Several days earlier, Yan Zaizen and Tao had conceived a plan together and further refined it out. The plan's initial step was to halt the skyship en route to their destination with an appropriate distance away from Xiāo City. Afterward, take on the guise of Yan Zaizen's mysterious and powerful master. Due to Yan Zaizen's profound soul cultivation, this was quite easy.
Originally, Yan Zaizen wanted to simply capitalize on this opportunity to kill everyone aboard and take off with their possessions. However, Tao informed him that each royal member had a unique formation inscribed on their person, if they are killed, the person who killed them would be immediately branded with a profound mark. They could then be tracked by the entirety of Grux.
This wasn't good.
Not to mention, if he took action against a Prince, it's likely the blowback would be strong. However, Yan Zaizen still didn't care. He truly was intending to slaughter them all if they got in his way, but Tao offered a better alternative.
After posing as a mysterious master of a dead disciple, he could get his revenge and only offend a single person: The Imperial Military Commander. This was a lot better than offending the entire country. This was because the others would definitely feel pressured to give up Lady Di in exchange for their own lives, and the Imperial Military Commander's position would instantly degrade, causing him to likely lose his position, and maybe even be killed.
The Grux Empire was a complex mess, and the Imperial Military Commander was highly disliked by many, and his vicious ways were seen as detrimental to the country's development. He doesn't take into consideration the proper way of doing things and even abuses his power blatantly due to his relationship with the Ancient Emperor - the previous Emperor of Grux.
However, his own strength was lacking a little to be in such a peak position. By only possessing a half-step True Essence Cultivation, many felt they were the better fit for such an authoritative position. Despite this, no one was willing to offend him with no basis or reason, but many wanted his position. If this new situation cropped up, it's likely the possibility of revenge would be eradicated by the Imperial Palace itself.
When Yan Zaizen heard this, he was quite surprised. Tao's knowledge of the complexities of the palace was extraordinary. After some consideration, he agreed. After a bit more discussion, they put it into action. Yan Zaizen even included a small detail to rid themselves of their current issue.
The person in the black mask was Yan Zaizen.
Elder Mei invited him onto the skyship, and he followed silently in assent to her invitation. They arrived on board. When they did, everyone's gazes looked at his blank black mask with unease and fear. Being so close to a soul cultivator felt stifling as if he could reap their lives away with a single glance.
Prince Ren stepped up at this moment while others stood their distance. "Greetings, Senior." Yan Zaizen didn't respond, simply looking in Lady Di's direction. Underneath his mask, his eyes were bloodshot red filled with killing intent and the memories of the Deep Mines surged out. If it wasn't for him thinking that a quick death was too easy, he would've killed her off right then and there.
Witnessing this, Prince Ren coughed awkwardly. He began explaining the situation and how there's a possibility that Yan Zaizen was alive in the Deep Mines. He even suggested that he would personally come with him to check, with the Emperor beside him of course. However, Yan Zaizen snorted in response.
"You think I'm a fool?!" His disguised voice shouted furiously. Everyone instantly went on the defensive, using their respective qi-arts to defend their souls against any sudden attack. Each of them was surrounded by faint traces of multi-colored light indicating the barrier they set up around themselves. However, Yan Zaizen didn't take any of their actions to heart.
"I've known that my disciple died a month ago, and where." His voice was calm, but immediately everyone's eyes widened in shock. Yan Zaizen was dead? He knew for certain? Then! Everyone immediately felt an uneasy feeling, especially the Origin Core Cultivators, they each protected their respective juniors.
"I wanted to know the why." When he said that, he looked towards Lady Di and reached out his hand. A silver-blue light condensed into a massive aurora-like hand that mimicked Yan Zaizen's movements, grasping towards her direction. The speed of its formation and movement was exceptionally fast. Even the Origin Core Cultivators reactions were slow in the face of this hand, and Lady Di was immediately grabbed and brought to his side almost instantly.
