Copper Statue

Seeing the man leave, Han Sen had to ask, "God's Retribution, of the thirteen members, was one of them named Han?"

"No. You should leave now," the man said.

Han Sen wanted to ask something else, but the man left at a speed his eyes could not follow. It was as if the man had teleported away. Han Sen knew how strong the man was, but he noticed the man did not seem to possess any special elements at all.

Even if he could not fly, he could defy gravity with a jumping capability that was almost as good as having wings.

"Were Han Jinzhi and someone from the Qin family members of the thirteen he spoke of?" Han Sen wondered.

As Han Sen mulled the question, he detected movement. When he looked in the direction of the disturbance, he noticed the empress returning. As she always had been, she was firmly perched upon her throne.

Han Sen now understood why the man had told him to leave, but unfortunately for Han Sen, he had not followed the advice. He wouldn't be able to leave without the empress spotting him.

"God's Retribution! How dare you trick me!" The empress was fuming with rage as her hands clutched the shattered remains of some gem. Closer inspection told Han Sen it was the fruit.

She saw Han Sen, and although she knew he had done nothing to contribute to her being tricked, she wasn't quite willing to let him get away. Her anger had to go somewhere, and Han Sen was as good a punching bag as any.

The throne flew directly above Han Sen with a speed that exceeded the capabilities of his phoenix techniques.

As countless snakes took aim at Han Sen, he couldn't help but think, "Why is she taking it out on me?!"

Han Sen summoned Little Angel and Disloyal Knight, then he used his Ancient Devil Soldier. With Phoenix Sword and Taia equipped, he was ready to do battle.

Disloyal Knight used blue lightning, and it drew a halo below every hostile creature in the vicinity. The light slowed the serpents down by a considerable amount, and it also weakened the power they possessed.

Han Sen and Little Angel were buffed, too, and they were now able to paralyze enemies.

Unfortunately for Han Sen, each individual snake possessed a power that was comparable to a berserk super creature. When Han Sen tried attacking one of the slithering serpents, he could not hew its body in two.

Still, the serpents were unable to do anything to Han Sen, either.

The empress was even angrier now. She had wanted to vent her rage on whatever creature or being she could find, and now she had been stalemated and was unable to do a thing.

"Hey, lady empress, what's your problem?! I'm just a simple traveler, passing by this scenic lake. We don't have a grudge, do we? Why don't we stop before we get ahead of ourselves?" Han Sen did not want to fight.

Furthermore, she was a spirit and she could respawn. Han Sen hadn't the faintest clue where she came from, so even if he was to struggle and defeat her, it would achieve nothing but a greater hatred and a grudge he might have to deal with further down the line.

And since Han Sen had just managed to obtain two Aqua Fruits, he was far keener on finding out what he could do with them.

God's Retribution knew the empress would eventually return to the lake with a bloodlust, which was why he left the area in such a hurry and made sure to tell Han Sen to make himself scarce, too.

Han Sen's mind had been preoccupied with the mound of questions that had taken root, that he didn't really concern himself with the warning he had been given by God's Retribution.

"You humans are the worst! I am going to kill you, and then I am going to kill him." There was no quelling the fire the empress was breathing.

And try as she might, the steam she wished to release was not going anywhere.

She thought there had to be a connection between Han Sen and God's Retribution. They were both human, after all. It was far too much of a coincidence for her to have been played, and for there to be another human in the area just moseying about.

That was why she wanted to make Han Sen her target. She believed he had to be in on the trick that had been played upon her. The throne was unable to capture Han Sen, though, and this just bolstered her resolve and belief Han Sen must have had a hand in the misdeed that had been performed upon her.

Not many humans possessed such strength in the Third God's Sanctuary, and so the empress thought that further confirmed a connection between the two.

The empress was looking severely annoyed by this point, and she actually stood up and left her throne.

Her legs were so long and succulent to look at, she was like a most-stunning queen to behold. Her fatal eyes stared at Han Sen, and they were so intense, you'd believe they could drill holes in whatever surface they looked at.

Han Sen kept falling back in his evasions, in the hope he could develop enough space between the two of them to run off. Unfortunately, the throne could not be shaken, and its resolve to murder Han Sen reflected its owner's desire.

The empress' eyes then began to glow, and the volume of light grew brighter and brighter. They soon resembled a couple of light bulbs.

In those eyes, there was a copper statue. It was molded to the shape of Han Sen.

Han Sen suddenly felt himself freeze. He was unable to move.

When Han Sen looked down, his flesh and bones had become copper. And lastly, his skin.

Han Sen was in shock. There was nothing he could do to prevent this from happening.

Now, after seeing the shape inside the empress' eyes, he understood what had happened.

The Blood-Pulse Sutra had been unable to prevent this from happening, and all he could do now was watch himself turn into a copper statue.

"You think I can be bullied so easily?" Han Sen's eyes flashed with a white light that shot out to encompass his entire body.