Li Ban followed a sweating Wang Lin deep inside, crossing the courtyard to enter the main spire of the Myriad Ancient Pagoda for the very first time.
Pagoda Master Wan's beloved pet, the Black-Winged Qiongqi, was still absent.
It had been missing for quite some time, and no one knew what had happened to it.
But without the Black-Winged Qiongqi, wouldn't Pagoda Master Wan be down a major source of combat power?
"Hurry up! What are you dawdling for?"
A harsh scolding rang out from behind. It wasn't directed at Li Ban, but at Zhou Gu, who was bringing up the rear as he escorted the prisoner, Lin Han.
Li Ban glanced back. Zhou Gu's pale face was similarly beaded with fine sweat.
The oppressive atmosphere surrounding them seemed to have made him realize that something was wrong.
But at this point, none of them had any way to back out.
As they made their way down the corridor, several figures emerged from a room to the side.
The most prominent among them was a middle-aged man wearing a golden crown.
That had to be the First Prince, Li Yuan.
A prince who also held a Seventh Tier identity.
With his back turned, his features were obscured from Li Ban's view.
Another man, tall and sporting a thick beard, nodded in greeting to Du An, who stood in front of Li Ban.
This was the master of the Myriad Ancient Pagoda, someone Li Ban had seen once before at the River of Forgetfulness.
Soon, however, Li Ban's gaze shifted to another, less conspicuous man.
Afraid of drawing attention, Li Ban only took a quick glance before lowering his head like the rest to minimize his presence.
But judging by his features, his bearing, and especially the white clay ocarina hanging at his waist, that gray-robed man with the goatee was undoubtedly Zhai Liu's target—Bai Yuechan.
This was Li Ban's first time seeing him in person, but Zhai Liu had drawn a portrait of Bai Yuechan for him back in the Death Prison so he could recognize the man.
Zhai Liu certainly lived up to his status as a prince; his portrait had been incredibly lifelike.
He evidently hadn't neglected a gentleman's Six Arts in his youth, though as an adult, those arts had clearly been put to entirely different uses.
Du An pushed through the crowd and approached Wan Chengming. He nodded to the pagoda master first, then turned and bowed to Li Yuan.
"Your Highness, this humble official has brought the prisoner, Lin Han."
Li Yuan left Du An hanging. He let the official hold his bow, acting as if he hadn't heard a word as he continued to stare out the window.
Wan Chengming disliked people who dawdled. After four or five breaths of silence, he spoke up to prompt him.
"Wasn't Your Highness in a rush to interrogate the prisoner, Lin Han? Why the sudden lack of urgency now that he's here?"
Wan Chengming shot a glance out the window as well. "Is the scenery of the River of Forgetfulness that captivating? If you keep looking, the sun is going to set."
Li Yuan finally turned around.
With a faint, mocking smile, his gaze swept across Du An and Wan Chengming. "Wan Chengming. Du An. Do you know your crimes?"
Along with Li Yuan's harsh reprimand, a sudden, powerful gale howled through the window behind him, blasting into the corridor and sweeping over the crowd.
The wind flattened their faces and sent everyone's hair and robes whipping wildly backward.
The gale then split into two streams down the corridor, howling away toward the upper and lower floors.
Struggling to keep his eyes open in the squall, Li Ban saw the First Prince standing calmly at the wind's source. He was utterly unfazed, as if the wind pressure itself were carefully avoiding him.
Noticing that many of the second- and 3rd-Tier spirit practitioners around him were swaying back and forth in the wind, Li Ban quickly mimicked them, acting as though he were struggling to maintain his footing in the gale.
Fortunately, the fierce wind gradually died down.
Everyone's hair and clothes had been blown into a mess, yet not a single person dared to reach out and tidy themselves.
Du An, however, slowly straightened his posture after the wind stopped, no longer waiting for Li Yuan to grant him permission to rise.
It was a silent declaration of his attitude and stance.
Wan Chengming stared at Li Yuan. "Is Your Highness trying to convict us before even interrogating the prisoner? Forgive my disrespect, but even if I really did kill Lu Weizhong, you have no authority to judge me!"
The two sides had entered a complete standoff.
