''My fair Jing Li, let-'' Li Qiye's words were cut short as someone crashed into the airship.
Both Li Qiye and Li Jing along with everyone else looked at the man who was courageous, or stupid, enough to attack the prince's airship.
A tall young man stood in front of them. His soft brown hair partially blocked his eyes as the rest of his face was blocked by a skin colored mask with only eyes left open.
''You there, young man! Are you ready to meet justice?'' a robust voice came from behind the mask as the mysterious masked young man pointed his finger at the Li Qiye.
'Is that... my elder brother Wang?' Li Jing thought to herself in confusion, 'But his voice is so different?'
Li Qiye on the other hand merely shook his head and tsked.
''You can not reach the peak at all.'' Li Qiye shook his head as if he was lecturing a child.
''Neither can you, if you keep kidnapping children!'' masked man shot back as his hands behind his back went through some strange motions.
''Reaching the peak requires a man to make difficult decisions. The hardest choices, require the strongest wills, and only the strongest wills are qualified to reach the peak.'' Li Qiye closed his eyes as he spoke while a gust of breeze made his glorious hair dance in the air.
''Yeah! How would you know, you fucken maggot? Our glorious young prince with his glorious genius knows the way to the Heavens!'' Li Qiye's subordinate no1 supported him.
''Shut it! Dogs don't bark when two owners are talking!'' the masked man shouted at the random supporter.
Not only the supporter, but even Li Qiye seemed to be taken aback by his manners.
''Enough of this charade. This young master demands you to-'' he started talking in a dismissive manner, but once again, he was cut off before he could properly finish his words.
''This righteous hero demands you to shut the fuck up for a second, I'm thinking of a comeback.'' the masked man said quickly.
'No, that can not be my elder brother.' Jing Li shook her head in disappointment.
She thought that she would be saved, but no. It was just some lunatic who barged into the airship. He would die soon, and nobody would remember even his name.
Li Qiye seemed taken aback when he heard the mysterious masked man's answer.
He chuckled for a second, before opening his mouth again.
''Alright, just kill yourself when you are finished.'' he turned his back to the masked man with his final words.
Only to look back and leave a few last words before putting his attention to Li Jing.
''I take back my words, you can reach the peak. No, you already have. You might be at the peak of idiocracy after all.''
This time, he truly turned his back and stopped giving any attention to the lunatic who was clearly looking for a way to die by his hands. Perhaps it was a way to make his name known, perhaps a way to be remembered. After all, even getting killed by the glorious genius himself was pretty noteworthy.
But Li Qiye wouldn't give him that satisfaction. He wouldn't be used to raise the reputation of a suicidal maniac.
''Where were we left? Ah, yes. My lovely Jing Li, you were telling me about your favorite activiti-'' he wanted to keep sweet talking to his current slave and future wife to make her warm up to him, but his words were cut short once again.
This time, his cut off words weren't followed by shocked silence. No, they were followed by a gasp.
''Guhk!'' Li Qiye spitted out blood from his mouth as a large flame dragon was destroyed behind him.
----A few seconds ago----
Just as Li Qiye turned his back to the masked stranger to let his subordinates deal with him, a purple liquid appeared and rushed onto him at unimaginable speed.
Just as the disgusting purple liquid was about to touch his back and possibly kill him, a red hot flaming dragon appeared behind Li Qiye and absorbed the attack for him.
The dragon dissolved into the thin air as soon as it appeared. Instant death couldn't even shock anyone as everything happened in less than a second.
''Mhmm, as expected of the famed genius of the Glorious Yang Empire. You somehow managed to live through that.'' a playful sound came out of the masked man, unlike his robust, energetic, and serious voice.
''Was that some kind of treasure'' the masked man asked as he approached the kneeling prince, ''I saw the dragon emblem on your robe shine a little when it happened, hmm? Empire's sure have it easy. If I had such treasures...'' masked man kept talking, but his hands were as busy as his mouth.
Along with talking shit, he was also killing the subordinates of the prince left and right.
''S-s-someone like you... will never reach the peakkk!'' Li Qiye screamed as he jumped up.
A jade pendant on him broke into several pieces and a white light washed over his body.
His face was still pale from the internal injury that saved his life, yet he looked well enough to fight.
His long and slender body bulked up as a wave of heavy yang energy washed over them. His veins popped up around his body as if the blood inside them was too rigorous for them to handle.
''Tsk, I miscalculated.'' masked man muttered to himself.
He wanted to kill everyone as quickly as possible and get out of here after taking the young lady with himself, but he didn't expect the young prince to have so many expandable treasures.
A wave of heat washed over his body as the young and glorious prince's body fired up.
The fiery aura around him condensed and wrapped around his body. Above his head, a flaming dragon's head stood menacingly, as if daring anyone to take a step towards the glorious prince.
''...Fuck.''
-----
[Mask is in the comments]
[I have no excuses for the 30mins late chapter. This is purely my dumbassery. I thought that I put the chapter on the scheduled release, but nope, it seems like there was an error and I brushed it off instead of properly looking if it worked or not. Well, whatever. Sorry, my bad.]