They all became female demons after being reborn.

Chapter 89, Next Episode: The Death of Wu Cheng!

Time flies, and three days have passed in the blink of an eye.

On this day, it was drizzling in Lin'an.

A brand-new red carpet was laid out in the square in front of the imperial city, and seventy-two dragon flags fluttered in the morning breeze.

In the center of the square was a fighting platform over ten feet high, surrounded by all kinds of weapons, including knives, spears, swords, halberds, axes, hooks, and forks.

Today is the day that the Great Yu Dynasty selects its own Hidden Dragon List, where scions of noble families and prodigies from various prefectures and states will compete to determine who is the best.

Viewing tents were set up on both sides of the square. On the left sat the ministers of the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers, and on the right sat foreign envoys and a few leaders and elders of various factions who had pledged allegiance to the court.

At the very top center of the left-hand viewing platform was a large dragon throne.

Bright yellow curtains hung around the dragon throne, swaying slightly in the morning breeze, revealing only a glimpse of the emperor's figure inside.

The Crown Prince, dressed in bright yellow imperial robes, sat on the lower left side of the dragon throne.

Wu Cheng sat down next to him, the two separated by a small tea table with two steaming cups of tea on it.

Below the dueling platform, another young master jumped onto the stage, cupped his hands in greeting, and introduced himself as the heir of a certain marquis's mansion, seeking to challenge the swordsman from before.

Wu Cheng lowered his voice and said, "Second Brother."

The Crown Prince was watching the martial arts competition while holding a teacup. Hearing this, he turned around, the teacup resting on his lips, his eyes filled with a hint of doubt. "Fourth Brother, what's wrong?"

"Second Brother, do you remember what you said to me at the East Palace three days ago?"

The Crown Prince put down his teacup and smiled. "Fourth Brother is talking nonsense again. Three days ago, we only caught a few fish and didn't say anything important. Did you not sleep well last night? You have some dark circles under your eyes."

Wu Cheng didn't ask any more questions, and instead looked at his hands.

The prince held a string of agate prayer beads in his hand and was now turning them one by one.

Wu Cheng found the string of Buddhist prayer beads somewhat familiar.

The crown prince noticed his gaze and explained with a smile, "These are the Buddhist prayer beads that my father bestowed upon me yesterday. However, I cannot give them to you. If you want them, you will have to ask my father for them yourself."

Wu Cheng shrugged. "I don't believe in Buddhism, so this thing is useless to me."

Then the two stopped talking and turned their attention to the fight on the stage.

Before long, the eunuch Wang Tong walked quickly up the steps and bowed to the two princes. "Your Highness the Crown Prince, Your Highness Prince Feng, His Majesty has summoned you both to the tent for questioning."

The Crown Prince stood up, straightened his clothes, turned to look at Wu Cheng, and still had a smile on his lips. "Let's go, Fourth Brother. Don't keep Father waiting."

Wu Cheng got up and followed the Crown Prince toward the bright yellow curtain.

Wang Tong took two steps forward and lifted a corner of the gauze curtain, bowing with utmost respect. However, he lifted the curtain only slightly, just enough for one person to pass through sideways, and then stepped back half a step and stood with his hands at his sides.

The instant the curtain was lifted, the seed of true energy within Wu Cheng's dantian trembled violently without warning! It even caused his dantian to feel faintly numb!

Wu Cheng stopped in his tracks.

"Fourth brother?" The crown prince turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"It's nothing." Wu Cheng shook his head and glanced back at the square.

Sima Yue sat among the many officials, glancing over here, but Bai Suyi, Qingque, and Damo were all absent. Only Xue Jianren, pulling Sun Kewang, squeezed to the front row, watching with great excitement.

Everything seemed the same.

Wu Cheng took a deep breath and followed the Crown Prince into the tent.

The light inside the curtains was much dimmer than outside.

A person sat on the dragon throne, wearing a bright yellow dragon robe, the hem of which hung down on the footstool, and the embroidered gold dragon claws still gleamed in the dim light.

