Imperial God Emperor

The plump elder finally said something sensible.

A discussion began among the group.

A while later.

Ye Qingyu, who kept staring at the black curtain of light, seemed to have some ideas. He turned his body to face Yu Xiaoxing, saying, "How about this, you lead the mission to take the next city's test, while I handle the people here in the Black Demon Pool."

The latter was taken slightly aback, but soon understood Ye's idea and gently nodded her head.

The terrain, environment, and test tasks of the Black Demon Pool were better off left to Ye Qingyu to handle alone. The other members of the envoy mission would not be of any help and would only be anxious and distressed if they remained here. Hence, the mission might as well travel to the next city and begin taking another test simultaneously instead. This way, they could save a lot of time.

This was indeed the most comprehensive way of dealing with the current situation.

"Brother, are you sure you don't want a single person to remain and assist you?" To one side, Ximen Yeshui winked his eyes in an eager manner.

"Exactly. A single tree can't grow a forest. Having one or two assistants will be good," Wen Wan added.

Ye Qingyu knew that they wished to stay with him and help him out during critical moments.

But he had his own ideas.

If he went alone, he would have no cares and could move as he pleased, allowing him to utilize many of his survival and escape techniques. If he brought along others instead, he would probably have to hold back to ensure their safety, and that certainly would not be ideal.

Moreover, Wen Wan and Ximen Yeshui were important experts of the contingent, and so he would feel more assured if they followed beside Yu Xiaoxing.

However, to one side, Wuzhao Empress Yu Xiaoxing suddenly laughed as she turned her head toward the two reception elders and asked, "Elder Yan and Elder Shuang, I wonder if, according to the Alliance's rules, you two may split up and act separately?"

"Haha, I understand what Your Majesty means. Of course we may, hohohoho. Who do you intend to pick?" Yan Wushuang laughed with a profound meaning.

Everyone began to understand.

Yu Xiaoxing's idea was for a reception elder to follow Ye Qingyu. This way, the latter would have a safeguard and she could thus feel assured.

As a matter of fact, whichever of the two elders remained would be no different to Ye Qingyu.

His eyes brightened as he was quite agreeable with the idea.

Among the two reception elders, Shuang Wuyan was ice-cold, reticent, and reserved. If he was in charge of leading the contingent to the next city, they would learn very little about the test in advance. Instead, the chatterbox that was his elder brother, Yan Wushuang, would at least allow Yu Xiaoxing and the others to understand vital information regarding the next city.

After a brief hesitation, Ye Qingyu looked at Shuang Wuyan and said, smiling, "If that's the case, may Elder Shuang be kind enough to follow Junior?"

"Okay," the emaciated elder nodded expressionlessly.

A while later.

Empress Yu Xiaoxing ordered the envoy mission to decamp and announced that Yan Wushuang would be in charge of leading the contingent out of the Black Demon Pool and to the next city.

Ye Qingyu, who remained in the reception plaza of the third zone, changed into a hooded top which could cover his entire face in shadows before he went with Shuang Wuyan and advanced toward the depths of the Black Demon Pool.

In these depths, the Black Demon qi which pervaded the air was denser.

Under the cover of the Black Demon qi, even the surrounding laws of space were modified in bizarre ways. Ye Qingyu could clearly feel that the deeper within the Black Demon Pool he went, the more inhibited his inner yuan qi became. The air seemed to increase in viscosity, such that flying through the air or tearing the void was becoming increasingly difficult.

Together with the frosty, emaciated elder, he descended the primitively-designed spiraling steps along the cliffs of the abyss one step at a time.

Shuang Wuyan was a notorious miser with words and was as frosty as an iceberg. He followed behind Ye Qingyu without saying a word, his thoughts unknown.

Boom!

All of a sudden, Black Demon qi which was like surging a flaming black fountain as it spurted from the depths of the Black Demon Pool.

Baboomboom!

The noise was terrifyingly stupendous, sounding as if myriad Black Demons were roaring at the bottom of the abyss.

"This should be the legendary Black Demon tide." Ye Qingyu's countenance changed as he recalled the plump elder's words. He began operating yuan power to withstand the power of the Black Demon qi which abruptly broke out.

The martial emperor of the Black Demon Race had built the Black Demon Pool in the void of the Chaos, thereby forming one of the nineteen cities of chaos. This place thereafter became the race's ancestral land where countless Black Demons have lived.

The Black Demon Race was extremely peculiar among the races of the Vast Thousand Domains. It was said to be able to transform between substance and nothingness at will, while legend had it that the race was born in the Chaos and was previously a satellite race of the Demon Race, and thus was of low status. Later on, one of their people had reached the pinnacle and became a martial emperor, causing the race to rise abruptly and become eminent among the races of the Vast Thousand Domains.

Throughout the subsequent tens of millions of years, the Black Demon Race maintained its status as a strong and mysterious race.

It was said that on the day of their deaths, every expert of the race would jump into the depths of the Black Demon Pool and turn into a portion of the Black Demon qi that pervaded within. Thus, over these tens of millions of years, countless experts had blended into one with the Black Demon Pool. There was also a rumor that even the quasi-emperor of the race had jumped into the bottomless abyss.

