412: Chapter 412 The Terrifying Abilities of Time-Based Powers

As The Fourth Princess brought her hands together, the laws of time within this golden space underwent a terrifying reversal upon the three individuals!

Under the desperate gazes of the three Tier 5 experts, their vigorous lifeblood, which they took such pride in, instantly dried up!

Their originally jet-black hair turned white as snow in the blink of an eye, and subsequently fell out in patches.

Their plump, rosy Skin became shriveled and slack at a speed visible to the naked eye, covered in brown age spots, and clung tightly to their bones.

In a mere three breaths of time.

These three peak Tier 5 powerhouses, under the frenzied acceleration of the laws of time, had completed their long lives.

They had completely died of old age.

The moisture in their bodies evaporated completely, and their bones decayed.

"Hoo!"

A gentle breeze blew past.

The three withered corpses, along with the sturdy armor and weapons on them, turned into sky-filling gray-white fly ash at this moment, scattering with the wind in the golden space.

They weathered away completely, leaving not even a scrap of bone behind.

"Pfft!"

After doing all this, The Fourth Princess could no longer suppress the backlash of power within her body.

She violently spat out a large mouthful of blood, and her body, like a kite with a broken string, fell straight backward.

As she fell.

"Crack!"

The golden space maintaining this world finally reached its limit, shattering with a roar like glass!

Time began to flow again.

"Clatter, clatter—!"

The hundreds of Imperial Guards who had been frozen in the courtyard.

At the moment time resumed, the dense cracks on their bodies burst open simultaneously.

Without even having time to let out a scream, hundreds of bodies instantly tore apart, turning into countless fragments and blood mist, collapsing onto the ground with a boom!

The stench of blood rose to the sky, dyeing half the night sky of the Great Zhou Imperial City red.

In front of the Princess's Mansion, only The Fourth Princess remained, sitting alone and limp amidst the fly ash and blood covering the ground.

She looked at the Shura-field-like scene before her, her vision becoming increasingly blurred, and her eyelids grew too heavy to open any longer.

"Finally... it's over..."

She slowly closed her eyes, her body falling limply onto the cold stone slabs, and her consciousness instantly sank into boundless darkness.

In the chaos at the boundary between life and death, time seemed to have lost its meaning.

Scenes flashed rapidly through her mind like a revolving lantern.

She saw her Imperial Father's broad, warm hand, always smiling as he ruffled her hair; she saw her Imperial Mother, when she was critically ill, lying on the bed with that pale yet still gentle face; she saw Xiao Cui carrying freshly baked pastries, smiling as she walked through the corridor; she also saw Nanny Zhao, who used to kindly comb her long hair...

These people, these faces that had accompanied her short life, were now like a painting torn apart by a wild wind, peeling away and dissipating piece by piece.

They were all gone.

And when all the fragments dissipated, what re-condensed in the darkness was a young face that was always expressionless, occasionally revealing a hint of indifference.

That big liar who insisted on leaving her.

Her consciousness drifted with the wind, following the long river of memory, flowing upstream all the way.

"Yeah... how did I end up liking him anyway?"

She still clearly remembered the scene of her first meeting with that guy.

It was a sunny afternoon, and she was sitting by the pond in the backyard feeding the koi.

A muffled sound like thunder suddenly erupted in mid-air, and immediately after, a black figure, like a kite with a broken string, fell straight down from the sky, landing directly into the pond in front of her.

Nanny Zhao led a large group of guards to surround the man, as if facing a great enemy, and tied him up securely.

At that time, The Fourth Princess was hiding behind the guards, watching the man tied up like a zongzi, feeling so aggrieved that she shed tears.

She felt that she usually couldn't even bear to step on an ant, her Imperial Father also praised her for being well-behaved and sensible, and she had never done any bad deeds by bullying others with her status.

She didn't understand why such a gentle and well-behaved princess as herself would attract an assassin.

The first words they exchanged were not some harsh interrogation.

Instead, with her little mouth pouting, on the verge of tears, and feeling extremely aggrieved, she questioned Jiang You:

"Why... why did you come to assassinate this Princess!"

"This Princess has never done anything bad!"

Later, after some searching, she learned that he was not an assassin at all; there wasn't even a trace of Supernatural Ability fluctuation on him, he was truly an ordinary person without any cultivation.

He said his name was Jiang You.

He said his hometown was very, very far from the Great Zhou Imperial City.

He also said he had been kidnapped by a bad guy on the road and brought here, but the bad guy had abandoned him and run away, which was why he had fallen from the sky of the Princess's Mansion.

She believed this explanation.

Looking at this young man with a pale face who couldn't even stand steadily, she felt he was truly pitiful.

Not only did she not pursue the charge of him trespassing into the Princess's Mansion, but she also generously had Nanny Zhao bring some gold, stuffed it into his hands, and urged him to take the money to buy a fast horse and go home.

She also advised him not to run around outside in the future.

But that big liar, looking at the gold in his hands, shook his head like a rattle-drum.

He even shamelessly said that he was captivated by her beauty and kindness.

He said he decided to stay, hoping she would grant him a meal and arrange any kind of job for him.

Hearing this, The Fourth Princess proudly lifted her chin, hummed, and pretended to reluctantly agree.

In fact, she was happy the entire night that day.

Who doesn't like hearing others praise them for being beautiful and kind?

Moreover, this was a compliment from a quite handsome person of her own age.

Although she knew it was mostly flattery, she still kept him.

She was full of curiosity about the "very, very far hometown" that big liar spoke of.

She would skip her etiquette lessons in the palace all day, hug a plate of pastries, and trot happily to his residence to chat with him about this and that.

As a high-and-mighty princess, the people of her age around her were either fawning over her or so awestruck that they didn't even dare to raise their heads.

Only that big liar never showed any fear or nervousness when facing her.

But every time the big liar mentioned his hometown, a trace of imperceptible nervousness and worry would always flash in his eyes.

Although he never complained a single word to her, every time he sighed while looking at the sky outside the window, The Fourth Princess could keenly sense that a heavy mountain was pressing on his heart.

Later, through increasingly frequent contact, she discovered that this man was really quite different.

He knew so many things, even knowing many magical facts that even the white-haired grand scholars invited by her Imperial Father had never heard of.

He could tell strange but funny jokes and make unique-tasting, delicious pastries that even the Imperial Kitchen couldn't make.

However, he seemed to be just an ordinary person, having not awakened any Supernatural Ability.

But that didn't matter; she was very powerful, and she could protect him.

Because she felt he was a good person.

With even more frequent contact later on, she understood him even better.

It was the first time she had understood a peer of her age so well; although their daily life was very ordinary, she felt that they should be considered friends.

Later on, she began to care about the way he looked at her and would struggle over which dress to wear before going out.

She would blush while inquiring about his past, pretending to ask casually if he had a wife or children back home, or if there was any girl he liked.

When she heard that indifferent man spit out the word "No," her mood for the entire day was so good it felt like she was floating in the sky.

She didn't know why, she only felt that he was the best and most special friend she had ever had in her life.

Until that time when the big liar suddenly fell ill, that was the first time The Fourth Princess felt afraid.

Back then, her Imperial Mother had also lain on the bed just like that, with a pale face, and in the end, never woke up again.