Chapter 996 – Assassination in the Imperial Palace
The Fourth Prince and the Ninth Prince and their team members appeared on the stone tablet. The instant the Seal of the Crown Prince appeared, a surge of draconic providence swept across the dimension, and the light from the stone stages started to fade away. The white light nearby also disappeared.
Whoosh!
The stone tablet turned into a streak of light and returned to the great hall of the Imperial Palace.
“The Crown Prince trial has come to an end. The Ninth Prince will be the Crown Prince for now,” a voice sounded from the depths of the great hall.
“I didn’t think that the winner would be my ninth son, Zihang.” Even the Sacred Emperor was surprised. He personally helped the Thirteenth Prince, but he was still defeated by the Ninth Prince. The Fourth Prince, who was the strongest prince, was also defeated by the Ninth Prince. The Sacred Emperor wasn’t even that familiar with his ninth son.
On the other hand, anger flashed through the Sacred Empress’s eyes as she looked at the Ninth Prince and Zhao Feng.
Although the Crown Prince trial had come to an end, the Great Gan Imperial Palace was even more festive than before. The Imperial Palace held the ceremony for the induction of the Crown Prince that very day.
All the forces had a certain number of people that could enter the Imperial Palace. The Ninth Prince was extremely busy during the ceremony; countless forces sent him gifts and greeted him. Even members of the imperial family who were usually cold to the Ninth Prince came forward with smiles on their faces.
“Zihang, I knew that you would stun us all.” An imperial elder came forward and spoke.
“Congratulations, brother Ninth Prince. Oh wait, I should call you the Crown Prince now.” The Seventh Prince went forward and drank a cup of alcohol.
Even the other princes needed to show their support to the Ninth Prince now. In the future, it might very well be the Ninth Prince who became the Sacred Emperor. At that moment in time, the lives of the other princes would depend on him.
Apart from the Ninth Prince himself, all the forces and team members that had supported him to become the Crown Prince were all extremely busy during the ceremony as well.
At this instant, some of the representatives from the Shi Family were so happy that their mouths couldn’t even close as they dealt with the other forces. The Shi Family was destined to rise now.
“Brother Shi, I admired your performance in the Crown Prince trial.” A genius from another superpower greeted Shi Yulei warmly.
Elsewhere, Grand Duke Lan’s Palace, which Su Qingling was part of, was together with the representatives of the other Grand Duke Palaces. Many people even asked about Su Qingling’s marriage status.
Although Zhao Feng hadn’t been in the continent zone for long, had a bad reputation, and didn’t know many forces, countless experts came to greet him as well. After all, anyone could see that the only reason the Ninth Prince could become Crown Prince was because of Zhao Feng’s help. Furthermore, Zhao Feng was very strong himself and had his own force.
“Zhao Feng, I knew you would play a big part.” Xin Wuheng smiled and walked over.
“I’m just lucky.” Zhao Feng smiled. He avoided some people that he didn’t know and walked toward Xin Wuheng.
“Brother Zhao, you’re too humble.” Xin Wuheng shook his head. One could say that the Fourth Prince had completely lost because of the sixteen Dragon Jades that Zhao Feng had.
Xin Wuheng knew a bit about arrays, but even he wasn’t confident that he could destroy the teleportation arrays within them without destroying the Dragon Jade itself. Furthermore, Zhao Feng’s idea of gathering draconic providence had definitely been implemented from the very start, so everyone could see how farsighted he was.
“Brother Xin is joking.” Zhao Feng didn’t decline. In reality, Zhao Feng didn’t know anything about arrays, but one of the abilities of his golden eye was disintegration, which perfectly solved the problem.
As long as he figured which part was the teleportation array, Zhao Feng could use his disintegration ability to destroy only that structure of the array, making it impossible to use. Such a thing might be difficult for Array Grandmasters, but it was extremely simple for Zhao Feng.
“Zhao Feng, congratulations.” The red-robed Tie Litian slowly walked over.
