"Master Righteous One, Master Bitter Cicada, leaders and elders, there's no need to worry," Emperor Zhu Honggong said crisply.
"Those are the imperial guards of the Fiery Phoenix that I have trained in person. They have never shown themselves because they are preparing for today's battle. Hehe. Han Baling, Qi Changsheng, Wan Mingzhu, the greatest problems of the court, are all here. This is great. Fellow Cultivators, elders, and leaders, if you fight with me and eliminate the evildoers, the world will be at peace."
"Your Majesty …"
Qi Zhong was wise enough to not dispel Emperor Phoenix's lies at all. The Heaven Flipping Seal, the ultimate treasure of the Ancient Sages Sector, was still floating in midair and revolving rapidly. He asked suspiciously, "If Your Majesty is determined to annihilate Han Baling, Qi Changsheng, and Wan Mingzhu, why have you been lurking far away? Also, the armor of the imperial guards of the Fiery Phoenix Empire is so weird. Not just the style of the traditional armor of the Great Qian Dynasty, they even look different from the primeval treasures on the ground. Where did Your Majesty get them?"
"Well …"
Rolling his eyes quickly, Emperor Phoenix blushed, and he was lost for words for a moment.
"Your little emperor is lying. Something is definitely wrong with him."
Han Baling chuckled and said quickly, "If he really wanted to surround and annihilate us, he should've approached us from the rear along the rails. But he has been hiding in the darkness all the time and getting further and further away from us. Besides, if he really did not feel guilty, he would've told you everything in advance so that he could've set up a trap for us.
"He has been acting so stealthily. Who will believe his lies that are full of loopholes? Besides, the weird-looking armor is not something that the Great Qian Dynasty can produce at all. Also, I have never seen such a weird model in the archives of all the dynasties in the past hundred thousand years."
Who knows what happened in the Forbidden Palace of the Divine Capital last spring? You all said that the old Emperor was angered to death by me, but I also said that he was poisoned to death by this young Emperor. If he didn't know that the old Emperor was going to die, how could he have made such a perfect arrangement in the Divine Capital? He bribed and controlled the Imperial Guards and the experts of the Imperial Palace. The other princes and even the Crown Prince were ignorant and were easily suppressed by him. Also, where did a lone ghost like him who guarded the Ancestral Temple get the power to help him control everything? "
"Fellow Cultivators from the central plateaus, has it ever occurred to you?
"The forces behind the little emperor are far beyond our imagination. Today, he has finally revealed his true intentions.
"Fellow Cultivator Qi, Fellow Cultivator Ba, Master Bitter Cicada, I suggest that you watch your back. The saber in my hand is obvious, but the saber in the little emperor's hand is invisible. Chances are that you won't notice it until it stabs into your heart.
"Also, the elders and leaders of the six major sects, don't gloat. Hehe. It is true that your little emperor hates our guts, but does he not hate you and want to mince you into pieces and scatter your ashes? Fellow Cultivators Qi and Wan are great problems for the court. The six major sects and even the entire world of Cultivators are great problems for the court, too. Any emperor would be infuriated after he learns about the clandestine deals that you have been involved in during the natural disasters in the southeast. The little emperor is smiling at you right now, but who knows what he is thinking in his heart? After he eliminates me and the rest of us, it will be your turn. Why are you still standing here like idiots?"
Everybody was soaked in cold sweat after hearing what he said.
It was a secret that everybody knew that Emperor Phoenix had been crowned unjustly. Even a blind man could see the contradiction between the court and the Cultivators clearly, too.
They had teamed up because of the pressure of the 'Four Rapscallions' and the temptation of the Divine Palace in the first place. They were typical bedfellows with different dreams and had their own plans.
But right now, Han Baling had torn apart the last mask of harmony mercilessly. Also, Emperor Phoenix had indeed been acting stealthily. The leaders and elders of the six major sects were all quick-witted masters. Their suspicions were popping up in their heads. How could they be stupid enough to work for Emperor Phoenix?
"Fellow Cultivators and leaders, don't listen to his lies. Let's attack together and kill them. Kill them all. All the Cloud Qin Gold Statues here will be divided equally. Equally!"
Sensing everybody's hesitation, Emperor Phoenix grew anxious. Crimson spots of blood were bursting out of his face as he roared furiously.
"The Cloud Qin Gold Statues are the most important weapons of the country. One Cloud Qin Gold Statue is enough to stomp on a city. How can you be sincere about dividing them equally with everybody? The nicer your words sound, the weirder your heart is!"
Han Baling raised his voice, too. "Fellow Cultivators, leaders, and elders, we have no grudge against each other in the past. Many of you have even cooperated with Cloud Qin very delightfully in the past. Are we really going to attack each other and let the little emperor who hates our guts take all the benefits? Don't be blinded by your greed. Beware that none of you will be able to walk out of the terrifying Divine Palace in the end!"
"Kill them now! Kill them now! Whoever executes Qi Changsheng and Wan Mingzhu will be rewarded with a Cloud Qin Gold Statue. Whoever executes the barbarian leader, Po Liu, will be rewarded with two!"
