Bing Qing Fairy quickly surveyed her surroundings. Inside the study, an ornate wooden door was slightly ajar. Brighter light and clearer sounds of revelry seeped through the crack. Her target was just behind that door, practically within arm’s reach.
She drew the short sword, Ice Spirit, from her waist. Its blade, thin as a cicada’s wing, was coated in a lethal poison and gleamed with a faint, cold, blue light. A single scratch was enough to seal one’s fate.
To deal with an old waste whose meridians had withered, she wouldn’t even need to use her True Qi. A single, gentle slash, and he would be dead.
Like a cat stalking its prey, she approached the door soundlessly and peered through the crack to observe the situation inside.
Inside was an extremely spacious Sleeping Palace. The floor was covered with thick carpets from the Western Regions, and embroidered dresses and disheveled soft pillows were scattered about, along with some women’s undergarments.
A group of charming women in light gauze dresses were playfully surrounding a white-haired old man, urging him to drink. The old man’s clothes were in disarray, his face was flushed, and his eyes were murky. With a woman in each arm, he was having the time of his life, letting out a lecherous "KEK KEKEKE" laugh. It was, without a doubt, the elder Crown Prince, Xia Wuyang.
Bing Qing Fairy waited no longer. Killing intent flared, ruthless and absolute.
She gently pushed open the ajar wooden door. Her figure flashed like lightning as she pounced on the old man on the couch, not considering him a threat in the slightest.
The Ice Spirit short sword in her hand traced a deadly, faint blue arc, aimed straight for the vital point of his throat.
She used thirty percent of her strength in this strike—enough to ensure it was foolproof without causing too much of a commotion. ’He’s just a piece of trash with no Cultivation. Thirty percent is already giving him too much credit.’
However, the unexpected happened!
Just a moment before her blade reached him, the elder Crown Prince, who had appeared completely drunk with murky eyes, seemed to casually turn to pick up a wine cup by the couch. His movement looked very slow.
Yet this seemingly coincidental, slow turn was so exquisitely timed that the killing blow scraped past the skin of his neck, severing only a few strands of white hair. Aside from that, he was completely unharmed.
A chill ran down Bing Qing Fairy’s spine, but she wasn’t overly suspicious. ’He just got lucky and dodged it by a fluke.’
With a flick of her wrist, the sword’s gleam clung to him like a maggot on a bone as she stabbed viciously toward the vital point of his heart. This time, she used seventy percent of her strength. Her Sword Momentum was faster and more venomous, determined to take down Xia Wuyang.
But the elder Crown Prince seemed to have been frightened. His hand trembled, and the wine cup flew from his grasp, striking her sword-wielding wrist with uncanny accuracy.
The cup’s trajectory seemed soft and weak, but it contained a strange kind of force. Bing Qing Fairy actually felt her wrist go numb, and her Sword Momentum was involuntarily deflected by half an inch. She missed again, failing to harm him in the slightest.
’Once is a coincidence, but twice?’
Bing Qing Fairy finally sensed that something was wrong. She then noticed that the surrounding Palace Attendants seemed to be trapped in an Illusion, still laughing and celebrating as if they hadn’t seen the assassination attempt unfolding before them.
A sudden chill shot up her spine. She abruptly recalled that the mysterious expert, whom they suspected to be Elder Qing Yin, was most proficient in the Illusion Skill. ’Could it be...?’
Her Super Grade Perfection Spiritual Sense began screaming warnings. The seemingly decrepit old man before her suddenly exuded a profound, unfathomable aura that made her very soul tremble!
She shot backward. Without a second thought, she immediately began to retreat.
Her body shot backward as if struck by lightning, about to crash through the window to escape. She didn’t dare get any closer.
But it was too late. A withered but mountain-steady hand seemed to have been waiting there all along. It rested lightly on her shoulder, striking last but arriving first, its speed astonishing.
That seemingly casual press felt like a great mountain crashing down upon her. All the Qi Blood Bing Qing Fairy had gathered instantly dissipated, leaving her with no strength to resist. Her entire body froze on the spot, unable to even move a finger, let alone assassinate her target.
Before this hand, her Super Grade Perfect Cultivation was as helpless as a child’s.
"Since you’re here, and we’ve finally had the chance to meet, why be in such a hurry to leave?" a calm, ancient voice rang out, tinged with an indescribable authority.
Bing Qing Fairy looked over in horror. She saw the elder Crown Prince on the couch slowly sit up straight. The simple movement was like watching Mount Tai rise from the earth.
The flush and drunkenness on his face receded like a tide. His murky eyes became clear and profound, like two bottomless Cold Pools, bearing no resemblance to how he had looked before.
His stooped frame was still withered, but it seemed to hold the Power to prop up the heavens and the earth. Even she, with her Super Grade Perfect Cultivation, could feel an overwhelming pressure rolling toward her.
He waved his hand casually, and the eyes of the charming women around him immediately went blank. They fell limply to the ground, sinking into a deep sleep.
"You... you’re not Xia Wuyang! It’s impossible for Xia Wuyang to have this kind of strength! Who are you?" Bing Qing Fairy’s voice was dry and hoarse, filled with incredulous terror.
The sense of oppression this person gave her surpassed that of any Super Grade Perfection Celestial Human she had ever known.
The elder Crown Prince, Xia Wuyang, slowly stood up and looked down at her, the corner of his mouth curling into a cold, slightly mocking smile. "Of course, I am the Crown Prince of the Great Xia, Xia Wuyang. But perhaps you are more familiar with my other identity..."
He paused, his gaze turning sharp. "The mysterious expert who destroyed your Xuan Nu Palace and sent you fleeing and hiding like a stray dog... I believe you all thought he was Elder Qing Yin!"
BOOM...
Those words struck Bing Qing Fairy’s mind like a bolt of lightning from the heavens. ’It’s true. It’s actually true.’
Her pupils shrank to pinpricks. Beneath her veil, the color drained from her face in an instant, turning deathly pale, an awful sight to behold.
Boundless fear, absurdity, disbelief, and finally, the despair of understanding, washed over her like a cold tide, drowning her, leaving her unable to breathe.
’The mysterious expert is Xia Wuyang?’
’That elder Crown Prince who was deposed for decades, dim-witted and useless, with one foot in the grave?’
’How is this possible!’
’It’s simply impossible!’
But the facts before her, his unfathomable strength, that familiar, cold pressure that had given her countless nightmares... all of it cruelly confirmed the devastating truth. Xia Wuyang was the mysterious expert.
’She thought she had dodged the blade of vengeance, only to run headfirst into the demon’s den—and into the arms of the enemy she feared most.’
’She had meticulously plotted her revenge against Yun Liyue, only to choose as her point of attack the very architect of her suffering. How ironic! How utterly foolish!’
"No... impossible... This is absolutely impossible... How could this be!" she murmured, dazed. Her Dao heart almost shattered at that moment; she was on the verge of going mad.
Xia Wuyang, however, said no more. He picked her up like a puppet and walked toward the Practice Room.
A heavy stone door slid open and shut silently, completely sealing them off from the outside world. Now, it was time for him to properly deal with this Bing Qing Fairy.
Inside the Practice Room, the cold glow of the Luminous Pearls was constant.
Xia Wuyang tossed Bing Qing Fairy to the floor. He partially released the Restriction on her, allowing her to speak, but she remained completely unable to move, much less resist.

Comments

Loading...