After hearing Zhang Chen’s words, Wang Heng pondered briefly but was not particularly wary. He directly pulled off his clothes and lazily lay on the prepared cotton blanket: "I have just gone through a fierce battle, and my body is quite weary. If you can massage me comfortably, you will be rewarded."
Looking at Wang Heng’s skin, Zhang Chen noticed that his back was smooth and fair like high-quality mutton fat jade, showing no trace of tattoos. However, Zhang Chen was no ordinary person; his pupils contained flowing True God Golden Light. In an instant, he saw a black shadow radiating mysterious power within the dermis beneath Wang Heng’s skin, holding a large banner—the Yama Banner.
Zhang Chen extended his hand and placed it on Wang Heng’s skin, then smoothly ran his fingers over the lines of Wang Heng’s back, using the Blood Control Technique to sense all the secrets hidden within Wang Heng’s body.
"Hmm? Wang Heng has a kind of miraculous bloodline within his body, which, though weak, is of exceedingly high quality. My seventh-tier Blood Control Technique can’t command the blood in his body?" As the ancestor of blood manipulation, Zhang Chen immediately detected something amiss in Wang Heng’s body.
Wang Heng’s bloodline level is roughly third-tier, but the quality of that power is extremely high, even beyond Zhang Chen’s Blood Control Technique.
"This power contains a chilling force that specifically targets the Divine Soul, with various peculiar inclusions that seem to have a ripple of the Law of Life?" Zhang Chen pressed on Wang Heng’s muscles while his eyes revealed a thoughtful look: "This bloodline power and the Yama Banner stem from the same source, as if originating from the Yama Banner? After months of consumption, the Yama Banner has devoured all the vengeful spirits of the Northern Land and is now at least a tenth-tier treasure. Upon acknowledging Wang Heng, it induced a mysterious bloodline in him, proving the Yama Banner is indeed extraordinary."
"If Wang Heng’s bloodline reaches great success, he might truly become a master of the Power of Life and Death, an unrivaled Yama." Zhang Chen was somewhat apprehensive about Wang Heng’s potential.
But how could he subtly stimulate the Yama Banner to activate its skills?
Zhang Chen’s eyes showed a thoughtful glint: "Perhaps I can try using the True God Golden Light. My fifth-tier True God Golden Light can suppress tenth-tier sinister forces."
As for provoking Wang Heng?
Zhang Chen wasn’t foolish enough to openly oppose Wang Heng.
So his fingers inadvertently grazed over the tattoo beneath Wang Heng’s dermis, activating the Blood Control Technique to stimulate the awakening of his Yama bloodline. Though unable to control the opponent’s bloodline, he could trigger its revival to counter the Blood Control Technique. The Yama tattoo on his back shimmered to life, and the Yama Banner appeared simultaneously. His fingertips emitted a strand of pure golden light, striking at the Yama Banner, causing it to awaken its terrifying divine power.
Though it sounds lengthy, all this transpired in just the blink of an eye. By this time, Wang Heng had already reacted, flipping around to sit up while kicking Zhang Chen to the ground, glaring at him fiercely: "What are you doing? Are you trying to harm me???"
Zhang Chen did not resist. Though it wasn’t difficult to dodge using the Blood Control Technique, expressing unusual actions now would jeopardize his younger siblings, so he allowed himself to be kicked to the ground, looking at Wang Heng with a face full of confusion and fear: "Grand General, have mercy! I’m just giving you a massage! I didn’t do anything else!"
Wang Heng’s eyes scanned up and down, glaring tightly at Zhang Chen with some uncertainty. His Yama Banner’s sudden awakening signified a response to external influences, possibly due to powerful ghostly entities nearby or someone plotting against him.
He held Zhang Chen with doubt, stepping forward to clutch his shoulder, an icy power surging into Zhang Chen’s body. His eyes revealed bewilderment: "An ordinary person?"
In his perception, there was no trace of strange power on Zhang Chen, who seemed to be just an ordinary person.
"Could it be external stimuli, a strong ghostly presence nearby?" Wang Heng remained uncertain: "The Yama Banner wouldn’t revive without reason; surely, something is happening."
"General, I’m innocent!" Zhang Chen lowered his head to plead, glancing toward the ground where Wang Heng had previously lain, spotting a bead as black as ink quietly resting in the yellow sand.
At this moment, the skill interface flickered:
[New skill detected, would you like to acquire it?]
"Acquire!" Zhang Chen silently instructed in his heart.
With Zhang Chen’s command, the Golden Finger interface picked up the black bead, though before he could check the skill, Wang Heng had already called: "Someone come!"
Ten cavalrymen promptly arrived.
"Lock this guy up; assign a few brothers to interrogate him." Wang Heng was uncertain and suspicious, unsure of the issue at hand, hence wouldn’t easily let Zhang Chen go without clarification. Although perceiving Zhang Chen as just a common person.
Guards pounced forward like wolves, tying Zhang Chen while he shouted: "General, I’m innocent! I’m innocent!"
