375: As you wish!

Chapter 369: As You Wish!

"Father?"

Lu Xuan's lips curled into a slight smile, golden light swirling in his eyes.

He could clearly see countless black Qi currents writhing beneath the other party's skin, like... a Puppet on strings.

"My good Imperial Son..."

Emperor Zhenwu's mouth opened and closed mechanically, but his voice seemed to come from a distant place.

"Aren't you curious about how I look like...?"

As he spoke, the temperature in the hall plummeted.

The ground, pillars, and even the Dragon Throne began to seep out viscous black Yin Qi.

Those Yin Qi spread slowly towards Lu Xuan's feet like living things...

Lu Xuan suddenly laughed.

He lightly stomped his foot, and a golden ripple spread out.

Wherever it passed, the black liquid evaporated instantly as if it had met a scorching sun!

"Imperial Son..."

Emperor Zhenwu's voice was sometimes near, sometimes far, like an echo drifting from the abyss.

His ashen face twisted, at times ferocious like a malevolent ghost, and at times revealing a hint of human pain.

Pale fingers extended from the sleeves of his Dragon Robe, their nails already a bizarre greenish-black.

"I never thought... all of this was true..."

His head tilted at an abnormal angle, his white hair dancing in the air like venomous snakes.

His pale, pupil-less eyes stared fixedly at Lu Xuan, a chilling greed churning within them: "What exactly happened to you...?"

As he spoke, Emperor Zhenwu's body began to twitch unnaturally, as if something was struggling within him.

The bright yellow Dragon Robe was torn open by some force, revealing the skin beneath, covered in black patterns.

Those patterns wriggled like living things, forming countless pained human faces.

"I... I can feel it..."

Emperor Zhenwu suddenly floated closer in a strange manner, emitting a decaying aura.

He extended a withered, claw-like hand, wanting to touch Lu Xuan's face: "Imperial Son, this power on you... does not belong to the Mortal World..."

Ever since Lu Yi and the other two died half a month ago, Emperor Zhenwu had received secret reports.

The Imperial Guards who had followed Lu Xuan recorded a chilling truth with trembling hands—

"Your Highness the Crown Prince... is suspected to have reached the Peak of the Martial Dao Grandmaster Realm!"

In the Imperial Study, Emperor Zhenwu's withered fingers crushed the secret report.

His murky eyes, at this moment, churned with incredible shock: "Impossible... this is absolutely impossible!"

He knew his son too well.

The Crown Prince who had been sickly since childhood, the Crown Prince who had to rely on Medicinal Pills to even reach the first-rate Martial Artist Realm.

How could he, in just a dozen days, cross the Martial Dao chasm that ordinary people could never hope to achieve in a lifetime?

"Fake, this is absolutely fake, who is impersonating the Crown Prince, my Imperial Son is definitely not him!!!" Emperor Zhenwu's roar echoed through the deep palace.

He dispatched his most elite Imperial Guards, even utilizing the hidden stakes that had been buried in the East Palace for decades.

But the news that came back was more shocking each time—the hundreds of Golden Dragons soaring into the sky outside Qianfu Town.

The method of casually crippling Ninth Prince Lu Xuyang in front of the Heavenly Prison gate.

And just now, that terrifying pressure that made even his own brother, King Shangwu, kneel in defeat...

Emperor Zhenwu's face twisted and deformed in the candlelight, black lines subtly writhing beneath his skin: "My good Imperial Son... what secret are you hiding?"

At this moment, what churned in the Emperor's heart was not just shock, but a kind of almost frenzied... greed!

Beneath Emperor Zhenwu's skin, countless black Yin Qi writhed frantically.

He intentionally spared Peng Lie's life precisely to force his Imperial Son, the Crown Prince, to return to the palace.

And now... that Imperial Son, who held a shocking secret, finally stood before him!

"Let me see..."

Emperor Zhenwu's body began to seep viscous black liquid: "What Heaven-Defying great fortune did you obtain, that you could... ascend to the Nine Heavens in such a short time!"

"Alas..."

Lu Xuan sighed lightly, golden light swirling in his eyes.

He calmly gazed at the unrecognizable "Old Emperor" before him, his voice filled with an indescribable complexity.

"Was all of this truly worth it?"

Emperor Zhenwu's body suddenly stiffened.

On his face, where veins bulged, humanity and demonic nature intertwined and shifted.

His left eye still glowed with an eerie green, but his right eye suddenly regained a moment of clarity.

That was the kind of gaze a human should have.

"Worth...?"

Emperor Zhenwu's voice suddenly became hoarse and fragmented, as if two people were speaking at once.

His withered fingers clutched the Dragon Robe at his chest, the black lines beneath his skin writhing violently, as if a terrible tug-of-war was taking place.

"Im... perial... Son..."

Tears mixed with black blood rolled down from Emperor Zhenwu's briefly clear right eye.

In that instant, Lu Xuan saw countless complex emotions.

There was the heroic spirit of expanding territory,

The hidden pain of sleepless nights,

The yearning for immortality,

And even... the guilt of a father.

"Father just, just... didn't want to die... that's all!"

