The Human Emperor

Sealbreaker Blood!

This blood was created through Heaven’s essence blood, and possessed immense power. Other than mythical formations like the Three Emperors Formation, Sealbreaker Blood could destroy almost any formation or seal in the world.

The Sui palace beneath the imperial prison was covered in seals and formations, making it difficult to enter without the key in Wang Chong’s possession.

Li Linfu had relied on Heaven’s Sealbreaker Blood to reach this place.

And it was also the Sealbreaker Blood’s pulses of energy that had allowed Li Xuantu to sense Li Linfu and receive him here.

Li Xuantu waved a hand and directly said, “Come here!”

Li Linfu’s eyes flashed, a smile emerging on his lips.

Walking over, Li Linfu stopped around ten feet from the altar and released the ball of golden light and the drop of Sealbreaker Blood within it.

Bang!

As that tiny drop of blood struck the floor, the floor began to ripple as immense and complicated circular formations, brimming with terrifying energy, began to appear…

Surrounding Li Xuantu were thirty-some layers of powerful formations.

But as the drop of Sealbreaker Blood fell, the formations shattered and crumbled, melting away like snow. Kaboom! The seals around the altar used to bind Li Xuantu all disappeared.

Whoosh!

A surge of air rushed through the underground palace, rustling Li Linfu’s robes. The black smoke filling the palace was blown away, gradually clearing the scene.

Li Linfu nodded in satisfaction and took several more steps forward.

“This is the last step. Those chains binding Your Highness are rather special. They have seals personally placed by Li Taiyi and will take much more time to deal with than the formations.”

Li Linfu gestured behind him.

A muscular man in black with the air of a general strode forward, offering up a black metal box decorated with fascinating grooves and pulsing with a special energy.

The box was extremely strange, distorting the light for several feet around it and seemingly absorbing it, thus leaving behind a region of darkness.

“This is the blood of an ancient evil spirit. Genesis Supreme said that the essence blood they extracted from these evil spirits contains formidable corrosive powers. It should be able to remove the chains, though it will take a little time,” Li Linfu sternly said.

“Give it here!”

Li Xuantu’s eyes gleamed, and a moment later, the black metal box flew out of the muscular man’s hands and into Li Xuantu’s.

Thump!

As the box opened, a cloud of yellow mist emerged, carrying with it death and decay.

Li Xuantu waved his hand, scattering the mist and revealing the yellow-brown liquid at the bottom.

Hisss!

Li Xuantu tilted the box, pouring some of the liquid onto one of the thick chains. Hisss! White smoke curled into the air as pockmarks began to appear on the chain.

Meanwhile, on the surface, Wang Chong was making his way out of the palace.

The night was quiet, and no one in the palace had noticed Wang Chong’s presence.

“Something’s not right.”

Wang Chong’s eyes twitched. For some reason, Wang Chong had felt an unease ever since he had left Li Xuantu’s prison.

But he could not tell where the problem was.

Rumble!

The gates opened, and a chorus of voices greeted him.

“Paying respects to His Highness!”

The Imperial Army soldiers near the gate bowed their heads in deference.

Wang Chong raised his head and discovered that he had unwittingly wandered over to the main gates of the Imperial Palace.

Still in a daze, Wang Chong walked out through the gates and continued onward.

It’s not right!

Wang Chong’s brow twitched as he came to a sudden stop.

Li Xuantu was too calm!

Wang Chong finally realized what had been so odd about that meeting.

Li Xuantu had been far too calm. He had been imprisoned for thirty years and had seen someone besides the Sage Emperor for the first time, who had even brought up the chance of freedom. While Li Xuantu had spoken at great length, Wang Chong felt none of the surprise or glee that a man who had been imprisoned for thirty years should have felt, not even the tiniest hint of desire.

No matter how much Li Xuantu hated the Sage Emperor, there should have been at least a little.

And now that he thought about, Li Xuantu had been completely unsurprised to hear that the Sage Emperor was dead. This didn’t make any sense, given how much Li Xuantu hated the Sage Emperor, unless…

Unless someone already told him! Wang Chong said to himself.

Whoosh!

