Chapter 818: The Fall of the Prince
"Killed an Immutable Constant?" Triết Hoa Lê's pupils contracted slightly, and the demon saber behind him suddenly snapped its eyes open, staring at Prince Thu Minh.
The little figure in the lamp, Lâm Huyên, had told them the secret of the Immutable Constants, stirring up infighting among the boarders. Triết Hoa Lê had originally suspected that Immutable Constants could indeed die.
He just hadn't expected that Prince Thu Minh would go so far as to intercept and kill other boarders—and actually succeed in killing one.
Prince Thu Minh said leisurely: "I wanted to see if killing other Immutable Constants would have any effect on us—perhaps it might even allow one more of us to survive. But I discovered that I've arrived at the edge of virtualization. In the last cycle, a portion of my power vanished. I'm afraid I won't have time to test whether this idea is feasible before I turn into void."
Triết Hoa Lê's heart sank.
He hadn't yet felt himself slipping into virtualization, which meant the ghost ship judged Prince Thu Minh's power to be above his own—and so it was Prince Thu Minh being virtualized, his strength being whittled away.
"I don't dare cut my own cultivation, because if I do, I might well die at someone else's hands. So I set aside everything else and came to find the two of you."
Prince Thu Minh smiled: "My purpose in descending to the lower realm this time was to eliminate the reformists like the Qin Overlord Body, nipping the threat from the lower realm in the bud. Triết Hoa Lê, you are of the Heavenly Court's Linh Tú Army, and I am a Heavenly Court prince. You are my subordinate—you know very well what you should do. After I eliminate the Qin Overlord Body, I will cut my own cultivation. You turn to void, I survive, and I break this strange ship. You still have a chance to live."
Triết Hoa Lê was silent, then suddenly shook his head: "I don't trust you. I only trust my blade."
He raised his head, gazing into the distance at Prince Thu Minh: "The path I walked was carved by my own feet. The cultivation I refined was refined by my own hands. My life was given to me by my parents—not bestowed by some prince. I may be of the Heavenly Court's Linh Tú Army, but I am no mongrel. My parents gave me this life, and I will hold it firmly in my own hands. I will not hand it to anyone."
Prince Thu Minh frowned slightly, then said: "My method is simple—eliminate all the other Immutable Constants, leaving only myself, and then take my own life."
Triết Hoa Lê stared at him in astonishment.
Prince Thu Minh said: "Once this ship has no Immutable Constants, the stability of the divine ability will drop to its lowest point, and the divine ability will collapse. As long as the divine ability collapses, we will all return to our respective eras, and no one has to die. Rest assured, I am confident I have the strength to kill the strong ones of thirty-five eras!"
He was extremely arrogant, saying: "You studied under Lạc Vô Song, and also under Phược Nhật La, entering the Dao through the blade—quite extraordinary. But what you learned were all wild, unorthodox paths."
Triết Hoa Lê frowned.
Prince Thu Minh said: "What I studied was the Heavenly Court's Imperial Throne cultivation method, personally guided and taught by the Heavenly Court's Celestial Masters. Many people look down on the sons of the imperial family, thinking we are all idle wastrels—that is a grave error. There are many of us princes, and to rise above the rest, we must work harder and be more diligent than anyone else. Otherwise, a prince is nothing but a phoenix stripped of its feathers, worse than a clucking hen! And the infighting within the imperial household employs countless schemes—the dangers I have faced in my life are no fewer than yours."
Triết Hoa Lê's respect grew, and he said solemnly: "The prince has been entrusted with a great mission—clearly he has carved a bloody path through thousands of princes."
Prince Thu Minh smiled: "Then, Triết Hoa Lê, will you follow me?"
"No."
Triết Hoa Lê said calmly: "Though I admire you, I will not be loyal to you, nor will I believe in you. I only trust my blade. I am loyal only to my blade."
"Why do you people who rise from lowly origins always love to flaunt your talents so arrogantly?"
Prince Thu Minh sighed: "I am most annoyed by people like you—the moment you have a little skill, you point your noses at the sky, thinking yourselves so extraordinary. You fail to realize that I was born better than you, worked harder than you, and my strength is higher than yours. I lower myself to speak with you politely, and yet you remain so wild and untamable."
