Chapter 119: The Upgraded Outer Heavenly Demon

In the end, Wang Ping wore the Divine Armor.

Although Chenlong had plenty of objections, his injuries were too severe. He couldn't muster the strength to argue and wouldn't be needing the armor anytime soon anyway. He decided to just let Wang Ping enjoy wearing the Divine Armor for a few more days.

"I'll handle the corpse."

Clad in the Divine Armor, Wang Ping walked briskly over to Kongzhi's corpse. He didn't bother hiding his actions; reaching out, he immediately stored the body away in the banner space.

Ji Wuhen knew nothing of this, so naturally, he had no reaction.

As for Chenlong, a slight shift flickered in his eyes, but he ultimately chose to turn a blind eye... After all, it was perfectly normal for a genius to have a few secrets.

As long as someone dared to kill an extraordinary person and had the strength to do it, they were a good person.

Longxing County Yamen.

As soon as Wang Ping's group returned, they ran into Xugou waiting at the city gate with a face full of grievance. Xugou hurried forward to support the staggering Chenlong.

"Big brother, are you alright?"

Faced with Xugou's concern, Chenlong looked thoroughly displeased. "Do I look alright to you? If you were just a bit more capable, would this have happened?"

Xugou was speechless.

Before he could speak, Chenlong waved a hand impatiently. "Alright, alright, take me back. I need to nurse my injuries... You're coming with me."

"Ah?" Xugou stared blankly.

"What? You still want to go back to sleep? How can you sleep at your age?"

Chenlong snorted coldly.

"I'll teach you personally. You have three days. If you're still this incompetent by then, I'll report you to the First Seat and dock your salary for the month!"

Xugou had been hanging his head in dejection like an abandoned puppy, but the moment Chenlong said this, his eyes lit up. His expression filled with radiant energy once more. He enthusiastically supported Chenlong and set off at a brisk pace, clearly unable to wait.

"Wait, wait, slow down!"

"My injuries haven't healed yet, you little brat!"

Their voices gradually faded. Wang Ping watched them leave before turning to Ji Wuhen. After a moment of thought, he took out Kongzhi's four magical artifacts.

"Brother Ji, which one do you want?"

Hearing this, Ji Wuhen actually felt a little flattered. "You're sharing them with me?"

Wang Ping blinked. "You might not have contributed much to that battle, but you still did something. It's not like you don't deserve at least a demigod weapon."

"What, did Brother Ji think I'd hog all the loot for myself?"

"Of course not."

Ji Wuhen shook his head, his tone honest and straightforward. "I thought you would use dividing the spoils as an excuse to take me somewhere deserted."

"Then you'd butcher me with a single strike and claim the Hegemon Spear and my Five Thunder Musket for yourself."

Wang Ping was instantly exasperated.

"What kind of person do you take me for, Brother Ji?"

"If not for your reminder, I might not have reaped such a massive harvest. Besides, if I killed you, the Armament Manual would record the entire process."

"There's no hiding it."

Halfway through Wang Ping's explanation, Ji Wuhen still wore a look of suspicion. It wasn't until the Armament Manual was mentioned that a trace of trust appeared on his face.

The Armament Manual's recording function.

Compared to something like reliable character, this reason was far more believable.

They were all martial artists, and martial artists conventionally ignored martial virtues. Ji Wuhen asked himself—if he were in Wang Ping's position, he would definitely consider murdering his ally for the loot as well.

The only reason not to do so was if the consequences outweighed the gains.

"Then I'll take this one."

The next second, Ji Wuhen reached for the Sumeru Adamantine Umbrella. He had seen the might of this supreme-grade artifact; it was an absolute treasure for self-defense.

He just so happened to need one.

Wang Ping was quite happy with this outcome. Had it been earlier, he might have been reluctant to part with it, as such a supreme-grade life-saving artifact was hard to come by.

However, he now possessed the Divine Armor.

In comparison, the Sumeru Vajra Umbrella wasn't quite as essential anymore. Ji Wuhen choosing this artifact played right into his hands.

Ji Wuhen appeared relaxed on the surface, but he was secretly on high alert. Only after he took the Sumeru Adamantine Umbrella from Wang Ping's hands safe and sound did the peerless assassin ranked third in the Armament Manual finally sigh. Cupping his hands, he said, "Brother Wang is truly generous. Cooperating with you leaves the heart clear and bright!"

Wang Ping smiled. "Do you know why it's clear?"

"Because my heart is clean, and I harbor no selfish thoughts!"

Ji Wuhen looked deeply convinced. Stowing away the Sumeru Adamantine Umbrella, he bumped fists with Wang Ping, genuinely feeling that this man was capable of great things.

"Until we meet again!"

With that, Ji Wuhen withdrew, vanishing into the night in the blink of an eye. Wang Ping, meanwhile, dragged his exhausted body back to the county yamen's courtyard.

To his surprise, a rich aroma of food drifted from the courtyard the moment he entered. He saw Madam Su wearing an apron, dressed like a cook, bustling about near the dining table. The table was filled with a wide variety of nourishing dishes, leaving Wang Ping frozen on the spot.

"You're back?"

Madam Su turned her head. Upon seeing Wang Ping, a smile instantly bloomed on her face. "I knew that towering blaze outside the city had to be you acting recklessly again."

"You must be starving. Eat."

She took out the Six Desire Heavens Sovereign Attainment Method and waved it proudly. "I've almost learned this. I'm actually quite smart, you know."

"Alright, hurry up and eat. I'm going to continue reading. Go nurse your wounds once you're done. Leave the dishes on the table; I'll come back to clean up after I finish."

With those words, her graceful figure drifted away.

For a moment, Wang Ping was entirely speechless. He stood in a daze for a long while before helplessly taking a seat at the table. Then, he began to gorge himself.

