His brother's life was much more important than his quest for revenge. He could take some humiliation, he couldn't lose his brother. Besides, completely losing his brother could mean the end of their Empire, since he was their strongest guardian.
''I won't ask for much.'' Wang said with an internal grin. The Emperor tried to hide it, but he could see his desperation. He seemed like a smart guy, and someone like him would never let his pride bring him-
Suddenly, his arms started burning. Not only his arms but every single part of his body that touched Li Yan's soul started burning like crazy.
Wang's clothes instantly turned into ash and heavy burn marks appeared all over his body.
He instantly threw himself away from Li Yan's soul in pain and shock.
He heard a voice as he was checking his charred and heavily injured body.
''Did you really think that I would be so easy to capture?'' Li Yan's smug voice reached his ears.
His head slowly lifted to see his smug puffed-up face and the Emperor's shocked face. It seemed even he didn't know about this.
Even though Li Yan looked exhausted, he was safe and out of Wang's grasp, on the other hand, Li Jing was still in the advisor's old hands.
------
''Holy shit.'' a shocked voice caused the discussion to break out instantly.
''I didn't know you could use your soul to attack like that.'' an elder mumbled to himself as he caressed his well-groomed beard with great care.
''No, I don't think that was an attack. Did it seem more like he... almost burned his soul? Maybe it's thanks to the technique he is cultivating...'' another elder next to him similarly mumbled to himself as he tried to figure out what the fuck just happened.
''That's not possible! Do you know the repercussions of such an act?'' first elder broke out of his thoughts and shouted to his friend.
''But it seems like the most possible and logical conclusion, no?'' his friend calmly answered with a smug grin as if daring him to say something.
Many people from different factions and younger generations heard their words and a wave of pure shock washed over them.
''How ruthless! He actually sacrificed so much for this.'' a youngster said to himself.
He couldn't understand why would someone ever do such a thing. It was hard for him to even imagine as he had a bright future ahead and just giving it all up seemed like a fate even worse than death to him.
''Why does it matter? He is alive in the end. He won. This is how the little hero dies.'' his father said as he put his hand on his shoulder. ''If you find yourself in a similar situation, don't hesitate to do the same. You have only one life, you can give up your talent, but not your life.''
In another corner of the vast universe, the topic was a little bit different.
''Glorious Yang Empire holds many secrets, that guy was too strong even for a peak Dao being. I don't think he has any opponents below the Emperor level.'' said a youngster from Yang Fire Palace with starry eyes full of admiration for his ancestors.
''Heh, not anymore. Since we don't know about him, it means his sacrifice was too much and he could never get back to his old strength.'' someone from a rival faction mocked him, ''Besides, we all know the fate of that specific Empire, maybe that kid just killed them all despite his injuries.'' he laughed in a mocking manner.
''A pity.'' an old woman said with a sigh. Seeing strong warriors and talented youngsters die was always hard to swallow for her.
''Pity indeed, but this is how it goes in our world...'' her husband put a hand on her shoulder to support her.
''Makes you think w-'' his disciple joined the conversation with a curious voice.
''Don't start another conversation about the morality of the situation.''
''I wasn-''
''Stop. I don't want a lengthy conversation about how things could be better or what should we do to make things better as well.''
''...Yes, sir.''
----
While Li Yan was mocking and laughing at Wang, something strange was happening between the advisor and Li Jing.
Li Jing's eyes started shining like bright stars for a second before losing all their light and becoming dull, lifeless orbs again.
Advisor Hong looked at her with wary eyes as he prayed to his ancestor for the Emperor's fast return.
'Your majesty, please finish things up quickly!'
She was creeping him out to a great degree. He couldn't even remember the last time he got this scared of a little girl like her.
His instinct would tell him that he could squash her like a bug for one second, and then proceed to beg him to escape a second later. His head was starting to ache from all the mood changes.
'Li Yan already escaped, the Emperor wouldn't be mad if I just killed her right now, right?' he thought to himself.
Li Jing's beautiful eyes shined up like a good quality lamp once again, and he was done.
'Whatever, I will take whatever punishment they give me, I would do anything to get this creepy girl out of my vicinity.' he thought as he readied his flaming dragons to swallow her up.
''Goodbye, little girl. Don't blame me, blame your weird eyes.'' with his last words, he sent his dragons to tear her up and then swallow her down.
But, something strange happened, causing his chin to fall down and his eyes to open up.
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{An: Extra chapters soon at P@treon/lowkeygoodstuff}