Chapter 891 : "Ring of Imperial Fire (2)"
In his state of sudden shock, Lei Chen fell back several steps, his face greatly startled and astounded, unable to accept what he heard as fact.
"I had been highly curious why His Majesty had purposely drawn Jun Xie away from the place when I arrived. But now I understand it completely. Throughout the entire Fire Country, people who can recognise the Ring of Imperial Fire, beside His Majesty and the Empress Dowager, would only be me. He was afraid that I will recognise the Ring of Imperial Fire on Jun Xie's hand and that was why he did that." Wen Yu said.
"And..... you want Jun Xie to leave is because you are afraid....." Lei Chen's face suddenly looked highly torn, the colour draining out of his face quickly.
Wen Yu nodded.
"The late Emperor had said it before. The possessor of the Ring of Imperial Fire, is the true ruler of the Fire Country. No matter when and regardless which generation of his sons of grandsons were to meet the possessor of the Ring of the Imperial Fire, they will have to abdicate the throne and return it to the possessor of the ring."
The Throne of the Fire Country, was not supposed to be handed down to the current sitting Emperor.
But it was because the Emperor who had led the Fire Country to become the mightiest country throughout the lands had in one of those years suddenly disappeared from the face of the Earth. At that time, the younger brother of the Emperor who was then a Prince, sent troops all across the lands to search for any sign of the missing Emperor. He searched for an entire decade without any results to show for it.
A country cannot do without a ruler and to prevent an uprising in the Fire Country, they needed to nominate a new ruler.
The Emperor who had gone missing did not leave behind any offspring and hence it was decided that the throne would be taken over by his younger brother.
The Prince had been very close to his Royal Brother, the missing Emperor, and they were born from the same mother. They had been very close since they were very young and after the younger brother ascended the throne, the very first decree he drew up was in regards to succession of the throne.
He deeply believed that his Royal Brother was not dead and he strongly believed his Royal Brother or his Royal Brother's descendants would return one day. So he laid down a decree that once a person who holds the Ring of the Imperial Fire appears within the Fire Country, no matter how much time has passed, his own descendants who was sitting upon the throne at that time, must immediately relinquish the throne, and elect the possessor of the Ring of Imperial Fire to become the new Emperor of the Fire Country!
And that first decree, had been passed down for close to a century, and the current Emperor was a descendant of that Emperor, whereas the current Empress Dowager still living was that Emperor's Empress.....
"But the matter had happened such a long time ago and I think Father wouldn't really care about that." Although Lei Chen had heard about it from the Empress Dowager ever since he was much younger, but as the period the incident happened had been ages ago and the Ring of Imperial Fire had never appeared before, he had slowly started to forget about it, until Wen Yu mentioned it today, which allowed him to recall everything he had once known
Wen Yu then said: "It's true that a long time had passed. But Your Highness, do not forget. At this current moment, the Empress Dowager still holds sway in the internal running of the Back Palace! Although the Empress Dowager had not involved herself in the government and political affairs for a long time, but she was also very close to the late Emperor's brother and they had shared a deep friendship, and towards the unfulfilled wishes of the late Emperor's brother, the Empress Dowager would undoubtedly fight to complete with her life. The current Emperor would not dare to lay a hand on the Empress Dowager and so he will surely rid himself of Jun Xie to eradicate any potential trouble that might haunt him, to secure the Fire Country's throne for himself!"
In this world, only three people able able to identify the Ring of Imperial Fire and the Empress Dowager would be one immovable lock that would force and coerce the current Emperor to adhere to the late Emperor's decree.
As long as Jun Xie was still alive, the Emperor would not be able to be fully secure in his throne, hence, he was sure to make his move. Wen Yu had repeatedly hinted for Jun Xie to quickly leave was because he hoped that the lad could avoid the calamity altogether.
This time, it was no longer a case of the Emperor wanting to make use of Jun Xie to bring down the Crown Prince, but was a straightforward intent to kill Jun Xie directly!
Chapter 892 : "Ring of Imperial Fire (3)"
Although the Emperor does not really like Lei Chen, but he still thinks of Lei Chen as his own son and only wants to force him to step down from his position as the Crown Prince, and had never contemplated taking Lei Chen's life. But it was different in Jun Xie case.
"With His Majesty's temperament, he will definitely not spare Jun Xie's life. Only when Jun Xie steps off the lands of the Fire Country, would he be safe." Wen Yu's words, had taken on a sudden grave tone.
Lei Chen was so shocked he had turned to stone. Never in his dreams would he have expected that the inconspicuous ring on Jun Xie's finger would be the rumoured Ring of Imperial Fire of the Fire Country.
"Could it be..... Could it really be that Jun Xie is a descendant of the late Emperor's elder brother?" Lei Chen asked with his eyes widened.
