I picked up skill fragments in the demon world.

Chapter 959 Cause and Effect
The future is unpredictable, and Zhang Chen doesn't know what will happen. All he can do is plan ahead and make all the necessary preparations.

The Pingbian Prince's Mansion is connected with the six major families, so I can take this opportunity to wipe them out in one fell swoop.

“The territory of the King of Pingbian is related to our future plans. When we want to take action against the King of Pingbian in the future, we must do our best to preserve the foundation of the King of Pingbian’s mansion.” Zhong Xiang said, “If we can kill the King of Pingbian quietly, that would be perfect.”

Zhang Chen thought of the Blood God Child, but unfortunately, all of his Blood God Child had been given to the Gong family, and he didn't have enough of his own Blood God Child. Otherwise, if he could possess the body of the King of Pingbian, everything would go smoothly.

"That's not right. I don't necessarily need to leave all twelve Blood God Seeds in the Gong family. Eleven Blood God Seeds are enough. I can extract one Blood God Seed and invade the body of the King of Pingbian, thereby controlling him and even protecting him. The only concern is that the King of Pingbian has dragon energy protecting him and is immune to all magic. My immortal power may not be effective." Zhang Chen considered the King of Pingbian's dragon energy, but he was not panicked. Although he had no way to deal with the dragon energy, he had a great god by his side. The Queen Mother of the West was there.

Immortals are not afraid of the suppression of dragon energy, but for the Blood God to enter the body of King Pingbian, it is like a drop of water being put into a furnace. Under the onslaught of power, it will be constantly consumed. His Blood God child should not be able to withstand the continuous impact of dragon energy.

After Zhang Chen calmed Zhong Xiang down, Zhong Xiang went to pay his respects to Zhang's mother, leaving Zhang Chen standing under the peach tree to ask, "Does the Queen Mother have a way to suppress the dragon's aura?"

He didn't know if the Queen Mother of the West had fallen asleep, so he tentatively asked the void. Judging from the big black dog's previous behavior, the Queen Mother of the West was most likely not asleep.

"Suppress dragon energy?" The Queen Mother of the West looked surprised upon hearing this: "Suppress dragon energy for what reason?"

Zhang Chen was speechless upon hearing this. The Queen Mother of the West had indeed not completely fallen into a deep sleep. He sighed helplessly and, without hiding anything, recounted his plan to use the Blood God Child to invade the King of Pingbian.

After a moment's thought, the Queen Mother of the West said, "The difficulty in what you're talking about lies in the inability to break through the dragon energy's protection. If you can break through the dragon energy's protection and integrate the Blood God Child into its body, fusing it with its essence, energy, and spirit, then the Blood God Child will have obtained its essence and will naturally possess the power to be exempt from the dragon energy."

"Does Your Majesty have any wonderful methods you can teach me?" Zhang Chen asked.

"I bestow upon you a jade talisman, which can help you break through the opponent's dragon energy suppression and buy your Blood God Child time to refine the opponent's essence." As the Queen Mother of the West spoke, the Frozen Hell opened automatically, and a jade talisman fell into Zhang Chen's hand.

The future safety of the Queen Mother of the West also rests on Zhang Chen's shoulders. At this moment, Zhang Chen is making his moves, and the Queen Mother of the West certainly has no reason to stand idly by.

"Your Majesty has remarkable skills; you can even suppress dragon energy. I admire you." Zhang Chen flattered the Queen Mother of the West without making a sound, intending to ease the tension between them.

Upon hearing this, the Queen Mother of the West calmly replied:

"Origin Realm cultivation: dragon energy and the energy of heaven and earth are merely forms of energy derived from chaos. In essence, they are all lower than the power of the Origin Realm and are naturally suppressed by the laws of Origin. Dragon energy is nothing more than a minor dragon vein; how could it be of any use to me?"

The Queen Mother of the West devoured even the first ancestral dragon vein born in this world, let alone a mere minor dragon vein.
Don't forget that the Queen Mother of the West's physical body was a zombie, born nourished by the power of the earth's veins, and naturally possessing the power to control the earth's veins.

Zhang Chen held the jade talisman in his hand and, after a brief sensing, immediately detected the zombie power contained within it. He couldn't help but be surprised: "It's quite interesting."

Zombies are born from the earth's dragon veins, and since they originate from the earth's dragon veins, they naturally possess a suppressive power over the dragon veins.

"It seems that the feud between me and the King of Pingbian should be settled today." Zhang Chen put away the jade talisman and disappeared into the courtyard the next moment using his escape technique.

Having cultivated to Zhang Chen's level, his escape techniques were naturally incredibly fast. Especially after leaving the capital, without the suppression of the dragon energy, Zhang Chen used the Measuring Ruler to shorten spatial distances, achieving the ability to "cover a thousand miles in a single glance." Even though the northern lands were still tens of millions of miles away from Zhang Chen, it only required a little effort to reach them.

In just one hour, Zhang Chen had already arrived in the north.

The North remains the same North, with no changes except for the rampant monsters.

The King of Pingbian and the demon race ruled over their respective territories, which remained untouched by demonic beasts and continued to be a place of song, dance, and music.

