AGM 207 - How do you want him to die?
A sinister crimson glow coloured the skies outside the gates of the Royal Capital. A palpable feeling of tension and violence was in the air .
Chu Tianjiao calmly stood atop the city gates, a few experts acting as protectors standing behind him.
“Qin Wu.” His gaze pierced through the space, landing onto an armored figure far away. The figure’s eyes were like torches, as they penetrated through the rain of blood, staring grimly back at Chu Tianjiao.
Chu Tianjiao understood deeply the terrifying astuteness and great foresight from Qin Wu. Hiding in seclusion for so many years, building up his forces under the eyes and nose of the Royal Clan. Indeed, such a character was to be greatly feared.
While Qin Wu himself sensed an extraordinary aura from Chu Tianjiao, filled with wild ambition and tempered with a refined intelligence. Chu Tianjiao wanted to stabilise his empire, and to do so, he wouldn’t hesitate regardless of how high a price it would cost to achieve his goals.
However, Chu Tianjiao didn’t know that within the city, by a tall pavilion near the city gate, a figure clad in white was staring in his direction, his countenance heavily tinged with disappointment.
This person, was none other than the First Prince, Chu Wuwei. However, he currently had no status, since he was no longer the First Prince after Chu Tianjiao ascended the throne. Not only that, Chu Tianjiao didn’t confer upon him any other titles.
Near Chu Wuwei, two others stood to the left and right side of him. One of them was his younger brother, Chu Mang. The other person was Immortal Drunken Wine, who was ranked third out of the ten prodigies of Chu. Immortal Drunken Wine always had a good relationship with Chu Wuwei, ever since a long time ago.
“What are your thoughts?” Immortal Drunken Wine asked in a low voice, directing the question towards Chu Wuwei.
“My third brother is too eager for success,” Chu Wuwei serenely replied, “This is definitely not a good thing. His style of doing things has always been overly radical, moving like the thunder and the wind. If he’s victorious, everything will fall in place, but should a single part of his plans fail to pull through, he will be in a disastrous situation.”
“Why don’t you take his place?” Immortal Drunken Wine calmly questioned, as though speaking of an extremely ordinary thing. He knew exactly how outstanding this friend of his was. As long as he wished for it, Chu Wuwei would definitely be victorious in a struggle for the throne. Immortal Drunken Wine had no doubts regarding this.
“I will consider that only if the situation truly becomes uncontrollable,” Chu Wuwei calmly continued, “I promised my father that I would protect our Chu bloodline.”
“Let’s go and take a look at the situation over at the Chu Emperor District. Since the rebels are attacking the city gates with their full strength, I gather that there should be something happening soon over there.” Chu Wuwei turned as he left, with Chu Mang and Immortal Drunken Wine following behind him. Since he could deduce such a possibility, how could Chu Tianjiao himself overlook it?
How about Qin Wentian? Would he not think of it as well?
Qin Wentian was no longer the simple and guileless youth of the past.
It was exceptionally quiet in the Royal Palace. Occasionally, there would be scouts coming through the many-layered defences, to report on news of the waging war outside the city gates. They attracted everyone’s attention, since any news regarding this war was undoubtedly of paramount importance to the people living in the Royal Palace.
There were many troops stationed outside the gates of the Royal Palace, creating an impenetrable defence. However, at this moment, a loud shout suddenly broke the stillness of the air.
“Enemy sneak attack!”
The quietness of the Royal Palace was instantly shattered. As the gazes of the troops shifted over, they saw only a group of masked men clad in black advancing forward with terrifying speed.
Although they didn’t release their Astral Souls, the group of black-robed men flew through the air. The troops guarding the Royal Palace all had ashen expressions on their faces. They knew that they had no chance at survival, as the entire group of attackers were evidently at the Yuanfu Realm.
Piercing sounds rang out and very quickly, showers of blood splattered upon the ground where the guards stood, dying it completely red. Trails of black smoke were released as a signal, the slaughter of the palace guards were long witnessed by the others within the palace. In an instant, the whole of the Royal Palace turned chaotic as the experts that had allied with the Royal Clan quickly flew towards the location of the smoke signal.
