Chapter 879: None of You Shall Escape
The sudden development happened far too quickly. Even He Li and the others felt sincere admiration, even though they were in opposite camps. This guy, Zu An, is absolutely insane! Every single action he takes is unexpected. He was even starting to hope that the emperor would be taken down by the attack. Then, their group would also be free.
However, the black light suddenly stopped. It was clamped firmly between two fingers. Zhao Ruizhi sneered. “I already knew about your strange dagger. Everything you were doing until now was to mislead me and cover up this attack, right?”
The pitch-black dagger made even him feel a strange fear. He quickly realized how dangerous the thing was, that it might actually possess a tremendous threat. Even though he didn’t know why a dagger would make him feel this way, he wasn’t stupid. He wouldn’t take that risk.
Sure enough, Zu An had done all of that earlier precisely because he wanted to use the dagger.
The emperor held the dagger firmly. The feeling of completely crushing his opponent’s plans, dominating them with intelligence, made him feel a powerful sense of superiority. And yet for some reason, he didn’t see shock, annoyance, despair, or any other such emotions on Zu An’s face. Instead, Zu An had a weird smile.
Zhao Ruizhi immediately went on guard. He quickly blew Zu An back with his fist, and dodgedd off to the side. Unfortunately, it was already too late. A nick had been made in the front of his chest. It hadn’t been done by that pitch-black dagger, but rather by a strangely-shaped throwing knife.
He saw the throwing knife in Zu An’s other hand, a bit of blood still lingering on its cutting edge. Zhao Ruizhi frowned. He didn’t know why such a tiny knife had been able to cut through his defenses.
Zu An fell to the ground, unable to crawl back up for a long time. Blood gushed out from his mouth, but there was a big smile on his face. “You didn’t predict this, did you? I wanted to stab you with the Poisonous Prick, and you knew I wanted to do that as well. I knew that you knew I wanted to do that, so that attack was just to cover this attack… You thought that I was thinking five steps ahead, but I was actually playing 4D chess.”
Zhao Ruizhi had thought that he had completely established superiority in intelligence just a second ago, but now, he realized that he was the one who had been fooled. Anger filled him, but he still forcefully tried to maintain his appearance. “Hmph, you pulled that huge stunt just to hurt me with that tiny knife? What child’s play.”
Zu An sighed. “Do you really not sense anything wrong?”
“What could possibly be wrong…” Zhao Ruizhi’s expression suddenly changed halfway through his sentence. He suddenly felt a sharp pain. It wasn’t the pain of labor from his stomach, but rather a pain from his soul. His soul rippled powerfully, and his head was hurting so much it felt as if it were about to explode!
Now that his attention had been diverted, the ‘Frozen Soul’ on his hand and the Knock-You-Up-Eyes’ pain flared up. Not even someone with Zhao Ruizhi’s shocking willpower could withstand it anymore. He screamed miserably and fell to the ground, screaming and twitching in pain.
Bi Linglong instantly reached Zu An’s side. She helped him up and asked, “Ah Zu, are you okay?”
“I won’t die.” Zu An wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth while trembling. He stared at Zhao Ruizhi while using the Primordial Origin Sutra to recover. What they were competing in right now was time. Whichever party could recover first would eke out victory.
The throwing knife he had used had been obtained back then from the Eastern Palace when Shi Kun schemed against him; it was one of the Immortal Beheading Knives. This knife looked ordinary on the surface, but it could wound the soul. It was incredibly treacherous.
Unfortunately, the Immortal Beheading Knives weren’t complete, and so their greatest strength couldn't be brought out. Otherwise, that attack alone would have already erased the emperor’s soul.
He had been left without any options earlier. The emperor had already seen the Poisonous Prick before, so he would already be prepared for it. In that case, he could only use it as the diversion to cover up the Beheading Immortal Knife’s strike. Fortunately, everything had gone smoothly.
“What happened to him?” Bi Linglong had never seen the glorious emperor in such a sorry state. She was overwhelmed with shock.
Zhao Ruizhi was clutching his head in pain. Golden light flickered around his body from time to time, but at times, chills from the Frozen Soul poison appeared.
“Don’t ask about so much. We need to kill him first. He shouldn’t be able to move for a bit of time.” Zu An urged.
Bi Linglong’s face paled. The emperor’s power was something deeply imprinted into the minds of those from the Great Zhou Dynasty. Her first instincts when she heard those words were fear and dread.
