“Void Breaking Slash!”

Waves of qi completely constricted Long Chen. That sword seemed completely unstoppable.

That was Marquis Ying’s most powerful sword technique. Long Chen knew that it was definitely also an Earth class Battle Skill, and it was even more powerful than the one he had used before. Its powerful aura completely locked him in place.

Facing death, Long Chen’s mind was completely calm. He entered a strange state at this moment. He seemed to have grasped everything within heaven and earth. Ten thousand laws and Daos, every single creature and object, everything was clearly captured within his mind right now.

He felt as if he had already escaped from his body and was looking on as an observer.

What Long Chen didn’t know was that at this time, his FengFu Star had become completely static as if it was waiting for some kind of enlightenment. It was a shame that Long Chen hadn’t noticed.

Spiritual qi rushed towards his twelve cyclones. They explosively grew and cord-like energy surged through Long Chen’s meridians to enter the broadsword in his hands.

“Split the Heavens!”

Strange lines appeared over the broadsword, and it seemed to come alive. It cut through a mysterious arc, imposing just like an overpowering dragon. This was Long Chen’s strongest attack.

BOOM!! Waves of qi exploded outwards. Both of them were sent flying back, blood filling the sky.

Long Chen’s broadsword was sent flying out of his hands for hundreds of meters, only stopping once it sunk deep into a boulder.

Vomiting out blood, Long Chen felt that his whole body was about to collapse and his aura plummeted.

A dozen cuts appeared on his body which were bleeding heavily. But what was worse was that all the meridians in his body had become covered in cracks, just a bit away from completely breaking apart.

And this was after Long Chen had gained the experience of using Split the Heavens last time. So when he had used it this time, he had used his entire body’s meridians in order to blunt the explosive force that came from it.

But because he had used even greater force that last time, he was really just the slightest bit away from becoming a completely crippled person.

It was possible to regrow a small portion of destroyed meridians. That was because you could follow the ‘memories’ of the meridians before it. But if all the meridians in the body were destroyed, then even with a Pill God’s memories, Long Chen would be completely powerless to fix it.

The current him was now unable to use even the slightest trace of spiritual qi. His cracked meridians were unable to bear any force at the moment.

On the other side, Marquis Ying’s condition was not that much better than Long Chen’s. The sword in his hand had shattered explosively, its fragments cutting into both of them.

If it was just external wounds, then Marquis Ying would still be able to use his powerful cultivation base to suppress them. But having used his most powerful attack just now, he had lost control of the extremely toxic poison inside him. A trace of that corrosive poison had entered his heart just now.

However, just that slight trace caused his heart to show signs of withering. That completely terrified Marquis Ying, and he hastily used his spiritual qi to defend against the poison’s invasion.

Long Chen took a deep breath and stood up. Going over to his broadsword, he pulled it out of the rock, and slowly began to walk over to Marquis Ying.

He could see a bit of blackness on Marquis Ying’s forehead. That was one of the signs that the poison had reached his heart. It also meant that Marquis Ying was like him and couldn’t use his spiritual qi.

Now he could use his powerful physical body to go kill Marquis Ying.

Long Chen wanted to rush over and split him in two, but his body was unbearably weak. Blood was flowing from the dozen wounds caused by Marquis Ying’s shattered sword. If it weren’t for his powerful physical body, he would have already run out of blood. But even so, bursts of dizziness caused him to feel as if he might faint at any time.

However, he couldn’t fall just yet. Even though he was already out of energy, his eyes were still calm without the slightest trace of emotion as he slowly walked towards Marquis Ying.

“Ying Zhao, now the one who will die is you.”

Long Chen raised his sword and slashed down at Marquis Ying.

Marquis Ying was worried to see that Long Chen still had the strength to come attack him. He hastily rolled to the side. When the broadsword slashed right past his cheeks, it was so close that he could feel the icy coldness coming from it.

“Damn, he actually still has so much strength!”

Marquis Ying’s expression finally changed. That was the first time he had felt fear from an insignificant Qi Condensation ant. He was especially afraid of Long Chen’s completely calm eyes.

Long Chen was just like a deep well. He only revealed the slightest bit on the surface, but as for how deep he was, no one knew.

Marquis Ying could sense the steady killing intent overflowing from him. Now he was at an absolute disadvantage. Without his spiritual qi, he was not a match for Long Chen’s physical body.

“Just treat it as you being lucky today!” Marquis Ying coldly sneered and actually turned to flee.

“You want to run? Leave behind your life first!” Long Chen shouted and charged forward in chase.

However, the broadsword in his hand was too heavy and he was actually unable to catch up. In just a few short moments, he lost Marquis Ying’s tail.

Seeing Marquis Ying disappear, the anger on Long Chen’s face faded to be replaced by relief. He suddenly felt the world spinning around him, and his vision blackened as he lost consciousness.

…

Marquis Ying was celebrating that Long Chen was unable to catch up to him. Long Chen’s physical body might be powerful, but his attacking strength resided with that broadsword.

