Chapter 974: Subduing Juan Niao Lou (2/2, Requesting Moon Tickets)

You Long only slightly raised her eyes and swept her gaze across the entire area; a terrifying, invisible pressure instantly froze every member of the Purple Hall in place!

That overwhelming suppression of the inferior by a superior made even their breathing seem to stop.

At that moment, You Long spoke.

"Which one of you is the Seventh Prince?"

Her voice was light and ethereal, giving one the impression that she never tasted the mortal world's smoke and fire.

"Reporting to the Grand Elder, the Seventh Prince is not here. These are people of the Purple Hall; they have already defected to the First Prince, who possesses no bloodline power, and are restricting me from going to find the Seventh Prince!"

"So they are people of the Purple family. But since they have forgotten the ancestral teachings, they no longer have the right to be considered members of the Purple family."

Hearing You Long's words, the Purple Hall Master's face changed. Just as he was about to speak, a wound suddenly tore open across his neck, and blood gushed out like a fountain from the neck wound.

What kind of martial art is this?! It's even more bizarre than the bizarre itself!

The Purple Hall Master stared in panic, his mouth opening wide as if to say something, but the wider his mouth opened, the wider the wound tore. With a sudden crack, his head snapped clean off his neck and dropped to the ground, his face still frozen in the expression of desperately gaping with veins bulging on his forehead.

Looking at the headless corpse of the Purple Hall Master on the ground, the other Purple Hall guards were so terrified that they fell to their knees, kowtowing repeatedly and begging for mercy.

But as they kept kowtowing, their heads one after another severed from their bodies and tumbled to the ground.

In just a short while, these Cloud-rank martial artists died silently in the graveyard.

Everything happened so fast, so eerily calm, that even You Xingchen felt somewhat dazed.

Dead? The people of the Purple Hall, killed by the Grand Elder?

This...

He felt the Grand Elder had no need to be so ruthless; these Purple Hall people simply hadn't met the Seventh Prince yet. Once they did, they would surely switch allegiance to him instead of continuing to support the First Prince.

But in front of the Grand Elder, he didn't even dare to take an extra breath, let alone say anything else.

Whether it was that bizarre method of killing or that inhuman, jade-like quality, both instinctively made one dare not offer the slightest offense.

In fact, compared to a human, You Xingchen felt the Grand Elder was closer to a bizarre entity...

Or rather, somewhere between a bizarre entity and an immortal?

He had once heard the clan leader say that the elders of the clan went into closed-door cultivation precisely to break through the shackles of their spiritual roots and reach the unreachable realm of immortals!

Now it seemed that, for this purpose, the elders had already cultivated themselves into something neither human nor bizarre.

"Where is the Seventh Prince?"

You Long's gaze fell upon You Xingchen.

Cold sweat slid down You Xingchen's forehead.

He forced himself to stay as calm as possible and said, "He should be over at the Cuckoo Bird Tower."

"Cuckoo Bird Tower?" You Long seemed slightly puzzled, but quickly said, "Take me there."

Before You Xingchen could answer, he found himself "floating" up.

Only then did he faintly understand what You Long's power was all about.

"Threads, invisible threads! I can feel myself being lifted into mid-air, pulled by countless unseen threads!"

Indeed, only through direct contact could one truly understand what those profoundly mysterious things were actually about.

However, if one truly had to comprehend You Long's combat style through battle, his head would probably have already hit the ground by now.

"Grand Elder, the capital has been attacked by bizarre entities of the Black Rain Tribe, the entire capital is..."

"It has nothing to do with me."

In a shift of vision, his entire body was hurled by the power of the threads out of the barrier and landed outside.

Before he could get up, he saw You Long and two other middle-aged men walk out from the barrier.

Those were unmistakably... the Second Elder and Third Elder of the You family!

"Lead the way, to Cuckoo Bird Tower."

At You Long's command, You Xingchen's body was yanked by the threads high into the air, bathed in the night rain.

