Not long after, Cang Wuqing finished his report on the investigation and explained the next steps he would take to get his hands on the unknown Divine Artifact as quickly as possible, without drawing attention from other top powerhouses.
The Sea Lord, Cang Hailong, sat motionless on the throne, remaining silent after Cang Wuqing's report ended, as he thought about a certain face that had appeared in his clone—the Pirate King Black Shark's—memories.
"Have you found out who was the one that killed my clone?" the Sea Lord asked.
"I am not 100% certain, but based on the evidence, he is likely the head of the Endless Wealth Company. According to witnesses who saw this man fight, his battle style matches your description. He also uses a technique that manifests the Heavenly Fist. His name is Lan Hengsheng," Cang Wuqing explained his hypothesis.
Not only that, Cang Wuqing opened his right palm, and his Qi surged from it, weaving and forming into an image of a man with long black hair, black pupils with a shade of crimson hidden within them, and wearing black and golden robes. It was the appearance of Lan Hengsheng that he had learned through his investigation.
When the Sea Lord saw the image, his eyebrow rose in curiosity—the man's image matched the one from his clone's memories.
"Lan Hengsheng, huh…" the Sea Lord murmured as his lips curved. He had finally learned the name of this man. He had been interested in this person since he saw him in his clone's memories.
Geniuses appear every generation, but those who can fight across higher cultivation realms are rare, only appearing once in a thousand years or more.
As this one, Lan Hengsheng—although he defeated his clone with the help of a Divine Artifact, during the fight with his clone, this person's raw strength and technique didn't seem much weaker than the clone, which was in the middle stage of the Spirit Integration Realm.
The Divine Artifact only made the fight end earlier, before the true result of the two's fight could be decided.
If the fight had continued without the appearance of the Divine Artifact, the outcome would've been hard to predict.
The key point is: even his clone, with a much higher cultivation realm, couldn't certainly defeat someone who is only at the Fourth Gate of the True Body Realm—that says something.
It could be said that this Lan Hengsheng is a monstrous genius close to the level of Ji Wushuang, whom he met earlier.
The Heaven-Defying genius.
'What a waste,' the Sea Lord thought. Someone like this, he would have wanted to form good karma with—but unfortunately, this Lan Hengsheng had killed his clone, hindering his cultivation progress.
Negative karma had already been formed. One day, karma would bring them together one way or another, whether as allies, neutrals, or enemies was uncertain, but the latter was more likely.
He decided it was wiser to eliminate a potential enemy while they were still weak, rather than let them grow strong enough to choose whether to become his ally or enemy.
"Wuqing," the Sea Lord said as he was about to give an order.
"Yes, Sea Lord!" Cang Wuqing replied as he bowed with both hands clasped.
"I allow you to mobilize the elders of the Dark Sea. Find Lan Hengsheng, eliminate him and his faction, and retrieve the Divine Artifact. If the Gu Dynasty interferes, you have permission to engage," the Sea Lord commanded, his posture authoritative.
"As you command, my …" Cang Wuqing said, bowing to accept the order.
However, before he even finished his bow, a fist appeared out of nowhere and struck his cheek, sending him flying into the wall of the Throne Hall with a deafening crash.
BOOM!
Cracks spread across the sapphire-lined surface as rubble and dust rained down.
The Sea Lord's expression didn't change, perfectly maintaining the appearance of the supreme leader of a top powerhouse—but on the inside, he was shocked.
A figure slowly emerged from thin air, bathed in faint golden light. Hengsheng stepped into view, his robes fluttering slightly from the burst of force, his eyes cold and unreadable.
"I heard you were looking for me," Hengsheng said calmly as he gazed at the Sea Lord, his tone cold.
On the side, Cang Wuqing groaned from within the rubble, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
The blow was heavy and had a mysterious effect on him—he could not mobilize his Qi, rendering him powerless.
He tried to stand with a weak body and raised his head slightly, looking at the one who struck him. When he realized who it was, he was shocked.
