God Emperor

Li Min nodded lightly with her lips pursed. “To be honest, I’m not completely sure. The three forefathers of the Li family have excused themselves from cultivation practices concurrently to host some VIPs from the ministry. This has caused quite a bit of bustle in the family.”

“I only got to know about the news that the ten elites are coming to Qingli County last night, after my visit to one of the forefathers.”

A skinny-looking scholar then asked, “Who are the ten elites? Should be some legendary figures?”

Li Min shook her head, “I’d never be able to be in contact with people as such. How would I know about those legendary figures?”

The scholars looked disappointed, although they had expected the reply.

After all, the elites handpicked by Wan Zhaoyi must be at least a half saint level or above.

The forefathers of their families were also half saints, yet it required much effort for them to meet their respective forefathers, let alone the ten elites of the military forces.

Li Min rolled her watery eyes back and thought for a while. Then she said, “One of my uncles was talking about their background, but I’m not sure how true this is.”

“Spit it out!”

“Yes tell us! It’s better than knowing nothing at all.”

…

She pursed her lips once more and said, “From what I’ve heard, the ten elites are selected from the military force of the Yuan Mansion. Jian Kongzi and Feng Qin are amongst them.”

All the scholars inhaled sharply just in hearing both of the names.

“Jian Kongzi is my idol. It’s said that he has already achieved mastery level for Sword Three. Three years ago, he defeated the Lord of Blood Dragon Palace. The whole of Yuan mansion consists of 36 counties, and the number of monks below saint level who could defeat the lord are no more than ten,” a scholar with a jade sword hanging on his waist exclaimed.

Li Min kept quiet and gave a faint smile. In her head, an image of a strongman physique paired with a handsome looking face appeared. Just the thought of him made her smile with the look of admiration on her face.

While Jian Kongzi was remarkable, he was less attractive in comparison to the man in her mind.

“Zhang Ruochen is another living legend. People like Jian Kongzi and Feng Qin have to join forces to defeat him.”

“To have earned the title ‘Time and Space Descendent’ itself is already enough to make a legend. Rumour has it that he is only in his 20s, about the same age as us. I wonder how he practiced. How can he be on par with a half saint already? ”

…

Zhang Ruochen did gather some useful news by eavesdropping on the discussion.

Wan Zhaoyi had come to Qingli county. He had to be more careful.

Wan Zhaoyi did leave a deep impression on him – this man was remarkable. It would be difficult to get rid of him once targeted, even if Zhang Ruochen had the saint decree.

The moment Zhang Ruochen decided to expose his cover, he had seen this coming; every step would be like walking on thin ice, and any mistakes would lead to disaster.

Moments later, the scholars left accordingly.

Zhang Ruochen’s gaze lay on the girl named Li Min and he followed her.

From the talk, Zhang Ruochen gathered that the Li Family was a Half Saint ranked family in Qingli County, and also one of the few powerful ones.

This was the reason why five of the ten elites were hosted by them. It showed how influential they were in this event.

Li Min was the talent of spiritual power in the Li Family. Although she was only 16 years old, she had already achieved level thirty.

Not long after, Li Min discovered that she’d been followed.

Of course, this was because Zhang Ruochen did not hide his aura intentionally.

Li Min did not seem to panic, and only quickened her pace.

Zhang Ruochen stared at the hourglass figure that was in front of him and thought: “She’s quite alert, not too bad.”

He decided not to follow her anymore, and the next second he appeared right in front of her, stopping her from stepping forward.

Li Min was quick-witted. She knew she would not be able to defend herself against the stalker. Immediately, she screamed for help, as if Zhang Ruochen had molested her.

That was blunt but effective.

They were in the capital city. A scream of a beautiful young lady would attract public attention, and when someone recognized her as the daughter of the Li Family, they would lend a hand.

Weirdly enough, her scream was not heard by the surrounding people. It was as if she was in a different space zone, and no one could see her.

No.

Someone could.

