Chapter 240

The words were spoken.

The Emperor's last shred of wishful thinking was broken by Li Miao and Ji Tianrui.

He had stepped into the Xiaoling Mausoleum full of confidence because, with his martial arts, these three were indeed no match for him.

Although he had almost never left the palace since ascending the throne, he was extremely careful about his own life. He had found several attendants and Yin Ruihua to join forces, fighting them in illusions, and every time he had won a great victory.

Li Miao and Ji Tianrui were two paths perfected, one path incomplete. The Jianwen Emperor was three paths perfected, but he had been pressed in the tomb for over a hundred years, his flesh withered, far from his peak state.

With the Emperor's martial arts, these three should have been doomed to lose.

But he had overlooked one point.

Even in the illusion, the attendants and Yin Ruihua fought him with all their might at his request, almost perfectly simulating a battle close to reality.

But he actually knew from beginning to end that he would not die.

State of mind is something that Jizhao absolutely cannot simulate.

Just like in Li Miao's past life, many athletes could achieve amazing results on the training ground, even surpassing all previous records. But when they truly reached the competition that determined their life's achievements, they would often perform poorly, unable to even reach seventy or eighty percent of their usual level.

It was precisely this flaw, which could not be called a flaw, that Li Miao and Ji Tianrui keenly grasped, allowing this lopsided match to take a turn.

Li Miao's series of attacks, trading injury for injury and life for life, broke the Emperor's composed mindset. Ji Tianrui's opportunistic sword strike made the Emperor truly understand—

He could really die.

Looking at the two enemies approaching him slowly, who were clearly much weaker than him, the Emperor's feet moved, and he couldn't help but want to retreat half a step.

Immediately, he forcibly suppressed this thought.

Li Miao and Ji Tianrui walked closer and closer.

Finally, the two stopped at a distance of one zhang.

The Emperor slowly let out a breath.

"Good, good."

He looked at the two and said slowly.

"Just now, I still wanted to give you a way to live. After all, today's matter is only between Me and the Jianwen Emperor, so it is not necessarily required to kill you two."

"But, since you two are determined to seek death, I am also willing to fulfill your wish."

Before the words had faded, the Emperor raised his hand and struck out with a fist!

Li Miao blocked with a horizontal fist, but was repelled by the majestic true energy that far exceeded his own! His feet carved two deep trenches in the ground, and he retreated several zhang before stopping!

And the Emperor had already reached Ji Tianrui, striking down with a palm!

Ji Tianrui's smile vanished, her figure suddenly bending as if she had no bones, sliding several feet along the ground to dodge the palm. She immediately raised her sword and slashed toward the Emperor's arm.

Clang—

The Emperor struck the sword blade with a fist, his true energy exploding, bending the soft sword and causing it to lose its treacherous changes.

Ji Tianrui suddenly raised her hand, and a swarm of poisonous insects flew out from her sleeve, lunging toward the Emperor's face.

Boom!!!

It was that martial art similar to the "Black Extreme Pagoda" again!

Helpless, Ji Tianrui retreated rapidly. Li Miao, who had already closed in, also had to retreat helplessly.

Swish!

"Wha—!"

Just as the two were focused on guarding against the Emperor, a sudden exclamation from the Jianwen Emperor came from behind them.

Immediately, the Jianwen Emperor, who had been standing behind them, was grabbed by what looked like a giant transparent claw and flew rapidly toward the Emperor!

"I have flaws, and you have them too!"

"You wanted to break My Jizhao at the beginning, and I can also break yours!"

"Jianwen Emperor, you have been lying underground for over a hundred years, your flesh withered, and your strength is far from normal! That is why you have been hiding in the back, not daring to fight Me head-on!"

"You are that flaw!"

"!!!!"

Although the Emperor had no heart to fight to the death, he had Jizhao and countless Heaven-Man attendants to practice with; in terms of the ability to find strategies in battle, he was by no means inferior to Li Miao.

In an instant, he found a way to break the situation.

If the Jianwen Emperor died, Li Miao and Ji Tianrui would immediately fall into the Emperor's illusion. At that time, there would be no chance of a comeback.

The Jianwen Emperor resisted the huge suction force coming from in front of him, while constantly attacking the Emperor from a distance, waiting for the two to rescue him.

But the next moment, he suddenly turned his head to look at Li Miao and Ji Tianrui.

The two actually didn't come to save him! Instead, they attacked the Emperor directly!

"!!!"

"Could these two be trying to take advantage of the false Emperor attacking Me to decide the outcome!?"

"How is that possible!?"

The Jianwen Emperor cursed inwardly.

No matter how hard the two tried, they couldn't threaten the Emperor's life in a short time. But he couldn't guarantee that he could last ten moves in the Emperor's hands!

But the two were clearly determined, not even looking at him once.

"No, I cannot entrust my life to these two!"

"I wanted to hide the means to defend against them after the false Emperor died, but now I must use it!"

Once the thought was set, in an instant, a flush appeared on the Jianwen Emperor's face. A burst of white smoke rose from all the acupuncture points on his body, covering his figure within it.

The Emperor found that the true energy he used to grab the Jianwen Emperor was suddenly shaken away; he frowned and raised his hand to strike a palm toward the white smoke.

Boom—

The white smoke dissipated, revealing the Jianwen Emperor's figure.

A square face with large ears, sword-like eyebrows and bee-like eyes, with a cinnabar mole hanging by his nose. He looked young, only in his twenties, wearing a damaged bright yellow robe, looking at the Emperor.

He had completely shed the appearance of a dried corpse.

"Oh, this is the trump card he hid."

Li Miao cast a playful glance at Ji Tianrui.

"Indeed."

Ji Tianrui smiled and nodded.

Just from the appearance, Li Miao immediately judged the origin of the Jianwen Emperor's trump card.

It was clearly the secret method used by the court to control Heaven-Man attendants!

The attendants who fought the Xiaoling Guards outside the mausoleum earlier had used this method—sacrificing lifespan in exchange for a state closer to their peak.

When Yin Ruihua surrendered to the Emperor, he had brought him to the tomb entrance; at that time, the Jianwen Emperor had heard their conversation and knew that the gamble had been overturned and he would never receive Heaven-Men again.

From that moment on, he had already begun to use this secret method.

Suppressing his life signs to the minimum, compressing and storing the true energy circulating in his Dantian, along with the Heaven-Man lives that had not yet been consumed.

Until this moment, it finally erupted!

The Jianwen Emperor broke free from the Emperor's true energy handprint, scanned Li Miao and Ji Tianrui coldly, and said nothing.

The alliance of the three was extremely fragile.

He couldn't tell if the two were trying to take the opportunity to kill the Emperor, or if they wanted to force out his trump card so it would be easier to kill him after the Emperor died.

But since the trump card had already been used, there was no reason to be hesitant anymore.

"Die."

The Jianwen Emperor suddenly closed in on the Emperor's side, striking out with a fist; it was "Destroying the Sun and Perishing the Moon" from the "Ming Divine Martial Canon"!

The Emperor frowned, striking back with the same move, "Destroying the Sun and Perishing the Moon"!

Boom!

The loud sound exploded, and Li Miao and Ji Tianrui no longer hesitated, flashing together to attack the Emperor.

(End of chapter)