Chapter 37

Prince Hachi was assassinated in the royal city, and even his head was cut off and taken away. The impact was truly terrible. If the murderer is not found and severely punished, wouldn't anyone dare to kill members of the royal family in the future?

Prince Yunwu was enraged and summoned the ten generals who guarded the royal city to the palace that very night. The city gates were closed, and the martial market was sealed. He would rather arrest a hundred innocent people than let one guilty person escape.

"It's been so many years, and yet someone dares to assassinate a member of the royal family in the royal city. They truly have the nerve," Prince Yunwu said with a cold snort.

In the grand hall, the ten generals felt as if a thunderclap had struck, their eardrums nearly shattering, and they trembled, immediately kneeling on the ground.

Each of the ten generals commanded tens of thousands of troops, held high positions, and possessed formidable martial cultivation. However, Prince Yunwu's single cold snort was enough to make them all kneel.

There was no way around it; Prince Yunwu was a Heaven Extreme Realm powerhouse, a martial legend, a god-like existence among martial artists.

The national advisor, Xue Jingtian, stood respectfully below and said, "Your Majesty, could this be related to the Moon Worship Cult? In the Yunwu Kingdom, the only ones who dare to oppose the royal family are the Moon Worship Cult and the Black Market."

"The Black Market, though it gathers many ruthless and evil figures, generally acts for profit. Killing Prince Hachi would be a completely unprofitable act, not their style."

"On the contrary, the Moon Worship Cult, who worships the demon god, acts erratically and is entirely capable of killing Prince Hachi to challenge the royal family's authority."

"The Moon Worship Cult?" Prince Yunwu's eyes narrowed slightly.

In the Yunwu Kingdom, the strongest force was naturally the royal family, which controlled the nation's armies, with countless strong warriors ruling the entire kingdom.

Other sects and families were mere small fry compared to the royal family, not even worth comparing.

However, there were some forces that could challenge the royal family, such as the Inscription Guild, the Moon Worship Cult, the Black Market, and the Martial Market Bank.

The Inscription Guild and the Martial Market Bank controlled all the alchemists, weapon forgers, beast tamers, and extraordinary individuals in the kingdom, while the latter controlled more than thirty percent of the kingdom's wealth.

The Inscription Guild and the Martial Market Bank were spread throughout the Kunlun Realm, and their words could influence the decisions of Prince Yunwu.

Of course, the Inscription Guild and the Martial Market Bank complemented the official forces, benefiting each other. Under normal circumstances, they would never oppose the official forces.

In peacetime, the Inscription Guild and the Martial Market Bank symbolically submitted to the official forces and accepted their management to some extent.

However, when it came to core interests, they managed everything themselves, and even the official forces could not interfere.

The Black Market, like the Inscription Guild and the Martial Market Bank, had existed since ancient times and was completely unregulated by the official forces.

The Black Market specialized in all kinds of dirty underground transactions, representing the dark side of the world.

They controlled the majority of the kingdom's assassins, prostitutes, thieves, wanted criminals, and even a large number of slave traders and dark mercenaries.

The Black Market could rival the Martial Market Bank to some extent and was a formidable force.

The official forces could suppress the Black Market to some extent but could never eliminate it. In some other kingdoms, the Black Market even controlled the entire government and military, turning those kingdoms into dark paradises.

As for the Moon Worship Cult, they were even more terrifying. They worshipped the demon god, had many strong warriors, and established branches in every kingdom and city, constantly opposing the official forces.

They even wanted to overthrow the rule of the First Central Empire and control the entire Kunlun Realm.

The Moon Worship Cult established a main branch in each kingdom and appointed a branch leader. In each city under the kingdom, they established a sub-branch and appointed a sub-branch leader.

Naturally, the Moon Worship Cult had a presence in the Yunwu Kingdom.

It was said that the branch leader of the Moon Worship Cult in the Yunwu Kingdom was also a Heaven Extreme Realm cultivator, a martial legend.

"If it was indeed the Moon Worship Cult who killed Prince Hachi, it is definitely a threatening signal. They are testing the Yunwu Kingdom's strength. It's possible that a large number of Moon Worship Cult experts are gathering in the Yunwu Kingdom, preparing to take action against it," the national advisor Xue Jingtian said.

The national advisor was the queen's brother and knew that Prince Hachi was accidentally killed by someone the queen had sent out.

To prevent Prince Yunwu from suspecting the queen, he had to divert Prince Yunwu's attention to the Moon Worship Cult.

The assassination of a prince was a major event, but the Moon Worship Cult was an even bigger issue.

After all, in the past eight hundred years, the Moon Worship Cult had destroyed more than one kingdom, a nightmare for many rulers.

If the Moon Worship Cult really intended to launch a large-scale attack on the Yunwu Kingdom, no matter how important other matters were, Prince Yunwu would definitely put them aside first.

Hearing the national advisor's words, Prince Yunwu's expression indeed became serious.

The national advisor glanced at Prince Yunwu and breathed a slight sigh of relief.

He had finally diverted Prince Yunwu's attention. If Prince Yunwu had ordered a thorough investigation into Prince Hachi's death, it might have led to the queen.

"Prince Hachi could not have been killed by the Moon Worship Cult!" Zhang Ruochu walked into the grand hall and said loudly.

