The Ninth Prince, Gu Changhe, was completely dumbfounded.
In his mind, Lin Shuguang should have already been knocked unconscious by Shi Wenliang's soul-bewitching drug, but now!
He was suddenly seized by the right wrist by Lin Shuguang, and his entire body went cold in an instant.
"Was it Shi Wenliang or Mo Changxiong who betrayed me?!"
He did not even have time to finish speaking. Lin Shuguang let out a feral grin and struck viciously.
He reached out and dragged down the Ninth Prince. With his other hand, he clenched his five fingers into a fist and slammed it down.
In his panic, the Ninth Prince raised his freed left hand to block.
"Crack!"
The pain nearly split the Ninth Prince's eyes wide open.
A stormy sea of shock rose in his heart.
When had Lin Shuguang become this strong?
Two days ago, he had fought Lin Shuguang using a clone. But now, this was his true body, yet Lin Shuguang had still broken his arm with a single punch!
"Y-You broke through?!"
He cried out in shock.
Lin Shuguang did not answer his question at all. The hand clamping onto the Ninth Prince was like iron, and the Ninth Prince could not struggle free in the slightest. Instead, Lin Shuguang's pull sent him stumbling backward.
"Protect me!" the Ninth Prince shouted in fury and alarm.
To his astonishment, however, the voice he shouted seemed to dissolve into the heavens and earth.
What kind of technique was this?
He had never even heard of it!
The Ninth Prince naturally had no idea just how terrifying Lin Shuguang's mental power had become. He stood there with his mouth agape, utterly voiceless, watching helplessly as Lin Shuguang threw another punch.
Lin Shuguang stamped down hard with his foot, and the ground seemed to tremble beneath it.
Yet he simply could not understand why, despite such a huge commotion inside the hall, the guards outside acted as though they were dead, unable to hear the slightest sound from within.
The Ninth Prince did not dare think any further. He staggered aside to dodge.
The terrifying killing intent erupting from Lin Shuguang descended with the fierce force of his punch!
That killing intent was extraordinarily icy, almost so thick that it was about to become tangible.
He could even sense the resolute momentum of perishing together, of smashing the jade and the stone alike.
An intense chill made every hair on the Ninth Prince's back stand on end.
"Lin Shuguang, you dare!"
Lin Shuguang did not hesitate in the slightest and slammed down with his fist.
The Ninth Prince's expression changed drastically. "You're courting death!"
Amid a string of explosive cracks from his joints, a vicious gale had already swept toward him. At the same time, the Ninth Prince's furious shout shook the surrounding void until it trembled.
With all the rage in his chest unleashed, he neither dodged nor defended himself, instead thrusting a vicious claw toward Lin Shuguang's heart!
A visible ripple exploded outward from the point where the two clashed.
At the same time, both men's sleeves were shredded to pieces, scattering through the air.
The Ninth Prince retreated again and again, his internal organs feeling as though they had been scorched by fire. "Lin—puh!"
The moment he opened his mouth, he spat out a mouthful of blood.
His expression was filled with shock. He could not understand how Lin Shuguang had suddenly become so powerful.
"Could it be the Nine Demon Scroll?"
He suddenly jolted, but after thinking it over, realized that something was wrong!
He constantly sensed the Nine Demon Scroll and his own imprint. Although he could not summon it back, he knew clearly that as long as the imprint remained on him, it meant Lin Shuguang had not yet successfully converted the Nine Demon Scroll!
"So what method did this bastard use to raise his strength so quickly?"
So quickly that even the Ninth Prince himself felt jealous!
He had poured in countless efforts and expended enormous wealth and resources, racking his brains to raise his cultivation. But what about Lin Shuguang?
They had not met for only two days, yet this bastard's strength had already crossed several stages. It was simply beyond belief!