Li Yuan was aggressive and overbearing.
Wan Chengming refused to yield a single inch.
Li Ban watched the exchange with cold detachment, keeping half his attention firmly fixed on Bai Yuechan.
Bai Yuechan had distanced himself slightly from Li Yuan and Wan Chengming. Under the close protection of three guards, he stood at the back of the crowd, closer to the stairs leading up to the seventh floor.
The seventh floor—that was where the Core Element was located.
Li Ban's eyes flashed, and he lowered his head, waiting quietly to see what would happen.
Li Yuan claimed to be interrogating Lin Han, but it seemed to be a mere excuse to drag Du An to the Myriad Ancient Pagoda as well.
And the hundreds of soldiers surrounding the exterior of the Myriad Ancient Pagoda formed a prison of flesh, trapping everyone inside.
Now that all the key players were gathered, it was time for the First Prince to reveal his true objective.
"Perhaps a murder case falls outside my jurisdiction," Li Yuan said, looking at the two men who had stood unwavering in the gale. His voice was low and icy, entirely devoid of his earlier irritation. "But what about secretly using massive amounts of corpses to illegally mutate elements? Tell me, do I have the authority to manage that?"
Boom!
Li Ban felt the ambient temperature instantly plunge by seven or eight degrees.
He rubbed the goosebumps on his forearms, glancing up at the backs of Wan Chengming and Du An.
For a split second, both of their silhouettes went completely stiff.
What's going on? A thread of unease coiled inside Li Ban. What does mutating elements mean? It sounds like a severe crime. Compared to that, Lu Weizhong's murder seems trivial. Has the First Prince really grabbed hold of a fatal weakness against Lord Du and the others?
Li Ban wasn't the only one caught off guard; everyone present was utterly bewildered and shocked upon hearing the term 'mutated elements'.
Those who, like Li Ban, had never heard the term before wore expressions of complete blankness.
Meanwhile, those who had a general idea of what it meant—such as Bai Yuechan and the few men around him—wore extremely grave expressions.
Gao Jingyan, standing near Bai Yuechan, was especially affected. His jaw dropped, and as he stared at Wan Chengming, a trace of dread mingled with the shock in his eyes.
Li Ban glanced back at Zhou Gu, his eyes casually sweeping past the prisoner in front of him, "Lin Han."
Zhai Liu was still professionally playing the role of a madman, showing absolutely zero reaction to the words 'mutated elements'.
Zhou Gu, on the other hand, just looked lost.
Evidently, just like Li Ban, he had never heard the term either.
Highly satisfied with the effect his two sentences had produced, Li Yuan sneered. "The Myriad Ancient Pagoda is indeed outside the Imperial Court's jurisdiction. However, anyone who secretly mutates elements is an enemy of the world. Everyone has the right to execute them!"
Ignoring Du An, he took a step forward and stopped right in front of Wan Chengming.
Though slightly shorter than Wan Chengming, the prince's aura completely overpowered the pagoda master's in that moment.
"Pagoda Master Wan, you were born a slave, which makes your origins rather lowly. But to reach the 6th Tier, you must surely know the consequences of recklessly mutating elements! Or could it be... you intend to recreate the Nihility State?"
Seeing Wan Chengming and Du An standing there stiff and speechless, the sinister smile on Li Yuan's face deepened.
"Men!" he roared. "Seize these two!"
"Search the seventh floor of the Myriad Ancient Pagoda! Kill anyone who dares to interfere!"
"Kill anyone who tries to flee in guilt!"
The soldiers instantly drew their blades. In response, the men of the Myriad Ancient Pagoda all readied their own weapons.
These men were not the Imperial Court's troops. Every single day, they dealt with corpses and mutilated remains, and almost every one of them had spilled blood before. They were not the type to surrender easily.
Furthermore, after Wan Chengming's purges, the vast majority of the people currently in the Myriad Ancient Pagoda were completely loyal to him.
Gao Jingyan's influence had long been suppressed.
Because of this, as the armed standoff began, Wan Chengming laughed instead of getting angry. "Li Yuan, do you think you can convict me with a few empty words? My life isn't that cheap!"
