Chapter 1007: This Was My Doing

After obtaining the Great Emperor's scripture, Dong Xue He Wang finally bowed in person, no longer as arrogant as before.

"Hahahaha!"

"This Lonely One has gained Dong Xue He Wang — like a tiger gaining wings!"

The Yan Liu Imperial Son burst into laughter, exceedingly bold and unrestrained.

In that instant, his heart instantly relaxed considerably, breaking free from the despair of being pressed by the Cang Kong Imperial Son and standing at death's door — like a drowning man breaking free from the water, returning to shore, and feeling the vividness of life once more.

Around them, guards such as Chen Shan Wang and the Mo Yan Clan patriarch Mo Shan were no longer suppressed; their bodies began to recover.

Chen Shan Wang's nearly severed flesh and blood healed at a tremendous speed; Mo Shan's head floated into the air, attracting the surrounding shattered black rock body like a magnet, swiftly reforming into the shape of a rock giant.

The two stood behind the Yan Liu Imperial Son.

While many worries rose in their hearts, they also felt various joys.

No need to die, no need to be buried alongside the Imperial Son.

"Dong Xue He Wang…"

The Yan Liu Imperial Son carefully examined the blood-robed Daoist, as if admiring a treasure, greedy and desirous.

The blood-robed Daoist stood quietly.

He did not perform the three kneelings and nine prostrations, did not weep with gratitude — the rituals that slave-clan kings commonly performed when meeting their lord.

The Yan Liu Imperial Son's expression did not change, his smile warm and pleasant, yet a thought arose in his heart.

'A dog, once it has tasted blood, is wild after all.'

'Cannot be compared to one kept at home all along.'

The Yan Liu Imperial Son felt some displeasure in his heart.

He instinctively rose some thoughts of taming again — just like raising a dog, it was full of learning, and could not be slackened.

"How dare you!"

"Dong Xue He Wang!"

Mo Shan stepped forward and said sternly: "When a slave-clan king meets the Imperial Son, he must perform three kneelings and nine prostrations. Has Dong Xue He Wang's brain been burned to mush?"

"Do you still need someone to teach you this?"

Jiang Ding glanced at him.

"Whoever taught you such etiquette — I will surely impeach him in the future!"

Mo Shan was utterly unafraid, like a mad dog.

Clang!

The sword-light hummed softly.

The Yan Liu Imperial Son and Chen Shan Wang's hearts lurched, their bodies numb and icy cold.

A streak of blood-colored sword-light appeared abruptly, slashing head-on into Mo Shan's body. With a boom, Mo Shan's massive rock body staggered backward; countless fragments of rock exploded into the air, turning to fine powder, and even the head within was broken, smashing hard onto the ground and shattering into pieces.

Mo Shan's aura dropped sharply; he stared in terror at the blood-robed Daoist, as if looking at an incomprehensible madman.

Striking without warning!

Without any reason!

"Mo Shan, you bear the duty of guarding the Imperial Son."

"Now, what has the situation become?"

??

Jiang Ding did not answer his accusation at all, and rebuked: "This is all due to your incompetence! If it were not for the incompetence of your Mo Yan clansmen, how could the Imperial Son have fallen into such peril."

"You should have taken your own life!"

"Now, not only do you not take your own life, you have not a shred of shame — the moment the situation steadied slightly, you began purging dissidents. You truly deserve death."

"It is precisely because there are too many vermin like you that we have today's situation!"

"Imperial Son!"

Jiang Ding cupped his hands in salute: "I implore you to behead this villain, to bolster the army's morale."

The Yan Liu Imperial Son was silent.

He exchanged a glance with Chen Shan Wang beside him, and both could see something the same in each other's eyes.

"Haha!"

"Dong Xue He Wang speaks rightly."

The Yan Liu Imperial Son burst into laughter.

"You damned cur, why don't you get up and apologize to Dong Xue He Wang?"

"If the situation were not unstable now, this Lonely One would have long since beheaded you, to set things right."

The Yan Liu Imperial Son said sternly, greatly angered by his presumptuous self-assertion.

"Yes, Imperial Son!"

"This subordinate knows his fault. Dong Xue He Wang, my lord, please forgive me…"

Mo Shan had none of the self-respect a king should possess; he came before the blood-robed Daoist, his head thudding against the ground again and again in successive kowtows, apologizing with extreme sincerity and extreme humility.

"Very well."

Jiang Ding nodded slightly.

