A Black Lotus Repels the Imperial Seal

Night fell.

There were no stars, no moon.

Dark clouds blanketed the sky.

At the deepest point of the Imperial Prison stood a solid cell.

Inside, the Heavenly Spirit Elders sat cross-legged.

Bluestone walls surrounded them. There was not even a window, only a solitary lamp casting its dim glow.

The Heavenly Spirit Elders' expressions were calm.

Though their cultivation had been sealed, their knowledge remained. They knew that nothing would happen to them.

His Majesty still did not dare truly fall out with the Heavenly Spirit Sect.

It was merely that the Crown Prince's murder was far too serious. The two of them would have to suffer the inconvenience of staying in the Imperial Prison for several days, in order to quell public outrage.

The Director of the Prison had told them this personally.

It was also His Majesty's most genuine expression of intent.

They believed it.

Yet just after midnight, an abrupt change erupted!

The dim oil lamp suddenly went out!

The Heavenly Spirit Elders' eyes snapped open, and they sensed a strange killing intent...

What was happening?

With a sharp hiss—no, two hisses!

Two branches shot out from nowhere and pierced precisely through their brows!

The brow was where the Primordial Spirit resided. Their Primordial Spirits shook violently as they stared in shock at the branches thrust into their brows...

These were not branches. This was the Sky-Covering Merit!

The Sky-Covering Merit was a Forbidden Cultivation Method in the Cultivation World. Why? Because it had been derived from the most vicious demonic art, the Heaven Devouring Demonic Art. The Heaven Devouring Demonic Art grievously violated the harmony of heaven, and the righteous path could not tolerate it. Yet even those of the righteous path coveted its power. Thus, a cultivation prodigy had altered this demonic art, giving