A tiny sound.
A sound in auditory sense, yet it tore apart the darkness in visual sense.
As if nothing had happened on the high platform, only Jiang Wang and Jiang Wuyong stood facing each other, swords pointed at one another.
The sword tips touched, Everlasting Yearning pressed against Beauty's Waist.
They only clashed once, and so softly.
But.
A tremendous shockwave suddenly erupted, like a gale sweeping through. Those on the platform with weaker cultivation staggered.
Jiang Wang and Jiang Wuyong each drifted back.
Jiang Wuyong's expression was one of surprise.
He hadn't expected Jiang Wang to withstand his Violet Qi That Blots Out the Sun palm strike, and even more so to block his swordplay from the Great Qi Imperial Family.
But as he retreated, a purple hue already染 his eyes.
The supreme cultivation method he practiced from the Great Qi royal family was the Supreme Purple Star Midheaven Scripture.
Swordplay, power arts, dao arts, eye techniques... it encompassed everything, dominating all sects.
He had almost no weaknesses, which was why he looked down upon the so-called winner of the Heavenly Treasury Secret Realm.
Yet Jiang Wang only retreated half a step before vomiting a mouthful of fresh blood, forcibly halting his retreat at the cost of injury.
Upon his white hair, a phantom of thorns emerged.
Thorns grew densely, most obstructing the path ahead.
A sharp piercing sensation surged, but Jiang Wang's eyes instead cleared.
Dao art: Thorn Crown!
The effect was that the next dao art's power would be enhanced.
He had very high expectations for Jiang Wuyong's strength, and when he swung the Sword of Sun, Moon, and Stars, he was already prepared for this dao art.
Stopping retreat with injury, of course, to seize the initiative.
As the Thorn Crown appeared, before Jiang Wuyong, three Flameblooms bloomed in succession.
Within his purple pupils, he clearly sensed that the middle one's power exceeded the others.
His purple pupils focused their light, and the core of that Flamebloom was instantly stripped of elemental energy, dissipating into the air.
Then Beauty's Waist flashed, easily slicing open the other two Flameblooms.
But in the next instant, his hair stood on end!
Because Jiang Wang was coming at him with sword in hand!
He came from a small town in the distant State of Zhuang.
He emerged from a dead domain lost to the netherworld.
An eighteen-year-old youth, traveling alone through nations, trekking over mountains and through rivers, refining both sword and heart.
Every day, he gave his all.
Every step was to become stronger.
This sword was the mountains and rivers he passed through on his ten-thousand-mile journey.
It was everything Jiang Wang had experienced, everything that made him who he was.
The Sword of Mountains and Rivers!
Jiang Wuyong wanted to temporarily avoid its edge, but he realized he couldn't escape it at all.
This sword was too vast.
He struggled to raise his sword in defense, but Beauty's Waist was gently knocked aside.
This sword was too heavy.
As if heaven and earth merged, mountains collapsing, rivers surging.
Jiang Wuyong frantically searched for solutions, his mind scouring for those unusual techniques and skills.
Yet he stood there, unable to move a single inch.
The tip of Everlasting Yearning was pointed straight at the center of his brows.
With just a slight push forward, everything of his would turn to smoke.
He had lost!
Silence fell upon the high platform, and the crowd below was dead silent.
A prince of the Great Qi royal family, the Fourteenth Prince, had actually lost to an opponent of the same realm in a duel?
So far, only Wang Yiwu, disciple of the Great Qi's God of War Jiang Mengxiong, had created such a record before the public.
And the opponent he faced was the even stronger Ninth Prince, Jiang Wuxie.
But what kind of person was Wang Yiwu? He was praised by the God of War Jiang Mengxiong as the foremost in the world. Thus, his defeat of a royal prince seemed within the realm of public acceptance.
How could this Jiang Wang compare to him?
The crowd exchanged glances, all speechless.
Lian Luyue, elder of the Lian clan, widened his eyes in disbelief.
Clan leader Lian Zhuping's gaze shifted, suddenly feeling that the previously promising cooperation might not be so appropriate after all.
Aside from Chongxuan Sheng, perhaps no one could have imagined this outcome.
