Shangguan Rongjing’s lips curved into a wicked smile. He brought a fingertip to his mouth and deliberately licked it with his tongue.
Looking at the beautiful, easily angered young woman before him, he felt more and more that he had completely fallen for her.
Especially her eyes, filled with murderous intent. How interesting they were.
"Bang!"
A powerful surge of spiritual energy erupted within Shangguan Rongjing, and he shook his arms.
The black threads that had ensnared him vanished in an instant.
Gu Qianying’s pupils contracted sharply.
This disgusting man before her possessed a spiritual cultivation far beyond the ninth level of Void Transformation.
It was not just the crimson spiritual energy she had seen earlier.
Shangguan Rongjing teleported, appearing before Gu Qianying.
The azure spiritual energy in his palms dissipated completely.
The Xuan Ling Masters captured by the evil spirits were greatly alarmed.
None of them had expected their Second Prince to be so unfathomably powerful.
The First Prince, Shangguan Beichen, looked at Shangguan Rongjing, narrowing his eyes.
His second brother's spiritual cultivation was significantly higher than his own, yet he had never revealed it. How interesting!
Meanwhile.
Nangong Mo’s cold gaze fell upon the "damned" man who had broken free from the black threads and approached Gu Qianying.
Nangong Mo clenched his fists tightly.
His eyes were like an unfathomable abyss of ice.
"Damn it!"
At the same time, he was also angry at himself for being so useless.
Unable to protect his wife.
So close to the one he loved.
Shangguan Rongjing’s smile widened.
He raised his long fingers and provocatively lifted Gu Qianying’s pointed chin.
"Since you won't come to me, I'll come to you... Young lady, look at the useless people around you, the unimportant men. What use are they?"
"Young lady, follow this Prince, and I will satisfy you night after night. Even the child within your belly, this Prince will cherish them both. What do you say?"
Hah!
Meeting Shangguan Rongjing’s gaze, Gu Qianying sneered, her eyes burning with bloodthirsty killing intent.
The dagger hidden in her sleeve spun in her palm. With a flick of her sleeve, the dagger was unsheathed.
The red hem of her sleeve brushed past Shangguan Rongjing’s eyes, grazing his face, and a faint fragrance wafted towards him.
He closed his eyes, inhaled, and immersed himself in the scent emanating from the "young lady."
And in the next moment… "Pfft!"
Blood splattered across his face, followed by a delayed sensation of pain.
He snapped his eyes open and saw that one of his hands had been severed.
His bloody severed hand fell at his feet.
Everyone was stunned.
Gu Qianying turned, casually tossing the bloodstained dagger onto the ground.
With a raise of her hand.
The maid Wu Zi quickly handed her a white handkerchief. Gu Qianying took the handkerchief, walked to Nangong Mo, and sat down on a chair, nonchalantly wiping her fingers.
She wiped them meticulously, as if she had touched something filthy.
"Third Brother!"
Seeing Shangguan Rongjing’s hand severed.
Shangguan Beichen seized the distraction of the Flood Dragon A Mu and struck him, then quickly approached Shangguan Rongjing.
"Third Brother, your hand…"
Blood spread from his severed wrist, soaking Shangguan Rongjing's clothes.
A smile, wild and ecstatic, spread across Shangguan Rongjing’s lips.
"It matters not. It's just a hand. As long as the young lady likes it, I'm willing to even have my heart dug out."
As he spoke, he extended his tongue and licked the blood from the edge of his wrist into his mouth.
Shangguan Beichen frowned as he watched him.
Among the crowd, especially those from the capital who were familiar with the Third Prince Shangguan Rongjing’s character.
They all felt a chill down their spines.
In the empire, everyone knew that the Third Prince Shangguan Rongjing was a perverted madman.
Anyone who betrayed him was tortured to death.
And any woman he fancied and brought into his mansion had her legs cut off to prevent escape, or was nailed to the walls of his chambers, or even made into a "human pig."
Furthermore, those who offended him met even more gruesome fates.