At this moment, the flapping of wings rang out in his ears. In the distance, a messenger bird descended. A young man was standing there, and when he tore open the letter tied to the bird and glanced at it, he hastily rushed over.

“Your Highness, bad news! We’ve just received word that Li Linfu has gone missing!” Zhang Que sternly said with a bow.

“What?”

Wang Chong looked over in surprise.

“Just what is going on?”

Li Linfu was the Prime Minister of the Great Tang, and he was a civil official. Where could he have run off to?

“Your Highness, our men were watching him this entire time, but the Prime Minister’s Residence is a special area, and getting too close would draw trouble.

“During the day, we saw that Li Linfu was still in his residence, but when night fell, our spies in the estate suddenly sent word that Li Linfu had gone missing. They had to wait until they sent over dinner to confirm this, and after searching the entire estate, they found no sign of him.

“In addition, we had our spies on the outside search the area, and none of them was able to find Li Linfu. They had been standing guard outside his residence this entire time, but no one saw him leave,” Zhang Que sternly said.

Wang Chong’s heart thumped and his face grimaced.

Li Linfu was a wily fox, as Wang Chong had known for some time, but he was also a civil official. It was impossible for him to vanish like a puff of smoke. This kind of development could only mean that Li Linfu already knew that he was being watched and had fooled Wang Chong’s spies before disappearing.

Not even Wang Chong could stop the Prime Minister from entering and exiting his own estate.

There was only one explanation for this situation. Li Linfu was scheming something, and it was so important that no outsiders could know of it!

But what could Li Linfu, a civil official, possibly do?

Wang Chong silently frowned.

In a series of rapid footsteps, another figure rushed up to Wang Chong’s side.

“Your Highness!” Xu Keyi bowed and reported, “Following Your Highness’s orders, we have been closely investigating this matter. Just now, we found something. While Li Linfu has remained in his estate this whole time, he has remained in close contact with Huang Xiaotian this entire time!”

Ever since he had discovered a possible connection between Li Linfu and the men in black, Wang Chong had added more men to the task force, gathering them into two groups. Zhang Que was responsible for watching Li Linfu, while Xu Keyi was responsible for watching the people Li Linfu had interacted with.

Li Linfu had remained in his estate this entire time, not taking a step past the main gate, but Wang Chong sensed that matters were not as simple as they seemed. The more Li Linfu acted this way, the more suspicious Wang Chong became.

But this was not the man he had been expecting Li Linfu to be in contact with!

“Huang Xiaotian?”

Wang Chong’s eyebrows rose in surprise.

How could someone of Li Linfu’s status be in contact with a man like him?

What was Li Linfu trying to accomplish by getting in contact with an Imperial Army Marshal?

If Li Linfu was trying to do something, shouldn’t he at least have been trying to collude with a Grand Marshal?

And how could Huang Xiaotian help him?

Wang Chong was truly perplexed.

“Xu Keyi, go to the Imperial Army and tell Huang Xiaotian I want to see him!”

Wang Chong quickly took his royal token from his waist and handed it over.

The Imperial Palace was right there, and with Wang Chong’s status, it was easy to call over someone like Huang Xiaotian.

Although he didn’t know why Li Linfu had gone to see Huang Xiaotian, he could simply ask him to find the answer.

He trusted that Huang Xiaotian would not be so bold as to resist.

Xu Keyi lowered his head and said, “Your Highness, Huang Xiaotian is not with the Imperial Army. In the Rebellion of the Three Princes, though Huang Xiaotian was not one of the main conspirators, he was still implicated. Upon the enthronement of the new Emperor, he was demoted to supervision of the imperial prison.”

As a twice loser, Huang Xiaotian had failed to even get in First Prince Li Ying’s good graces. He had been given the cold shoulder, and he hadn’t even participated in the coup. Thus, Huang Xiaotian had inadvertently escaped disaster.

These were minor matters, and Huang Xiaotian was a minor character who had no influence in the grand scheme of things. So, given how busy Wang Chong normally was, Xu Keyi had not reported this matter.

“What?! The imperial prison?!”

Wang Chong’s heart began to thump against his chest, and an extremely ill foreboding welled up in his mind.