The door was kicked open, and a savage-looking Imperial Guard appeared outside. Hu Xiaotian looked up at the man and saw that he was extraordinarily burly. His clothes had split in several places, exposing the bluish-gray skin beneath. His face was the same terrifying bluish gray, and his eyes had turned completely blood-red. Flecks of blood stained his body as he advanced toward Hu Xiaotian, step by step.
Hu Xiaotian inwardly cursed his luck. To think he would end up dying at the hands of some nameless lackey without even knowing what was happening.
The guard seized Hu Xiaotian and raised his curved saber, intending to slice through his neck. In desperation, Hu Xiaotian hit upon an idea and shouted, "Don't you want to know where Princess Yongyang is?"
The guard hesitated slightly. Long Tingzhen's voice rang out from outside. "Wait!"
The blade stopped barely half an inch from Hu Xiaotian's throat. His life truly hung by a thread.
Long Tingzhen walked in. Had Hu Xiaotian not heard his voice, he would scarcely have recognized him. Long Tingzhen seemed a full size larger than before, his face suffused with a bluish cast and his eyes blood-red. He actually bore some resemblance to the guard who had first burst into the room.
Hu Xiaotian's first thought was that these men had been poisoned. But he had never heard of poison making someone grow a full size larger in such a short time. Even their skin color had visibly changed, as though they had become people of a different race.
At the sight of Hu Xiaotian, Long Tingzhen's expression grew even more savage. He reached Hu Xiaotian in a single bound, moving with the speed of a first-rate martial artist. His huge hand closed around Hu Xiaotian's throat, and he asked sinisterly,