Su Mo excluded Great Martial City from the looting of the entire country because of his relationship with their city governor. Although Governor Bai was a hypocritical man, he had indeed helped him, so this would be his way of repaying his gratitude.
"Alright!" they answered fearfully.
"Very well. You may go!" Su Mo said with a wave of his hand. "I'll be waiting here for you. Remember this, if you are found to have deceived me, you will not be spared from my wrath!"
"Yes!" they answered once again and soon left the great hall.
Phew!
Fatigue flashed across his face once the crowd had left.
Now that he was a shadow of his former self, if any one of them had attacked him earlier, he might not even be their match.
Fortunately, these people had been scared into submission after witnessing his strength during his Martial King Punishment and he did not face any objections.
After some thought, Su Mo left the great hall and flew toward Great Martial City.
Bai Yin'er was still in a coma in the Divine Map. He was now headed to Great Martial City to hand her to Governor Bai.
Less than an hour later, he arrived at Great Martial City.
The city gates were tightly shut and countless troops guarded the city walls. They had entered a state of combat readiness.
Swoosh!
Su Mo shot into the city like a stream of light and flew toward the Mansion of the City Governor.
"Who was that?"
"I think it was that outsider!"
"My god! He's come back! He was the one that killed the Divine Martial Emperor!"
The troops stationed on the city walls looked at Su Mo's figure in astonishment.
Word had spread like wildfire across the entire country that the Divine Martial Emperor had been killed by Su Mo's Martial King Realm Punishment. The entire country was left reeling from the news.
It was rumored that Su Mo had vanished into thin air after he survived the punishment. They had not expected him to return to Great Martial City.
…
In the great hall of the Mansion of the City Governor at Great Martial City-
"Alright, you may go! Make sure to reinforce our defense and watch out for attacks from the other cities!" Governor Bai dismissed his men from the hall.
He had already heard what had happened at Divine Martial City.
He knew that his daughter Bai Yin'er had committed suicide during the concubine selection process and that Su Mo killed the Divine Martial Emperor with his Martial King Realm Punishment thereafter.
Su Mo vanished into thin air after surviving his Martial King Realm Punishment and his daughter had also vanished without a trace.
He had traveled to Divine Martial City to find out more two days ago, but to no avail.
"Alas! Yin'er!" Governor Bai sighed as his heart ached for his daughter.
Buzz…
A man with white hair descended on his hall with a powerful Dark Force blast.
"Su Mo!" Governor Bai's eyes widened and he immediately rose to his feet.
"Governor Bai, it has been a while!" Su Mo said impassively.
Governor Bai sized Su Mo up in surprise. Su Mo's hair was completely white and his face so full of wrinkles that he looked completely different than when he had last seen him.
However, he did not dare to underestimate Su Mo and his heart started to beat rapidly.
"Su Mo, where is Yin'er? What happened to her?" Governor Bai asked hopefully.
Su Mo used his mind to summon her and the next instant, a comatose Bai Yin'er appeared in his arms.
"Yin'er!" Governor Bai exclaimed and quickly flew forward to take her from Su Mo's arms.
His face turned pale as he examined her body.
"Governor Bai, I'm sorry. I failed to protect her!" Su Mo said with a sigh.
Governor Bai shook his head. He did not blame Su Mo, either did he dare to blame him.
"I hope you'll be able to save her! I'll be off now!" Su Mo glanced once more her then disappeared in a flash of light.
Governor Bai summoned his men and ordered him to find a high-level pill refining master to save Yin Bai'er.
Su Mo then returned to Divine Martial City and returned to the hall where Commander Yue and the rest had been discussing matters earlier.
He sat on the main seat in the hall and tended to his wounds as he waited for the group of experts to return.
As time passed, Su Mo's injuries took a turn for the better.
Soon, three days had passed and Su Mo had recovered 20% of his strength. Commander Yue, Master Yang and the rest had also returned.
"Greetings, Great Emperor!"
"Greetings, Great Emperor!"
The group of them paid their respects to Su Mo with a deep bow and called him 'Emperor'.
Su Mo opened his eyes, looked around and nodded with satisfaction.
Dozens of these experts had returned and some of them were also injured.
"Did you accomplish what I told you to do?" Su Mo asked coldly.
"Yes, we have!" Commander Yue said gravely.
"Hand them over!" Su Mo said with a nod.
Commander Yue took out a storage ring and handed it respectfully to Su Mo.
Su Mo reached out and summoned the storage ring to his hand.
Then, Su Mo used his mind to peer at its contents and saw that there were approximately 3,000 storage rings within this storage ring.
He took a while to examine them and saw that there was a large number of Spiritual Stones, weapons and jade slips within each jade slip.
Su Mo nodded and smiled.
"Alright, I'll hand the Divine Martial Country to you now. I'm off!" Su Mo rose to his feet.
Since these people had accomplished what he had told them to do, he decided to spare them and not rob them of their storage rings as well.
"Great Emperor, where are you going?" Master Yang asked in confusion. "The entire Divine Martial Country is in a mess right now and we'll need you to stabilize the country. Furthermore, the imperial palace is in shambles and you will need to rebuild that too."
"I'm not going to be your Emperor!" Su Mo said as he shook his head. "I'm going to leave this place and walk out of the Mist Mountains to return to where I came from."
"What?" the group looked at Su Mo in astonishment.
He wasn't going to be Emperor!
He even wanted to walk out of the Mist Mountains!
"Em…Emperor, are you certain you'll be able to walk out of the Mist Mountains?" Master Yang stuttered.
"Of course!" Su Mo nodded.
Everyone was completely shocked by Su Mo's words and their minds raced.
As the top experts in this country, every one of them wanted to leave this place!
They had heard all sorts of legends about the world outside from previous outsiders and imagined the world outside to be vast and boundless with many experts and talents and full of treasures to be found.
They had longed to go out into the outside world for they knew that they would never be able to increase their skills if they stayed in this resource-poor land. If they wanted to grow as martial artists, they would have to leave this place.
However, nobody had ever successfully managed to walk out of the Mist Mountains, so naturally, they did not dare to risk it.
Therefore, they were now completely stunned when Su Mo said he was certain he could walk out.
No one doubted Su Mo because he had no reason to trick them now that he was invincible in this land.
Everyone was incredibly tempted by the prospect of leaving.
Soon, the stern elderly Master Yang was the first to speak. He gave Su Mo a deep bow and said seriously, "Emperor, I'm willing to follow you. Please bring me along with you!"