Wen Yu shook his head: "I am not able to ascertain that fact. I am only certain of the fact that that Ring of Imperial Fire is indeed the ring left behind by the Fire Country's founding Emperor, that had been reforged and refined. Through successive generations of the ruling Emperors after they passed on, that one spirit ring that was no longer inhabited by a ring spirit was always given to the new generation ruler to have it reforged. And from that, it was named the Ring of the Imperial Fire. I am thinking even if Jun Xie is not a descendant of the late Emperor's elder brother, he will still be linked to him in some way, or he will not be in possession of the Ring of Imperial Fire."
Lei Chen looked at Wen Yu in dumbfounded silence for a while, when suddenly..... he laughed out loud.
"Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha! The Heavens are on my side! Heaven's on my side!"
Wen Yu looked quizzically at Lei Chen laughing maniacally and an uncomfortable unease grew in his heart.
"Your Highness, you are....."
Lei Chen's laughter stopped just as abruptly as he turned to look at Wen Yu to say: "I do not have any blood of the Imperial Family running within me, and neither does Lei Fan. I, as the Crown Prince am a bastard and Lei Fan that Father is thinking endlessly about to install as his heir to the throne is one just as well! My Second Brother is mediocre! My Third Brother timid as a mouse, all unsuitable to succeed the throne! I have never coveted ascending to the throne! What I am fighting for is just the injustice I have suffered! And the Heavens have now sent Jun Xie to appear right before me, aren't they helping me to achieve my aim! ? Jun Xie possesses the Ring of Imperial Fire and that makes him the authentic and legitimate heir! Ha ha ha! I will help Jun Xie ascend to the throne of the Fire Country! I want to see the wretched and pathetic face of my Father when he finds himself hopelessly defeated when he thinks victory is just coming within his grasp!"
Lei Chen said those words through tightly clenched teeth. Why must he be a puppet to be subjected to the manipulation of others from the moment he was born? Why must he suffer all the injustice? He wanted revenge! Vengeance against his unfair and unjust fate!
Wen Yu looked at Lei Chen in shock. He wouldn't never have thought that Lei Chen would come up with such a ludicrous idea.
"Lei Chen! Have you gone mad?" Wen Yu was aware that Lei Chen hated the Emperor deeply, hated the Empress, and hated Lei Fan. But nothing had prepared him for Lei Chen's sudden decision to push Jun Xie up to ascend the Fire Country's throne!
"Putting aside the fact just how difficult a task that will be to achieve, Jun Xie himself might not even agree to it. Your Highness, you even have difficulty taking care of yourself now, how....." Wen Yu's words trailed off, as he looked at Lei Chen enquiringly.
Lei Chen said instead: "Father wants to depose this Crown Prince here, just let him do it! I do not care! Ha ha, Lei Fan will not be able to warm the seat for long anyway!" Lei Chen finally thought the whole situation through. Since with just Jun Xie alone, he would be able to attain the goals he had set for his revenge, then this position of Crown Prince would become something he did not care for at all!
What he wanted, had never been the throne, he had just wanted those who seeked to manipulate him go to hell!
"Your Highness! You think His Majesty will really allow Jun Xie to continue to remain within the Fire Country? If he does not leave, His Majesty will undoubtedly kill him off!" Wen Yu could not help himself but to pour a bucket of cold water over Lei Chen.
Lei Chen instead gave a chilling laugh and said: "Even if other do not know, would I not be aware of what Jun Xie is capable of? I believe that he will definitely not be harmed by Father's scheming plots!"
Chapter 893 : " Covert Strike (1)"
"And he seeks revenge for all injustice suffered. Once he knows that Father has developed the intention to kill him, he will undoubtedly initiate the first strike to catch him unawares!" Lei Chen's eyes burned with wicked mirth. His complete trust towards Jun Xie had made him imagine the scene a day in the near future, where he could see that man kicked right off the throne.
Wen Yu could only shake his head helplessly. Although he was aware that Jun Xie possessed highly outstanding abilities, even to the extent that he was considered to be a devilish monster, but..... He was still just a youth afterall. How could he hope to stand against the ruler of the country?
Back in the Imperial Palace, the Emperor was feeling highly restless and needled as he paced circles within the Imperial Study. The black robed man then appeared in the Imperial Study and when he saw the nervous and flustered expression on the Emperor, he did not dare open his mouth to say anything.
The Emperor's heart was in an endless fluster. He had not thought that the possessor of the Ring of Imperial Fire would really exist.
It had been many years since the late Emperor passed on and the decree the late Emperor had drafted had always remained within the Empress Dowager's hands. It wasn't that the Emperor had never entertained the thought of snatching the decree and then destroying it, but he had not been able to do that because around the Empress Dowager, were several extremely powerful secret bodyguards, and the skills that those hidden guards possessed was not something the Emperor's own subordinates were able to take on. He had once even tried to secretly steal the Imperial Decree, but all the men he had dispatched were all killed within the Empress Dowager's Palace, quietly and soundlessly. It must be known that among the men the Emperor sent out, five of them were highly skilled blue spirit pugilists!