At that moment, Gao Jingyan, who was standing beside Li Yuan, suddenly stepped forward.
"Pagoda Master, this is the last time I will call you that." Standing next to a Seventh Tier prince, the formerly suppressed vice-pagoda master now had plenty of confidence.
"I've already discovered your method of harvesting a few intact corpses to piece together even more bodies. I even pulled one of your stitched-together corpses out of the pollution pool early—that is your damning evidence!"
"And to prevent me from noticing any clues, you hid the crucial tools used for mutating the corpses inside the Death Prison morgue! His Highness has already verified all of this! Right now, his personal guards have stormed the morgue and secured the evidence of your and Du An's crimes!"
Wan Chengming glared at Gao Jingyan. "You are a man of the Myriad Ancient Pagoda. You should know the rules of this pagoda."
"Of course I know them. But no matter how strict the rules are, they have to be set aside for now. I can't just stand by and watch you destroy the Myriad Ancient Pagoda!" Gao Jingyan didn't show an ounce of guilt.
It was indeed highly inappropriate for him to leak the pagoda's internal affairs to an outsider. However, once Wan Chengming fell, Li Yuan would recommend him as the new pagoda master. When that happened, who would dare lecture him about rules?
Wan Chengming looked at Gao Jingyan and sneered. "The dog sure barks loud when its master arrives. But you'd better be careful following this master of yours. To stand here today, he even murdered his own teacher!"
A vein throbbed on Li Yuan's forehead, looking absolutely furious. "Wan Chengming, the evidence against you is clear! What else are you trying to argue?"
Li Ban saw things clearly. He knew that the truth always cut deeper than a lie.
Wan Chengming had struck a sore spot. Li Yuan was using offense as a defense, deliberately ignoring the pagoda master's accusation.
Wan Chengming also knew that Lu Weizhong's fate wasn't the main issue. He just coldly snorted. "It's just a few corpses, and the Fanggu Pagoda lacks anything but corpses. Anything I can do, Gao Jingyan can do as well. Has Your Highness conspired with Gao Jingyan from the very beginning to frame me?"
Li Yuan had tried several times to pin the crimes onto Wan Chengming, but to no avail.
Without a solid justification, unilaterally leading troops to lay siege to the Myriad Ancient Pagoda would indeed make it very difficult to answer to his royal father and the Wizard Lord later.
Gao Jingyan practically jumped in agitation, pointing toward the staircase leading to the seventh floor. "Your Highness, the elements Wan Chengming mutated are hidden right inside his room! I can guarantee it—my trusted aide once discovered terrifying mists there, suspected to be from the Nihility State!"
The seventh floor!
The seventh floor!
To think that the focal point of all these conflicts would converge on the seventh floor of the Myriad Ancient Pagoda!
Li Ban covertly glanced toward the staircase leading up.
The Laboratory's target, the Core Element, was also on the seventh floor!
Could it be that the First Prince's group was after the Core Element as well?
Did the Laboratory Director and the others know about this?
If three different factions were all vying for the Core Element, was the Laboratory confident they could secure it?
Just as Li Ban raised his eyes, Li Yuan bellowed a command: "Storm the seventh floor! Search it from top to bottom! Whoever secures the Mutated Element will be rewarded with the highest merit!"
Surprisingly, the very first person to charge toward the seventh floor was Bai Yuechan, the man whom the First Prince had specifically assigned guards to protect.
The three guards tailing him had no choice but to stay close and protect him, plunging straight into a brawl with Jiang Yue and the others guarding the staircase entrance.
Hearing Li Yuan's decree, Wan Chengming narrowed his eyes.
Arguing was utterly pointless now. Li Yuan's true objective was the secret hidden on the seventh floor.
In that case...
"Do it!" Wan Chengming waved his hand.
Only the final victor would earn the right to dictate the truth.
Within the Myriad Ancient Pagoda, several of the pagoda masters suddenly raised their swords and charged at Li Yuan's guards and handmaids.
At that exact moment, a dark shadow slipped silently through the corridor window. Reaching out with razor-sharp claws, it slashed viciously toward the First Prince, whose back was turned.
Hiding by the wall and observing the flow of events, Li Ban spotted the ambushing figure almost immediately.
