Chapter 621: Revenge Flame (Part 2)

"Your... Your Highness!!"

Amidst the terrifying silence, a mournful cry broke through. An elder with half-white hair rushed forward, trembling uncontrollably, to the spot where Prince Zhong lay dead. Everyone present knew this man. He belonged to the Illusionary Demon Royal Family, bearing the princely title of Prince Han. He was the highest-ranking and strongest member of Prince Zhong's household, and in terms of seniority, he was Prince Zhong's uncle. His strength had reached the sixth level of the Monarch Profound Realm, making him a pillar of strength for the entire Prince Zhong residence and giving him significant power and status even in the Demon Imperial City. Ever since Prince Zhong took over the residence, Prince Han had retreated behind him, becoming his guardian. With Prince Han there, few could harm Prince Zhong, even in the Demon Imperial City, which was filled with experts.

Yet, today, he had watched helplessly as Prince Zhong instantly turned to ash. He hadn't even reacted until Prince Zhong's death, let alone stepped forward to protect him.

"Little Demon Empress!" Prince Han cried out, overwhelmed with grief and fury. "Even if my Prince's words were somewhat disrespectful... his crime didn't warrant death! You... you are so vicious..."

"Didn't warrant death?" The Little Demon Empress's voice was icy cold. "Prince Huai's regicide and rebellion warrant the extermination of his entire nine generations of relatives! Prince Zhong willingly became Prince Huai's accomplice, a crime worthy of death ten thousand times over! And his disrespect towards me makes his death well-deserved!

"Prince Han! Considering your past loyalty to my Imperial Father, I will not implicate you today! But if you dare to speak another word on behalf of Prince Zhong or Prince Huai, I will execute you as well!"

Prince Han's face twitched. He suddenly let out a roar, "You killed my Prince... If you have the guts, kill me too!"

The Little Demon Empress's night-dark eyes narrowed slightly. Her voice, filled with deathly pressure and icy coldness, reached everyone's soul without hesitation. "Since you wish to die, I shall grant your wish! Your indulgence of Prince Zhong's rebellion also makes you worthy of death!!"

No sooner had the Little Demon Empress's voice faded than a bone-chilling coldness spread throughout Prince Han's body. He, a dignified sixth-level Emperor Profound Realm expert, suddenly felt the approach of death in that instant. A fear he had never experienced in his life grew and swelled like an awakening demon within his soul.

He had never imagined that the Little Demon Empress would actually try to kill him, and without a shred of hesitation. He also never dreamed that, with his own strength, he would feel such terror under the Little Demon Empress's mere murderous intent.

Completely unaware of Prince Han's internal turmoil—that his will had almost collapsed from the Little Demon Empress's cold, merciless words—he gritted his teeth, leapt up recklessly with a strange cry, frantically gathered all the profound energy in his body, and blasted it towards the Little Demon Empress.

"Little Demon Empress, be careful!!" Su Xiangnan cried out in alarm. Prince Han was considered powerful among Emperor Profound Realm experts; the Little Demon Empress from four months ago certainly would not have been his match.

No sooner had Su Xiangnan shouted than a shrill scream, like that of a slaughtered pig, almost echoed throughout the entire Demon Imperial City. Prince Han's body, which had just leapt up, convulsed in mid-air, and then crashed back down to the ground. His hoarse, desperate screams were as if he were enduring the cruelest torment in the world.

Their eyes widened in horror... They saw two clusters of scarlet-golden flames burning on Prince Han's hands!

Golden Crow Flame!!

These two clusters of Golden Crow Flame were not fierce or wild, but burned slowly and steadily, without urgency or heat. Yet, in the blink of an eye, they burned away the flesh and skin of the sixth-level Emperor Profound Realm expert's hands, exposing stark white bones. Then, the bones were also incinerated. Prince Han's hands had completely vanished from his arms.

"Wuwahhhhhh!!!!"

Prince Han screamed desperately, rolled frantically, and desperately tried to resist with profound energy. But the two seemingly gentle scarlet-golden flames continued to burn slowly and steadily, unaffected in the slightest. In fact, as he rolled and thrashed, the scarlet-golden flames spread to his chest, waist, and thighs... In an instant, more than a dozen clusters of scarlet-golden flames were burning on his body, and half of his arms had already vanished.

