Crown Prince of the Empire, I quit!

Click!

There was a very slight sound, but it was like the sound of a mechanism snapping together! The top of the bone box popped open!

No gray smoke! No dark red blood mist!

A fine, grayish-white powder, like decaying dust that had been sealed for a thousand years, slowly drifted out of the box! The powder was breathless, cold and dead, like the ashes deep in a tomb!

Gulutai's cloudy, dead fish eyes suddenly widened! His dry lips opened and closed silently, as if the spell he was chanting was stuck in his throat! His withered fingers froze in mid-air, staring at the lifeless gray powder in the box in disbelief!

"This... is impossible!" His hoarse voice was filled with a hint of panic that could not be concealed. "Where is the breath of the sacred tree... the breath of the sacred tree?!"

Qin Ming's deep eyes, like the frozen depths of the pond, finally stirred a ripple. Not anger, not astonishment, but a kind of... an extreme coldness, like the abyss opening, about to swallow everything.

"Antidote?" Qin Ming's voice sounded. It was not loud, but it was like the rubbing of ten thousand years of black ice, carrying a biting chill. "Is this your Toruhan's... antidote?"

Gulutai suddenly looked up, his cloudy eyes instantly filled with horror and madness! His withered fingers suddenly grasped the depths of the bone box, as if trying to pull something out! But the box was empty! Only the cold gray powder!

"No! Your Majesty! This... someone must have done something! Someone wants to harm me..." He screamed hoarsely, his voice like a broken gong!

"Enough." Qin Ming slowly stood up. His dark uniform fluttered without a breeze, and an invisible, tangible, icy pressure suddenly spread out from him!

The candlelight in the tent flickered wildly, and the light and shadow were distorted like a ghost town!

His deep eyes were like two black holes that swallowed up light, fixed on the withered face of the man on the roller platform, which was twisted with fear.

"I gave you seven days." Qin Ming's voice sounded like it came from the Netherworld, and every word carried a murderous intent that could freeze a soul. "You gave me a box... of ashes."

He slowly raised his hand, and pointed his armored fingers at the roller coaster.

"Shadow Seven."

"Here!" Ying Qi appeared behind the roller coaster like a ghost.

"Capture him." Qin Ming's voice was firm and without a trace of warmth. "Skin him alive, pull out his tendons, grind his bones into dust. I want his bones ground into powder and scattered in front of the palace gate of the Shenmu Royal Court."

"Here!" A cold, bloodthirsty light flashed in Ying Qi's eyes! His skinny hands, like pliers, instantly grasped Gulutai's shoulder blades!

"No!!" Gulutai let out a shrill, desperate howl! His cloudy eyes were filled with unbelievable fear! His withered body struggled frantically, like a venomous snake with its tail stepped on!

at this time!

"Cough...cough..."

An extremely weak, gossamer-like cough came from Liu Yueli's stretcher!

Everyone's movements froze instantly!

Qin Ming turned his head suddenly!

Liu Yueli's stiff body twitched slightly under the blanket, and a series of tiny coughs erupted from her throat, as if clogged with blood.

The dead, dark purple mark on the back of her shoulder suddenly began to violently spasm, like stagnant water with a stone dropped into it! Something seemed to be stirring frantically in the bottomless depths of the dark purple beneath her skin! A thick, cold, dark red gelatinous substance, emitting a pungent, sweet, and pungent smell of corruption, oozed from the edges!

"Uh... Your Majesty..." Liu Yueli's tightly closed eyelids trembled violently, and she seemed to use up all her remaining strength to squeeze out a few broken syllables from the depths of her throat. Her left hand, which could still be moved, trembled like a dying butterfly, and with great difficulty raised it, pointing to the area under the blanket on her chest, close to her heart.

Qin Ming stepped over to the stretcher!

His deep eyes stared at Liu Yueli's face, which was as pale as paper!

Liu Yueli's eyelids trembled even more violently, as if she was fighting for the last bit of consciousness with the invisible god of death. Her trembling hands, with the last bit of strength, suddenly pulled away a corner of the blanket from her chest!

Beneath the blanket, within her charred, tattered skirt, clung to a cold, hard piece of iron, its edges stained with her cold, stained blood—an animal-patterned iron block! The twisted patterns on it were identical to the piece in Chang Baishan's arms!

"To... Toluhan... Sacred Tree... Blood... Blood Lead..." Liu Yueli's throat roared like a broken bellows, and every word was accompanied by a splatter of blood! She stared at Qin Ming intently, and deep in her dilated pupils, the last bit of unwillingness and determination burned!

"Uhhh-!!!"

An even more shrill howl erupted from Chang Baishan's stretcher!

On his sallow, lifeless face, the muscles twisted in extreme agony! His tightly closed eyes suddenly flew open! His pupils were dilated, but they were fixed on the ceiling of the tent like burning charcoal! From his mouth flowed huge streams of black blood mixed with fragments of internal organs!

"General!" Sun Miao rushed over, put his fingers on his neck pulse, and his face instantly turned as pale as paper!

"The pulse... the pulse is gone!" His voice trembled, and he cried in despair!

After Liu Yueli finished speaking, her body suddenly stiffened! The hand pointing at the beast-patterned iron block on her chest fell limply! Her dazed pupils completely lost the last bit of light! The dark purple branded area behind her shoulder, as if drained of all its strength, instantly collapsed, leaving behind only a bottomless black hole that seemed to lead to hell!

Inside the imperial tent, the silence was as dead as a frozen glacier.

Qin Ming slowly stood up straight. In his deep eyes, the frozen pond completely shattered, replaced by a rage as fierce as the lava of hell, enough to incinerate the world!

He slowly raised his hand, and pointed his armored fingers in the direction of the Shenmu Kingdom outside the tent.

"Propagate my command." His voice was like a mixture of Netherworld ice and Hell's lava, and every word carried a murderous intent to burn everything. "The Kingdom of Shenmu has betrayed their trust, plotted to assassinate an important official, and deceived the emperor! Their crime... deserves death!"

"Meng Zhi!"

"I am here!" Meng Zhi's thunderous roar came from outside the tent!

"Invite the troops!" Qin Ming's voice was like thunder that split the sky. "I will personally lead the army! Destroy the capital of Shenmu Kingdom! Slaughter the entire Toluhan clan! Use the head of Shenmu King... as a sacrifice to the heroic spirit of Daqian!"

"Hey!!!!" Meng Zhi's roar was like a landslide and tsunami, instantly igniting the entire Xuanjia camp! War drums thundered! Horns blared! A torrent of steel began to surge! The shadow of death, like black wings covering the sky, swooped down towards the Shenmu Kingdom!

Qin Ming slowly leaned over, his cold fingers brushing against the bloodstained iron block with beast patterns on Liu Yueli's chest. The iron was icy cold, and the twisted beast patterns amidst the blood looked like a venomous snake that had come to life, silently mocking the emperor of the world.

He clenched the iron block fiercely! The hard edges pierced his palm! Blood dripped through his fingers, staining the cold animal pattern red.

Blood debt must be repaid with blood.