Imperial Crown.

Chapter 598 Breakthrough to the Fifth-Order Transcendent
"Boom!" "Boom!"

Two dazzling orbs of light, like shooting stars, trailing long flames, lit up in Venice, the capital of the North Sea Province, and sped toward a certain location.

"what's the situation??"

Gazing at the collapsed, even dented, detached stone building, Pei Dinan couldn't help but frown and subconsciously asked, "Where did Adjani go?" He probed further with his spiritual power, only to find the area below completely empty. "Where did Adjani go???" Pei Dinan wondered.

"The situation has changed!" "I must return to the capital immediately to report." "Furthermore," "Marshal," "I advise you not to act rashly in the near future." "The opponent is at least a seventh-tier transcendent!"

After carefully sensing the battle aura, Clown K immediately cried out in a shrill voice.

"Seventh Rank???" Ferdinand asked in surprise. "Impossible." "A seventh-rank transcendent, why would they kill Adjani without cause?" "Twilight Raven," "Could it be that you've misperceived?"

"Idiot!!" the clown cursed inwardly, then said sharply, "Marshal Perandi, if it were you, could you kill a sixth-tier mage within 10 minutes and take the corpse away?"

"This……"

Pérandi fell silent. He rubbed his fingers together, finally shaking his head. While mages feared close combat, the sixth-tier Adjani could already fly. If he were solely focused on escaping, he could surely kill her in ten days, let alone ten minutes. "Could it be the Holy See of Light or the Order of the Hand of Death?" Pérandi's mind was filled with doubt. "I haven't heard of any newly promoted seventh-tier powerhouses on the continent."

"Take care of yourself."

Clown K coldly uttered a sentence, then transformed into a streak of light and disappeared into the night sky.

"What is that?" "A coward."

Watching the clown's departing figure, Ferdinand scoffed inwardly. Neither Adjani nor the clown possessed the most basic respect for him, a duke. Therefore, while shocked by Adjani's death, Ferdinand felt little emotion. After all, for nameless individuals like them, a violent death was inevitable. The nobles of the continent universally hated these top-tier experts, especially executioners belonging to the royal family. Perhaps Adjani was killed by bounty hunters hired by Raven.

The reason he called the clown a coward was because Pédinan knew that both he and Adjani possessed seventh-tier divine weapons, while the clown alone had an eighth-tier divine weapon. The price the clown paid for using a divine weapon was undoubtedly far greater than what he and Adjani had paid. Therefore, sensing the danger, he immediately made an excuse and fled. After searching the ruins below, Pédinan couldn't find the Burning Sun and could only leave disappointed. However, in about a week, his injuries would be mostly healed.

……

Raven, carrying Adjani's bloodied head, didn't go upstairs. Instead, he left the castle and headed towards the ancestral land, Eagle Territory. Holo Territory was located in the central area of ​​Snowmaple County, so returning to the ancestral land was actually closer and didn't require passing through Snowmaple Territory.

Months of heavy snow in the Northwest had caused a snow disaster in the Nord Province. Ironically, in the dead of winter, there was no snow, only biting wind. Walking silently down the empty, quiet streets, white breath constantly escaped Raven's nostrils, his mind deep in thought. The hallucinations he had experienced earlier had been so real that he kept believing Nancy was still "alive," living in some unseen "space" or "world."

But when he tried to probe with his martial spirit, he found only a hazy, chaotic white expanse with nothing in it.

It was only then that Raven realized that Nancy was really dead.

All the scenes in his hallucinations, and Nancy in his dreams, were merely his subconscious self-protection mechanisms. The so-called "Nancy" was simply a "concretization" of his self-protective consciousness when he faced life-or-death danger after falling into a hallucination.

In the darkness, Raven walked quickly, rushing all the way, and arrived at the old castle at dawn. His cheeks were red from the cold, and his nose stung from the chill. The head of Adjani in his hand was already covered with a thin layer of frost, no longer dripping blood. Entering the castle, Raven headed towards the underground tomb.

Raven's footsteps echoed through the narrow, chilly tomb passage. Every few meters, a flickering green candle burned, adding to the eerie atmosphere. "Eh?" Raven suddenly murmured in surprise. It seemed someone had been here recently. In Nancy's grave was a brazier, containing smoldering paper scraps. Beside it lay a bouquet of delicate flowers. Next to the flowers was a six-inch exquisite cake. This was Nancy's last wish. Normally, in Nord custom, burning paper money was not done to commemorate deceased relatives; a spirit mass was held instead. But Raven was accustomed to burning paper money, and over time, this custom spread throughout Snowmaple County.