The moment the food entered his stomach, it was crushed and instantly digested by organs modified by the Martial God Pictorial Record. It transformed into vital essence and life force that surged through his limbs and bones. The quality of the food wasn't anything special—this was just a small county town, after all—but the sheer quantity made it barely suffice.

After eating his fill, Wang Ping sat back on his bed and sank his consciousness into the Great Peace Mortuary.

Standing before the towering book, Wang Ping's gaze fell upon the Outer Heavenly Demon, which had long since finished its cooldown. For the first time, his eyes revealed a look of hesitation and thought.

"This really is..."

The cause of this hesitation was Kongzhi's corpse. For this particular body, the Taiping Sutra had unprecedentedly offered two options.

The first was to find a high-quality material, open the sixth scripture scroll, and contain Kongzhi's corpse, transforming it into resources for his own cultivation.

This had been Wang Ping's original plan.

However, the Great Peace Mortuary now presented a second option—more accurately, a sudden variable had occurred with the first scripture scroll, the Outer Heavenly Demon.

[Foreign corpse detected.]

[Does the Master of the Scroll permit the containment of this corpse? Containment will unlock a third world coordinate and slightly enhance the scripture scroll's effects.]

Wang Ping looked conflicted.

In all fairness, given the quality of Kongzhi's corpse, if it were converted into a scripture scroll, the resulting effects would likely be the best among all the scrolls currently in his possession.

On the other hand, the Outer Heavenly Demon was the scripture scroll he relied on most. It not only gave him a second chance in the face of death, but it also allowed him to travel between the two worlds, using immortal cultivation to completely crush martial arts in an asymmetrical strike, thereby rapidly accumulating foundations.

More importantly...

The current effects of the Outer Heavenly Demon have practically all been figured out by that old bastard Shouchong and the Heaven-Stealing Thief backing him.

This situation—where the enemy was hidden in the dark while he was exposed in the light—was undoubtedly extremely passive.

To reverse this disadvantage, the best method was to upgrade the Outer Heavenly Demon, creating a trump card the Heaven-Stealing Thief knew nothing about.

"...Forget it!"

After mulling it over, Wang Ping finally made his decision. "I can just find another sixth scripture scroll later, but the opportunity to upgrade the Outer Heavenly Demon might only come this once."

After all, Kongzhi might be the only Brahma Cultivator inside the Eight Trigrams Furnace, but there were plenty of Loose Immortals with matching cultivation levels. The former was the key factor attracting the Outer Heavenly Demon. If he grabbed a Loose Immortal to serve as the sixth scripture scroll, the effects wouldn't be much worse.

"Containment permitted!"

The moment Wang Ping spoke, an invisible, mighty force descended from the void. It seized Kongzhi's corpse within the banner space and instantly refined it into nothingness.

Right after, the text on the towering book began to change.

The first thing to emerge was a third portal, alongside the Immortal Gate and the Great Shun Dynasty. Compared to the first two, its appearance was vastly different.

First were the patterns. The lines on the first two portals exuded an ancient feel, resembling birds and beasts. However, the newly appeared third portal looked like an assortment of brilliant, exceedingly magnificent artifacts... Yet, in stark contrast to this grand appearance was the name inscribed on it.

[The Heavenly Demon Royal Court]

The instant he saw this name, Wang Ping froze. It wasn't that he didn't recognize it... In fact, it was the exact opposite. He knew this name!

To the north of the Great Shun Dynasty lay a formidable enemy known as the barbarians.

The barbarians worshiped beasts as gods. They carved beastly forms to serve as Totems and passed them down through generations, taking pride in transforming their human bodies into beasts. They were known as the heavenly demon Great Sages, and they ruled the Northern Plains through a Royal Court.

"The Heavenly Demon Royal Court... Isn't that right to the north of Great Shun?!"

How the hell was this a different world?

Wang Ping thought for a moment and soon formed a hypothesis.

"This was settled using Kongzhi's corpse, so the resulting world must be related to him. Does this mean the Heavenly Demon Royal Court is actually the Brahma Nation's faction in the mortal realm? And the Northern Plains attacking the Central Plains every year is actually the Brahma Nation fighting the Immortal Gate over the ownership of the Eight Trigrams Furnace?"

It was highly possible!

However, given the current circumstances, there was no way he would transmigrate there anytime soon. Therefore, Wang Ping quickly shifted his gaze to the effect text on the scripture scroll.

The upgraded Outer Heavenly Demon.

What specific changes would there be? A shortened resurrection cooldown? A resurrection that inherently reversed time? Taiping Sutra, oh Taiping Sutra, now is the time for you to put in some effort!

Soon, under Wang Ping's expectant gaze, he saw the changes to the scripture scroll.

[The scripture scroll completes a cooldown every seven days. If the Master of the Scroll is not dead when the cooldown ends, the cooldown can be restarted, recording one resurrection.]

[A maximum of seven resurrections can be recorded.]

"...Not bad."

Wang Ping thought about it and decided to keep calling the Taiping Sutra his daddy. Although it wasn't quite what he had expected, it was still an upgrade.

I can accumulate up to seven resurrections. This is actually pretty good. With this function, if I run into another special situation like the one in Longxing County, I won't have to worry about suddenly dropping dead because the cooldown hasn't finished. As long as I always keep at least one resurrection in reserve, many things will be much easier to handle.

Chuckling happily, Wang Ping exited the Great Peace Mortuary.

The next second, his heart suddenly stirred. He glanced toward the nearby window, only to see a tall, slender figure bending at the waist and carefully sneaking inside.

Seeing Wang Ping looking over, the person immediately sent a spiritual sense transmission:

"Shh, keep quiet."

"Careful, I sneaked over here behind my older cousin's back."

It was none other than Chen Luoyan.