The national advisor's eyes narrowed. "Ninth Prince, do you have another theory?"

Zhang Ruochu said, "Prince Hachi was riding in my carriage, which is why he was killed on the way back to the palace. Clearly, the assassins' target was me, and Prince Hachi was just a casualty."

Prince Yunwu nodded. "Ninth Son is right. The Moon Worship Cult is known for their high-profile actions. If they truly intended to provoke the royal family, it wouldn't be as simple as assassinating Eighth Son. This matter must be thoroughly investigated! Additionally, to be safe, Ge Qian, you must immediately leave the palace and secretly investigate the recent activities of the Moon Worship Cult."

"Understood, Your Majesty!"

Ge Qian, Prince Yunwu's personal guard captain, bowed and then left. He set out that very night to investigate the Moon Worship Cult.

Subsequently, Zhang Ruochu and the ten generals also left the grand hall.

The ten generals immediately went to investigate Prince Hachi's death and capture the murderer.

Zhang Ruochu returned to the Jade Washing Palace, checked on Yun'er's injuries, and then entered the inner space of the Time Crystal to continue his cultivation.

"Those assassins were definitely after me. Tonight was truly dangerous. If Prince Hachi hadn't forced Yun'er to take him back to the palace, the one who would have died would have been me. Who could it be?"

His performance during the year-end assessment was too outstanding, and he was bound to be envied.

The most suspicious were the people in the palace.

Of course, the Black Market and the Moon Worship Cult were not entirely out of the question. After all, the birth of a top genius in the royal family was a significant threat to them. The best way to deal with it was to eliminate the genius in the cradle.

"Why think so much? As long as my cultivation is strong enough, no one can kill me. Besides, the assassination of Prince Hachi has caused too much commotion, and the other side is unlikely to launch a second attack in the short term."

Zhang Ruochu stopped thinking and took out a Tianxiang Chifire Pill, holding it in his palm.

The Tianxiang Chifire Pill was as big as a longan, almost like a burning flame, emitting an extremely hot aura.

A third-grade pill was indeed different, containing a very rich amount of pill energy.

After all, the price of a single Tianxiang Chifire Pill was comparable to a fifth-stage True Martial Treasure. Such a luxurious pill was only purchased in bulk by Zhang Ruochu.

Only someone with a body as strong as Zhang Ruochu's dared to swallow a Tianxiang Chifire Pill. If it were another middle-stage Yellow Extreme Realm martial artist, they wouldn't be able to refine the Tianxiang Chifire Pill and might even be burned by the pill fire.

Swallowing the Tianxiang Chifire Pill was like swallowing a small sun, causing pain no less severe than the pain of cultivating in the Savage God Pool.

"Zzz!"

Strands of pill fire and pill energy surged out of the Tianxiang Chifire Pill, penetrating Zhang Ruochu's meridians, flesh, bones, and organs, continuously refining his body.

It took Zhang Ruochu three full days to completely refine the pill fire, significantly enhancing his physical strength. Not only that, but the true qi in his qi pool also doubled.

During these three days, Zhang Ruochu only refined the pill fire, and only three-tenths of the pill energy was refined.

It took another five days for Zhang Ruochu to completely refine the pill energy of the Tianxiang Chifire Pill, further increasing the true qi in his qi pool.

"At this rate, if I refine two more Tianxiang Chifire Pills, I can fully refine the true qi in my qi pool and reach the peak of the middle-stage Yellow Extreme Realm."

The primary function of the Tianxiang Chifire Pill was to refine the body.

However, the Tianxiang Chifire Pill was truly extraordinary, and while refining the body, it also increased Zhang Ruochu's true qi.

Zhang Ruochu did not rush to refine the second Tianxiang Chifire Pill. After all, the medicinal power of the Tianxiang Chifire Pill was too intense, and even with his strong constitution, he couldn't handle consecutive consumption.

"First, practice inscribing basic spatial runes!"

Zhang Ruochu took out the inscription pen and spirit paper, infused true qi into the pen, and began inscribing on the spirit paper.

He practiced for a whole day, wasting over a hundred and thirty sheets of spirit paper, but failed to inscribe a single rune successfully.

He did not become discouraged and continued practicing, inscribing runes.

For the next month, Zhang Ruochu almost stayed in the inner space of the Time Crystal, only leaving every three days.

The rest of the time, he spent cultivating the Dragon Elephant Bodhimanda Palm, the Heavenly Heart Sword Technique, and practicing the inscribing of eight basic spatial runes.

One month in the outside world was three months in the inner space of the Time Crystal.

In three months, Zhang Ruochu refined three Tianxiang Chifire Pills, finally fully refining the true qi in his qi pool, reaching the peak of the middle-stage Yellow Extreme Realm, and was ready to advance to the high-stage Yellow Extreme Realm.

"With my current constitution, it's not much different from my previous life. After all, when I broke through to the high-stage Yellow Extreme Realm in my previous life, I was only six years old," Zhang Ruochu said.

Zhang Ruochu was preparing to advance to the high-stage Yellow Extreme Realm.

"I wonder how many meridians I can open? In my previous life, I opened twenty-seven meridians at the high-stage Yellow Extreme Realm. Can I surpass that in this life?"

Zhang Ruochu's eyes became incredibly determined. No matter what, he had to do it.