After Huang Xiaolong told Zhang Sijin that he would visit again, Zhang Sijin became spirited once again like a vibrant youth, grinning happily as he said, "Really?! The subordinate will be waiting for Your Highness' return."
Huang Xiaolong's smile widened watching Zhang Sijin's expression, and he promised, "Alright! You must prepare some good dishes and wine for me."
Honestly speaking, Huang Xiaolong was also feeling somewhat reluctant to leave the Devil Cave.
"Of course, of course!" Zhang Sijin nodded heavily.
Then, with Zhang Sijin's send off, Huang Xiaolong left the Devil Cave.
Shortly after, Huang Xiaolong was walking down the prosperous streets of Holy Heavens City, looking at the bustling activities around him. Huang Xiaolong grew quiet in retrospect. A decade ago, he, Lord Di Huai, Feng Tianyu, and the others had just arrived at the Holy Heavens City, and that memory was still fresh in his mind.
Now, not only he had successfully joined the Holy Heavens, but he had even become the four Primal Ancestors' joint disciple.
He had experienced many changes since arriving at this Holy Heavens City, not only in his identity and strength, but more importantly also in his saint attributes.
It was especially after his second stint in the Devil Cave.
The result of battling consecutive challenges in the last ten years had led to Huang Xiaolong's three complete dao saint godheads, three saint bloodlines, and three saint physiques to finally rise into the top one hundred ranks.
Though his saint attributes had barely made it into the top one hundred, don't forget that he had three complete dao saint godheads, three saint bloodlines, and three saint physiques!
Now, even without going through the Holy Mandate Imprint, his absorption of spiritual qi was faster than the majority of disciples.
If he added the Holy Mandate Imprint to the equation, then his absorption speed would be too shocking to be spoken out.
And his cultivation realm had reached early Sixth Order Venerable, closer to the peak early Sixth Order and merely a short step from mid-Sixth Order Venerable Realm.
Estimating based on his current cultivation speed, he would be able to break through to Seventh Order Venerable Realm within a decade.
Once he stepped into Seventh Order Venerable Realm, the various holy grounds' late-Tenth Order Venerable genius Holy Princes wouldn't be a match against him.
Back in the Holy Heavens Manor, Huang Xiaolong saw that Di Huai was giving cultivation guidance to Feng Tianyu, Zhang Wenyue, and Xue Qi.
But Huang Xiaolong didn't expect to see the additional two people behind Di Huai. These two were none other than the Zhuoyuan Holy Gate's chief Eminent Elder Li Wen, and Eminent Elder Chen Shiming!
"Xiaolong!"
"Young Master!"
Di Huai, Feng Tianyu, Zhang Wenyue, and the rest were thrilled to see Huang Xiaolong, and hurried towards him.
Whereas Li Wen and Chen Shiming, after a second of shock, both hurried towards Huang Xiaolong and fell to their knees in salute before him. "Greeting Your Highness Huang Xiaolong!"
"Eminent Elder Li Wen, Eminent Elder Chen Shiming, please get up quickly!" Huang Xiaolong bent forward and lightly held them by the elbow.
"How come you're here in Holy Heavens City?" Huang Xiaolong asked, as a bad feeling welled up in his chest.
As expected, Li Wen and Chen Shiming cried woefully, "Your Highness, our Zhuoyuan Holy Gate was razed to the ground by the Devil Palace! Zhuoyuan Holy Gate's tens of thousands of disciples were slaughtered by the Devil Palace's experts, Xu Jun, Quo Qirong, and other Eminent Elders all sacrificed themselves in battle!"
It was like a bomb going off in Huang Xiaolong's head.
"Dead, dead!" Huang Xiaolong's eyes turned bleak.
Chen Shiming was choking back tears, sobbing, "It was, it was a few years back. The Devil Palace suddenly attacked the Zhuoyuan Holy Ground. They sent a great number of half-True Saint experts, and even one True Saint expert. Those Devil Palace's disciples were cruel and brutal, killing any Zhuoyuan Holy Gate's disciple that came into their sights, whereas they took away all of the female disciples!"
"Even Eminent Elder Song Yi was taken away!"
Huang Xiaolong's fists clenched tightly as a violent desire for revenge erupted in his mind.
There was no need to ask as he already knew why the Devil Palace's disciples had taken away all the female disciples.
Any female disciple taken away by the Devil Palace's disciples would be reduced to their plaything, and even a furnace to raise their cultivation until the day the female disciple was sucked dry of energy and essence.
"The Devil Palace!" Huang Xiaolong's eyes were bloodshot.
