She'd discovered that her husband had been keeping in touch with the Black Dragon Order during the past several days.
She'd been unable to confirm it at first.
That was, until the one who'd captured her had easily killed all of the other court ladies around her.
The man nonetheless had treated her with courtesy and respect.
She'd wondered why anyone from the order would be so polite to her.
Anyone with any brains at all would have known that something was amiss.
"Well, if it hadn't been for your father trying to catch me and use me to threaten my family, I wouldn't have had to expose myself and caught you to threaten your father instead."
"Threaten me all you want. You're still not going to be able to leave the city."
Ruirui took a long, deep breath.
She had been completely caught off-guard.
The man behind the syndicate who had been working against her father all this while was actually this man in front of her.
The seventh son of Clan Zhao certainly knew how to hide his dealings very well.
"That's where you're wrong. Taking you away from the capital city wouldn't have been difficult."
"Oh, you're too confident in yourself."
Ruirui put the guqin she was holding down.
"That is because you have no idea of the power I command. I'm afraid not even your father knows how powerful I am."
He wore a smirk on his face.
Hmph~ "It's only going to be a matter of time before my father exposes you. The peak of the Higher Heaven Realm...no, I guess you've now gotten to tier one of the Spirit Manipulation Realm," Ruirui added.
The man was the leader of the Black Dragon Order and had access to massive training resources. He was a genius in his own right as well.
It was only natural for his powers to exceed her expectations.
"Hee, hee, hee, your speculations are on point. It's a pity that your father knows so little about the Black Dragon Order."
He was unsurprised by Ruirui's intelligence.
If the emperor were to have no tricks up his sleeves, the regime would have collapsed long ago.
Furthermore, there were indeed a great many warriors in the royal palace.
He waved, gesturing for two warriors to take her away.
Ruirui picked up her instrument and began playing.
Ding~ Ding~ Thung~
The sound of the guqin could be heard all of a sudden.
A killing intent shrouded the entire brothel right away.
Anyone within earshot would be mesmerized,,,enthralled by the sound of the guqin.
"You…"
The seventh son glowered at Ruirui while suppressing his anger.
A warrior appeared in the brothel and subdued her.
The seventh son's face looked happy and surprised at that moment.
It was fortunate that he had put countermeasures in place.
He could have been captured otherwise.
He turned around to look at Liu Rui with his eyes filled with disbelief.
According to his intelligence, Liu Rui had never gotten the chance to learn martial arts.
He had also never heard that Liu Rui had any powers at all.
"I never knew that even a princess could be so formidable. Good thing I had countermeasures put in place."
"Too bad I didn't get to practice the Eight Notes of the Celestial Dragon for long enough. We wouldn't have known who the victor would have been today otherwise," Liu Rui said with spitting resentment.
"It's no use. By the time you learn how fearsome the Black Dragon Order is, you will know just how weak your powers are and how futile it would be to hone those powers."
The seventh son waved, and several warriors took Liu Rui away.
Five out of the scores of inner-circle disciples who had come to assassinate their targets at the front lines of the Tianlong River that night were buried alive by the explosives that Liu An had laid down beforehand.
The remaining inner-circle disciples had charged into the ranks of the royal army.
They searched for the whole night and were still unable to find the Fourth Prince, but had instead fallen into one trap after another. Only three managed to leave and even they had grievous injuries.
...
At a massive river more than 3,500 miles north of Mount Yan...
Two middle-aged men stood on the water.
Both of them were covered in blood, with the drops falling into the river underneath their feet.
The water would be stained red for brief moments, before the current washed it away.
Both of them were in tatters by then.
The tattered strips of clothing on their bodies billowed in the wind above the river.
They looked like sages of sorts.
"That is quite a decent set of sword techniques you have got there. It's a pity that you haven't got enough combat experience, or I would've already died by your hand," the sect master smirked and commented.
The blood on his mouth could be clearly seen.
"You're not half-bad with a sword yourself. Thank you for what you've done for the past few days. My swordplay wouldn't have grown so much otherwise," Li Mu licked his dry lips and continued taunting him.
"Ha, ha, ha, you won't be able to kill me. Someone will discover this fight between us, and eventually the Xuan Sect will send someone to help me. You will only end up dead."
"You're within an inch of your life now, and yet you're still in a mood for threats."