She shrieked in horror, scream for help from the people around her. Surprisingly, Elder Lu didn't fight back, as if knowing it was futile with his mid-Origin Core cultivation. Instead, he pleaded, "Sir! Please, our actions are inexcusable, but your disciple is already dead. Must you make an enemy of the Imperial Palace?" The pleading contained traces of a threat, but surprisingly, no one else chimed in. Elder Mei stood protectively in front of Prince Ren, and even Prince Ren had a solemn expression but maintained his silence as if afraid that he would be targeted if he spoke.
Yan Zaizen looked at Elder Lu, shifting his head to the side in interest, "Enemy of the Imperial Palace?" He turned towards Prince Ren and the others, "Is this true?" However, the moment he said that everyone went silent, looking down at their feet in avoidance. Some even cursed Elder Lu for his words, trying to implicate them with this shit-for-brains woman.
If she had handled the situation properly, then how could Yan Zaizen be dead? How could they be in this situation? With a proper interrogation, they would've discovered his background and his story. If anything, Yan Zaizen may even be treated like a respected guest! Not sent to the mines to die like a degenerate.
Yan Zaizen nodded softly at this. It seems Tao's assumption of them not willing to fight back was right, but if he left it just at that, how could he be satisfied? "You all will pay for my disciple's death, either with wealth or with your lives." Yan Zaizen's voice suddenly filled with intense killing intent, and his real intentions were revealed.
When everyone heard his words, their expressions changed.
Was he robbing us?
"If you hold back, I'll consider as if you wish to offer your lives to him in the underworld. I'll accept such payment, and I'm sure he'll be able to rest peacefully with you beside him." His words were blatantly informing them that this was essentially a robbery. However, Prince Ren's eyes lit up with an odd light.
The others felt disgruntled at the realization of the circumstance. They cursed Lady Di once more for this.
Lady Di continued her struggle, looking at Prince Ren as if he was her last saving grace. The tears in her eyes flowed like a river, and it gave her the feeling of a misfortunate beauty. However, no one had the feeling of jumping out to be the white knight for her plight.
Elder Lu, surprisingly, was the first to act. He removed his spatial ring and immediately sent it to Yan Zaizen. This shocked everyone present. Elder Lu was the protector of Lady Di, was this meant to be given as an offering for Lady Di?
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However, Elder Lu's next words turned everyone's mind to a blank, "Sir, this is my offering to your disciple. I hope you can forgive me. To be honest, I wanted to help your disciple, but I simply didn't have the authority." He had a look of deep regret plastered across his face, one could see the sincerity within.
In truth, this wasn't false. He'd worked for the Imperial Commander before his rise and cultivated all the way up to this point, but he truly hated the Commander and this daughter of his. For nearly two thousand years, he worked and worked, did things he felt was immoral, all because of a debt he owed.
Now that he was in a life-or-death crisis due to their action, he felt aggrieved and no longer willing. He was done. The debt had been paid with his two thousand years of service.
"Please allow me to leave!"
Yan Zaizen felt completely blindsided by the course of events. He didn't know about the specifics of the commander's reputation or his daughters myriad of deeds that felt horrible to most, but he couldn't help but empathize with that aggrieved voice.
He gave a soft nod, grabbing the spatial ring. Elder Lu took off like a beam of light, penetrating the sky and disappearing in a few seconds. Just like that, Lady Di lost her protector. Her emotions as she watched Elder Lu leave her to her fate felt incredibly complex, and then venomous as she cursed him heavily for his cowardice.
"I'll find you and have you killed, you bastard!" She screamed viciously.
As for the others, they were cultivators who reached their current levels in this dirt pit of an environment due to their decisiveness. The crew immediately took off their respective spatial bags and rings, throwing it to Yan Zaizen, exiting the skyship, and waiting for the others. They were smart enough to know that if this was a robbery, this skyship will definitely be taken.
