The moment the Seventh Prince landed on the city wall, all of North-Rejecting City fell silent.
He simply stood there, his moon-white robe fluttering lightly in the wind. True qi flowed around him, giving off a faint glow. Tens of thousands of Di soldiers retreated like a tide, not even daring to look back.
On the city wall, the surviving soldiers stared blankly at that figure. Then, no one knew who knelt first, but one after another, they dropped to their knees until the wall was a sea of bowed heads.
"Long live Your Highness!"
"Long live Your Highness!"
The cries rose and fell. Some wept with joy, while others collapsed to the ground and sobbed.
Li Jinshui did not kneel.
Standing among the crowd, he watched the figure standing proudly against the wind and slowly clenched his fists.
It wasn't disrespect. It was just that his yearning to rise higher burned too fiercely.
One day, he would stand there too.
The Seventh Prince seemed to sense something. His gaze swept this way once more, landing on Li Jinshui.
This time, there was a hint of amusement in his eyes.
But he said nothing. He simply turned his gaze toward the fleeing Di soldiers in the distance.
"Zhao Zheng."
"Here!" Zhao Zheng struggled to his feet. He was covered in blood, but his face was alight with excitement.
The Seventh Prince pointed toward several black specks fleeing wildly in the distance—the four surviving Di Pulse-Opening Realm warriors, desperately escaping north.
"They've taken forbidden drugs. They won't get far. I'll be back shortly."
Before his words had even faded, he lightly tapped the ground with his foot and shot skyward like a streak of white light.
He moved so fast the naked eye could barely follow him, leaving only a faint afterimage on the horizon.
Li Jinshui narrowed his eyes, watching the white light grow farther and farther away.
Forbidden drugs?
What price would it take for a Pulse-Opening Realm warrior to escape an Origin-Opening Realm expert?
He didn't know.
But he knew those four men probably wouldn't live to see the end of the day.
The Seventh Prince was as fast as lightning.
Although the four Di Pulse-Opening Realm warriors had taken forbidden drugs, burning their qi and blood for a temporary burst of speed, it was still futile against an Origin-Opening Realm expert.
The first one was caught.
The Di Pulse-Opening Realm warrior glanced back, despair on his face, and desperately brought down his blade.
The Seventh Prince didn't even draw his own blade. He simply struck out with a palm.
True qi surged out, forming a gigantic palm that crashed down from above!
"Boom!"
The Di warrior didn't even have time to scream before he was smashed into a cloud of blood that rained from the sky.
Next was the second.
The man was fleeing wildly. After taking the forbidden drug, he streaked along like a burning meteor, moving at astonishing speed. But as soon as he swept past a mountain ridge, he saw a moon-white figure standing with hands behind his back not far ahead, waiting for him.
"You—"
The Di Pulse-Opening Realm warrior's pupils contracted. With no time to change direction, he desperately swung his blade!
Sword energy crisscrossed through the air, splitting mountains and shattering rocks!
The Seventh Prince didn't even lift an eyelid.
He merely raised his right hand, loosely curled his five fingers, and gave the oncoming blade energy a light grab.
"Bang!"
The incomparably fierce blade energy was crushed in his bare hand, scattering into flecks of light.
Despair flashed across the Di Pulse-Opening Realm warrior's face. He turned to flee.
But the Seventh Prince moved even faster.
He held two fingers together like a blade and casually swept them toward the man's back.
A streak of white light shot out, too fast to leave even an afterimage!
"Pfft!"
The Di Pulse-Opening Realm warrior's body split in two at the waist. Blood and entrails spilled everywhere as the two halves fell from the sky and smashed against the rocks, reduced to a bloody mess.
The Seventh Prince barely spared him a glance. His figure flashed as he continued after the third.
The third had escaped farther than the others, nearly reaching the edge of a mountain range a hundred li away.
When he looked back and saw the Seventh Prince in pursuit, a crazed look flashed across his face. He bit through his tongue and spat out another mouthful of blood essence, driving the forbidden drug's power to its limit and increasing his speed once more!
But the Seventh Prince was faster.
The distance between them shrank at a terrifying rate.
Three hundred zhang.
Two hundred zhang.
One hundred zhang.
Fifty zhang.
The Di Pulse-Opening Realm warrior was desperate.
He spun around, gripped his blade with both hands, and put everything he had into a single strike!
This strike held all the power he'd gained by burning his life!
His blade energy formed a blood-red streak several zhang long, carrying a might that could destroy heaven and earth as it slashed toward the Seventh Prince!
The Seventh Prince still didn't draw his blade.
He merely extended his right hand, pressed his index and middle fingers together, and lightly pointed them at the blood-red blade energy.
"Vmmm—!"
A streak of white light, no thicker than a finger, shot from his fingertips and collided with the several-zhang-long blood-red blade energy!
There was no earth-shattering explosion.
The white light pierced the blood-red blade energy silently, like a red-hot iron needle through butter. Then—
"Boom!"