"Who is the one?"

Raven lowered his head and took the piece of paper out of the already cooled brazier.

"Mother, what you said back then is like a truth—those who love others shout until they are hoarse, while those who are loved are sparing with words."

"Ugh"

Raven sighed softly; he had probably already guessed who had written the letter. He rekindled the still-burnt piece of paper, tossed it into the brazier, and looked towards Nancy's coffin.

Long before Raven became an earl and returned from the capital, he replaced Nancy's coffin with a crystal one. This was a third-tier enchanted artifact he had purchased from the capital at a high price, capable of preserving a corpse for fifty years. Around the crystal coffin were countless small, square urns containing ashes. Each urn was adorned with a corresponding figurine. Most prominently displayed were Lennon and Banks. These were orphans who had grown up in the orphanage and later joined the Wind King's army. They held extremely strong feelings for Nancy, just like when Raven dealt with the traitors from the orphanage, and those orphans huddled under Nancy's portrait, crying out in terror for "Mother."

"pat"

Through the crystal coffin, Raven gazed at Nancy's delicate features, fiery red hair, and serene, sleeping face. Before he could utter a single word, his body reacted instinctively, a single, glistening tear sliding down his cheek and landing on the crystal coffin. "Nancy," Raven said softly, "I have avenged your father and brother." He then retrieved another head from his ring—Ezio's. Holding Ezio and Adjani's heads before the crystal coffin, he whispered.

"Twelve years have passed in the blink of an eye..."

Twelve years ago, Ezio J and Adjani Q joined forces to destroy Fox Castle and murder Montreal and Sanchi. Only today, twelve years later, has Raven avenged Nancy's death. Sadly, Nancy will never see it. How many twelve-year periods does one have in a lifetime...?
Before Nancy's crystal coffin, Raven dug two deep holes and buried Ezio and Adjani's heads inside. He wanted these two to forever apologize and repent before Nancy.

Raven then sat cross-legged before the crystal coffin and opened Adjani's ring. Ezio's head had naturally been given to him by Girida and Litanchi. However, Girida had taken Ezio's ring. The moment Raven broke open Adjani's spatial ring, his eyes widened in shock! A quick scan with his mental energy revealed over 3 million gold coins inside! And over 10,000 bottles of Angel's Tears! This woman must have loved drinking! "3861914 gold coins," "Not counting silver and bronze coins," "11725 ​​bottles of Angel's Tears," "And quite a few collector's editions too."

"My God!" Even Raven, who had seen vast sums of money, couldn't help but gasp in astonishment. This was incredibly wealthy. With Adjani's net worth, she could probably buy a powerful earldom with its own territory! However, Raven had spoken with her a few times and learned some things about her. Besides constantly obeying Habs's orders, Adjani occasionally took on private jobs, essentially working as a part-time bounty hunter. Her cultivation level was too high, and the nobles couldn't obtain the necessary resources, so they could only give her gold coins. Despite having so many gold coins, it wasn't nearly enough to repay Habs's investment in her. Frankly, she was similar to a prostitute. To gain freedom, she had to buy her freedom. Anyone who's sold themselves knows that selling is one thing, buying freedom is another! Habs might have only spent 2-3 million gold coins to train her, but buying her freedom would require 300-5 times that amount! Besides, Adjani had too many blood debts on her hands, making it impossible for her to become a noble! Before, when she operated in the shadows, the nobles could only offer bounties for her assassination. But once she had a fixed territory, she faced endless trouble. However, now that Adjani has passed away, there's no need to worry about those blood debts.

Raven opened a bottle of Angel's Tears and took a few sips. It's no exaggeration to say that if Raven sold these Angel's Tears, his gold coins would immediately surpass 400 million!
"call"

Letting out a long sigh, Raven forced himself to calm down. He then looked elsewhere. Spatial rings were incredibly valuable; many extraordinary beings didn't even possess their own spatial enchanted artifacts. Even Adjani, a sixth-tier archmage, only had a fourth-tier ring, so its space wasn't large. Besides a massive amount of gold coins and Angel's Tears, the rest were magical items and materials. Most of them were for setting up magic arrays. Next to them were some fourth- and fifth-tier ores, about six or seven pieces. There was also a fifth-tier staff inlaid with several gems. But these weren't what excited Raven the most. What delighted him most was the small pile of magic cores, about ten or so. Among them, the most precious were four sixth-tier magic cores.