This bearing was arrogant to the extreme, simply treating Mo Shan like an ant rather than a king of the same rank.

The brief interlude was quickly passed over.

The harmonious atmosphere returned to the palace.

"The current situation can truly be called a storm-tossed ship — small realms everywhere, kings surrendering one after another; the situation is disadvantageous to the extreme."

The Yan Liu Imperial Son, in high spirits, unfolded a map of the realm domains before everyone, gesturing grandly: "This Lonely One intends to gather the slave-clan armies from all directions, along with a small number of our own clansmen's armies, and launch an attack against the Cang Kong Imperial Son."

"You must understand that apart from the two thousand-plus Imperial Clan guards, the several million troops of Cang Kong are nothing more than fair-weather soldiers."

"Victory isn't necessary. If we can simply hold the line for a period of time, I am absolutely confident I can persuade those fair-weather soldiers to switch sides and pledge themselves to us again — especially the king of the Blazing Stone Clan…"

Yan Liu, the Imperial Son, paused slightly in his tone, and said with some regret: "If you, Dong Xue He Wang, had come to pledge yourself at the very beginning, I would have already claimed the Imperial Son's crown by now."

"Imperial Son."

"My information was cut off, and I was delayed for many days. I beg the Imperial Son to pardon me."

Jiang Ding bowed once more in apology.

"No matter."

Yan Liu, the Imperial Son, waved his hand, pointed at the map, and said: "I still have three hundred thousand troops now. As long as…"

He hesitated slightly.

"Dong Xue He Wang."

Yan Liu, the Imperial Son, asked: "Can you face a siege of twenty-six Imperial Clan kings and not be defeated?"

He suddenly thought of a terrifying question.

After a string of defeats all the way to today's state, his current capital has dwindled to a pitiful level — only one king from his own clan, three kings from his slave clans including Magic Mountain, and the rest are the Fox Clan king and the Tiger Clan king, who are all stationed at the grand array of Flower Cloud Realm to guard against the unexpected, and are not within the palace.

Conversely, Cang Kong, the Imperial Son, has been accepting surrenders and absorbing defectors along the way, with numerous Horned Demon Imperial Clan kings and cultivators pledging themselves to him. His forces have swelled dramatically, and his overall strength has nearly doubled!

Now, whether the stalemate can be maintained at all is simply unknown.

The surrounding kings also looked toward that blood-robed Daoist, their gazes filled with wariness and expectation.

"Imperial Son."

"I cannot."

Jiang Ding calmly answered their question.

This was the truth.

This was also what he had hoped for — a war of swift victory or swift defeat did not serve his interests.

Nor did it serve Dong Xue He Wang's interests.

Because Dong Xue He Wang likewise needed time to comprehend the Great Emperor's scripture, and could not lose his utility value so quickly.

Once victory came, Dong Xue He Wang might fall into grave danger.

"You!"

Yan Liu, the Imperial Son, revealed an irritated expression.

Although he knew this was the truth — a slave-clan king with exceptional talent was indeed powerful, but could not be invincible, could not fight dozens of Imperial Clan kings alone without defeat — he was still irritated.

Suddenly, a clamor arose from outside the palace.

"Imperial Son!"

"The situation has changed."

Chen Shan Wang's expression shifted. He stepped forward and interrupted Yan Liu, the Imperial Son, saying in a deep voice: "Clansmen who previously pledged themselves to the other side have sent intelligence — Cang Kong, the Imperial Son, before his footing was stable and before his army had completed its reorganization, has suddenly raised several million troops and is marching to attack Flower Cloud Realm."

"This defies common sense!"

"It is highly likely that what has happened here has already become known to him. Some guards have already been bribed and have already defected!"

Chen Shan Wang looked around with killing intent, especially sweeping his gaze sharply over some of the general-ranked Horned Demon Imperial Clan cultivators, wishing he could execute them all on the spot.

In these turbulent times, perhaps some guards had been bribed by Cang Kong, the Imperial Son, with heavy bribes, and thus leaks occurred.

This was extremely possible.

To tell the truth, in the previous situation, had it not been for the Great Emperor's cold command, he himself could not have refrained from surrendering — there was truly not the slightest hope of victory to be seen, and for the clan's interests, he could only do so.

Jiang Ding maintained the cold indifference of a hired thug.

He said nothing.

He could hardly say that, in order to prevent…

…Cang Kong, the Imperial Son's espionage work from being done poorly, this was something he had personally arranged to have leaked out.