They had seen a group of people leave the dungeon one after another, but they didn’t see any of their own disciples. All of them finally lost their composure.

Bi Linglong opened her mouth, but she didn’t say anything in the end. There were too many things that had happened inside;, she couldn't explain it properly in just a few words. There were many things she couldn’t say here either.

Fortunately, Zhuxie Chixin stepped forward to stop them. Then, he escorted the party back to the imperial palace with his trusted aides.

…

When they arrived at the imperial palace, Zu An and Bi Linglong were separated. After all, Bi Linglong was the only clear-headed person who had survived from this trip. Zhao Ruizhi, that stupid fatty, didn’t count. The emperor would immediately question her about what happened.

Bi Linglong was a bit frightened at first, but when she walked past Zu An, she received some ki transmissions from him. She gradually calmed down.

Someone came to check on Zu An’s condition soon after Bi Linglong left. That person sat down next to him and checked his pulse. He was clearly a physician.

“How is he?” the guard Zhuxie Chixin had left behind asked.

That physician didn’t reply immediately. After studying Zu An’s vitals for a while, he said, “His internal energies are a mess, and his injuries are extremely serious. He needs to rest for a long time. Furthermore, even if he recovers from his injuries, an injury of this level will influence his cultivation. He probably won’t ever be able to recover all of his cultivation.”

Zu An sighed in relief. It seemed he really had managed to deceive the physician after all. With his current cultivation, it wasn’t too difficult to imitate some serious injuries. However, he had still been a bit worried because the doctors from the imperial hospital were highly skilled. There had been a chance for something to go wrong here.

“It’s that serious?” The guard jumped in fright. After all, one’s cultivation was just as important as one’s very life! Furthermore, since the doctor had said that Zu An would never recover up to his previous level of cultivation, that also meant there would be no chance of ever increasing his cultivation from today on.

Even though this Zu An had his flaws, he had an outstanding strong point, which was that he already had such powerful cultivation at such a young age. There was almost no one who could compare to him among his peers! If he continued to grow, reaching the master rank would just be a matter of time. Once he reached the master rank, and furthermore at such a young age, he might even receive a noble title!

But now, all of that was already hopeless. The world had never lacked geniuses, but neither did it lack geniuses who had been ruined prematurely.

“I’ll prescribe him some medicine for now. Sir Zu’s current condition absolutely requires rest. He can’t be allowed to fight against anyone for a long time, or else his meridians will break down, turning him into a cripple,” the physician warned.

The guard voiced his affirmation. The room became quiet again. Only the sounds of the physician preparing medicine could be heard.

A while later, the door opened with a groan. Zhuxie Chixin asked from the other side, “How is he?”

The guard repeated what the physician had just told him.

“Then when will he wake up?” Zhuxie Chixin asked with a frown.

“Three days at the earliest. Half a month is to be expected,” the physician replied.

Zhuxie Chixin shook his head. “We can’t wait that long. His majesty is going to ask him some questions soon. Are there any medicines that can wake him up?”

After some hesitation, the doctor said, “There are, but such strong drugs will only worsen his body’s condition. Sir Zu’s condition is also very poor, so it might worsen his injuries. There’s some danger to his life…”

“His majesty is currently waiting in the study. Why don’t you explain that to him?” Zhuxie Chixin gave him a cold look.

The physician shivered. He immediately changed his tone. “I’ll prepare the drug immediately. Chief Commander, please wait a moment.”

He had only spoken those words out of his kindness as a doctor. However, he couldn't throw his life away because of a bit of kindness. Kindness was the most worthless thing in this man-eating imperial palace.

Zu An cursed inwardly when he heard those words. This Zhuxie Chixin calls me ‘sworn brother’ normally, and yet he doesn’t even hesitate to throw me under the bus as soon as something like this comes up!

Even though it was the emperor who had pressured him, it wasn’t as if he had no other choice. However, Zhuxie Chixin had chosen the most brute force method. Everyone in the capital claimed that Zhuxie Chixin was the emperor’s most loyal dog. Indeed, that seemed to be the case.

Soon afterward, the physician carried over a bowl of medicine. A servant had already propped Zu An up. The physician poured the drug into his mouth.

However, when the drug entered Zu An’s body, it was surrounded by ki and slowly refined away. That way, it didn’t harm his body. A while later, Zu An coughed violently, pretending to wake up from the drug’s stimulation.

“Where… am I?” Zu An began his performance, looking around him blankly.

Zhuxie Chixin’s cold expression was nowhere to be seen. There was a huge smile on his face as he moved closer, replying, “Brother Zu, this is the imperial palace! How do you feel?”

The guard and that physician looked straight down at the floor. They didn’t utter a single thing.