Jiang Wang pointed his sword at Jiang Wuyong: "The reason I agreed to fight you was only to tell you that treasures under heaven should not belong to the virtuous. This saying is merely a pretense for seizing by force. Treasures under heaven that have owners should belong to whom they originally belonged to."
"Virtue should not be defined by you."
"Might is not virtue."
"Might is might, virtue is virtue."
"Your oppressive power and forceful seizure—that is immorality."
"Your provocation and utter defeat—this also loses might."
"How noble the Great Qi royal family is! But you are not only without virtue, but also without might."
"What I see is the shame of the Qi royal family!"
His sword did not advance, but these words cut deeper than any blade.
To avoid greater humiliation, Jiang Wuyong did not dare to act rashly, only clenching his teeth and saying: "The victor is king, the vanquished is bandit. Say what you will!"
Seeing that the man's spirit was no more than this, Jiang Wang smiled faintly and sheathed his long sword.
"Are you even worthy of the surname Jiang?"
Regardless of Jiang Wuyong's humiliation on the other side, Chongxuan Sheng had long extended his chubby hand toward the pale-faced middle-aged man, acting like a debt collector: "Quickly! Accept the bet and pay up!"
Then the chief eunuch under Jiang Wuyong, expressionless, produced two jade tokens and a box of ten thousand Origin Stones, placing them into that chubby hand that was almost poking his face.
Chongxuan Sheng first examined the jade tokens, then opened the box and counted carefully, verifying that it was the guaranteed quality and quantity of ten Ten-Thousand-Origin Stones.
Then he laughed heartily: "Welcome to gamble again next time!"
...
Under the strange gazes of the crowd, the sedan bearers lifted the palanquin again, carrying the Fourteenth Prince away hastily.
Only after they had left Nanyao City did Jiang Wuyong's expression finally relax.
Defeated in public, and even called the shame of the Qi royal family—this was an absolute humiliation!
And the series of negative consequences derived from this were a huge loss he had no choice but to consider.
Filled with resentment and fury, he had no outlet for his anger.
Now far from the crowd, Jiang Wuyong finally shed some of his restraints and couldn't help but clench his teeth in rage: "If not for Father Emperor's bias, the two most powerful sections of the Supreme Purple Star Midheaven Scripture—the Heavenly Sutra and Earthly Weft—would not have been passed to me. How could I have ended up like this today?"
He struck the seat in anger.
"If he had let me practice even one section, that insignificant Jiang Wang could be crushed with a flip of my hand! I wouldn't have suffered such humiliation!"
"Your Highness, be silent!" the chief eunuch said sternly. "The Heavenly Sutra and Earthly Weft sections can only be practiced by the Crown Prince."
"Don't try to fool me with empty words!" Jiang Wuyong grew angrier. "Then what about my Third Sister, Ninth Brother, and Eleventh Brother? How did they practice them?"
The chief eunuch said awkwardly: "They..."
"It's simply because their maternal families are powerful! Our Jiang imperial dynasty will eventually be ruined by these relatives-in-law!"
As soon as these words left his mouth, the ten sedan bearers suddenly froze, involuntarily opening their mouths as fresh blood gushed out, forming ten blood lines that shot into the palanquin.
Each of the chief eunuch's fingers was connected to a blood line. He clenched his ten fingers, and the blood lines instantly vanished.
The ten sedan bearers along with the palanquin crashed to the ground.
Inside the palanquin, the chief eunuch remained motionless.
But Jiang Wuyong's expression turned extremely ugly.
"Your Highness." The chief eunuch said in a deep voice. "Have you considered what impact these words might have if they spread?"
"The year before last, the Ninth Prince was defeated by Wang Yiwu. Given that prince's usual extremism, have you heard of him losing control like this?"
"A temporary setback is not frightening. In this succession struggle, are you afraid of falling a little further behind? Today's loss of face might not be an opportunity to triumph later. At least the other princes will lower their guard against you, no longer seeing you as a rival."
"But if you cannot even control your emotions, repeatedly misspeaking, then we should leave the capital early and live as wealthy idlers. That way, we might avoid one day dying on the streets with this old servant. And perhaps find a path to survival for the hundreds in the palace!"
Jiang Wuyong closed his eyes tightly, and when he opened them again, he was calm.
"This prince understands!"