As if he were a monster devoid of pain, Shangguan Rongjing picked up the bloodstained dagger Gu Qianying had thrown on the ground and gripped the blade with his other hand.
He slowly inserted the hilt of the dagger into the bloody, mangled flesh of his severed wrist.
He used his spiritual energy to stop the bleeding from his profusely bleeding wrist.
Releasing the dagger, he ignored the wounds on his palm from the blade and placed two fingers where his wrist met the dagger hilt.
Azure spiritual energy swirled around his wrist.
In a moment, he possessed a "dagger-hand."
Those in the Ling Shu Pavilion who witnessed Shangguan Rongjing’s actions felt even greater fear towards her.
Those on Gu Qianying’s side, seeing Shangguan Rongjing’s "maneuver."
Du Chun frowned.
This was a madman!
Nangong Mo’s expression remained unchanged. He turned his gaze to Gu Qianying, his cold light receding, his eyes softening.
He reached out, took Gu Qianying’s hand, and intertwined their fingers. "Wife, you've suffered."
He felt a pang of guilt.
If he hadn’t been so useless.
Why would his wife, heavily pregnant, have to come out and encounter these hateful people!
He was too useless!
Unable to personally kill that madman who had provoked his wife!
"Look at you, you're doing it again."
She released Nangong Mo’s hand, turned sideways, and took a candied plum from Old Man Wu, placing it in Nangong Mo's mouth.
"For now, just rest well. Leave everything else to me. Don't worry, they are no match for me."
After comforting Nangong Mo, Gu Qianying looked towards Shangguan Rongjing, who was also looking at her.
Gu Qianying’s gaze was very cold.
Shangguan Rongjing’s eyes, however, held a possessive desire to have her.
At this moment, Nangong Mo also noticed Shangguan Rongjing’s gaze.
His eyes turned sharp and cold.
With a flick of his sleeve, he threw out two more silver needles. This time, Shangguan Rongjing caught them with his bare hands, two needles held between his fingers.
He was still smiling.
"Brother, these men are too annoying. Shall I kill them all?"
He said this to Shangguan Beichen, but Shangguan Rongjing’s eyes remained fixed on Gu Qianying.
Concurrently.
In the Imperial Palace, the Emperor received a letter. The imperial guards could not track the messenger, but they could sense the aura of a demonic being.
The letter revealed that the Third Princess, Fourth Princess, Third Prince, First Prince, and various ladies and gentlemen from the court were all captured in the Ling Shu Pavilion.
That day, the Emperor, accompanied by the Grand Preceptor Yan Aotian and a contingent of Imperial Guards, arrived at the Ling Shu Pavilion after the time it took for an incense stick to burn.
While only a small number of Imperial Guards remained to defend the Imperial Palace, Leng, the secret guard who had contacted Gu Qianying half a month ago and come to her side.
He appeared within the Imperial Palace with several skilled secret guards.
And at this moment, within the Ling Shu Pavilion, Gu Qianying sat on a chair.
She glanced up at the sun overhead, estimating the time.
At this hour, Leng and his subordinates had already stealthily infiltrated the Imperial Palace.
The Empire was a place of spiritual cultivation, and the Imperial Palace possessed even greater spiritual energy.
Demonic beings would be detected upon approach, thus, to investigate matters here, only this method would work.
The Flood Dragon A Mu walked over and whispered into her ear, "Sect Master, the Emperor and the Grand Preceptor Yan Aotian have arrived with heavy troops."
"Mm."
As soon as the words left his mouth.
The Emperor, clad in a bright yellow dragon robe, led a large army and entered in a grand procession.
Those captured by the evil spirits cried out, "It's His Majesty! His Majesty is here! Our Emperor is here! We are saved!"
As these people shouted, the man behind the Emperor, dressed in a crimson python robe and wearing a black mask, became the focal point of everyone present.
The man in red possessed an imposing aura. His appearance made all the Xuan Ling Masters excited.
"Grand Preceptor! It’s Master Yu Hua! He’s here too!"