Chapter 521: Chapter 521. The Next Target
The revelation shocked Huang Zi. This shock delayed his reaction to an attack he sensed coming from behind him. He swiveled back and only had the time to put up one arm to block.
The attack was the massive fist of Da Niu. He acted once he received the mental command sent by Huang Zhan.
Huang Zi and Da Niu had the same cultivation level, but their condition was not equal. Additionally, Da Niu had a higher base strength thanks to his special constitution. For Huang Zi, who didn’t put up a proper block, Da Niu’s punch was overwhelming.
The sound of bones breaking was heard as the huge fist collided with Huang Zi’s arm. Huang Zi was thrown forward while screaming in pain. His scream stopped when Huang Zhan did a body slam into him. He looked down and saw the hilt of a dagger. The dagger’s blade was not visible because it was embedded deep inside his chest. His shirt, where the dagger was stuck, started to become drenched in red.
Huang Zhan whispered right to his ears, "I have no problem murdering you because I am already a kinslayer."
Huang Zhan ripped the dagger out. Blood gushed out of the wound. Huang Zi’s eyes were wide as he stared at Huang Zhan. Losing control of his floating ability, he slowly fell to the ground. Throughout the process, his eyes remained fixed on Huang Zhan, but he said nothing otherwise.
No one made a move. They simply stared as Huang Zi touched the ground. The crown prince lay there unmoving. His blood that gushed out fiercely started to slow.
Huang Zi breathed his last breath in silence. His eyes never closed. They remained fixed on Huang Zhan.
Huang Zhan returned the stare with contempt. The two continued to stare at one another even after Huang Zi was gone. Only after Xian Fei spoke to Huang Zhan that he looked away.
"My love, we can finally be together. I can now always stay with you. The few days we spent together in secret every year were too insufficient. You promised you would marry me after this is over, didn’t you?"
"Of course, I am a man of my word," Huang Zhan replied affectionately. He put his arms around her. "I will be king, and you will be my queen."
The two kissed, rather passionately. Xian Fei was so overcome by bliss and excitement that she didn’t feel the cold metal creeping near her neck. By the time she realized something was wrong, the dagger that killed Huang Zhan just now had slit her throat.
She gagged as blood gushed out of her open throat. She wanted to speak but couldn’t. She wanted to ask her love why he did this to her after all the things she had sacrificed for him.
Huang Zhan understood what she was trying to say. He said, "I’m sorry, love. I can’t let you leave this pocket world alive. If you are fine while your whole teammates die, you will be interrogated. Considering the deaths involve the crown prince, the interrogation will be ruthless. At some point, you will surrender my name. I can’t have that."
Xian Fei dropped to her knees as she felt her life flowed out of her. She couldn’t express her feelings through words. All she could do was stare at Huang Zhan. Her situation mimicked Huang Zi. While Huang Zi was silent due to resigning to his fate, Xian Fei was unwilling. Yet, she couldn’t speak.
The fierce love inside her flipped into intense hatred. She was about to use all her remaining strength to lunge at Huang Zhan, but two giant hands grabbed her shoulder from behind and pinned her down. She couldn’t move.
Huang Zhan chuckled. "Come on, love. Don’t be like that. Didn’t you say you would do anything for me? Didn’t you say you wouldn’t hesitate to give your life for my sake? Here I am, holding you to your word."
Xian Fei couldn’t do anything. She couldn’t resist Da Niu’s strength. She felt weaker and weaker as she ran low on blood. Tears streaked down her cheeks. Since she couldn’t speak, her unwillingness was expressed by those tears. Finally, she dropped weakly to the ground, joining Huang Zi, the liege she betrayed, who lay close by.
"Well, I am glad that is over with," Huang Zhan uttered. He clapped his hands loudly and exclaimed, "Okay! One down and two to go. Go find the exit points and the key to this trial stage, but don’t use them yet! Wait until our man on the outside comes through again before we move to the next stage. We don’t need to race the other teams for points when we can take out all contenders. When all candidates are out, my father will have no choice but to give me the crown."