But even then, those five people were killed and not even their bodies could be found. Ever since then, the Emperor had stayed far away from the Empress Dowager, thinking that the possessor of the Ring of Imperial Fire would never appear anyway, and he gave up on that idea.
However, seeing the Ring of Imperial Fire on Jun Xie's hand this very day, had forced the Emperor to choose to take the road of no return.
Jun Xie was on highly close terms with Lei Chen and although the Empress Dowager seldom showed herself within the Imperial Palace, she doted very much on her eldest grandson, Lei Chen. Or else the Emperor would never have allowed Lei Chen to sit on the throne of the Crown Prince for so many years.
The Emperor was worried that if the Empress Dowager came to know about this matter, the throne of the Fire Country would really have a change of its owner!
What distressed the Emperor even more was that the Grand Adviser Wen Yu seemed to have already noticed the Ring of Imperial Fire on Jun Xie's hand as well and although Wen Yu had always maintained a neutral stance against the power struggles, he was however once Lei Chen's Master and though Lei Chen had severed the Master disciple ties between them, the Emperor was however still worried. If Wen Yu was to tell Lei Chen about the matter, then it would all be over for him!
The only option left for him to take was to take quick decision action to get rid of the knot tangled up. He needed to eradicate Jun Xie as soon as possible to snatch the Ring of Imperial Fire from him to ensure it would not bring him any trouble!
"You! I need you get something done for me!" The Emperor finally came up with an idea in his head and he looked the black robed man kneeling on the ground through eyes narrowed to a slit.
" I await Your Majesty's instructions."
"I want you to...."
At that same moment, things had turned highly chaotic in the Empress' Palace.
By the time Lei Fan was carried back there, he had already lost consciousness, but his hands were still tightly held over his face. When the Empress saw him in that state, she dismissed all the retainers and with only a few of her closest aides remaining within the palace, she then pulled Lei Fan's hands down.
What she immediately saw made the Empress' heart almost jump out of her.
Lei Fan's looks had completely changed. His good looking and smiley features had completely disappeared and the boy lying upon that bed now, no matter which way you looked at it, looked so much like the Empress herself.
Still in shock, the Empress immediately summoned for her people to check on Lei Fan's condition.
It was only about two hours later that Lei Fan finally stirred awake groggily.
And the first thing he said upon awakening was.....
"Mother! I want Jun Xie killed! I want him to be killed! He saw my face! Saw my real face!"
Chapter 894 : "Covert Strike (2)"
The Empress sat staring helplessly as she sat at the side of the bed, looking at Lei Fan who was crying so hard and she spoke out trying to comfort him.
"Little Fan don't cry. What exactly happened? Didn't the Imperial Physician just give you the medicine just a few days ago? Why did your face suddenly change back?"
Lei Fan said through gritted teeth: "Your son is not sure what happened either. I only know that a beast in the Imperial Garden had suddenly splattered something all over my face and when I could react, I was already experiencing the symptoms that came when the effects of the medicine wears off."
"Did anyone happen to see how you looked at that time?" The Empress was terrified. If anyone was to have seen Lei Fan's face at that moment, then everything would be over for them!
Lei Fan immediately said: "Only Jun Xie!"
The Empress bit down on her lip as she contemplated the situation a moment and she said: "The Jun Xie you are talking about is the same youth your Father had wanted you to win over previously?"
Lei Fan nodded his head, his eyes were red rimmed from crying and they were now burning with hatred. "That's him! Your son had been invited him politely many times but he had repeatedly rejected it. He must have allied himself with the Crown Prince! And now that he has seen your son's real face, he will surely tell that to Lei Chen! Once Lei Chen gets to know about it, he will undoubtedly report it to Father! Mother! Mother, you have got to save your son!"
The Empress' heart jumped in shock. This incident that had suddenly happened was beyond any of her expectations. She had initially thought up this ploy to swap out the real prince which would put her own life on the line. If the truth of the matter was discovered, then what awaited all of them would only be certain death.
"Little Fan, rest assured that Mother will resolve the whole matter appropriately. There is no need to get so worried. You had just suffered a bout of agonizing torment and what you need now is good and proper rest. "The Empress said, her eyes looking highly pained as she gazed at Lei Fan. All these years, Lei Fan had gained much of the affection of the Emperor and the Emperor was just beginning to move to depose the current Crown Prince and install Lei Fan as the heir. At such a highly critical juncture, she would not allow a mere youth to destroy the plot she had carried out for so many years!