“Don’t be afraid, I only have a question,” said Zhang Ruochen.

Li Min tightened her grip on her book, her fingers turning pale. She asked in quivering voice, “What… what do you… what do you want?”

Though she was quick-witted, this weird phenomena scared her. She had no escape from this when she couldn’t even call for help — how could she remain calm? She was only a teenage girl.

In the back of her mind, men who followed young ladies were either perverts or bad guys with no good intention.

Obviously Zhang Ruochen had been labelled as the pervert.

But he was patient. He said, “I’ve said, I just want to ask you a question.”

“What did you say?” Li Min’s mind went blank, she couldn’t remember anything. All she wanted was to escape from this pervert.

Zhang Ruochen frowned, and started wondering what he did. He barely touched her but she, a spiritual power talent, was already petrified.

He asked without beating around the bush, “I heard you mention Wan Zhaoyi’s visit to Yuan Mansion, and that it was related to Pluto Sword Tomb and immortal vampires. Could you please tell me what is going on?”

“I never said that.”

Li Min shook her head, denying.

Zhang Ruochen deepened his frown, “You were discussing this with the scholars earlier, I heard this clearly.”

Not only had he followed her, but also eavesdropped on her conversation.

She was more certain that this man standing in front of her was a pervert.

Li Min pleaded, “Uncle, I swear I didn’t say anything about this, you have to believe me, this has nothing to do with me, you must be mistaken!”

“Uncle?” Zhang Ruochen sounded surprise.

Initially, he wanted to ask about Pluto Sword Tomb. Instead, he was mistaken as a perverted uncle.

From the look of it, it would be a no-go to ask something informative from her, nor could he threaten her.

Because if he did, he would be no different than a pervert.

Zhang Ruochen dismissed the Space Domain and told her, “You may leave now!”

As soon as Li Min regained her freedom, she grabbed her skirt and ran immediately, like a rabbit that was running away after its tail got stepped on.

The Li Family must have secrets related to Pluto Sword Tomb or the immortal vampires, Zhang Ruochen thought while staring at Li Min’s shadow, squinting.

At night, the capital was very crowded still.

There was a river in the city, and along the sides there were grand pavilions. Instrumental melodies accompanied by laughter were heard coming from the pavilions, blown along by the wind and echoing around the river.

That was the gathering spot for the talents. They discussed poetry or doubts they had encountered during practice.

There were lanterns floating on the surface of the water, their lights flickering like the stars twinkling in the dreamy sky.

Zhang Ruochen stood by the river underneath a tree, holding a purple lantern in his hand.

“I wish to meet the recipient of Pluto Saint Tomb.”

Zhang Ruochen conjured Sword Intent with his fingers to light up the lantern.

The purple lantern flew up almost immediately.

Out of all the lanterns, only his was purple in colour.

The purple lantern soared higher and higher, surpassing other lights and disappearing into the clouds.

…

In a five-story pavilion situated by the west of the river, a skinny forefather was sitting on the floor with a clean robe.

Li Min kneeled in front of him and talked about her creepy encounter. “Forefather, you have absolutely no idea how perverted he looked. He’s been following me in the dark, even eavesdropping on my conversation with other scholars. He’s no different from the pervert described in the books I read.”

The forefather smiled and said, “From what you’ve described, that pervert must be a skilled swordsman to have cultivated his own territory. The fact that you managed to escape with no harm is considered lucky already.”

Just then, his smile faded. He sensed something, stood up, and stared into the dark sky. A purple beam of light was ascending in the clouds.

“There is a sword saint in town. Li Min, pick up the veteran and be respectful. All the six sword saints have always been our VIPs, do not displease them,” the forefather ordered.

Due to the forefather’s title and position, it was inconvenient for him to welcome the sword saint himself. That was why he sent Li Min to welcome the sword saint.

Li Min was excited, and her heart could not stop rapidly beating. In her eyes, every sword saint was a living legend. She wondered who, of all the sword saints, had arrived in Qingli County?