Chapter 69: Slashing Through

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“My lord.”

Outside the imperial prison, the Fourth Prince stood respectfully at the main gate, awaiting his arrival.

“Bring your men and have the inside thoroughly cleaned,” Li Ju nodded slightly at the Fourth Prince, preparing to continue on his way.

Owing to their acquaintance, the Fourth Prince currently served as the royal family’s liaison with him, and indeed, because of this connection, the current Emperor of Chen even intended to name him Crown Prince.

“My lord, today all five patriarchs are gathered in the ancestral hall,” the Fourth Prince approached Li Ju, speaking in a low voice.

The five patriarchs of the royal family were the five inner martial arts masters who guarded the dynasty. The court of Chen naturally had access to more than five such masters, but those belonged to the state, whereas these five were of the royal bloodline itself. It was precisely thanks to these five that the Chen royal house could barely maintain its standing.

“I understand,” Li Ju nodded.

Now that they were all assembled, it was time for him to take complete control of the royal household.

“My lord, should you require it, all prisoners within this prison are at your disposal.”

After a moment’s silence, as if unable to hold back any longer, the Fourth Prince finally spoke. His rise from obscurity within the royal family was entirely due to his alliance with Li Ju—so long as he could further strengthen Li Ju’s power, the lives of a few prisoners meant nothing to him.

After all, in this world, life was the cheapest currency.

“There’s no need. The condemned criminals will suffice,” Li Ju cast the Fourth Prince a cool glance, sending a chill through his body that silenced any further words.

Whether out of a final shred of conscience or as a means to resist the demonic influence and preserve his humanity, Li Ju chose only to feed upon those sentenced to death—men whose evil deeds made their deaths inevitable—rather than ordinary offenders or innocent folk.

Of course, those who walked the martial world were another matter; in the jianghu, one lived and died by the sword, and every practitioner accepted that they might be killed at any moment. Li Ju was no exception.

“Yes, my lord,” the Fourth Prince bowed in farewell and led his men to clean the prison.

“The royal ancestral hall and the inner martial arts prisoners,” Li Ju glanced at the sky and strode away.

Today, not only would he subdue the royal family’s inner masters and seize control, but he also intended to extract the whereabouts of the two imprisoned inner family experts.

Of course, if those experts refused to submit, he wouldn’t mind feeding on another one or two of their kind to hasten his recovery.

Night.

Li Ju sat cross-legged in a palace draped in white cloth, eyes closed, with four desiccated corpses arrayed before him.

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A faint whirlwind circled Li Ju’s body, gently stirring the curtains and shrouds.

“Hoo…”

After a long while, Li Ju opened his eyes and exhaled a long plume of white breath.

“With the combined vital essence of four inner martial arts masters, my injuries have finally, if barely, healed.”

“Much faster than I expected,” he mused, gazing at the four desiccated corpses before him.

Two of these were former inner masters imprisoned by the royal family; the other two were royal kin who, lacking in foresight, had been “unintentionally” killed by his hand.

“With my wounds fully healed, the scope of my next moves can be much broader,” Li Ju clenched his fists. Gone was the weakness of his recovery, replaced now by a surge of strength.

Previously, his incomplete power had forced him to hide within the royal fold, unable to act. But now, though he might not yet rampage freely through the martial world, at least he could move about openly once more.

Bang… bang…

Just as Li Ju pondered his next steps, the measured tread of boots on wooden planks echoed from outside the hall.

He rose, face solemn, and looked toward the palace doors. From beyond, he sensed a presence all too familiar—he had expected to be sought out eventually, but not so soon.

Bang bang.

The footsteps halted at the threshold.

Creak.

The great doors swung open.

At this hour, the entire palace was shrouded in unnatural silence; not even the chirp of insects or frogs could be heard. The palace maids and guards who should have been waiting outside on his orders had vanished without trace.

“It seems my timing is poor,” came the first words from the figure who entered.

“I should have come sooner,” he continued, his second utterance.

“What a pity,” he remarked, eyeing the four desiccated corpses neatly laid before Li Ju, sorrow flickering across his face.

“Next time, I must arrive on time,” he sighed, shaking his head.

“Zhuge Huang, you’ve changed a great deal,” Li Ju suddenly observed, studying the newcomer.

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The visitor was none other than Zhuge Huang, one of the Four Evils of the Demon Sect, with whom Li Ju had previously crossed blades.

Yet compared to their first encounter, when Zhuge Huang exuded arrogance and cool intellect, now he radiated wildness and reckless abandon.

“People always change, don’t they?” Zhuge Huang smiled, stepping into the hall.

Bang.

The doors slammed shut.

Now, only Li Ju and Zhuge Huang remained within, save for a single oil lamp and the four withered corpses.

“It seems the demonic arts have had a great effect on you,” Li Ju remarked.

For someone of Zhuge Huang’s caliber to undergo such a drastic transformation of bearing in so short a time—becoming nearly unrecognizable save for his face—Li Ju knew only the Demon Sect’s arts could bring about such change.

“Yes, a great effect indeed. But in this world, one must give to receive; to gain something, you must pay a price.”

“The only question is whether, in comparison, you are satisfied with what you gain over what you lose.”

“And I am very satisfied,” Zhuge Huang admitted freely, showing no shame for what the demonic arts had done to him.

“Not only I; aren’t you the same?” he continued, his gaze falling pointedly on the corpses at Li Ju’s feet, his smile widening.

As a scion of the Demon Sect, he naturally recognized what those four desiccated bodies signified.

“I only wonder, are you satisfied with what you’ve obtained?”

Li Ju did not reply, his expression impassive.

“Judging by your silence, you must be,” Zhuge Huang said, unperturbed by the lack of response.

“It’s just a pity I didn’t arrive before you’d completed your recovery. If I had come then…”

“It would have been so much easier to kill you!”

A surge of malice erupted from Zhuge Huang’s smiling face, filling the hall in an instant.