Chapter 1656: Settling the Score

To the northwest of Daxia City, an army in full rout was fleeing for its life. With all its commanders vanished, the remnants kept shrinking as they ran.

High above the front of the army, several figures were fleeing madly, pushing their speed to the absolute limit. They too could spare no thought for the routed troops below—only for their own survival.

Those figures were all familiar faces.

At the head was Regent Gong Yuan, followed by Si Qing, Zhu Zhu Qinghuo, and Lord Zhu Xuan Chen.

At this moment, Lord Zhu Xuan Chen's expression was extremely ugly, because when Yin Li Tianwang had retreated earlier, he had only taken the Yao Yan Mingwang with him.

Presumably it was because his standing within the Guiyi Hui was nothing remarkable, and Yin Li Tianwang had never even heard of a nobody like him, so naturally he wouldn't bother to make a special move to save him.

The instant Lord Zhu Xuan Chen saw Yin Li Tianwang retreat, his heart turned to ice. He understood he had been written off as a discarded pawn.

So without a moment's hesitation he turned tail and fled. By now several Li Tianwang-level powerhouses had appeared in Daxia City, and they were clearly all on the same side as Li Luo. Staying here would be nothing short of waiting to die.

He knew perfectly well that as the hidden hand behind Gong Yuan all those years, he had pushed many things forward—including the scheme of drawing "life-and-death lots" to force Li Taixuan and Tan Tai Lan's husband and wife into the Wang Hou battlefield. Later, the siege of House Luolan Fu during the Fu sacrifice had likewise been driven in part by his assistance to Shen Shen Jinxiao.

All of these deeds were more than enough to make Li Luo grind his bones and scatter his ashes.

The Li Luo of today had already stepped into the Hou De Jing Zhong Jie, and he had the power to do exactly that.

Right now Lord Zhu Xuan Chen only wanted to flee Daxia as fast as possible and then go into hiding, never to appear before Li Luo again. The young master of House Luolan Fu, once a trivial nobody in his eyes, had returned after many years' absence now wielding a terrifying power that could crush him with ease.

And it wasn't only Lord Zhu Xuan Chen who was panicked and frantic—Regent Gong Yuan was in no better state. He understood that once he retreated now, all those years of effort would come to nothing. With Li Luo's backing, Gong Gong Luanyu could crush his Bei Yu Wang Ting almost without lifting a finger.

"This calamity! Back then I really should have stopped at nothing and helped Shen Shen Jinxiao grind him to death!" Gong Yuan's heart was full of regret.

While Gong Yuan's heart seethed with remorse, his gaze drifted to the Jin Quefu Fu Zhu Si Qing behind him. The latter followed along with an almost numb expression—his ashen, lifeless face and despairing eyes were such that even Gong Yuan felt an inexplicable pang of sympathy for him.

But sympathy was useless; even Gong Yuan himself could no longer save his own skin.

Right now he only wanted to rush back to Bei Yu Wang Ting at once, gather his trusted followers, and flee Daxia.

Just as Gong Yuan was pondering where to go next, a sudden chill struck his heart and a bone-piercing cold surged through his body, because he realized the surrounding space seemed to have frozen solid at that moment.

They had been flying at full speed for quite a while, yet they still hadn't left where they were.

A thick unease washed over Gong Yuan's heart like a rising tide. He slowly halted his figure and, with great effort, looked ahead. At the top of a certain Shanfeng, two young figures stood there, gazing at them with calm eyes.

A man and a woman—Li Luo and Jiang Jiang Qinge.

"Gentlemen, Daxia City is peaceful and clean now. Why not go visit your old homes instead of being in such a rush to run?" Li Luo looked at these familiar faces with a faint smile.

Once, these Hou-level powerhouses had stood at the very pinnacle of Daxia. Back during the Fu sacrifice, Li Luo had exhausted every trick in the book just to keep House Luolan Fu safe from their scheming.

