After the incident at Mount Emperor was over, Long Chen was led back to the Martial God Palace by Emperor Zhenwu.
At this time, there were not many people in the Martial God Palace.
Emperor Zhenwu was shrouded in colorful clouds, so his appearance could not be seen clearly.
"This is my doppelganger. It takes a lot of energy to move outside," Emperor Zhenwu explained.
They had already returned to the Martial God Palace and were standing under the 99 Golden Demon Imprisonment Columns.
There was no one in the Martial God Palace.
Long Chen suddenly realized that it was difficult for Emperor Zhenwu to leave that space. No wonder he had told Long Chen that he could only use his doppelganger to bring the three Martial Venerables and bring Long Chen to the Sword Spirit Emperor Palace to propose marriage.
Long Chen guessed that it might have something to do with the Nirvana Tribulation.
Emperor Zhenwu had to pay a price to be able to live for tens of thousands of years. He had not even revealed his real body in that space.
Standing there, Emperor Zhenwu turned back to look at Long Chen. Although his face and expression could not be seen clearly, Long Chen could feel his solemnity and seriousness.
"Child, have you really thought it through?" Emperor Zhenwu asked.
"What?" Long Chen vaguely knew what he was referring to.
Zhenwu Great Emperor said directly, "If his heart is transferred to you, the Imperial Palace will not be in such a passive position. You are the only suitable candidate. Perhaps you can take the golden Demon Subduing Column and the City Lord of the Wronged's heart and run far away, making it impossible for him to find them. However, it may also mean greater danger. Although the City Lord of the Wronged wants to kill you, if you take his heart with you, he will have more reason to kill you."
Long Chen had already thought about this problem.
He had seen the City Lord of the Wrongful Death and knew what a terrifying existence he was. If this person was able to control the power of resurrection, then if he wanted to take revenge on the Human Race, it would be a calamity. And the True Martial Emperor Palace would be the first to bear the brunt of this calamity.
The Zhenwu Great Emperor sighed and said, "You may think that I am powerful when you see that I can easily suppress Ye Futu, but in reality, I am already at the end of my rope. If he comes, I will only have one chance to fight. If I don't succeed in that battle, then the entire Zhenwu Imperial Palace will be destroyed. You are the only suitable candidate, the only person who can prolong the Zhenwu Imperial Palace's existence. However, I also know that you don't have much of a relationship with the Zhenwu Imperial Palace, so I will give you one last chance to choose. You can choose not to shoulder this responsibility. After all, if you do, there is a high chance that you will die."
This might really be a very difficult choice.
From Emperor Zhenwu's words, Long Chen could hear the helplessness in his voice.
He roughly guessed that perhaps Zhenwu the Great had temporarily suppressed the descent of the Nirvana Tribulation and could only hide in that space. If he appeared, he would die under the Nirvana Tribulation in a short time and turn into ashes. But before that, he still had the strength to fight.
Of course, the possibility of him defeating the City Lord of the Wronged was a little small. The City Lord of the Wronged would certainly destroy the entire Imperial Star for his heart.
This was not impossible.
Long Chen had spent a lot of effort to become the Sacred Martial Emperor because he had a sense of existence in this place. He could not bear to see so many of his friends die just like that, so he chose this path.
He could completely ignore it and be an ordinary Sacred Martial Emperor.
He could even give up his position as the Sacred Martial Emperor.
In that case, the City Lord of the Wronged might not be able to find him. Even if there was a grudge between the True Martial Emperor Soul and the God Slaying Sword, perhaps Long Chen would not have to bear the brunt of such a great danger.
If Long Chen transferred the City Lord of the Wronged's heart to his own body, then he would bear the brunt of the City Lord of the Wronged's attack and become the City Lord of the Wronged's target.
The Golden Demon Suppressing Column suppressed the City Lord of the Wronged's heart, and only the Sacred Martial Emperor could use it.
In fact, Long Chen had already made up his mind.
On one hand, it was a matter of life and death.
On the other hand, it was personal selfishness.
Everyone was afraid of death, and it was normal for them to be selfish. That was why Emperor Zhenwu had given Long Chen a chance to make a new choice.
He was willing to protect the True Martial Emperor Palace with his life, but he was also not willing to force a young man with a bright future to embark on a path of sacrifice like himself.
Long Chen was indeed conflicted.
After all, he was also a normal person. He was more willing to spend time pursuing his own things and treating his own people well, such as Lingxi and Mo Xiaolang.
However, to him, compared to these things, the survival of the human race was far more important. He believed that everyone close to him would support him if he chose this path, including Lingxi. She had always been silently supporting him.
Long Chen was not a wishy-washy person. He was more decisive than anyone else.
When Emperor Zhenwu gave him one last chance to make a choice, he fulfilled his promise in front of hundreds of millions of disciples.