Emperor Phoenix bulged his eyes and roared.
"The Cloud Qin Gold Statues do not belong to anyone. All the virtuous people in the world deserve them. Who needs your reward? Besides, where did your armor come from exactly? How did you manage to control the Imperial Guards last year? If we don't make ourselves clear, we won't know who the devil is yet."
Han Baling spared no effort in the psychological warfare, too.
Including Qi Zhongdao, Ba Xiaoyu, Master Bitter Cicada, the Cultivators of the six major sects, Qi Changsheng, and Wan Mingzhu, all the high-level Cultivators on both sides were highly anxious. None of them knew how they should deal with the situation before their eyes.
Right then, Yan Liren, who had been silent the whole time, was the first to react. He shook his short sword and stabbed it neither at Emperor Phoenix nor at Han Baling but at a certain point in midair. The aura of the sword turned into dozens of raging dragons again, covering the hundred square meters nearby.
Zi! Zi! Zi!
Nothing could be hidden under the intense aura of the sword.
A member of the tactical squad of the Imperium, who had snuck to the sky of the black-skeleton-like Colossus after leaving the main troop, surfaced from the void and landed precisely on the shoulder of the black-skeleton-like Colossus.
"Someone else is here?"
Including Li Yao and Long Yangjun, who were observing from the bridge, everybody was greatly alarmed.
It was not until then that they realized that Emperor Phoenix, the seemingly innocent young emperor, was in fact not easy to deal with at all.
Emperor Phoenix had argued with Han Baling and Qi Zhongdao for such a long time and even pretended that he was at a loss because he wanted to buy more time so that the last person could jump onto the Colossus.
The man's methods were rather impressive, too. Just now, Wan Mingzhu's raging mist had almost covered an area of hundreds of square meters, but the man had slid out without a sound without causing any spiritual waves.
He must be the center of Emperor Phoenix's whole plan.
"Get down here!"
A second sword appeared in Yan Liren's left hand.
The blade of the sword was only one foot and a half long, but the skyrocketing aura of the sword was like a waterfall of light that was rushing down three thousand feet.
But this time, Emperor Phoenix cut in between Yan Liren and the mysterious Exo in advance. A longsword that seemed to be condensed by fire was unsheathed, and the aura of the sword that looked like a waterfall was unleashed, too.
Waterfall. Waterfall.
BOOM!
Deafening explosions echoed in everybody's ears.
When the longswords collided, there should have been crisp sounds of collisions, but when the auras of the swords collided thousands of times within a moment, the sound was as terrifying as a flood that was breaking down a dam.
Yan Liren grunted. His body that looked like a meatball leaped backward and spun hundreds of times before he finally got rid of Emperor Phoenix's sword auras that were like maggots to his bones. There was nothing but excitement on his face, but there was not the slightest suspicion, hesitation, panic, or frustration.
It seemed that for him, failure was not a problem, and the identity of his enemy was not a problem at all. It was enough as long as he could unleash the most powerful sword aura.
Ripples of light were spreading out around Emperor Phoenix's Crystal Suit, as if a vague membrane had covered the surface of the Crystal Suit.
It's a string-light battlesuit.
Li Yao thought to himself. Emperor Phoenix's Crystal Suit and the Crystal Suit of the three Immortal Cultivators on Kunlun had adopted the same technology. String theory and membrane theory had been applied to both of them. One might say that they were an upgraded version of the common Crystal Suit and were qualified to be called 'Light Suits'.
Their combat performance was significantly higher than that of common crystal suits.
Emperor Phoenix had gotten his hands on a Light Suit. The combat ability of the tactical squad of the Imperium next to him was immeasurable.
Yan Liren's Cultivation, on the other hand, was even more terrifying. Without any armor on his body, he was able to have a head-on clash with a Yuanying expert who was wearing a Crystal Suit with only two short swords.
Crazy. It was too crazy.
After all, if it were Li Yao, he would never be willing to charge at an enemy of the same level who was enhanced by a Crystal Suit naked.
Shua! Shua! Shua!
Shua! The moment Emperor Phoenix took action, the Exos around him took action too. They cut in between the locals of the Ancient Sages Sector and the black-skeleton-like Colossus. Dangerous brilliance beamed out of the gaps of the Crystal Suit. The aggressive units hidden below the shoulder armor and the breastplate were shrieking, too, not disguising their hostility at all.
"What do you want, Your Majesty?"
Qi Zhongdao's face suddenly turned extremely awful.
"I've long heard that Elder Yan Liren of the Purple Pole Sword Sect is the best sword expert in the world, even more distinguished than the eunuch Wang Xi.
Emperor Phoenix's Cultivation was not as high as Yan Liren's in the first place, but with the enhancement of the Crystal Suit, he was able to tie with Yan Liren. For a moment, the redness on his face was even more intense. He glanced at everybody gloatingly, but his face suddenly turned gloomy as he said coldly, "If you are still the martyrs of the Great Qian Dynasty, don't move. Whoever acts recklessly will be considered a traitor to the court and the Great Qian Dynasty."
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