Now that broadsword had become a burden and caused him to be unable to catch up to him, letting Marquis Ying relax. He didn’t know that Long Chen was actually completely spent; he had just used up the last of his energy to put on an act to scare him off.

In the end, Marquis Ying really was duped. After fleeing madly for a while, Marquis Ying suddenly felt his heart begin to violently beat. He realized his own spiritual qi was starting to run out and was unable to suppress the poison.

He hastily took out a couple of medicinal pills and swallowed them. The Snow Toad Yaowan’s medicinal energy was already starting to decline. But it had only countered an incredibly small portion of Long Chen’s poison.

He would definitely still die if he didn’t promptly neutralize it. Now Marquis Ying could no longer even bother to think about Long Chen. His own life was more important.

Over two hundred miles were traversed by him in just a day. He finally left the forest and arrived at a camp. Marquis Ying let out a breath of relief when he saw the camp.

When the patrolling guards saw Marquis Ying covered in blood and on his last legs, they were all scared stupid. Was that really the Marquis Ying who was practically like a god to them?

Marquis Ying grabbed one of those guards who appeared to be a squad leader and hastily spat out, “Split up your troops and sweep the entire forest. When you see him, you must kill him. Bring me… back to the capital…”

After saying that, Marquis Ying was unable to continue and fainted. That squad only then reacted, quickly carrying away Marquis Ying and sending a report to the higher-ups.

…

Returning back to the third day after Long Chen had killed Xia Changfeng. The fourth prince held a secret report and a light smile appeared on his face.

“Long Chen, you really didn’t disappoint me.”

Lightly putting down the report, he raised a cup of tea from the table and calmly drank a sip. Suddenly, his door was opened and a white-robed man walked in.

Seeing that white-robed man, the fourth prince smiled slightly. “I’ve already prepared some tea for you. But you came a bit later than I expected so it might not be perfect. Please, have some first and don’t take offense.”

That white-robed man’s eyes had been icy cold and filled with killing intent, but because of the fourth prince’s words, he became somewhat startled.

“You know who I am?” he icily asked.

“I know a bit.”

“Then do you know why I’ve come here?”

“To kill me,” replied the fourth prince lightly. Those words which would cause a person’s heart to jump in fear were actually said with extreme calmness.

“If you know I came here to kill you, why are you so calm?” The white-robed man’s eyes narrowed.

“Because I know you can’t kill me.”

“Haha, if I wanted to kill you, even all the people in the capital added together would be unable to stop me,” laughed the white-robed man coldly.

“It’s not a question of being able to block you. That’s because I don’t need to block you; I know you won’t kill me.” The fourth prince was completely certain.

“Oh? Well, I’d like to hear a bit more about that.” Apparently, the white-robed man had become a bit interested in what the fourth prince had to say.

“For one thing, I bet that Xia Changfeng wasn’t the most cooperative partner. He was an imbecile, and so he had to die.”

“... Continue.”

“Now you have a better partner, someone who can serve you much better, someone who can complete twice the work with half the effort.”

“You mean yourself?

“Correct.”

“And your proof of that?”

“The proof is that I have an overall comprehension of your guys’ plans. I know how you can win without the slightest bit of bloodshed.” The fourth prince was completely sure of himself.

Seeing that the white-robed man didn’t say anything, the fourth prince continued, “You’ve been setting your plan in motion for over twenty years. Ever since the beginning when you sent my mother to marry the Phoenix Cry Emperor, you’ve done everything extremely carefully. Your goal was to not attract too much movement.

“You used me and my mother to succeed in controlling the entire Phoenix Cry Empire. The Emperor is already dead and the Empress Dowager is under my mother’s control.

“The people who know this secret are all our people, with the exception of Long Tianxiao. So the only person that we need to worry about is Long Tianxiao.

“But Long Tianxiao has refused to surrender to us even after all these years. He seems to have also sensed some clues that raised his guard. He has always refused to return to the capital.

“So right now, Long Tianxiao is the greatest obstacle in your plans. Am I correct?”

The white-robed man frowned. “Everything you said is useless. You might as well have not said anything.”

The fourth prince smiled slightly. “What if I said that I could resolve the problem of Long Tianxiao? Would that still be useless?”

“You can do that?”

“I’ve never done anything I wasn’t sure of. I was born in Phoenix Cry, destined to be a chess piece. I’ve already endured the lifestyle of underhanded schemes that cannot see the light of day. So, I want to cooperate with you. I’ll help you handle Long Tianxiao, and you help me become the Emperor.” The fourth prince’s breathing became a bit heavy at this point. Obviously, this was an extremely tense moment.

Although he was also a prince, he had really been born into this world with a mission to be a spy. He would forever be like a ghost, never allowed to see the true light.

He had been suppressed for too long. He needed to be set free. When he had seen Xia Changfeng abusing his power arrogantly like an idiot, he had decided that he would kill that bastard and make himself the white-robed man’s partner.

The white-robed man looked at the fourth prince. “What’s your bargaining chip?”

The fourth prince celebrated inside when he saw that the white-robed man hadn’t declined. Full of confidence, he handed something over to him.

Seeing that thing, the white-robed man was shocked.