The emperor's roar reverberate all around the room as be saw his son, the third Prince's, head roll side ways. He is stupefied. He never thought that his nephew dared to kill his own cousin! What a beast!
He never even considered that he also dared to kill his younger sister.
Jin Linkai, although looks aloof, is still a little lost inside. Sure, he and his cousin was never in good terms even before as the prince is always arrogant and narcissistic, but he never envisioned himself killing his own blood relative!
He closes his eyes to calm his insides. He and the gangs had accidentally encountered the empress's carriage hurrying towards the gate when they were on their way to the palace. Why would he knew that it was the empress carriage? Simple, as someone plotting a revenge, he has to know everything about his enemy. The carriage that the empress used, though unadorned, was already known by the pavilion as they often spied against the empress, whenever she is up to no good, she will use the same carriage to avoid suspicion.
Unbeknownst to her, her recklessness in using that carriage will cause her son's demise! What she used is not something that royals and nobles usually rode, so why would the people who witnessed the scene help them? Coupled with the fact that she donned a simple attire and a veil at that moment, what would they get for opposing Sangre Pavilion?
So the empress, who was used to battles before but unfortunately got laid back as she is busy managing the harem, fought together with the folks from the pavilion.
Mu Wanxin is maybe a spoiled young lady from a big family in the central region (in which no one in the empire know except the emperor himself), but due to the fact that she came from a big family, her parents vigorously trained her to protect herself from their scheming relatives and people outside their manor.
Some witnesses who were about to intervene, as their heart soften as they look at the poor female warrior, took a step back as their eyes widened in shock.
They can't believe that almost all of the people that was brought by Sangre Pavilion are green leveled! There are even a few who are just watching the scene and by the looks of it, they must be the higher ups, specially the masked youth who only has his soft plump lips pulled into a deviously seductive smirk.
The people saw that none from both sides had fallen, yet they both sustained heavy injuries. They are even astonished as the lone girl in the opposing side has never even used her cultivation as they can't see any spiritual flunctuations coming from her!
Despite from having only ten shadow guards in her group, they still managed to fight equally with 50 men!
Jin Linkai is puzzled. He knew very well that the woman is the empress, but why would a spoiled and overly adorned person looks like this plain right now? What makes him got puzzled more is the fact that the empress is not a fool to do something bad in broad daylight! So, why would she use that carriage?
Jin Linkai ordered Ah Lu, one of Di Xueyan's trusted aid, to check the carriage. Ah Lu used his qigong to fly over the door of the carriage and was stunned as the first thing he saw is the third prince's sleeping face. Contemplating that they will have future uses for that sleeping prince, he grabs the prince like a sack and put a bag in his face.
This is the scene that the empress saw, making her fume in rage.
' Her precious son! ', the cold indifference and scoffing in her eyes that she had the whole duration of the fight instantly vanished as she saw her son being carried like a sack.
Ah Lu was about to go when he saw another head poking out of the carriage. He got shocked again as he recognized the crown prince's sleeping face. He got puzzled as to why they are like that but got enlightened when he tries to piece everything together. He smirks inside his head, ' Planning to escape, heh?', he scoffed in his mind as he is about to reach for the other prince but got caught off guard when a blue colored cultivator's flame is rushing in his way, way faster than he can imagine.
A cultivator's flame is something that every cultivator in colored rank has. The flame corresponds the cultivator's cultivation, thus, if the flame is blue, then the cultivator is also in blue level. The deeper the shade, the closer the cultivator to the higher level.
Luckily, Ah Lu is extremely agile and managed to dodge the flame. He can't help but to break in cold sweat as he saw the dark blue colored flame blast almost half of the south town's infrastructure.
The capital city of the empire has 4 towns surrounding the palace, the north, south, east, and west town. The south town has the fastest route from the palace to the city gate.
Every one, including those from Sangre Pavilion were frozen in the ground as they saw a the girl without an ounce of cultivation released that destructive blue flame. Even those who were supposed to help got choked.
' Who needs our useless help? ', they all thought bitterly as their manly pride got burned into ash by a woman.
Jin Linkai narrowed his eyes. He glanced at Ah Lu and signaled him to retreat. The empress was about to chase after him but Jin Linkai immediately blocked her way and fought with her fiercely, expressing all the grievance he had all these years into the fight. The witnesses got stunned again as they saw the masked man's blue aura! Who the hell said that the general and emperor are the most powerful cultivator in the kingdom?
Jin Linkai knew through his thorough investigations all these years that the empress played a huge part in his mother's death. The emperor used to dote in his sister more than the empress, making the empress itched to kill her. She did everything to poison the emperor's mind and provided speculations which slowly made the emperor looks at his sister in a different manner. And in the end, the empress succeeded.
