193: Blood-red celebratory gifts at the gates of the capital!

"Mar-Marquis! Your-Your Highness!"

"Something... something is wrong!"

Crown Prince's brow furrowed sharply.

"What is the panic! Do you not see this palace is discussing matters with the Marquis?"

"Yes, yes!"

The Guard knelt on the ground, scrambling and crawling, his voice trembling.

"It's... it's outside, someone has delivered a congratulatory gift!"

"They say it was brought from Jinling City, from thousands of miles away!"

"They specified that it must be opened by you personally, Marquis Wuan!"

Jinling City?

A congratulatory gift?

Li Qing's heart skipped a beat!

An extremely strong, ominous premonition instantly shrouded his mind!

Xiao Chen!

Is it Xiao Chen and the others who have arrived?

But, why haven't they come in?

He remained calm, but his Divine Thought, which had long since integrated with this land—the Earth Pulse Talent—was suddenly activated!

Hum—!

Invisible perception instantly pierced through the obstacles of space, extending frantically toward the direction of the Capital City gate!

One second!

It took only one second!

His Divine Thought covered the entire Capital City!

Then, at the bustling city gate, he sensed an aura.

An aura of life that was weak, shattered, and seemed as if it could be extinguished at any moment, yet was incredibly familiar!

It was Xiao Chen!

But, why was his aura so weak?

And around that aura, Li Qing also sensed a cold killing intent that, although it had already dissipated, still lingered!

He was very familiar with that killing intent.

It was the aura of the Shadow Kill Organization!

However, the clues were already broken.

The opponent's methods were clean and efficient, leaving no traceable marks behind.

Boom—!!!

Li Qing's expression instantly turned cold as ice!

An invisible, terrifying killing intent erupted from his body!

Inside the stone pavilion, the temperature plummeted!

The air seemed to be frozen!

"Brother-in-law?!"

Crown Prince was startled by this sudden killing intent and jumped up from the stone bench!

He looked at Li Qing in horror, feeling as if he were being stared down by a terrifying Vicious Beast awakening from the primordial era!

That pressure made even a powerhouse of the Spirit Transformation Realm like him feel a sense of suffocation, and his Soul trembled!

"Something has happened."

Li Qing slowly stood up.

He looked at Crown Prince, his voice colder than the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice beneath the Nine Serenities.

"Your Highness."

"Excuse me, I'm going to take a look!"

The Capital City, South Gate.

At this moment, it was already a sea of people, packed so tightly that not a drop of water could trickle through.

Everyone's eyes were focused on the center of the city gate, on a huge and magnificent wooden chest that emitted an indescribably eerie aura.

The wooden chest was made of high-quality Phoebe Zhennan Wood, carved with festive patterns of the Dragon and Phoenix in harmony.

But, from the cracks of the chest, dark red, long-dried liquid faintly seeped out, emitting a faint, metallic scent of blood.

Responsible for escorting this wooden chest were several travel-worn Guards from a security bureau.

They were currently standing aside with bewildered expressions, shivering with fear at the commotion.

They had only taken a job to escort a chest from Jinling City to the Capital City, and the commission was terrifyingly generous.

The employer only said that this was a wedding gift for the newly appointed Marquis Wuan, and they must deliver it to the Capital City gate within two days.

They never imagined it would cause such a huge stir.

"Make way! Make way!"

"His Highness the Crown Prince and Marquis Wuan have arrived!"

A burst of urgent shouting rang out.

The crowd automatically parted to form a path.

Crown Prince and Li Qing, who was dressed in black with a cold expression, walked over quickly under the escort of a squad of Imperial Guards.

"Greetings, Your Highness! Greetings, Marquis Wuan!"

The surrounding commoners and city gate Guards knelt one after another to pay their respects.

Crown Prince ignored them; his gaze immediately fell upon that eerie wooden chest.

When he saw the dried blood in the cracks of the chest, his pupils also suddenly contracted!

A strong sense of unease also surged in his heart!

"Men!"

He was about to order the Guards to step forward and open the chest for inspection.

"I'll do it."

A cold voice interrupted him.

Li Qing stepped past him and walked toward the blood-colored wooden chest, one step at a time.

His steps were steady.

But with every step, the people around him felt a pang of palpitations.

An invisible, extremely oppressive aura centered on him and spread in all directions.

The entire noisy city gate gradually became silent.

Everyone held their breath, watching that figure, which resembled a god or demon, slowly walk to the front of the wooden chest.

Crown Prince opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end, it only turned into a sigh.

He knew that this matter had already exceeded his control.

This was targeted at Li Qing.

He could only choose to stand behind him.

Li Qing stood before the wooden chest and did not act immediately.

He just watched quietly.

In those deep eyes, there was not the slightest ripple; they were as calm as a pool of stagnant water.

But only he himself knew.

The volcano in his heart had already accumulated to the critical point of eruption!

He reached out his hand.

Slowly, he placed it on the cold lid of the chest.

"Creak—"

A piercing, grating sound of friction rang out.

The heavy lid was slowly pushed open by him.

At this moment, time seemed to be slowed down infinitely.

Everyone's hearts were in their throats.

They widened their eyes and craned their necks, wanting to see clearly what was inside this eerie chest.

The moment the lid was completely pushed open.

"Blegh—"

Some of the commoners standing at the very front took only one look before they could no longer help themselves, bending over and vomiting on the spot!

"Hiss—!"

More people sucked in a sharp breath of cold air, the color draining from their faces, their eyes filled with extreme fear and horror!

Even the steady-natured Crown Prince, who was accustomed to life and death, saw his pupils contract sharply when he saw the contents of the chest, and his face instantly became incredibly ugly!

Inside the chest.

There were no gold or silver jewels.

There were no rare treasures.

There was only a curled-up figure that no longer looked human.

It was Xiao Chen.

He was covered in blood, and his clothes had long been dyed dark red.

His limbs had been forcibly broken, revealing white bone fragments.

His face was covered with dried blood, and that face, which originally still carried a hint of youthfulness, was now as pale as death, without a trace of color.

His eyes were hollow and vacant, as if they had lost all light.

His aura was weak to the extreme, flickering like a candle in the wind, liable to be completely extinguished at any time.

All the Meridians in his body had been completely shattered by a sinister and overbearing force!

His Dantian was even more mangled into a mess!

He was crippled.

Completely and utterly crippled!