Chapter 830: The Bride with White Hair
Everyone from King Qi Manor laughed when they heard what Bi Linglong said. What kind of joke was this? Lu Xiao was King Qi Manor’s number one expert, a mid stage master rank! He was one of the best even in the capital.
Even though Bi Linglong wasn’t bad for her age, she was still too young. She wasn’t someone of the same level as Lu Xiao at all. To put it a bit more bluntly, any random disciple of Lu Xiao’s would be enough to take out Bi Linglong.
Lu Xiao laughed. “I’ve heard that the crown princess is smart and quick-witted. Today, I didn’t expect to find out that you were even better at telling jokes.”
His smile faded as he said, “You don’t possess the qualifications to fight against me.” His tone was calm without any anger, as if he were talking about something that couldn’t be simpler.
Everyone from the Eastern Palace was baffled as well. They couldn’t figure out why the crown princess would make such a demand. After all, Meng Pan’s cultivation was above the crown princess’, but Lu Xiao hadn’t even had to use his hands to kill him. Wasn’t the crown princess just throwing her life away here?
Zu An looked at Bi Linglong with a frown. However, he didn’t say anything, because he knew she wasn’t the type to speak without thinking.
Sure enough, Bi Linglong stepped forward and looked coldly at Lu Xiao. “I’ll only strike once with my sword. Let’s talk about qualifications if you can survive.”
After she spoke, she pointed at the flower mark between her brows, and a burst of golden light erupted from it. Then, her figure slowly rose into the air. Her meticulously combed hair completely dispersed. Her fine black hair fluttered in the wind, making her look like a goddess that had descended from the heavens to rain down punishment.
“Ninth rank? Or maybe master rank?” Wei Pingyang and the others from King Qi Manor were horrified. Everyone knew only those at the ninth rank could fly like this. Could it be that the crown princess was actually at the ninth rank or higher? How was that possible?
But reality forced them to believe it, because they could feel Bi Linglong’s aura becoming more powerful. A terrifying pressure descended. The people nearest to her were already shivering uncontrollably and kneeling on the ground. Even Zu An found it a bit hard to handle with his cultivation, and he subconsciously took a few steps back.
“The emperor’s aura?” Zu An exclaimed, looking at Bi Linglong in horror. This aura was too familiar! When the Embroidered Envoy had used the imperial decree in Brightmoon City, the emperor’s power had left him with a deep psychological shadow.
Zu An had seen the flower mark between Bi Linglong’s brows many times. Back then, he had only taken it to be some decoration. After all, many of the court beauties had similar decorations, so he hadn’t thought too much about it. How could he have known that it would be a seal that hid a formidable ultimate move?
The smile on Lu Xiao’s face instantly froze, and he could no longer remain calm. He quickly raised his hands and a transparent energy barrier appeared, surrounding him. He didn’t relax at all afterward, however. He knew that he had already been targeted by that terrifying aura. Every cell in his body was telling him that the situation was incredibly dangerous.
He didn’t dare to treat it lightly, so he drew on all of his cultivation. Soon afterward, seven layers of protection formed around him, as well as a sword that floated above his head. This was a magic weapon he was soulbound to, one he had pledged to live and die with.
At that moment, Bi Linglong opened her eyes. Her gaze was filled with emptiness, as if she were an empress who ruled over all. Behind her was a faintly visible golden figure.
“Your majesty!” Even though that figure was blurry, the onlookers could still vaguely make out who it was. Furthermore, with that distinctive aura, everyone from King Qi Manor finally realized what was going on.
In that instant, all of them were scared witless. The emperor’s might as the most powerful cultivator in the world was deeply embedded within their hearts. No one dared to fight against the emperor, even if they were already at the master rank.
“Linglong is so awesome! Kill them all!” the crown prince cheered excitedly. The others from the Eastern Palace also encouraged her. They no longer despaired as they had before.
It turned out that the emperor still had this trump card to play! With the emperor here, everyone else was insignificant!
Zu An was the only one who was still extremely worried. Would Bi Linglong be able to handle the power needed for such a strong move? She had only recently broken through into the sixth rank, after all!
The decrees of the Embroidered Envoy were different. Back then, they had used the intricate runes on the decree to communicate with the power of the world, and then used that to bring down the emperor’s divine will.
But Bi Linglong’s move was different. The dungeon was a world of its own, and not even the emperor’s divine will could cross worlds. As such, this had to have been something the emperor left for Bi Linglong. However, how could there not be a price to pay if the flesh were used to release such great power?
