CHAPTER 472: CHAPTER 96_2

The Deputy General, Chen Dao, who was just a step behind, said with murderous intent, "The Jiang Family are nothing but rebels! Jiangshui City shouldn’t exist, and this Huo Tian deserves to die!"

WHOOSH!

Chen Dao drew his snow-white longsword. A faint mist of blood swirled around the blade as he prepared to strike.

"Sigh, City Lord Huo Tian is, after all, a subject of my royal father. There’s no need to treat him thus," Qingming Ye said indifferently.

"Alright, get up. Arrange for my trusted aides."

"Also, arrange for some of Jiangshui City’s local specialties for me."

"Yes, Your Highness, Third Prince!" Huo Tian cried out in agony.

After an unknown amount of time, Huo Tian tremblingly lifted his head, only to see an old man with a gloomy face standing before him.

"My lord, what are your orders?" Huo Tian asked humbly.

"I am Gao Huan. You understand the Prince’s intentions, don’t you? Those ’specialties’ need to be innocent and untouched," Gao Huan said sinisterly.

"Yes, yes, yes."

It took a full thirty minutes before Huo Tian managed to scramble to his feet. He grabbed Jiang Wen, the Deputy City Lord, and shouted, "We’re doomed! This is on you now!"

"You must satisfy His Highness, or we’re all dead!"

Jiang Wen’s face was etched with worry. The Prince’s Deputy General calling the Jiang Family traitors was a clear sign of ill intent.

"I will make arrangements as soon as possible," he said, though his expression didn’t betray the turmoil in his heart.

The arrival of the Third Prince, Qingming Ye, had no immediate impact on Chen Jiuge, but its effect on Jiangshui City and the Jiang Family was devastating.

In just seven short days, hundreds of innocent women had met tragic fates, and thousands of women from the brothels had been brutally tortured. A pall of terror hung over all of Jiangshui City.

"Old man, why are there so few Blue Water Shrimp today?" Chen Jiuge asked, somewhat surprised, looking at the vendor before him.

Blue Water Shrimp was a specialty of Jiangshui City with an exquisite taste, one of Chen Jiuge’s favorite foods. He had even specifically raised a batch in Dragon Lake for this reason, but the mutated Blue Water Shrimp there tasted awful and lacked any significant potential.

The white-haired old man showed a trace of fear on his face as he said, "Sir, things have been very unsettled in and around the city lately."

"What’s wrong?" Chen Jiuge had not yet received news of Qingming Ye’s arrival.

For the past few days, Chen Jiuge and Yu Niang had been busy handling the handover of the Yin Yang Deer and Taiji Deer, so they hadn’t visited Jiangshui City. Yu Niang had completed the trade of those goods last night, so Chen Jiuge only found the time to come out today.

"They say a great personage has arrived. Many innocent women have already died during this time. The scenes were too horrific. I don’t dare let my granddaughter leave the house," the old man said worriedly.

Nodding thoughtfully, Chen Jiuge took out several Spirit Stones and bought all the Blue Water Shrimp.

Carrying the bag of Blue Water Shrimp as he walked down the street, Chen Jiuge indeed noticed something was amiss. The street vendors were only low-level cultivators. Previously, their family members would help at the stalls, but now most worked alone. Even stalls with multiple people were staffed only by men.

Even the stalls once run by widows or attractive women had vanished completely.

Seems a lecher has arrived, and a ruthless one at that. Good thing Yu Niang left. I should send a Communication Talisman to warn her.

A flash of Spirit Light emanated from between his eyebrows as he sent a message to Yu Niang, informing her of the changes here.

BANG!

A dark figure was flung out from the nearby Jiangshui Tower, landing stiffly right in front of Chen Jiuge.

"Jiang Ming?" Chen Jiuge stared in shock at Jiang Ming, who was barely clinging to life.

He quickly took out some healing Elixirs, put them into Jiang Ming’s mouth, and channeled his Mana into Jiang Ming to help him absorb their medicinal properties.

His injuries somewhat stabilized, Jiang Ming weakly said, "Thank you, Brother Chen, for saving my life."

"What happened?" Chen Jiuge asked, bewildered. This was Jiangshui City! The Jiang Family’s territory!

Jiang Ming looked up at the large hole in the Jiangshui Tower. No one was visible. The person who had beaten him to within an inch of his life hadn’t bothered to check on him, clearly unconcerned whether he lived or died.

"Brother Chen, let’s talk at your place," Jiang Ming said, struggling to his feet.

"Alright."

By the time they arrived, Jiang Ming’s injuries had stabilized. Although he was far from fully recovered, he could move about normally.

"The Third Prince, Qingming Ye, has arrived," Jiang Ming said, his voice laced with loathing, not even bothering with the tea.

"Third Prince?" Chen Jiuge knew little about the Qingming Imperial Family, other than that the current King was named Qingming Zhao.