Prince Han's screams were as agonizing as the wails of a demon from hell. His entire body thrashed and convulsed wildly, his eyes bulging out of their sockets in agony, and the veins on his forehead visibly swelled like earthworms!

The scarlet-golden flames continued to burn silently at their initial speed, almost gracefully gentle, yet slowly devoured the body of an Emperor Profound Realm expert. All of Prince Han's struggles, and his powerful profound energy—strong enough for a sixth-level Emperor Profound Realm expert—could not cause even the slightest interference or hindrance to it.

Endless terror was etched on everyone's faces. Prince Han was a member of the Illusionary Demon Royal Family, possessing a faint trace of the Golden Crow bloodline. He also cultivated fire-attribute profound art. He inherently had an extremely strong resistance to flames... Moreover, he possessed profound energy strong enough for a sixth-level Emperor Profound Realm expert, which in the eyes of profound practitioners, could be called divine!

Yet, under two small flames... in just a dozen breaths... a third of his entire body had vanished...

"Prince... Prince... Prince Han..." A person from Prince Zhong's household stretched out a trembling hand, stepping forward as if to try and extinguish the flames on Prince Han's body.

"Don't go near him!!" Someone frantically pulled him back, then retreated with all their might... Flames that could incinerate a sixth-level Emperor Profound Realm expert's body? If they touched them, it would simply be courting death!

Everyone's eyes were wide with horror, mouths agape, as they watched Prince Han's body twist and convulse wildly in the flames. The agonizing screams in their ears sent chills down their spines. In that instant, they even felt as if they were in the Nine Underworld Purgatory, witnessing a person covered in sin undergoing punishment by purgatorial flames...

"Little Demon Empress... have mercy... Little... Demon Empress... have mercy... Ah... Wuwahhhhhh!!!"

No one could imagine how immense the pain must have been to make a sixth-level Emperor Profound Realm expert scream like that, to make a sixth-level Emperor Profound Realm expert utter such utterly humble pleas... The scarlet-golden flames had spread across Prince Han's entire body, gradually consuming all his struggles and his voice.

When the scarlet-golden flames finally extinguished, Prince Han's body had also completely vanished, just like Prince Zhong, who had just died a tragic death; there was not even a trace left behind.

Terror remained etched on everyone's faces and in their eyes, not dissipating for a single breath throughout the entire process. In the entire hall, only the Little Demon Empress remained expressionless from beginning to end, as if she were merely witnessing a perfectly ordinary scene.

*Thump...*

Among the group closest to Prince Han, a ninth-level Overlord from Prince Huai's residence collapsed and knelt on the ground. Other profound practitioners, from the Monarch Profound Realm up to the Emperor Profound Realm, had their pupils filled with fear.

As beings considered peerless and invincible in the eyes of ordinary people, they felt for the first time how utterly insignificant they were.

"No... impossible..." Prince Huai's pupils continuously constricted. He couldn't believe the scene he was witnessing, couldn't believe such power existed in this world... And he certainly couldn't believe that this power belonged to the Little Demon Empress.

"This... this... what kind of power is this?" Mu Yu Bai gasped for air. As someone fiercely loyal to the Demon Imperial Family, seeing the Little Demon Empress's power after her return, he should have been overjoyed. But the scene just now... the painful and horrifying demise of a sixth-level Emperor Profound Realm expert... filled his heart with far more terror than joy. Because this was a terrifying power that, frankly, shouldn't exist in this world.

"Even if she awakened her bloodline, it shouldn't be... this terrifying..." Tian Xia Xiong Tu's eyes were wide, and he muttered distractedly to himself.

"This power... could it be a special blessing from the Golden Crow Divine Spirit?" Yun Qinghong's gaze was also somewhat dazed. The power before him completely surpassed all his understanding. This was no longer something that could be described as 'powerful'; it was a 'heaven-defying' power.

Yun Che, however, shook his head. "That's her secret, I suppose."

People were shocked by the Little Demon Empress's power, but no one knew that her current strength came at the cost of her vengeance, her life, and even her maidenhood.

