The Invincible Bai Cinan

There wasn't much to say about the battlefield now that the dust had settled.

Let's shift our view, passing Liu Tian and Liu Zhengde as they continued to wear each other down, the cannon fodder blasted beyond recognition by rocket launchers, cannons, and machine guns, and Tiger and Ox fleeing toward the coast. Let's head to a true battlefield, one with the power to affect the world.

The Crimson Cloud Empire, the Imperial Palace!

As the emperor of one of the world's oldest empires, Zhu Zhengxing was fifty-three years old and had ruled the realm for nearly thirty years. He had never imagined he would face a day like this while he was still alive.

A day when someone came knocking at his door with an army!

This certainly wasn't a mob of refugees besieging the city.

Although the Crimson Cloud Empire had suffered setback after setback in recent years, its sheer size still mattered. After nearly a century of bleeding the world dry, it had lost its colonies on the New Continent, but it had yet to reach the point of a dynastic collapse. The people's standard of living kept falling, but they could still get by.

Zhu Zhengxing probably wouldn't live to see refugees storm the Capital.

Nor was it a palace coup. Since the late emperor's passing, Zhu Zhengxing had ruled the realm for nearly thirty years. He was still in his prime, and his authority had only grown. He'd made plenty of minor mistakes, but no major ones. Besides, he had always treated his officials and the great families well. No one would risk their head for the sake of staging a palace coup.

And it certainly wasn't a military mutiny. If the Capital's troops, the very army guarding the palace, could mutiny, then the country would clearly be finished.

So why, why did cannon fire and the sounds of battle ring through the Imperial Palace?

Why did the Imperial Guards protecting the palace, the elite of the elite handpicked from the army, show such unconcealed fear?

And why were the royal retainers, who practiced first-rate Secret Martial Arts and had been provided with first-rate resources to build their strength to the highest ranks in the world, being tossed aside like chicks?

Guns, cannons, explosives, and fighters—countless people were risking their lives to block the path of one man, a man named Bai Cinan.

"By His Majesty's command: whoever kills Bai Cinan will receive ten thousand taels of gold, be promoted three ranks, and be made a marquis with ten thousand households!"

Using special equipment, the emperor's order rang throughout the entire palace, pouring another bucket of oil onto the raging fire. But did Bai Cinan care?

Ever since Bai Cinan had knocked on the palace gates in broad daylight and fought his way inside, Zhu Zhengxing had repeatedly raised the bounty. But what good did it do?

How could an army of ants, a group of bugs working together, make this madman, this lunatic, this accursed demon god take so much as a single step back?

Even joined together, even armed with steel and explosives, these weaklings could only make Bai Cinan's killing all the more exhilarating!

"This feeling... it's so wonderful!" Bai Cinan charged into the crowd as if no one were there. The several-hundred-pound alloy saber was weightless in his hands, yet with the casual sweep of his arm, he could cleave steel and shatter stone with ease.

Strong! Strong! Strong! Strong! Strong!

With just a few leaps, he slaughtered another group of Imperial Guards who had managed to regroup. These men had fought with everything they had, poured their hearts and souls into it, and still couldn't even slow Bai Cinan down!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Rocket launchers and explosive packs kept detonating, with no regard for the consequences. The machine gunners paid no heed to the lives of their comrades.

Steel, explosives, and blood ravaged and defiled this thousand-year-old palace!

Amid the frenzied battle, buildings collapsed one after another, and corpses littered every inch of the battlefield.

Bai Cinan felt nothing. He hadn't suffered much damage, and the violence had only awakened something savage within him, making him fight harder and harder. At last, on the ruins of a palace, drenched in his enemies' blood and standing atop their corpses, he threw his head back and roared, "Yeah!!!!"

His roar seemed to carry a strange, demonic power. Everyone who heard it—including the palace guards and the fighters serving as royal retainers—felt their deepest fear of this seemingly immortal, invincible demon god burst forth. The soldiers who had still been putting up some resistance immediately broke and fled.

"Damn bastard!" Zhu Zhengxing roared furiously from inside the great hall.

He knew the man called Bai Cinan was formidable, but Zhu Zhengxing had never believed a Martial Artist—just one Martial Artist—could be all that powerful.

A match for ten men? A hundred?

At most, he might be a match for a thousand.

But no matter how powerful he was, could he really overturn this enormous palace, guarded by ten thousand troops, all by himself?

That was why Zhu Zhengxing had sneered when Bai Cinan demanded that he hand over the item.

Even now, the Crimson Cloud Empire had yet to discover the purpose of the Prism Pillar's ability to fuse with others and detach at will through the power of one's mind. But its known properties alone proved that it was no ordinary object and must have great significance.

Since it was no ordinary object and was connected to the Lost Empire, how could the Crimson Cloud Empire hand it over?

In fact, ever since the Prism Pillar's properties had been discovered, the royal family had secretly gathered them on purpose. Over the years, they had collected and fused practically every Prism Pillar that had made its way into the Crimson Cloud Empire.

The Prism Pillars had changed from a single color to two, then four, and now seven.

Once they reached seven colors, the Prism Pillars had changed from objects with no apparent purpose into components—parts that seemed capable of forming a great gate.

A gate left behind by a great empire from thousands of years ago.

What lay beyond it? A gift or destruction? Did it conceal the secret behind the disappearance of the entire Lost Empire?

Whatever the answer, something like this could only be kept in his own hands!

That was why, when Blue Dream Company made its request through the archipelago and offered to trade, Zhu Zhengxing had laughed and scoffed.

The Crimson Cloud Empire was vast and rich, with everything under the sun. What could a mere company possibly offer in exchange for something with such a huge secret behind it?

But Zhu Zhengxing had forgotten one thing: a deal didn't always have to be equal, nor did it need his consent.

He refused to sell, but Blue Dream Company could still take it by force!

If he wouldn't trade, then they'd simply take it!

That was why Bai Cinan had come here.

That was why the demon had descended.

There were countless people on this land willing to give everything for the imperial throne, but even all of them together couldn't slow Bai Cinan's advance!

Unable to use cannons to flatten the palace or naval guns to bombard it, even with the Imperial Guards risking their lives for the huge bounty and the royal retainers fighting with all they had, the outcome had been decided the moment Bai Cinan set out.

Knowing the situation was hopeless, people came rushing from every direction, one after another. They surrounded Bai Cinan with their lives, desperately protecting Zhu Zhengxing as he retreated.

Inside the great hall, the officials pleaded frantically:

"Your Majesty, allow me to escort you out!"

"Your Majesty! As long as the green hills remain, there'll be no shortage of firewood!"

"Your Majesty! A man of great wealth doesn't sit beneath a roof that might collapse. A gentleman doesn't stand beneath a dangerous wall!"

"Useless! You're all useless!"

"The Imperial Guards are useless! The royal retainers are useless too!"

"We spent so much money and sent so many people, and you still couldn't stop one little cripple!"

Amid their repeated pleas, Zhu Zhengxing, whose mind had been clouded by rage, finally regained his reason under the threat of death and prepared to retreat. But—

"Where do you think you're going?" The wall of the great hall was blown open. A man with golden hair, blue eyes, and a constant smile at the corners of his mouth walked in. Unlike ordinary people, he had not only a muscular build; flames could even be glimpsed flickering in his mouth from time to time.

With a casual puff, the man sent flames shooting from his mouth, burning the guards alive.

"Your Majesty." Firebird smiled. "We don't want to cause too much bloodshed, so please hand over the item. Otherwise, we'll have no choice but to kill until you do."

"After all, the leader of our Dream Creation Beast Group—Bai Cinan—is invincible under heaven!"