Lei Fan looked sobbingly at the Empress and finally laid back on the bed to rest quietly. But his heart was at that moment filled with terror and a overwhelming urge to have Jun Xie killed.
After the Empress managed to calm Lei Fan down, she immediately wrote out a letter, detailing all that had occurred that day. After that, she handed the sealed letter to a guard, one of her most trusted aides.
"You must immediately make your way to the Prime Minister's Residence and hand this letter to the Prime Minister personally. Tell him this. To prevent any future nightmares, we must settle the matter appropriately, and it..... must not leave a single trace, not a single mistake is allowed!"
The guard nodded vehemently and went to change into a set of dark clothes, before immediately setting forth to go outside the palace.
Just a short two hour state banquet had stirred up successive waves of chaos within the Fire Country. And the common people in the Imperial Capital who were already in their dreams were completely unaware that the Fire Country was about to see a wave of change crashing down upon them!
Within the Immortals' Loft, Jun Wu Xie and her companions had just come back and they all went to their own rooms to wash off the stench of alcohol on them, not gathering together to discuss the night's events that had occurred, but to get themselves some restful sleep.
Only Jun Wu Xie laid on her bed completely awake. In her mind, scenes of events that had happened at the banquet tonight kept playing repeatedly from her memory.
The Emperor's and Wen Yu's reaction had made her very curious. She raised up her hand and stared at the silver ring on her finger.
This ring was picked up from within the stone dwelling at the bottom of the Heaven's End Cliff. What kind of a secret did it hold? That it could attract the attention of both the Fire Country's Emperor and Grand Adviser in one night?
Jun Wu Xie closed her eyes, her mind recalling the words scribbled into the walls of the stone dwelling back then.
She suddenly opened her eyes. The silver coloured ring before her eyes was at that moment reflecting the light from the candle!
Chapter 895 : "Assassination (1)"
Time went by quietly, the moon was hidden behind the clouds while a sliver of light brightened the eastern horizon very slightly.
It was the time when people were deep in sleep. The bustling Fire Country's Imperial Capital was returned to silence at that moment. Only those candle flames that had not yet extinguished threw out their flickering light.
At that moment of lonely silence, a team of men were dressed in all black, quietly appearing behind the back wall of the Immortals' Loft. They nimbly leapt over the wall, and infiltrated to the inside of the inn.
The waiter manning the place for the night was sitting in the backyard of the inn and he looked tired and sleepy. His half opened eyes were sleep filled and had no life in them. HIs head drooped like he was asleep. A gust of chill breeze blew past him and he was shocked awake. Against the faintly lightening sky, he suddenly saw a group of dark robed men leaping into the yard!
The waiter's eyes widened and he was just about to scream out when one of the dark robed men had already leapt behind him and had his hand clasped over the waiter's mouth and he gave the head a hard twist with a snap of his wrists!
The crisp crack sounded and the waiter's neck was immediately broken, his last cry forever trapped within his throat.
The dark robed man put down the waiter's limp body to the ground without a sound.
Another one of the dark robed men made a gesture with his hand and the whole group immediately leapt into the inn.
In the dim light of dawn, the inn was deathly quiet. The people were sound asleep still in their dreams and were not aware that their nightmare had already soundlessly descended upon them without warning.
The waiter sleeping in the main hall of the inn had not even woken up from his dreams at all before a blade had slit his throat. The hot red blood had flowed and spilled over the joined up tables below him to pool on the floor.
Drip drip drip.....
Jun Wu Xie had not slept throughout the night. She lay upon her bed and she had removed the ring from her finger to carefully inspect the ring carefully several times. On the inner wall of the silver coloured ring, she saw a tiny engraving. There was only one Chinese character engraved upon it. Fire!
Suddenly, she detected a faint scent of blood. That familiar scent was very faint and she sat up immediately, her cold gaze locked onto the tightly locked door of the room.
The inn's kitchen was in the backyard and the morning breakfast at this inn never served meat or fish. Moreover, it was too early at dawn for the workers in the inn to start busying themselves.
"Meh?" Sleeping beside Jun Wu Xie, Lord Meh Meh was woken up by Jun Wu Xie's movements. It shook its four tiny hooves and very slowly stood up upon the bed. Having regained back quite a bit of its wool, its body was slowly taking on its round spherical shape once again.
It tilted its head and looked at Jun Wu Xie who had gotten dressed and gotten off the bed.
"Meow~" The little black cat slipped onto Jun Wu Xie's shoulder with a swoosh, its nimble body slightly arched, its eyes narrowed to a slit.
[I hear people.]
A cat's ears was several times more sensitive than a human's and those sounds that Jun Wu Xie could not hear, it had heard those noises clearly.
Jun Wu Xie's eyes narrowed and her mind suddenly thought back to the words Wen Yu had told her back in the Imperial Garden last night.