This almost pleading whisper had barely left his lips before it was drowned out by an inhuman roar.

Emperor Zhenwu's face twisted again, black Qi spewing from his seven orifices.

But that fleeting glimpse of humanity was enough for Lu Xuan to understand everything.

The Emperor who once looked down upon the Nine Provinces was, after all, merely a... Mortal who feared death.

Between life and death lay the deepest fear in the world.

Emperor Zhenwu's hunched body trembled violently, his murky eyes reflecting an extreme fear of death.

What did death mean?

It meant the Dragon Throne of the Supreme becoming dust, the illustrious reputation of a lifetime of battles dissipating with the wind, and the grand ambitions pursued throughout his life turning into a bubble.

"I truly don't want to die..."

Emperor Zhenwu's hoarse murmur voiced the feelings of all Mortals.

Even an Emperor who ruled the world was merely a terrified Mortal in the face of death.

Those achievements that once made him proud—suppressing the kings, expanding territory, awe-inspiring the four seas.

Before the eternal night, they were nothing more than fleeting fireworks.

Lu Xuan gazed quietly at the pathetic and detestable figure before him, a trace of resonance rising in his heart.

Indeed, who isn't afraid of death?

Even someone as strong as Lu Xuan now, wasn't he desperately trying to break free from the shackles of this Mortal body?

Emperor Zhenwu's body trembled violently, Lu Xuan's figure reflected in his murky pupils, as if in a trance he saw his younger self—

The King Shangwu who stood proudly before tens of thousands of soldiers,

The God of War who struck fear into the thirty-six kingdoms of the Western Regions,

The Supreme who looked down upon all officials in the Golden Throne Hall.

Hoo... hoo...

He lowered his head and looked at his withered hands, greenish-black blood vessels crisscrossing like a spiderweb.

Beneath the bright yellow Dragon Robe, there was no longer the robust body of an Emperor, but a decaying husk.

"Why... did it turn out like this...?"

Dark black tears, mixed with blood, streamed down his wrinkled cheeks, blooming into shocking black flowers on the Dragon Robe.

Emperor Zhenwu suddenly tore at his robes like a madman, revealing his decayed and shriveled chest beneath—that was not a body a human should possess!

"No!!!"

A heart-wrenching howl echoed through the grand hall.

The sound was sometimes like the lament of a fading Emperor, sometimes like the shriek of a malevolent ghost.

The glazed tiles on the palace roof shattered in the sound waves, revealing the sky outside.

"What did I do wrong?"

"Why do you treat me like this?"

Emperor Zhenwu frantically clawed at his face, each claw bringing down large pieces of rotten flesh.

But even more terrifying was that what gushed from those wounds was not fresh blood, but viscous black mist!

Lu Xuan watched all of this quietly, golden light swirling in the Void Realm around him.

He saw the terrible struggle happening within Emperor Zhenwu's body—the remaining humanity fighting its last battle against the invading ghost.

Suddenly, Emperor Zhenwu stopped roaring, he slowly raised his head, his right eye regaining a brief moment of clarity.

"Imperial Son... kill... me."

This plea, though barely audible, made Lu Xuan tremble.

But the next second, countless black lines spewed from his seven orifices, instantly submerging that last glimmer of humanity...

"As you wish."

Lu Xuan's voice was very soft, yet it resonated in the empty hall with a solemn echo, like the sound of the Dao from the Nine Heavens.

He slowly raised his right hand, and above his palm, a dazzling golden vortex appeared out of thin air.

"Buzz—"

As the golden Qi vortex spun, countless golden Dragon phantoms surged forth.

Each Golden Dragon was lifelike, scales and claws soaring, Dragon whiskers dancing, bringing forth waves of Grand Dao Buddhist chants.

The dazzling golden light dispelled all the gloom in the hall, illuminating this eerie grand hall as if it were a Heavenly Palace.

"Roar—"

Thousands of Golden Dragon phantoms roared in unison, the sound waves shaking the palace.

They coiled and intertwined, forming a sacred halo around Lu Xuan.

The light was so pure it seemed not of the Mortal World, even the air became clear and transparent in the golden glow.

However, the scene of Emperor Zhenwu opposite was chilling—

Emperor Zhenwu's body had completely merged with that evil entity, indistinguishable from each other.

His hunched figure floated in mid-air, viscous black mist constantly seeping from the pores all over his body.

Those black mists twisted and deformed in the air, transforming into hundreds of millions of human faces with various expressions.

There were the ferocious, roaring faces of malevolent ghosts,

The compassionate, tearful countenances of Bodhisattvas,

The madly laughing expressions of deranged demons,

And countless joys, angers, sorrows, and delights of ordinary people...

"Rumble—"

The entire Purple Gold Palace began to disintegrate under the erosion of this terrifying Yin Qi.

The Panlong Golden Pillars, which required ten people to encircle, were covered with decaying patterns at a visible speed.

The golden jade floor tiles, laid for hundreds of years, were turning into powder piece by piece.

Even the incomplete dome was crumbling under the corrosion of the black mist.

Most terrifyingly, these decaying dust particles did not fall to the ground but floated in mid-air, forming a black mist of death.

