Vol 4 Chapter 113: The Rise of the Ancient Kingdom

For a moment, the few of them stood frozen in a deadlock.

Lin Jing looked into the distance, then tugged at his contract with the Mechanical Tortoise. A little more force, and the contract would be broken.

This was the only method Lin Jing could think of to ensure the other party would instantly sense him, no matter where the tortoise was.

Sure enough—

As soon as Lin Jing tore a crack in the contract, the Mechanical Tortoise, who was busy spying on a little girl somewhere in the Ancient Kingdom, felt a sharp pain in its soul.

“Got it.” The Mechanical Tortoise reluctantly followed the ripple of the contract’s aura. As the distance between it and Lin Jing closed, it soon heard the message transmitted via the bond:

Come immediately!

At the same time, as Lin Jing suddenly fell silent, Liu Gongzhuo and Gai You broke out in a cold sweat. Even though their cultivation far surpassed Lin Jing’s, the vicious record of this Holy Son of the Demon Court left them wary.

The Heavenly Demon Physique... as Division Heads of the Demon Extermination Division, they naturally knew how terrifying it was. They didn’t view Lin Jing as just another Nascent Soul cultivator.

Swish.

Gai You secretly contacted the Ancient Prince, who now handled state affairs, briefly reporting the situation and waiting for instructions.

The Holy Son of the Demon Court… if not handled carefully, this could spiral into a serious diplomatic crisis.

Meanwhile, in the Celestial Domain, within the Tower of Heavenly Secrets—

To fulfill his agreement with Lin Jing, the Ancient Prince was currently asking the tower master to help locate “Daoist Qing Niu.”

“How is this possible? At most, the guy is a Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator—how could we find no trace of his existence?!” The Ancient Prince couldn’t believe the tower master’s words.

“It’s true. Though we only know of his past locations, alias, and some of his experiences—if he were truly just a Foundation Establishment cultivator, it should be easy to find him or confirm his life or death. Yet now, not even a shred of presence can be detected. There’s only one explanation...”

“This ‘Daoist Qing Niu’ Your Highness speaks of—the one who sold the Holy Son of the Demon Court to the Yin Corpse Sect—is clearly far more than just a Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator. His true cultivation or mastery of the Divination Path may be beyond imagination,” the tower master said.

“But that just raises more questions. If this Qing Niu Daoist is so powerful, he wouldn't be someone who casually sells a Longevity Body—a body so rare and precious—to some minor outpost of the Yin Corpse Sect. Someone who would do that ought to be a short-sighted Foundation rogue cultivator, not some great expert.”

Unbelievable.

The Ancient Prince had thought the biggest hurdle in this deal with Lin Jing might be that Qing Niu Daoist was already dead, and that he’d have to use forbidden arts to drag out his soul and deliver him to the Holy Son. He never expected Qing Niu Daoist to be nowhere near what he appeared to be.

Just then, the Ancient Prince noticed Gai You’s urgent message from the Demon Extermination Division.

But, still deep in puzzlement, the Ancient Prince couldn’t be bothered to deal with such trivial matters. He simply ignored the message and continued pressing the tower master for more details.

After all, the Holy Son of the Demon Court had made it clear—if there were no results within a year, he would consider the deal broken and challenge the Ancient Prince for the top spot on the Golden Ranking.

“Could it be the Holy Son already found him, and used an immortal artifact to erase all traces of his existence—just to mess with me?” the Ancient Prince wondered.

“Is there truly no other way?” he asked. At this point, the only hope he had of finding Qing Niu Daoist was the tower master.

“Try awakening the Starry Universe Turtle again. Then revisit the incident site in the Ancient Region and investigate further,” the tower master sighed.

The Ancient Prince nodded.

There was nothing else to do.

But just then—

“Stop investigating. Stop. I’m Qing Niu Daoist.”

At the sight of this man, the Ancient Prince’s face changed, and the tower master’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Master?!”

“The previous master of the Tower of Heavenly Secrets,” the Ancient Prince said, astonished.

“You—You’re not...?” The tower master stared at Qing Niu Daoist in shock.

He clearly remembered his master had already “ascended in meditation.”

“Didn’t die. Didn’t die. After the first generation left, I didn’t want to work for the second gen, so I faked my death and wandered the continent,” Qing Niu Daoist said while picking his nose, leaving the Ancient Prince momentarily stunned.

“Don’t look at me like that. Even while traveling, I still helped dig up some geniuses for the Ancient Kingdom!” Qing Niu Daoist turned to the Ancient Prince.

“Master, are you saying… you were the one who sold the Holy Son of the Demon Court to that Yin Corpse Sect outpost?” the tower master asked in disbelief.

Qing Niu Daoist looked bitter. “When I first met the kid, he was still a mortal. I gave him a quick divination and found his destiny was enormous—he could revive the Ancient Kingdom. But it required him to walk the Beast Taming Path and not be interfered with too much during his growth… So I calculated that tossing him into a Yin Corpse Sect outpost, where I knew a Beast Master Sect spy was hiding, would eventually push him toward the Beast Master Sect. I sold him for a few spirit stones. At first, things were going great...”

The current tower master and Ancient Prince: ???

Revive the Ancient Kingdom?

Are you sure it’s not the Demon Court that’s being revived?

So this is the kind of “genius” you’ve been digging up while traveling the continent?

“Master… that Lin Jing is now the Holy Son of the Demon Court. He’s even discovered a way to revive the demon race. He’s completely broken ties with the Ancient Kingdom. Forget about reviving the kingdom—if the kingdom doesn’t get destroyed by the rising demon race, that would be a win.” The tower master fell silent.

Qing Niu Daoist looked just as glum. When he turned his attention back to Lin Jing, the kid was already the Holy Son of the Demon Court!

That totally didn’t match his original divination!

“I don’t get it either. My skill at reading people was taught by the First Generation Ancient Emperor himself. On top of that, I’ve reached the Seeking the Way stage—how could I be so off when reading the fate of a mere mortal…?”

“Where exactly did things go wrong? It’s a pity—I can no longer see his fate clearly…”

“This guy is such a pain.” Even though they’d found Qing Niu Daoist, the Ancient Prince didn’t feel relieved at all. How could things have turned out so ridiculous? Qing Niu Daoist turned out to be the previous master of the Tower of Heavenly Secrets.

So now how was he supposed to “hand over” this “Qing Niu Daoist” to Lin Jing?

What pissed him off even more was—this former tower master was saying that Lin Jing’s destiny was to revive the Ancient Kingdom…

“What is it now?” Gai You’s constant emergency messages pushed the Ancient Prince to his limit. The guy had pinged him over a dozen times in just a short span. Finally, the Ancient Prince responded, slightly annoyed.

“…What the hell is all this?” Upon reading that Gai You was accusing Lin Jing of colluding with Gao Family’s Gao Sheng to smuggle dragon veins, the Ancient Prince had a massive headache.

The Ancient Kingdom still owed the Holy Son a top-grade cultivation dragon vein! If Lin Jing wanted one, he could’ve just negotiated openly with the Prince and asked for more terms.

Why the hell would he need to use some minor cultivator from a demon-hunting family to smuggle it?!

And this was what Gai You spammed him about?!

‘Your Highness, they say the dragon vein was meant to summon the First Generation Ancient Emperor! To bring back the old emperor and revive the kingdom! This Holy Son of the Demon Court is spreading nonsense and even wants to use the Demon Extermination Division’s dragon veins! I suggest...’