"Lin Shuguang, you can't kill me! I have a life-saving talisman bestowed by Father Emperor. With your strength, you can't shake my father's life-saving talisman at all. If you don't want to die, stop obediently and let me deal with you!"
The Ninth Prince had a life-saving talisman bestowed by Gu Taxian, so Lin Shuguang was not surprised in the slightest. If the imperial son of the mighty Great Gan Dynasty had no means of protecting his life, it could only mean that he was not favored.
But Gu Changhe was the Ninth Prince and had received a sacred decree to personally guard the Demon Cave. How could that possibly be a sign of being unfavored?
The Demon Cave, the site of the ancient battlefield, was where the lifeline of the Great Gan Dynasty lay.
The fact that the Ninth Prince could guard this place was enough to show how much the Ancient Emperor valued him.
Yet now, for the Ninth Prince, Gu Changhe, to say that the ascendant Lin Shuguang should surrender without resistance was utterly laughable.
Lin Shuguang was decisive as ever.
He pulled out the Slaughter Blade and slashed explosively down at the head of the Ninth Prince, Gu Changhe.
What heavenly mandate? What imperial son? What Great Gan Dynasty?
To Lin Shuguang, they were all nothing but a fart!
He did not belong to this world. Moreover, before long, Eternal Night would descend, and the World Will here would track down his identity.
Since death was unavoidable, he might as well let loose, repay every grudge, and slaughter in all directions!
The blade descended in a Draw and Slash, and the air thundered!
As Lin Shuguang stepped forward, the bricks and stones beneath his feet rose into the air in great swaths. On either side of his path, a curtain composed of shattered bricks and stones actually rose up! A raging wind suddenly howled, sweeping in every direction and making the gauze windows of the entire hall flap loudly.
But this place had already been completely sealed by Lin Shuguang's mental power.
Unless some terrifying existence with mental power surpassing Lin Shuguang appeared, no one could disturb him as he personally executed the ninth son of the current Ancient Emperor!
You want to use your power to suppress me? Then I'll raise my blade and hack you down right now!
Lin Shuguang displayed his savage temper to the fullest.
It also made half of the Ninth Prince, Gu Changhe's heart turn cold.
He realized that Lin Shuguang felt not the slightest awe toward the Great Gan Dynasty or his father. To him, this was nothing short of a signal that disaster was about to strike!
"Lin Shuguang, I promise you—so long as you return the Nine Demon Scroll to me, all enmity between us will end from this day forth. I also guarantee that I will never trouble you again!" the Ninth Prince shouted in panic and fury.
In his haste, he yanked the treasured sword from the rack beside him and thrust it toward Lin Shuguang's slash.
"Boom!"
Both of the Ninth Prince's arms trembled violently from the immense force. His eyes were filled with shock and nearly bulged from their sockets.
This bastard!!!
"Bang!"
He was sent flying backward on the spot, like a cannonball, piercing through one of the stone pillars. The stone pillar, which would have taken five men clasping hands to encircle, was smashed apart by his impact.
The Ninth Prince spat out another mouthful of blood.
His mouth was filled with blood as he cried hoarsely, "Lin Shuguang, what will it take for you to let me go?!"
Lin Shuguang charged over, his voice cold. "Only your death will settle the grudge between us!"
Everyone had their own path.
Lin Shuguang's path was slaughter!
Slaughter until every injustice in his heart was gone! Slaughter until every unwillingness in his chest was gone! Slaughter his way to peace for ten thousand generations!
How could the Ninth Prince fail to sense Lin Shuguang's determination to kill him? His heart was filled with utterly horrifying shock.
Was this guy insane? I am the Ninth Prince of the current Great Gan Dynasty. Did he dare kill me?!
In the blink of an eye, the blade in Lin Shuguang's hand burst with dazzling radiance, its savage might astonishing.
The Ninth Prince bared his teeth and roared furiously as he raised his sword to block.
"Bang!"
The ground beneath his feet collapsed under the force, and both his knees bent.
