Chapter 411 - Taking Things Too Far

Lin Zichen walked away without the two courtesans, and Lin Batian would naturally not take them back. He called for the guards to escort them out of the palace without a single hint of hesitation. He didn’t care about them after what they had done to him.

The palace is a merciless place.

Long Chen reminded himself to be very careful here.

They soon reached Qianwen Palace, and Lin Batian welcomed Long Chen warmly. He even gave Long Chen two beautiful courtesans, but Long Chen refused them. He then headed to the room Lin Batian had assigned him and started thinking about his next step.

“Brother Chen, we are now in the palace and met Lin Zichen. What should we do now? Kill him directly?” Ling Xi sat on the edge of the table while staring at Long Chen with her glittering eyes.

“No one can kill Lin Zichen here in the palace. Ignoring the Sword Emperor, I don’t think I can confidently kill him right now,” Long Chen answered with a frown.

“What should we do, then?”

“We need to think of a way to lure Lin Zichen out of the city, the further the better. Or we might not be able to escape the Sword Emperor. Remember, we had to hide ourselves for a long time after killing the Sword Demon.”

“Then let me help you think of a plan.” Ling Xi loved puzzles and had always fiddled with all types of seals and restrictions. She was smart, so she soon thought of a plan. “Brother Chen, do you still remember what you heard earlier today? About the beasts attacking the city.”

Long Chen smiled when he heard her. He knew what she was planning.

He poked her head and praised her. “Xiao Xi, you are smart and this is an excellent plan, but that plan hinges on the Sword Emperor’s decision. Let me think of something I can do now ... I need to create some chaos and kill someone first.”

“Why?”

“Think about it. Lin Zichen is much stronger than Lin Batian, but the Sword Emperor still forbade him from killing Lin Batian. That means that the Sword Emperor still cares about the Eldest Prince. Remember how many people he sent to chase me down after I killed the Ninth Prince? That means he takes his sons’ matters very seriously. He probably doesn’t want his sons to be killed right now, but since it’s a natural thing to do in order to succeed to the throne, he has no choice but to let it be. Now, what happens if Lin Batian and Lin Zichen are fighting over each other so viciously while there’s a crisis to the north of the kingdom?”

“You mean you want them to fight in the palace so the Sword Emperor sends one of them to the north to save Ginger City?”

“Yes. If Lin Batian goes, Lin Zichen will be forced to stay in the palace, but since the leader of the beast stampede is too strong, the Sword Emperor will most likely send Lin Zichen instead. Without a leader, the demonic beasts will become disorganized and it will be much simpler to deal with them. We only need to force Lin Zichen to go to the north, and our objective will be complete.”

It was not a straightforward plan, but it had a high chance of succeeding. All Long Chen needed to do was stoke the fire between the two princes even more.

“Brother Chen, who are you going to kill?”

“You will see.” Long Chen smiled mysteriously and asked her to return to the sword. He then acted immediately. Since the entire palace was in the territory of the Sword Emperor, Long Chen dared not stay for too long. Since Lin Zichen and Lin Batian had a conflict today, this was a good chance to execute his plan.

The First Commander’s living area was close to Qianwen Palace. Long Chen used Sight and soon found where he was.

“Brother Chen, are you going to kill him?” Ling Xi was surprised.

“Yeah. Lin Zichen tried to set up a trap for Lin Batian today with the insults, but the First Commander prevented that from happening. Since Lin Zichen couldn’t make Lin Batian hit him first, he surely hates the First Commander. This is very logical, right? Also, since the wound inflicted by the Imperial Sword Qi is almost indistinguishable from the Demon Emperor Sword Qi, it will be easy to frame him ... Xiao Xi, don’t feel guilty about this. They are all our enemies, including the First Commander. He would’ve killed me if he knew who I was. I killed the six other commanders, so it's time to send the final one down for them to reunite. There is no vengeance without killing! I still remember the blow inflicted by Ling Zichen clearly!”

Long Chen saw how reluctant Ling Xi was when he talked about killing a stranger, so he explained his reasoning to her calmly. They were now fifty meters away from the room of the First Commander. He had transformed into his dragon form. It was nighttime and the clouds had covered the stars, so the skies were very dim. Long Chen felt like he was moving in complete darkness.

He didn’t even need to use the first stage of the Demon Seed Planting Technique. He used Sight to see that the First Commander was cultivating. Long Chen took a deep breath and took out the Demon Emperor Sword.

“Die!” he whispered. Then he became nothing but a shadow. He ran inside from the window and launched the Demon Emperor Sword Qi at point-blank range!

“Who’s there?!” the First Commander shouted in surprise, trying to block the attack with his palm.

But there was nothing he could do. He had underestimated how strong the Demon Emperor Sword Qi was, and it cut through his arm, body, and head.

The energy dispersed and the entire building collapsed.

The sound of rumbling could be heard from far away as dust flew everywhere.

“Done.” Long Chen had done it all in one move, and he didn’t stop to admire his work. While running out, he calculated how long it would take for him to get here from his room. He then hid in a safe place, and when the time was right, he ran back towards where he had killed the First Commander. When he arrived, Lin Batian was already there. The house was nothing but ruins.

All the residents of the palace slowly arrived as well.

“What’s happening?” The Eldest Prince’s face was pale when he saw which house had collapsed. The First Commander was also gone. The First Commander was not only his strongest subordinate, he was also his uncle, so Lin Batian was naturally very worried.

Lin Batian had a bad feeling and immediately ordered the guards, “Quick! Shovel out the dirt and see if he’s in there!” He then saw Long Chen and called him over.

“Your Highness, what happened?” Long Chen put on a confused look.

“I don’t know, but I can’t sense the First Commander’s aura. Did he fight someone and is now chasing them? I don’t think so. How come we only heard the sound of the building collapsing?” The Eldest Prince was confused.

“Impossible. Who would dare to assassinate him in the palace?” Long Chen acted surprised.

“I don’t know, but where did the First Commander go? He can’t be inside, right?” Right when he said that, one of the guards that was digging through the rubble shouted. All of them looked at the guard and saw a head on the ground.

The bottom part of the head was covered in blood. The first thing they noticed were the eyes, which were locked in shock.

It was as if he had died without even knowing who killed him.

As Long Chen expected, Lin Batian lost control the moment he saw the head. Even his eyes were bloodshot.

The head naturally belonged to the First Commander.

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

“Who would dare to kill my uncle? Who did it?!” Lin Batian shouted in a frenzy and looked at everyone with poison in his eyes before finally looking at Long Chen.

“The First Commander was already dead when I got here. That means the killer is at least ten times stronger than him. Only one person in the Cangyang Kingdom has that kind of strength.” Long Chen analyzed calmly and further instigated the conflict.

Lin Batian’s eyes were in shock when he howled, “Lin Zichen, you took this too far!”

“Your Highness, the Fourth Prince is using his strength to walk all over you! The First Commander shouldn’t have wronged him today!” Long Chen said with a frown.

“Lin Zichen is too ruthless! He always repays his grudges. He tried to trap me today, but my uncle saved me from falling into his trap. He can’t kill me, so he killed my uncle to vent his anger! Impudent bastard! I’m not someone he can walk all over. Brother Yang, do you dare follow me to Xingchen Palace?!” Lin Batian was so clouded by anger and vengeance that he would never think Long Chen was the one behind it.

“Of course! I hear he’s very popular. This is a good time to meet him!”