Chapter 407

Chapter 407: No Chance to Make Peace?

The great hall fell into a deathly silence at once. Afraid someone might secretly help the emperor, Prince Xiao Yao ordered the hall surrounded. Aside from himself and Immortal Qing Feng, no one was allowed to enter. In the quiet, sealed room, the emperor’s heart sank bit by bit.

Suddenly, a voice as light as if only he could hear it sounded by his ear: “Your Majesty, be at ease.”

The emperor snapped his eyes open and looked around, but the hall was still empty. Not a single figure appeared. He looked lost.

Studying the emperor’s features, Yu Zhi Yi finally swallowed her worry. He was still a true dragon, the Son of Heaven, only with a great hurdle before him. If he crossed it, he would soar among the clouds. If he failed, he would exit the stage in regret. She had also watched Prince Xiao Yao from the shadows earlier. Although purple aura clung to him, he did not have the face of the Son of Heaven. Good. It had been a false alarm.

The emperor parted his lips to ask something, but Yu Zhi Yi cut him off: “Now is not the time to talk, and I cannot do anything for you yet. But please believe this, you will be fine. Before I return, do not trust anyone. Keep your heart steady. As long as your mind is calm, nothing will be a problem.”

As the last word fell, the voice vanished.

For a moment, the emperor could not tell whether Yu Zhi Yi had truly come, or whether he had imagined it out of numb despair. Immortal Qing Feng could return to kill at any time, so Yu Zhi Yi did not dare linger. Leaving only those calming words, she exited the Imperial Palace.

From start to finish she wore an Invisibility Talisman. Though it might not fool a Golden Core Realm expert, it was enough to deal with ordinary people. She raced toward the city gates. The Capital City had four gates: east, south, west, and north. She used to go in and out through the East Gate, but after buying the Peach Garden, she preferred the North Gate. This time, she chose the South Gate, a path she had never used before.

The moment she stepped out, a crushing pressure surged down from the sky. Yu Zhi Yi’s pupils shrank. At the last instant before it landed on her, she flung out a bracelet. It was a defensive bracelet she had made for herself. It had twelve beads. There were only twelve, but its defense was far stronger than the ones she made for others. With her current level, anyone who could hurt her would not be ordinary, so she crafted a new set for herself out of spirit stones. Twelve beads in all. Beads that once could bear a full-force strike from a Qi Refining Peak expert could now, made of spirit stone, endure a single strike from a Golden Core Realm master.

Good news: she had guessed right. The spirit stone bracelet withstood Immortal Qing Feng’s attack.

Bad news: each bead could take only one hit, for a total of twelve. But Immortal Qing Feng was not limited to twelve attacks. In a blink, the spirit stone bracelet shattered into dust.

Fortunately, after throwing the bracelet, Yu Zhi Yi did not look back and sped away. At her speed, she crossed more than a kilometer in an instant. Even with Immortal Qing Feng’s great powers, he could not locate her at once while she remained invisible. She could no longer worry about making noise and drawing eyes. She poured all her spiritual energy into running.

Immortal Qing Feng stood upon his flying sword, which hovered in midair. His robes floated, his features were cold and handsome, like a banished immortal. The people in the city looked up, saw the immortal-like man, and dropped to their knees together as they shouted: “Immortal! The immortal has appeared!”

They did not know the “immortal” in their eyes was cursing them up and down in his heart. [If not for you commoners, I would have struck her down the instant I sensed something was wrong.] He had held back because he feared Yu Zhi Yi would fight to the death. Though he was sure his own strike would not leak even a trace of spiritual energy and would not harm ordinary people, only the true culprit, who knew if she would show restraint in return? If she tried to drag him down with her at the last moment, the result would be disastrous. So he felt no warmth toward the crowd below. With a cold snort, he took to swordflight and shot into the distance.

That little bug had a bit of wit and some tricks. But if she thought that was enough to slip from his palm, she was very wrong.

Yu Zhi Yi ran for dozens of li and hid in a Stone Forest. Only then did she let out a breath.

“Done running?” A cool male voice rose. Her body went stiff. Only then did she realize the Invisibility Talisman had failed at some point. She stood bare in the morning sun. Lifting her head, she saw Immortal Qing Feng standing on his flying sword. He looked down at her like an ant.

Yu Zhi Yi gave a bitter smile: “The Invisibility Talisman really has no use against a Golden Core Realm master.”

Immortal Qing Feng snorted: “A petty trick. It cannot work on me.”

Maybe because she knew escape was hopeless, Yu Zhi Yi stopped struggling. She relaxed her body and asked mildly: “Before I die, may I ask the immortal a question?”

Immortal Qing Feng raised a brow. He did not know about the curse that villains die from talking too much. Seeing Yu Zhi Yi behave obediently eased his mood. He disliked trouble. Since she was this docile, he did not mind granting her one answer: “Speak.”

Yu Zhi Yi asked: “I have no grudge with you. Why must you kill me?”

Immortal Qing Feng said coldly: “Yue’er saved me. Her enemy is a hidden danger. For her sake, I will remove it.”

“So it is a debt of life.” Yu Zhi Yi let out a long breath. You Bing Yue was truly lucky. First she saved Du Zi Heng, then Ou Yang Shuo. Not long after, she saved Immortal Qing Feng. Everyone she rescued had a great background. Yu Zhi Yi could hardly imagine who it would be next time.

She asked quietly: “Is there really no chance to make peace?”

Immortal Qing Feng looked at her with scorn: “When you relied on your spiritual energy to bully Yue’er, did you think about making peace? Now you are the fish on the board and I hold the knife, and you want peace?”

He reached out. A surge of spiritual energy so strong it made the scalp prickle blasted toward Yu Zhi Yi at once. Yu Zhi Yi sighed: “If that is so, then there is no way.”

Her last word was swallowed by dazzling waves of spiritual energy and the roar of shattered stones.