Zhang Chen observed the aura of the Pingbian Prince's Mansion from afar and saw that the aura above the mansion was rising, but it was far less powerful than it had been on that day.

Zhang Chen's thoughts were instantly perceived by the Blood Dao, which sensed all the life force within the entire Pingbian Prince's Mansion. His figure flashed, and he appeared inside a palace. The palace was deathly silent, filled with a desolate atmosphere. The entire room was dimly lit, exuding a suffocating gloom.

The King of Pingbian, with his white hair, sat in the palace, with two women serving him. Zhang Chen appeared in the palace like a ghost. Zhang Chen did not disturb him. After about a dozen breaths, the King of Pingbian's body stiffened and stopped moving. After a few more breaths, he slumped down like a piece of rotten wood.

"Your Highness, isn't this time far too short?" Zhang Chen's voice suddenly rang out in the darkness, breaking the deathly silence in the hall.

"Damn it! Didn't I say that no one is allowed to disturb me without my order? Guards, drag him away and beat him to death!" Upon hearing this, the King of Pingbian was furious. He suddenly sat up and shouted angrily, but after he shouted, there was no response from the outside world. Zhang Chen had already used the law of sound to isolate all the tones.

"Who are you!" King Pingbian finally realized something was wrong and quickly shouted at him.

"We've been fighting for so many years, yet Your Highness doesn't even recognize me. It's truly lamentable." Zhang Chen slowly emerged from the shadows, his eyes scrutinizing the Prince of Pingbian with a strange look in them.

"I have never seen you before, and I know not what grudge we hold. If you retreat now, I will not only forgive you for what you did, but I will also bestow upon you wealth and honor. My palace is heavily guarded; it is quite an achievement that you were able to infiltrate here. I will certainly give you an important position." King Pingbian looked at Zhang Chen and offered his terms, trying to appease him. The other party had inexplicably barged in, clearly with ill intentions.

Looking at the King of Pingbian before him, he suddenly understood why the main villains always talked so much before they died. It was because it felt so good. They always wanted to make sure their opponents died clearly and distinctly, and to let themselves show off their power, in order to justify the methods they had used.

If the other person dies without knowing why, then killing them with a single, clean strike wouldn't give me the same sense of satisfaction.

"Trying to bribe me? You're not worthy!" Zhang Chen sneered upon hearing this.

Upon hearing this, the King of Pingbian's heart sank. His eyes were fixed on Zhang Chen, filled with seriousness: "Who exactly are you? What grudge do you hold against me that you would want to kill me? Even if you want me to die, at least let me die knowing why."

"My name is Zhang Chen!" Zhang Chen said with a smile.

Upon hearing this, the King of Pingbian's pupils contracted, and the next moment he became agitated, suddenly sitting up from the bed and lunging at Zhang Chen: "So it's you, you little beast! How dare you show your face before me again! I'll take your life! Die!"

The King of Pingbian was excited, his martial arts energy surging. He threw a punch at Zhang Chen, wanting to avenge Zhang Xiaohua.

Unfortunately, Zhang Chen casually pointed at the void, and the immobilization talisman flew out, directly freezing the King of Pingbian in place.

"How is this possible! Dragon energy destroys all laws, how could you use your supernatural powers on me?" King Pingbian's eyes were filled with disbelief. Although his body was frozen, he could still speak, his voice full of doubt.

"If I didn't even have such simple tricks, how could I possibly compete with your Pingbian Prince's Mansion?" Zhang Chen sneered.

"You little beast! I never expected you to have such methods, but if you dare to lay a hand on me today, you will surely suffer retribution one day! The Great Victory Court will never let you go." The King of Pingbian's voice was filled with murderous intent and rage.

“I don’t know if I will suffer retribution, but you are about to suffer retribution now and go to join your son Zhang Xiaohua.” Zhang Chen looked at the King of Pingbian with a smile: “Your son Zhang Xiaohua is really pitiful. When his head rolled in front of me back then, it was all so vivid in my mind as if it were yesterday.”

"You beast! You beast! My son was so kind and adorable, how could you so cruelly kill him? You beast!" Upon hearing this, the King of Pingbian's eyes turned red.

Zhang Chen ignored the King of Pingbian's angry curses, and simply cut open the King's skin, then stuffed a piece of jade stained with blood into his body: "You still have the nerve to curse me? If it weren't for your father and son scheming against me, how could so many things have happened?"

"We have no grudge against each other. You and your son plotted against me first, so am I not allowed to retaliate? You and your son are weaker than others, so who can you blame?" Zhang Chen's voice was full of mockery: "Since ancient times, the victor is king and the loser is villain. What else do you have to be resentful about?"

“Of course, your choice led you down a wrong path. If you hadn’t provoked me, your ancestor would have successfully transformed into a dragon. Now, he has become a twelfth-order demon god and can command the demon race. Your Zhang family in the North has already shown the potential to rival the Great Victory Court. At that time, it would be a completely different world. It’s a pity that you met me. You shouldn’t have provoked me, you absolutely shouldn’t have!” Zhang Chen said, watching the blood of the King of Pingbian and the Blood God Child’s ‘jade piece’ gradually merge.

"You little beast, what have you done to me?" King Pingbian noticed the changes within his body and, disregarding his son's situation, asked in a panic.

(End of this chapter)