The ones who eloped

"You want it? Here you go." Richard casually tossed the Nation-Guarding Divine Sword to Huaiqing.

Princess Huaiqing deftly took the divine sword, and the sword's spirit, sensing her bloodline, did not struggle.

It was even somewhat excited when it returned to the hands of the royal family, making a buzzing sound.

"Uh." Princess Huaiqing hadn't expected Richard to return the Nation-Guarding Divine Sword to her so readily.

Are these people really not Nation-Guarding Divine Sword? Then what are they here for?

Her father only asked her to find a way to get these people to leave, but she didn't know any more information.

Huaiqing knew nothing about the place where Shenshu arm was sealed, in particular.

She didn't have time to find out more before she rushed over after receiving a task from Emperor Yuanjing.

Although Huaiqing was aloof, wise, and had the world in her heart, she had never considered vying for the throne.

After all, how difficult is it for a woman to rise to power? Unless she has absolute military strength to suppress the various factions in the court, she can forget about ascending to the throne.

In the original storyline, her ascension to the throne was inseparable from Xu Qian's support. At that time, Xu Qian already had the support of the National Preceptor, the Supervisor, Wei Yuan, and others, which made it easy for him to suppress other factions in the court and support her to ascend the throne.

Her ambition grew step by step; having gained some power, she naturally wanted more.

At this time, she had no intention of vying for the throne; she only thought about assisting a wise ruler, rectifying the court, and saving the Great Feng, rather than becoming emperor herself.

Therefore, at this time she did not specifically cultivate her own power and knew very little about these hidden matters.

She genuinely didn't understand what these people meant, and where the National Preceptor had gotten to know these people.

She knew that ever since these people appeared, all forces had been desperately investigating them, but so far, they hadn't been able to find out the origins of any of them.

One of them even had obvious characteristics of Demon Race.

If it were anyone else, they would have been taken away for questioning by the Nightwatchers or the Directorate of Astronomy, but these people swaggered down the street, and the Directorate of Astronomy and the Nightwatchers acted as if they didn't see them.

Thinking of this, she secretly glanced at Tushan Yaya again.

She was the only one among them Demon Race features were clearly visible; her huge fox ears hung down on her forehead, and she didn't even bother to hide them.

As for Xiao Yao and Ice Empress, she could only secretly guess in her heart that the two were probably powerful demons.

Those frost and wood magic spells must be their innate supernatural abilities, because among all the extraordinary professions in the Great Feng World, no other profession possesses such spells, so only a great demon in human form is the most likely candidate.

"Little girl, what are you looking at?" Xia Mi asked her with a smile.

Huaiqing also possesses martial arts cultivation, although she has always displayed the strength of the Rank Nine Refining Essence Realm, which means she has just entered the martial arts world.

But in reality, she possesses strength far exceeding that of martial artists her age. Her true strength is between the Fourth Grade and Fifth Grade, which is equivalent to the Silver Gong to Golden Gong level even within the Nightwatchers system.

This level of strength is her most deeply hidden trump card, and she won't easily reveal it.

As a princess of the Great Feng Dynasty, she did not need to use force on a daily basis.

However, this level of strength was insignificant to the others; apart from Mu Nanzhi, she couldn't even defeat the weakest among them.

Therefore, for Xia Mi, Huai Qing's thoughts were actually completely transparent to her.

She could easily see through Huaiqing's thoughts and intentions.

Asking this now is just to tease Huaiqing.

But Huaiqing was unaware of this and was still trying to figure out how to gloss over the situation.

Are you wondering how many of us are Demon Race?

"I can tell you, I'm not Human Race," Xia Mi said with a smile.

"I'm not Human Race either," Ice Empress chimed in, joining in the fun.

"Hehe, me neither," the Silver Dragon King chimed in.

Huaiqing sensed something was wrong. Had she stumbled into a great demon's lair?

Could these people all be Demon Race in human form?

What's going on with the National Preceptor? Has he sided with the Demon Race?

Help! Supervisor!

"Hehe, this is so funny. Xiao Yao isn't Human Race either, and neither are these three Human Race sisters over here."

Seeing that Huaiqing seemed frightened, Xiao Yao added fuel to the fire, and also dragged Qinglin and the others into it.

No one was lying; they were indeed not Human Race.

"Alright, stop scaring her, things are about to get interesting."

"Let's go see what's going on." Richard's divine sense detected something interesting.

Why are they coming to Sangpo Lake at this time? Isn't it because the Demon Race's plan here is almost successful?

Richard and his group made no attempt to conceal their whereabouts, leading the Demon Race to believe they had been exposed.

Therefore, the plan was to destroy the Mountains and Rivers Temple ahead of schedule.

With a thought, Richard and his group teleported away from Sangpo Lake, reappearing in a desolate wilderness.

Princess Huaiqing was left standing there, completely bewildered. Did her mission mean she was complete once everyone else had left?

Before she could return to report to her father, the Emperor, she heard a loud bang.

The Mountains and Rivers Temple dedicated to the royal family was blown up, and the seal on the right arm of the Shenshu beneath it was instantly destroyed.

Then, following the sensation, Shenshu arm flew out.

Huaiqing felt his head buzzing; this was a major disaster— Mountains and Rivers Temple had been bombed.

Fortunately, the Nation-Guarding Divine Sword was in her hands at the moment; if even the Nation-Guarding Divine Sword had been destroyed, it would have been unimaginable what would have happened.

However, such a coincidental timing makes it hard for her not to suspect Richard and his group.

They had just left when the Mountains and Rivers Temple exploded, and they had even touched the Nation-Guarding Divine Sword.

Princess Huaiqing immediately sent someone to report to Emperor Yuanjing, adding that in this situation, it was definitely necessary to report to the Nightwatchers.

Since the matter involves the National Preceptor, she cannot handle it herself; she can only wait and see how her father and the court officials deal with it.

On the other side, Shenshu's right arm appeared not far from Richard and the others, merging with a specially treated walking corpse.

The walking corpse's name is Henghui. He was originally a monk at Azure Dragon Temple. He was handsome and gentle. He secretly fell in love with Commandery Princess Pingyang, the daughter of Prince Yu, in the Capital City.

A year ago, Prince Yu forced Commandery Princess Pingyang into a political marriage. Unwilling to submit, she decided to elope with Henghui.

Henghui stole the magical artifact from Azure Dragon Temple that shielded her aura. Commandery Princess Pingyang sought help from Zhang Yi, the son of the Vice Minister of War, to resolve the issues of household registration and leaving the city.

With Zhang Yi's help, the two secretly escaped from the city.

However, Zhang Yi's apparent assistance was actually orchestrated by the Count Pingyuan, who wanted to use this opportunity to strike at Prince Yu.

After leaving the city, Zhang Yi and his men killed Henghui and attempted to humiliate Commandery Princess Pingyang. Commandery Princess Pingyang refused to submit and instead stabbed herself in the throat with her hairpin.

The two bodies were abandoned in the wilderness and remained undiscovered for a year.

The Demon Race Fuxiang used Corpse Gu to seal Henghui's primordial spirit within her body, transforming it into a walking corpse puppet.

Henghui, now a walking corpse, is filled with resentment and determined to seek revenge. This intense resentment becomes the key to attracting Shenshu's right arm.

This was also the Demon Race's goal; through this method, they could bring Shenshu's right arm out of the sealed land.