Although the Tie Family supported the Fourth Prince – who had lost because of Zhao Feng – Zhao Feng’s display caused them to place great importance on him. The Tie Family was originally planning to forcefully take Zhao Feng back to the Tie Family after the Crown Prince trial ended, but Tie Litian was now coming forward and congratulating him.
“Zhao Feng, you put on a big show this time.” Duke Nanfeng smiled and congratulated as well. He was originally just planning to repay Zhao Feng with a favor, and he didn’t expect the Ninth Prince to actually become the Crown Prince at all. Instead of repaying his original favor, he now owed one more.
After dealing with everyone, Zhao Feng went over to the members of the Ocean Smoke Pavilion.
“Grand Elder,” Bi Qingyue said with joy.
The Ocean Smoke Pavilion was a three-star power, and now that the Ninth Prince had won, the Ocean Smoke Pavilion would be the leader of the ocean region. With the protection of draconic providence form the lord dynasty, Bi Qingyue believed that she could quickly expand the Ocean Smoke Pavilion to the level that Zhao Feng wanted.
“All of you can go back after the ceremony ends.”
There were still a few problems in the continent zone that Zhao Feng had to take care of, so he couldn’t leave just yet.
Although Bi Qingyue was slightly disappointed, she immediately revealed a peaceful smile.
Zhao Feng asked about the situation regarding the Ocean Smoke Pavilion and how the assassination organization was coming along. At the same time, he handed over a large amount of resources to Bi Qingyue.
The assassination organization had just started, and the Ocean Smoke Pavilion’s wealth couldn’t be compared to some older forces. If they wanted to expand quickly, they would need a large amount of resources. This was one of the main reasons why Zhao Feng didn’t choose to strengthen his bloodline in the Heaven’s Legacy City.
“Also, when you go back, send me all the information regarding the owner of the Eye of Samsara,” Zhao Feng suddenly said.
In another corner of the palace:
“Chen’er, don’t be disheartened. You are still young. In terms of experience, you obviously don’t have as much as your elder brothers.” A powerful male comforted the Thirteenth Prince.
“I’m just very unwilling. Why is it the Ninth Prince who became the Crown Prince?” the Thirteenth Prince said in a soft voice.
“Hehe, he might be the Crown Prince now, but who knows if he can sit there steadily?” the powerful male revealed a wicked smile and messaged.
The Thirteenth Prince’s expression changed as he looked at his uncle.
“The seat of Crown Prince isn’t that easy to sit on.” The powerful male had a deep gaze.
This was indeed the case. There were still several years left till the Sacred Emperor retired. This period of time was a test for the Crown Prince. If the Crown Prince made any major mistakes, there would obviously be repercussions.
“Father.” On the other side, the Ninth Prince arrived before the Sacred Emperor.
“Zihang, your performance was very good,” the current Sacred Emperor smiled and said.
All the imperial uncles nearby also laughed and agreed.
The ceremony lasted till the night of the second day. At this moment, the Ninth Prince was finally able to go back and rest.
“Your Highness Crown Prince, I will still need to stay at your place for a couple days,” Zhao Feng smiled and said.
“Brother Zhao, where will you be going later?” the Ninth Prince asked. He didn’t mind Zhao Feng staying at his place, but he could tell that Zhao Feng had important matters to attend to.
“There’s some stuff I need to do.” Zhao Feng didn’t give a clear reply.
He wouldn’t be able to kill the Thirteenth Prince anytime soon, and he wouldn’t be able to see Zhao Yufei either. He also needed to find out information regarding the owner of the Eye of Samsara. He could ask Old Ying about it; although Old Ying had left the Imperial Sky Net, he should still be able to use some of his connections there.
“Understood. Father will reward all of you tomorrow, so Brother Zhao needs to be there.”
The Ninth Prince knew that Zhao Feng had once declined the offer of Marquis from Duke Nanfeng, but this time, it was the Sacred Emperor himself who was going to be rewarding people.
