10: The Unparalleled Emperor (Part 4)

Black Wind Valley was a tapestry of blood and ruin.

Wu Chaoyang stood atop a boulder, her longbow drawn, the bowstring emitting a faint hum.

The look of shock on her face had faded, replaced by the vigilance and coldness befitting a Royal Prodigy.

Yet, the gleaming arrowhead was not aimed at Wu Yun.

Instead, it was pointed at the Seventh Prince, who lay on the ground, wailing like a dead dog.

"Thirteenth Brother, what happened here? You need to give me an explanation."

Her voice was cold, like the wind at the valley's entrance.

This was both a probe and a silent declaration.

A declaration that she, the Sixth Princess Wu Chaoyang, had the ability to control the situation here.

Wu Yun did not look at her.

He did not even pay attention to the longbow that was pulled almost into a full moon.

He walked slowly to the crippled Seventh Prince and squatted down.

He leaned into the Seventh Prince's ear and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear.

"Seventh Brother, falling off a cliff in the royal hunting grounds—a very common accident, right?"

The Seventh Prince shuddered, his groans stopping out of fear, his teeth chattering.

Wu Yun stood up and only then cast his gaze toward the young woman on the rocks.

His gaze was as calm as a pool of bottomless, cold water.

"Sixth Sister, you arrived late today; you saw nothing."

He spoke word by word, as if stating an established fact.

"Seventh Brother and the others fell from their horses by accident and broke their limbs; I will call people to 'save' them."

Wu Chaoyang's fingers gripping the bow tightened involuntarily.

He was not negotiating.

He was making a declaration.

He had forcibly turned her, the 'eyewitness,' into a 'latecomer,' stripping her of all say in the matter.

The calmness and dominance of this nine-year-old brother stirred true waves of shock in the depths of her heart.

Just in this eerie silence—

"Roar—!"

A roar loud enough to tear through eardrums erupted from the core of the hunting grounds!

Immediately after, a pillar of purple lightning as thick as a water barrel pierced the sky, forming a visible shockwave of Demonic Qi that swept madly in all directions!

The noble scions outside the Black Wind Valley were instantly thrown into chaos.

Those magnificent mounts all groveled on the ground in terror, excreting waste, trembling like chaff.

All color drained from everyone's faces; it was a form of absolute fear stemming from the hierarchy of life itself.

"It's... it's the Purple Lightning Raging Lion!"

Someone let out a desperate scream.

A century-old Yao Beast, the greatest prize of this autumn hunt, had emerged!

At the other end of the hunting grounds, the Fifth Prince, Wu Qingtian, had just skewered a tiger with his spear.

He was enjoying the praise and flattery of the crowd.

When that terrifying pressure descended, he felt no fear; instead, burning Battle Intent erupted in his eyes.

"Well come!"

To him, this was not a crisis, but a heaven-sent achievement!

"Your Highness, you must not!"

"That is a century-old Yao Beast!"

Wu Qingtian did not listen to the warnings at all; he spurred his horse and charged out like an arrow released from a bowstring.

"Evil beast, die!"

With a violent shout, his 'Divine Martial Dragon-Form Qi Energy' at the Peak of the eighth stage of the Qi Nurturing Realm erupted from his body, transforming into a majestic golden Dragon that smashed toward the area where the Demonic Qi was densest.

This strike was imposing, as if it would tear a gash through the mountains and forests.

However, deep within the encroaching Demonic Qi, a giant claw wreathed in purple lightning was raised contemptuously.

It swiped casually.

"Slap!"

That arrogant golden Dragon was easily smashed to pieces as if it were made of paper.

Wu Qingtian's form stalled, his face turning ashen instantly.

By this time, Wu Chaoyang had also arrived.

She did not waste words and immediately drew her bow to provide support.

"Hum!"

Three 'Star-Chasing Arrows' formed a triangle and shot toward the Raging Lion's eyes at an extremely tricky angle.

But when the arrows came within three feet of the giant beast's body, they were burned to ash by a layer of lightning shielding that appeared automatically.

They could not even touch the opponent's fur.

The two brightest stars of the Empire's royal generation had joined forces, yet they could not even make this Yao Beast move a step.

"Roar!"

The completely enraged Purple Lightning Raging Lion launched a counterattack.

It opened its bloody maw, and a fan-shaped web of lightning burst forth.

"Ah—!"

Several noble scions who were following the Fifth Prince and couldn't dodge in time were instantly charred into cinders, unable to even finish their screams.

"Beast!"

Wu Qingtian roared and charged again, only to be struck squarely in the chest by a heavy claw from the Raging Lion, which was wreathed in thunder.

"Crack!"

The priceless protective armor he wore shattered inch by inch.

He was sent flying backward like a cannonball, vomiting blood, crashing into the ground, and falling into a coma with severe injuries on the spot.

Wu Chaoyang was also shaken by the aftermath of the battle, blood spilling from the corner of her mouth, narrowly escaping death.

The survivors completely collapsed.

They cried, cursed, and fled in all directions like headless flies.

The scene was left with only the aura of despair and death.

Just amidst this chaos and wailing, a small figure walked slowly out of the forest, back against the light.

It was Wu Yun.

Where he walked, the violent lightning particles in the air seemed to be smoothed out, forming an eerie zone of 'tranquility.'

A Marquis's son who had luckily survived saw him and cursed loudly: "This trash dares to come here to die!"

The Grand Marshal Xiang Tong, who had just arrived at the scene and witnessed the Fifth Prince's crushing defeat, was even more furious when he saw Wu Yun.

"Get back! This is not a place for you to be!"

The Purple Lightning Raging Lion also discovered him.

Perhaps it felt that this weak human was provoking it.

It roared, and a purple lightning bolt, thicker and more violent than before, struck down at his head!

In the eyes of everyone filled with terror, Wu Yun simply raised his right hand calmly.

A bone-chilling cold spread instantly, and a layer of white frost quickly formed on the ground.

The violent lightning that could destroy everything stopped the moment it touched his palm.

From beginning to end, it was instantly frozen into a crystal-clear ice sculpture of lightning, still maintaining its baring-teeth-and-claws posture!

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

Then, Wu Yun flicked his finger.

He tapped lightly on the ice sculpture.

"Crack."

A crisp sound rang out.

The entire lightning ice sculpture shattered with a bang.

It turned into purple ice dust filling the sky, glittering in the sunlight—beautiful, yet deadly.

The whole scene was dead silent.

Wu Chaoyang, who was barely supporting her body, was dumbfounded.

The anxious Xiang Tong had his expression frozen.

All the surviving noble scions were like petrified statues, looking at the nine-year-old figure, their minds blank.

In the dead silence, the severely injured and unconscious Fifth Prince, Wu Qingtian, slowly woke up.

He did not see Wu Yun's shocking display.

He only saw the result—the Purple Lightning Raging Lion was dead; the Demonic Qi dissipating in the sky could not be faked, and that trash Thirteenth Brother he looked down on most was standing there unharmed.

Extreme humiliation and jealousy caused him to lose his mind instantly.

"Trash... you actually dared to pick up the scraps after I worked so hard to severely injure it!"

Wu Qingtian let out a roar.

Ignoring the severe damage to his Meridians, he forcibly activated a secret technique, transforming himself into a beam of blood-colored light as he violently attacked Wu Yun, who had just retracted his aura, from behind.