Divine Wilderness Dragon Emperor

The Empress channeled the power of the Post Seal, then made her move. She forcefully tore through the Seal and broke into Trapped Dragon Valley.

As the claw descended, Ling Fei found he had almost no power to resist.

This attack was countless times more powerful than those of Li Yi, Li Yunshan, and the others he had faced before.

"You vile spawn! You dared to kill my son! I will have you torn to pieces today!" As the phoenix claw descended, the furious roar erupted from the Empress's mouth.

The sound reverberated through the mountain forest.

Even some of the disciples participating in the assessment in the Royal Hunting Garden heard it.

"What's happening?" they asked, utterly bewildered.

'Aren't we in the middle of an assessment? It sounds like something big is happening.'

The rolling soundwaves of the Empress's voice made even Cultivators at the Celestial Spirit Realm tremble with fear.

'It's the Empress. I'm finished.' Ling Fei's brow furrowed. 'A momentary miscalculation has landed me in this crisis.'

At this moment, he felt the very Void around him had been locked down by the Empress's giant claw. Even having Yiyi try to escape would be too late.

Besides, against an expert of this caliber, Yiyi's Escape Technique would be rendered useless.

"The Empress?" Just then, inside the Emperor's Tomb, the old man wearing the Dragon Robe knitted his brows.

He was observing Ling Fei when, unexpectedly, someone made a move to kill the young man.

'What an annoying woman.' A glint flashed in the old man's eyes. Then, with a stir of his Heart Spirit, a Dharma Aspect materialized out of thin air in the Void outside.

As the Dharma Aspect appeared, its great hand moved, striking at the phoenix-like claw.

BANG!

His palm struck out like a True Dragon cleaving the air, instantly shattering the Empress's attack.

A thunderous sound shook the heavens. The Empress's hand trembled, the phoenix claw she had formed disintegrated, and she instantly retracted her hand from Trapped Dragon Valley.

"Pfft!" As she retracted her hand, on a distant mountaintop, the Empress herself coughed up a mouthful of blood, her face turning pale.

The technique she had just used was beyond her current Realm; she had relied entirely on the Divine Power of the Empress's Seal.

Now that she had been forcefully repelled, she naturally suffered a backlash.

"What just happened?" On the mountaintop, everyone present looked on in astonishment.

'The Empress made a sudden, powerful move, only to be defeated by someone?'

'In the entire Imperial Capital, how many people possess the power to contend with the Empress?'

The members of the Four Major Sects all released their Heart Spirits, extending their senses toward the distance.

However, they could only see the shimmering barrier of the Seal around Trapped Dragon Valley; they were completely unable to see what was happening inside.

The Celestial Emperor's Heart Spirit, however, had already penetrated the barrier. It manifested a Dharma Aspect, allowing him to see everything inside.

"Father Emperor!" the Celestial Emperor said, addressing the Dharma Aspect the old man had manifested.

"Control your woman and your son," the old man snorted. "If this boy hadn't helped me destroy the Demon Emperor's remnant soul, we would have had a catastrophe on our hands. A Prince of the Empire, trespassing in this place and drawing out a remnant soul of the Demon Emperor... Is this how you govern the realm?"

"I have been derelict in my duty!" The Celestial Emperor cupped his hands, his posture one of great humility. Then, with a flicker in his eyes, he glanced at Ling Fei and the body of the Ninth Prince on the ground.

His expression was grim, and anger surged within him.

In the next moment, with a wave of his hand, he brought Ling Fei and the Ninth Prince's corpse out of Trapped Dragon Valley.

Only after Ling Fei was taken out of Trapped Dragon Valley did the old man's Dharma Aspect disappear back into his true body.

Meanwhile, inside the Emperor's Tomb, the Demon Emperor began to stir restlessly again. It seemed he, too, had sensed the fluctuations outside.

A terrifying power suddenly erupted from the scroll painting, and the old man immediately moved to suppress it.

'That was fortunate,' the old man murmured to himself. 'If this had happened while I was suppressing the Demon Emperor, I really wouldn't have had the energy to spare a Dharma Aspect to deal with that foolish woman.'

His expression was grave as he looked at the scroll.

Even with his vast Divine Techniques, suppressing the Demon Emperor was becoming increasingly difficult.

'In a few more years, once my Blood Qi begins to wane, I fear I will no longer be able to suppress this Demon Emperor.' His face was filled with worry.