Just then, Bi Linglong finally moved. She raised the sword in her hand and gently swung it in Lu Xiao’s direction. At the same time, the projection behind her also slashed out. A giant wave of sword ki rushed out, seemingly transcending the concept of space and time to appear in front of Lu Xiao.
The seven layers of protection Lu Xiao had set up melted like paper. Then, the sword light cleaved into the sword above his head. His sword managed to hold on for a second, and then it broke apart inch by inch.
With his soulbound sword in pieces, blood gushed out from Lu Xiao’s mouth. His originally rosy complexion instantly became as white as snow. However, he didn’t have any time to steady his breathing and instead raised his hands to try and stop the wave of sword ki.
Boom!
With a loud explosion, dust flew everywhere.
A groove several dozen meters long appeared where Lu Xiao had been. The nearby trees and rocks were all turned to powder from the attack. As for the King Qi Manor experts who were next to Lu Xiao, they directly vanished from the face of the world.
The others merely watched in horror. The power of this sword was actually that terrifying!?
Wei Pingyang and the others subconsciously backed up. Not even Lu Xiao could take this sword, so what were the rest of them supposed to do?
Just then, the golden light in the sky grew dim. Then, with a groan, a figure fell from the sky.
“Linglong!” Zu An had been watching silently the entire time. When he saw her fall, he immediately flew over to catch her. However, he immediately jumped in fright when he saw her condition.
Her hair had been a fine black a second ago, yet now, her glossy and soft hair had completely turned white. Her skin that had sparkled like jade was now dull in color. The attack just then had clearly used up a lot of her life essence.
Bi Linglong slowly opened her eyes when she heard Zu An rushed breathing. When she saw that it was Zu An who was holding her, she felt a bit more at ease. However, she remembered something and quickly asked, “Am I old and ugly now?”
Zu An shook his head. “You’re just as pretty as before; no, you’re even prettier right now.”
Bi Linglong sighed deeply. “You love to trick others, just as always. When he gave me this flower mark, his majesty told me that it was powerful, but I shouldn’t use it unless absolutely necessary. Otherwise, the lightest consequence would be to age greatly; the more serious one would be to die immediately.”
Zu An cursed inwardly. That damn emperor, why are you giving someone something with such huge side effects? Aren’t you scamming them here? When he sensed the sadness in her eyes, he quickly said, “Don’t worry. Even though your body is weak right now, you won’t lose your life. You’ll recover if you rest a bit.”
“With my beauty already faded, what meaning is there left even if I recover?” Bi Linglong’s voice was quiet and sad as she touched her white hair.
Zu An knew that the more beautiful the woman, the more they cared about their looks, let alone Bi Linglong who had married into the royal family. What her appearance represented went without saying.
He consoled her with a smile. “You don’t have to feel so bad. Forget about whether or not your white hair can recover; even if it doesn’t, so what? Doesn’t it look pretty good? I’ll tell you the story of ‘The Bride with White Hair’ next time. I really like that story’s main character.”
Bi Linglong blushed. “What am I going to do with you? Your tastes are so weird.”
The others were still in shock from the power of that strike, and many of them still hadn’t recovered from their daze, so they didn’t notice Zu An and Bi Linglong’s interaction.
Suddenly, a voice exclaimed with a bitter laugh, “Hahaha! I’m still alive! I’m still alive!”
Bi Linglong’s expression changed. She quickly turned to look in the direction of the sound. She saw a bloody man crawl out from the deep gorge with almost no part of his skin intact. His left arm was nowhere to be seen. However, he still wasn’t dead.
“Brother Lu!” Wei Pingyang and the others from King Qi Manor all cheered.
Lu Xiao glared at Bi Linglong, his eyes filled with resentment. “What a pity, what a pity! Your cultivation was too low and you couldn’t bring out the full power of that sword. Furthermore, this dungeon is its own world, severing your connection with the emperor. That’s why I survived! However, you ended up destroying my soulbound sword, and I’ll never be able to recover my severed arm. I’ll make sure to properly take my revenge for this on your body!”
Normally speaking, after the seventh rank, cultivators would obtain the power of self-regeneration. As long as key areas like the head were unharmed, they could still slowly recover. Regrowing a severed arm wasn’t anything too difficult either. However, his arm had been severed by the emperor’s aura. Unless he could completely expel the emperor’s aura from his body, there was no hope for him to ever regrow that arm back.
But if he wanted to remove the emperor’s aura, who in this world had such an ability?