Chapter Seventeen: Incredulity and Zhu Jin Zhen’s Disappointment

“Hidden so deeply.”

“The Sovereign Prince’s mansion has a terrestrial immortal under its command.”

“Why dare he not show himself?”

“We are already trapped like turtles in a jar.”

Pang Ban knelt down in disgrace, blood pooling around him. Clutching his severed arm, his brow furrowed deeply.

His gaze pierced beyond the Liancheng Bi before him, coldly fixed toward the forest. With his talent and martial prowess, no matter how mysterious and unpredictable the Blood Shadow Dragon of the Liancheng Bi was, it was impossible for it to inflict such severe wounds in a single strike.

The true culprit behind his grievous injury was someone else.

He wanted to know who exactly this formidable figure was.

Seeing no movement behind him for a long moment, Liancheng Bi shook his head indifferently. “It’s best you don’t see him.”

“Pfft, cough, cough!”

Li Chi Mei spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, her face flushed purple. Clearly severely wounded, her true energy ran amok within her, yet she still sneered, “A mighty terrestrial immortal hiding in the shadows, too afraid to face us?”

“Sovereign Prince?”

Cornered and desperate, Li Chi Mei’s eyes turned wild, her suspicion growing stronger.

She believed that Zhu Jinzhen was scheming behind the scenes, causing her and Pang Ban’s group to suffer a total defeat due to one careless move.

“Fool!”

A striking figure stepped out from the dense forest, sending chills through Li Chi Mei and Pang Ban.

Li Chi Mei’s phoenix eyes were bloodshot with madness. “It’s… it’s you? How could it be you?”

“Pfft, no, impossible.” Pang Ban’s eyes widened as if witnessing the most unbelievable sight on earth. He kept growling, “Why? Did you betray us?”

“Why collaborate with the Sovereign Prince to trap us?”

“Why?”

Ignoring the backlash of his true energy, Pang Ban forced his heavily injured body to rise, demanding an explanation.

Unfortunately, the figure only looked at them coldly and left behind a single sentence: “Take them back. Trust me, the Sovereign Prince will be pleased with this gift.”

“Farewell, miss.”

Liancheng Bi and Li Fu smiled and bowed politely.

Watching the woman leave gracefully, not sparing them even a glance, Pang Ban and Li Chi Mei felt their blood surge, their faces flushing before they could no longer suppress the blood they spat out.

But even as they collapsed, their eyes remained fixed on that direction.

...

Jiayuguan, Tiance Mansion.

“Greetings, Sovereign Prince!”

Lu Xiaofeng, Ximen Chuixue, and Hua Manlou bowed in unison to the young man who looked like an exiled immortal, as if stepping out of a painting.

“No need for formalities!”

Zhu Jinzhen waved his hand. “Please, be seated.”

Lu Xiaofeng and the others were momentarily overwhelmed by the honor.

In their expectations, even if Zhu Jinzhen did not punish them, his attitude should hardly be so amicable.

“Your Highness…”

“Wait a moment,” Zhu Jinzhen interrupted, shaking his head. “I still have guests to arrive. Let’s wait for them.”

“Tea will be served.”

Lu Xiaofeng and Ximen Chuixue exchanged glances and accepted.

Time passed swiftly as Lu Xiaofeng anxiously waited. After about half a cup of tea, heavy footsteps sounded outside Tiance Mansion.

“I am Yan Yimei, paying respects to Your Highness.”

“No need for formalities.”

Zhu Jinzhen waved, then looked at the bloodied and disheveled figures behind Yan Yimei, as well as the pure and delicate “man” who resembled a fragile white rabbit, completely lacking his usual heroic spirit.

“Senior Monk from Shaolin and Master Kongxing?”

Lu Xiaofeng almost spat out his tea.

“Shaolin is involved as well? Interesting.” Zhu Jinzhen seemed unconcerned about the ragged old monks before him.