All these years, he had remained here suppressing the Demon Emperor, exhausting a great deal of his Essence Qi.

...

「On the mountaintop.」

The Celestial Emperor extended his hand. With a flash of light, Ling Fei and the Ninth Prince appeared before the crowd.

Ling Fei landed lightly on an open patch of ground.

The Ninth Prince, however, lay still on the ground.

The Celestial Emperor rose, his hands clasped behind his back. His eyes were impossibly deep, as if trying to perceive something hidden.

"Your Majesty, what happened?" an old minister below the dais inquired.

The Celestial Emperor remained silent.

But the Empress rose to her feet, glaring at Ling Fei. "Your Majesty, Ling Fei killed Jiu'Er! Why have you not put him to death?"

Her heart was filled with anger, her tone one of questioning the Celestial Emperor.

Not only had her attack moments ago been thwarted, but now the Celestial Emperor was making no move against Ling Fei.

This sent her into a towering rage.

The one who died was her own son!

The reigning Ninth Prince!

Yet the Celestial Emperor remained unmoved, failing to execute him at the first opportunity.

"What! Ling Fei killed the Ninth Prince!" The ministers below the dais were aghast.

'Didn't Ling Fei just kill the Empire's Crown Prince? And now he's killed a Prince? Is he going to try to kill the Celestial Emperor next?' someone thought resentfully. The way they looked at Ling Fei was strange, a mix of awe and fear. 'Such a person has never been seen in the Great Tang Empire!'

'He's a true magnet for trouble!' even the elders of the Four Major Sects thought as they looked at Ling Fei.

'Will the Celestial Emperor let him off this time?' many people wondered.

'Heh, all the better. This way, I won't have to take revenge myself,' Liu Chen thought, a grin spreading across his face from behind the Beiming Sword Sect's Steward.

Beside him, Li Zheng and Wang Yuyang wore sinister expressions, watching coldly as they waited for the Celestial Emperor to execute Ling Fei with his own hands.

They couldn't care less about the Ninth Prince's life or death.

If the Ninth Prince's death could move the Celestial Emperor to kill Ling Fei, they would be overjoyed.

For a moment, all eyes were fixed on the Celestial Emperor.

This was especially true for the Empress, who was waiting for the Celestial Emperor's judgment.

What she didn't know, however, was that the Celestial Emperor was in the middle of a deduction.

With a stir of his Heart Spirit, he had already activated the True Dragon Seal.

With the mystical power of the True Dragon Seal, he saw a vision of the Ninth Prince sneaking into Trapped Dragon Valley.

Upon seeing this, understanding dawned on him. He then witnessed the scene of the Ninth Prince's fall, and only then did he take a deep breath and cease his deduction.

This kind of deduction was extremely taxing on his Heart Spirit.

If not for his father-son blood tie to the Ninth Prince, deducing this would have been nearly impossible.

Unless his own Realm was higher.

'Who was pulling the strings? Jiu'Er could never have possessed that Array Disc on his own!' the Celestial Emperor thought, his expression dark.

An intangible Celestial Might began to emanate from him.

The sheer pressure of his aura made even the Empress beside him tremble inwardly.

Then, the Celestial Emperor's gaze flickered and fell upon the Empress beside him.

A wave of fury emanated from him.

"Your Majesty, it was your own son who was killed this time!" The Empress's heart trembled, but she spoke the words regardless.

'He must be angry,' she thought.

'Perhaps all of this is because he fears that so-called Elder Ling.'

But a deep sense of dissatisfaction welled up within her.

One could argue that the Dongyang Crown Prince had no blood relation to the Celestial Emperor, but this was his own son who had died!

'Is he still going to tolerate this?'

'If so, what right does he have to call himself the Celestial Emperor?'

The Empress stared at the Celestial Emperor, her face a mask of resentment, as she waited for his answer.

"Do you have any idea what catastrophe your dear Jiu'Er nearly brought about just now?" the Celestial Emperor demanded, his gaze ice-cold as he looked at the Empress.

As his voice fell, a deathly silence descended upon the entire assembly.

'The Ninth Prince nearly caused trouble?' The ministers were filled with suspicion.

"What catastrophe?" the Empress asked, stunned.

"Did you not know that place is a Forbidden Land of our Royal Family?" the Celestial Emperor said, his words deliberately vague.