199: This wedding is my stage!

He instantly understood his Imperial Father's intention.

On one hand, it was a gesture of appeasement.

Appeasing Li Qing, this peerless Genius who could go on a rampage at any moment.

On the other hand, it was a deterrent!

Deterring those petty scoundrels with ill intentions!

His Imperial Father was using the most direct and domineering method to tell everyone.

Li Qing was his man!

Touching Li Qing was the same as touching the Great Xia Imperial Family!

What boldness!

A hint of admiration for his Imperial Father rose within Crown Prince's heart!

As for Li Qing, after listening to the imperial edict, an imperceptible, unusual light flashed within his eyes, which were usually as calm as an ancient well.

This Old Emperor could be considered a man of responsibility.

It wasn't in vain that he had decided to help him cure his daughter.

"Marquis Wuan, please accept the edict."

The Old Eunuch looked at Li Qing, who was kneeling on the ground, a trace of a fawning smile on his face.

"This official, Li Qing, accepts the edict!"

Li Qing extended both hands and respectfully received the heavy scroll of the imperial edict.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your great grace."

He slowly stood up.

His tall and straight figure, illuminated by the morning light, was like a peerless divine weapon about to be unsheathed!

"Your Highness."

He turned his head and looked at the equally shocked Crown Prince beside him, speaking calmly.

"Please tell His Majesty."

"I have received his sentiments."

"And I have also accepted this great gift."

Crown Prince looked at him and opened his mouth, wanting to say something.

But he found that before Li Qing's calm gaze, which seemed able to pierce through everything, any words felt redundant.

He could only nod heavily.

"Good."

The Old Eunuch left with his people.

The backyard of Guanhai Garden returned to tranquility once more, leaving only Li Qing and Crown Prince.

The atmosphere was somewhat heavy.

Crown Prince looked at Li Qing, hesitating several times, his face full of worry.

"Brother-in-law, although Imperial Father's move is to support you, it also pushes you completely into the eye of the storm."

In the end, he couldn't hold back and spoke.

"The grand wedding tomorrow will be the focus of everyone's attention. Those enemies hiding in the shadows will definitely not let this go."

"They will surely try every possible means to sabotage this wedding, to make you and the entire imperial family lose face."

"To be honest, Great Xia is facing troubles both internally and externally."

"Externally, enemy nations are eyeing us greedily; internally, there are various rebel organizations and powerful clans."

"When the time comes, the entire Royal Capital will become a massive battlefield!"

"I know."

Li Qing picked up the cup of tea on the stone table that had long since gone cold and took a sip. His voice remained indifferent.

In politics, there is no absolute unity.

Wasn't it the same for the First Emperor of the Blue Planet in his previous life, despite his immense power!

The nation perished in the second generation after unification!

However!

"Battlefield?"

He set down the teacup, a smile slowly curling at the corners of his mouth.

"No."

"That is not a battlefield."

He looked up at Crown Prince, a heart-palpitating, crazed light flickering in those pitch-black eyes.

"That is a stage I have meticulously prepared for them."

A stage?

Hearing those words, Crown Prince's mind shuddered violently!

He looked at Li Qing in horror, feeling that he completely couldn't see through this youth who was nearly ten years younger than himself.

Where exactly did his confidence come from?

"Brother-in-law, you..."

"Your Highness."

Li Qing interrupted him.

"You only need to do one thing for me."

"What is it?"

Crown Prince asked subconsciously.

"Tomorrow, during the wedding, no matter what happens."

Li Qing looked at him and said word by word.

"Do not intervene."

"Just be a quiet spectator."

"Watch the good show I've prepared for them carefully."

"..."

Crown Prince was completely speechless.

He looked into Li Qing's eyes—calm yet filled with endless madness. After a long while, he finally nodded with difficulty.

"Alright."

He didn't know what kind of trump cards Li Qing had.

But he chose to believe him.

Of course, he still had to prepare some contingencies; those experts backing him would also have to be present in the shadows.

Tomorrow was his biological sister's wedding, after all!

Furthermore, Li Qing was a man of loyalty and affection, which he liked very much!

...The night, like the thickest ink, enveloped the entire Royal Capital.

The hustle and bustle and festivities of the day gradually faded, replaced by a stifling, deathly silence like the calm before a storm.

Inside Guanhai Garden, the lights were bright, yet it was terrifyingly quiet.

Li Qing stood alone at the edge of the cliff in the backyard, letting the bone-chilling sea breeze blow against the black-and-gold python-dragon wedding robe he wore.

His gaze calmly watched the East Sea, which was as black as an abyss, looking like an eternal statue.

"Heh."

A cold arc curled at the corner of Li Qing's mouth.

Conspiracies?

In the face of absolute power, all schemes and plots were nothing more than clay chickens and pottery dogs.

He slowly closed his eyes.

His mind once again sank into that unimaginably massive body beneath the East Sea.

A thousand meters underground.

The Primordial Star Dragon Turtle's giant eyes, like golden suns, snapped open!

A vast and ancient terrifying aura, as if it could suppress all eternity, erupted!

Void Warp!

Talent, activate!

Buzz—!

Beams of brilliant starlight, seemingly condensed from billions of stars, lit up on its massive body!

Space began to distort!

The next second.

This terrifying giant beast, with a body length exceeding fifty meters, simply vanished into thin air from the underground palace it had personally carved out.

There was not a hint of spatial fluctuation.

There was not a hint of energy leakage.

It was as if it had never existed... Deep beneath the Royal Capital.

The core stronghold of the "Shadow Kill" organization.

Inside the hall that resembled an underground palace, the atmosphere was suppressed to the extreme.

Upon the throne sat the Gold-Masked Chief Steward.

Below him stood over a dozen figures dressed in uniform black robes, their faces covered by golden masks.

They were all the surviving Gold-Masked Assassins of the Shadow Kill Royal Capital branch.

Each of them had a cultivation of at least the Spirit Transformation Realm!

They were true killing machines!

And at the very front stood three unique figures.

They also wore black robes, but their faces were covered by pure black masks carved with different Vicious Beast totems!

No powerful aura emanated from them; they just stood there quietly, yet they seemed like three venomous snakes lurking in the darkness, ready to deliver a fatal strike at any moment!

Ace Assassins!

They were the top-tier, most terrifying existences in the entire organization!

Their cultivations had all reached the Peak Spirit Transformation Realm!

They were only one step away from the Divine Ability Realm!

They were the three sharpest blades in the Gold-Masked Chief Steward's hands!

"Is everything ready?"