Chapter 43: The Third Night of the Maiden

  Li Jing saw the Emperor's icy gaze and suddenly shuddered, but then he had an idea and thought of a "wonderful method" that he believed could help the Emperor get out of trouble. He said: "Three princesses, please listen to my words. This arrow may not necessarily be shot by Your Majesty. On that day, Your Majesty was in the temporary palace, and we only heard the sound, but did not see Your Majesty personally shoot the arrow. And there is another person in the temporary palace, who is the current Queen of Qi, Moon Empress. She can also use the Shocking Heaven Bow and Piercing Cloud Arrow. During our great victory over the Eastern Yi, Moon Empress used the Shocking Heaven Bow and Piercing Cloud Arrow to kill Jiuying... I suppose..."

  "Is it the Marquis of Qi? Or is it Princess Moon? If that's the case, then there must be some misunderstanding. My sister and I will take our leave." The Cloudy Sisters exchanged a glance, nodded, and stood up. In reality, they both understood that even if the Emperor himself had killed Yu Tan Tong Zi, he wouldn't have to pay with his life. Although the sisters' magical powers were profound, and no one in the entire capital could match them, after all, the Emperor was the ruler of the world. Even a hermit couldn't be too arrogant, let alone harm him easily. But if the murderer had been that Marquis of Qi instead, it would have been different. Even with the title of Princess, she was just a Yi girl, and wasn't even worth considering in the eyes of the Cloudy Three Sisters.

  "Li Jing, shut up! How dare you! Get out of Changge with me!" Zhang Zixing's anger suddenly erupted when he heard Li Jing shift the blame to Yuemei. Although Yuemei was a Dongyi tribeswoman, she was also his wife whom he had true feelings for. No matter how much he feared Yun Xiao and others, no matter how much he wanted to use them, he would never sacrifice Yuemei in exchange. San Chao wanting to deal with Yuemei had undoubtedly touched the reverse scales of his heart. Li Jing had never seen the emperor so angry before, knowing he had misspoken, and ran out with a pale face.

  "The three goddesses, there's no need to say more. What if I, the emperor, were to kill that Yu Tan child? I am the supreme ruler of the four seas, and all under heaven are my subjects. You three may be on the Three Immortals' Island overseas, but you are still within my domain. Don't mention just one child, even if there were a hundred or more children, I would kill them all. What then?" Zhang Zixing said, his eyes shooting out cold, electric-like glints that pressed straight towards the three women.

  The three princesses did not expect the emperor to be so overbearing. Even Yun Xiao, who was normally calm and composed, coldly snorted: "I've long heard that Your Majesty is a wise and enlightened ruler, but I didn't think you'd be so tyrannical and cruel! My sisters were willing to reason with you in good faith, yet you responded with vicious words!"

  "Sister, don't bother with him, if you don't give him a comeback, I'm afraid the Three Immortals Island's methods won't be understood!" Bi Xiao said, and in her slender palm, a blue crystal ball suddenly appeared. Zhang Zixing felt the scene change, the Zhao Xuan Hall was gone, and he found himself on a small island in the middle of the ocean, while Bi Xiao sat on the back of a large bird with a flower crest, coldly staring at him.

  "Your Majesty, I won't make it difficult for you either. You just need to admit your mistake and hand over that concubine to be dealt with by my sister, otherwise don't blame me for being ruthless!"

  "A real man should dare to take responsibility for his actions, how can he let his woman bear the consequences for him?! You are just a minor outer sect disciple, do you dare to commit regicide?! Zhang Zixing heard this and also burst out in anger, saying: "If you know what's good for you, quickly release me and let me go, otherwise I will definitely lead an army to attack the Upper Three Immortals Island and flatten it!"

