I had accomplished nothing! Because the common people of this world are too ignorant... They need a scene of blood to remind them."

"So, you decided to pull off something big?"

Fang Xing smiled: "Who is the target of the assassination?"

"In the Imperial Capital, besides the Son of Heaven of the Great Zhou, who else is qualified to receive my 'Sword of Revenge'?"

Lu Zhong sighed: "The Son of Heaven of the Great Zhou is the divine descendant of the 'God of Imperial Systems and Monarchs', the bloodline left in the mortal world by the Great Zhou's main god. I want to use his blood and his life to declare that gods also bleed, and that they can be annihilated..."

"Assassinate the Son of Heaven of the Great Zhou?"

Fang Xing nodded: "Truly a big deal. Regardless of whether you succeed or not, you will certainly die."

"That is so, but I have already sown the sparks..." Lu Zhong said.

He had no more years left to live, and was prepared to use this final life to shine and burn.

"So that's how it is..."

The smile on Fang Xing's lips widened: "Such an interesting matter, as an Evil God, I must certainly come to help set the stage..."

He reached out his hand: "Give me your sword."

Lu Zhong handed the short sword over directly, seemingly not caring in the slightest.

Fang Xing took it, gripped the hilt, and immediately felt a sense of resistance.

"This sword is an Avenger's artifact... To use it fluently, one must be a restricted profession, otherwise one will constantly be repelled."

Lu Zhong spoke.

The next instant, his eyes widened as he felt the short sword suddenly become enveloped in a layer of mist.

The sword was still that same sword, yet it seemed to have become ordinary, no longer so dangerous.

This feeling was just like when he faced Fang Xing!

"I have added a layer of 'God-Eye-Hard-to-Reach' effect to it... Within a few months, it will not even be noticed by the gods."

Fang Xing tossed the short sword back to Lu Zhong: "Since you are prepared to assassinate the monarch, this sword will surely leave a name through the ages. Why not change its name to 'Fish Gut Sword'—consider it a good omen."

"'Fish Gut'?! That works..."

Lu Zhong caught it, feeling the strangeness on the sword body, and couldn't help but nod silently: "With this sword, my success rate has increased by another thirty percent."

As for what happens after the assassination succeeds, he hadn't considered it at all.

Avengers are just that kind of group.

Furthermore, after assassinating the Son of Heaven of the Great Zhou, it was indeed unlikely he would be able to escape.

"Since that is the case, then I wish you success..."

"I might take advantage of the chaos to steal the Great Zhou Golden Men, which can also serve as cover for you."

Fang Xing said nonchalantly.

"The Great Zhou Golden Men?"

Lu Zhong seemed to think of something: "According to the top-secret intelligence I obtained... one of the Great Zhou Golden Men was lost before. Among the remaining eleven, six have already been secretly transferred away... those remaining in their original places are merely fakes."

"What? To actually create fake wonders, they truly are not worthy of being human!"

Fang Xing cursed, then asked with curiosity: "Where did those six Golden Men go?"

"To the lands beyond!"

Lu Zhong said with certainty: "The Great Zhou Zhou Shenchao has always wanted to deploy troops to the lands beyond and retrieve the final Golden Man..."

'As expected of the Great Zhou...'

Fang Xing sighed inwardly.

Moving a large army might be hard to hide, but moving this kind of high-rank combat power was much easier.

If the Three Absolutes Pass suddenly received the support of six Great Zhou Golden Men, even relying on their own strength alone would be enough to sweep through the lands beyond.

'Has the Great Zhou imperial court finally been pushed to the edge by me?'

'Also, regardless of what the Killing Sect is doing in the lands beyond, for them to remain as quiet as a good baby for so many years makes one even more uneasy, doesn't it?'

'Could this probing be to force out the true foundation of the Killing Sect?'

Fang Xing couldn't help but sigh inwardly; soldiers are hidden above the nine heavens, and this sudden eruption left even him feeling slightly caught off guard.

Several days later.

Three Absolutes Pass.

A small squad was patrolling the city wall. The countless terracotta warriors and divine beast puppets... remained quiet, either kneeling or standing, everything as usual.

Until...

Boom—!

The gates of Three Absolutes Pass opened with a roar, and the armies originally stationed there were dispatched.

The eyes of those terracotta warriors lit up, and the divine beasts began to roar.

Thump!

Thump!

The earth rumbled as golden giants, each nearly taller than the city walls, emerged.

The pressure brought by the spiritual light alone was enough to make the entire army fearful.

"It seems His Majesty is determined to level the lands beyond, to have even sent six Great Zhou Golden Men... Using a butcher's knife to kill a chicken, indeed."

