Chapter 841: World's End

Feeling the emperor's anger, Zu An's heart sank, knowing the emperor's patience with him had reached its limit.

He mentally reviewed all the methods he knew, but unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't escape death; the only difference was dying sooner or later.

Thinking of this, he tightened his arm around Bi Linglong's slender waist, pulling her whole body tightly against his. At least this way, they could die with a little more dignity, he thought.

Bi Linglong was startled at first, but with her exceptional intelligence, she immediately understood his intention.

Her pretty face immediately flushed crimson. Her dress was already thin, and with their bodies pressed tightly together, she could almost clearly feel the warmth of his skin.

Involuntarily, the incident at the Hundred Flowers Palace resurfaced in her mind—the image of them embracing, unclothed. A shiver ran through her soul deep inside, and a pleasant weakness spread through her body.

She looked up at Zhao Ruizhi in the distance. If the person was still Zhao Ruizhi himself, she probably wouldn't have allowed Zu An to embrace her so intimately; after all, though he was foolish, he was still her legitimate husband.

Her upbringing as a noblewoman, from childhood, prevented her from embracing another man in front of her husband.

But the current Zhao Ruizhi was not the true Zhao Ruizhi. In a sense, her husband was already dead, and the murderer was the person standing before her, occupying her husband's body.

Furthermore, the emperor had intended to silence her from the start. Thinking of the emperor's power, despair welled up in her heart; she couldn't even simply survive, let alone avenge her husband.

In her despair, many of her usual reservations and taboos broke down. Since death was inevitable, at least she could anger that person before dying.

Thinking of this, she not only didn't resist but, on the contrary, nestled gracefully into Zu An's embrace, like a delicate bird finding shelter.

Zu An was momentarily stunned; he never expected her to be so cooperative. He smiled knowingly and tightened his arm around her waist even more.

He Li, watching from afar, saw this scene and felt his scalp tingle at their blatant display. Although he had previously claimed they were having an affair, that was merely a psychological tactic. Over the years, he had come to understand the Crown Princess's character very well; everyone in the capital's circles knew she was considered proud and dignified, so he had never actually considered that possibility.

Who knew these two actually had something going on!

The key thing was, they were openly flirting like this in front of the emperor. Were these two trying to invite death upon themselves?

He noticed the emperor's face was ashen and quickly shuffled sideways, fearing he would be caught in the crossfire.

Zhao Ruizhi watched the two with a grim gaze. "Very well," he said, "you have successfully incurred my wrath."

With that, he waved his hand, and a golden ray of light shot between them, clearly intending to separate them.

Given Bi Linglong's cultivation level, she couldn't react at all; she could only watch helplessly as the golden light drew closer.

Normally, even with Zu An's greatly improved cultivation, he would have been overwhelmed by the opponent's domain, unable to breathe or react.

However, with the two secret realms merging, the elemental energy of heaven and earth was extremely chaotic, disrupting his domain and preventing him from completely suppressing Zu An.

Zu An, holding Bi Linglong, immediately used Great Wind Teleportation to move aside. But before he could even take a breath, he saw the golden light, which had flown into the distance, suddenly turn around and fly back towards them.

He dared not delay and quickly used Sunflower Phantasm, splitting into several figures and scattering in different directions.

But it was no surprise; the golden light completely ignored the other false figures and relentlessly pursued him like a maggot on a bone.

"A guided missile?" Zu An wondered, realizing that no matter how he dodged, he couldn't shake it off.

"What missile?" Mi Li's voice echoed in his mind. "You've been locked onto by his divine sense; of course you can't escape."

At this moment, Bi Linglong's voice also rang out: "Don't worry about me. You'll be faster if you escape alone."

Mi Li was a little surprised. "This woman actually has feelings," she murmured.

Zu An smiled. "How could I abandon you and escape alone?" he said. "At most, we'll die together as a pair of fated lovers."

Bi Linglong's heart trembled. Normally, men's vows of eternal love meant little; only at such life-or-death moments could one see a person's true heart. Seeing that he wouldn't abandon her even now, her gaze softened.

Zhao Ruizhi in the distance had a grim expression, his face like still water. "Fated lovers?" he sneered. "When the time comes, I'll chop off all five of your limbs. Let's see how fated you'll be then."

With a sweep of his hand, another golden light appeared out of thin air and slashed towards the two of them.

One golden light had already left Zu An with no escape route. Seeing another golden light approaching, he quickly called out to Mi Li in his mind: "Empress... Master, what do we do now?"

Mi Li let out a cold snort. "Weren't you just showing affection with the Crown Princess?" she scoffed. "Now you remember me?"

