Duravia Trade Prefecture, Prince Qian's Mansion.
White snow danced lightly on the blue-grey bricks, but Prince Qian was in no mood to appreciate the frost patterns on his window.
The handsome young nobleman, usually so calm and composed, now wore a constant frown of worry.
It had been three days since his return from Eternal Sun Prefecture, and there had not been a single piece of good news.
"Reporting to Your Highness!" An attendant rushed in. "Our men have finally returned from Eternal Sun Prefecture. It was the Nangong family of the Hundred Treasures Pavilion! Under the banner of quelling the rebellion for the Human Emperor, the Nangong family led their people and the twenty thousand soldiers they had prepared long ago to the border of the Broadlake Region!"
The report shattered Prince Qian's last sliver of illusion.
"The Nangong family is using the Prefecture Lord's token to rally cultivators in Eternal Sun Prefecture!" the attendant continued breathlessly.
"They've released countless carrier pigeons with letters urging surrender, sending them to all the major powers. It's impossible to intercept them all! The Xu family of the Broadlake Region wanted to surrender, but the Nangong family… wouldn't allow it!"
"The Nangong family head has declared that until the rebels of Broadlake Region are exterminated, he will never set foot in his home again!"
Prince Qian's expression remained unchanged, but his knuckles were frighteningly pale.
Years ago, the very first to send a message from Eternal Sun Prefecture, vowing allegiance to him and begging him to destroy the Li family, was this same Nangong family of the Hundred Treasures Pavilion.
He had even tested them for ten years because of it. Yet now, the first to move to quell the rebellion for the Li family was none other than the Nangong family!
Outside, the footprints in the snow left by the attendant had only just been covered by a fresh layer when they were disturbed anew.
"Reporting to Your Highness," another attendant rushed in, "this subordinate has investigated the Great Ming King Temple."
The cultivator arrived on his sword, entered the hall, and bowed.
"Abbot Yuming has received a Buddha's Decree! It states that for the last forty years, an evildoer has been deluding the masses, and the previous rumors about the Li family being evil cultivators were all falsehoods.
The Li family has the protection of the Buddha and can bring peace to the entirety of Eternal Sun Prefecture.
Master Yuming is calling upon all the monks of the prefecture's temples to enter the world, to purify the evil in Eternal Sun, and to use the Buddhist Dharma to avert disaster and calamity for the land."
Prince Qian felt the world spin.
Of all the powers that had pledged allegiance to him, he trusted the Great Ming King Temple the most.
This was for no other reason than the fact that its abbot, Master Yuming, had been viciously thrashed by Li Dalong in front of everyone on Qilin Mountain, causing him to lose all face.
No matter what, a man like that should have harbored a deep grudge.
He, of all people, understood how these falsely compassionate types truly behaved.
Even the rumors of the last forty years had been personally managed by Master Yuming, spreading the tale of the Li family's evil far and wide and stirring up chaos in Eternal Sun Prefecture.
This had been the Great Ming King Temple's written vow of war.
Snow fell heavily, but a flurry of footsteps arrived one after another.
They disturbed the shape of the snow, and they disturbed the state of Prince Qian's mind.
It seemed that from the moment the Li family had exposed his secrets and the God of War had decided to abandon Skynet, from the moment he had fled back to Duravia Trade Prefecture in disgrace, everything had begun to spin out of his control!
"Reporting to Your Highness! The scholars of the True Yang Faction and the brutes from the Red Star Fort, leading their numerous affiliated powers, have laid siege to the Sun family, one of the Six Great Immortal Clans of Eternal Sun Prefecture!"
"The cultivators of the Azure Cloud Region—the Heavenly Eye Ghost Sect, Longevity Mountain, and the Myriad Dao Immortal Palace—have left their sects and entered Eternal Sun Prefecture."
"The Green Lotus Sect, a Divinity Transformation power in Eternal Sun Prefecture, has met with a terrible fate! All the relatives and friends of the members within the sect who participated in the rebellion have been killed. The Li family's Li Kuangren personally led his men to the Green Lotus Sect. This subordinate saw…"
The attendant who arrived this time had an unshakeable horror in his eyes.
Prince Qian narrowed his eyes. "What did you see?"
"This subordinate saw… that night, a great fog arose. Divine Soul perception was useless; one could only see with one's own eyes. When daylight arrived… outside the Green Lotus Sect, there was a long, long bridge made of human bones. Pillars lined both sides of the bridge, and impaled upon them were human heads."
"The winter wind and snow were heavy. When the wind blew, the hair on the dead heads would still flutter. Every single head was staring wide-eyed, and the blood from their severed necks had run down the pillars and frozen into clumps."
The attendant was trembling all over. Just thinking of the scene outside the Green Lotus Sect made his very soul shudder.
"That bridge… it was over three kilometers long, and vengeful spirits swarmed over it. Most of the elders and disciples of the Green Lotus Sect went mad. They broke through their own grand formation and charged out to fight Li Kuangren to the death, nearly bringing about the complete annihilation of their sect."
"He… he seemed to see me. I remember now, he said to this subordinate… he said…"
The attendant collapsed to his knees.
Prince Qian was unaware that he had already clenched his fists, his eyes bloodshot. "What did he say?!!"
"He said… 'In chaotic times, one must use harsh punishments.' From the moment that 'Bone Bridge' appeared, anyone who plots to harm his Li clan should remember it and wonder if their own head will one day be impaled on its sides."
Silence!
Prince Qian practically stopped breathing.
Those words from Li Kuangren… they were meant for him!
After the subordinate withdrew, veins bulged all over Prince Qian's body from his uncontrollable rage.
"How is Li Kuangren not dead yet? Gu Yinming was supposed to kill him! Useless trash! Just like the God of War, completely useless trash!"
Among the members of the Li family, the one Prince Qian wanted to kill the most was Li Yaozu.
Second on his list was Li Yunbing, who, according to intelligence, was disguised as Jiang Chenghuan. And after them came this Li Kuangren!
Kill Li Yunbing, and the ruler of Azure Cloud would be dead, throwing the Azure Cloud Army and its people into utter chaos.
Then, with Li Kuangren also dead, there would be no one left to maintain order in Azure Cloud.
The region's long-standing problems would erupt, and the people who had moved there over the last two hundred years would disregard all authority.
He had calculated everything perfectly. Four of Skynet's Divinity Transformation experts would kill Li Yunbing, while the fifth-ranked Gu Yinming would kill Li Kuangren.
But now... Li Kuangren had actually taken his men to the Green Lotus Sect!
"What about the Skynet members sent to assassinate the Li family?!!"
Prince Qian's heart pounded with dread.
Only thirty percent of his Skynet forces remained by his side; the ones he had sent to assassinate the Li family were all top experts. Yet now, not even his number one operative had returned, and even Baimei, who was sent to stall the Li family's Old Ancestor, had vanished without a trace!
Without those top experts, Eternal Sun Prefecture was now shrouded in a black fog, and he could no longer fathom its depths.
The Li family were like wild beasts within that fog; the moment he dared to draw near, their sharp claws would tear him apart!
"I was wrong..."
As if prompted by a phantom, Prince Qian suddenly remembered the three words Li Yaozu had whispered in his ear that day.
A trap.
This was a trap the Li family had begun laying for him forty years ago!
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