On the city wall, a light flashed.

!

City God Sang appeared, feeling the pressure from the six great Golden Men, and hurriedly bowed first.

That was not bowing to the Golden Men, but bowing to the gods.

The Great Zhou Golden Men possessed divine might!

"This expedition will surely level the barbarians and raise our national prestige!"

The commander of Three Absolutes Pass was in high spirits, his gaze looking south.

Almost at the same moment.

Great Zhou Imperial Capital.

The Son of Heaven went out to offer sacrifices at the divine temple.

The wide streets were already packed with dense rows of Imperial Guards.

The honor guard alone exceeded ten thousand people.

Wherever they passed, iron armor was like clouds, and banners were like rain.

And this was only on the surface.

If a high-level cultivator were here, they could see the true 'Earth Gods clearing the path, City Gods following in the dark, Wind Masters leading the way, and Rain Masters cleansing the streets...'

"The Son of Heaven on patrol, a hundred gods following—truly a grand display..."

In the crowd, Fang Xing was still dressed as a hunter, sighing in admiration.

In reality, however, he was mocking inwardly:

'Son of Heaven, the son of the sky... inherently a head shorter than the sky, and it is a divine title, not an imperial title!'

'A true Emperor should call himself "Human Emperor," becoming emperor because of humans, having nothing to do with the heavens or the gods... That is true self-reliance.'

'Since I am human, the human way must suppress the heavenly way, suppress everything!'

'This is the principle of where the interests lie, that is where one must sit...'

Although the scene was very lively, Fang Xing was not prepared to get too close to the front.

After all, those Avengers were certainly taking action today; getting too close might result in blood splashing on him.

Instead, he retreated a few steps to go watch those Great Zhou Golden Men.

'Mm... after getting closer, several of the Golden Men are clearly not right...'

'As expected, they were tampered with. A smoke screen created by divine power?'

Fang Xing calculated silently: 'Now... the army at Three Absolutes Pass should also be dispatched, preparing to sweep through the lands beyond, right?'

With the scale of the Great Zhou Zhou Shenchao, the lands beyond clearly would not have many chances.

Moreover, this was another attack following the failure of the last operation against the Killing Sect.

'The lands beyond aren't very important, but the trees I planted are all over there...'

Precisely because of this, Fang Xing had taken action last time, personally giving the Fish Gut Sword a blessing.

He just hoped Lu Zhong could be effective.

Of course, Fang Xing knew that even if Lu Zhong succeeded in killing the Son of Heaven of the Great Zhou, it actually wouldn't change anything.

There were plenty of divine descendants on the ground; killing one Son of Heaven would at most lead to the installation of another.

As a divine dynasty, in the final analysis, everything ultimately falls to the gods.

"Mm?"

Fang Xing suddenly looked up, staring at the stars that were suddenly brilliant in broad daylight: "The heavens emit a killing intent, shifting stars and changing constellations?"

Destruction Zone, outside the Divine Kingdom.

Avatars of gods suddenly appeared.

A god's avatar is an ability that a true god with a divine spark possesses by instinct; they can create clones possessing most of their own strength, and within the Heavenly Court—this upper-plane gathering—their power would almost not be suppressed at all.

"God of Shadows and Thieves, Goddess of Love..."

"Of course, there is also the War Master..."

Dark destructive divine power flashed, and Fang Xing's destruction avatar appeared. Looking at this scene, a cold sneer couldn't help but appear on his face: "You lot, not only besieged my church below, but actually dare to surround my Divine Kingdom?"

"Destruction..."

The War Master appeared as a red-haired, white-skinned burly man wearing pitch-black divine armor, his voice like thunder: "Hand over the Great Zhou Golden Men and guarantee that the Killing Sect will never leave the lands beyond... This is the final chance and tolerance we give you."

True gods are hard to kill, especially Fang Xing, this God of Destruction; as long as he stayed within his Divine Kingdom, even the Great Zhou's main god had no particularly good way to deal with him.

Therefore, at this point, they could still obtain a chance to negotiate.

Of course, if the negotiations collapsed, the Great Zhou divine system would directly blockade Fang Xing's Divine Kingdom.

As a God of Destruction, his divine power was limited; no matter how he exhausted it, he couldn't out-exhaust twelve true gods.

Although the cost and losses would be great, for the Great Zhou divine system, this was already the best method.

At the very least, it was much better than directly killing their way into the Divine Kingdom.

"Finally... has it reached this step?"

Fang Xing murmured, his gaze looking downward, seemingly seeing an extremely interesting scene.

(End of chapter)