Chapter 1553: White Ziqi's Analysis

"Has the Nine Netherworld Emperor ever said what the black smoke swirling around him is?"

"No," the guard replied. "However, two individuals rescued by him at Shizhoutou were in close proximity and were also affected by the black smoke surrounding him. The smoke seemed to contain malevolent spirits that, when they touched someone, felt ice-cold and induced hallucinations."

"What kind of hallucinations?"

"Hallucinations of past misdeeds and guilty consciences. Captives also reported seeing people they had killed suddenly reanimate and lunge at them, demanding retribution." The guard thought for a moment. "Someone witnessed Zhao Guangzhi appearing to be under the influence of this power. The Nine Netherworld Emperor declared his sins were grave, destining him to be consumed by karmic fire in the Nine Netherworlds."

"Karmic fire burning?" Master Puyin had just stated that the black flames surrounding the Nine Netherworld Emperor were "karma."

Bai Ziqi took out a map of the Glimmering Gold Plains and marked Shizhoutou and Liuping with small red dots. "The Nine Netherworld Emperor always judges others under the guise of acting on behalf of Heaven, invariably speaking of 'sins' and 'karmic fire.' Hmm—"Perhaps the Nine Netherworld Emperor wasn't deceptive on this point; perhaps his armor genuinely absorbs karma?

"Has anyone spoken with his Black Armored Soldiers?"

"No, at least not that we've discovered."

"Not a single one, so far. The Nine Netherworld Emperor operates meticulously, preventing his subordinates from conversing with outsiders, likely fearing information leaks." Once the Black Armored Soldiers speak, their mystique would significantly diminish. Bai Ziqi pondered, "Without a doubt, his subordinates are either humans or monsters, not the so-called 'netherworld creatures.'"

"Black Armored Soldiers encountered elsewhere have sometimes dropped their helmets, revealing mummified, monstrous figures inside."

Bai Ziqi chuckled, "Why do only those *monsters* drop their helmets? That's clearly staged for the witnesses. Haven't any Black Armored Soldiers ever been injured?"

"Yes, and they bleed red blood."

"Then most of them are likely human, perhaps with a few monsters mixed in." Bai Ziqi gazed at the map, deep in thought for a long while.

If He Lingchuan were present, he would note the map's exceptional detail, which even included updated names and locations for Peng Kingdom.The map of the Glimmering Gold Plains already featured over a dozen small dots, scattered across its eastern and central regions. The attendant counted them and confirmed that, including the newly added Shizhoutou and Liuping, there were eighteen locations in total."There have been over two hundred Black Armored Soldier operations on the Glimmering Gold Plains. Why have you only marked these eighteen?"

"At all eighteen of these locations, the presence of the Black Dragon Mark has been confirmed. Regardless of how many other so-called Black Armored Soldier operations occurred, none bore the Black Dragon Mark." Bai Ziqi tapped his fingertips on the table a few times. "Why is that?"

His subordinate pondered for a moment before saying, "Were all eighteen of these incidents truly carried out by the Black Armored Soldiers?"

"Not only that," Bai Ziqi smiled. "Considering the intelligence we've gathered, your theory needs a slight adjustment: in all these eighteen incidents, the Nine Netherworld Emperor was personally involved."

"Are you saying that the Black Dragon Mark only appears when the Nine Netherworld Emperor is personally involved in those so-called acts of 'acting on behalf of Heaven'?"

"At present, that appears to be the most logical inference."

Bai Ziqi thought for a moment and asked the attendant, "Did local residents say that when the Nine Netherworld Emperor captured Zhao Guangzhi, he summoned a giant elephant?"

"Yes, it was nearly two *zhang* tall, very gaunt, and completely clad in heavy armor," the guard replied. "The residents of Shizhoutou said that when the Nine Netherworld Emperor touched it, the colossal elephant vanished instantly."

"It was retrieved into some kind of spatial artifact," Bai Ziqi nodded. "That's the weakness. With such an unthinking gesture, this storage space must possess two features: immense capacity and the ability to contain living beings. In this present world, such treasures are exceedingly rare."

"Incidentally, I had previously received a lead that General Chongwu of the Yao Kingdom once besieged a fox demon known as 'Three-Tail.' He had already led a large army to surround it, poised for capture, when Three-Tail suddenly broke through the encirclement and appeared in a mountain forest several miles away." He continued slowly, "When General Chongwu pursued it again, a strange black-armored warrior suddenly blocked his path and summoned an army of corpse puppets, fighting him for quite some time, which resulted in the deaths of several sons of high-ranking Yao Kingdom officials from General Chongwu's forces. Three-Tail subsequently vanished as well, forcing him to withdraw his troops back to Yao."

"A black-armored warrior, an army of corpse puppets!" Upon hearing this, his subordinates sensed something was amiss.

"I've seen the relevant records; that black-armored warrior also had black shadows emanating from him, and the place where General Chongwu lost track of the Three-Tail fox demon was Keling. Do you know where that is?"

Everyone shook their heads. They were all from Beijia; how could they possibly know about these strange places on the Glimmering Gold Plains?

"The Keling Ruins are the legendary resting place of the Rakshasa Armor!" Bai Ziqi briefly recounted the history of the Rakshasa Armor to them, then continued, "General Chongwu himself believed he had merely encountered the Rakshasa Armor's emergence."

"What interests me, however, is the Three-Tail fox demon's sudden, seemingly impossible escape from General Chongwu's encirclement, much like the Nine Netherworld Emperor's abrupt retrieval of the heavily armored colossal elephant. Additionally, the Rakshasa Armor and the Nine Netherworld Emperor share similar appearances." He added, "Moreover, both are capable of commanding corpse puppets."

The attendant understood. "Are you suggesting, then, that the Nine Netherworld Emperor is the master of the Rakshasa Armor?"

"Chronologically speaking, the Nine Netherworld Emperor and his army did indeed emerge after the Rakshasa Armor appeared," Bai Ziqi analyzed. "If my theory holds true, Keling would be the Nine Netherworld Emperor's initial appearance, rather than the commonly accepted Shizhoutou or Liuping."He circled Keling's location on the map with a red pen.

"We should visit that place and see if the Nine Netherworld Emperor left any clues. If that was his first appearance in this form, he might have overlooked many details."

The attendant, with anticipation, asked, "Were there Black Dragon Marks at Keling at that time?"

"Good question. We'll need to go there later and seek out witnesses."

"But you said that all previous masters of the Rakshasa Armor have unleashed turmoil and bloodshed on the Glimmering Gold Plains?"

"Isn't what the Nine Netherworld Emperor is instigating now already turmoil and bloodshed?" Bai Ziqi pointed at the map. "Look at this continent; how many provocations and vendettas occur daily, all under the banner of the Black Armored Soldiers or 'righteous armies'! Do you believe only large-scale military conquests and the clang of weapons constitute turmoil and bloodshed?"

Indeed, the others considered, that did seem to be the case.It wasn't as if the new master of the Rakshasa Armor needed to lead a grand army from the easternmost to the westernmost end of the Glimmering Gold Plains for it to be considered turmoil and bloodshed.

"Furthermore, look at these nineteen red dots. What do you observe?"

Everyone stared intently for a while before one person remarked, "They appear primarily concentrated in the central and eastern Glimmering Gold Plains? Oh, and around Yao Kingdom."

"Why?" Bai Ziqi emphasized. "Since the Nine Netherworld Emperor claims to be a denizen of the netherworld, capable of going anywhere, why doesn't he venture into the northern and eastern Glimmering Gold Plains?"