Chapter 388: Ceasefire

In just a short exchange, with almost no understanding of "Silent Illumination," An Qisheng had thoroughly touched the Emperor's true colors through a single sentence and the flaws between several moves—the Emperor had indeed been changed, but the underlying weakness and hesitation in his nature had not completely disappeared.

"Silent Illumination" is a state of mind.

The flaw in nature is the flaw in "Silent Illumination."

The Emperor was hiding under the shell of the Crown Prince.

As An Qisheng pointed this out, the Crown Prince's eyes fluctuated, but immediately returned to that half-dead, lazy appearance.

"So what?"

The Crown Prince smiled and retreated several steps; his figure gradually distorted, faded, became completely transparent in less than a breath, and then disappeared from An Qisheng's sight.

"With me here, you cannot hurt His Majesty."

The voice echoed in the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

The situation turned around; An Qisheng only needed to guard against the Crown Prince's sneak attacks and no longer needed to divert extra attention to guard against the Emperor, greatly reducing the crisis. At the same time, if the Crown Prince attacked, he might be caught by An Qisheng, directly threatening the Emperor's main body hiding within.

But An Qisheng still couldn't break "Silent Illumination."

As long as the main body didn't attack, An Qisheng had no possibility of breaking the situation and could only drag it out indefinitely. For the Emperor, this was not an unacceptable result.

As long as he dragged it out until Li Miao woke up.

As long as the Yingzhou Heaven-men still existed.

As long as An Qisheng's severe injuries were not healed.

The scales of victory were still tilting little by little toward Li Miao's side.

An Qisheng did not refute; he flashed toward the two golden-armored bodyguards. Although his right arm was crippled, a sweep of his left palm pulled both bodyguards into the battle circle with powerful Qi.

Only this time, he did not hold back.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

An Qisheng completely abandoned defense, all his protective Qi turning into invisible blades attacking the golden-armored bodyguards.

Armor plates splashed.

Armor shattered.

Flesh and blood flew.

The Crown Prince, who had hidden his figure and was observing the situation, felt his pupils shrink.

An Qisheng's fighting style had changed.

If An Qisheng had previously been a Daoist in wide robes and a martial artist trading injury for injury, now he was an assassin launching a desperate strike.

Just like now—An Qisheng suddenly bent his knees, actually kneeling on the ground without caring about his image! The golden mace and axe grazed his scalp, and his two calves suddenly sprang out, launching his entire body under the axe-wielding bodyguard, and he pointed his fingers to lift!

Swish, swish, swish, swish!

Hundreds of invisible blades converged into a massive cone, suddenly piercing into the crotch; the axe-wielding bodyguard didn't even have time to let out a cry of pain before being torn in two!

At the same time, the golden mace smashed down from the air.

Aiming for An Qisheng's head.

But he stopped in place, backhanding his fingers to guide, and that massive cone smashed down from mid-air!

Two whistles crossed; both were desperate strikes.

An Qisheng seemed to have gone mad, wanting to trade lives with an illusion.

But the Emperor and the Crown Prince didn't think so; An Qisheng might lose, but they had never thought An Qisheng would die at their hands because of going mad.

Taking this opportunity, the Crown Prince appeared several yards away, his gaze fixed on An Qisheng while he raised his hand to guide, intending to recall the axe-wielding bodyguard.

"Go forth—"

Pupils shrank.

Facing the golden mace smashing toward his head, An Qisheng actually just tilted his head, and at the same time, his left hand swung violently!

Boom!

The golden mace smashed into his left face; without protective Qi to resist, An Qisheng's left face was instantly crushed, flesh and blood splashing out.

Although it didn't hurt his brain, the sharp pain was imaginable—yet An Qisheng's eyes still had no fluctuations.

Woo!

The sound of breaking air arose.

The massive cone condensed from Qi tore through the air, reaching the Crown Prince's face in an instant!

It was as if the strike An Qisheng had thrown at Bolangsha a thousand years ago... no, after a thousand years of accumulation, this strike would only be faster and more lethal!

The Crown Prince had no possibility of blocking it!

"Sigh."

At this moment, the Crown Prince suddenly sighed.

"Your Majesty, I leave it to you."

He took a step. One figure split into two.

The Emperor appeared and remained in place.

The Crown Prince stepped forward, blocking with a fist.

Boom! Crash.

The massive cone smashed the fist.

The Crown Prince laughed wildly, his other fist striking the massive cone again.

Now, he looked a bit more like Li Miao.

The Emperor gritted his teeth and hid his figure.

The bodyguard illusion could be summoned again at any time, but the Crown Prince illusion was the most important part of his original heart illusion; if it died, it would take a long time to re-condense.

But there was no time to summon the bodyguard again; the Crown Prince had blocked a strike for him at the cost of his life. Within the illusion, only An Qisheng and he remained; the next time he appeared, he would face a desperate strike from this legendary assassin from a thousand years ago.

He no longer expected to kill An Qisheng.

Drag it out.

As long as he dragged An Qisheng here, as long as he dragged it out until Li Miao woke up!

The Emperor disappeared.

The Crown Prince was crushed by the iron cone, An Qisheng flipped up, and killed the golden mace bodyguard.

The dust settled, the sounds ceased.

In the hall, there was dead silence.

An Qisheng's left face was smashed, leaving only his bloodshot right eye, calmly looking around, capturing every movement. The pain deep in his marrow seemed not to exist on him at all.

He was like a stone; neither severe injury, betrayal, nor desperate situations could shake him in the slightest.

The situation remained deadlocked.

Suddenly, An Qisheng's gaze fluctuated.

He slowly lowered his head, looking at his heart.

Just a moment ago, his heartbeat stopped for an instant; for someone of his realm, this phenomenon was extremely abnormal.

But An Qisheng knew what had happened.

"'I', died."

He turned his head and looked in a certain direction.

That hint of premonition and palpitation was because a part of him had disappeared.

The part planted in Li Miao.

The possession had failed.

An Qisheng accepted this result naturally. Li Miao's uniqueness was extremely rare even in his memories spanning a thousand years; whether it succeeded or failed, he would not be surprised.

But since it failed.

Then he had no more time to drag it out with the Emperor.

He still had two backup plans; one was to attempt to kill Li Miao, which did not require his personal participation; and the other required him to activate it personally.

An Qisheng took a step in the direction from which the palpitation came.

The moment he was dragged into the illusion, he lost his orientation, but the palpitation of Li Miao swallowing the nature-seed pointed the way for him.

The Emperor's expression changed drastically.

Because the next instant, An Qisheng suddenly disappeared from where he was.

Boom!

The Emperor chased after him violently, attempting to catch up with An Qisheng, but he was a beat too late—in this beat, An Qisheng had rushed out dozens of yards.

Heaven and earth changed.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony suddenly disappeared from An Qisheng's eyes, replaced by ruins, corpses, city walls, and smoke.

An Qisheng had rushed out of the range covered by the illusion.

He charged toward the Imperial Palace.