But when she saw Zu An’s wounds and remembered how heroically he had fought, her reason won out. She gritted her teeth and picked up a fallen weapon. Then, she walked toward Zhao Ruizhi.
Zhao Ruizhi snorted. “He Li, kill them.”
“Understood!” He Li instinctively rushed up to Bi Linglong. He was at the peak of the ninth rank, while Bi Linglong was only at the sixth rank. At that point, she was even extremely weak after using a forbidden technique. The difference between them was just too great. Bi Linglong was blown away from a single strike. If not because Bi Linglong was too pretty and he had subconsciously held back, she would already be dead. After seriously injuring Bi Linglong, He Li instinctively wanted to kill Zu An.
Zu An roared, “Bastard He, did all that time you spent cultivating go up your ass?!”
He Li roared furiously. “I might have had to take it if you acted arrogant at another time, but you dare to speak to me this way now? You have a death wish!”
You have successfully trolled He Li for +444 +444 +444…
“I’m indeed seriously injured, but isn’t the emperor the same? Why aren’t you using this chance to kill him? If he recovers, won’t that just guarantee your death?” Zu An quickly said.
He Li subconsciously wanted to say something, but he was soon stunned. Wait, you’re making so much sense. I can’t even argue against that. He knew that he was from King Qi’s faction. The reason he had been taken in by the emperor was because he might still be of some use in the dungeon as cannon fodder. But he now knew so many of the emperor’s secrets, as well as how he had been cuckolded. Even if he really became the emperor’s trusted aide, he would still be silenced afterwards.
He had already unconsciously turned around when he realized those facts and looked at Zhao Ruizhi.
Zhao Ruizhi’s gaze turned cold. “He Li, Zu An has always been a glib talker. How can you be misled by him so easily?”
He Li chuckled. “Who the hell does Zu An think he is? How could he deceive me? But what he says isn’t entirely without reason. Don’t tell me your majesty will really let me go after the matter?”
“You’re King Qi Manor’s trusted aide, so after this matter, I can use you as a spy. That will be greatly helpful to me. Why would I kill you?” Zhao Ruizhi quickly said. His tone was steady and possessed a mysterious persuasiveness.
He Li figured that argument made sense as well. He became a bit conflicted.
Bi Linglong crawled to her feet while swaying from side to side. She weakly said, “You even know about the crown prince’s possession, as well as all these ugly truths that happened in the dungeon. Why would he let you go so easily?”
He Li suddenly realized that she was right. What was wrong with him? He had actually almost believed the emperor! But he wasn’t willing to admit his faults and glared at Bi Linglong. “Do you think I don’t know such obvious things? Do I need you to tell me that?”
Then, he walked closer and closer to Zhao Ruizhi with a blade in hand. Even though the emperor looked seriously injured, there was still a powerful pressure emanating from him. He Li was a bit intimidated.
Zhao Ruizhi frowned and said, “If you don’t believe me, then I can make a vow that I absolutely won’t harm you.”
He Li hesitated again. If his survival was guaranteed, then why wouldn’t he choose to side with someone as powerful as the emperor?
Zu An roared with laughter. “Did you forget something? The elements here are unstable. You can’t even make a vow here.”
He Li felt annoyed at himself again. He had actually almost been fooled by the emperor again!
When he saw He Li’s hateful gaze, Zhao Ruizhi coldly said, “You need to think things through clearly. If you attack me, it will only be a portion of my soul that dies. However, my real body will remain. Do you dare face my thunderous wrath once you leave this dungeon?”
He Li’s face paled. Right! Even if I kill him now, that’s only a part of his soul! The unmatched emperor will remain. I’ll definitely be killed afterward… As such, he couldn't help but turn around and walk toward Zu An with his blade.
Zu An was speechless. “You won’t believe me if I call you a moron, but this entire dungeon is isolated… As long as you kill him before this dungeon opens back up, the emperor outside won’t know a thing about what happened inside!”
He Li was stunned. So that was the case… His understanding toward the soul wasn’t too profound. If not because of Mi Li’s reminder, Zu An similarly wouldn’t have known about that.
Zhao Ruizhi’s expression changed. He hadn’t expected Zu An to know about that. Looks like this kid planned to kill me from the start.
Zhao Ruizhi was just about to say something again when He Li roared, “All of you, shut the hell up! My head hurts like hell! Stop arguing; isn’t this problem easily solved if I just kill all of you?”