Chapter 930: Substitute (1/2, Requesting Moon Tickets)

The clouds parted, revealing the bright moon.

After the dark giant sword slashed through and shattered the swirling clouds above, the blood-red moon, gradually transformed by 【Tian Shi】, came into everyone's eyes.

Beneath the blood moon, a single-winged black shadow hovered in the air, gazing down upon all living beings like a god.

Everyone nearby who had been drawn by the dark clouds now saw Fang Yue's divine sword strike!

Among them were the tardy San Ming 【Di Shu】 of the Red Division, and Wen Shu Nian Wushuang, who had acquired the human medicine at 【Juan Niao Lou】.

"Unmoved by the torrential rain—this is… a Rain-level elder!"

"Hard to say… but that previous sword strike truly qualifies as a Rain-level attack… no, I even feel that strike contained some force more special than Rain-level!"

"Who is this person? Which Rain-level elder from 【Jingcheng】 intervened?"

"Although 【Jingcheng】 suffered a strange attack by the Black Moon Organization, the incident happened suddenly, and most Rain-level elders prefer solitude—they're hardly likely to get involved in such matters."

Nian Wushuang stood behind the three 【Di Shu】, quietly bowing his head to listen, but when they weren't looking, a mocking sneer flickered at the corner of his mouth.

Rain-level elders prefer solitude? That's not preference—it's that they don't even see people as people!

Every old monster in 【Jingcheng】 is eccentric and selfish.

Unless it's their own family in trouble, or the imperial clan comes knocking, don't all those old monsters just sweep their own doorstep clean?

Even our Nian family—only when our very survival is at stake do those Supreme Elders and ancestral elders deign to lift a finger and help resolve the issue.

As for situations like this now, where 【Jingcheng】 suffers a strange attack and massive casualties among commoners and the Four Divisions, they won't even bother to look.

Of those old monsters who've lived for centuries, how many still have blood relatives who truly matter? After a few generations, they've long grown indifferent.

"If not for these old bastards' inaction, how could my woman have been snatched away by that old devil!"

Every time he returned home and had to face Ming—who should have been his wife but was now his "stepmother"—Nian Wushuang's eyes turned red, nearly driving him mad on the spot.

"I was first! I discovered Ming in 【Qingsi County】, I was the one who made the engagement, I was going to bring my dearest woman to meet the most important person in my life—it should've been double joy, the pinnacle of my life! Why… why did it turn out like this!"

His fingernails dug into the flesh of his palm from sheer restraint.

He couldn't even hear the other 【Di Shu】 discussing around him.

These three, though also from the Nian family, were only collateral branches, entirely dependent on my father's favor—so even though I've clashed so bitterly with the family, they're forced to keep me around out of respect for my father.

"Human medicine! I must get more human medicine! Otherwise, how will I ever… cut off my father's head!"

Though I've acquired human medicine at 【Juan Niao Lou】, this amount is nowhere near enough.

"Fortunately, I've already found a way. That woman Mu Liu has far more courage than I thought—she wants to use the Twelve Seats' Serpent Seat as bait to lure out the Phoenix Organization, and I can take the opportunity… to make contact with the Phoenix Organization! I believe that offering the head of 【Qi Cai Guai Yan】, one of 【Jingcheng】's Twin Stars, as a token of loyalty, the Phoenix Organization will grant me a chance to negotiate."

The Phoenix Organization in 【Jingcheng】 is far more secretive than the Phoenix Organizations in other regions.

Precisely because many know this is the Phoenix Organization's stronghold, its management and transactions in this region are extremely tight—without the right channel, you can't even make contact.

Even as Wen Shu Nian Wushuang, I've found not a single trace of the Phoenix Organization, let alone much information about it.

This makes me suspect the Phoenix Organization in 【Jingcheng】 is colluding with the imperial clan—only then, with the imperial clan as cover, could all those records and traces vanish so completely.

"Wushuang, keep up."

Only when a 【Di Shu】 called out did Nian Wushuang snap back to reality, nod, and hurry to follow the group—only then did he realize the black shadow in the sky had vanished without a trace.

One 【Di Shu】, who had been watching him closely and had a particularly obsequious air, said with "kindness."

"We waited until the elder left before moving the team into that area. Most Rain-level elders dislike being disturbed without invitation."

Hearing this, Nian Wushuang tugged at his lips, then said nothing.

Endure.

Hidden Endurance.

When that fool woman makes contact with the Phoenix Organization—that's when I turn the tide!

…

【Qi Huang Fu】.

"Ahh… aaaaa! Aaaaaa!"

"Help! Help!! Your Highness the Seventh Prince, Your Highness the Sixth Prince—they're dead! They're both dead!"

More than a dozen people scrambled and crawled out of 【Qi Huang Fu】's gates.

Behind the gates lay a sea of corpses.

The entire 【Qi Huang Fu】 was strewn with bodies, the air thick with the stench of blood.

Some were from 【Qi Huang Fu】, others from Lan Shan's 【Blue Guard】.

Following the trail of corpses into the main hall, one could see the Sixth Prince's corpse, eyes wide open, lying motionless on the ground, and… the Seventh Prince's corpse!

Today was a special day.

The Seventh Prince had, after a long absence, invited the Sixth Prince to visit his residence.

But on this single occasion, they were ambushed.

The shadowy assassins didn't just slaughter everyone in 【Qi Huang Fu】, they also killed most of the Sixth Prince's personal guards and Lan Shan's 【Blue Guard】.

When the Sixth Prince tried to act, he realized—he'd been poisoned.

The tea he drank was tainted!

Too long a peace, too long pretending to be brotherly—he'd forgotten that when the time came, these brothers would show no mercy whatsoever.

The Sixth Prince fell. As the 【Shadow Stabs】 surged and enveloped him and the Seventh Prince, he was pierced through the heart by the Seventh Prince's dagger.

It was a fatal wound. Even with the same bloodline as the Emperor, and the faint bloodline power granting the imperial clan considerable regenerative ability, it still paled far beyond the legendary power of true resurrection.

So the Sixth Prince died.

But as the Sixth Prince collapsed, and the 【Shadow Stabs】 scattered, the Seventh Prince also collapsed into a pool of blood, lifeless as a corpse.

Everyone fled in terror, hunted and slaughtered by the 【Shadow Stabs】; in the end, only a dozen or so managed to escape.

After those people left 【Qi Huang Fu】, the Seventh Prince—who should have been dead—rose from the ground.

And the 【Shadow Stabs】, who were meant to be the assassins, now stood obediently behind the Seventh Prince.

The mechanism of the great hall was activated, and the secret passage's great door swung open.

"Pleasure cooperating with you!"

As the secret passage opened, what appeared was a hand extended, and the Ox Seat with a face full of smiles.

And standing beside the Ox Seat was a man whose appearance was almost exactly identical to the Seventh Prince's.

New chapter's up, new chapter's up, I'll be updating a bit more this month

(End of this chapter)