The throwing knife, wrapped in spiritual power, chased down Night Owl as he sprinted away like a bolt of lightning.
"Pfft!"
The knife pierced Night Owl's back with pinpoint accuracy and burst out through his chest, spraying a string of blood blossoms.
Night Owl's eyes widened in disbelief. He slowly fell, his life fading in an instant.
Even as he died, he never imagined that the Eleventh Prince, whom everyone regarded as useless, had been hiding his true abilities so well.
Only after confirming that Night Owl was dead did Lin Hanzhou continue riding forward.
To him, what had just happened was nothing more than a minor interruption.
As someone in the Pulse Opening Realm, killing a postnatal martial artist was as easy as drinking water.
What surprised him, though, was how unusually weak these so-called postnatal martial artists were.
Although this world's Postnatal Realm was equivalent to Blue Star's Body Tempering Realm, the Postnatal Realm was clearly somewhat weaker.
Lin Hanzhou could tell from the strength of Lin Yuan's guards and this assassin.
They were both masters at the ninth level of the Postnatal Realm, but the strength and speed they had shown couldn't compare to the ninth level of Body Tempering.
If Lin Hanzhou had faced them back when he was at the ninth level of Body Tempering, he could have crushed them just as easily.
"Looks like this world's martial arts system is seriously backward."
Lin Hanzhou murmured to himself, analyzing this world's martial arts system.
In his view, the only reason for this disparity could be the cultivation techniques.
The strongest people in this world had only reached the Innate Realm, so naturally, they had no good cultivation techniques.
But Blue Star, where he came from, was different. Its strongest had reached the ninth rank, and even beyond.
The Luo Heaven Art he cultivated had been created by a mighty ninth-rank expert.
The two were utterly incomparable.
Before long, Lin Hanzhou rode past the alley, where the smell of blood still lingered.
Behind him, the assassin codenamed Night Owl had become a cold corpse, lying quietly in a shadow where no one would find him.
Back on the broad Imperial Road, Lin Hanzhou turned his gaze toward the distant imperial palace.
He sensed several Innate Realm auras gathered inside, faintly locked in confrontation.
"At least five Innate experts? Third Brother and Ninth Brother really have gone all out this time."
Lin Hanzhou's lips curled slightly. He understood the situation in the palace.
That was the main battlefield tonight.
The enormous white-jade plaza directly in front of the imperial palace was now deserted.
The Imperial Guards, who used to stand at every third pace and keep watch at every fifth, had vanished without a trace.
Clearly, the area had been cleared out, turned into a stage reserved for the princes to settle their disputes.
Yet outside the palace gates leading to the plaza, the atmosphere was entirely different.
Dozens of martial artists armed with sharp blades stood on either side, sharply divided, completely blocking the road to the gates.
On the left stood one group, their armor marked with fierce tiger emblems, their killing intent surging.
They were none other than the famed Tiger Brave Guard under Third Prince Lin Tai.
On the right stood another group, clad in green soft armor and armed with daggers and powerful crossbows.
They were the Green Garment Tower assassins secretly cultivated by Ninth Prince Lin Hao.
Every one of these dozens was a skilled martial artist of the Postnatal Realm, with even the weakest at the seventh level.
There were quite a few experts at the ninth level as well.
The reason they had been ordered to wait here was simple.
The battle inside the imperial palace belonged to the Innate experts.
Even a hundred Postnatal martial artists would struggle to pose a real threat to an Innate expert.
If they barged in recklessly, they would only become cannon fodder, wasting their forces for nothing.
So their mission was to seal off the area.
They were to prevent either side's reinforcements—or any unrelated people—from entering and interfering with the final showdown inside the palace.
Both sides wore stern expressions and glared at each other. The tension was palpable.
They hadn't made a move, but the air was thick with the smell of gunpowder, as if a single spark could set it all off.
In the suffocating standoff, a crisp clatter of hoofbeats broke the silence.
"Clop... clop... clop..."
Both groups looked toward the sound, curious.
From the darkness at the end of the Imperial Road, a figure astride a black horse was approaching the palace gates at an unhurried pace.
The newcomer was slender, dressed in fine brocade. In the torchlight, his features looked somewhat youthful.
Yet he seemed remarkably calm, as if he weren't heading toward a battlefield about to run red with blood, but strolling leisurely through his own garden.
"Th-that's... who?"
A small-time commander among the Tiger Brave Guard asked in a low voice.
"Judging by his build and clothes... could that be... His Highness, the Eleventh Prince?"
Someone beside him ventured uncertainly.
At the title, the scene fell deathly silent.
Then, the eyes of both groups lit up in unison with a mixture of greed and delight.
The Eleventh Prince, Lin Hanzhou!?
That useless prince everyone in the imperial family knew about!
The laughingstock born with blocked meridians, unable to even reach the first level of the Postnatal Realm!
Everyone present had heard the report that the Seventh Prince had sent him out of the city to avoid trouble.
But who could have guessed that this good-for-nothing would come running back on his own?
And at such a crucial moment, all alone.
What was this?
A bounty delivered right to their door!
After tonight, either Third Prince or Ninth Prince was certain to become the new emperor.
When that happened, those who took part might all become loyal ministers who had helped the new emperor ascend the throne.
And killing a prince—even a useless one—would be an enormous achievement.
It would be enough to secure them a place in the court of the future.
In an instant, the hostility between the two sides, which had been on the verge of erupting, quietly ebbed.
In its place came covetousness for the "prey" before them.
The commander of the Tiger Brave Guard, a burly man as broad as an iron pagoda and covered in a thick beard, licked his cracked lips, his eyes blazing with murderous intent.
The leader of the Green Garment Tower, a slender-faced man with venomous, snake-like eyes, quietly tightened his grip on his dagger.
Both men were plotting how to claim this enormous achievement before the other could.
Lin Hanzhou, still astride his horse, naturally took it all in.
Looking at the undisguised greed and contempt on their faces, he could only laugh.
A bunch of mere Postnatal Realm ants dared to block his way?
Rather than run away, they'd waited for me right here?
He didn't slow down. Still astride his black horse, he rapidly drew closer.
The closer Lin Hanzhou came, the brighter the delight in the Postnatal experts' eyes grew.
In their minds, this useless prince was already in their hands.
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