Chapter 63: The Crisis of the Thirteenth Layer of Qi Condensation, Divine Firmament Transforms into the Shadow Queen!

"This..."

Shen Lang was stunned.

Ever since he transmigrated into this world, everything had been smooth sailing for him. He truly had never considered the matter of heavenly tribulations.

However, upon closer thought, heavenly tribulations were an indispensable element in every fantasy novel. Moreover, for transmigrators, heavenly tribulations were often treated with over-the-specifications hospitality.

It was just that he remembered heavenly tribulations only occurring after reaching the Nascent Soul stage. This forced him to follow up with a question: "I'm only at the Qi Condensation stage, and I'm already going to encounter a heavenly tribulation?"

"It seems you really know nothing at all!"

"Let me tell you, breaking through to the thirteenth layer of Qi Condensation is considered breaking the rules established by the Heavenly Dao, and a heavenly tribulation will descend."

"When the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art breaks through to the fifth layer, it signifies that the physical body has entered the Divine Transformation realm level, and there will also be a heavenly tribulation!"

"If you aren't prepared, you're dead for sure!"

Hiss...

Hearing this, Shen Lang felt a lingering fear. If Er Gouzi hadn't stopped him just now, he might have completely messed things up.

Thinking of this, Shen Lang said quite sincerely, "Many thanks for the reminder!"

Seeing Shen Lang's sincere expression, Er Gouzi waved his paw. "No need for thanks, just return my treasure to me!"

"In your dreams!"

"Take this thing as a token of gratitude, whether you want it or not!"

With that, without waiting for Er Gouzi to say anything more, Shen Lang directly tossed the elixir given to him by Shen Xiao to Er Gouzi and hurried toward the First Restaurant.

After all, knowing about the existence of heavenly tribulations, he had to figure out a way to gather more grievance points to survive the upcoming heavenly tribulation.

Little did he know, upon seeing the Heavenly Dragon Qi-Gathering Pill tossed over by Shen Lang, Er Gouzi's expression changed drastically.

"The unpassed secret elixir of the Vast Heaven Divine Kingdom! How does this brat have it?"

"Could it be that he is the direct-line male descendant lost outside by the Vast Heaven Divine Kingdom?"

"If so, this Great Qin is probably facing a devastating catastrophe!"

Thinking of this, Er Gouzi immediately gave chase after Shen Lang. He wanted to take a good look at this Shen Lang and see what kind of monster he really was!

Meanwhile, He Xiufei had also arrived at the City Lord's Mansion.

Looking at Shen Xiao, who sat on the main seat radiating an awe-inspiring majesty without being angry, his heart was filled with gravity.

As a strategist, after seeing Nalan Yanran's deep affection for Shen Lang, he realized that Shen Lang was definitely not as simple as a mere puppet. It was very likely that he had been deceived! And the one who deceived him was most likely this Shen Xiao.

Therefore, failing to comprehend the current situation, He Xiufei did not dare to be too presumptuous.

With an extremely sincere attitude, he bowed to Shen Xiao and said, "Your subject pays respects to Your Majesty!"

Seeing He Xiufei's sincere appearance, Shen Xiao could not help but sigh inwardly: "Shen Lang really has skills!"

Since her ascension to the throne, He Xiufei had never been so humble before her. Therefore, believing more and more that Shen Lang's plan could succeed, Shen Xiao followed Shen Lang's script and spoke.

"Do you know why I summoned you today?"

"Your Majesty, could it be you want me to come forward and denounce the Zhou family for forcing the imperial envoy to his death?"

Shen Xiao slowly shook her head. "I want the entire Zhou family wiped out!"

Hiss...

Hearing these words, He Xiufei's heart trembled. He hastily shook his head and said, "Forgive my boldness, Your Majesty, but wanting to overthrow the Zhou family is no different from a fool's daydream!"

"If Your Majesty pushes them too hard, the Zhou family will at most pull out Zhou Huai'an to serve as a scapegoat. Therefore..."

He Xiufei stopped there without continuing. He felt that Shen Xiao should be able to understand his subtext.

Little did he know that every word he spoke had long been accurately and flawlessly transmitted to Shen Xiao by Shen Lang. Consequently, Shen Xiao didn't even need to guide the conversation at all.

She abruptly slammed her palm onto the table and roared, "Do you all think I am someone easy to bully? Or do you think I care all that much about this Great Qin empire?"