Instead, he turned to the timid “man,” the Mongolian Princess Shao Min, known as Zhao Min to the Han, and asked a question that baffled everyone: “Is your master still well?”

Zhao Min trembled violently, staring at Zhu Jinzhen in disbelief.

“Your martial arts are a mixed blend of Central Plains, Vajrayana Buddhism, Sihanfei, and Mongchi styles, but your spiritual strength is exceptional, clearly taught only by that old monk Basiba.”

A disciple of Basiba?

Not only Lu Xiaofeng and Ximen Chuixue, but even the Red Sun Dharma King and the captured Shaolin monks stared wide-eyed in disbelief.

Seeing Zhu Jinzhen had seen through it, Zhao Min stopped pretending and smiled faintly. “Master is in seclusion, seeking enlightenment on the truth of reincarnation. He is about to enter the realm of terrestrial celestial beings.”

“Not in the Potala Palace?”

“No, not there.”

Zhao Min looked at Zhu Jinzhen with surprise, puzzled by his question.

“The Mongol Yuan regard me as a thorn in their side. I have no desire to have enemies sleeping peacefully nearby.”

“Over these four years, I have entered the grasslands twice a year, breaking into the Potala Palace six times, yet I have never seen that old monk Basiba.”

Zhu Jinzhen took the tea cup from his attendant and sipped. The Da Hong Pao tea from Wuyi Mountain indeed left a lingering fragrance and sweet aftertaste—well worth the long journey to procure it.

If only he knew where Basiba was hiding.

He would have eliminated this troublesome threat long ago.

His words silenced the room.

Whether Zhao Min, Lu Xiaofeng, or the Red Sun Dharma King, all stared at Zhu Jinzhen in shock.

To infiltrate Mongol Yuan alone, deep into the Potala Palace.

Zhu Jinzhen wasn’t afraid of Mongol Yuan’s top assassins killing him and leaving him stranded on the grasslands?

Such courage truly astonished them.

Zhao Min could not help but ask, “Aren’t you afraid?”

“Why should I be afraid?” Zhu Jinzhen countered. “Shouldn’t the ones to fear be Basiba, Mongchi, and Sihanfei? Otherwise, why would he avoid me and refuse to show himself?”

Zhao Min was speechless.

She wanted to say that it wasn’t that her master Basiba refused to appear or was hiding out of fear.

He was truly in seclusion.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have gone two full years without seeing Basiba even once.

Yet now, Zhao Min couldn’t bring herself to say it.

Because Zhu Jinzhen hadn’t just broken into the Potala Palace once, but six times, twice a year, without any hint from her master.

If not fear...

Zhao Min quickly shook her head, dismissing the terrifying thought.

“Seems you aren’t fully aware either.”

Zhu Jinzhen frowned, disappointment flickering across his face.

Basiba’s breakthrough to the celestial realm was a thorn in Zhu Jinzhen’s side.

Though he wasn’t afraid, it was still troublesome.

If Zhao Min didn’t know, she was useless here.

“Sigh, Yimei.”

“At your command.”

“This Princess Shao Min, hand her over to Forgetfulness for processing. As for the other bald monks, execute them and feed their bodies to the mass grave dogs.”

The Red Sun Dharma King, the Shaolin monks, and Master Kongxing all widened their eyes, wanting to ask Zhu Jinzhen why the mastermind was simply handed over to others, while they were summarily sentenced without a single question?

They refused!

They were grand masters of celestial phenomena, masters of the Finger Profundity Sect, Shaolin monks who had developed techniques to resist celestial phenomena and hold off grand masters—representatives of Shaolin itself.

Yet as Zhu Jinzhen waved his hand, the Cangyun soldiers who had long been on standby dragged them away like dead dogs, utterly disregarding their status as Shaolin monks, Finger Profundity masters, or grand masters of celestial phenomena.

Here, they had only one identity.

Dead men.