He was absolutely stunned.
The assassin who had suddenly appeared was none other than the Cat Girl!
With her fingers curled into claws, the Cat Girl moved with blinding speed. Yet, despite being a grown adult, whether she was leaping into the air or swinging her arms, she didn't make a single sound.
Li Ban was certain that this was the power of the Cat Girl's element.
Although the Cat Girl was a Gold Badge assassin from the Assassin Hall, she had only been deliberately released after agreeing to Zhai Liu's demands.
Did Zhai Liu also order her to assassinate Li Yuan?
The Cat Girl's strike was abrupt and perfectly silent, yet Li Yuan, standing with his back to her, still sensed the subtle shifting of the wind.
He tilted his head, exposing a length of his neck as if waiting for the Cat Girl's five claws to plunge right in.
But in the instant he looked back, the airflow surrounding the Cat Girl suddenly churned violently.
It felt as if invisible hands had grabbed her waist and legs, attempting to twist her like a braided rope!
And then, the Cat Girl's body was actually twisted into a spiral by the wind.
Oddly enough, even though she had been contorted so violently, her flesh and bones did not shatter under the strain.
In fact, she even used the momentum of her body to unwind the twisting force, tearing through the wind resistance to continue closing in on Li Yuan.
Just as the Cat Girl was about to strike Li Yuan's back, a handmaid who had been standing behind the prince with almost zero presence suddenly dashed forward.
The moment she lunged out, her hands and feet turned a brilliant gold, as if they had been painted with a layer of metallic lacquer.
She thrust her hand out, blocking Li Yuan's back. The Cat Girl's claws struck the handmaid's palm, but they only left behind a series of metallic clinking sounds.
With one hand blocked, the Cat Girl twisted her waist and used her momentum to bring her other hand slashing down toward the back of Li Yuan's head.
By now, Li Yuan had fully reacted. He brought his arm around to guard the back of his head, and at the exact moment the Cat Girl's claws made contact with him—their positions suddenly swapped!
The change was incredibly abrupt; he must have used some kind of formidable ability!
The Cat Girl froze for a split second as her perspective shifted. Meanwhile, Li Yuan, now holding the back of the Cat Girl's head with one hand, violently squeezed, attempting to crush her skull.
But just as murderous intent surged in his eyes, a sharp, piercing pain suddenly lanced through Li Yuan's brain.
His outstretched hand went completely stiff, as if he had been electrocuted, leaving him momentarily unable to exert any force.
Granted a brief moment of respite, the Cat Girl immediately bent at the waist, ducking her head and slamming her hips backward.
Her tail hooked around Li Yuan's waist. As the handmaid flipped her palm and chopped downward, the Cat Girl used the leverage to swing her body away, evading the lethal blow.
The handmaid glanced at Li Yuan, unsure of why he had suddenly stopped. She had no choice but to press the attack, engaging the Cat Girl in a fierce melee.
One was perfectly supple, the other hard as steel. In the blink of an eye, the two exchanged several blows.
The Cat Girl's assassination attempt had occurred in a flash; most of the people present hadn't even had time to react.
By the time Li Yuan recovered from his momentary paralysis, he didn't bother paying attention to the Cat Girl, who was already tangled up with his handmaid. Instead, he charged straight at Wan Chengming.
"Assassinating a prince! Wan Chengming, are you trying to rebel?"
Originally, the high-tier spirit practitioners from both sides hadn't made their moves yet. But after the Cat Girl's assassination attempt, the conflict escalated into a battle to the death. Although Li Yuan hadn't brought many men into the main spire of the Myriad Ancient Pagoda, every single one of them was an elite warrior of high rank.
In contrast, while the Myriad Ancient Pagoda had the numbers advantage, most of their personnel were only second- or 3rd-Tier corpse refiner generals and corpse collectors. When it came to pure combat, they were no match for Li Yuan's elites.
Coupled with their lingering apprehensions about Li Yuan's royal status, they hesitated to strike with killing intent right from the start.
Thus, in almost a single clash, the disparity in strength between the two sides became blatantly clear.