The empress never thought that the manager of a shabby pavilion is her match. But as time went by and their fight got more intense, Mu Wanxin's face already turned darker and darker. She never would have thought that she is not his match at all! The masked man has the intention to kill, he doesn't even holds back.
Mu Wanxin got seriously injured. Never would she thought that this empire has such masters! What she is even wracking her brain is the fact that she is not even familiar to the techniques he used during their fight. As a young miss from a prominent family, she can be considered as knowledgeable. If she was not blinded by her love, base on her talent, she maybe already made a name in the central region. It is a pity that the moment she married the emperor is the moment that she already slowly stopped cultivating as living in a harem is really very stressful and time consuming.
How would she know that Di Xueyan 'reluctantly' taught her people that techniques as they are just too basic for her. She just doesn't have a choice as she knows her subordinates' bodies can't handle a higher leveled ancient fighting techniques, thus she taught them the easiest of the techniques first. Her lips can't even help but twitch when her people almost kissed her feet and roll in the ground while their snots and tears covered their faces due to extreme happiness when she announced it. Never would they imagine that their mistress is scorning that techniques in her head. If they are to know, they will surely vomit their internal organs.
Mu Wanxin is still giving her best to fight against him as she can't afford to lose her son, when she feels a pull behind her. An arm encircled her waist from behind and carried her towards the carriage in a blink.
The empress struggled desperately, trying to escape. She understands their intention.
" No! let me down! My son!", she desperately kicked and punched her shadow guard until two more helped to restrain her and brought her to the carriage.
Jin Linkai is about to give a chase when a hand reaches his shoulder. He turns his head behind him and saw Ah Ming, the deputy manager of the pavilion, shakes his head, his beautiful brown fox eyes and almost feminine feature looks downcast, as it is in a mixture of sympathy and pity.
" Don't forget the reason why we are here", he said solemnly as he watch his friend close his eyes in attempt to control his demon inside.
Jin Linkai breathes in and out, his eyes are closed as he internally promise that he will avenge his mother and he will personally kill that vixen!
He opens his eyes and calmly strides towards the direction of the palace. His robe and hair sways in the wind as he mindlessly heads forward, making his back view looks so lonely.
***
" No, no! No! My son! How dare you! Just how the fuck dare you!", the emperor raors as he glares hatefully in Jin Linkai's smirking face while holding his headless son's corpse. His face is a mixture of deep agony and pain, making him lose his regal and imposing manner. At the moment, the emperor is just beeing a father, grieving over the lost of his precious child.
Sure, the emperor is hungry for power, but he can never bear to hurt even a strand of his children's hair. He can sacrifice all the women in his harem if the situation calls for it, but he will never have the heart to sacrifice his children.
Jin Linkai looks indifferent as he watch the emperor rocking his child while crying out his name over and over again. He never felt any pity, as there was once a time when he was the one rocking her mother's corpse, pleading for her to open her eyes, in front of the man in front of him right now.
Jin Linkai sighe in satisfaction as he watches the deep grief and heart ache in the emperor's face while his eyes is glaring at him in hatred.
Overwhelmed by his triumph, he failed to realize that every drop of the prince's blood that dropped in the floor are slowly vanishing.
However, Di Xueyan furrowed her brows as she stares at the dripping blood that is vanishing on the floor. It is very inconspicuous that if she didn't accidentally doze off in that area, she would not even know. She observes her surrounding, no one even noticed that despite the deep wounds of the corpses that are scattered all around the room, there is not even a spot of blood can be seen in the floor.
' Strange', her eyes dimmed as she looks at the emperor who suddenly ceased crying. She feels that something is off, but she can't pinpoint what it is.
Jin Linkai looks at the emperor who ceased crying but instead laugh out loud humorlessly. He can't help but think that he is too weak to become mad with only one casualty.
A member hurriedly went to Jin Linkai's side pand whispered something to his ears. Jin Linkai grinned while looking at the laughing emperor.
" The time has come, your highness", Jin Linkai said in a very provoking manner. Hoping to further enrage the emperor to the point of death.
The emperor stops laughing and slowly rise. His eyes looks at Jin Linkai in a very malicious way, making everyone in the room, except Di Xueyan, feel a chill ran down their spine.
The people around feel something is off, even Di Xueyan is uncertain about the strong feeling she is feeling right now.
The emperor smirks diabolically. Never had he lost a son just because of a petty reason. So what if he killed his sister? What if he killed a general? He is the emperor, his will must be done! But no one has the right to kill even one of his children!
' Revenge! I need revenge!'
' Hua' er, wherever you are, worry no more, father will avenge you', the emperor thought maliciously in his mind as he can feel the darkness slowly envelops his whole being.
" You're wrong, it is not time yet", he speaks calmly with a hint of madness.