Within the mist, countless struggling arm phantoms were faintly visible, as if they wanted to drag all living beings in the world into eternal darkness...

In an instant, the world changed color!

Lu Xuan stood amidst the endless black mist, the Golden Dragon phantoms around him roaring and shaking the Nine Heavens.

The golden light bursting from his eyes was like two scorching suns, illuminating the entire mist of death.

"Extinguish!"

A single word softly uttered, yet it was like a Heavenly Dao decree.

Vast golden divine light surged from within Lu Xuan, like a Heavenly River pouring down, instantly engulfing all darkness.

The light was so pure it was almost divine, wherever it passed, hundreds of millions of twisted human faces melted like snow.

Countless struggling ghostly hands turned into green smoke, and even space itself twisted and trembled in the golden glow!

The entire Purple Gold Palace crumbled like a sandcastle before this power.

But even more astonishingly, the crumbling bricks and tiles did not fall to the ground but were annihilated in the golden light, turning into sparkling starlight.

In this pure golden world, only Emperor Zhenwu's twisted figure still struggled bitterly.

He let out an inhuman shriek, black Qi frantically counterattacking around him, but it was like moths flying into a flame, instantly extinguished...

"Imperial Son... you..."

At the last moment, Emperor Zhenwu's distorted face actually regained a moment of clarity.

His murky eyes were filled with relief and satisfaction.

At this time, Emperor Zhenwu stood frozen in place, the endless black Qi within his body also melting like snow in the golden light.

He stared blankly at this Imperial Son who was like a god, and the last remaining humanity allowed Emperor Zhenwu to reveal a relieved, bitter smile.

"Good... very good..."

As soon as he finished speaking, the thickest Golden Dragon phantom had already roared forth, gently coiling around his body.

There was no pain, no struggle, only endless golden light cleansing the impurities...

When the last trace of black Qi dissipated, silence returned to the vast land.

Only in the sky full of golden light, a sigh of relief seemed to still echo...

Host: Red Dust Immortal Lu Xuan (Third Incarnation)

Realm: Land Immortal (Minor Achievement)

Cultivation Technique: Nine Dragons Body Protection 11/9

Points: 2030800

Please confirm, whether to consume 500,000 System points to deduce the Nine Dragons Body Protection.

This ghostly entity, comparable to the Land Immortal Realm, brought Lu Xuan a total of 2 million System points.

The majestic Purple Gold Palace had vanished without a trace, replaced by a pure golden sea of light.

When the golden divine light gradually receded, the sight before everyone struck them like lightning.

Peng Lie and King Shangwu outside stood frozen, their faces filled with disbelief.

The Imperial Guards were even more ashen-faced, some even collapsing directly to the ground.

"Imperial... Imperial Brother..."

King Shangwu suddenly knelt down, old tears streaming down his face.

His trembling hand reached out to the vanished golden sea of light, seemingly wanting to grasp something, but only caught a falling golden glow.

Only at this moment did King Shangwu finally believe.

That ghostly entity eroded by Yin Qi was truly his brother, whom he had respected his entire life!

"Why!"

The old Prince suddenly roared to the sky, his voice heart-wrenching.

He recognized that cold aura—it was "that thing" personally Sealed by the founding ancestor of Wenjing Dynasty!

It was recorded in the Imperial Family's secret texts: Undying and Unextinguished, eroding the mind, specifically devouring the Physical Body!

"Imperial Brother, you clearly knew... knew what that was!" King Shangwu pounded the ground, his knuckles bleeding.

"Successive former Emperors tried everything but couldn't eliminate it, why did you still...?"

At this point, King Shangwu suddenly froze.

A terrifying thought emerged in his mind—perhaps precisely because he knew the characteristics of that thing, his proud Imperial Brother would voluntarily... invite evil into his body?

"Imperial Brother... you still..." King Shangwu closed his eyes in pain, he finally understood everything.

That Imperial Brother, proud to his bones, that Emperor Zhenwu who once looked down upon the world, ultimately lost to the fear of death.

To break free from the fate of a Mortal, he did not hesitate to conspire with a tiger, actively accepting that ghostly entity that should have been Sealed forever.

King Shangwu slowly raised his head, looking at Lu Xuan, who stood with his hands behind his back not far away.

At this moment, Lu Xuan's body was still bathed in golden light, the Dragon pattern between his brows faintly visible, like a Heavenly God descending to the Mortal World.

"Hahahaha... Good! Good!"

King Shangwu suddenly laughed up to the sky, his laughter containing both the sorrow of losing a loved one and the ecstasy of witnessing a miracle.

He struggled to stand up and bowed solemnly to Lu Xuan: "I never thought... that someone from my Wenjing Imperial Family could truly achieve the Land Immortal Realm!"

This bow was not to the Crown Prince, but to an existence transcending life and death.

That evil entity, which even the Saint Ancestor could not eliminate, was now annihilated in the hands of his nephew.

What a Heaven-Defying method this was!

Peng Lie stood silently to the side, his eyes gleaming.

He knew better than anyone that from this day forward, the sky of the Wenjing Dynasty... was about to change!