Every four hours, the Black Demon qi in the abyss would spurt up like a volcanic eruption.

This was the most dangerous time in the Black Demon Pool.

If one was not careful and became engulfed by the surging Black Demon qi, one would have to peel off a layer of skin if one was a Great Saint-level expert or better, or would be instantly killed if one was below the Great Saint level.

The Black Demon Race was a very mysterious race.

Ye Qingyu reached the 10th zone of the Black Demon Pool a full four hours later.

Ye Qingyu took out the golden pentagonal token and injected it with his consciousness . After carefully reading it for some time, he did not continue along the stone steps, and instead left the steps and walked toward the depths of the 10th zone.

The 10th zone was undoubtedly more majestic compared to the 3rd zone, and seemed like an underground world which was situated in darkness.

With the aid of the giant rune lamps all around, Ye Qingyu was able to see the buildings and people of this underground world.

In the hidden alleys of the black buildings, the giant watchtowers, and the wide streets,  were all kinds of mysterious and odd shops that operated under the cover of the dark red demon qi. Hanging in front of the shops were small horns which were pre-recorded with rune sound formations which  continuously played advertising content.

The shocking thing to Ye Qingyu was that the young men who stood at the entrances of these restaurants and shops were loudly touting their businesses were all experts at the pinnacle of the Heaven Ascension realm.

He had thought his first glance was just a mistake, but after careful examination, he finally confirmed that those figures, which resembled the inn waiters in the Snow capital, were really top-level martial experts.

"Compared to Sunrise City, this place is even more like a true martial world, where martial experts live like common people..." Ye Qingyu's interest was piqued.

Furthermore, what was even more unexpected was that the 10th zone had a more populated community and greater prosperity than the 3rd zone despite being more dangerous, while experts from many different races could be seen everywhere. If one could neglect that immense power was surging in the bodies of these figures, one would really think that this place was just an ordinary city that was shrouded in twilight.

Following the directions provided by the golden pentagonal token, Ye Qingyu walked down a street and entered a building which looked similar to an administration hall.

By using the token here, he could look up detailed information regarding the felonies on the Alliance's wanted list, such as their strength, techniques, past exploits, and the places where and times when they were last spotted.

Detailed information on the [Black Demon Herb] could also be found out using the token.

Conducting a thorough research, he took a full two hours to remember everything at heart.

An even clearer plan gradually formed in his mind.

"This isn't the season when [Black Demon Herbs] flourish best, and so they might not be harvestable. It would probably be better to hunt down those wanted criminals... But, in that case, I've already miscalculated... I should've brought along that silly dog. Tracking and searching are that rascal's fortes after all."

Ye Qingyu slapped himself on his forehead.

"Perhaps, the Light Palace's [Map of the Universe] will be effective here. That'll make things a lot simpler if so."

A thought occurred to him..

Unbeknownst to everyone else, instead of remaining in the Heaven Wasteland Domain during this Alliance of Domains expedition, the Light Palace was shrunk and kept within his dantian world, and thus could be taken out to use at any time.

Ever since the little silver dragon turned into the spirit of the Light Palace, Ye Qingyu had become more adept at manipulating the Light Palace, and was already able to keep it inside his body and take it out to use at will. The powers of the Light Palace were being unearthed by him, little by little.

He left the administration hall, still deep in thought.

Shuang Wuyan followed behind him like a shadow.

"Someone's following us," the former murmured once they left the hall.

Ye Qingyu nodded to indicate that he was long aware.

Remaining unruffled, the duo walked toward the street at the far end.

As they traversed a main street, they vaguely felt that the aura following behind their backs was constantly disappearing and reappearing.

"They sure catch up quick. Could it be Huang Tayun's men?" Ye Qingyu thought to himself.

While in Sunrise  City, it was not to vent the anger in his heart that he killed Huang Lin in front of Huang Tayun and deliberately said those provocative words to the latter. If that was the case, those actions would have been meaningless and extremely foolish.

His real intention was to enrage Huang Tayun so that the latter would track and personally strike at him.

This way, he would have the opportunity to counter-kill.

In his view, Huang Tayun's suspicious behaviors were likely because of links to manipulators who plotted against the Heaven Wasteland diplomatic corpsn in the dark, and the interference of the Wall of Storm could have been Huang Tayun’s doing as well. But since the master of the Violet Gold Divine Office trusted Huang Tayun and did not erase his memory, Ye Qingyu could not make use of the former to deal with him. The best solution was to draw him out of Sunrise City and capture him, and thereby find out the whereabouts of those enemies which hid in the dark.

Ye Qingyu believed that, given Huang Tayun's temperament, he would certainly be on the pursuit having been repeatedly insulted.

Moreover, based on a report from the men deployed in [Refine  Armor], Huang Tayun had decided to go into self-isolation, which was probably just a cover-up for him to travel to the Black Demon Pool in secret.

The only thing Ye Qingyu did not expect was that Huang Tayun would be so impatient and would act so soon.

There were some doubts in his heart.

Without saying a word, he suddenly turned his body upon reaching the end of a main street and walked toward an extremely obscure alley.