Chapter 628: The Third Prince

Pfft—

After the Azure Wind-Born Beast was killed, Dou Yuanbin's Consciousness Sea shook violently; he felt a sweetness in his throat and opened his mouth to spit out a mouthful of fresh blood.

Even though a Pseudo-King's Consciousness Sea is far broader and more stable than that of an ordinary Monster Tamer, the one that fell this time was a Demon King-level Demon Pet, so the backlash was naturally far greater than that of a Lord-level Demon Pet.

After finishing off the Azure Wind-Born Beast, the Green-Eyed Golden-Eyed Beast and the Cold Jade Rabbit rushed toward Dou Yuanbin, looking as if they were about to join the team surrounding the Myriad Phenomenon Spirit-Devouring Rat.

Although the Myriad Phenomenon Spirit-Devouring Rat was strong, it could only suppress the Three-Legged Fire Crow; how could it possibly be a match for three top-quality Demon King-level Demon Pets? It could not even last a few rounds in the gang-beating.

Furthermore, Ning Bizhen might not necessarily let them all surround the Myriad Phenomenon Spirit-Devouring Rat; she might also split one off to attack him personally.

Although a Pseudo-King's physical body is strong, he is not Li Zhangsheng or an extreme Pseudo-King; how could he compare to a Demon King-level Demon Pet in this regard? Without a defensive Strange Treasure, he could hold on for at most two or three hits.

However, regardless of which option Ning Bizhen chose, this was clearly meant to take his life!

Dou Yuanbin guessed correctly; Ning Bizhen indeed wanted his life. Because Dou Yuanbin had conspired against Li Zhangsheng, she was naturally filled with deep hatred.

Even though Dou Yuansheng was the noble Third Prince, Ning Bizhen was determined regardless of the cost; she was willing to bear everything.

Seeing that Ning Bizhen's three Demon Pets were about to close in, Dou Yuanbin quickly made a decision. Enduring the heartache, he boosted his Mental Power and activated a blood-colored jade thumb ring on his right thumb.

As the Imperial Family's Third Prince and the most popular candidate for the next throne, how could he not have a life-saving item?

This blood-colored jade thumb ring was a life-saving item bestowed upon him by his father, Dou Zhangsheng, when he advanced to Pseudo-King. Its value was immeasurable; once activated, it would transform into a streak of blood-colored light and flee at an unpredictable speed. It was rumored that only Saint Grade Spirit Pets skilled in speed could catch up to it.

When the blood-colored jade thumb ring emitted light, Ning Bizhen naturally saw it, but before she could react, the blood-colored jade thumb ring shattered with a boom, turning into a large amount of blood mist that enveloped Dou Yuanbin.

Before the three Demon King-level Demon Pets could close in, Dou Yuanbin, clutching the Myriad Phenomenon Spirit-Devouring Rat, transformed into a streak of blood-colored light and appeared on the horizon in the blink of an eye.

Ning Bizhen's expression changed. She mounted the Three-Legged Fire Crow and pursued for a long while, but the distance between the two was rapidly widening, and in the end, she could only return empty-handed.

Ning Bizhen was somewhat disappointed; she could only take the corpse of the Azure Wind-Born Beast and return to the assembly point.

Li Zhangsheng was naturally not at the assembly point, but Ning Bizhen was not anxious. She knew Li Zhangsheng's strength very well; even if Liu Zongtang and Liu Xuguang joined forces, it was not certain they could take down Li Zhangsheng.

Ning Bizhen flipped her right hand, holding the child-conch of the Mother-Child Golden Conch, and soon made contact with Li Zhangsheng.

At this time, Li Zhangsheng was hiding on the road between the Academy District and Yecheng, waiting for an opportunity, a full hundred miles away from there.

Actually, it could not be considered "waiting for a rabbit," as Li Zhangsheng had specifically activated the Heavenly Vision Secret Technique to discover them in advance.

If he encountered a straggler among the three of Dou Yuanbin, he would not mind using their own methods against them, seizing the opportunity to ambush and kill the target.