Although the amount of time he had spent at the Zhuoyuan Holy Gate was not long, no matter what, the Zhuoyuan Holy Gate was the first sect he had joined in the Holy World.
The Devil Palace had destroyed the Zhuoyuan Holy Gate, and from then on, it was a blood feud of sect annihilation between Huang Xiaolong and them.
"Why?!"
Huang Xiaolong's voice was bone-chilling and hoarse, "Why would the Devil Palace want to destroy the Zhuoyuan Holy Gate?!"
Li Wen was the one who answered, "I've heard from that True Saint expert sent by the Devil Palace that the so-called Lord Dou Rui gave them the order!"
"Dou Rui!" An icy glint flashed in Huang Xiaolong's eyes.
Huang Xiaolong was naturally familiar with that Dou Rui. On the way to the Holy Heavens, they had passed by the Emperor Yu Holy Grounds, and Emperor Yu's injuries were caused by Dou Rui.
Dou Rui's status in the Devil Palace was very high, and he was one of the Devil Palace's six Devil Princes.
Di Huai was shocked to hear that as he hadn't expected Dou Rui to issue that order.
"What could trigger Dou Rui to destroy the Zhuoyuan Holy Gate?"Huang Xiaolong asked Li Wen.
Li Wen shook his head, saying that he didn't know.
"What happened to Jiang Tian?" Huang Xiaolong suddenly remembered that there was such a person still being imprisoned in the Zhuoyuan Holy Gate's prison, as well as Zheng Yongjia, and several other Holy Princes.
At the mention of Jiang Tian, Li Wen snarled with intense hatred and resentment, "Jiang Tian, Zheng Yongjia, and those traitors, the moment they saw the Devil Palace's army, all of them knelt in surrender! In order to show their loyalty, they actually killed many of our Holy Gate's disciples with their own hands. After Eminent Elder Xu Jun was dealt with a heavy blow by the Devil Palace's True Saint expert, he died at Jiang Tian's hand!"
Chen Shiming added with crimson eyes of hatred, "Jiang Tian repeatedly tortured Eminent Elder Xu Jun, and at the time of his death, there wasn't even an intact body. Eminent Elder Xu Jun's death was too brutal and miserable!"
Huang Xiaolong inhaled deeply before making a solemn vow, "Rest assured, I will avenge Eminent Elder Xu Jun and the disciples of Zhuoyuan Holy Gate! Even if I bet my life on it!"
Huang Xiaolong then asked Li Wen and Chen Shiming of the current Zhuoyuan Holy Gate's situation that they were aware of.
...
Night.
Huang Xiaolong stood in the yard, seemingly enshrouded in heavy silence.
"Xiaolong, are you thinking about what happened to the Zhuoyuan Holy Gate?" Di Huai approached Huang Xiaolong from the back and asked. "Frankly, this matter is not because of you, don't blame yourself."
Huang Xiaolong shook his head, but he did not say a word. During the day, he had sent a message to Wu Ge asking about this matter. According to Wu Ge's conjecture, the reason why Dou Rui would order people to destroy the Zhuoyuan Holy Gate was probably related to him killing the Devil Palace disciples in the Devil Cave.
Many of the Devil Palace disciples Huang Xiaolong had challenged and killed in the Devil Cave were personal disciples of generals under Dou Rui. One of them was Dou Rui's disciple-in-name.
Thus, he was the cause of Zhuoyuan Holy Gate's tragic destruction!
Seeing that Huang Xiaolong remained silent, Di Huai sighed inwardly and retreated, leaving Huang Xiaolong to calm down, and sort his feelings alone.
Early the next day, Huang Xiaolong went to the Primal Ancestor's space. When he met with the four Primal Ancestors, he told them he intended to set off to the Profound River in two days. Before Huang Xiaolong left, the four Primal Ancestors repeatedly exhorted Huang Xiaolong to pay attention to safety, and they gave him many good things that would aid his defense and escape if necessary.
The construction of Huang Xiaolong's palace ordered by the four Primal Ancestors inside the Primal Ancestors' space had been completed. Thus Huang Xiaolong went to take a look on the way. The palace was indeed magnificent and surreal, abundant holy spiritual qi cast a veil over the palace.
Huang Xiaolong merely stayed for an hour, then left.
Back in the Holy Heavens Manor, Huang Xiaolong stayed another two days with Di Huai, Feng Tianyu, and the others. Then, he set off to the Profound River alone.
Before leaving, Huang Xiaolong spent several trillion to purchase a lavish manor in the center of Holy Heavens City for Di Huai, Feng Tianyu, and the others upon considering that they did not have the identities of Holy Heavens disciples to move around freely.