[The Imperial Capital conflicts with Young Master Jun's signs. To avoid any more unfortunate things happening, Young Master Jun should leave here as soon as possible.]
The corners of Jun Wu Xie's lips curled up into a cold smile. Wen Yu's heart was clear as a mirror. He must not have expected that "unfortunate things" would happen so quickly, not even allwoing her the time to leave.
Her spirit power gradually gathered as Jun Wu Xie's eyes stared unwaveringly at the tightly locked door.
The dark robed men who came up to the second level lightened their steps and the leader among them waved his hands and the men immediately positioned themselves before the doors of the other rooms on the second level.
Chapter 896 : "Assassination (2)"
Several of the dark robed men immediately stood before the other guest rooms on the second level, turning their heads to the side, ears towards the door to listen for any sounds of movements within. When they were sure that all the rooms were quiet and the people inside still sound asleep, they all nodded their heads at the leader!
Besides several of the dark robed men standing before the other rooms, the remaining ten men were all gathered together before one the rooms. They quietly used the tip of a blade to pry open the bolt on the door, and suddenly pushed the door wide open!
But when they rushed into the room, with the weak flickering light of the candle, they found that the entire room was completely empty, the messy bed clothes on the bed showing no sign of their target either.
Just as they were all still feeling puzzled, the door leading into the room behind them was suddenly shut!
With a creak from the door, the dark robed men who had come into the room immediately turned their heads to look behind!
They saw a youth with delicate features standing right in front of the door, staring at them through narrowed eyes.
"Who sent you here?" Jun Wu Xie's stared coldly at the unwelcome guests gathered in her room. When these men had come in, their steps had been light and fast. But the little black cat had still been able to hear them and ascertain their numbers. Besides the ten men who had rushed into her room, there should still be more than ten of them standing guarding outside the rooms of Hua Yao and the others, but were not intending to enter.
It was obvious that the target of the dark robed men for this unexpected visit was her!
The dark robed men looked at Jun Xie highly astonished, the blades they held in their hands gleaming coldly from the low light. There was no one else besides the youth and faced with their sudden appearance, the youth was showing not a single sign of panic or terror, but instead she was showing a highly natural sense of indifference and composure.
"Someone who wants to take your life." A dark robed man said in a low voice, immediately gesturing to his companions with his hand.
The next instant! All the dark robed men in the room charged at Jun Xie at the same time!
The figure of Jun Wu Xie flashed and at the moment she brushed past those men, she noticed that among the men in black, there were actually several of them who were at the level of green spirits as well! There were even some at blue!
Advancement in spirit power was highly difficult and people without power or authourity would not be able to send out a team of green and blue spirits as an assassination team easily!
The Emperor? Or the Fourth Prince?
As Jun Wu Xie dodged, she quickly considered and identified her list of suspects for this incident.
The dark robed men had known before they came here that the youth they were faced against this time was not an ordinary target, hence they had assembled a team such as this, to be entirely sure that this youth who had attained the green spirit level would definitely be taken out!
But the moment they made their move, surprise had showed within the eyes of the dark robed men's leader. Although he had known that the youth named Jun Xie was a green spirit user, but he really had not thought that faced with so many enemies who held power of a similar level to him, and with some higher than her, the youth would be able to dodge their combined attacks!
With such nimble agility, it would not be easy to take him on.
But he believed, that Jun Xie would not be able to sustain that for long. Seeing that the youth was using so much of his spirit power to concentrate on dodging, the drain of her spirit power would be enormous and he would soon run out of spirit power. At that moment, that would be when death would claim the youth!
Two sharp blades were thrust together simultaneously at Jun Wu Xie's chest. She dodged and was about to retreat backwards when she discovered that several other dark robed men had surrounded her and was not giving her any space to run.
"Young Master Jun. Today you will have to leave your life behind here and even with your green spirit power level, it will not be enough to save your life. I would advise you to not stuggle needlessly and you will at least be able to die a quicker death." The leader of the dark robed men saw that Jun Xie was already properly caught, and he immediately laughed out coldly.
Chapter 897 : "Assassination (3)"
Jun Wu Xie's eyes narrowed slightly, not the slightest tinge of panic in her eyes. At the moment just before the swords was about to pierce her body, Jun Wu Xie raised her head and said in a cold voice: "Are you sure?"
The dark robed man was startled. He did not understand how the youth could still be so calm in a situation like this.
And at the same instant that the two sword blades were going to pierce Jun Wu Xie, a tall figure suddenly appeared in front of Jun Wu Xie! The two blades gleaming coldly within the dim light thrusting straight at Jun Wu Xie were suddenly stopped by the newcomer with just two fingers holding each blade, unable to move forward another inch!