Hengsheng could feel the eyes gazing on him. He turned to Cang Wuqing and then said,
"I'll let you live... for now. Someone else wants the pleasure of dealing with you—personally."
As Hengsheng spoke, a purple vortex appeared behind Cang Wuqing, sucking him into it before disappearing.
The Sea Lord sat as he watched the scene unfold, numerous thoughts running through his mind. In the tens of thousands of years that he had ruled the Palace, he had never once thought something like this would take place in the Throne Hall.
Hengsheng's eyes shifted to the Sea Lord, who still acted indifferent, and he said,
"We meet again, Pirate King…" His voice was clearly filled with uncertainty.
"The one you met was not me, but my clone," the Sea Lord said. Sensing Hengsheng's uncertainty, he didn't mind clarifying.
"So that's why I couldn't find the Pirate King's space ring. You seem to owe me that," Hengsheng said.
The Sea Lord gazed at Lan Hengsheng carefully as he gauged the situation. He still couldn't figure out how this man had appeared here without him noticing until he struck, but he guessed it must be due to the space or dimensional technique Lan Hengsheng had used earlier on Wuqing.
More importantly, an incident like this had occurred, yet no one outside the throne hall seemed to notice.
This was strange.
It seemed he had underestimated the other side too much—this Lan Hengsheng could not be from a common background.
'Did he come from the Ninth Heaven?' the Sea Lord thought.
Whether that assumption was true or not, Lan Hengsheng had already proven his ability—not a weakling he could crush at any time, as he had first thought.
Since the other side dared to appear before him, he thought this Lan Hengsheng must surely be confident in escaping or have some method to deal with him.
For all these reasons, the Sea Lord decided to repair the karma and see how it would unfold.
While sitting, the Sea Lord flicked his hand, and a space ring appeared above his palm. He sent it flying slowly toward Lan Hengsheng's direction as he began to speak.
"It appears there has been a misunderstanding between us. Why don't we take a step back and begin anew?" the Sea Lord said.
Hengsheng listened as he looked at the floating space ring drifting toward him. He was surprised that the Sea Lord seemed to have changed his mind and no longer wanted to make an enemy of him.
At first, he thought the conflict had already begun, since the other side had given the order to annihilate him and his people. He was ready for a war with the Azure Palace, but now the other side was offering a new start.
It was Hengsheng's turn to decide what would happen next; his gaze secretly kept shifting between the Sea Lord and the space ring.
Hengsheng thought that if he were alone, waging war with the Azure Palace would be fine—when he went all out, he would win eventually; no one in this realm could even touch him.
However, the peaceful environment would crumble, his people's lives would be miserable; walking through this realm, which is already dangerous, would become more dangerous if he made an enemy of the Azure Palace.
Even though he could avoid the war and save his people by escaping from this realm entirely, if he started doing that even in manageable conflicts like this one, he would have to run every time things went bad, something that would be harmful to his Dao Heart.
The space ring drifting toward him was worthless; it was worth noting when compared to his entire wealth, but if he didn't take it, that would mean…
War.
…
A purple vortex appeared in the middle of Maker Mansion's reception hall, and Hengsheng stepped out of it, his hand grasping the neck of an unconscious Xiaorong. The vortex disappeared as he crossed through.
In the hall, a few figures were already waiting for him.
"Brother Xiaorong!" Yueli screamed as she saw her beloved brother's condition.
Hengsheng threw Xiaorong to Yueli like a piece of garbage, expressing his frustration.
Yueli caught Xiaorong in her embrace and noticed he was under some kind of spell that put him into a deep sleep. Without hesitation, she used her skill to dispel it.
Xiaorong's eyes slowly opened. He looked around and found himself inside the familiar hall.
A moment later, Xiaorong began to panic as he could no longer sense his cultivation realm. Not long after, he began to remember what had happened to him.
"AH!!! NOOOOOOO!" Xiaorong screamed as if he had gone insane.