Zu An knew she was probably sulking because he hadn't replied to her earlier. He quickly said, "Once we're past this tribulation, I'll obey whatever you command, whether it's beating or scolding. But now, saving our lives is paramount!"

He exerted all his strength. Even so, several sections of his clothes were grazed away by the golden light. What truly terrified him was that the opponent's golden light aimed for his "little brother" several times; if he hadn't reacted quickly, he might have ended up like Eunuch Wen.

Normally, he was quite proud in this regard, but now he realized that being "big" also had its disadvantages, making it harder to dodge.

Mi Li saw his predicament, secretly snorted in disdain, then quickly said, "You've been locked onto by his divine sense; you can't escape. Moreover, his golden light continuously draws on the surrounding elemental energy, and its power and speed will increase the longer it pursues. So your best option is to stop and confront it head-on."

"Confront it head-on?" Zu An frowned, thinking, given the difference in their cultivation levels, wouldn't confronting it head-on be suicide?

But seeing the two golden lights completely block his escape routes, he had no time to think further. He immediately drew his sword, summoned Snow Phoenix, and sent a blade of ice sword energy slashing towards the two golden lights.

He didn't stop for a moment, simultaneously summoning Fire Phoenix and unleashing a Flaming Blade. A scorching, massive flaming blade also attacked.

Although Azure Luan's sword energy was powerful, he didn't have wood-element cultivation techniques to complement it, and the golden light was coming too fast, leaving no time to unleash it.

In comparison, he had advanced combat techniques for both ice and fire elements. At this moment, he dared not hold back anything, unleashing them with full power.

He Li, watching from afar, his eyes widened. "This kid actually possesses two elemental abilities simultaneously? This simply defies the common sense of the cultivation world!"

No wonder he's so exceptional at such a young age. If he were to mature, how astonishing would his strength become?

What a pity. Now that the emperor had intervened, he was dead for sure.

What good was genius then? It was better to be like him, a wise man who knew when to adapt to circumstances.

Zhao Ruizhi had clearly seen the ice sword and flaming blade, and his brows furrowed slightly.

"This kid actually has such talent?"

However, throughout history, there hadn't been no geniuses who cultivated two elemental abilities simultaneously. He wasn't particularly curious about this; instead, it strengthened his resolve to kill the opponent.

"Overestimating your own strength!" he snorted. "Although this blade and sword are commendable, they are still far from enough to block my attack."

As expected, the ice sword and flaming blade, though appearing much larger than the two golden lights, instantly melted and dispersed upon contact.

However, they were not entirely useless; the two golden lights were noticeably dimmer than before.

Zu An felt a wave of despair. "Is the gap really this wide?" he thought.

"Take out the Nine Cauldrons!" Mi Li's voice was also urgent.

Zu An had no time to think further and instinctively summoned the Nine Cauldrons to block in front of him.

Almost simultaneously, the two golden lights slashed over, directly hitting the Nine Cauldrons.

"Thud!"

A profoundly muffled sound spread out. The Qi King's loyalists watching from afar covered their ears, their faces pale, and those with lower cultivation levels even bled from their ears and noses.

Zu An, who was closest, also felt his blood churning uncomfortably. However, the two golden lights had already dissipated.

The emerald-green Nine Cauldrons hummed loudly in the air, with two faint marks on their surface and even a hint of a crack vaguely visible, clearly from having just received the two golden lights.

Zu An's heart ached. Mi Li then said, "No need to worry. You can help restore it once you learn artifact forging in the future. Hmph, if the Nine Cauldrons weren't in their incomplete state, the opponent's full-power attack wouldn't have caused them any damage."

"Oh?" At this moment, the emperor also noticed the small emerald-green cauldron. It could actually block his full-power attack without being damaged; clearly, it was a supreme treasure.

In terms of artifact grade, it was at least Immortal-grade. No, more likely the legendary Divine-grade!

Given his cultivation and status, he didn't care about Immortal-grade artifacts, but if it was a legendary Divine-grade artifact, he absolutely had to obtain it.

He extended his hand, and an invisible large hand reached out towards the emerald-green cauldron.

Zu An's expression changed. Before the large hand even reached it, he already felt the Nine Cauldrons trying to break free from his control.

Just then, a purple lightning bolt suddenly descended from the sky, landing precisely on the invisible large hand and shattering the terrifying hand into countless pieces.

Zhao Ruizhi's pupils contracted. He suddenly looked up, realizing the sky had completely changed color. A red rift split across the entire firmament, resembling a giant eye.

At the same time, countless dazzling lightning bolts, carrying a terrifying aura, descended from the sky. The scene was like the end of the world!