"Because—"
Triết Hoa Lê drew his blade and charged at him, the demon saber raised high. In an instant, blade light filled the sky, saber qi like a long rainbow, and he roared: "The status and glory you possessed from birth are achievements we might never reach even after centuries or a lifetime of desperate struggle!"
His saber technique grew faster and faster, the blade carrying his ambitions, his lifeblood, his integrity!
"You think being born into the imperial family is only natural—but we find it impossibly out of reach!"
"You think we are arrogant in our talents, yet you don't know how many of us lowborn wretches have died, how many bones we've trampled, just to reach where we stand today!"
"You think you work hard, yet you don't know how much blood and sweat we shed for every single step, how many corpses of comrades and enemies we must climb over just to crawl to this position!"
"Follow you, so you can become the Immutable Constant?"
Triết Hoa Lê's demon saber went mad, blade light pouring like quicksilver becoming his brush, his ink, letting him paint freely, writing out his feelings.
"Yield to you, follow you—how could I face the comrades who died beside me, how could I be worthy of the enemies who fell beneath my blade?"
He laughed heartily, unleashing his great Dao of the long saber: "Why are the descendants of the Heavenly Emperor born noble and superior as if it were only natural? Why can they not die?"
Prince Thu Minh's sword light met his blade, and he laughed: "I have heard that those who enter the Dao through the blade all possess a unique boldness. Unfortunately, I was born noble—that is something even I cannot avoid. But if I had been born into a poor family like you, I too would have risen all the way, soaring to greatness! This is not confidence, but—"
His sword light suddenly burst forth, like countless silver needles flying at incredible speed, each needle precisely targeting Triết Hoa Lê's blade light, blocking it.
The sword in Prince Thu Minh's hand was already gone. His body suddenly trembled, and behind him materialized forty-nine threads of Heavenly Dao principles crisscrossing the air. He pushed both hands forward, and a terrifying divine ability erupted, overwhelming force crushing Triết Hoa Lê's demon saber backward!
The great halls of the military camp collapsed one by one, disintegrating under the might of his divine ability!
Triết Hoa Lê grunted, spat blood, and unleashed the second form of his demon saber, cleaving through the Heavenly Dao principles.
Sss sss sss.
Needle after needle pierced through his chest and burst out his back, blood splattering everywhere.
Prince Thu Minh's body swayed, and behind him materialized the phantom of a demon god—ox horns, tiger face, human body, ox tail. He threw a punch, rolling netherworld demonic qi condensing into a demonic divine ability. The massive fist, carrying countless silver needles, slammed into Triết Hoa Lê, crushing him with a thunderous boom into the main hall in front of Tần Mục.
Half of the main hall collapsed from the force of that punch.
Prince Thu Minh withdrew his hand, clasped his hands behind his back, and walked forward. His feet did not touch the ground—he walked through the air three feet above the earth, untouched by dust, and said calmly: "You spent your whole life toiling, comprehending the Dao of the blade, finally managing to enter the Dao through it. How laughable. No matter how hard you try, you can never match my starting point. Those three moves I just used employed three great divine abilities of the Imperial Throne level. Each cultivation method is a divine art you dreamed of your entire life but could never obtain! Even if you struggled your whole life, you could never create such methods—yet I obtained them with ease!"
Triết Hoa Lê crawled out from beneath the collapsed hall, leaning on his demon saber and gasping for breath, blood and foam flying from his lips, his body swaying, on the verge of collapse at any moment.
He wanted to fight again, but his injuries were too severe. He no longer had the strength to continue.
Prince Thu Minh continued walking forward, looking at the struggling Triết Hoa Lê with a trace of a smile: "True Imperial Throne cultivation methods allow you to unconsciously comprehend the Dao during your training, unconsciously grasp the Dao-entering divine abilities. Even if my comprehension were lacking, the Celestial Masters of my Heavenly Court would actively create an environment for me to enter the Dao, guiding me into it."
He said leisurely: "You struggle desperately, fight to the death, just to reach this step—little do you know that in my eyes, all of you dying in droves just for a mere entry into the Dao is utterly ridiculous. What you said is correct—this is only natural!"
He suddenly stopped, looking at Tần Mục, who had risen to his feet.