Of course, this might expose the news that he had already advanced to Pseudo-King.

The two communicated for a while. Upon hearing that Ning Bizhen had finished off Dou Yuanbin's Azure Wind-Born Beast, Li Zhangsheng felt as refreshed as if he had drunk a cold beverage in the sweltering heat.

He never expected Ning Bizhen to be so effective, forcing Dou Yuanbin to suffer such a huge loss.

Even for Dou Yuanbin's maternal clan, the Huizhou Xiao Clan, they were far from being as important as a Demon King-level Demon Pet. Losing one Demon King-level Demon Pet meant that Dou Yuanbin's strength, potential, and influence had severely declined; after all, he only had two Demon King-level Demon Pets in total.

Additionally, the possibility of him succeeding to the throne or becoming a Monarch had also been negatively impacted to a great extent.

This was completely a case of losing the bait and the fish; Dou Yuanbin was likely regretting it to his very core.

"You must be careful from now on. We offended this guy so badly this time; if an opportunity arises next time, he will definitely launch an even more intense retaliation! Oh, someone is coming. I'll hang up first; wait for my good news in a moment!"

Due to the activation of the Heavenly Vision Secret Technique, Li Zhangsheng saw a figure appear a hundred miles away, galloping toward the direction of Yecheng.

Calling it galloping, it was still vastly different from Aixi's White Tiger Transformation Rainbow Technique; it would likely take a few more minutes.

To avoid being detected, Li Zhangsheng had to cut off contact with Ning Bizhen and wait with focused concentration.

Aixi lay beside Li Zhangsheng, using the Law of Heaven and Earth skill to temporarily shrink her size to that of a kitten.

Besides Aixi, Li Zhangsheng had also summoned Kailan in advance.

As for the Crown Blazing Bird, it was too conspicuous and could not shrink its size, so it was not released for the time being.

With their strength, as long as the ambush succeeded, no matter who came, they would suffer a great loss.

As that figure rapidly approached, Li Zhangsheng finally saw his appearance clearly.

The person arriving had a crane-like face and white hair; it was none other than Liu Zongtang.

There were no pursuers behind Liu Zongtang; clearly, he had successfully shaken off the pursuit of Zhang Kaishuo and the others.

Unlike when he was fleeing before, Liu Zongtang was sitting on a massive Green-Haired Hou; this was his second Demon King-level Demon Pet, and its flight speed far exceeded that of the Shadow Dragon.

【Spirit Beast Name】: Green-Haired Hou (Mature Stage. Comprehended Mystery, greatly enhancing skill power; Mystery Guard: Exempts partial damage, mainly depending on the opponent's rank.)

【Spirit Beast Realm】: Demon King 9th Rank

【Spirit Beast Race】: Medium Monarch

【Spirit Beast Quality】: Top-Quality

【Spirit Beast Bloodline】: Qiongqi (Rich)

【Spirit Beast Attribute】: Wind Element

【Spirit Beast Status】: Healthy

【Spirit Beast Weakness】: Thunder

This was a top-quality Green-Haired Hou, so its speed was naturally faster than the Shadow Dragon; it was precisely by relying on the speed of the Green-Haired Hou that Liu Zongtang had shaken off Zhang Kaishuo and the others.

Liu Zongtang became a Pseudo-King more than twenty years ago, so he could naturally be considered a veteran Pseudo-King. Even though he only had two Demon King-level Demon Pets, he possessed unique insights in terms of experience and knowledge.

While Li Zhangsheng was spying, Liu Zongtang felt a faint sense of unease in his heart and could not help but glance behind him; he was very certain he had shaken off the pursuing enemies.

As a Pseudo-King, Liu Zongtang's sixth sense was naturally far superior to ordinary people. This feeling was ethereal; although it was an illusion most of the time, there were occasionally times when it was correct.

Liu Zongtang attached great importance to this feeling, which also made him heighten his vigilance, releasing his vigorous Mental Power to constantly sweep the surroundings. As long as someone harbored evil intentions, he could react at the first moment.

