Chapter 948

The Star River manifests, the Tongxuan Imperial Palace.

The virtual shadow of the Eastern Xuan Emperor, seated in stillness within the palace’s silent hall, suddenly opened his eyes, and before him appeared a bloodstained jade slip.

Yet this blood-marked life-soul jade slip was now shattered into four pieces.

The Eastern Xuan Emperor’s divine gaze sharply hardened—powerful cultivators such as True Persons or Emperor Lords, for the sake of their Dao path, never wished their essence blood or divine core to fall into another’s hands.

But to serve as his central close minister, one must first present something like a blood-restricted life-soul jade slip; this was the foundation of his trust.

Now that the blood-marked life-soul jade slip had shattered, it meant the True Person of Heavenly Punishment had perished; the virtual shadow radiated starlight, and the entire hall seemed brighter in that instant.

“The life-soul blood slip of Heavenly Punishment shattered—he’s gone?”

“Who could it be?”

In the next instant, the Eastern Xuan Emperor struck the jade bell beside him.

At the sound of the jade bell, the True Person Ding Moqiu, on duty outside the door, swiftly stepped to the corridor outside the silent hall and knelt on one knee. “Your servant is here. Your Majesty’s command?”

“In the past half-month, where was Heavenly Punishment? What was he doing?” asked the Eastern Xuan Emperor.

“Your Majesty, Lord Heavenly Punishment has recently been patrolling the Star Wastes as ordered; he should be in the Star Wastes.”

“What was his itinerary?” asked the Emperor’s virtual shadow.

“Your Majesty, I only have the itinerary reports submitted by Lord Heavenly Punishment. For the past month, he has remained in the Star Wastes. For more precise details, I must inquire directly with Lord Heavenly Punishment,” replied Ding Moqiu.

“Star Wastes? No need to ask.”

In the next instant, the Eastern Xuan Emperor casually flicked out a streak of starlight; within five breaths, five Ninth-Catastrophe True Persons instantly descended, arriving and kneeling on one knee as Ding Moqiu had done, offering full obeisance.

Seeing this, Ding Moqiu dared not even breathe.

Something major had happened.

Something absolutely major had happened.

The Limit-Breaking Imperial Guard!

Rumor had it the Emperor commanded a Limit-Breaking Imperial Guard squad, each member possessing Limit-Breaking power, yet unable to ascend to the Emperor Dao due to various reasons, thus selected into the Emperor’s Limit-Breaking Imperial Guard.

It was said they had been assembled three hundred years ago.

For close ministers like himself, if one could never ascend to the Emperor Dao, one would eventually be chosen for the Limit-Breaking Imperial Guard.

But this had always been rumor—he had never seen a single living member of the Limit-Breaking Imperial Guard, yet now he saw five at once.

It was said they never moved unless for great matters.

Then what great matter had prompted the Emperor to deploy the Limit-Breaking Imperial Guard today?

What had happened to the True Person of Heavenly Punishment?

Had he betrayed?

“Xuan Feng, take them, and bring Moqiu along. Carry my personal decree into the Star Wastes, contact the Tongxuan Secret Guards there, and investigate Heavenly Punishment’s movements—where was he last seen?”

“Also investigate whether any major events have occurred in the Star Wastes.

Report immediately upon discovery.” The Eastern Xuan Emperor ordered.

“Your servant obeys,” said True Person Xuan Feng, only four words, then turned to Ding Moqiu.

“Your servant obeys.”

After responding, Ding Moqiu swiftly followed True Person Xuan Feng away, yet his mind flashed two words: Last!

Last place he was seen!

This meant the True Person of Heavenly Punishment had perished!

His former superior, the True Person of Heavenly Punishment, had perished.

Just recently, he had broken through the Twelve Catastrophes!

His combat power rivaled that of an Emperor Lord; with his Heavenly Punishment Divine Eye, even a Minor Imperial Guard Emperor Lord might not have been able to defeat him.

Yet the True Person of Heavenly Punishment had perished!

