153: Princess's defense is in crisis

The Imperial Palace had become a purgatory. This was not a metaphor, but a fact.

"Lord Wang! Have you lost your mind!"

The Minister of War roared, scrambling to dodge a lethal flash of a Spell that came from beside him—from the Vice Minister of Rites, who had always been known for his gentle demeanor.

The Vice Minister of Rites was expressionless, his eyes hollow. The jade brush in his hand, usually used for writing essays, now exuded a chilling murderous intent. Without a word, he attacked the vital points of his former colleague with every strike.

Similar betrayals were unfolding in every corner of the Imperial Palace.

Imperial Guard retainers who had been loyal for years suddenly plunged their swords into their comrades; high-ranking officials had eyes that turned fanatical and strange, raising their butcher knives against the Royal family they had once served.

Chaos, panic, suspicion.

The strongest fortress had been breached from within.

Seventh Princess Li Qingxuan felt her hands and feet go cold. Positioned at the command center, she felt as if she were in a collapsing building, with cracks appearing in every direction, threatening to bury her completely at any moment.

Just then, an invisible storm locked onto her with precision.

"Give up, poor princess."

A woman's voice rang directly in her mind, seductive to the bone and filled with an indescribable allure.

"Look around you. Your subjects, your armies—they are all abandoning you. The national destiny of the Great Xia Dynasty has been exhausted, and imperial power... is nothing but a joke."

Li Qingxuan shuddered as if a boulder had been dropped into her Sea of Consciousness, stirring up turbulent waves.

"Why struggle for a Dynasty destined to fall? Come, child, embrace the arms of God. You will gain power that neither your father nor your ancestors ever reached. You will become the true queen of the new world, immortal and eternal."

The voice was like a venomous snake, quietly slithering into the deepest exhaustion and helplessness in her heart.

Li Qingxuan gritted her teeth until they clicked, veins bulging on her forehead as everything before her began to blur and distort.

The temptation of power, the promise of immortality... These thoughts echoed crazily in her mind like a curse, seeking to tear her will apart and devour it completely.

"Get out!" Wei Zheng's voice sounded like a thunderclap in Li Qingxuan's ears.

He had appeared at her side at some point. With one hand pressed on her shoulder, a burst of Mental Energy, heavy as a mountain and imbued with iron-blooded Evil Qi, surged into her, helping her construct a crumbling line of defense.

"Your Highness, hold onto your focus! This is the 'Mind-Calming Spell' of the Demon Suppression Division!"

Wei Zheng's face was equally pale; clearly, resisting mental attacks targeting two people simultaneously was a massive burden for him as well.

The two stood side by side like two small boats in a storm, ready to be overturned at any moment.

High above, the figure of Elder Ying Mei flickered in and out of sight. She looked down at the two struggling to hold on, a cruel smile hanging on her lips.

Just at the moment when her mental pollution was about to completely break through their defense.

"You evil creature!"

An aged and weak roar came from deep within the Imperial Palace.

The Royal Ancestor appeared once more. He looked even more aged than before, as if he might dissipate with the wind at any moment. He held a simple, ancient jade pendant in his hand, which was covered in cracks and devoid of luster.

"With my remaining blood, I burn my remaining Soul... Suppress!"

He spat a mouthful of vital blood onto the jade pendant.

"Hum!"

The jade pendant erupted with an unprecedented, gentle light. The light was not dazzling, but it seemed to pierce through all falsehoods, shining into the depths of the Soul.

The light enveloped Li Qingxuan and Wei Zheng, and the madness and chaos in their Sea of Consciousness, as if encountering a nemesis, were instantly calmed significantly.

Ying Mei's mental attack was also delayed for an instant by this light.

The Royal Ancestor's body shook violently, and he seemed to have been drained of all his strength, falling from the air.

"Old Ancestor!" Li Qingxuan cried out in alarm.

