Her heart stirred slightly, and the "Lianyun" in her hands crossed in front of her chest. On the broken sword, the Xuan crystal stone that resembled ink jade flickered lively. As her fingertips slid across Lianyun, a cool but not icy sensation spread from her fingers to her heart.
Panic and helplessness, like the morning mist in winter, dissipated upon encountering the clear day.
Yue Jinghua flared her nostrils, taking small breaths, the great sword in her hand silently raised above her head.
In the Jinghua Garden, King Fa Xiaoyun of Shang and the Empress had just arrived, waiting for the elder princess to join them.
Suddenly, Ruo Yun, a female official of the Feise Empress Dowager, rushed in hurriedly, her face deathly pale and her body stained with blood. Upon seeing the people in the garden, she fell to her knees with a thud, "Consort mother, someone has dared to intrude into the Youlian Palace."
Upon hearing this, the Feise Empress Dowager’s expression changed slightly but quickly regained her composure. She stood up, paid her respects to King Fa Xiaoyun and the Empress Dowager, and was about to leave.
Suddenly, those present felt a tremor under their feet, and from the direction of the Youlian Palace, a strange fluctuation emanated, its immense power causing the Feise Empress Dowager and the female official to shift expression.
Fa Xiao stood up abruptly, "There seems to be a disturbance ahead, someone protect the Emperor and the Empress Dowager, and everyone, follow me to the Youlian Palace."
Hongling quickly followed behind Lie Rou, her heart filled with anxiousness. She had a premonition that the incident at Youlian Palace was definitely related to the young lady who had left on an excuse.
"Chenchen, Chenchen, Hongling, you quick go look, why is Chenchen missing?" Lie Rou was supposed to avoid the area with the Empress Dowager and others, but unexpectedly, Yue Chen, who always disliked commotion, had disappeared at this critical moment.
Lie Rou was anxious at heart and, ignoring the calling of the Empress Dowager, also headed towards the Youlian Palace.
In that brief moment, a change had already occurred in the Youlian Palace.
The palace, once fragrant with lotuses and elegantly designed with water pavilions, now had a massive dark swirling vortex of evil Qi hovering above.
Numerous black streams of evil Qi continually drilled into the Youlian Palace, as if something was attracting them.
The palace had lost its usual shape and turned into a giant, black chrysalis-like thing, with people inside and outside completely cut off from contact.
At that moment inside the Youlian Palace, disbelief filled the eyes of the Purple-eyed Young Man. By his side, only a few faint traces of evil Qi remained.
Just then, all the evil Qi of the entire palace had surged towards one place. The person hidden in the shadows, who had yet to show himself, had done something.
From the direction of the Purple-eyed Young Man, the excessive evil Qi had completely obscured any trace of the Dark Practitioner lurking in the shadows.
Could a normal person survive amidst such dense evil Qi? The answer was negative.
What had been a calm face now showed tiny cracks, and the Purple-eyed Young Man furrowed his brows in unexplainable irritation.
The Purple-eyed Young Man and Yue Jinghua were clearly similar, decisively acting once they set their minds.
In an instant, the Purple-eyed Young Man’s movement technique increased manifold, his figure turning spectral-like. The last few dozen Dark Beasts, in front of him, crumbled like clay at a touch.
Just as the Dark Beasts by his side were about to be completely vanquished, the stifling Blood Evil underwent another transformation.
A broken sword emerged out of nowhere, piercing through the dense encompassing evil Qi. The glow on the sword’s body lit up the palace covered in evil Qi, shining as bright as day.
Fast, very fast. The sword fluidly moved through the evil Qi, and even the Purple-eyed Young Man stopped his attacking motion. A purple flame rose around him, and all the Dark Beast Bone Carvings shattered in that instant.
He, hailing from the Divine Court, had often seen people afflicted by evil Qi; they were mostly sluggish and their cultivation restrained, not to mention resisting the killing strikes of evil Qi.
He had never seen anyone able to move so agilely amidst such dense Blood Evil.
Moving through evil Qi, the sword swung freely, its wielder invisible, like a ghost, constantly avoiding Blood Evil. Initially, it was dodging, but after about thirty minutes, it seemed to have grasped the patterns of the Blood Evil, not merely avoiding anymore but starting to strike back.
Exceptionally agile, dodging and attacking, then dodging and attacking again.
The thick Blood Evil was smashed, turning into a blood mist.
The Blood Evil was rapidly diminishing.
"What is this?" The most bizarre scene occurred.
The Purple-eyed Young Man then realized that the sword wasn’t repelling the evil Qi.
The Blood Evil in the air was decreasing, not because it was being defeated, but because it was being absorbed.
The Blood Evil turned into a mist that was absorbed by the sword upon contact. After absorbing the evil Qi, the light on the sword’s handle grew brighter, and the figure of the person wielding the sword gradually became visible.
He still couldn’t see the person’s figure, but from the movement trajectory of the broken sword, the person’s footsteps were not large, yet very subtle;_each retreat cleverly avoided an attack of evil Qi, paired with the swinging sword, truly seamless.
As the evil Qi weakened, just then, the Purple-eyed Young Man seemed to notice something and looked outside the palace. His eyes narrowed slightly, as if he could see through the dense evil Qi, through layers of water pavilion lotus leaves, beyond the evil Qi, all the way to the outside of the Youlian Palace.
Outside the palace, Fa Xiao stood tall and solemn. By his side, hundreds of elite archers clad in armor, bearing fine crossbows, were poised for action, their bows drawn tight, fiercely eyeing the Youlian Palace.