"Keep it."

As You Long and the other two elders rose into the air, You Long tossed something over.

You Xingchen caught it instinctively, took it out and looked—and it was unmistakably a 【Rain-Repelling Pearl】! The 【Rain-Repelling Pearls】 that had been on those Purple Hall people!

The Grand Elder had actually collected the belongings off the corpses...

You Xingchen was momentarily stunned. Suddenly he felt that this fairy-like, distant Grand Elder wasn't quite so otherworldly after all, and he instantly felt a bit closer to her.

"What a heavy night rain; it's been many years since I've seen one like this." The Second Elder looked up at the churning black clouds and smiled faintly.

"Compared to the night rain, the awakening of the imperial bloodline is far rarer." The Third Elder stared ahead, his gaze indifferent.

"Let's go. A new king has appeared; the Qing Kingdom is about to be turned upside down."

As You Long's words fell, You Xingchen had only just pointed the direction when he felt his body being torn apart by a violent force. The surrounding scenery blurred rapidly, and he hurtled dizzily toward Cuckoo Bird Tower!

……

Cuckoo Bird Tower.

Beneath the dim black clouds, the once-glorious Cuckoo Bird Tower was shrouded in shadow.

Under the crashing of the black meteor shower, Cuckoo Bird Tower suffered a tremendous impact.

And most importantly... when they went to look for the Second Prince and the Third Prince, what they saw was... two headless corpses!

Thunder Tower Master, one of the four Tower Masters of Cuckoo Bird Tower, stared blankly at the two princes' corpses, at a loss for what to do.

But Mad Tower Master beside him reacted quickly and said in a deep voice, "Into the palace, to report intelligence to the First Prince! The severity of this matter is beyond what our Cuckoo Bird Tower can handle."

Dark Tower Master gave a slight nod: "Indeed, that is what we should do."

Of the four Tower Masters of Cuckoo Bird Tower, aside from the already-dead Jester Tower Master, only the three of them remained.

They all possessed Cloud-rank strength and were top-tier experts anywhere in the capital, yet faced with the fall of the two princes, they still could not bear the responsibility.

This concerns the imperial family!

Lei Tower Master sighed deeply.

Jingcheng was in chaos; even Juan Niao Lou suffered greatly—first the Extreme Ice Sect caused trouble, then the patron prince died at Juan Niao Lou, disasters came one after another, as if cursed with bad luck, and the only remaining hope was the crown prince.

Lei Tower Master looked outside the tower; black clouds filled the sky.

Below, his subordinates were fighting a bizarre insect-like creature.

Huh? Wait!

Lei Tower Master narrowed his eyes and realized his subordinates weren't just fighting the creature—they were also clashing with a group of people.

A single sword hummed, and Juan Niao Lou's men fell in a heap.

"Sss—?!"

Lei Tower Master was stunned. What sword art was this? What level of power?

Who the hell is that man down there?!

His face darkened as he exchanged glances with the other two Tower Masters.

"This youth cannot be stopped by anyone else—we must act. Who will step forward?"

"I will!"

An Tower Master snorted coldly and leapt from the tower's roof!

"With An Tower Master acting, the chaos below will surely be quelled!"

"Indeed—that palm technique descending from the heavens has never been broken!"

Lei Tower Master had full confidence in An Tower Master.

Under the gaze of both Tower Masters, the falling An Tower Master absorbed the surrounding Qi, forming a vast, phantom palm studded with starlike points, pressing downward!

"Die!"

"One strike!"

The two men had complete faith in their colleague.

Yet beneath their gaze, a piercing, shrill sword hum suddenly rang out—"Wooooom!!"

In the next instant, as if space itself had been cleaved by a single sword, a blinding white blade of light appeared in midair.

When the light faded, they saw only An Tower Master's corpse, severed cleanly in two, lying on the ground, his face frozen in shock and disbelief, utterly motionless.

(End of Chapter)