"Yun He, Yun Jiang, Yun Xi." The Little Demon Empress spoke again. These six short words pierced everyone's souls like six ice picks, making their entire bodies turn cold and stiff. "Seize Prince Huai immediately! Whoever dares to obstruct... I shall kill them!

"If one person obstructs, I kill one! If a hundred obstruct, I kill a hundred. If ten thousand obstruct, I shall kill all ten thousand!!"

Her cold and ruthless voice intimidated the souls of everyone present. At this moment, they clearly realized that the Little Demon Empress who returned after four months was no longer the Little Demon Empress of the past!

"...Yes!!"

The answer was the same, but the tone was completely different. The aura of these three Yun family grand elders, who had weathered countless storms, had undergone a significant change. They simultaneously soared into the air, their three aged hands, enveloped in powerful lightning profound energy, reached directly for Prince Huai. Before, when they charged towards Prince Huai, both their movements and their power had been three parts reserved and seven parts apprehensive, but now, they were exceptionally fierce. The rapidly surging profound energy even brought forth deafening thunderclaps.

"Who dares touch His Highness!!"

The number of experts around Prince Huai far exceeded ordinary people's imagination. Without exaggeration, over seventy percent of the Emperor Profound Realm experts in the Demon Imperial City had already joined Prince Huai's faction! Today was also Prince Huai's enthronement ceremony, and there were even more powerful guards by his side... Prince Huai himself was a mid-level Emperor Profound Realm expert. Those qualified to guard him were all the absolute top experts of the Illusionary Demon Realm! The weakest among them was also a mid-level Emperor Profound Realm expert!!

Such peerless experts, rarely seen by ordinary people in a lifetime and considered mythical in their eyes... Prince Huai alone had seventeen of them here today, just within this Demon Imperial Hall!!

And these were only the ones fiercely loyal to Prince Huai's residence, serving as his personal guards. This certainly did not include the top powers like Guardian Families and royal residences that had pledged allegiance to him.

As the three Yun family grand elders made their move, four differently dressed figures suddenly appeared from the void behind Prince Huai, blocking his path and fiercely charging towards the three grand elders. Each of them emanated an extremely powerful aura... surprisingly on par with that of Yun He, Yun Jiang, and Yun Xi.

"Lu Zhanfeng, Bai Jinghong, Tang Luanli, Xiao Qingshan... The 'Four Southern Heavens' who shook the Southern Realm seven hundred years ago!!" In a corner of the main hall, an old man exclaimed. And the four names he shouted rang like four thunderclaps in everyone's ears.

"The Four Southern Heavens..." A look of surprise also flashed across Yun Qinghong's face. "These were extraordinary figures your grandfather often spoke of back then. They had all achieved the Emperor Profound Realm seven hundred years ago, and soon after, rumors of them became rare, leading everyone to believe they had gone into seclusion... Unexpectedly, they had long since become members of Prince Huai's residence!"

"...It seems Prince Huai's ambition began much earlier than we imagined," Yun Che said, his brows furrowed.

"In these past years, we never dared to underestimate the strength of Prince Huai's residence," Yun Qinghong said, his brows tightly furrowed. "But only in the last four months did we realize that Prince Huai's residence had grown incredibly powerful, far beyond our expectations! Less than three days after news of the Little Demon Empress's demise in the Golden Crow Lightning Flame Valley spread, the entire Demon Imperial City fell completely under Prince Huai's control. We didn't even have a chance to react. Alas..."

Yun Che shook his head. "Father, you don't need to feel defeated. Prince Huai alone certainly doesn't possess such capability. It's that Prince Ming; he's too terrifying... For the past few centuries, the entire Illusionary Demon Realm has been played right into his hands, yet no one realized it! Everything has been proceeding exactly as he orchestrated... But, man's schemes are ultimately no match for heaven's will!" Yun Che looked up at the Little Demon Empress and murmured, "The culmination of his perfect plan, however, forced the emergence of a demigod..."

"A demigod?" Yun Qinghong and Mu Yu Rou were both startled.

"I'd like to see if the vast power Prince Ming painstakingly cultivated over these years... can withstand the wrath and resentment of a god!!"