Besides this, Liu Zongtang also had the Green-Haired Hou ascend a distance, several hundred meters from the ground, to use as a buffer.

"Quite cautious, what a pity!"

Liu Zongtang's actions all fell into Li Zhangsheng's eyes; he just smiled slightly and made no comment.

Soon, Liu Zongtang, riding the Green-Haired Hou, was about to appear above a small mountain, getting closer and closer to Li Zhangsheng.

It turned out that Li Zhangsheng had not only changed his position in advance based on Liu Zongtang's flight direction but had also set up a Strengthened Breath-Concealing Restriction, which was why Liu Zongtang was so coincidental, giving the impression that he was throwing himself into a net.

At this moment, there was less than a hundred meters of distance between the two.

Suddenly, Liu Zongtang's right eye began to twitch without any warning.

Liu Zongtang grew increasingly uneasy, but it was too late now; at this moment, only a short hundred meters remained between him and Li Zhangsheng.

For a Demon Beast, a hundred meters can be crossed in an instant.

Without hesitation, Li Zhangsheng issued the order to attack.

Kailan flapped her wings, which were as thin as cicada wings, and like an arrow released from a bow, she transformed into a green phantom, rushing toward Liu Zongtang at extreme speed.

Aixi also rushed out, his body rapidly growing larger, and in the blink of an eye, he transformed into a savage winged tiger over thirty meters long.

"Not good!"

The moment Aixi and Kailan came tearing through the air, Liu Zongtang finally reacted; this caught him off guard, and he instinctively wanted to cast Instant Movement to avoid the possibility of "capturing the ringleader first to capture the bandits."

Unfortunately, Li Zhangsheng had long anticipated Liu Zongtang's move; with a wave of his hand, he fired a Dimensional Anchor, and a tangible yet intangible pillar of light shot into the sky, completely solidifying the space within a range of several thousand meters.

"Damn it, retreat!"

Liu Zongtang's exasperated voice rang out; at this moment, only a few meters remained between Kailan, Aixi, and him.

The Azure-Haired Hou finally reacted, green light flickering on its body surface as it tried to use a burst of speed to put some distance between them.

However, this move by Liu Zongtang was also within Li Zhangsheng's expectations.

At this moment, the Imitation Demon Refining Pot appeared above his head, and a multicolored energy barrier rapidly expanded, instantly shrouding a radius of one thousand meters.

To finish off Liu Zongtang, Li Zhangsheng had painfully spent Demon Cores worth over ten thousand Soul Crystals to fill the energy of the Imitation Demon Refining Pot's internal world.

Boom—

Although the Azure-Haired Hou was fast, it was still a beat too slow, slamming heavily into the multicolored barrier.

Pop—

The multicolored barrier rippled in layers, and apart from becoming slightly thinner, it held firm.

Although the Azure-Haired Hou was strong, it was on par with Fang Qing's Archangel; to break the barrier, it would need at least two or three full-power attacks.

However, how could Li Zhangsheng possibly give Liu Zongtang the chance?

It was also at this time that Kailan waved her hands, wielding a Green Giant Blade over ten meters long, and slashed toward Liu Zongtang on the back of the Azure-Haired Hou.

On the other side, Aixi's speed was not inferior to Kailan's in the slightest, swiping over with a claw from the side, also aiming directly for Liu Zongtang.

As a veteran Pseudo-King, Liu Zongtang was naturally not someone to be trifled with; at this critical juncture of life and death, Liu Zongtang chose to sacrifice the pawn to save the knight, resolutely leaping off the back of the Azure-Haired Hou.

The Azure-Haired Hou only had time for green light to emerge on its body surface, condensing a layer of Wind Barrier, and had no time to cast anything else.

Whoosh—

The Wind Barrier only blocked them for a single breath of time before being slashed open by Kailan, but it was precisely that little bit of time that allowed Liu Zongtang to take advantage and avoid the attack, leaving only the Azure-Haired Hou to suffer.

(End of this chapter)