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Inside the Royal Palace’s inner courtyard, King Huang Zi almost dropped to the floor if Zhu Yao didn’t catch him in time.
"How... How could that happen?" Huang Zi asked with a trembling voice. The artifact’s screen just posted information about the demise of all the participants in Huang Zi’s team. "Don’t all my children carry the escape stones?"
"I... I don’t understand," one of the robed officers who managed the trial artifact answered. "When I checked the screen, it said all emergency departures had been deactivated. The participants can only leave by waiting five days without solving the trial stage."
"How can that be? Didn’t you all perform regular maintenance on that artifact during preparation?" Zhu Yao asked. "Why does this function stop working without you knowing about it?"
"I... I’m sorry, Your Majesty... I’m at a loss myself...," The robed officer answered.
"Useless!" King Huang Ti bellowed. He didn’t move, but the robed officer was flung as if something had hit him. He crashed into the ground far away with a bleeding mouth and nose.
The other robed officer, after seeing his partner getting punished like that, bowed to the king and said, "Your Majesty, this anomaly probably happened due to the progress of Prince Huang San’s team. The information on the screen marks their progress with a different color. Whatever they are doing is intensifying. It draws a lot of energy from the artifact. It is probably due to this anomaly the artifact shut down some of its normal functions to conserve energy."
This robed officer was Huang Zhan’s mole. He was the war prisoner who originated from Khode. His name was Zhong Yuan. What he just said was, of course, all lies. He was only saying it to save his hide from receiving the king’s wrath like his partner just did.
"Do you know what Prince Huang San’s team did to cause such an occurrence," Zhu Yao asked.
"I’m sorry, prime minister. That is beyond my knowledge," Zhong Yuan answered. He was being truthful this time.
"Can you tell me which team is responsible for Huang Zi’s demise?" Huang Ti asked.
"I’m sorry, Your Majesty. That is also beyond my knowledge," Zhong Yuan returned to lying.
While they could track each team’s progress via the screen, they couldn’t see what happened inside. They also couldn’t see the positions of each team and whether any two teams were in the same trial stage. This was already the case ever since the Huang Clan found this trial artifact, so no one questioned the truth in Zhong Yuan’s answer.
While it was true Zhong Yuan still couldn’t see what was happening inside the pocket world, his expertise already allowed him to check the position of each team. He couldn’t control where the exit points led to, but he could signal the team inside about which exit point they should take."
Unsatisfied with the answer, Huang Ti almost exploded again, but Zhu Yao calmed him down. "Your Majesty, please calm down. You must look after your health. Once this trial ends, we will get to the bottom of this matter."
"Hmph!" Huang Ti turned and walked away. He left the courtyard with heavy steps.
Zhu Yao sighed. He understood that although Huang Ti said he chose the Ancient Ascension Trial to prevent bloodshed among his vassals, the real reason was to avoid the bloodshed among his children. With Huang Zi’s death, this trial had failed to carry out its purpose.
Zhu Yao didn’t know how to console his old friend. All he could do was leave him to mourn in solitude.
Zhong Yuan looked around him. The king’s rage had caused almost everyone to flee the courtyard. The king had left. Zhu Yao was brooding by himself absentmindedly. His partner had left the courtyard to seek treatment. This was another golden opportunity.
He operated the artifact’s platform. The screen displayed the information he was looking for. Of the two teams outside of Huang Zhan’s team, one had just entered a new trial stage one day ago, while the other one was already three days old. The one-day team should stay in that stage for a longer period. He traced the link between the stage this team was in with Huang Zhan’s one. He secretly sent information to the trial stage where Huang Zhan was located.
After the operation was completed, he quickly switched the screen back to normal before anyone was aware of what he was doing. As he watched the screen’s normal display, he frowned. The progress marking Prince Huang San’s team was getting more intense. Whatever they were doing, it seemed to be nearing critical mass. He didn’t know what this meant, though.
Whatever it was, it shouldn’t matter for long because the team with the one-day period was Prince Huang San’s team. Prince Huang Zhan would soon take care of them.