Monarch Of Time

Chapter 1076 Death’s Door (2)

Shun Long’s eyes widened at Fu Li’s words, and a moment later, he disappeared from his private room, appearing on the first floor of the shop.

The moment he did, he was just in time to witness Lan Jinjing, Fu Li’s wife, apologizing to the last few customers she was turning away due to ’unforeseen circumstances’. A couple of cultivators muttered some sentences under their breaths, clearly irritated about being forced to leave, but aside from a few disgruntled voices here and there, there were no further complaints as they left the shop and Lan Jinjing closed the doors.

But Shun Long didn’t care for any of that.

Right now, his eyes were fully focused on the snow-white skeletons that had already collapsed on the wooden floorboards, their bony arms and legs already turning into motes of qi that dispersed into the air. Thin wisps of white qi drifted up from their lifeless corpses, vanishing into the air before they even reached the ceiling.

Even the two undead knights who previously guarded the entrance of the shop were now gone, nothing left of them but faint traces of their death qi clinging to the doors.

A faint heaviness pressed down on the room as Shun Long took in the scene in front of him.

Before becoming a Dao King, Liu Mei’s range of control over her skeletons only extended to her immediate vicinity. But after reaching the peak of the Dao King stage and becoming a pseudo-Dao Emperor, Shun Long knew that her range had increased significantly. He had yet to find out what her current limits were, but it seemed that even after going out for her assassination missions, the handful of skeletons she had left behind at the shop, as well as her two undead knights, could function normally, even if she was hundreds of thousands of miles away.

This... was the first time they had collapsed like that.

Even worse, Shun Long knew that unless Liu Mei had run out of qi, her undead army could be sustained almost indefinitely.

*Huff* *Huff*

”...Brother!”

Moments after Shun Long appeared in the shop, a panting Fu Li rushed through the back door as he chased after him.

But Shun Long’s expression had already turned dark. Even beneath his disguise, Lan Jinjing could feel those raging emotions brewing as he stared at Liu Mei’s now collapsed skeletons.

”Fatty... do you know where Mei’er went?”

Fu Li didn’t hesitate.

”Of course! I always keep track of the missions everyone chooses in case something unexpected happens. Just a moment.” The fatty then ran behind the counter and grabbed a small book, flipping a couple of pages before he continued, ”Let’s see. Sister Liu said she was going to a place called Blackstone Haven, to investigate a captain of their city guard called Liang Qingshan, a middle rank 2 Dao Emperor. That’s all she told me.”

Shun Long nodded, but the expression on his face didn’t change.

A middle rank 2 Dao Emperor...

It was nearly impossible for someone like that to threaten Liu Mei’s life under normal circumstances.

Even though Liu Mei wasn’t guaranteed to win against such an opponent, she should be able to get out unharmed, at the very least.

Even if Shun Long ignored the undead army of peak-stage Dao Kings that could give most early-stage Emperors a headache, it would take a Dao Emperor who had comprehended at least one Unique-level Dao to get past the black Skeleton Kings and the Death Eater.

And even if Liu Mei was against such an opponent, she still had a last resort that should be able to keep her safe.

But seeing the condition of her skeletons and undead knights that had already turned into motes of white light, Shun Long was no longer confident about his assessment.

”Don’t tell me a late-stage Dao Emperor interfered.” That thought was already taking root in Shun Long’s mind, despite knowing how unlikely such a scenario was.

After all, how many late-stage Dao Emperors existed in each major city of the continent? A few dozen at most? Definitely not more than a hundred!

Not unless one of the continent’s superpowers, or a first-rate sect had their headquarters there.

So what were the odds of such a person interfering with Liu Mei’s mission?

But Shun Long knew that was the most likely scenario.

A long silence fell.

Fu Li swallowed nervously.

When Shun Long finally spoke again, his voice was calm, the anxiety beneath it tightly restrained.

”Fatty, I’m going to Blackstone Haven. Keep the shop closed until I’m back. If Longtian and the others return, tell them to wait here.”

Fu Li slapped his chest, nodding quickly. ”Don’t worry, brother. Leave it to me!”

A moment later, the air in front of Shun Long distorted, and a massive space tear ripped open at the heart of alchemist Han’s pill shop.

Without another word, he threw one last look at the collapsed skeletons on the wooden floor, before he stepped into it and vanished from Amber Dawn once more.

...

Shun Long opened three more space tears in quick succession, his figure flickering through each one before the last one could fully collapse, until he arrived in the vicinity of Blackstone Haven.

He’d never visited the place, but he had a general idea of where it was located. Supposedly, he had to go through the southern entrance of Amber Dawn and head southwest for about two hundred thousand miles.

Finding it wasn’t difficult.

The dense forest surrounding the western side of the city came into view first, tranquil, clearly unaware of the storm brewing above it. And beyond its treetops, Shun Long could see the distant outline of Blackstone Haven’s massive city walls and one of its entrances.

His gaze lingered on the distant city walls for only a moment before he tore space open again. His figure slipped into the rift, and the world around him shifted once more.

An instant later, he appeared in the sky above one of Blackstone Haven’s towering gates.

And with almost no pause between thought and action, his soul sense spread outwards.

A silent but unstoppable tidal wave swept through the air the moment the azure-robed old man stepped out of the spatial rift, enveloping everything under its wake.

It rolled over the forest, the city walls, and even the plains beyond the city, swallowing everything within a thousand-mile radius.

Below Shun Long, everything went still in that instant.

Whether it was the cultivators queuing to enter the city, the city guards of Blackstone Haven, or even their Dao Emperor captain, everyone froze the moment the soul sense of a Sovereign came crashing down, suffocating them.

One by one, everyone raised their heads and looked at the sky, only for their gazes to meet an azure-robed man with an expression carved from ice. His cold, golden eyes swept past the city guards, completely ignoring the queuing cultivators in front of the gates, until they landed on the early rank 3 Dao Emperor who was clearly in charge.

”Where is Liang Qingshan?” The azure-robed elder asked, his voice echoing through the sky like a cold decree.

Some of the guards tried to exchange glances between them, but they realized they could barely move their heads under the terrifying pressure the old man exuded.

The only one who could actually move was their captain.

With visible effort, the man cupped his hands and bowed as he answered,

”Senior... please quell your anger. Liang Qingshan is the captain of the northwestern entrance. This is the southwestern gate.”

Shun Long’s eyes swept over the man before giving him a faint nod.

He knew his actions just now could only be considered overbearing, but at this moment, he didn’t have the time, nor the patience to calmly ask how to find Liang Qingshan.

Especially when he didn’t even know if Liu Mei was dead or alive.

Without another word, he turned away.

Of course, Shun Long could still use his ’World Zero’ to turn back time and reset the state of the world to the way it was a month ago, but with all the cultivators from the ’Immortal Dimension’ present on the continent, he knew that using his ’World Zero’ was bound to bring even more trouble. Unless there was no other way to save Liu Mei, Shun Long wasn’t going to use that skill.

A moment later, the sky above the southwest gate of Blackstone Haven turned quiet again. The azure-robed elder vanished, as if he was never even there in the first place, with only the faintest fluctuations of space rippling slightly where he stood.