Ruckus in the Bridal Chamber

For the first time in his life, Lin Qi had been slapped in the face by a woman.

What was more, this woman was merely a palace maid. Judging by the color of her robes, her rank could not be high; by the standards of the imperial city, she was at most a sixth-rank female official. As for Lin Qi, he was a prince personally invested by the Blood Qin Empire, an existence of transcendent rank, several grades above even those so-called first-rank high ministers.

What Lin Qi found even harder to bear was the flicker of disdain and mockery in the cold-faced palace maid's eyes. It was as if, after she had slapped him, Lin Qi ought to bow and kowtow to her in gratitude. That gaze, lofty and elevated, looking down upon all living beings, reminded Lin Qi of many unpleasant memories.

Back when Arthur and the others had tortured him in the secret chamber beneath Holy Radiance Cathedral, Lin Qi had felt similar gazes from them countless times.

So Lin Qi returned the slap, clean and decisive—without holding anything back, he struck with all his strength.

The palace maid had never imagined, even in her dreams, that Lin Qi would dare lay a hand on her—and that he would strike to kill without the slightest restraint. Just as she was secretly feeling pleased with herself, Lin Qi's slap landed heavily across her face. Terrifying force blasted into her cheek, into her skull, traveled down her neck and into her body, then swiftly surged through her entire frame.

Like a crazed giant dragon swatting an arrogantly brandished praying mantis, the palace maid, whose strength was merely at the lower Earth Rank, did not even manage a grunt before she exploded on the spot into a cloud of bloody