Chapter 209: Hunger

Zhu Zai's brow first furrowed, then smoothed out.

"The 'lover I must bow to' you mentioned—is she a Princess?"

How to put it... Zhu Zai actually felt a sense of "Is that it?"

What the old man was currently pondering were matters like the Emperor being possessed and the Jianwen Emperor rising from the dead. A mere Princess or County Princess felt as light as a breeze brushing against his face.

It could only be said that his psychological threshold had truly been raised by Li Miao over the past few days to a height he himself could never have imagined.

Li Miao chuckled, noncommittal.

Zhu Zai's heart skipped a beat, and he was about to demand a clear answer: "Is it really—"

"Commandant, now is not the time for talk."

Li Miao chuckled softly.

"The fight is about to start."

"You are lucky enough to see your ancestors from eight generations back crawl out of their graves to beat people up; you are truly one of a kind. Don't miss it."

What kind of talk is that!

Li Miao's mouth was at least a "Sumeru" in its own right—vicious and relentless. Zhu Zai glared at him fiercely, but helpless, he forcibly swallowed his words and stopped asking.

The Jianwen Emperor's "Jizhao" had already enveloped everyone present.

Huang Jin's brow was locked tight, his gaze sweeping over everyone, carefully scrutinizing every detail of the imperial clansmen, yet he found nothing.

"Not just sight, it can even affect sounds and smells... Truly formidable."

Huang Jin thought to himself.

"But, as long as you cannot kill a Venerable silently, you won't escape today!"

The Jianwen Emperor's "Jizhao," in today's world where the three paths of Nature are long lost, could indeed be called "unsolvable" if faced one-on-one. Even if one's Wu Gong was superior, it was difficult to avoid that all-pervasive illusion.

A battle between experts is decided by a hair's breadth, let alone a battle between Heaven-Man Realm practitioners. To be disturbed by an illusion for even an instant is the difference between life and death.

Even Li Miao, who could break the illusion, had suffered quite a loss after the Jianwen Emperor gave up control and switched to only interfering with Li Miao's senses when attacking.

However, there were ten Venerables present.

Ten Heaven-Man Realm practitioners of the Two-Path Realm!

In a head-on confrontation, the Jianwen Emperor had absolutely no chance of winning!

The moment he made a move and exposed his position, he would have to face the full-force strike of the remaining nine Venerables.

And Jizhao, after all, was only a Heaven-Man Realm of one path; no matter how miraculous, it could not affect ten Venerables for long. Once the Jianwen Emperor's mental energy was exhausted, what awaited him would be the encirclement and slaughter by the ten Venerables.

The advantage remained firmly in Huang Jin's hands.

He only needed to wait... wait until the Jianwen Emperor was unable to maintain the illusion, and that would be his time of death!

Sure enough, a moment later, Huang Jin suddenly felt a blur in his peripheral vision.

"There!"

Huang Jin shouted suddenly and struck out with a palm!

His palm strike was loose in energy, covering a radius of several zhang; it was impossible for it to pose a threat to the Jianwen Emperor.

But Huang Jin sneered.

His palm strike was never meant for damage!

Boom!

With a muffled thud, the palm struck the broken carriage frame nearby.

Whoosh—

It shattered the carriage frame into a sky full of wood chips.

The wood chips scattered, outlining a blurry figure in the air.

No matter how realistic an illusion is, it originates from a person's thoughts! With thousands of wood chips flying in different trajectories, you surely cannot make it seamless!

The Venerables all struck at that figure simultaneously!

Boom!

Blood splattered, and the figure was beaten into a mass of blurry flesh without even letting out a scream, splashing onto the street.

"Wrong!"

Huang Jin thought to himself, something is wrong. It is impossible for the Jianwen Emperor to die so easily; it's another trick!

Where is the Jianwen Emperor!

Suddenly, a sharp scream came from beside Huang Jin.

"Ah!"

Huang Jin's pupils shrank!

He retreated violently, about to point a finger in mid-air, but suddenly withdrew his hand.

"No, the scream isn't real!"

He swept his peripheral vision over the Venerables; except for him, they were all still in place, showing no reaction, only casting questioning gazes at him.

And he had already retreated out of the crowd.

"Bad!"

How could Huang Jin not understand? This was the Jianwen Emperor's method to make him voluntarily step out of the Venerables' protection!

To capture the bandits, first capture the king. He was only a Heaven-Man of one path, and he was the one giving orders; the Jianwen Emperor had already targeted him!

He had already stepped alone into the Jianwen Emperor's trap.

Three Venerables suddenly reacted, their figures surging up, chasing swiftly.

And Huang Jin's eyes had already lost their luster.

He had fallen into the illusion—

Narrow, cramped, cold, pitch black.

Unable to move his whole body, every breath of air carried the stench of rot.

Huang Jin discovered he was trapped inside a coffin.

He knew he had been pulled into an illusion by the Jianwen Emperor, but the fear that seemed to well up from the bottom of his heart was hard to suppress.

Huang Jin wanted to raise his hand to knock on the coffin lid, but found his limbs seemed to be firmly locked, unable to move an inch.

Suddenly, an unspeakably intense hunger rose from his abdomen. Accompanied by the severe pain of stomach spasms, it crawled along his nerves into his brain.

His stomach seemed to have become some kind of living creature hidden in his body, first gripping his lungs, making it hard for him to breathe; then pinching his heart, making it difficult for his blood to pump into his limbs, leaving them to gradually rot and breed maggots.

Finally, it crawled into his cranial cavity, occupying every thread of his thoughts.

An uncontrollable rage welled up.

He couldn't help but open his mouth, his long-decayed vocal cords barely vibrating, emitting a hoarse, stagnant sound.

"Zhu..."

"Emperor..."

"Why... not send it..."

"Traitor!..."

"Eunuch Huang!"

Accompanied by the angry shout of a Venerable, the scene before Huang Jin suddenly shattered, and a Venerable looked at his back with a face full of shock and anger.

A withered hand climbed onto his shoulder and gripped his throat.

A face like a dried corpse leaned close to Huang Jin's face and sniffed lightly. The withered lips opened, emitting a sticky sound of lips and teeth separating, followed by a thick scent of blood.

The Venerables suddenly stopped in their tracks.

Cold sweat dripped down Huang Jin's forehead.

The Jianwen Emperor leaned into Huang Jin's ear, opened his mouth, and said two words in a hoarse, stagnant voice.

"Rebellious. Traitor."

"What do you mea—"

Rip—

Just as Huang Jin's thoughts arose, his throat was suddenly torn open, and blood sprayed out.

The Jianwen Emperor struck Huang Jin's back with a palm, sending him flying.

The Venerables rushed forward to catch Huang Jin and stop the bleeding by pressing his acupoints. A Venerable skilled in healing techniques stepped forward to press Huang Jin's wound, channeling true energy to knit the flesh together.

Huang Jin raised his hand to point in a direction, squeezing a word out of his broken throat.

"Chase—"

"Yes!"

Several Venerables exchanged glances, left two people to watch over Huang Jin, and the rest leaped onto the roofs to chase after the Jianwen Emperor.

Huang Jin covered his throat with one hand, while the other covered his unharmed abdomen.

The hunger that was hard to suppress in the illusion seemed to still be wandering in his abdomen.

(End of chapter)