The pillar in front of Tần Mục had already been shattered to pieces by the battle just now. The poem left by Lăng Thiên Tôn was no longer before him, and his expression was somewhat displeased.
"The Qin Overlord Body is the same."
Prince Thu Minh laughed: "No matter how flourishing your reputation in the lower realm—called Giáo Chủ, called Overlord Body—in the eyes of the Heavenly Court, you are all nothing but pigs rolling in the mud, small fish and rotten shrimp struggling for survival in a shallow pond."
His gaze held a hint of pity: "To the Heavenly Court, the so-called Overlord Body of the lower realm, the so-called sage born once in five hundred years, the so-called Diên Khang reforms—all of it is nothing but a joke. You are grasshoppers hopping around in a jar, ready to be crushed at any moment. Though the truth may be somewhat hurtful, that is simply how it is."
Tần Mục opened his palm, and the sword orb flew out, spinning rapidly in his palm as he stepped forward.
Prince Thu Minh walked toward him, smiling: "Qin Overlord Body, my purpose in descending to the lower realm this time was precisely to crush you grasshoppers. Now is a good time to eliminate you first."
Tần Mục pressed his right index and middle fingers together in a sword seal, raised his hand to touch his brow, and with a hum, the sword orb flew up, hovering three inches before his forehead, spinning madly.
Prince Thu Minh smiled, and countless silver needles flew over, converging in his hand with a series of clinks to form a precious sword.
Tần Mục's speed grew faster and faster, and suddenly his sword fingers thrust forward!
Hum—
A magnificent pillar of sword light stretched over ten miles long!
Tần Mục's body shook, manifesting three heads and six arms, and his other two right hands raised in turn to touch his brow.
Hum hum—
The second and third pillars of sword light arrived in succession!
Prince Thu Minh roared, also manifesting three heads and six arms, the brows of his three heads splitting open to reveal third eyes. His aura was even stronger than before, his divine abilities even more ferocious!
In a single instant, he unleashed three great divine abilities from three Imperial Throne cultivation methods, each different from the other, their might exploding forth as he forcibly received these three strikes of the Calamity Sword.
Suddenly, within the sword light, countless flying swords paused, leaped, and moved in bizarre, unpredictable trajectories within the sight of his nine eyes, causing his divine abilities to strike empty one after another.
The second form of the Calamity Sword—Lifting Calamity.
Sss sss sss. The sounds of flesh being pierced came one after another, and Prince Thu Minh's body was riddled with flying swords, his eyes filled with shock.
"Xuyên Đô Thần Vương Body!"
He suddenly roared, light flowing around his body—yet another Imperial Throne cultivation method, a divine art from Xuyên Đô, famed for its physical body.
His physical body radiated light, and the flying swords were forced out of his body one by one. But in that instant, he saw Tần Mục's fist before him—Thousand Palms of the Strange Peak from Beyond the Heavens—smashing heavily into his body. Even the Xuyên Đô Thần Vương Body could not withstand it.
Prince Thu Minh heard the sound of his bones breaking. The sound came from his chest, and the cracking quickly spread to his ribs—all twenty-four ribs blasted from the front of his chest toward his back, all the way to his spine.
He was flying backward.
He looked forward, and Tần Mục's figure had already arrived before him, peeling open the golden willow leaf on his brow.
The leaf opened, revealing Tần Mục's third eye.
Tần Mục's steps circled around him as he flew backward. With each step to the side, a beam of light shot from the third eye of one head, piercing into Prince Thu Minh's third eye. Another step, another head.
In three steps, Tần Mục circled him once, and each of his three heads fired a beam of light, piercing through Prince Thu Minh's three heads.
Boom.
Prince Thu Minh landed, his feet stumbling backward, retreating dozens of steps before he finally steadied himself. Countless silver needles flew over, reforming into a silver sword in his hand, its tip angled toward the ground.
"You—"
He looked at Tần Mục, and suddenly his three heads exploded. The headless body swayed for a moment, then collapsed face-first into the dust.
"You smashed my pillar, so I couldn't read the poem in peace."
Tần Mục snorted: "And you talked so much! Now I have to wait until the next cycle to see the poem on the pillar. My deaf grandpa hates people like you the most! Ptooey—die!"
—Please subscribe, please monthly votes!