One Iron Element Metal Magic Core, one Azure Wave Element Water Magic Core, one Blazing Fire Element Fire Magic Core, and one Lightning Element Thunder Magic Core.

They're all Rank 6!
Although these four magic cores weren't enough for Raven to break through to the next major realm, they were more than enough to advance to the next minor realm. Moreover, having the magic cores in hand also solved Raven's immediate problem.

After putting away all the items, Raven picked up the fifth-tier staff and examined it closely. The staff was about five feet long, or over 1.6 meters. For a woman like Adjani, who was over two meters tall, it would be just right in her hand. But for Raven, who was over 1.8 meters tall, it seemed somewhat cumbersome. At the top of the staff was a large ring, within which was a diamond-shaped gem, constantly glowing and rotating. Below was a smaller, concave design with rounded edges. It looked very noble and beautiful. At the end of the staff were four grooves, which could hold four magic crystals. Unlike most enchanted artifacts that hold magic cores, this magical artifact, the staff, held magic crystals.

"Hmm." "It can store two fifth-tier spells." "Three fourth-tier spells."

After examining it with his mental power, Raven pondered for a moment and then said in a low voice, "No matter what, it's better than my own staff made of the Tree of Life." Although the material of that staff was excellent, Raven hadn't enchanted or refined it in a long time, and it was still at the fourth-tier quality. It was far inferior to this one. Although Adjani's staff was very feminine, and Raven looked excessively alluring in his hands, Raven was quite indifferent about it. As long as it worked, who cared?

After putting away his staff and drinking Angel's Tears for a while, Raven looked at his right hand.

A flash of crimson light appeared, and the dark red tattoo pattern on his index finger transformed back into a visible ring. Staring at the ring before him, Raven was now absolutely certain that this Blood Soul Armor, named the [Ring of Blood and Curse], was an enchanted artifact inscribed with the laws of blood! It was at least a sixth-tier item!
Recalling the image of Adjani's blood beads, resembling a skewer of candied hawthorns, after her death, Raven suddenly remembered something else. Exactly ten years ago, when he was still in Eivor, a man named Gondu had attempted to assassinate him. At that time, Raven had just obtained this ring and subconsciously activated its power. Gondu, too, turned into a pool of blood beads, as if his flesh and blood had been devoured. However, he was also extremely shocked at the time and did not continue to activate the ring; the blood beads later turned into blood and seeped into the ground.

Last night, because Raven continuously activated the ring, the blood beads formed from Adjani's body jumped into it. Raven probed with his mental energy and found that these blood beads were still inside the ring. They floated within the ring like stars, occasionally colliding and bursting into a thin layer of blood mist. "What's the use?" Raven stared for a long time, puzzled. He simply used his mental energy to create a spike and pierced one of the blood beads!
"boom"

After the blood bead was pierced, it emitted a muffled sound, transforming into a thick cloud of blood mist that surged towards the edge of the ring. It seemed to be attempting to break free. However, the next moment, as soon as the blood mist touched the inner wall of the ring, it transformed into a stream of energy, entering Raven's index finger. It then moved towards the gem formed from Raven's life seed of battle qi. "Buzz," the gem absorbed the blood mist, as if receiving a powerful tonic, instantly vibrating and emitting a buzzing sound. "Pop!" The next moment, the battle qi within Raven's body, which had been dormant for a long time, immediately surged significantly!

"Me?" "Holy crap...?"

Raven was stunned. He was both surprised and delighted. So this Blood Soul Armor had this function? Absorbing the energy within others? Even the magic power within a mage could be converted into 'Bloody Battle Aura'?!
This is absolutely incredible!

Of course, this seems to have a prerequisite—that is, the enemy must be killed by this Blood Soul weapon!
This reminded Raven of some centuries-old rumors, which now seemed to connect. The rumors said that Griffith's ancestor, Don Quixote, grew increasingly ferocious on the battlefield, a blood-devouring demon! So that's how it is??? Raven had always thought it was people deliberately slandering his ancestor, just like Eivor slandered him. But now it seemed they weren't wrong. It wasn't much different from devouring someone else's flesh. In fact, he had wrongly accused others.

"Since that's the case," "Then what else is there to say?" "Come on!"

Raven was just feeling frustrated with his cultivation, unable to make any progress. He never expected such a stroke of luck. As Raven pierced the blood bead inside the ring, his cultivation level, which resembled that of a glutton, began to rise visibly.

"Fourth-order three-star", "Fourth-order four-star", "Fourth-order five-star"... "Fourth-order seven-star", "Fourth-order eight-star", "Fourth-order nine-star"...