Deep underground, Li Dong "watched" everything unfolding in the Imperial Palace, his brows furrowed.

The Seventh Princess was in danger.

He could clearly perceive that the mental power known as "Ying Mei" was not just targeting Li Qingxuan personally, but aimed to completely crush the final core of will of the Great Xia Dynasty by controlling her.

"This method... is quite interesting," Li Dong muttered to himself.

In his [Spiritual Domain] perception, Ying Mei's method of attack was not the crude mental Possession he had imagined.

"It's not overwriting, nor is it erasure... It's more like planting a backdoor program into someone else's System."

He "watched" a Golden Core retainer who had just betrayed them. In the other's Sea of Consciousness, his own will still existed, but it was tightly suppressed in a corner by countless amplified negative emotions.

Jealousy, greed, resentment... these dark sides that already existed in the human heart were precisely located by Ying Mei's power, then catalyzed and amplified countless times, eventually taking over and completely controlling the body.

"Good grief, this is much smarter than direct control. Using yourself to defeat yourself, and then shifting the blame to 'human nature.' This God Lord is a master at manipulating hearts."

Li Dong was not afraid; instead, he felt the excitement of meeting a worthy opponent.

"Since it's a 'program,' it must have logic, have source code... Maybe, I can even reverse-engineer it?"

His [Spiritual Domain] slowly reached out like the most precise probe, cautiously making contact with the mental power that had invaded Li Qingxuan's Sea of Consciousness.

What he wanted to do was not to purify, but to analyze!

Meanwhile, in Li Qingxuan's Sea of Consciousness.

The Royal Ancestor's "Soul-Suppressing Jade Pendant" had bought her a precious moment of respite, but Ying Mei's voice did not disappear; instead, it became colder and more penetrating.

"It's useless. External power is, after all, external. Look into your heart, Li Qingxuan. Do you truly believe in that crumbling Empire? Are you truly willing to sacrifice yourself for those ignorant masses? You crave power, you crave control over everything—I can feel it!"

"Your conviction is fragile!"

Li Qingxuan's line of defense of will wavered violently once more under these words.

Yes... can I really do it? My father is missing, the Old Ancestor has exhausted his strength, the capital has fallen... Is everything I protect truly still meaningful?

A trace of despair quietly sprouted.

However, just at the moment when her will was about to sink.

In the deepest part of her Sea of Consciousness, those beliefs that had been instilled in her since childhood and integrated into her very bones—"Protect the people," "Support the nation," "Create peace for all generations"—words that usually seemed a bit empty, were now thoroughly activated by this external mental pressure.

They were no longer empty slogans, but began to glow and heat up, converging and merging with one another.

A blurry shadow slowly condensed and took shape in the center of Li Qingxuan's Sea of Consciousness.

The shadow's face could not be seen, yet it carried an imposing, majestic aura of ruling over the world. It seemed to be composed of the lights of ten thousand homes, vast mountains and rivers, and the collective will of billions of subjects.

This was her Dao.

It was the "Nation and World" she, as the Crown Prince of the Great Xia Dynasty, had to shoulder!

"Hmm?" Ying Mei in the distance suddenly let out a soft sound of surprise.

She felt that her mental penetration had slammed into an invisible but incredibly tough wall.

No, that was not a wall.

That phantom formed from conviction, facing her mental torrent, had actually taken the initiative to launch a "counter-charge!"

A pure, unadulterated will of protection slammed violently into her mental power, which was filled with temptation and pollution.

Ying Mei's penetration not only failed but was actually pushed back slightly by that majestic will!

"What is this? Will manifestation? A mere Golden Core girl... How could her conviction be so pure?!"

For the first time, there was undisguised shock in Ying Mei's voice.

This completely exceeded her expectations! According to her intelligence, a Mortal's will should be like a thin piece of paper before the power of "God," breaking at the slightest touch.

Yet, the will of the princess before her was harder than tempered steel!