At the same time, the Ninth Prince took out a golden token. With this token, Zhao Feng was allowed to enter and leave the Imperial Palace whenever he wanted.
“Thanks.” Zhao Feng took the token. After all, not everyone could enter and leave the Imperial Palace as they wished.
“Your Highness Crown Prince.” Butler Qi, who was in front of the Ninth Prince’s hall, immediately came forward to greet them.
Zhao Feng glanced at Butler Qi, and his left eye suddenly started to twitch.
A cold glint suddenly appeared in Butler Qi’s hands.
Whoosh!
A half-transparent black dagger stabbed toward the Ninth Prince’s chest.
“Butler Qi, you-!?”
The Ninth Prince was shocked, but there was no time for him to defend himself. Butler Qi’s ambush was as quick as lightning, and he gave off a faint wicked disturbance of Mystic Light Sacred Power. The Ninth Prince would die even if he defended himself in time.
Butler Qi revealed a wicked and gruesome smile, as if his assassination attempt had already succeeded. However, the next moment, Zhao Feng and the Ninth Prince disappeared amidst a flash of silver.
“This is…?” Butler Qi revealed a stunned expression as his attack missed.
“The ability to move through space!” Butler Qi’s tone was grim.
Hu~
He turned into a dark ray of light, merged into the darkness, and quickly retreated.
Weng~~
Zhao Feng and the Ninth Prince suddenly appeared in the room where Zhao Feng was in seclusion before the trial.
“Zhao Feng, was that the ability of the Misty Spatial World?” The Ninth Prince’s heart thudded, and he took a deep breath as he looked at Zhao Feng.
Luckily, Zhao Feng’s substandard God item had saved his life at the critical moment. It was probably a spatial marking that Zhao Feng had left behind when he was in seclusion.
But why would Butler Qi want to kill him? Or rather… that wasn’t Butler Qi.
“Ninth Prince, you stay here. I’ll go have a look,” Zhao Feng said before flying out. He had sensed something before Butler Qi had taken action. The real Butler Qi was most likely dead already.
Zhao Feng was extremely surprised. Who would dare to enter the Imperial Palace and assassinate the person who just became Crown Prince?
Zhao Feng first thought of the Thirteenth Prince. The Thirteenth Prince was rash enough to try something like this.
“Furthermore, this person is very strong.”
Zhao Feng quickly flew through the Imperial Palace. When he teleported a moment ago, he left a marking of the God Eye on “Butler Qi.” However, Zhao Feng could only faintly sense a direction now. This meant that the assassin had already discovered it and was using a technique to suppress Zhao Feng’s mark of the God Eye.
“I didn’t expect him to have such an ability.” The fake Butler Qi’s expression was grim and full of hatred as he moved swiftly through the Imperial Palace. The guards were unable to sense him.
Hu~
Zhao Feng chased after the mark of the God Eye.
“Who is it? No one is allowed to fly within the Imperial Palace!” The leader of a group of guards roared.
“There’s an assassin!”
Zhao Feng circulated his God Eye and released a surge of eye-bloodline power, which created an undulation from within Butler Qi’s soul.
All the guards felt something was off. On top of that, they all knew Zhao Feng.
“Assassin!”
“Where?”
All the guards within the Imperial Palace were alarmed.
“Dammit, this brat!” The fake Butler Qi’s face started to twist. One could faintly see a face with black scales all over it.
“I can’t escape anymore.” The fake Butler Qi revealed an expression of despair as he suddenly came to a halt.
“Let’s die together then, brat who meddles too much in other people’s business.” The fake Butler Qi’s voice was deep and full of hatred as he charged back toward Zhao Feng.
Hu~ Whoosh!
The fake Butler Qi’s figure moved swiftly and arrived before Zhao Feng in an instant. A transparent black dagger that was able to completely ignore the resistance of space stabbed toward Zhao Feng.