The dark robed men stared at the stern faced man who had suddenly appeared. They were sure that there had been no one else around when they entered earlier and the window was still tightly shut. Where had this man appeared out from?
"Your subordinate arrived here late. Young Miss, you need me to leave one alive?" Ye Sha gazed chillingly at the dark robed men in the room, his steely eyes glinted with murder.
"Besides him, get rid of all the rest." Jun Wu Xie said, pointing at the leader of the men.
"Yes!" Ye Sha immediately answered.
The black robed man was suddenly in a fluster, his tempo broken by the sudden appearance of Ye Sha. But he quickly recovered and he immediately said: "Kill them all!"
In an instant, nine dark robed men leapt at Ye Sha. Jun Wu Xie was put in a safe position by Ye Sha and no matter how hard the dark robed men charged, they were unable to break through Ye Sha's lone man defence to carry out their assassination of Jun Wu Xie, unable to even get closer to her an inch.
The leader of the dark robed men saw two of the green spirits users among his men got their necks snapped off by Ye Sha quickly and a chill grew in his heart. All these men were highly skilled mercenaries that the Prime Minister had privately hired, and they had all been activated to embark on this mission because they could not afford to fail even once. But just who was this man who had suddenly appeared in the room?
Under a coordinated attack by so many green and blue spirits at the same time, he seemed to be holding all of them back with ease. What terrified him even further was that he had even managed to kill his men in such a overwhelming situation!
[Just how powerful was this man! ?]
[Was he an indigo spirit?]
[Impossible!]
[Definitely not just an indigo spirit!]
The dark robed man himself was holding the power of an indigo spirit. From the moment that Ye Sha had moved against his men, he had been able to detect that Ye Sha's power was higher than his and it was not by just any insignificant amount.
[Could he possibly be a Purple Spirit?]
He was immediately shocked by his own guess but he had not been able to detect a single trace of spirit power from Ye Sha.
The dark robed man starting to panic as he saw another one of his men succumbing under Ye Sha's moves. His heart flared with anxiety. If things continued like this, not would would they fail their mission, all of them would even lose their lives here!
He can't afford to tally another moment longer!
The man's gaze suddenly turned towards the spot the completely calm Jun Xie was. His eyes narrowed up and he immediately raised his sword to charge at Jun Xie.
Even if he had to lose a few more men, he still needed to get rid of Jun Xie!
His indigo hued spirit glow flared and the dark robed man struck out directly at Jun Xie's vitals with all his power.
He strongly believed, that once Jun Xie was struck with the powerful strike from an indigo spirit such as him, there was no chance that he could possibly survive!
However, just as the man was closing in towards Jun Xie, Jun Xie's eyes suddenly turned towards him. On that delicate little face, a cold sneering smile suddenly showed.
A strange feeling crept into the dark robed man's heart, but he had already thrown out the strike and he had no time to think anymore about it!
"You are that anxious to seek death?" Jun Wu Xie's voice rang out eerily.
Chapter 898 : "Assassination (4)"
The instant that the dark robed man's sword was thrusting straight at Jun Wu Xie's throat, the green coloured spirit glow around her body was suddenly replaced by a terrifying purple!
In a flash, the Purple Spirit glow spread throughout Jun Wu Xie's body. She raised up a hand nonchalantly to grip onto the sword that was thrust directly towards her. With her spirit power wrapped around her hands, she was not afraid of the sharp edge around the sword. When the dark robed man saw the blinding Purple Spirit glow around Jun Xie, his eyes went wide with astonishment and disbelief. Before he could recover from the shock, Jun Wu Xie had given the sword a sharp tug backwards, pulling the dark robed man forcibly to come in close before her, a palm strike flew out, striking squarely right onto the dark robed man's chest!
A howl tore out from the dark robed man's mouth, his entire body struck to be sent flying through the air to smash right into a cupboard in the room, splintering the clothes cupboard into pieces. He then fell onto the ground in a twitching heap, unable to stand up anymore.
The bones in his body felt like they had all been crushed and the dark robed man lay sprawled on the ground as he struggled to lift his head up, looking on in utter shock at the brilliant Purple Spirit glow shining brightly from the entire body of the youth before him.
"Purple Spirit..... how can it be a Purple Spirit....." Not in even his worst nightmares would he have thought that the assassination target for them today would actually turn out to become the Purple Spirit of legend!
[How can this be possible? This very youth had throughout the entire Spirit Battle Tournament, only shown his powers to be at the green spirit level!
A fifteen year old green spirit was already an unbelievable fact. And when you are talking raising the bar to have the spirit power level become the Purple Spirit.....
The dark robed man would never believe that such a Heaven defying mortal existed.
But the Purple Spirit glow around Jun Xie's body was that blindingly obvious, and it was a fact that he could not deny however much he wanted to.