  Bixiao was enraged, and with a wave of his hands, the surrounding waves rose like ferocious beasts to several tens of meters high, surging towards the small island from all directions. Zhang Zixing didn't know how to fly, so he couldn't escape; he could only stand firmly on the ground with both feet, using the Xuanwu Spirit Incantation with all his might to protect himself, muttering to himself: "Isn't it said that cultivating this incantation can make one 'invulnerable and indestructible, impervious to water and fire'? I'll bet everything on it!" As soon as he finished thinking, the towering waves had already engulfed the small island.

  At this moment, the originally turbulent sea suddenly turned into a whirlpool shape, and in the center of the whirlpool, the image of a snake-necked turtle gradually emerged. Bi Xiao recognized it as the ancient divine beast Xuanwu. Xuanwu was a water-controlling body, so how could the seawater pose a threat to it? The snake neck of Xuanwu stood up, let out a long hiss, and countless water pillars rose from the surrounding seawater, rolling back towards Bi Xiao in mid-air.

  Bixiao originally wanted to cast an illusion spell to scare him, but unexpectedly he had such ability and could actually use the illusion to make the seawater roll back. In her heart, she was also secretly surprised. However, Bixiao was a person of great skill, and the trivial water pillar in her eyes wasn't even worth a glance. With a wave of her hand and a single word "swift", the entire sea suddenly froze, and those water pillars also solidified into ice, instantly becoming a spectacular sight. Ice is also one of the forms of water, originally with the pure body of Xuanwu, it shouldn't be a cause for concern. But due to the huge difference in cultivation between Zhang Zixing and Bixiao, the skillful use of magic was also vastly different. The Xuanwu shadow image was controlled by her using water to restrain water, trapped in the center of the ice vortex, no matter how hard it struggled, it couldn't move.

  "Unexpectedly, the dignified Son of Heaven has actually cultivated the Golden Elixir path and is well-versed in the True Martial Spirit Incantation of the Mystic Emperor. I underestimated you," The eyes behind the Azure Void mask flashed with a sharp light: "No need to mention that your cultivation is too shallow, today even if the True Martial Mystic Emperor himself came, he would still be made to retreat in defeat!"

  At this moment, a golden light suddenly rose from the icy sea and transformed into a ferocious beast with immense destructive power - it was Xīnyì. The entire frozen surface of the sea cracked and split as Xīnyì moved at an incredible speed, shooting towards Zǐ Xiāo in mid-air. Zǐ Xiāo felt an extremely terrifying aura approaching him, unavoidable and imminent, so he hastily focused his mind to await it.

  As the crisp sound of shattering echoed, Zhang Zixing only felt a surge of energy and returned to the Zhaoxuan Hall. Due to the urgent situation earlier, he was forced to release the fierce soldier "Yin Wei", and his entire body's strength was also drained, now he could only rely on a strong willpower to barely support his weak body.

  Across from him, the blue crystal ball in Bixiao's palm had shattered into pieces. Yunxiao was standing in front of Bixiao, with a large golden square cauldron floating above his hand, slowly rotating. His strongest weapon, "Devouring Soul", lay quietly beneath the cauldron, like ordinary iron. A massive oppressive force emanated from the cauldron, making it difficult for him to even breathe.

  "Hunyuan Golden Cauldron!" Zhang Zixing almost moaned, never expecting Yun Xiao to think so highly of him that he would actually use the Hunyuan Golden Cauldron treasure.

  Yun Xiao did not attack Zhang Zixing again, putting away the Hunyuan Golden Cauldron. He said calmly: "Just now, my sister Bi Xiao only borrowed the illusion from the Fantasy Pearl to confuse Your Majesty, without any intention of harming you. Unexpectedly, Your Majesty possesses the Xuan Emperor's spiritual technique and can also control the ancient evil device 'Si Hui', destroying the Fantasy Pearl. I was afraid that my sister would lose control of her power and hurt Your Majesty, so I had no choice but to intervene and use a small trick to subdue Si Hui. It's really embarrassing!"

