Chapter 693: Preparing for a Counterattack

Let time rewind until the third day since the crown prince left the capital.

The king of the realm, as usual, was dealing with paperwork in his study. He rubbed his brows and murmured to himself, "I truly am getting old, aren't I..."

He had heard nothing from the crown prince over the last three days, and he couldn't help but be a little worried. However, there was nothing he could do but await the news of his return.

Just what were the Jinghun doing? Were they really in the capital? According to the half of the jade seal he had remaining, there were no Jinghun in the capital at all.

No one knew that the crown prince's half of the jade seal was fake. The king of the realm didn't dare trust the crown prince with such a precious object; in other words, the crown prince was just bait for the Jinghun.

The king of the realm was mulling over what to do next when a servant came by bearing a bowl of soup. "Your majesty, the imperial chefs have prepared a thousand-year-old lotus soup for you."

The king of the realm frowned. "I don't believe I ordered them to prepare it."

The servant replied, "We servants requested it upon seeing how tirelessly you were working, your majesty."

"Is that so?"

The king slowly reached out to the soup—but he dropped his hand immediately upon seeing a flash of malice in the old servant's eyes.

"Leave it be. I don't have the habit of drinking soup at night."

The servant seemed to turn anxious. "Yes, your majesty! I'll pour it away immediately!"

"It would be a pity, wouldn't it? Too wasteful to just discard it—why don't you drink it instead?" The king of the realm grabbed his servant's neck and poured the soup down his throat.

The servant clutched his neck in pain as he keened. His face gradually turned black, and his body withered.

The king of the realm sighed. "Two whole decades—and you betrayed me at the last."

"Save me, your majesty..." The servant reached out weakly with a hand before slumping to the ground.

Claps resounded throughout the palace as a man slowly made his way inside. "Impressive, very impressive! To think that the king of the realm would remain so wary even in his advanced age! I must say, we've underestimated you."

If he was nervous, the king of the realm didn't display it. He narrowed his eyes at the unwelcome intruder, whose body was composed entirely of white, translucent, crystalline matter. Within the crystal were arcs of light which darted back and forth throughout its interior.

The king of the realm asked, "Are you a Jinghun, then?"

The man introduced himself. "I am Ren Kunjing, 56th warlord on the rankings, and I'd like to have that half of the jade seal that remains in your possession."

The king of the realm shook his head. Unfortunately, I don't have that half of the jade seal with me."

"You might be able to fool others, but not this." Ren Kunjing took out the half of the jade seal that he possessed. It was a huge block of jade, the size of his fist, with half a soaring dragon carved on it—its other half was on that part of the jade seal that the king of the realm possessed.

Upon seeing the other half of the jade seal, the king of the realm's eyes brightened. "Excellent! I hadn't expected that the Jinghun would hand the jade seal back so easily. I suppose I have to accept this gift, don't I? Though I am curious as to why I had been unable to sense the seal until now."

"That's simple, isn't it? The jade seal wasn't in this world until moments ago, and not even the king of the realm would be able to sense it."

"So you brought the jade seal to another world... well, none of that is important. Now that both halves of the jade seal are present, the proof of kingship is once again complete."

"Indeed?"

A flash of blinding light disoriented the king of the realm. Subsequently, before he could do anything, the aging king found his head dismembered from his body.

Zhang Lie and the ninth prince heard about the news from the badly wounded crown prince. They were astounded to see him so badly injured, and even more so once he had relayed the news of the king's passing.

The crown prince then summarized to them what had happened.

The Jinghun, having successfully acquired the jade seal in its entirety, hoisted the eighth prince to the throne. By the time the crown prince found out about the incident, it was already too late. He had no choice but to rush back overnight with the troops defending the border.

Simultaneously, the other princes, the two indigenous clans, and the Heijie and Yinlian, all attacked—but none of them could defeat the Jinghun, and they were slaughtered almost to the last.

The ninth prince asked, "What about Father? What happened to him?"

The crown prince replied, "You saw the heavenly phenomena, didn't you?"

The skies had turned blood-red, the will of the world itself cried out in sorrow...

The ninth prince sank to the ground. "In that case, Father has really passed away..."

Zhang Lie asked, "What of the other princes?"

The crown prince shook his head, and Zhang Lie frowned. "What does that mean?"

"The eighth prince sentenced them all to death!"

The ninth prince's eyes widened. "What happened to our eighth brother?"

"He's not our brother anymore—just a puppet of the Jinghun."

The ninth prince didn't understand. "Why did the Jinghun make the eighth—him be the king?"

Zhang Lie shrugged. "He's the easiest to control, undoubtedly."

The crown prince added, "Before Father died, he made a change to the rules of succession as a safeguard: only those who were related to him by blood could become the king of the realm."

For this amendment to dissolve on its own after his death would take anywhere between a hundred to a thousand years, and the Jinghun can't afford to wait that long.

Furthermore, the Zijing turned out to be a subordinate race to the Jinghun!"

Zhang Lie hmmed. "Interesting that they would make a move right after I left..."

The crown prince sighed. "Master Hong, if you had been present, you might have been able to prevent this tragedy!"

The ninth prince asked, "Master, what should we do now?"

"Kill our way back, of course!" Zhang Lie replied immediately.

The crown prince said, "As part of the ceremony for the eighth prince to inherit the throne, the Jinghun will host a lavish celebration in the capital, and that's our best opportunity to strike. It's slated for four days' time, and if we rush back now, we'll just barely make it. However, there's one big problem—"

The ninth prince turned to Zhang Lie. "Master, how confident are you in your abilities?"

The crown prince added, "The strongest forces of our world were unable to take down the Jinghun. Can you succeed?"

Zhang Lie coolly replied, "With the king of the realm dead, no one in this world can stop me."

His eyes radiated a rainbow gleam.

Jian Nong suddenly interrupted, "What happened to the Wang clan?"

The crown prince frowned. "You're, you're—the famed forefather of the Jian clan?!"

Jian Nong asked, "Oh? You recognize me?"

The crown prince bowed to him. "How could I forget you, Elder?"

Jian Nong shook his head. "I'm no elder. I used to be a farmer, and now I take care of cats." Jian Nong had spent his days in captivity looking after White and Whiter.

The crown prince couldn't help but stare at Zhang Lie in shock. Was this an elaborate joke? The man in front of him was clearly the esteemed elder of the Wang clan, he who was the strongest blademaster of this generation! How could he be a cat caretaker?!

1. Surprise, surprise...