Chapter 513 — The Mother-Hunter Combo

In the past spacetime, in the Empress's dynasty, Shi Jin joined hands with the future Empress and launched a great mother-hunting battle right there in the Duling Mountains.

One day later.

The entire Phoenix Empire was rocked to its foundations.

The Divine Phoenix demigod had passed away—"died by accident." Princess Huang Xi, bearer of the Divine Phoenix demigod's most orthodox bloodline, succeeded to the throne with the title of Empress and took control of the Phoenix Empire.

For a time, the whole Phoenix Empire was plunged into mourning. Countless phoenix clan members could not believe it, and many phoenix totems could not accept Princess Huang Xi's direct succession, for the demigod's death was too bizarre—yet they were suppressed by the Empress's eight totem-tier phoenixes.

The Empress had directly displayed the Phoenix Empire's strongest fighting force.

On top of that, over the years the Empress had been quietly cultivating her own loyalists, including the phoenix beasts at her side, all raised by her from youth; the clans that followed them likewise became the driving force behind her accession.

And now, the very culprit who had turned the Phoenix Empire upside down had arrived at its national treasury.

"Tch—ruthless enough when fighting, but in the end you still couldn't bring yourself to strike hard," Shi Jin kept grumbling at the Empress as they entered the nation's secret realm.

After that battle, they had killed the Divine Phoenix demigod only once; once it revived through the Undying Fruit, things played out just as history recorded—the Empress chose to seal its death spirit within a legendary ruin.

As for the demigod's corpse, the Empress took it as well. And as for Shi Jin, per their agreement, he was free to take anything he wished from the Phoenix Empire's resources.

Having witnessed Shi Jin's strength, the Empress could hardly renege now—after all, in that battle, with her bloodline suppressed, the victory had been won mainly through Shi Jin and his companions' efforts.

Which meant she had no power to go back on her word before Shi Jin.

Enthroned against her will from start to finish.

It even gave the Empress the illusion that she was nothing but a puppet sovereign.

"I wonder how that Phoenix Mother I left in Teacher Cat's care is doing. If it knew that in another spacetime, its counterpart was hunted down by a joint force before it could even make a move, what kind of face would it make..."

As they entered the national secret realm, Shi Jin mused. The undying underworld phoenix of the original spacetime—before he transmigrated, he had sealed it and left it with the Gemstone Cat to watch over. After all, carrying an extra totem through transmigration meant an extra share of the cost, so he had tried not to bring along dead weight.

Still, the undying underworld phoenix of the original spacetime might be dead weight, but its memories were a treasure.

According to the memories the undying underworld phoenix had surrendered, at this point in the timeline the Phoenix Empire had not yet sunk into perennial war, and the vast majority of the empire's resources were still stored in the national secret realm of the ancient capital, Phoenix City, and had not been moved elsewhere by the undying underworld phoenix.

Things like the Undying Fruit and Sunflare Flowers were all still here.

Normally, the Phoenix Empire's national treasury could only be opened by the undying underworld phoenix and the confidants it authorized—but unfortunately for it, Shi Jin and the others had gotten the opening method from the "person" of the undying underworld phoenix itself.

"All right, we're in!"

Rumble.

Space trembled.

Shi Jin and the others entered the imperial secret realm together.

"Awoo..." "Mmm..." "Ee!" "Mrrow..." "Nngh..." "Mm!"

Through Shi Jin and company's efforts, they had slipped into the Phoenix Empire's national treasury right at its most chaotic hour, with a parade of ravenous beasts trailing at Shi Jin's side.

Eleven especially—it had just finished a legendary resource, yet having served as the main force in two consecutive battles against demigods, it was hungry again.

Now it would see just what lay within the Phoenix Empire's treasury... how many good things!!

Once inside the vast treasury, Shi Jin swept the entire map with his mental power, and then his heart leapt with delight.

"Six legendary-grade resources: three Sunblaze Flowers imbued with the power of the sun, and the other three are heart crystals of totem-grade phoenixes, one each of the wind, light, and ice elements..."

"And one divine-grade resource—the Fruit of Immortality."

"Not bad, not bad. There may not be many high-grade resources, but everything from grade eight down covers every attribute and every variety imaginable. Even if we take only a small portion, you'll all be able to feast for a good while."

"The real prize is this Fruit of Immortality!!!"

After entering, Shi Jin gazed across the secret realm that resembled the Phoenix Mountains, his eyes settling on a Fruit of Immortality sealed atop one of the peaks.

It was the very one he had eaten!

Shi Jin turned to the pets beside him.

"I've already eaten one. So which of you wants this one???"

"Chirp chirp chirp."

All the pets turned to look at Ginseng Baby.

Ginseng Baby blinked, then raised a white finger and pointed at itself.

The pets all nodded.

A fruit whose greatest power was unleashed only upon death...

Naturally, it had to be Ginseng Baby, who could revive with ease even after dying, to test the waters. In exchange, all he had to do was cook a few extra meals now and then. The only question was what Ginseng Baby would become after eating the Fruit of Immortality...

py! *Why Does My Husband Flee?*

My name is Lin Bei.

A fortune teller once told me I had a pure-yang constitution and exceptional spiritual roots, but a calamity written into my fate—that I would be coveted by female cultivators and die an unnatural death.

So I disguised myself for eighteen years, and the whole world believed I was a beauty.

But on the very year I turned eighteen, the Demon Cult's leader abducted me to the cult to be married!

Rumor had it that the Demon Cult's leader was a fiend without equal, bloodthirsty and cruel.

That day, I discovered the Demon Cult leader's true female form!

She was actually a female fiend! And the world had no idea!

"If my husband looks any longer, I shall gouge out my husband's eyes," the woman said, her smile blooming like a flower.

A multiple-heroine work by a wandering author.

A new book by a new author—please treat it gently...