"Threatening you? I'm merely explaining what you stand to gain and lose. Don't blame me for not giving you a chance!"
The Black, Emaciated Elder smiled arrogantly and continued, "No one under heaven can stop me from doing what I want. Not you, not those stray cats and dogs under your command, not even those so-called Great Grandmasters you speak of. I've never given any of you a second thought!
"The Great Liang Kingdom was so powerful back then, and Emperor Liang Rui had masters as numerous as clouds beneath him. But what became of them? Didn't I still toy with them in the palm of my hand...
"When the ruler of a nation sheds the cloak of power and kneels at my feet to beg for eternal life, he's no different from a beggar by the roadside. That look on his face... heh, heh, heh! He's even worse than a dog wagging its tail for pity!"
"Insolence!"
Emperor Chen flew into a sovereign rage and slammed his palm heavily against the desk.
The candlestick beside the desk toppled, and the light abruptly dimmed.
Sheets of Xuan Paper flew in every direction, like bats dancing through the dark night.
The battered, yellowed scripture also fluttered open, its pages rustling as a torn leaf drifted free.
An immensely vast, desolate, ancient aura suddenly surged forth.
The Black, Emaciated Elder's pupils contracted, and storm-tossed waves instantly rose in his heart.
The yellowed, torn leaf drifted slowly through the air, faint radiance flowing across it. It was unmistakably a piece of dark-gold jade talisman.
The jade talisman was incomplete, several corners missing, and its surface bore many seemingly haphazardly carved lines that gave off a faint, lustrous glow.
Yet now, in the Black, Emaciated Elder's eyes, all those lines floated off the jade