Mingde Hall.
Inside the duty office.
Lin Jiayi slammed the desk and sprang to his feet, his face filled with fury.
"You're saying His Highness was taken away by people claiming to be from the Imperial Family Inspection Team?"
"Yes. I was hiding nearby at the time, and they probably didn't notice me. Brother Cheng told me to come back and get word to Elder Cheng and Hall Master Jing."
Nana spoke anxiously.
"All right, I'll go right now!"
Lin Jiayi also realized how urgent the situation was. It most likely involved the struggle for succession within the imperial family.
Especially since his superior had recently shown signs of siding with Xu Cheng. Even setting all that aside, those people with gall enough to defy heaven had taken someone from the academy. There was no way he could escape responsibility for this!
With a flash, he hurried toward Mingde Hall.
Nana remained where she was, anxiety showing in her beautiful eyes.
Although she had already sent word to the Holy Spirit Cult's headquarters to request powerful reinforcements, the sudden turn of events still left her deeply worried.
After all, everyone knew that for the imperial throne, for the succession struggle, those people would stop at nothing.
The Holy Spirit Cult's main sanctuary.
It lay who knew how deep underground.
An icy wind chilled to the bone, and four immense pillars stretched from floor to ceiling, supporting the vast cavern.
At the very bottom of the underground sanctuary stood a stone platform.
An ink-black Bone Dragon lay coiled upon it, its enormous body covering the entire platform. Waves of an ancient dragon's lingering might emanated from its sinister black bones.
Atop the Bone Dragon's head.
A man shrouded entirely in black robes sat cross-legged.
A layer of pitch-black mist gathered around him, concealing his figure and making his identity seem all the more mysterious.
Suddenly.
Beneath the black robes, his eyes slowly opened, carrying a trace of anger.
At the same time, ghostly blue flames kindled in the empty sockets of the Bone Dragon beneath him. Its enormous body began to tremble, then slowly rose into the air and wheeled through the cavern.
A terrifying aura spread throughout the entire cavern.
Across its countless other levels, the Holy Spirit Cult's disciples fell to their knees, crushed breathless beneath that aura.
"How dare they imprison the Holy Son of my Holy Spirit Cult! What audacity!"
Zhongli Wu's icy voice echoed throughout the cavern.
It carried an utter fury.
Xu Cheng was his greatest tool for gaining control of the Sun Moon Empire in the future. Moreover, he possessed extraordinary talent and had already been designated the Holy Spirit Cult's next successor. If he died, the cult's grand plan would come to nothing!
"Send word. Invite the Great Enshrined, Fourth Enshrined, Sixth Enshrined, Seventh Enshrined, and Eleventh Enshrined to accompany me to Mingdu! Let's see what these small fry are playing at!"
Zhongli Wu spoke coldly.
"Yes!"
The reply echoed throughout the cavern.
Streaks of black light shot out of the cavern, racing in every direction.
"Xu Jiran, let's see how you clean up this mess!"
Inside a resplendent mansion in Mingdu.
Ponds lined both sides of the banks, planted full of lotuses in their summer bloom. Dots of green and touches of tender pink filled the ponds with the colors of summer.
Inside a pavilion.
Xu Tianran sat in his wheelchair and slowly opened his eyes.
He looked toward the subordinate delivering the report beside him.
"You're saying... Fourth Brother's men took him away?"
"I could not possibly have mistaken it. Right outside the Sun Moon Imperial Academy, several men wearing the Imperial Family Inspection Team's distinctive armor took His Eleventh Highness into a soul vehicle and left together."
"Hahahaha! Interesting. Very interesting."
Xu Tianran laughed heartily.
It was as though he had avenged the humiliation of his visit to the Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Corps a few days earlier.
"Indeed, Your Highness. However arrogant he was that day, he must be just as wretched now. Those fellows in the Imperial Family Inspection Team are notorious for their ruthlessness. In their hands, he'll be unable to live or die!"
An attendant beside him spoke bitterly.
"You speak too much." The smile abruptly vanished from Xu Tianran's face, and he cast a cold glance at the attendant who had spoken.
"Yes! I spoke out of turn!"
Terror filled the attendant's face. He hastily dropped to his knees and began slapping himself hard across the mouth.
"Enough." Xu Tianran waved a hand, feeling nothing but weary.
Why was he surrounded by pig-brained fools? Couldn't he have one clever subordinate to shoulder some of his burdens?
Only while Xu Cheng remained alive could he effectively hold the Fourth Prince in check, creating a three-legged balance of power from which Xu Tianran could reap the fisherman's profit.
But if Xu Cheng died, Xu Tianran would be the one with the most to fear!
When the Fourth Prince, Xu Jiran, turned his guns around and aimed all his firepower at him, that would be the true crisis!
With that, Xu Tianran pondered for a moment.
"Make preparations. We're going to the Imperial Family Inspection Team!"
The Imperial Family Inspection Team's offices were located within the Imperial City. Although they stood only in a corner of it, the compound was quite large.
Almost everyone who could join the Imperial Family Inspection Team could be counted among the imperial relatives, but very few belonged to the direct bloodline.
After all, who wanted to diligently perform a job that offended people? Better for everyone to get along; when something actually happened, they would simply open one eye and close the other.
Against ordinary nobles or commoners, however, they struck with heavy fists. So rather than the Imperial Family Inspection Team, the Imperial Family Guard would have been a more fitting name.
Someone of Xu Cheng's exalted status had not been treated this way in decades. If this were not a critical moment in the princes' succession struggle-in other words, once he lost that struggle, his status as a prince would be worth shit and would only hasten his death-how would they have dared treat him like this...
Within this little domain.
Xu Mochen's bloodline was the noblest in the Imperial Family Inspection Team, and he controlled this force.
"Get inside." A Soul King from the Imperial Family Inspection Team shoved Xu Cheng hard.
Xu Cheng remained silent, quietly observing his surroundings.
The Imperial Family Inspection Team's interior was lavishly decorated, and its buildings were palatial as well. Unfortunately, beneath the fine exterior lay rotten stuffing.
Xu Mochen signaled his subordinates with a look and said, "Take him to the Interrogation Room. Find out exactly why he attacked a fellow member of the imperial family."
"Captain, leave it to us." One of Xu Mochen's trusted subordinates rubbed his fists eagerly, then escorted Xu Cheng toward the rear with several others.
The Interrogation Room stood in the Imperial Family Inspection Team's rear courtyard. From outside, it looked like an ordinary single-story building. But the moment the door opened, a faint smell of blood assailed their noses.
Xu Cheng was shoved straight inside.
The Interrogation Room was fully stocked with instruments of torture, from basic implements such as the Tiger Bench and Chili Water to others he could not even name despite his exposure to films from a later era.
Together with the bloodstains on some of them, they looked rather intimidating.
Oh, and there was also the infamous Dragon-Peeling Pillar.
Xu Cheng immediately spotted a cross-shaped iron frame covered in densely packed holes. According to the original work's description, sharp spikes would emerge from those holes and pierce the victim's limbs at an extremely slow speed, intensifying the pain.
It could also suppress the victim's soul power. Even a Soul Saint would be powerless to resist and could only watch as his flesh was sliced open and the knife handles twisted within it...
"Bind him to the Dragon-Peeling Pillar." A Soul Emperor other than Xu Mochen waved his hand, and the two Soul Kings holding Xu Cheng immediately hauled him before an iron frame.
The corner of Xu Cheng's mouth twitched.
They're really doing this?
Before you continue