Deathly silence pervaded the Myriad Beasts Ancient Domain.
Yun Huang stood in midair. Not a trace of spiritual energy stirred around him, yet heaven and earth lay prostrate at his feet.
His pale golden eyes held no warmth as they swept indifferently over the devastated valley below.
At last, they settled on Yun Qing.
That gaze was terrifyingly calm.
Yet Yun Qing's Double Pupils suddenly throbbed with searing pain! He could clearly "see" a blood-red hue slowly spreading through the depths of that icy gold, enough to burn the river of stars to ashes!
It was something more terrifying than anger... a desire for destruction, its restraints utterly torn apart.
"Young Lord-!"
The Twelfth Elder roared himself hoarse, as though he had seized a lifeline:
"Did you hear that?! This Yun Qing harbors a heart worthy of execution! He saw through your supreme, exalted identity long ago! Everything he has done was flattery and calculation, without a shred of sincerity! Such a man, who deceives his sovereign and pries into heaven's secrets, deserves to have his soul torn out and refined as a warning to others!"
Every word was a poisoned icicle, driven viciously into the frozen air.
Silence. Deathlike silence.
Yun Qing opened his mouth, wanting to explain, only to find that every word seemed pale and powerless.
Yun Huang's pale golden eyes gradually froze over, a towering tide of blood-red churning in their depths. A flicker of pain passed through them, unnoticed even by him.
Countless shattered images seemed to overlap with the handsome yet "deceitful" face before him.
"Heh."
Suddenly, Yun Huang gave an exceedingly soft laugh.
The sound was faint, yet everyone present, including the Second Elder of the Immortal Venerable Realm, felt an icy shudder run through their divine souls!
He slowly raised his right hand and pressed lightly toward the ground below.
There was no radiance, no sound.
But in the next instant-
Apart from the spot occupied by Yun Qing and the other two, the remaining twenty-three black-robed Immortal Lords, along with the space within a hundred feet of them, were instantly annihilated, as though erased by an invisible hand!
Not a speck of dust, a drop of blood, or a wisp of lingering soul remained!
Not just anyone had the right to witness this Reincarnated Immortal Emperor's "humiliation."
An Immortal Emperor's wrath, erasure by the laws-all returned to nothingness!
Yun Yuan's expression changed drastically. He stepped forward and said urgently, "Young Lord, please quell your anger! This matter..."
Yun Huang did not look at him. Those completely frozen golden eyes remained fixed on Yun Qing alone.
Under that gaze, Yun Qing felt as though every disguise had been stripped from him, leaving him naked before ice that had endured for countless ages.
"Immortal-Sealing Tower."
Those words descended with a thunderous force, like a decree of the Heavenly Dao!
The space around Yun Qing abruptly solidified! A towering ancient pagoda appeared above his head, radiant sun divine power flowing over its body with the might to suppress all ages. Countless golden chains formed from laws shot out of the void! In an instant, they wound tightly around his limbs, torso, and neck!
The moment the chains bound him, Yun Qing gave a muffled groan. His vast Immortal King Realm spiritual energy abruptly stagnated like a frozen river! His chaos dao embryo wailed as it was forcibly suppressed into silence! The vision of his Double Pupils instantly dimmed, flooded with endless golden talisman light.
The Immortal-Sealing Tower! A supreme Immortal Artifact forged by Yun Huang himself, once a place of doom where he imprisoned heinous criminals and suppressed fiends!
Yun Qing had no time to struggle, nor the strength to do so.
Even his chaos dao embryo trembled instinctively, warning him not to oppose the enraged Immortal Emperor before him.
That power was so vast, so furious, and steeped in icy disappointment that Yun Qing could not muster even the thought of resisting.
The golden chains suddenly retracted, dragging him toward an endlessly deep spatial rift at the base of the ancient tower.
An instant before darkness swallowed him completely, Yun Qing struggled to lift his eyes toward that figure in the sky, as indifferent as a deity.
He saw Yun Huang's blood-flooded eyes. Then an utterly cold sentence thundered forth, carving itself directly into the depths of his divine soul:
"Yun Qing, you have... deeply disappointed me."
Darkness swallowed him completely.
The rift closed, and the phantom Immortal-Sealing Tower vanished, as though nothing had happened.
Only the Twelfth Elder remained, collapsed like a heap of mud yet wild with joy, along with Yun Yuan, whose face was grave and whose heart burned with worry.
Yun Huang's figure slowly faded into the void. Before he vanished, he left an indifferent command:
"Take him back to the clan to await judgment."
"Ha... hahaha... cough, cough, cough!"
Once he was certain Yun Huang had left, the Twelfth Elder could no longer restrain himself. He coughed up blood as he let out hoarse, deranged laughter. His face was as ashen as a corpse, yet twisted delight burned in his eyes:
"Yun Qing... what does it matter if your talent is peerless and your schemes run deep? Before absolute power and an immortal's might, you are nothing but an ant."
He struggled to sit up, venomous calculation in his eyes. Yun Chi is dead, and all my elites are gone, but as long as Yun Qing loses favor and is crippled-or even refined-I still have a chance! The Young Lord is furious now. He may well stop pursuing my attempt to ambush and kill Yun Qing. I might yet turn the tables!
With a sweep of his sleeve, the Second Elder knocked the wildly laughing Twelfth Elder unconscious and took him away, escorting him back to the clan.
All that remained was a ravaged valley, a stench of blood too thick to disperse, and... a crisis of trust between brothers, a bond that had only just formed before abruptly freezing over.
Perching Phoenix Hall.
The hall doors were tightly shut, its luminous pearls dim.
Yun Huang sat alone on the dark jade throne. The hall was terrifyingly quiet, save for the faint, rhythmic tapping of his knuckles against the armrest.
Those accusations-"deceiving his sovereign," "all calculation"-were like poisoned icicles driven viciously into Yun Huang's divine soul.
He suddenly felt... utterly ridiculous.
Ridiculous that, despite knowing the Second Elder was right there and more than capable of keeping Yun Qing safe, he had still worried enough to send a wisp of divine sense to watch over the Myriad Beasts Ancient Domain.
Ridiculous that he had even left a Dao-Guardian Mark on Yun Qing, fearing that he might suffer somewhere beyond his sight.
And the result?
What did I get in return?
His deeply buried secret had been seen through from the very beginning.
The reverse scale he refused to expose to anyone had long since been laid bare before that man's eyes.
All that comforting concern, that perfectly measured deference, that clumsy acceptance from his "older brother" which had occasionally stirred his heart... it had all been a meticulously crafted performance, founded on "knowing he was a reincarnated Immortal Emperor"!
He had been deceived.
The "older brother" he had found "interesting" and "pleasing," whom he had unconsciously indulged so much and placed... unwarranted hopes in, had deceived him from beginning to end!
"Good... well done, Yun Qing." Yun Huang's voice was low and hoarse, yet carried the bitter chill of ten-thousand-year-old ice. With every word, the temperature in the hall plunged further, until ice crystals formed in the air.
The tranquil radiant sun divine power around him began to boil uncontrollably, running wild! Threads of golden flame streamed from his robes and the ends of his hair. Wherever they passed, space groaned beneath the unbearable burden, twisting and splitting into slender black fissures!
The entire Perching Phoenix Hall shook violently beneath his terrifying pressure!
"Humm-"
A faint hum suddenly came from the void, as though from the laws of the Heavenly Dao, carrying a note of warning.
Yun Huang abruptly raised his eyes!
His golden pupils were drenched in blood-red!
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