War God Long Ao

After frantically absorbing a full quarter of the power, the Celestial Venerable Golden Core inside Long Ao's body finally transformed into a Great Venerable Golden Core.

But Long Ao didn't stop there. He continued to absorb the Soul Power.

It wasn't just Long Ao; even Long Qiang and Long Ming advanced to become Great Venerable Spirit Beasts.

While frantically absorbing the power, Long Ao also worked to stabilize his Realm. Otherwise, doing so later would take hundreds of times longer.

「One hour later.」

A look of pleasant surprise covered Long Ao's face. Middle Level Great Venerable. In just a few short hours, his Cultivation had smoothly broken through to the Middle Level Great Venerable Realm. Such a rate of advancement was simply unheard of.

If word of Long Ao's Cultivation progress got out, it would undoubtedly shock everyone.

Great Venerable Long Ao.

With a smile, Long Ao didn't linger after his successful breakthrough to Middle Level Great Venerable. He left the courtyard and went to find the residence he had inquired about earlier.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. Long Ao knocked on the door. Just then, with a CREAK, the door opened, and Wen Lan stepped out.

Seeing Long Ao, Wen Lan seemed a little surprised and asked, "Long Ao, do you need something?"

Nodding, Long Ao smiled. "Aren't you going to invite me in for a bit?"

"Please."

Long Ao followed Wen Lan inside. He had to admit, the courtyard she lived in and the one Yu Wenhui had inhabited were on two completely different levels; they couldn't even be compared.

"Long Ao, do you find my place a bit plain?"

Shaking his head, Long Ao said truthfully, "Outside, a place like this would certainly be considered humble, but here… every inch of land is worth a fortune."

"'Every inch of land is worth a fortune,' indeed."

At the mention of that phrase, Wen Lan's face filled with bitterness. "When I first came to the City of Sin," she said, "forget owning my own courtyard. The biggest problem was whether I could even survive for another minute. Here in the City of Sin, not only is every inch of land worth a fortune, but danger is also everywhere. You can be alive one moment and dead the next. Understand?"

Extremely curious, Long Ao retorted, "But isn't slaughter and fighting forbidden in the City of Sin?"

"Hahaha, Little Long, you're so naive. You actually believed that?"

Looking at Wen Lan, Long Ao grew even more curious. 'It was an agreement made by the Five Great Emperors themselves. Would anyone really dare to defy it?'

As if guessing what was on Long Ao's mind, Wen Lan gestured to a seat, and they both sat down.

"Little Long, when the Five Great Emperors first came to dominate the City of Sin, they did indeed decree that no one, no matter who they were, was permitted to commit slaughter within the city. At first, no one dared to defy the will of the Five Great Emperors. But as time slowly passed, the situation took a complete turn."

"Why is that?"

"Although the Five Great Emperors are nominally the rulers of the City of Sin, they almost never come here themselves. They only dispatch city guards to maintain the city's order."

Wen Lan took a sip of tea and continued, "At first, these city guards were quite dedicated. But since the Five Great Emperors never involve themselves with this place, everything—the City of Sin and its guards—has fallen into chaos."

'So that's how it is.'

"The City of Sin is the Five Great Emperors' domain in name only. It'd be more accurate to call it the domain of their city guards. Here, the guards run rampant, killing people as easily as crushing ants, and no one dares to stop them. I can guarantee that if this continues, the City of Sin is destined for turmoil—great turmoil, at that."

Nodding in agreement, Long Ao naturally understood the meaning behind Wen Lan's words.

If the City of Sin was truly as Wen Lan described, then chaos was inevitable. However, Long Ao was actually hoping for such a situation to occur.

No matter what, Long Ao had come to the City of Sin to establish his own faction. If the city were an impenetrable fortress, it would be incredibly difficult for him to get a foothold, let alone build his own power base.

That was precisely why Long Ao hoped the City of Sin would become more and more chaotic. That way, he would have a much better chance to get a foothold in the city and establish his own faction amidst the turmoil.

"Little Long, what are you smiling about?"

Seeing Long Ao's faint, unreadable smile, Wen Lan was very curious. She couldn't understand what he found so amusing about the city descending into chaos.

"Wen Lan, if I asked you to join me, would you be willing?"

"Join you? Little Long, what do you mean?"

Long Ao didn't hide a thing, stating frankly, "I came to the City of Sin to establish my own faction, to stand against the Five Great Emperors, and, ultimately, to eliminate them and rule this city myself."

PFFT.

Hearing this, Wen Lan couldn't hold back and burst out laughing.

"Little Long, what did you just say? You want to stand against the Five Great Emperors? Rule the City of Sin all by yourself?"

"I killed Yu Wenhui and the Old Drunkard."

Completely ignoring Wen Lan's disbelief and ridicule, Long Ao made the statement coolly.

After he finished, Wen Lan froze on the spot, staring blankly at Long Ao. Shaking her head, she said, "I don't believe it. You're only a Celestial Venerable, but Yu Wenhui was a Great Venerable. How could you have possibly killed him?"

It wasn't just Wen Lan; if word of this got out, likely no one would believe it.

A Celestial Venerable killing a Great Venerable?

Was that even possible?

Having already predicted Wen Lan's reaction, Long Ao said nothing, simply standing there quietly. Wen Lan's ridicule suddenly ceased. She stared intently at the young man before her and asked in a heavy tone, "Long Ao, did you really kill Yu Wenhui?"

"I have no reason to lie to you."

'He really has no reason to lie to me.' For this very reason, Wen Lan was all the more shocked. She never would have imagined that Long Ao had truly killed Yu Wenhui. Others might not know who Yu Wenhui was, but having lived in the City of Sin for so long, how could she not?

"Long Ao, do you know who Yu Wenhui was?"

Nodding, Long Ao replied, "I do. Yu Wenhui was a city guard of the City of Sin."

"Long Ao, are you insane? Yu Wenhui was a city guard! Now that you've killed him, you're in enormous trouble."

"No one knows about it."

"Long Ao, you have to prepare for the worst! What if you get discovered?"

Wen Lan's face was filled with worry. After all, she knew better than anyone what killing a city guard implied. Once the Five Great Emperors learned of this, they would certainly not let the matter rest.

If they didn't punish Long Ao for killing a city guard, how could the Five Great Emperors maintain their dominance over the City of Sin? Wen Lan was therefore certain that if the Five Great Emperors found out, the consequences would be unthinkable.

"Long Ao, listen to my advice. You should leave. Otherwise, once the Five Great Emperors find out, you'll be in serious trouble."