Seeing Shen Xiao suddenly fly into a rage, He Xiufei hurriedly dropped to his knees, his voice trembling. "May Your Majesty calm your wrath! Everything your subject said is the truth!"

"The truth?!"

A terrifying murderous intent erupted from Shen Xiao. "I'll tell you the truth as well!"

"I came to this Great Qin owing a favor to Shen Lang's father, simply to hand this empire over to Shen Lang!"

"But now that he is dead, I have no more scruples!"

"Even if every single commoner in Great Qin dies, it is of no concern to me!"

"Summoning you here today was merely to let you tell Zhao Tianba and the others that I have no attachment left to Great Qin."

"If their Zhao family does not want the commoners of Great Qin to survive, they can fight a bloody battle to the death with me at any moment!"

"If they do want them, then for fuck's sake, show some attitude!"

Looking at Shen Xiao's frantic appearance, He Xiufei's body trembled to the extreme.

Never in his wildest dreams had he expected that Shen Xiao came to Great Qin merely to repay a favor, solely to pass the throne to Shen Lang. Now that Shen Lang was dead, Shen Xiao was effectively transformed into an unchained madwoman.

And they had wanted to use the Eight Great Kings' control over the common folk in Great Qin to coerce Shen Xiao into a compromise—that was purely courting death!

Having figured this out, He Xiufei fell to his knees in panic and said, "This... this subject will go right now to relay this to Zhao Tianba!"

"Get lost!"

Once He Xiufei had fled the City Lord's Mansion in terror, the anger on Shen Xiao's face gradually turned into calm.

She asked indifferently, "Shadow, did my acting just now look convincing? Was it enough to meet the requirements Shen Lang set?"

Shadow, standing to the side, twitched the corners of her mouth as she looked at Shen Xiao's expression, which practically begged for praise. Then, she gave a quite sincere review.

"There are no problems whatsoever. Master Shen's state earlier was exactly like this!"

"Then tell me, will it frighten them?"

Shadow thought for a moment and said very seriously, "It should be fine. After all, this is an open conspiracy!"

"This subordinate cannot fathom any reason why the other aristocratic families would fight you to the bitter end—you, who now have no scruples—solely because of the Zhou family."

"It's just a pity about those fifty million spirit stones!"

Hearing mention of fifty million spirit stones, Shen Xiao felt a dull ache in her teeth.

The He family had taken the initiative to approach them, wishing to spend fifty million to buy a divine artifact. If it were up to her, she definitely would have agreed straight away. But alas, Nalan Yanran's feelings for Shen Lang were too deep, to the point where she couldn't even act her part properly. Ultimately, this windfall had been completely nipped in the bud.

However, Shen Xiao also understood that plans could never keep up with changes. Take the death of Zhou Hao, for instance—no one could have foreseen that. If Shen Lang hadn't reacted quickly enough, they wouldn't have this current situation.

Therefore, narrowing her eyes, Shen Xiao asked, "What is the current situation with the Zhou family?"

"The Old Ancestor of the Zhou family is flying into a rage at home. He apparently said that Shen Lang went to their estate and, taking advantage of the chaos, swapped the tax silver they had prepared to hand over to the Blood Demon Sect with worthless stones!"

"Oh?"

Hearing this, Shen Xiao immediately recalled what Nalan Yanran had reported to her.

She chuckled on the spot. "No wonder that fellow took the initiative to apply for a trip to the Zhou family, and even performed a self-detonation right on the spot. So he didn't want to split the loot with me!"

"How much tax silver did the Zhou family lose?"

"It seems to be ninety million spirit stones!"

"What?!"

Shen Xiao was startled. She had figured Shen Lang went to the Zhou family to embezzle, but she never expected him to embezzle a full ninety million.

This instantly caused the corners of her mouth to twitch. "Where did that scoundrel go?"

"At the First Restaurant, listening to music!"

"He's still in the mood to listen to music?" Shen Xiao's expression darkened slightly.

Yet, recalling that she had broken Shen Lang's heart earlier, her initial anger gradually subsided.

"Forget it, let him listen if he wants. Go remind him to hurry up and take the Heavenly Dragon Qi-Gathering Pill; I need him to go into the mystic realm and help me retrieve a treasure!"

"This..."

Shadow stood in place with an awkward expression, not accepting the imperial decree.

Seeing this, Shen Xiao raised an eyebrow. "What? Did you not hear my words?"

"Your Majesty, the Heavenly Dragon Qi-Gathering Pill... was fed to a dog by Shen Lang!"