How many years had the Royal Palace’s defences remained unbreakable? Yet today, its defences were breached.
Not only that, the timing of this sneak attack was extremely accurate, complementing perfectly with the attack of the Qin rebels outside the city gate, which had lured over the majority of the Royal Clan troops.
“Who dares to be so impudent?” a voice erupted in anger. Even though the Royal Clan had sent the majority of their experts outside to defend the city gates, there were still some extremely powerful trump cards hidden within the Royal Palace to act as protectors. The Royal Clan was naturally not lacking in peak-level Yuanfu experts.
However at the same time, a figure also appeared in the air, emanating an overbearing aura. Similarly, this man was also at the peak of Yuanfu. This caused many to speculate that the Qin rebels had surely carried out this sneak attack after much meticulous planning. Apparently, they had already investigated the protectors in the Royal Palace and the full scope of their power levels.
Watermoon Pavilion was the residence of the little Princess of Chu. Because of the recent chaotic state of the Royal Capital, she had opted to stay within her residence instead.
However, when the little Princess of Chu noticed the group of black-robed men approaching with terrifying speed from afar, she realised how far off her predictions were. The magnitude of this storm, was much larger than what she had previously imagined.
These group of invaders, had long investigated the location of her residence and also clearly knew that out of all the other princesses of Chu, her abode was the closest to the Royal Palace’s exit.
“Little Princess, quickly leave.” A female servant ran up to her, trying to break her out of her stupor.
“It’s useless.” The little Princess shook her head. “Third brother used Mustang to threaten Qin Wentian, and now his enemies are going to use the same tactic to deal with him. With the current circumstances, I don’t think those at the Chu Emperor District or the city gates would know of this incident.”
Although she was young, she was extremely intelligent for her age. Today, the Royal Clan had ‘used up’ too many of their experts, either relocating them for the defence of the city, or as protectors stationed at the Chu Emperor District. About fifty Qin rebels attacked the residence, all of them had a cultivation in the Yuanfu Realm, with even peak-level Yuanfu experts numbering among them.
When a group of such powerful experts gathered together and forcefully attacked a single target, how could the Royal Palace’s already weakened defences be able to hold them back?
By the time the Royal Palace could muster or call back their forces, these group of attacks would have already left them in their dust.
The little Princess was quickly abducted by the group of black robed men, and no other protectors dared to step forth to stop them. This caused those in the Royal Palace to feel extreme fear in their hearts. In three thousand years of history, this was the first time the Royal Palace had suffered such a defeat.
They were also speculating who exactly was it that had the power to have such a big group of experts under their control?
If this amount of power were to reinforce the battle outside the city gates of the Royal Capital, their aid would certainly be equivalent to a checkmate.
The Royal Palace immediately sent out men on flying demonic beasts to quickly head past the city gates and into Chu Emperor District to deliver this news.
And just a short while later, the news of the little Princess’s abduction was soon spread to all.
In the Chu Emperor District, many of the Ye Clan’s experts that were present wore grim expressions on their faces. They had set up an inescapable net solely for the sake of Qin Wentian. Yet now, the little Princess was actually abducted, so how were they going to handle Mustang? Should they kill him or not?
And at this moment, at a place not far from the Chu Emperor District, a silhouette leisurely walked over. The gazes of countless people all froze as they realised who the silhouette was.
Qin Wentian had finally showed himself.
Nobody dared to stop him and those behind him. He directly proceeded to a space near the platform where Luo Huan and Mustang were held captive, and a hint of apology was seen flickering in his eyes.
“Teacher, Sister Luo Huan, I’m sorry. I’ve brought this all upon you two,” Qin Wentian apologised.
“I knew you would surely come,” Luo Huan smiled. For reasons unknown, even though Qin Wentian’s level of cultivation couldn’t be considered high, she had absolute confidence in this Junior Brother of hers.
Luo Huan then cast a glance at Qiu Mo, who was standing by the side, as she sarcastically added, “Qiu Mo, didn’t you say that you wanted to kill Junior Brother Qin? He is right in front of you. Why don’t you try it now?”
Qiu Mo’s countenance froze, as a sinister look could be seen in his eyes. It seemed that he greatly hated Qin Wentian, to an extreme degree.