He couldn’t help but mentally praise his own acting skills.
"Boy, why did you plot against me? Better confess quickly. I’d rather kill a thousand wrongfully than let one escape! Bind his family too; if he doesn’t confess, you know what to do." Wang Heng instructed the guards.
The guards sneered sinisterly, dragging Zhang Chen away, though unnoticed was a drop of blood seeping from Zhang Chen’s skin into the body of a guard gripping him, and soon that guard’s eyes flashed red, already under Zhang Chen’s control.
"Zhang Chen muttered to himself, ’That Wang Heng sure has a cunning disposition!’
At the same time, he flicked his finger, and a drop of crimson blood silently landed on Wang Heng’s clothing, hoping to see if his Blood God Child could infiltrate Wang Heng. Although he knew the likelihood was low, given the protection of the Yama Banner, he still had to try.
He controlled seven Blood God Children, six of which were typically sent outside to gather blood, but with a mere thought, Zhang Chen could summon them back to the Sea of Blood.
Zhang Chen was forcibly taken away, while Wang Heng collected his clothing and donned it. The moment the blood came into contact with his skin, it immediately activated, surging toward his body.
"Buzz~"
The Yama Banner behind Wang Heng erupted, a stream of black energy coursed out from within Wang Heng, propelling the Blood God Child away, instantly shattering it into powder.
Sensing the destruction of the Blood God Child, Zhang Chen secretly thought, "It failed! But for me, there is no loss; the Blood God Child can be reborn in the Sea of Blood within a day. Wang Heng has the Yama Banner guarding him, so failure is expected."
On that side, Wang Heng perceived the Yama Banner’s anomaly, and looking at the broken blood light in the air, his eyes filled with coldness as he quickly calculated in his mind, "Such audacity! Truly a hidden trick; if not for my Supreme Treasure protecting me, I would have been ambushed. Who is scheming against me? Yellow Heaven Dao? Or the Demon Race? Perhaps..."
Countless thoughts flickered through Wang Heng’s mind, and as he watched Zhang Chen’s distant back, he felt a sense of confusion, for there were indeed too many people in this world who wished for his death.
Zhang Chen was captured by ten guards and tied to a cross; then one guard fell a knife and killed the other guards, absorbing and tainting their blood, transforming it into a puddle of blood, and storing it in the Blood Sea Space, beginning to disguise himself to interrogate Zhang Chen.
Regarding Zhang Chen’s family, he looked at the sky; within an hour, night would fall. Wang Heng would not personally check if his family had been detained within that time, so he just needed to wait for the night to come, then he would act.
But now, Zhang Chen needed to check what skills his Golden Finger had collected, skills presumably dropped from the Yama Banner, which shouldn’t be too shabby, right?
Zhang Chen opened the Golden Finger Interface, and upon seeing the text introduction, he was stunned:
"What?"
[Yama Authority (First Tier): Resurrection of the Soul (0/100000000)]
[Note: Regardless of how long the soul has been away from the body, as long as the body remains intact, authority can be used to make it resurrect.]
Staring at it, Zhang Chen was dumbfounded, "Is this a skill I can truly grasp?"
"This skill is simply incredible!"
As long as the opponent’s body is intact, and their soul is still present, they can be made to resurrect!
He thought of Han Suzhen! Her body is still intact; does this mean that as long as he finds Han Suzhen’s soul, he can resurrect her?
"Unbelievable!" Zhang Chen thought to himself.
Of course, a first-tier Divine Technique doesn’t necessarily mean weak; a first tier only represents a foundational measurement.
For example, Zhang Chen’s True God Golden Light, even at first tier, could injure the fifth or sixth tier Fox Fairy Nannan—is first tier weak? First tier measures the evolutionary process.
However, the upgrade points required for the Golden Finger Interface were astonishing; upgrading the skill demands a billion points.
"A bit impractical for me, since I don’t have Han Suzhen’s soul," Zhang Chen thought. "But if this Golden Finger continues to upgrade, I might have a chance to resurrect Han Suzhen and learn to gather souls."
Gaining the authority of King Yama, at present is only first tier; someday when the level raises, could it gather dispersed souls anew?
By then, might I be able to resurrect Han Suzhen?
Even resurrect my mother, father, everyone I wish to revive?
Moreover, with the acquisition of Yama’s Authority, Zhang Chen’s gaze turned toward Wang Heng, vaguely sensing Wang Heng’s extraordinariness, surrounded by a mysterious qi mechanism: "He obtained the blessing of the Yama Banner. Alas, even if he achieves great success in cultivation, he won’t become the real King Yama; he’s just a ’soul’ generated under the vast fate of the Yama Banner, or perhaps called an ’Artifact Spirit’ or ’Ghost King’."
Zhang Chen glanced at the opponent and then withdrew his gaze; although he obtained Yama’s Authority, mastering part of Yama’s Power, the Yama Banner had no connection to it—it’s not the weapon of King Yama, merely a magical artifact holding part of Yama’s Authority.