"Mhh?" A man tucked his fingers around his chin, his green eyes sparkling as he seized Adam and Xie Lian. "An interesting pair, but barely enough to relieve my boredom."
He adjusted his golden crown, silky dark hair cascading down his broad shoulders. Intricate robes, giving the impression of being weaved from precious minerals, fluttered as he approached Xie Lian with a smile.
"Welcome to my trial room, sister. I’m the Void Palace’s second prince."
Adam frowned at the star tattooed on the man’s forehead as he waved to draw his attention.
However, his frown deepened when the man glanced at him, raised a brow, then refocused on Xie Lian.
"It must have been hard for you to come so far with a kid. Your courage and devotion force my admiration." He gestured to the table in the center of the sober room. "Take a seat, sister. I’m dying to know you."
Confused by the situation, Xie Lian glanced at Adam, her eyes widening. Where was the laid-back boy who smirked and grinned at the slightest occasion? Instead, she saw pulsing veins and features disfigured by wrath.
A terrible feeling gripped her heart, an icy shudder running down her spine. He wouldn’t, right? Despite her hope, she almost fainted when Adam spoke again.
"I asked you a question, you womanising piece of shit."
Like hell he’d accept being dismissed, no matter the circumstances. He snorted, returning the man’s contemptuous gaze.
Yet, he only received a glance and a head shake before the second prince placed a hand behind Xie Lian’s back and accompanied her to the table.
"Your junior brother has a fiery temper. I bet he’ll become an amazing cultivator with such a beauty Read the latest chapters on NovelHub - completely free!"
Xie Lian shuddered and bit her lip. "You’re misunderstanding. I’ve never seen him like that... I-I’m flattered, but..."
Her voice disappeared mid-sentence, then her body, shocking the prince, who snapped his head to the silent guardian. Did she somehow escape? Impossible. The puppet would have reacted instantly, and a nascent soul realm disciple couldn’t escape his vision.
His eyes flashed to the door as doubts gnawed at him, seeing Adam lean against the wall and yawn provokingly.
"By all means, continue ignoring me, oh great prince of a fallen blessed land. I’m sure you still have many things to share with her."
"Where is she?" The prince’s lips curled down, his voice filled with hidden threats.
But before he could continue, Adam raised his palms and shook his head.
"Who knows? Maybe she’d reappear when the trial begins? Or perhaps you imagined here after spending who knows how long in solitude." His smirk widened as he rotated a finger on his temple. "Trust me, I experienced it. It can drive people mad. But it’s your lucky day, isn’t it? I can cure your stupidity as long as you give me the clue."
The prince clenched his jaw, his cheeks trembling. "Such insolence from a mere child. Aren’t you afraid I’d raise the trial’s difficulty?" His eyes narrowed into slits. "I can, for example, say that only a woman can succeed."
Adam pinched the bridge of his nose as he waved his three clues before his victorious smile.
"You would do that? I guess your honor isn’t worth much compared to your other brothers and sisters."
The prince took a deep breath, his brow twitching at the many insults. He cursed the rule, stating that he couldn’t kill someone who had entered the room before he took the trial. But he smirked. The upper hand was his.
"Bring her back, or that’ll be the trial. In fact, you played with my patience too much." He ran a finger across his neck and gazed at the guardian. "My trial is to have a conversation with a woman."
The guardian moved to end Adam the moment his last word echoed.
"Hahaha. Alright. I don’t particularly enjoy this," Adam said, his voice shifting to a higher pitch.
The guardian’s blades froze a centimeter above Adam’s neck as his sky-blue hair sprouted like grass. His manly jaw became round, eyelashes extended and fluttered before his lips took a redder sheen.
His limbs grew to reach a meter and seventy. He rolled his eyes as he felt two soft yet firm mounds dangle on his chest and his rear expand.
He gripped the empty spot between his legs, his face paling and a downpour of sweat covering his now enthralling features. The taunts he had imagined caught in his throat as he cursed Elena’s grimoire for recording such a weird spell.
"Ok, I change what I said. I hate this."
The prince watched the spectacle, pupils constricted, and breath short. What in the realm happened? An illusion? No, he had heard the bones groan and the muscles crack, meaning it was a real transformation.
"Since when can men turn into women?" He blurted out, his angry expression fading into one of pure confusion.
"Transmutation on the void refinement realm level." Adam gritted his teeth and tapped his foot. It felt so wrong that he wanted nothing more than to dig a hole and hide. "Give me the clue so I can return to normal."
The prince frowned before he lunged at him, a smirk splitting his face.
He slammed the dark wall, leaning closer, his nose and warm breath almost touching Adam. "No can do, beauty. Remember? We must talk first."
Adam’s fist clenched, mana erupting from his eyes as he suppressed the desire to nuke the bastard. "Are you serious now? I was a boy ten seconds ago!"
"I don’t care. I was six thousand years old before... things happened. Age is but a mere number in our long lives." He sized Adam’s perfect forms, a wolfish glint flashing in his eyes. "You have anything a girl has, so what’s the difference?"
"What the..." Adam’s eyes narrowed into slits. "You’re more crazy than I gave you credit for. You’re a criminal! Your place is behind bars!"
He raised two slender fingers, his voice darkening. "I’ll talk with you for half an hour. I want it to be a turn-based question discussion."
He went to sit behind the table, face-palming before the illusion covering Xie Lian. Then, he grasped his throat, showing his despair as he saw her silent laugh.
As the prince sat across from him and stretched his legs in his direction, he clicked his tongue.
"By the way, I’ll turn into a female silver moon striker if you try to touch me. Trust me, it’s not the kind of creature you want to see."
Even he gulped as he remembered the poor captives’ description of the abuses they had witnessed, not to mention the missing limb on the corpses.