It took about a week, until his cultivation level broke through to the fourth rank, nine stars, before he fell silent again. Yet, there were still many blood beads in the ring. No matter how many times Raven pierced the blood beads, the blood mist they formed was repelled by the seed of battle qi and no longer absorbed.

"Yes, yes, yes," "Elf Bone Orchid"

To advance from the fourth to the fifth tier, a transcendent being needs advancement resources. Take Raven as an example. If he wants to advance, he must consume magical plants and a type of ore. Ideally, this ore should be rich in blood element. For instance, the ice-attribute magic ore [Secondary True Ice] required for Moas's breakthrough, and the metal-attribute magic ore [Creator's Nail] required for Eric's breakthrough. Raven is no different; he also needs to consume a magic ore called [Crimson Amber]. However, this is not a problem for Raven. First, he has no shortage of magical plants; he obtained the Elven Bone Orchid from the Elven Empire several years ago. Second, the greatest function of magic ore is to increase the affinity of a transcendent being to their innate element. Raven's elemental composition is mixed, so even without specifically using a blood element ore, he can successfully advance. Furthermore, after multiple enhancements from the Blood Magic Core, his affinity for blood element already exceeds the requirements for the fourth tier. Therefore, Raven only needs to consume magical plants at this point.

Taking out the Elf Bone Orchid, his eyes gleaming with golden light, Raven sifted out the corrupting essence within, then devoured all the energy from the fourth-tier magical plant in one gulp. A gentle force enveloped Raven's lower abdomen, causing him to groan in pleasure. "Break!" Raven, eyeing the few remaining blood beads in the ring, unleashed a torrent of words, plunging them all in one go. It must be said, Adjani was truly terrifying; the magical power within a sixth-tier archmage was boundless. Even converted into blood elemental energy, it would be enough for Raven to break through from fourth to fifth tier!
Enveloped in the energy of the elven orchid, the gem formed from the seed of battle qi immediately grew larger, its surface displaying a honeycomb-like texture. A massive amount of blood mist surged in. "Crack!" A crisp sound rang out. The next moment, Raven successfully broke through to the fifth-tier transcendent level! The battle qi within his body was not only abundant but also of high quality.

"Fifth-tier transcendent."

Raven sat on the ground, spending most of the day stabilizing his realm and state. Then he opened his eyes, his fingers loosely clenched, and muttered something without any emotion. "I've heard that fifth-tier extraordinary martial souls can fight outside the body. I wonder how my martial soul manifests?" Raven summoned his martial soul and carefully sensed it. In the end, he could only shake his head in disappointment. Although he had long known that his martial soul couldn't be judged by ordinary standards, when he truly felt there was nothing there, Raven couldn't help but feel a pang of disappointment. Logically, after breaking through to the fifth tier, Raven's martial soul should be able to release battle qi techniques. However, after fusing with the Battle Demon Yuan Qi, his martial soul already possessed this power, though he could only release it once or twice. Now, having broken through to the fifth tier, besides the Battle Demon Yuan Qi, battle qi could also be released through the martial soul as battle techniques. It was simply a matter of releasing battle techniques more often. Besides this, Raven's biggest feeling after breaking through to the fifth tier was that he had a portion of his consciousness separated into his martial soul. It was like having an extra clone. His martial spirit was no longer an inanimate object formed from battle qi. It had become a part of his body. His perception of various aspects had become more refined. That was all.

"Nancy," "Ten years ago, you gave me this ring." "Ten years later, I used this ring to break through to the fifth rank at your grave." "When I faced a true death trap, in the darkest moment of my life," "Could this be fate?"

Years ago, it was Nancy who risked her life to kill the bandit Bloodeye and obtain this ring. She then passed it on to Raven. For many years, Raven had barely used or paid any attention to the ring. But this time, when he brought two heads to pay respects at Nancy's grave, he inadvertently discovered its power. Raven himself couldn't believe there wasn't a sense of cause and effect, of destiny, involved.

Standing up, Raven looked again at Nancy, who had remained silent in the crystal coffin for days, like a silent sleeping beauty. Over the past week, Raven had even entertained the absurd thought several times—would it be possible to open the coffin and kiss her? Would Nancy come back to life?
Longing is silent, yet deafening.

After a long pause, Raven murmured, "The capriciousness and unpredictability of fate are truly unfathomable." "But no matter what," "you will always be my lucky star, Raven." "Thank you for your blessing."

Raven bowed deeply, put on his hat, and walked out of the tomb passage.

……

(End of this chapter)