Holding the power of the indigo spirit, he had thought that he would be able to take down the green spirit Jun Xie with just one strike. He had never thought that Jun Xie would suddenly have his powers raised up to the Purple Spirit level!
Although it was just a difference of one single level between the indigo spirit and the Purple Spirit, but that lone difference was a chasm that countless people had failed to bridge even after spending their entire lives trying!
Very soon, Ye Sha had silenced all the other dark robed men. Scattered cross the floor of the room haphazardly were none dead bodies. And on those dead bodies without a single exception, there wasn't a single open wound. Although a fierce battle had just concluded in there and nine lives had just been taken, there wasn't the slightest scent of blood that contaminated Jun Wu Xie's room.
Ye Sha stood sternly at the side, his hands hanging down on his sides, to stand right next to Jun Wu Xie.
"Not bad." Jun Wu Xie swept her eyes over the clean and untainted floor. Seems like Ye Sha had grown to know her well. Knowing that she doesn't like the smell of blood, he had killed all the men without having them shed a single drop.
Ye Sha could have gotten rid of all of them in seconds, but in order not to taint Jun Wu Xie's room, he had taken the extra effort to not let the men stink up the room with the nauseating stench of blood.
"It was Young Master Wu Yao's orders and your subordinate doesn't dare forget it." Ye Sha said in a low voice. Even in a situation like that, he did not forget to help his Lord establish a sense of presence towards the Young Miss.
A strange look came into Jun Wu Xie's eyes a moment but it was very brief before they quickly reverted to normal.
"Go get rid of the rest of them outside the door as well." Jun Wu Xie said, her eyes looking at the dark robed man on the floor, unable to move anymore.
But Ye Sha replied: "For those men outside, I believe there is already no need for me to do anything."
Ye Sha's voice had just rang out when Jun Wu Xie's door was pushed open from outside. With the door wide open, a thick stench of blood suddenly wafted into the room and Jun Wu Xie's brows immediately creased up deeply.
Chapter 899 : "Assassination (5)"
Outside the door, it was dripping with blood everywhere. Blood red splatters filled the doors and windows, and the not too wide walkway was awash in a deep scarlet shade. Dead bodies lay scattered all over, lying motionless in disarray along the long walkway. Fully splattered all over with blood from the enemies, Qiao Chu was standing at the door grinning widely, waving his blood covered hands at Jun Wu Xie!
"The guys outside have already been....." Qiao Chu started to say with a grin.
"Get out." Jun Wu Xie said with a deep frown on her face.
Qiao Chu froze, his waving hand stiffened as it hung suspended in mid air.
Ye Sha gave a light cough and said: "Our Young Miss doesn't like the smell of blood."
Qiao Chu blinked his eyes blankly. He had not really noticed that point before.
Jun Wu Xie had not slept throughout the night and she had been frustrated with all the troubles she had on her mind. Now that the hateful bloody stench was filling up her room, how could she still be in a good mood?
"Maybe Young Master Qiao should go wash up a little first." Ye Sha said, looking at Qiao Chu's paws all covered in blood.
Qiao Chu immediately snapped back to his senses and looked at the creased up face of Jun Wu Xie, immediately shrinking his head down into his shoulders to quickly whoosh out of the room, closing the door tightly behind him.
Searching through the corpses and trying to find out something about the identities of the assassins, Fei Yan and the others turned to look at Qiao Chu who had rushed out in such a hurry, their eyes filled with query.
"Why have you come out here again?" Fei Yan asked.
Qiao Chu scanned his eyes over his companions who were not any much less covered in blood than him and said dejectedly: "I suggest for all of you to first go wash up and change into a fresh set of clothes before going in to see Little Xie. And..... ask the innkeeper to get people up here to clean up the walkway here. If..... there's still anyone alive here that is."
Rong Ruo had already gone down to the first level to take a look and had seen the waiter taking the night shift no longer breathing.
Fei Yan and Hua Yao exchange a puzzled look between themselves. Although the did not understand why Qiao Chu would say that, but they knew better than to probe further into it.
Two waiters had died in the Immortals' Loft that night and the rest of the people who were resting soundly were spared the calamity. When the innkeeper was awoken by the shouting Qiao Chu, he was still completely oblivious to all that had happened. But when Qiao Chu dragged him to stand before all the dead bodies, the still half asleep innkeeper immediately came fully awake.
Despite the shocking horror he was feeling, he was trembling throughout as he sent out men to get the Immortals' Loft cleaned up, and the corpses of the dark robed men were removed and put together in a pile behind in the backyard.
By the time Qiao Chu and the others had cleaned themselves up and changed into a fresh set of clothes, Jun Wu Xie was already sitting in the hall on the second level, and Ye Sha was holding up the only surviving dark robed man while standing on the side.