The blood-red blade energy exploded in midair, bursting into a sky full of bloody mist!
The white light continued unabated, instantly piercing the Di Pulse-Opening Realm warrior between the brows!
His expression froze, his eyes wide and lips slightly parted, as though he wanted to say something.
But he couldn't speak anymore.
His body fell from the sky and crashed into the woods below, flattening a patch of trees.
The Seventh Prince withdrew his hand without a glance and turned to pursue the last man.
The fourth had escaped the farthest. He had crossed the mountain range and was about to enter Di Kingdom.
The Seventh Prince narrowed his eyes. True qi surged wildly around him, and his speed increased once more!
He became a streak of light, skimming along the mountain peaks as they raced backward beneath him.
Almost there.
Almost.
He would catch up in another thirty breaths.
But the instant he swept past a mountain hollow—
The hairs on his body suddenly stood on end!
Something was wrong!
Three concealed auras flashed into existence in the hollow below!
Origin-Opening Realm!
Three of them!
And they had been lying in wait. Their auras had been suppressed to the barest hint, released only when he entered their attack range!
The Seventh Prince's pupils contracted sharply, but he didn't stop. Instead, he accelerated forward!
He had to break through the encirclement!
But the three figures moved even faster—
"Boom!"
On the left, a black figure shot into the air. His sinister aura flickered like a snake's tongue as he struck toward the Seventh Prince's left ribs!
"Keheh-heh-heh! Seventh Prince, we've been waiting for you!"
On the right, a blood-red figure sprang from behind the rocks, bloodlust filling the air as he struck toward the Seventh Prince's right shoulder!
Straight ahead, a burly figure as towering as an iron pagoda crushed the rocks underfoot and leaped into the air, bringing down an enormous battle-axe larger than a man!
Three Origin-Opening Realm experts attacked from three directions at once, sealing off every escape route!
The Seventh Prince had nowhere to dodge.
He took a deep breath and drove his true qi to its limit. His protective qi solidified into a pale golden barrier.
At the same time, he finally drew his blade!
"Clang—!"
It was a snow-white longsword. The moment it left its sheath, the temperature within a hundred zhang plummeted, and the air seemed to freeze.
He slashed at the giant battle-axe straight ahead while twisting sharply. His left palm met the black palm shadow, and his right shoulder took the blood-red palm strike head-on!
"Clang—!!!"
Blade and axe collided. Sparks flew, and a violent shock wave swept outward!
Huyan Lie was knocked back three steps, crushing the rocks beneath his feet!
The Seventh Prince also retreated half a step. His throat went sweet, but he forced down the blood rising in his mouth.
But in that instant, the Night Owl Elder's palm shadow and the Blood Butcher Elder's palm print struck him at the same time!
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
His protective qi shuddered violently, on the verge of breaking! Two vicious, sinister forces pierced his body and ravaged his meridians!
The Seventh Prince grunted, a thread of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.
But he used the force of those two blows to surge forward, breaking through the encirclement in an instant and landing on a boulder thirty zhang away.
He turned around, his gaze sweeping over the three figures.
On the left stood a gaunt old man in black, his back hunched, but his eyes as sinister as an eagle's. He let out a strange cackle. A black sheen glimmered across his palms, clearly the result of some sinister cultivation technique.
The Night Owl Elder.
A notorious Rogue Cultivator in Great Zhou, at the middle stage of the Origin-Opening Realm. He had once served as an Attendant to the royal family and enjoyed countless resources.
And now, he had appeared here.
On the right stood an old man in a blood-red robe. His face was withered like a dried corpse, but his eyes were as red as blood, and a heavy stench of blood surrounded him. His palms were stained with blood—not someone else's, but his own. The cultivation method he practiced required his own blood essence to unleash its power.
A Blood God Sect elder, the Blood Butcher Elder, at the middle stage of the Origin-Opening Realm.
Straight ahead stood a giant nearly one zhang tall, bare-chested, his muscles twisted together like the gnarled roots of an old tree. He held an enormous battle-axe taller than a man, blood still dripping from its blade. A violent aura emanated from him, as if he were a ferocious beast in human form.
A Di Army commander, Huyan Lie, at the late stage of the Origin-Opening Realm, and a fierce general of Di Kingdom.
The three Origin-Opening Realm experts surrounded him in a triangle.
The Seventh Prince looked at their faces and suddenly smiled.
His smile was cold enough to chill the heart, but his eyes blazed with fury.
"Interesting." He spoke one word at a time. "A Rogue Cultivator, a Di Kingdom commander, and a remnant of an evil cult. The three of you have come together to tell me that someone in the Great Zhou royal family is colluding with the enemy?"
The Night Owl Elder chuckled, baring a mouthful of yellow teeth. "Clever, Seventh Prince. Unfortunately, clever people tend to die young."
Huyan Lie couldn't be bothered with words. He leveled his giant battle-axe, his voice booming like a bell. "Kill!"
"Boom!"
All three figures lunged at once!
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