"You and I both are at the end of our strength. It'll do little good for us to keep fighting."
"I don't think so," Li Mu smirked and said.
He then mumbled to himself, "Check in."
"Congratulations to the host for successfully checking in at the Luoshen River. 200 years of powers rewarded."
Li Mu's worn body was immediately invigorated after taking in 200 years of powers.
He had been checking in while he'd been fighting throughout the past several days.
Most of the check-ins had been useless.
He'd never thought that checking in at a river would come with such a massive boon.
"Die already!"
At the very instant he'd acquired his powers, he attacked the sect master with a flurry of moves.
"You…you actually…"
Clang~
Pfftt~
The sect master, who had been severely injured, took several more slashes to his body.
It took only a few more moments for the sect master to falter, and Li Mu took his head with a single slash.
"The old man sure is powerful."
He panted and wobbled over to the dead body of the sect master, looting whatever was on the dead body.
He then found himself a huge rock by the river that he could lie down on as he slowly recovered his powers.
Given that he was able to check in at that river, he was thinking of checking in there one more time.
...
Back in Shouning Palace...
Concubine Jing climbed up to the roof on a ladder.
"My lady, please come down!"
"I'll just have one more look. I wonder if Xiaolizi has found Liu An yet."
This was what had happened.
The only reason Li Mu had been given passage outside was because he'd had to deliver food to the Fourth Prince at the front lines.
Of course, he was also tasked to deliver word to Liu Yu from his mother, Concubine Jing, as well.
"My lady, relax. Eunuch Li will be fine."
"He has been gone for days."
...
Back at the Hall of Soul Flickers...
Poof~
A soul flicker lamp in the front row was extinguished.
Zhao Wu, who had been cleaning the hall, was dumbfounded as he stared at the lamp.
That seems to be the sect master's soul flicker!
How could the sect master's soul flicker have been extinguished?
It must have been the wind.
The hall was built at the peak of a mountain, and the lamp is in the first row.
That's definitely it.
Zhao Wu tried to light that lamp again.
He tried several times and failed.
What should I do?
Zhao Wu was about to cry out of desperation.
He eventually had no choice but to run to Tianshu Hall and look for an elder to see what could be done.
Elder Tianshu came and saw what had happened. He soon was just as dumbfounded.
"The sect master has passed away? What happened out there?"
...
Li Mu checked in at that river again the next day.
He was rewarded with 50 years more of powers.
His powers were pushed to the fullest of tier two of the Perfected Person Realm, being only a step away from reaching tier three.
The greatest reward from that battle was having his sword techniques honed.
"Luoshen River. This seems to be a good place where I should check in often in the future."
His powers had fully recovered.
He headed straight for the Tianlong River.
...
Among the disciples of the Xuan Sect at the Tianlong River...
Everyone was furious after the ambush last night had failed.
"We don't even know what the Fourth Prince looks like. He could just keep hiding in that army of hundreds of thousands, and we wouldn't be able to find him even if we were to kill everyone there," one of them threw his sword aside as he commented angrily.
"I say that we just barge our way into the royal palace."
"Aren't there warriors at the royal palace too?"
"Do we have anything to fear? The sect masters and our personal disciple brothers will definitely watch over us. We might actually meet the sect master's expectations by getting into the royal palace."
"He's right. We'll attack the royal palace and kill that wretched emperor. And those princes too!"
The frustrated disciple lost his cool.
...
The royal palace was in chaos that night.
Several princes had been killed.
At the same time, several disciples of the Xuan Sect who had invaded the royal palace had died in battle. The rest who had managed to escape had returned to their ranks with injuries.
The emperor in the palace was utterly furious.
If it hadn't been for Great Friend Yu, he would have probably have died as well.
Unfortunately, Great Friend Yu was the only one at the peak of the Spirit Manipulation Realm left in the royal palace.
The other one had perished in battle.
The ones in the royal palace who had survived this ordeal all felt lucky that the warriors were actually on high alert.
"Wasn't the royal palace supposed to be protected by a Saint-level warrior?"
Many in the palace were frustrated.
"I bet he probably ran after hearing that the invaders were from the Xuan Sect."
The inner-circle disciples of the sect had ambushed the royal palace.
The air in the entire place became ice-cold in the absence of that Saint-level warrior.
Many ministers were even rendered silent by this fact.