One of the individuals wanted to keep a spatial bag for himself, taking off, but a flash of silver-blue light caused him to tumble towards the ground as a corpse. This startled everyone, especially the high-status individuals on the ship who were reluctant despite the situation in front of them.
"He wanted to pay with his life instead of his wealth. I accepted." Yan Zaizen commented coldly, a spatial bag flying out of the corpse and into Yan Zaizen's hand. When everyone saw this, their hearts turned cold. For those earlier, they felt lucky they weren't greedy.
"You either pay with all you have or with all you are." His words were a like a basin of cold water on everyone's faces. The others were quick, delivering their respective wealth to him, not hiding a cent, and taking off immediately. The first person amongst the Origin Core Realm cultivators to take action was Lady Bao's protector. He removed her ring and bag as well as his own, threw it towards Yan Zaizen and took off despite Lady Bao's persistent protest.
Who would be willing to give up everything they've earned and gained? All of their lucky chances, all of their accumulated wealth, and do so willingly? Some prideful individuals would rather lose their lives before giving up their possessions.
But the protectors' job is to protect their life, not their belongings.
"You all have fifteen seconds to make a decision." Yan Zaizen said, looking towards Xiāo City as he felt something approaching rapidly. His expression under the mask turned solemn, and he looked towards the only two groups left — Prince Ren's and Lady Su's.
A deep sigh resounded from Lady Su's protector, and he took the same course of action as Lady Bao's. Despite Lady Su's protest, he took her and flew away. Elder Mei and Prince Ren were the only ones left on the skyship. Prince Ren took the initiative to speak, "Senior, I thi-"
"Five seconds." Yan Zaizen interjected, not paying him any mind.
He withdrew his spatial ring from his finger and threw it. His eyes looked at the spatial ring with a great amount of reluctance. It had the Origin Consolidation Pill as well as many fortuitous encounters he'd come across, but none of that mattered if he was dead. Elder Mei followed suit, grabbing Prince Ren and taking off from the skyship.
Yan Zaizen immediately wrapped all the possessions with his soul energy and deposited them into the Meteor Ring. When that happened, every last Origin Core Cultivator, including Prince Ren, Lady Bao, Lady Su, and Lady Di coughed up blood several times. They even fell out of the sky, their eyes filled with fear and surprise.
When Yan Zaizen saw this, he was startled as well.
Then he thought about what had just happened, and his eyes turned cold as he recalled Xuanwu City. That was a rebound from a formation being forcefully disconnected or broken. It's likely each of their possessions had a profound formation on it in case someone decided to deprive them of their possessions, or perhaps there was something inside their ring that held a tracking formation. Regardless, when it entered the Meteor Ring, the connection was forcefully cut.
He knew that the greater the formation, the greater the rebound. Fortunately, the Meteor Ring is like an isolated dimension, it would immediately break any formation that tried to track its location. Yan Zaizen was pleasantly surprised at this newly discovered feature. "I wonder how you'll feel from this." He said, placing his palm on the imperial skyship, and then it entered the Meteor Ring.
Tens of thousands of li away, in a particular Imperial Palace's formation master's room, a sudden explosion took place. The defenders of the room rushed in with vigilance. After a quick survey of the room, they saw the bloodied corpse of the formation master who implanted a tracking formation on the skyship. The formation on the skyship was of the grand-rank, something equivalent to the True Essence Realm, but when it was forcibly disconnected, the feedback shattered his soul and exploded his body instantly.
Yan Zaizen didn't know what had just happened, but he was truly hoping something like that would occur. However, when he looked at the Origin Core Realm cultivators being fine, he couldn't help but sigh in disappointment. "It must've been someone else…" He mumbled.
Yan Zaizen swiftly directed his gaze back to Xiāo City. He could see a resplendent emerald light shooting towards this way from a distance like a comet. A loud, thundering voice resounded for thousands of li. "Leave Lady Di unharmed and depart!" It was incredibly domineering and carried endless authority as if it didn't allow any objections.