“His Majesty has decreed, that if Qin Wentian were to appear, we are to kill him with no mercy,” Qiu Mo coldly spoke, glancing at the people Chu Tianjiao had arranged for the task, before turning his gaze onto Qin Wentian again.
However, no one acted. The other experts merely shortened the distance between them and Luo Huan and Mustang, coldly staring at Qin Wentian in response.
“Is the little Princess in your hands?” An old man standing beside Qiu Mo abruptly spoke, his voice cutting the air like a sword.
“What do you think?” Qin Wentian stared at him, his reply calm.
“What do you want?” The old man glared at Qin Wentian.
“Hostage exchange,” Qin Wentian simply replied, yet his answer caused the old man to fall silent.
Chu Tianjiao was the current Emperor of Chu and his command was simple – to slaughter Qin Wentian mercilessly. If they missed this perfect opportunity, it wouldn’t be so easy to lure Qin Wentian out again. And today, the reason why the old man chose to personally attend this, was all for the sake of dealing with the experts Qin Wentian brought along with him.
“I can’t agree to your terms,” the old man faintly spoke, he needed to wait for Chu Tianjiao’s order.
“I don’t have the time to wait, nor do I have time to play around with you. After burning one incense’s worth of time, if you still refuse my request, you will bear the responsibility yourself,” Qin Wentian tyrannically replied. He initially didn’t wish to use this method, yet this was something Chu Tianjiao had taught him. Abducting Mustang and Luo Huan to threaten him? Since Chu Tianjiao was willing to stoop to such a degree, from now onwards, for the sake of exterminating Chu, Qin Wentian would make sure to achieve his aim regardless of anything.
The old man fell silent, glaring at Qin Wentian before he replied, “If anything happens to the little Princess, you too, shall accompany her in death.”
“You are truly overestimating yourself.” Qin Wentian stepped out. He directed his gaze on Qiu Mo, as he approached him.
The black-robed men surrounded Qin Wentian, all mirroring his movements.
An extremely cold glint of light flickered in Ye Liuyang’s eyes as he stared at the approaching Qin Wentian. This person actually dared to venture into the tiger’s lair, wasn’t he somewhat too foolhardy? Why was he not afraid that the forces of the Royal Palace would disregard the consequences and kill him?
Like a shadow, an exquisite and graceful silhouette abruptly appeared behind Qin Wentian. However, no one had sensed her existence before that moment.
This, caused the old man’s pupils to narrow as he stared at that graceful silhouette. Who was she?
A frosty demeanor, the aura of an ice princess, a maiden whose beauty was so ephemeral that it seemed as though she descended from the Heavens. She simply stood there, not moving a muscle, yet her presence radiated a feeling of extreme danger in the old man’s heart.
Qin Wentian smiled. Upon noticing the presence of Qing`er, a sense of security blossomed in his heart.
Maybe, Qing`er’s strength would surprise him prodigiously.
Qin Wentian continued walking towards Qiu Mo, and even stood at the side of that old man. However, none dared to make a move against him.
“How do you want to die?” Qin Wentian stared coldly at Qiu Mo. In the next moment, Qiu Mo’s Astral Souls exploded forth as he roared in rage, “Why have you guys still not killed him?”
Nobody paid attention to him. Qin Wentian’s silhouette flashed, his palms grabbed out towards Qiu Mo with terrifying speed. Qiu Mo’s countenance instantly sank. With a howl of madness, he reacted instantly by unleashing his strongest attack towards Qin Wentian.
However, as their palms matched, Qiu Mo felt a domineering pressure overwhelming his body.
“Crack!” Qiu Mo’s arm snapped off. Qin Wentian grabbed Qiu Mo around his throat, smashing him onto the ground then dragged him along as though hauling a dead dog, as he walked towards Luo Huan. At this moment, Qin Wentian’s killing intent pervaded the air. It was so strong and oppressive that Qiu Mo couldn’t help but feel his soul trembling from terror.
“Sister Luo Huan, how do you want him to die?” Qin Wentian ignored those around him, and smiled at Luo Huan, as though they were the only two people there, within these surroundings.