Crown Prince of the Empire, I quit!

"Zi la——!"

It was like a red-hot iron pressing against flesh! The intense burning pain made him tremble all over! A puff of white smoke rose from the wound! The spreading blue poison was forcibly contained! But the pain from the ointment was even worse than the poison arrow!

"Kill them! Destroy the gate!" Hua Yunhong's voice came through the ghost mask, hoarse as a broken gong, filled with deep madness!

After the initial chaos, the remaining Rot Heart Willow Guards erupted in a ferocious ferocity like trapped beasts! They ignored the tragic deaths of their companions and the toxic erosion! They let out inhuman roars! Brandishing withered Rot Heart Willow vines, they pounced on the black iron gate like madmen, trying to force it open with their bodies and entangle it with vines!

"Release!" Ying Qi's cold voice sounded again!

The second wave! The third wave! The poisoned crossbow bolts were like a never-ending tide of death! Wave after wave poured out from the gate holes! The narrow secret passageway was instantly transformed into a meat grinder! The Rot Heart Willow Guards fell like moths to a flame in the dense rain of arrows! Dirty blood and dark green juice mixed with minced meat, forming a sticky stream on the ground! The strong stench of blood and sulfur mixed with the poisonous sweetness, suffocating!

“Ugh—!” A Rot Heart Willow Guard was pinned to the stone wall by several poisonous arrows. His body twisted wildly, black blood spurting from his mouth. He swung the Rot Heart Willow vine in his hand violently! The withered vines lashed at the black iron gate like venomous snakes!

Snapped!

With a crisp sound, the vines shattered! The gate remained motionless, leaving only a dark green stain!

"Use poison! Release the heart-eroding miasma!" Helian Tieshu roared and smashed the giant shield in his hand hard against the gate!

boom!

The giant shield crashed! A dull thud! The gate trembled slightly, but remained as solid as a mountain!

Several surviving Rot Heart Willow Guards fiercely thrust their withered willow vines into the ground! The pale flower at the top of the vine had long since withered, but at this moment, a powerful, gray-green miasma, carrying a potent paralyzing and hallucinogenic toxin, suddenly gushed out from deep within the stamen! The miasma, like a living thing, spread rapidly, attempting to penetrate the gap in the gate!

Behind the gate! Ying Qi's withered face showed no sign of emotion! His bony fingers pressed hard on a mechanism on the inside of the gate!

"Click!"

With a soft sound, the holes on the gate's surface, which had been used to eject crossbow bolts, instantly closed. Simultaneously, from several inconspicuous cracks at the bottom of the gate, streams of sticky black flaming oil, emitting a pungent, sulfurous, and burnt stench, suddenly gushed out!

"Ignite!" Ying Qi's cold voice was like a death knell!

laugh--!

Several burning torches were thrown out, instantly igniting the kerosene!

boom--! ! !

The sky-high flames instantly engulfed the area in front of the gate! The gray-green, heart-eating miasma sizzled in the flames, quickly dissipating like a venomous snake thrown into boiling oil! Those Corrupted Heart Willow Guardians who attempted to approach the gate were instantly devoured by the flames! They let out shrill, inhuman howls! They twisted wildly in the flames, carbonizing!

"No!!" Hua Yunhong hid behind the rocks, his eyes beneath the ghost mask fixed on the blazing flames that consumed everything. He watched as his last elite troops were reduced to charcoal in the sea of ​​fire! Deep-seated hatred and madness nearly tore his heart apart! His withered hands gripped the edge of the rock, his nails cracking and oozing dark red blood!

It's over! It's completely over! The surprise attack failed! The last trump card... was lost here!

"Your Majesty! Go! Go quickly!" Helian Tieshu was covered in blood, his vine armor was shattered, and his face was charred by the flames. He suddenly pounced on Hua Yunhong, and his huge palm grabbed Hua Yunhong's arm like an iron clamp! "The secret passage is about to collapse! If we don't leave now, it will be too late!"

Hua Yunhong looked up suddenly! He saw that the top of the secret passage had begun to shed debris under the scorching flames and the corrosion of the previous mother seed miasma! Huge cracks spread like spider webs! The entire secret passage was groaning under the heavy burden!

"Qin Ming—!!!" Hua Yunhong let out a heart-wrenching, blood-soaked roar of resentment, like a night owl weeping blood! His withered finger suddenly pointed at the black iron gate that remained motionless in the flames! It was as if he was pointing to the abyss of hell!

"I...will avenge this! I will...take your dog's head as a sacrifice to the heroic spirit of the sacred tree--!!!"

With a roar, he suddenly threw the last small box in his arms, which was carved from black animal bones, into the depths of the burning flames!

"The Heart of the Sacred Tree... fragments... exploded--!!!"

boom--! ! !

The box suddenly exploded in the flames! No flames! Only a tiny puff of dark golden dust, yet tinged with a biting cold and a strong sulphurous stench! The dust, like a living thing, ignored the flames and instantly spread out! A small portion, as if drawn by an invisible force, actually penetrated the cracks in the flames and slammed into the black iron gate!

laugh--!

A sharp corrosion sound! A puff of white smoke instantly rose from the dust-stained area of ​​the solid black iron gate's surface, leaving behind several deep, charred pits, as if burned by strong acid! At the edges of the pits, dark golden dust shimmered ominously like maggots on the tarsal bones!

"Let's go!" Helian Tieshu didn't dare delay any longer! He carried Hua Yunhong on his huge body and ran desperately towards the depths of the secret passage like a wounded giant bear! The remaining few Rot Heart Willow Guards followed closely behind, like dogs that had lost their homes!

Rumble, rumble—! ! !

The top of the secret passage began to collapse in a large area! Huge rocks, wrapped in ash and poisonous smoke, fell like a landslide! In an instant, the area behind it became a deadly place!

The flames still burned fiercely in front of the gate, crackling with a cacophony of crackling sounds. The dark golden charred pits on the black iron gate, like the bite marks of a venomous snake, shimmered eerily in the flames. Behind the gate, Ying Qi's withered face was expressionless, his cold eyes fixed intently on the dark golden dust remaining in the pits.

"The heart of the sacred tree... fragments..." He whispered to himself, his voice solemn.

He slowly turned, his gaunt figure disappearing into the depths of the dark passage. In front of the gate, the flames gradually died down, leaving behind only a charred corpse and congealed blood. Deep within the secret passage, the roar of the collapse gradually subsided, leaving only a dead silence and a strong, burning stench.

Hua Yunhong escaped.

Inside the imperial tent, candlelight danced wildly on the bronze lampstands, casting distorted, swaying, ghostly shadows on the tent walls. The air was as stagnant as solidified lead, a mixture of bitter herbs, the stench of burnt sulfur, decaying flesh, and... a cold, hopeless silence.

"Your Majesty," Ying Qi's voice was like sandpaper scraping against the ground. "The gate is intact, but this mark... may cause future trouble. The poison in the sacred tree fragment cannot be removed by ordinary means."

Qin Ming stood before the gate, his Panlong heavy armor gleaming coldly in the dim light. Beneath his visor, his bottomless eyes swept over the scorch marks, like a ripple across a stagnant pond, leaving no trace.

"It's alright." Qin Ming's voice was as cold as iron. "Hua Yunhong... is at the end of his rope. This mark is his last... bark."