Boom... suddenly, the entire underground palace began to tremble.
Liu Dong's already anxious face turned pale, while Yan Shouzheng beside him said with a stern expression, "Someone is attacking the city's protective formation!"
Liu Dong was about to say something when Yan Shouzheng continued, "The formation has already been breached."
What? So quickly!
That formation had lasted for a thousand years! How could it be broken as easily as tearing a piece of paper?
"Yan, you must think of something!" Liu Dong said. "The emperor is in a critical moment, everything depends on you!"
Before Yan Shouzheng could respond, the deep, hollow voice of Emperor Yanwen came from below: "Yan Shouzheng, I need you to use your life to buy me some time."
"Remember, it's your life. Give up everything you have. With your strength, it's entirely possible to hold them off for a while."
"Yes," Yan Shouzheng replied without a hint of hesitation. He turned and left, his expression completely cold, without the slightest change, resembling a statue.
As for Yan Shouzheng, even Liu Dong didn't know his true background. He had been by the emperor's side long before Liu Dong entered the palace.
Since Liu Dong could remember, Yan Shouzheng had always been indifferent, as if nothing mattered to him except obeying the emperor's orders.
The emperor certainly knows how to choose his servants!
The fierce wind howled, and his robe fluttered.
Fang Yuan looked expressionless as he gazed down at the vast imperial city, even larger than the entire Jianghai State. His gaze swept over every position below.
Within the massive imperial city, only a few people stood scattered—unimportant eunuchs, palace maids, guards, and concubines, all of whom were looking up at the sky in fear, evidently unaware of the impending crisis.
Fang Yuan didn't have time to pay attention to these people. He needed to go to the source of the dark clouds in the sky; the emperor must be there!
Even with his Heavenly Disaster Eye to search for the old emperor, Fang Yuan found it troublesome. After thinking for a moment, he casually waved his hand, and a magic artifact flew out from his palm, heading towards a certain part of the imperial city.
It was a True Sight Guard, something Fang Yuan had taken with him when leaving Jianghai State.
Using this item to find someone was far more convenient than using the Heavenly Disaster Eye.
At that moment, Fang Yuan furrowed his brows. He sensed the temperature around him suddenly plummet. The dry air began to condense into water vapor and eventually turned into frost, turning everything around him white.
Looking below, the people in the imperial palace had already been frozen into solid ice. They hadn't even realized they had died, as they remained in their position, staring upward in shock.
The cold spread rapidly, silently covering everything.
Clang! —
Just then, a clear, melodic sword hum rang out from below, exploding like thunder on the ground!
"Anyone who dares to trespass into the sacred imperial city must pay with their life!"
The voice echoed as a figure shot out from the palace like an arrow, surrounded by a violent sword aura, rushing towards Fang Yuan in mid-air.
This powerful presence meant the person was a martial arts master!
Fang Yuan glanced at the figure. Above their head, the label read: North Town Protector of Yan Kingdom: Yan Shouzheng.
This was an unexpected delight!
Before Yan Shouzheng even got close, the intense cold air surged first, immediately turning everything, including Fang Yuan, into an icy tomb, freezing everything around them!
Yan Shouzheng's fierce sword attack followed, wielding an ice sword forged from thousand-year-old ice!
First, he trapped his enemy in an ice tomb with his cold air, and then struck with the sword he had been charging up for a long time!
Yan Shouzheng had used this trick to kill many powerful opponents!
Crack!
However, at almost the same moment, the sound of breaking ice echoed, and as the ice shards shattered, Fang Yuan's face, grinning savagely, appeared in front of Yan Shouzheng.
The ice tomb hadn't trapped him for even a second!
Next, Fang Yuan pointed a finger, and Yan Shouzheng felt his body suddenly grow heavy. His skin began to rot at a visible speed, and even from the tips of his bones, a crimson, decaying flower bloomed!
Yet even then, Yan Shouzheng maintained his cold, indifferent expression, and his figure suddenly disappeared from the spot, reappearing ten zhang (about 30 meters) away.
"Oh?" Fang Yuan raised an eyebrow. The speed with which his opponent moved was so fast that even he didn't see it clearly—almost as though there was no movement at all...
It was similar to Teleportation—could it be a spatial ability?
Fang Yuan couldn't help but raise his regard for the man before him.
Yan Shouzheng indeed possessed a very special and powerful martial arts talent: Void Reflection. This was also why Emperor Yanwen had spent so much effort cultivating him.
Spatial martial arts talent was incredibly rare, which is why Emperor Yanwen had specifically found a body technique for Yan Shouzheng called the Skyfall Ice Heart Body.
This ice-based body technique, a variation of water, allowed Yan Shouzheng to control the power of ice while being immune to any illusions.
It was said that with a heart as cold as ice, the sky could fall without affecting him. After practicing this technique, a cultivator's mind would be in an eternal state of extreme calmness. The side effect, however, was that the practitioner would live for a single purpose, much like a robot.
For Emperor Yanwen, this was hardly a bad thing, as he gave Yan Shouzheng one single purpose: to obey him without question!
No one in the world was more loyal to Emperor Yanwen than Yan Shouzheng—not even the blazing sun marquis could compare!
Observing the young man before him, Yan Shouzheng felt nothing but indifference. The emperor had ordered him to kill this person, or at the very least, hold him off, and he would fulfill that order without any doubt. He believed it was only natural.
Yan Shouzheng's Void Reflection, paired with the Skyfall Ice Heart Body, made this task not too difficult for him.
Originally, Void Reflection could only allow him to teleport a few zhang. However, after cultivating the Skyfall Ice Heart Body, he was able to teleport across the entire ice-covered battlefield!
With the entire world covered in frost, how could he lose this fight?
All he needed to do was keep teleporting across the ice surfaces, and Fang Yuan would be at his mercy!
Even if Fang Yuan wielded powerful area-effect spells, Yan Shouzheng had his countermeasures!
"For the emperor, you must die!"
Yan Shouzheng pointed his sword at Fang Yuan and disappeared again, reappearing behind him in an instant.
However, before he could strike with his ice sword, Fang Yuan's figure vanished right under his nose!
This disappearance method... how familiar!
Before Yan Shouzheng could react, he suddenly felt a hand firmly grab his throat, and he heard the devilish whisper:
"How laughable. I don't have time to play hide-and-seek with you!"
"When it comes to teleportation, I'm your ancestor!!!"
Even though Yan Shouzheng's neck was being squeezed, he kept his deadpan expression. But deep inside, he was struck with terror!
What happened? His pride, the Void Reflection—a technique he boasted as invincible for assassination—had been broken in just the second use?