"A hundred years ago, the King issued an Exploration Order. His plan was to use it to select the strongest Prince to inherit the throne."

"But, there was a... slight mishap," Jiang Ming said with a wry smile.

Chen Jiuge passed him the brewed Spiritual Tea and prompted, "What happened next?"

"The First Prince, the Third Prince, and the Seventh Prince—all three of them somehow achieved a breakthrough to the Heavenly Immortal Realm."

Chen Jiuge’s hand trembled as he drank his tea. "Heavenly Immortal Realm?"

Below the True Immortal Realm, the stages are straightforward, at most divided into three minor phases: early, middle, and late. True Immortal, however, is different. The True Immortal Realm has Thirty-three Heavens, meaning that to achieve the Heavenly Immortal Realm, one must overcome thirty-three distinct hurdles.

"That’s right, Heavenly Immortal. In any case, no one knows what fortuitous encounters the three of them had during those hundred years of exploration, but all three Princes did indeed break through to the Heavenly Immortal Realm."

"After that, they began to aggressively cultivate their own factions, gather resources, and consolidate their power."

Chen Jiuge frowned and interrupted, "What about the King?"

Jiang Ming gave a bitter smile. "Of course, the King couldn’t tolerate this and tried to stop them. But the three Princes actually managed to resist him."

"Can you believe it? A Heavenly Immortal who had cultivated for tens of thousands of years couldn’t even suppress three newly ascended Heavenly Immortals! It was utterly bizarre."

"Most importantly, these three Princes became... very strange."

"The First Prince developed a thirst for blood, the Third Prince an insatiable lust, and the Seventh Prince an uncontrollable gluttony."

Those don’t sound like major problems, Chen Jiuge mused. The three vices Jiang Ming described didn’t seem particularly alarming, at least not to him. They sounded rather ordinary. But what Jiang Ming said next was truly sickening.

"The First Prince is bloodthirsty. His thirst isn’t for killing, but for drinking blood. He enjoys drinking from Spiritual Beasts and Cultivators alike. Moreover, he needs to consume the blood of at least a thousand individuals daily."

"The Third Prince is lustful. Simple lechery might have been excusable; after all, many women in the nation wished to climb the social ladder. However, not a single woman who shared the Third Prince’s bed survived, not even his own princely concubines."

"The Seventh Prince is gluttonous. HEH-HEH, and he’s quite formidable. He eats raw meat, human or beast, it makes no difference to him, and his appetite is enormous. Fortunately, he mostly consumes slaves from the Alien Races."

RETCH RETCH RETCH.

Chen Jiuge felt a wave of nausea and dry heaved. Are these three Princes? They sound more like three demons!

"So, how did you end up offending him? This is Jiang Family territory, after all," Chen Jiuge asked, suppressing his disgust.

Jiang Ming’s face turned extremely ugly. He slammed his fist on the table and ground out, "Some of those detestable old elders in the clan sent a few young women from our Direct Lineage to him. When I heard those awful rumors, I specifically invited the Third Prince to dinner, intending to ask him about it."

"I figured that since this is Jiang Family territory, even as the Third Prince, he wouldn’t go too far. Instead, he threw three corpses at my feet."

"And then, I couldn’t hold back..."

"You didn’t actually attack him, did you?!" Chen Jiuge said, his expression one of admiration.

Jiang Ming’s face flushed red as he muttered, "Am I that foolish? That’s a Heavenly Immortal!"

Chen Jiuge looked at Jiang Ming meaningfully. Jiang Ming threw up his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright! I couldn’t hold back and cursed him a couple of times. Then, one of the old bastards with him slapped me, and well, here I am."

"I recall you broke through to the True Immortal Realm sixty years ago, didn’t you?"

"That old man must be at least in the tenth layer of True Immortal or higher, and his immortal power is extremely sinister. If it weren’t for the Jiang Family’s powerful Cultivation Technique, which has a strong force-dispelling ability, I’m afraid that single slap would have killed me," Jiang Ming recalled the slap, his face still etched with horror.

That strong? An ominous feeling crept into Chen Jiuge’s heart.

"Do you know why the Third Prince came to Jiangshui City?"

Jiang Ming shook his head. "Who knows?"

BEEP BEEP BEEP.

The urgent chirping of a Communication Talisman sounded—a signal reserved for emergencies.

"Jiuge, run! The Third Prince is after us! That bastard wants the Yu Family to submit to him. Someone must have betrayed us; he found out about the Taiji Deer deal!"

Chen Jiuge and Jiang Ming stared at each other, then shouted in unison, "He’s going to massacre the city!"

"Why, Third Prince? What in the world are you trying to do?" A furious voice boomed through the city.

Jiang Ming trembled all over and said, "That’s the Ancestor’s voice."

"Hahaha! What am I trying to do? Obviously, I’m going to deal with all of you!"

"Kill every last member of the Jiang Family! Leave the women for me! Hahahaha!"