  Bixiao never intended to actually hurt the Tianzi, only wanting to use a little magic to punish him. The water bead had many uses, and if he really wanted to deal with Zhang Zixing, even with the help of the devouring spirit, it would still be difficult to escape disaster. But Bixiao was overconfident, thinking that she was already close to the Xian realm, and could win easily even with her eyes closed. She didn't expect that Zhang Zixing's Jindan period cultivation would have the ability to counterattack. As a result, not only was the water bead unexpectedly destroyed, but she also almost got into trouble. Just as she was about to angrily counterattack, fortunately, Yunxiao saw clearly and timely released the Hunyuan Golden Cauldron, resolving the crisis. Bixiao lost her magic treasure, and her attack was blocked by her sister, her heart filled with boundless anger, her eyes behind the mask glaring fiercely at Zhang Zixing, as if she wanted to spit out fire.

  "Are you resorting to petty tricks?" Zhang Zixing knew that the gap in strength between him and his opponent was too great, and that continuing to struggle would be meaningless. He sneered coldly: "I am just a mortal body, with no Three Flowers on my head, nor Five Qi in my chest. Why bother using the Hunyuan Golden Cauldron? If you're not careful and release the Golden Scissors, won't I end up losing my head?"

  San Xiao was shocked to hear that the Emperor knew so much about their family background, and Yun Xiao hesitated for a moment before saying: "I didn't expect Your Majesty to have such broad knowledge, actually understanding the subtleties of Hunyuan Golden Cauldron! Your Majesty doesn't need to be overly modest, since the golden elixir has been formed, why mention the mortal body? Don't blame my sisters for being rude, they had no intention of harming Your Majesty. It's just that Your Majesty mistakenly killed our sect members first, and we only hope that you can give Sanxian Island an explanation."

  Hand over? Zhang Zixing had already given up, suddenly revealing a disdainful expression, and asked back: "You ask me to hand over? Who does I ask to hand over? I am the Son of Heaven, ruling the world, holding the power of life and death in my hands. To be honest, even if I intentionally killed the disciples of Sanxian Island, it would not be a crime, let alone an unintentional mistake?"

  Although this remark is overbearing, it also conforms to the monarchistic ideology of this era. Yun Xiao was speechless for a moment, just like what Duobao Daoren had considered at that time - how could they be foolish enough to sacrifice their own interests and destroy their own foundation because of a minor issue? At first, when they confirmed that the murderer was the current emperor, they were also worried. The immortal cultivators outside the world might despise power and wealth, but they would never dare to use magic to harm the Emperor, who is the Son of Heaven. This time, coming to Chaoge, it's just a questioning and asking for personal favors at most.

  However, Li Jing's clever words shifted the trouble to Yuè Jiě. Zhang Zǐ Xīng knew that Sān Xiāo was going to deal with his wife, and immediately got angry, tore off his face, and made it impossible for Sān Xiāo to get away with it, leading to a fight. Now both sides are in a precarious situation, and it can be said that they are all Li Jing's "credit".

  Bixiao was originally still seething with anger, and seeing him use the power of the monarch to oppress others, she said proudly: "What about the Son of Heaven? My sisters and I have been cultivating since the dawn of time and have long achieved the way of longevity, transcending the mundane world and not being bound by royal authority. Moreover, the calamity of human slaughter is approaching, at that time the universe will be turned upside down, whether your position as the Son of Heaven...

  Before she could finish speaking, Yun Xiao cut her off. Bi Xiao saw the severe gaze in her sister's eyes and knew she had misspoken, so she fell silent. Zhang Zixing knew what she wanted to say, so he decided to take a bold approach and responded calmly: "Why must you hesitate to speak, Princess Bi Xiao? Is it that you dare not mention the matter of the Divine Rankings?"

  "Your Majesty, you..." Yun Xiao was about to speak to cover up Bi Xiao's previous mistake, but he was shocked by the words and swallowed back what he was going to say. Qiong Xiao and Bi Xiao also showed a look of shock in their eyes.

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