Rise of the Alchemy God

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Hearing Ethan's words, everyone's eyes widened, while the crown prince, standing further ahead, narrowed his eyes.

'How does he know about my father's condition, and more importantly, did he just say he's from the human continent?'

In those few words Ethan uttered, there was simply too much to process.

The matter of the demons roaming the continent was already a matter of the utmost importance, and this, coupled with everything else that could be deduced from the man's words, raised the seriousness of the current situation by several notches.

Gesturing toward the guards, the prince made a sword appear in his hand and said as he pointed it at Ethan:

"I have no idea who you are or whether what you've said is true, but I must courteously ask you to come with me."

Ethan, once again, paid little attention to them and simply said,

"If I were you, I'd be careful who you point that weapon at," he remarked while releasing a small fraction of his power.

Unfortunately for them, that small fraction of power was like a tsunami that overwhelmed them all.

All the soldiers suddenly vanished, falling unconscious, while the crown prince barely resisted, though he was scarcely conscious.

'T-This pressure... Who on earth are we dealing with?' he thought, completely alarmed.

From what he understood, the other party seemed to come from the human continent, but as far as he knew, humans had power levels similar to theirs, perhaps even slightly inferior. Yet here stood someone who, without even moving, had knocked nearly all of them out. Continue your journey with empire

He knew this wasn't the power of someone at the peak of the Fifth Stage; it was something that went beyond that stage.

Although the first interaction with them wasn't peaceful, in the end, the prince had to bow his head and courteously escort Ethan to his family's royal palace.

Ethan, too, didn't cause further trouble for these people and told them to lead the way.

From that brief interaction, he had already noticed that they seemed aware of the existence of two other continents, though they didn't appear to know about the demons who had already invaded their continent—something he had hypothesized before and now had more or less confirmed.

He wanted to see what the rulers of this continent were up to, and more importantly, he intended to deal with a small problem in this particular kingdom, which was why he headed to the royal palace.

As they walked, Prince Han Yu couldn't help but ask,

"If I may, esteemed guest, could I ask you a question?" he inquired with a 180-degree change in attitude.

Initially, he thought Ethan was strong but not too difficult to handle, at least not for him, one of the most powerful beings on their continent. But after being sort of slapped in the face by Ethan, he realized he was nothing more than a frog in a well.

What he thought was the pinnacle of their world apparently wasn't at all, and this realization left him feeling conflicted.

On one hand, he was glad to know there were higher power levels beyond the Fifth Stage, but on the other hand, he was terrified by the fact that almost no one seemed to be aware of this.

He thought perhaps his father might know something. After all, he wasn't just the king of this kingdom but probably the most powerful among the rulers of the five kingdoms.

Ethan merely nodded and said nothing, signaling to the other party that he could speak.

"You said demons have already started invading our continent. Is that true?" he asked cautiously, trying not to offend him. After all, he was questioning what Ethan had previously stated.

"Yes, and your father's condition is also related to this. But let's not discuss this now. First, take me to him," Ethan replied, and after that, the prince dared not ask any more questions.

Seeing the submissive behavior of the prince, the guards stationed at the castle couldn't help but exchange confused looks.

"Who is that person walking with the prince, and why does the prince seem to treat him so well?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure he's not one of the other four rulers of the kingdoms. I've seen them, and none of them even remotely resemble him."

The guards were baffled by what they had witnessed and could only look at each other in confusion.

Unlike the few who had gone to the Tree of Life to see who had dared to break the kingdom's rules, these guards had stayed inside and were thus unaware of what had happened moments ago.

In no time, Ethan, escorted by the prince, finally arrived before the throne room's doors, and the prince stepped aside to let him enter.

The throne room's doors were 10 meters tall and entirely made of a rare mineral resembling gold.

They were richly adorned with intricate carvings depicting various scenes and rare gemstones, but none of this interested Ethan.

With a faint sound, the doors began to swing open, and after a few seconds, Ethan finally took a step inside.

As soon as he entered, he was greeted by a gigantic hall, which seemed more like a large cave carved into the mountain, decorated like a royal hall.

At the far end of the hall stood a massive platform raised just two meters above the hall's floor, with a series of steps leading up to it.

The platform was very wide, and currently on it lay a gigantic black dragon, seemingly immersed in a deep sleep.

Seeing the great figure of this kingdom's ruler, Ethan couldn't help but compare it to Bai Yu's beast form, and he had to admit it was nothing special in comparison to her.

Shaking his head to dismiss such thoughts, he scanned the body of the great black dragon.

'It seems the infection has already spread to almost his entire body,' he thought, recalling the condition in which he had found Guo Tao's sister.

She had been very close to succumbing entirely to the infection, but the dragon before him was already at that stage, with only a thin thread of life remaining in him.

Ethan could tell that the infection within him was much stronger than that in Guo Lan, which was why this Fifth-Stage being before him was already in such a state compared to her.

As he confirmed the dragon's condition, Prince Han Yu, standing behind him, saw his father's current state and sighed in sadness as he said,

"He began feeling unwell about a year ago, and since then, we've kept it a secret while searching for a cure for his illness. But not knowing what it was, we couldn't treat him properly, and in the end, he ended up in this state," he said, frustration clear in his voice.

He had summoned all the most skilled doctors and alchemists to examine his father's condition and find a cure, but none of it helped since none of them could identify the problem, and as a result, none could find a suitable cure.

In the end, his father gradually lost more and more control over his body and ended up in this dormant state, which was a way to preserve the last traces of life within him.

Han Yu knew this wouldn't last forever, and he had to find a remedy before even those last traces of life disappeared. So, he searched far and wide but ultimately failed.

When today he heard that this powerful individual knew the cause of his father's illness, that flame of hope, which had almost completely gone out, reignited, and so he didn't hesitate to bring him here, hoping for a miracle.