"Where are all these people really from? They all possess significant powers and the weakest one among them was at least at the green spirit level and there were even two indigo spirits." Qiao Chu said laying back as he sat down on a chair, his head tilted as he looked at the barely alive dark robed man.
Fei Yan added: "I have inspected their bodies earlier and did not find anything on them that could prove or even provide a link to their identities. It looks like the person who sent them here had been well prepared."
"Did this man reveal anything about it?" Rong Ruo asked as she looked at the unmoving man that Ye Sha was holding up.
Ye Sha shook his head and he stretched out his hand to lift up the dark robed man's head.
With his head up, the companions were able to see that the dark robed man's jaw had been dislodged by Ye Sha and the man's mouth now hung wide open where he was not even able to make a single sound.
"This is....." Qiao Chu asked, staring at the man in puzzlement.
"He wanted to kill himself by biting his tongue." Jun Wu Xie said softly.
The dark robed man had a fiery temperament and knowing that he had failed in his mission, he did not struggle nor plead in the slightest, but had immediately tried to end his own life.
Chapter 900 : "Assassination (6)"
Fortunately Ye Sha found out in time and immediately dislodged his lower jaw to make it impossible for him to bite his own tongue, watching him closely, making it impossible for him to commit any acts of suicide.
"Fiery one we have here, don't we?" Qiao Chu walked over to him and looked at the dark robed man. The man looked to be average in terms of looks but his eyes were filled with steely determination.
"If I am to snap his lower jaw back in place, he will immediately kill himself." Ye Sha said with his brows creased up. Such unwavering loyalty to the one he served, that was a trait he knew very well himself.
Jun Wu Xie took out an elixir from within her clothes and passed it to Qiao Chu.
"Feed it to him."
Qiao Chu immediately shivered when he saw the elixir. Although he knew not of the effects the elixir had, but just how many elixirs that were handed out from Jun Wu Xie's hand made her enemies feel good?
"Sigh, you reap what you sow." Qiao Chu said sympathetically as he stuffed the elixir into the dark robed man's mouth. The dark robed man's face furrowed into a frown as he tried to struggle, but his was completely not a match for Ye Sha who was holding him.
Watching the dark robed man swallow the elixir, and after waiting a few moments, Jun Wu Xie then nodded slightly to Ye Sha, where Ye Sha immediately snapped the dark robed man's lower jaw back in place.
The very instant he found he could move his lower jaw, the man immediately attempted to bite on his tongue to kill himself.
But at the moment his teeth just touched his tongue, an extremely excruciating pain shot through his nerves. In that instant, cold sweat ran down his forehead, his face immediately paled! And his entire body began to shake.
"You want to kill yourself? Go ahead." Jun Wu Xie wasn't even looking at the man as she said to Ye Sha: "Release him."
Ye Sha let go of his hands and the man immediately fell to the ground without Ye Sha's support!
But at the very moment his body had just fallen onto the ground, a highly excruciating pain wrecked at his entire body. The unimaginably agonising pain felt like all the bones in his body were being ground and crushed, and his flesh just like it was being torn apart.
No matter how resolute his will was, when confronted against such insane and maniacal torment, the man had broken down completely, tears and mucus running, his face deathly white.
Watching the dark robed man who had just been so stoically determined and resolute moments before reduced to a sobbing trembling heap before his eyes, Qiao Chu immediately turned in puzzlement to ask Jun Wu Xie: "Little Xie, what did you make me give him? Why is he....."
[Why is he writhing in such tormented agony with the slightest movement he makes?]
Jun Wu Xie replied: "The human body's sensitivity to touch invariably differs with everyone. Some people would feel excruciating pain just by scraping their skin while some others would not think it too unbearable even if you cut their flesh to the bone. That is affected largely by the level of sensitivity of the nerve transmitting impulses of pain and their level of willpower. This man has rather strong willpower and I wanted to see whether his so called loyalty would be able to stand up to extreme excruciating pain. That elixir merely causes the nerves transmitting pain in his body to be amplified indefinitely, and the slightest and lightest touch would make him feel bone crushing and flesh tearing pain."
Qiao Chu's eyes widened in horror. Although he did not understand anything about nerves transmitting pain impulses, but..... just by looking at the dark robed man's reaction had already told him that this elixir of Jun Wu Xie's, though seemingly not that extraordinary outwardly, but its effects..... was astoundingly shocking.
A casual light touch, with that slight friction on the skin, would at that moment be as agonizingly painful as having someone using a coarse file to scrape off your flesh.
Jun Wu Xie did not even need to do anything to the man. Each and every movement the man made in the very slightest would be an endless torment for him.
Under the unbelievable torment, there was no need to even mention biting his own tongue to kill himself. The single touch his tongue had felt earlier had already been countless times more agonizing than when someone bites his tongue to kill himself. However strong his willpower, he would not be able to withstand torment such as this.