Zu An sneered inwardly. If not for the fact that he had been pretending to be unconscious, he might have really been deceived. However, he also played along. “My entire body hurts. Also, I don’t know what’s going on, but my stomach feels as if it’s burning.”

The physician’s lips twitched. However, he immediately stopped after Zhuxie Chixin shot him a fierce look.

Zhuxie Chixin said, “It might be the aftereffects of your wounds. His majesty is waiting for you in his study. How about we head over first? Afterward, this big bro will find some spiritual medicine for you to nurse your body.”

Zu An forced out a smile. “I’ll have to thank Chief Commander ahead of time then.” After saying that, he got out of bed. However, he immediately staggered, as if he might fall at any time.

Zhuxie Chixin immediately supported him in alarm. “You’re hurt too badly to walk properly. Men, carry Sir Zu to the imperial study!”

“Won’t this be discourteous to the palace?” Zu An asked, pretending to be worried.

“It won’t. You saved the crown prince and princess’ lives. His majesty is incredibly happy right now, so why would he mind these details?” Zhuxie Chixin replied with a hearty laugh.

Zu An cursed inwardly. So you guys still remembered that I saved their lives! And yet you didn’t even hesitate to force me awake through drugs. Do you even have any conscience?

…

Soon afterward, the group brought Zu An to the imperial study. After lowering his stretcher, even Zhuxie Chixin withdrew quietly. Only Zu An and the emperor remained in the room.

“I greet… greet your majesty.” Zu An tottered as he tried to crawl to his feet. However, he failed even after trying several times.

“You’re seriously wounded right now; there’s no need for excessive formalities.” Zhao Han’s expression was overcast. He was more concerned with other things at the moment, so he obviously didn’t care much about these pretenses.

“Thank you, your majesty,” Zu An said ‘gratefully’. At the same time, he secretly examined the other party.

The two of them had been at each other’s throats inside the dungeon. In the past, the emperor’s image of unrivaled power had already been starting to grow weaker to Zu An. Now, he already had the boldness and the right to face the emperor head-on.

Zhao Han frowned. He didn’t really like how Zu An was looking at him. For some reason, after the dungeon, he felt a subconscious dislike for Zu An. But he just wrote that off as his poor mood over losing his split soul and didn’t pursue it further. He cleared his throat and b, “I heard that you saved the crown prince and princess’ lives.”

“I was only doing what I could, but my skills were still lacking. They still ended up being injured,” Zu An replied.

“I see. What happened in the dungeon? Tell this emperor everything without skipping any details.” The emperor straightened his body on the dragon throne, his gaze scorching as he stared at Zu An.

Zu An thought to himself, Zhao Han probably just asked Bi Linglong this question. Looks like Bi Linglong didn’t reveal any openings. That girl is reliable in this aspect after all. Now, we just have to make sure that our confessions match up.

He pretended to think for a moment, then slowly said, “When we entered the dungeon, we didn’t find the Jade Moon Serpent by Cold Jade Pond. We were forced to head deeper into the mountains…”

He spoke about the Gu clan brothers’ betrayal, how Shi Tong had been mixed into their troop, and what had happened with the other young masters in full detail. There was no need to hide any of those things. Then, he talked about how after they had eliminated the Jade Moon Serpent, King Qi Manor’s experts had suddenly shown up. Then, their group frantically ran for their lives. Just then, the world began to break down…

Ninety percent of what he said was the truth. The difference was that he had moved the appearance of Westhound Tomb up earlier. That would then explain how they were able to escape from the pursuit of King Qi Manor’s master rank cultivators, as well as convince the emperor that Zhao Ruizhi hadn’t had to expose his split soul yet.

Then, he told the emperor about his various encounters in Westhound Tomb, saying he had used the world’s collapse to kill off those master rank cultivators. He said that he had only managed to barely stay alive through the use of the Royal Academy’s Sacrificial Piece he had gotten from Hei Baizi, as well as the Last Breath Talisman he had gotten from Xie Daoyun.

The emperor nodded when he heard that. Bi Linglong hadn’t talked about those details before, and things now made sense. Otherwise, Zu An’s cultivation wouldn’t have been enough to stop the encirclement of so many of King Qi Manor’s experts.

Then, Zu An told the emperor that when they arrived on the final island, King Qi Manor’s remaining experts had caught up. While Zu An’s group was left feeling despair, an ancient formation was activated in the dungeon. A blood octopus monster came out and sucked all of King Qi Manor’s experts dry.

No matter how firm the emperor’s will was, his eyelids still couldn't help but twitch when he heard that. He asked, “And then?”

The only thing he cared about was how his split soul had died. Of course, all those who knew about the split soul had to die.