Chapter 2869: Chapter 2869: The Background

Although Athemar knew part of Zen's background, he didn't disclose it to the people of the Origin Mountain.

But Dorothy had already speculated that Zen was from the Nine Li race.

The issue of his identity was too sensitive. She figured that since he didn't mention the topic himself, she should avoid the topic entirely.

But she never would have guessed that the Nine Li race still had direct descendants.

“You're from the Nine Li race?” Zen asked, taking a step forward.

The other people of the Nine Li race grew anxious. “She's talking nonsense,” Sally's brother said. “You don't have to take it so seriously. If you have nothing else to say, we must take our leave now!”

They could explore the Grand Sky Temple next time.

Though it was a pity to have to give up now, revealing their identity was the last thing they wanted to do.

If Zen somehow left something on their Souls of Light to track them down, he could end up killing all the remaining descendants.

To ensure everyone's safety, they opted to give up. Someone else would open up the Grand Sky Temple some other day.

“Wait,” Zen called out and stepped forward, blocking the entrance.

The Nine Li people's faces suddenly sank.

If Zen truly wanted to keep them there, it would be all too easy for him.

“Sir, we have no enmity with you. You don't need to be too hard on us,” Sally's brother pleaded with his hands clasped together.

But Zen merely ignored him and pointed to Sally. “You, come over here!”

Sally blinked.

In spite of her companions' anxiety about the situation, she felt oddly relaxed.

Somehow, she knew that the person before her posed absolutely no danger to them, but that was merely naivety in her companions' eyes.

“Sir, please leave my sister alone,” Sally's brother said, now sounding bitter.

The others didn't like it either. She was young and inexperienced—they thought she'd end up revealing their true identity.

But Zen wasn't interested in these people at all. He went ahead and pulled Sally to the other side.

Seeing that Zen paid them no mind, Sally's brother called out through gritted teeth, “I tried to be civil, but you don't even have the decency to listen. We have no choice but to use force!” ŕА𐌽ò𝔟ÊꞨ

Buzz!

His soul and those of the other four began shining with purple light.

And then, their souls became whole.

A shadow with a form of three heads and six arms grew from the center of the light.

“They truly are from the Nine Li race…” Dorothy muttered to herself. Her eyes lit up at the sight before her.

The shadow was made from the Nine Li race's blood power. Its power was undoubtedly astonishing, but Dorothy wasn't worried at all. No matter how powerful it was, it was no match for Zen.

But the situation had pushed the Nine Li people on edge and they chose to attack.

“Brother!”

There was worry in Sally's voice as she called out to her brother who was ready to take action.

“Three heads and six arms?” Zen's mouth slightly curled up into a smile. “I can do just the same!”

Buzz!

All of a sudden, the Wild God Power was activated, and the Nine Li race's blood surged within his body.

In a flash, Zen's figure grew tenfold. His giant body was about the same size as the shadow opposite him. In the next second, he threw six fists and hit the shadow hard.

This shadow was considered the Nine Li people's trump card. They never used it unless they faced death itself—using it immediately gave away their identity, after all.

But because of Zen, they felt they had no other choice but to use it against him.

Puff!

While the shadow was powerful in killing the Souls of Light, it couldn't fight against Zen who came to the Other Shore with his physical body.

The moment Zen's fists made contact with the shadow, the Nine Li people felt dizziness overcome them. The shadow collapsed before they could even recover.

A tearing pain pierced all of their heads. The five were left bending over onto the ground, each with their hands on their head.

“Don't hurt them!” Sally called out anxiously.

Although Sally's brother was clearly in great pain, he was overcome with some kind of inexplicable emotion. Pushing the pain aside, he struggled to stand up and pointed at Zen in disbelief.

“You, you, you…” he muttered, still suffering from the blow he received, rendering him unable to even complete a sentence.

Zen quickly withdrew the Wild God Power, his body returning to normal. With a smile, he asked, “You want to ask why I could form the same figure, don't you?”

“Aha...”

Sally's brother put his head in his hands, enduring the sharp pain piercing through him as he nodded. “Yes! This is the bloodline theurgy of the Nine Li race. How could you...”

“Brother, don't you see? He must be one of us!” Sally announced confidently.

To that, Zen smiled. He thought Sally was forthright and sincere.

But it wasn't her brother's fault that he was suspicious.

After the Nine Li race was exterminated, the remaining members had no choice but to be extremely careful.

All of them stared at Zen in utter disbelief—none of them was expecting to find another one of them, much less the man Sally was suspecting at the gate of the Grand Sky Temple.

“Sir, which branch of the Nine Li race are you from?” Sally's brother asked, losing the harshness from his tone.

Zen then glanced at Dorothy, who merely shrugged—she decided to leave the sharing up to Zen.

It had been quite a while since Zen had joined the Oneness Sky Palace. If he was still on guard against Dorothy, she would undoubtedly be left disappointed.

“My mother is Lorena,” Zen finally said.

His mother had later given herself the family name 'Li, ' but among the Nine Li people, she was known as Lorena.

The destruction of the Nine Li race had already passed when these people were born.

While they didn't live in that time, they had grown up hearing many of the legends—they were well aware of who Lorena was.

“You...”

“You are from the royal family!”

“How do I know I can even believe you?”

Everyone, even Sally, was wide-eyed and stunned, looking at Zen in confusion.

Sally's brother shuddered and took a step forward, ready to kneel down before Zen.

The latter gently helped him up and shook his head with a smile. “There's no need to be so courteous. I might be lying to you,”

Zen joked kindly.

However, materializing three heads and six arms required a great amount of power and his blood of the Nine Li race was nothing to take lightly.

Amidst the confusion, Dorothy looked just as conflicted.

Although she had already guessed that Zen had come from the Nine Li race, she certainly didn't expect him to be a member of the royal family.

If the Nine Li race was flourishing, that meant his status would be as high as Elvinia's.

In truth, his status could even be much higher than hers.

The Oneness Sky Palace was the union of the seven mountains, each of which had a respective emperor.

The Nine Li race had nine tribes, but Chiyou was the supreme ruler. The royal members held a greater status than the direct descendants of the palace.