But now, looking again, they had become nothing more than stray dogs in his eyes.

Li Luo's voice reached their ears and jolted Lord Zhu Xuan Chen, Si Qing, and Zhu Zhu Qinghuo awake. They stared in horror at the two figures that had appeared ahead, and despair surfaced in all their eyes.

They had all witnessed Li Luo and Jiang Jiang Qinge's advancement to the Hou De Jing Zhong Jie—a power comparable to a Wang-level expert. In the eyes of the two of them now, they were barely stronger than ants.

"Li Luo, what happened back then had nothing to do with me—it was all Shen Shen Jinxiao's doing. I also know some of the Guiyi Hui's secrets. I'm willing to turn my back on the darkness and embrace the light!" Lord Zhu Xuan Chen forced a smile. His strange one-gold-one-silver pupils were now brimming with terror.

"Your name is Lord Zhu Xuan Chen, is that right?"

Li Luo looked at this man and chuckled softly. This one was the hidden hand behind Gong Yuan, and the executor of the Guiyi Hui's plans in Daxia.

Once, in his eyes, he himself had probably been nothing more than an ant to be toyed with at will.

Lord Zhu Xuan Chen squeezed out a smile and was just about to reply when he saw Li Luo extend a hand with an indifferent expression. The next instant, accompanied by an earth-shaking dragon's roar that shook the heavens, the space above his head violently shattered. A massive purple-gold dragon claw plunged down like a bolt of lightning and, in one grab, pinched Lord Zhu Xuan Chen within its grip.

Lord Zhu Xuan Chen roared. Hou Platforms manifested one after another around him as he tried to break free of the dragon claw.

But as Li Luo's hand slowly closed through the air, the purple-gold dragon claw clenched tight with a thunderous crunch. In an instant, terrifying force poured down, directly crushing the Hou Platforms around Lord Zhu Xuan Chen until they exploded.

What shattered along with them was Lord Zhu Xuan Chen's physical body.

The dragon claw slowly opened, and Lord Zhu Xuan Chen had already been reduced to a puddle of blood and mud.

This mastermind who had once called the shots behind the scenes in Daxia hadn't even managed to get two sentences out before Li Luo casually pinched him to death.

The sudden annihilation of Lord Zhu Xuan Chen also turned the faces of Gong Yuan, Zhu Zhu Qinghuo, and Si Qing deathly pale. Zhu Zhu Qinghuo could no longer contain his terror and turned to run, his whole body wreathed in azure flames that enveloped him.

But he had barely taken two steps when a pillar of holy, domineering sacred flame descended from the heavens and engulfed him. Under the searing of the sacred flame, the azure fire around his body evaporated in an instant, and a shrill scream rang out.

Then his entire body was purified by the sacred flame into wisps of green smoke.

In the span of mere moments, these two once-prominent Hou-level powerhouses of Daxia had been erased.

And Li Luo's cold gaze turned to the remaining Gong Yuan and Si Qing.

Gong Yuan let out a bitter laugh and said, "I schemed and calculated everything, yet I never imagined I'd ultimately lose to you. I truly can't understand it—Li Taixuan and Tan Tai Lan had such powerful backgrounds, so why did they hide their names and flee to this remote Daxia? If it weren't for the variable of your whole family, this Daxia would already be mine."

Li Luo had no interest in listening to his nonsense. He tapped a finger downward, and crystalline ice-phase force pierced through the air. As the crystalline light swept past, the several Hou Platforms above Gong Yuan's head were instantly encased in ice. The next instant, the ice shattered, and those Hou Platforms exploded into a sky full of crystalline dust.

Puchi!

With his Hou Platforms destroyed, Gong Yuan vomited blood wildly, his aura withering to the extreme.

Li Luo swept his sleeve, and phase force rolled Gong Yuan up, intending to hand him over to the Princess for disposal later—after all, when the time came for north and south to be unified, he would still be needed.