Instantly, four words surfaced in Ding Moqiu’s mind: Kongyuan Emperor Lord!

“Will this not plunge us into chaos?”

“With the Emperor, the situation should be stabilized!”

After the five Limit-Breaking Imperial Guards and Ding Moqiu departed, the Eastern Xuan Emperor’s virtual shadow gazed far into the heavens and sighed softly, “After so many years of preparation, is it finally time to contend?”

“But you should know I have forged life-soul jade slips for these central close ministers like Heavenly Punishment—why strike him first?”

“Did Heavenly Punishment discover something about your plan?”

“Or…”

“It seems my true body must return.”

“Our thousand-year bond, our endless rivalry—must now come to an end.”

“Pity…”

Within the Star Wastes’ starry void, Xu Jin heard a divine soul transmission from Emperor Fenghua.

【Jin’er, the alien Silver Wing Space Emperor’s aura has appeared; most True Persons have noticed. The waters are stirred. Your mistress’s situation is urgent—we must return immediately.

Originally, your master intended to casually slay Jin Nanzhi.

But the alien Space Emperor aura your mistress conjured looks convincing from afar; if she had acted and left traces, it would have been exposed, so we held back.

You must resolve this yourself.

Remember: do not take risks. For now, keeping him alive won’t cause major trouble.

We’re leaving. Contact via Book-Message Disc if urgent.】

As the divine soul transmission ended, Xu Jin tried to respond, but could no longer sense his master Emperor Fenghua’s aura or location.

He could only bow respectfully toward the empty void and send a message via Book-Message Disc.

In the next instant, Xu Jin turned sharply toward the direction from which the group of True Persons from Changxing Star Island were rapidly approaching.

Just moments before, he had swiftly located the position of the Star Realm fragment and casually slain three Space True Persons from Luanshang Star Island of the Silver Wing race.

After Chi Feng Star Island was captured, the alien Ancient Saint City ultimately decided to reinforce Luanshang Star Island and relocate it midway between the former Chi Feng Star Island and Luanshang Star Island, to contain and counter Changxing Star Island.

The main reason was that Changxing Star Island was currently on the rise; building a new star island with too small an area provided insufficient defensive support—it would likely be just another meal, possibly even falling like Chi Feng Star Island—hence this arrangement.

These Space True Persons from Luanshang Star Island were even more cautious than those from Huling Star Island.

At Huling Star Island, they at least traveled in pairs; here, they traveled in threes.

One Ninth-Catastrophe, one Sixth-Catastrophe, one Fourth-Catastrophe.

Honestly, only now—with Zhu Lin Xiao present—could Xu Jin handle them easily.

Had Zhu Lin Xiao not been here, Xu Jin would have had to exert considerable effort.

After slaying the three Space True Persons from Luanshang Star Island, Xu Jin sent a signal to the main force, while his master and mistress completed their plan to stir the waters.

This was the most critical part of Xu Jin’s strategy.

Because currently, people believed Xu Jin could handle Ninth-Catastrophe True Persons.

But no one believed Xu Jin could handle an Emperor-level strongman.

Even his victory over the Space Emperor Yin Zheng with Zhu Lin Xiao could not be replicated in the short term—it required a measure of luck.

After all, Yin Zheng had been careless in that battle.

So once the waters were stirred, no one would suspect Xu Jin of killing the Jade Whale Emperor.

But if this matter were investigated closely, a massive flaw would emerge.

Although the outside world—even the commander of the Tongxuan War Zone, Kongyuan Emperor Lord—did not know that one of Jade Whale Emperor’s primary purposes in coming to Changxing Star Island was to deal with Xu Jin,

the two trusted subordinates he brought—Space True Person Shen Zhenxuan and Ninth-Catastrophe True Person Jin Nanzhi—almost certainly knew.

Even if not fully aware, they certainly knew Jade Whale Emperor’s goal was to eliminate Xu Jin.

Under normal circumstances, these two would never reveal this.