He fulfilled the promise he made in front of the hundred million disciples. He decisively and straightforwardly said, "How can I bear to give up something as good as the Golden Demon Suppressing Pillar?"
For the first time ever, Great Emperor Zhenwu laughed at his tactful words.
"Although you are young, I admire your courage. In that case, I will lead the way."
They were at the center of the 99 Golden Demon Suppressing Columns.
Looking up, one could see the mighty and domineering 99 Golden Demon Suppressing Columns. They were like pillars supporting the sky, piercing into the sky.
Each Golden Demon Suppressing Column was engraved with complex patterns. Because it was the spine of a five-clawed golden dragon, there was a large number of golden dragon scales.
Great Emperor Zhenwu immediately activated the Golden Demon Subduing Columns. Golden light scattered from the ninety-nine Golden Demon Subduing Columns, densely covering the ground, forming a golden array formation under their feet.
"We are about to reach the core of the Imperial Star. That is where the heart of the City Lord of the Wronged is sealed."
As soon as Zhenwu the Great finished speaking, Long Chen realized that the entire golden formation was sinking. He was also sinking into the ground at an extremely fast speed. All around him was soil. As he sank deeper, the color of his surroundings gradually turned fiery red. The temperature also increased. Everything seemed to have turned into a state of lava. Zhenwu the Great Emperor's voice trailed off.
This was the first time he had gone so deep underground.
The Imperial Star was not large. It could only be considered a small planet.
With the speed of the golden array's descent, they finally reached their destination after about a quarter of an hour.
During this process, the two did not communicate with each other.
Long Chen's heart began to beat faster.
He was about to come face to face with the heart of the City Lord of the Wronged. What kind of hideous appearance did this thing that had been sealed for so many years look like? Would it be a black, hideous heart that kept beating and letting out the screams of evil ghosts?
Just the thought of such a thing existing in his God Nation made him feel disgusted.
The only consolation was that he could probably control an eight-patterned dao item, the 99 Golden Demon Suppressing Columns.
"Surpassing your limits to use a dao item will cause you great harm. Your current strength is not enough to completely control the 99 Golden Demon Suppressing Columns. Ten or less should not be a problem, so after refining it, you must be careful. Don't mess around."
Emperor Zhenwu reminded him.
Long Chen understood this. Feng Zhilin had overused the Wind Dragon Tendon, which had caused damage to her body.
Although the 99 Golden Demon Suppressing Columns were eight-patterned dao items, they had an advantage. They were spread out and there were many of them. Long Chen could not control them all. He could let the Golden Demon Suppressing Columns suppress the City Lord of the Wronged's heart, and he could use some at will.
In any case, Emperor Zhenwu had said that the heart was almost completely exhausted.
After arriving at his destination, Long Chen found that the surrounding temperature had risen to a terrifying level. His field of vision was filled with fiery red lava. This was near the center of the Imperial Star. Suddenly, a fiery red space appeared in the midst of countless densely packed strange rocks.
The barrier of this space was a layer of fiery red light film. The flowing light was beautiful, but in reality, if one's body was not strong enough, they would probably be melted here.
At the very least, one would need to pass two Nirvana Tribulations to be able to endure here for a short period of time.
Long Chen's body was comparable to a Martial Venerable's, so this was naturally not a problem.
However, if he stayed here for too long, he would probably collapse.
"This is the City Lord of the Wronged's heart."
Emperor Zhenwu pointed to the center of this space.
Long Chen followed the direction he was pointing at and was instantly stunned.
Above the fiery red lava floated a transparent crystal ice coffin. The crystal ice coffin was not big, and one could see everything inside.
In this crystal ice coffin lay an extremely beautiful woman. This woman was shrouded in frost, and her long, aqua blue hair cascaded down her back. Her beauty was breathtaking. Long Chen had seen beautiful women before, such as Lingxi and Li Xuanji. However, none of them had as strong a visual impact as the woman in the crystal ice coffin.
Her delicate snow-white skin was shrouded in frost, and her exquisite figure was absolutely perfect. She had a snake-like waist, perfectly round and white buttocks, slender thighs, full breasts, and a bit of fragrant blue grass between her legs. All of this stirred one's imagination. Her cold face, slender eyelashes, exquisite nose, and jade lips were all mesmerizing.
This woman lying in the crystal ice coffin like a rare treasure was actually … the heart of the City Lord of the Wronged.
This was a far cry from the black, ferocious heart that Long Chen had imagined.
The only proof was that a golden bead floated above the crystal ice coffin. There were a total of eight Dao markings on the bead, and the bead kept spinning, forming ninety-nine shadows that suppressed the crystal ice coffin, immobilizing it.
"Surprised, right? The first time I saw her, I had the same expression."
Emperor Zhenwu said solemnly.
… …
He still remembered that last December, when the Dragon Blood God of War had been put on sale, it had achieved outstanding results.
A year later, it had reached the top.