But the person on the dragon throne had his head down, his chin resting on his chest, his hands on his knees with his palms up and his fingers slightly curled, in a posture that resembled meditation, but his chest did not rise or fall at all.

This face was undoubtedly that of the emperor, but Wu Cheng's gaze had already fallen on his hand.

The emperor's fingertips were grayish-white, his nails were bluish-purple, and a faint smell of decay wafted through the air.

Wu Cheng's expression changed slightly. He suddenly turned around and lowered his voice, "Second Brother, you did this?!"

No wonder you're the second son! You really want to be Li Shimin, don't you? Even Li Shimin didn't kill his father!

The second son even killed his father. Do you want to be like Emperor Yang Guang, the first emperor of all time?

However, the crown prince merely smiled slightly, then took three steps back to the edge of the curtain.

Then he spoke, "Fourth brother, you actually murdered the emperor."

The prince's voice wasn't loud, but everyone around him could hear it clearly.

The sound of armor clashing came from outside the tent, and the imperial guards who had been lying in ambush around the tent quickly surrounded the area.

Wu Cheng looked up at the Crown Prince, his tone calm, "Second Brother, three days ago you promised me in the Eastern Palace that you would give me the position of Crown Prince. Have you forgotten?"

Zi wore a bitter smile, a smile that carried just the right amount of helplessness and indulgence, like an older brother watching his immature younger brother act foolishly but unable to bear to scold him. Coupled with his slightly reddened eyes, it was truly a heartbreaking sight.

"Fourth brother, how can such a thing be considered? The position of Crown Prince was appointed by Father Emperor; how can I, your elder brother, simply relinquish it? Now that you have committed such a treasonous act, even if I wanted to protect you, I am powerless to do so. Guards! Seize him!"

The Crown Prince was confident. "Fourth Brother, you can't escape now by pretending to be insane."

As the imperial guards surrounded him, Wu Cheng smiled.

"The Xuanwu Gate inheritance law... this is exactly the kind of thing you'd expect from a male-oriented novel!"

Wu Cheng raised his eyes. "But... I didn't mention anything about giving up the crown prince position to my second brother three days ago."

'

The prince's smile vanished.

At that very moment, Wu Cheng's true qi from the "Heavenly Dao Scroll" surged out from the seed of true qi in his dantian and flowed directly into the Yongquan acupoint on his left foot along the Foot Shaoyin Meridian!

Then, he used the Flowing Cloud Step and shot out like an arrow!

In the blink of an eye, he appeared before the Crown Prince and pointed his finger like a sword, aiming straight for the Crown Prince's throat!

He used all his strength in that sword strike!

But... the crown prince did not back down.

He simply extended his right hand with his five fingers spread out and his palm facing outward.

The air seemed to freeze in that instant!

Wu Cheng's sword finger, imbued with rapidly spinning sword energy, seemed to be blocked by air just three inches before piercing the prince's palm!

Then, the rapidly spinning sword energy on his fingers seemed to come into contact with something, causing intense friction and resulting in an extremely piercing noise!

The sword energy shattered instantly!

A relieved yet somewhat regretful smile appeared on the Crown Prince's face, and then he said something softly.

"Why...not continue to be a fool?"

As the Crown Prince finished speaking, a vast Buddhist chant suddenly rang in Wu Cheng's ears!

Then, a large, golden hand seemed to appear before his eyes and slowly pressed against his crown chakra.

Then his head was smashed to pieces like a watermelon!

"You've arrived."

"I am coming."

"You shouldn't have come."

"But I still came."

Inside the Longmen Ferry Inn, a swordsman and a knife-wielder were engaged in a cold conversation, while the martial arts enthusiasts at the surrounding tables discussed it in hushed tones, their excitement palpable.

"See that? That's Wang Dang of the Five Tigers Breaking the Gate Saber, renowned throughout Longmen Town and the surrounding villages! And that Autumn Water Swordsman, Li Changfeng, is no ordinary man either! It's said he's famous throughout western Zheng County and parts of Kaifeng! Today, on Qingming Festival, the two of them have agreed to a duel here!"

Wu Cheng stared blankly at the scene before him.

Have I been... reborn?

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