At this point, some of the pagoda masters who had been watching from the sidelines were caught in the crossfire and had no choice but to fight back.
Outside the spire, the personal guards stationed around the perimeter received the combat signal and immediately began battering down the doors.
Simultaneously, they locked down the exits to prevent anyone from escaping to deliver a message.
Li Yuan's goal was crystal clear.
He was going to force the Myriad Ancient Pagoda to change masters tonight, long before the outside world could even react!
With the battle officially underway, Li Yuan raised his palm and pushed it forward. A spear made of pure ice instantly shot out from the center of his hand.
Wan Chengming's expression turned grave.
He knew that the First Prince, Li Yuan, was not some fragile royal who had spent his life pampered in luxury. This was a man who had actually fought on the battlefield and trained soldiers.
Moreover, his status as a Seventh Tier spirit practitioner alone was enough to make everyone present feel intensely threatened.
Not to mention the terrifying spatial-swapping ability he had just demonstrated.
Facing the icy spear, Wan Chengming didn't dare act arrogantly by using his bare hands. He lifted his leg and tapped the shaft of the weapon, kicking the spear off course before instantly pulling his leg back.
Even so, a thin layer of frost had already frozen over the tip of his shoe.
By this time, Li Yuan had already grabbed the hilt of his spear again, thrusting toward Wan Chengming once more.
Normally, a long spear would be extremely difficult to wield in such close quarters, but the icy spear in Li Yuan's hands could expand and contract at will, making it as nimble as a phantom.
Seeing this, Wan Chengming knew that the vast majority of the people present wouldn't even be able to withstand a single blow from such an icy spear; just touching it would be a death sentence.
Thus, he no longer held back. Seizing a moment between dodges, he fiercely slapped his own forehead.
His face and arms violently swelled in size, sprouting a thick coat of coarse, black hair.
It wasn't just his size and the hair; his entire physical structure warped.
He transformed into something resembling a massive black tiger, with only his chest, abdomen, and legs retaining a human shape.
Already a tall man, this transformation made him look incredibly fearsome and imposing.
And this transformation didn't just alter his appearance.
Wan Chengming, who previously hadn't dared to touch the icy spear, now swung his fists directly at Li Yuan, his tiger-style strikes generating powerful gusts of wind.
Although the points of contact still froze over whenever his fists met Li Yuan's spear, Wan Chengming merely had to slam his fists together in front of his chest to instantly shatter the ice.
The two of them became locked in a frantic melee, and for a time, no one else could even intervene.
As for Du An, he didn't attack immediately. Instead, he retreated straight to the corner and pressed his back against the wall, seemingly unwilling to make enemies out of the First Prince's men.
To outsiders, he was an official from the Ministry of Justice, after all; his identity was rather sensitive.
However, there was someone who couldn't stand Du An's passive attitude and marched right up to confront him.
This person's status was also rather awkward.
He belonged to the Myriad Ancient Pagoda but had planted himself firmly in the First Prince's camp—it was Gao Jingyan, the man waiting to be promoted from vice-pagoda master to the pagoda master.
From a blind spot, a slender, black whip lashed out at Du An.
But Du An was also a master of the whip. With a slight lift of his hand, a silver blade flew from his fingertips, accurately striking the tip of the ambushing whip.
With a sharp clang, the whip suffered absolutely no damage. Instead, the silver blade was knocked away, ricocheting back into Du An's body.
"Lord Du is still using that flashy but useless 'Skinning'?" Gao Jingyan sneered.
Without any visible movement from his hand, the whip—which had just been deflected—suddenly came alive, snapping straight for Du An's neck.
Du An stopped using the silver blades and raised a hand, drawing his own long whip. He knew that while the Creation element 'Skinning' was agile and razor-sharp, it also had a fatal flaw: it lacked raw toughness.
It easily crushed those of lower tiers, but against the 5th Tier elemental whip in Gao Jingyan's hands, its lethality fell short.
Furthermore, with so many people clustered together in a chaotic brawl, he couldn't unleash a massive flurry of 'Skinning' without risking friendly fire.
This drastically restricted both his attack range and his methods.
Li Yuan and Gao Jingyan really had racked their brains to set the stage for this battle!