Having dealt with Gong Yuan, Li Luo gazed with eyes as calm as water at the sole remaining Si Qing.

"Li Luo..."

Si Qing's eyes were full of regret as he said, trembling, "Please, in the name of the friendship Jin Quefu once shared with House Luolan Fu, spare my life!"

"My son and daughter could also be considered friends of yours. Over these years, because of what happened back then, they've fallen out with me and refuse to forgive me."

In Li Luo's mind surfaced a youth and a young girl—Si Si Tianming and Si Si Qiuying.

Because of the seemingly good relationship between Jin Quefu and House Luolan Fu on the surface, Si Si Qiuying had always liked to trail after Jiang Jiang Qinge.

Li Luo turned his head to look at Jiang Jiang Qinge. The latter smiled faintly and said, "You are the Fu Zhu of House Luolan Fu. Whatever you decide, I will support."

Li Luo sighed softly and said, "Fu Zhu Si Qing, we're all adults. When you do something wrong, you have to accept the punishment."

"Why don't you think about it—if your betrayal back then had led to the destruction of my House Luolan Fu, what would have been the final fate of our House Luolan Fu?"

Si Qing's face showed utter despair.

That once-young master of House Luolan Fu was no longer green and immature. He possessed terrifying power, and his disposition was iron and steel.

"Fu Zhu Si Qing, considering that you once did look after House Luolan Fu, I'll leave you with a dignified exit. After north and south are unified in Daxia in the future, I'll ask the Princess to look after your son and daughter."

Li Luo spoke plainly, then said no more. Instead, he stepped out, walking through the air toward the distant mountain forest.

Jiang Jiang Qinge followed him.

Si Qing stared at their retreating backs and understood his own fate. He let out a long howl of despair and regret, and in the end could only trigger his own Marquis Platform, detonating himself with a thunderous explosion.

Boom!

A violent storm of energy ravaged heaven and earth, like a shower of fireworks.

Li Luo stopped his steps. He sensed the aura of Si Qing vanishing from heaven and earth, and a hint of melancholy rose on his face.

He gazed into the distance toward the direction of Daxia City, still remembering that year, the deadly peril of that Prefecture Sacrifice.

For the sake of that Prefecture Sacrifice, he and Jiang Jiang Qinge truly joined hands to weather countless trials, the two protecting each other, walking step by step past endless killing intent and covetous eyes.

Looking back on it now, it really is unforgettable.

Li Luo felt a soft, cool touch in his palm — it was Jiang Jiang Qinge stepping forward and taking his hand of her own accord.

"Sister Qing'e."

Li Luo gazed at Jiang Jiang Qinge's delicate, porcelain-like pretty face and said softly, "All those years, thank you truly."

Back when he was still an Empty Phase, it was Jiang Jiang Qinge who single-handedly bore up the storm-tossed Luo Lan Mansion, drawing all the hostility and covetousness from the outside world onto herself, thereby buying him the time to grow.

Jiang Jiang Qinge smiled gently. "You and I are husband and wife, of one heart and one body. Of course we should stay together, never to part or abandon, and face every hardship hand in hand."

Li Luo nodded slightly. He gazed at Jiang Jiang Qinge's radiant, mysterious golden eyes and said earnestly, "Never to part or abandon, facing every difficulty hand in hand. Sister Qing'e, you must remember those words well."

Jiang Jiang Qinge tilted her head slightly, her thick, brush-like lashes blinking as if a little puzzled.

Li Luo smiled, his figure shot out, and suddenly he dropped into a stretch of mountain forest in the distance.

The light in this stretch of mountain forest was dim, and a faint smell of blood drifted through the air.

The moment Li Luo appeared, within some of the shadows, panicked human silhouettes seemed to be flickering about.

And Li Luo's gaze fell upon a certain patch of shadow, a warm and brilliant smile surfacing on his handsome face.

"Student Xin Fu, it's been a long time."