The Ninth Prince braced the sword against his body, his face flushed red as though he had used every last ounce of strength.
"Lin! Shu! Guang!"
Blood seeped from between his teeth. His eyes were webbed with blood vessels as he glared up at Lin Shuguang, full of venom and unwillingness.
He was the dignified Ninth Prince of the Great Gan Dynasty, one of the strongest contenders to inherit the throne in the future. Whatever he wanted, he got; whatever he asked for, he received. How spirited and magnificent had he always been?
No matter which grand duke of the Imperial Court, no matter which sect from the martial world, upon seeing him, did they not all respectfully address him as the Ninth Prince?
Yet despite such a glorious background, he was now being suppressed by Lin Shuguang, this nameless nobody, to the point that he was almost forced to kneel on both knees.
"If I die, Baojian Sect will be buried with me!" the Ninth Prince roared furiously and rose, attempting to fight back.
However, Lin Shuguang remained expressionless, cold and merciless as a god of slaughter. The blade in his hand pressed down without mercy.
"Bang!"
The Ninth Prince not only failed to rise, but under Lin Shuguang's terrifying strength, his knees slammed directly onto the ground.
The dignified prince had knelt before a nobody like Lin Shuguang. The Ninth Prince's eyes split open on the spot. His eyes blood-red, he let out an unwilling roar of fury.
There was no possibility that Lin Shuguang would show mercy.
Taking advantage of the instant when the Ninth Prince's mind was in disarray, he suppressed him with one hand and brought the blade down with the other.
"Bang!"
However, Lin Shuguang's blade did not manage to sever the Ninth Prince's head as intended. Instead, it triggered the life-saving talisman that the Ancient Emperor, Gu Taxian, had left on the Ninth Prince.
A terrifying power descended with a roar.
The mental barrier Lin Shuguang had laid down shattered on the spot. The hall seemed to lose its supporting strength. Already riddled with damage from their battle, it collapsed with a thunderous roar.
Amid endless clouds of smoke, countless guards charged over, roaring.
The Ancient Emperor's phantom appeared, expressionless. He freed one hand and pressed it toward Lin Shuguang.
The Ninth Prince's hair hung loose, his face covered in blood, yet he let out a hideous, ghostlike laugh. "I told you, you can't kill me!"
"Is that so?" Lin Shuguang crushed a Jade Talisman in his hand right in front of the Ninth Prince.
"Whoosh!"
Another terrifying aura, no weaker than the first, descended in an instant.
The Ninth Prince's expression immediately stiffened. "You..."
He stared at Lin Shuguang in disbelief, as well as the enormous phantom emerging behind him.
That phantom collided with the Ancient Emperor's phantom, unleashing destructive power as terrifying as a nuclear explosion.
The Ninth Prince was horrified beyond measure and turned to flee.
Without the life-saving talisman, even if Lin Shuguang did not kill him now, the terrifying power erupting from the two phantoms would be enough to leave him gravely wounded!
But before he could escape,
a hand fiercely clamped onto his shoulder. He looked up abruptly and saw Lin Shuguang, along with the dazzlingly golden Great Flame Dragon Armor!
"Don't kill me! I'll give you whatever you want! Lin Shuguang, we really can talk. I'll give the Nine Demon Scroll to you. I can even let you sign it—as long as you don't kill me..." The Ninth Prince begged with a sob in his voice. Where was the arrogance he had shown before?
Before Lin Shuguang, he no longer dared call himself "this prince." To stay alive, he was even willing to take the initiative and sign the Nine Demon Scroll.
Lin Shuguang looked at him coldly.
He brought the blade down!
Kill successful, Blood Energy Value acquired: 5,000,000 cards!
Boom!
It was as though a knot in his heart had finally come undone.
A powerful aura erupted from Lin Shuguang's entire body.
Vigorous life force surged wildly.
His cultivation... rose another level!
Before you continue