NOVEL NEXT Chapter 99 Discussing Reason
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Assassinating Jiang Ruolong, Alkaid's left hand also formed a sword with his fingers, brutally flinging it toward Jiang Shengtian, who was retreating explosively.
Before Jiang Shengtian could clearly see what had happened, a series of formless ripples violently emanated from in front of him.
"Boom!"
Accompanied by a burst of deep blue radiance scattering.
It was at this moment that he suddenly realized.
An invisible, transparent sword had, at some unknown time, arrived in front of him and nearly shattered his Protective Magical Weapon, threatening to pierce through his body in one fell swoop.
Rage! Killing intent! Humiliation!
All these emotions receded from his mind like the tide.
What replaced them was an unprecedented fear!
This fear, with an indescribable chill, swiftly pervaded every corner of Jiang Shengtian's being, making him instantly recognize the predicament he was in.
Then...
"Protect the lord! Protect the lord!"
Jiang Shengtian bellowed, his figure retreating explosively.
"An upgraded version?"
In front of him, Alkaid was somewhat surprised.
The Protective Magical Weapon on Jiang Shengtian was clearly stronger than the ones on Jiang Ruolong, Jiang Xuntian, Shangguan Jinlong, and others.
Even though the Chengying Sword had been thrown with bursting vigor, theoretically powerful enough to crush the protective artifact, the result...
Was still being blocked.
This might be because the Chengying Sword's sharpness was not as great as the Divine Shadow Sword's, but it was enough to indirectly prove the high quality of Jiang Shengtian's Protective Magical Weapon.
"Buzz!"
The sword failed to hit the target, and a dull, thunderous sound suddenly came from beside him.
It was Qi Renjie launching another attack, twisting his body to strike again.
While fearlessly launching an attack on Alkaid, he roared, "Your Majesty, to the Safe House!"
Reminded by this, Jiang Shengtian's figure twisted, and vigor erupted from his feet, it seemed he also used some secret technique, charging towards the bookshelf by the wall like a cheetah.
Alkaid felt the strike from behind, which seemed to carry the full essence of a Martial Saint, and he turned his body.
Formless Six Harmonies!
There was no build-up, no borrowing of momentum.
At this moment, in his strongest form, every move he made was imbued with the power to split rocks and break monuments.
Just like the punch he threw now, as his fist moved, tendons and bones resonated together, using the most basic momentum to forcefully collide with Qi Renjie's desperate counterattack.
The moment the two forces met, a thunderous rumble echoed as though from the void.
The carpet where Alkaid stood was instantly shattered.
But in front of him, Qi Renjie, who had gone all out, was like crashing into a high wall.
A wall forged from steel, indestructible and unbreakable.
The rebound force, far more than his body could bear, uncontrollably pushed him back three steps, twisting his arm on impact and shattering his bones inside.
Power! Your next chapter awaits on empire
This was absolute dominance of strength!
"Heavenly... Celestial!?"
Qi Renjie looked up in disbelief.
His eyes filled with unmistakable terror...
And disbelief.
"Whoosh!"
The sword blade swept by.
With his arm bones pulverized and rebound force tearing through his organs, Qi Renjie watched with wide eyes as the Divine Shadow Sword's blade sliced through his throat.
The next moment, the world spun.
...
Alkaid turned his head, his figure crouching slightly, gazing at Jiang Shengtian who had pounced towards the bookshelf and pressed a mechanism.
The bookshelf flipped over, and Jiang Shengtian's figure seemed about to vanish from the room.
But at that moment, his crouching figure suddenly shot up.
"Zzzrrr!"
The ground cracked!
As the carpet was torn and scattered by the violent force, Alkaid, turning into a bolt of lightning, hit the flipping, closing bookshelf with a thunderous charge.
"Boom!"
The house shook violently.
The entire bookshelf, as if hit by a cannon blast, vibrated with concussive force, instantly shredding the books meant for decoration.
Paper flew in all directions.
Even though the bookshelf was cast from solid steel, it deformed in the face of Alkaid's ferocious charge under Heavenly Demon Disintegration.
Precision instruments, any damage could prevent activation.
Let alone such visible deformation.
As its shape altered, the bookshelf that was supposed to flip stuck in place.
Under Jiang Shengtian's desperate gaze, the door between life and death came to a halt right there.
"No!"
Jiang Shengtian let out a despairing cry.
The next moment, Alkaid, like the pinnacle of predators, burst into the "Safe House."
Without using his sword, he merely raised his left hand, concentrating his fist's strength, and visibly smashed it down toward Jiang Shengtian's head.
"Ah!"
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Jiang Shengtian activated his secret technique, his vigor soaring to its peak, embracing the conviction of mutual destruction as he met Alkaid's mountain-crushing punch head-on.
"Crack!"
The muffled sound and the noise of breaking bones dispersed simultaneously.
The battle...
stopped.
...
"Cough, cough."
Crimson blood spilled from the mouth of Jiang Shengtian, who lay on the ground.
In an unadorned frontal confrontation, his arm was broken, and the relentless vigor severely injured his internal organs, shattering all his resistance.
But...
he was not killed on the spot.
"Who... who exactly are you!? Snow Dragon? Rebirth Society? In what way have we, the Jiang Family, offended you!?"
Jiang Shengtian looked at Alkaid, whose body was covered by a Battle Garment, with eyes full of terror.
"Oh, it seems we can now have a proper conversation."
Having invaded the palace, Alkaid spoke for the first time.
"Your... Your needs, please state them outright. As long as it's within our power, we will do our best to fulfill them."
Jiang Shengtian said hastily, as if grasping a lifeline.
"Good attitude."
Alkaid looked at Jiang Shengtian on the ground: "First, I need you to clear up a doubt in my mind, what exactly caused the great catastrophe a thousand years ago?"
"It's the Artifact Sect!"
Jiang Shengtian responded without hesitation: "Any family that rules over a world has a task assigned by the Artifact Sect—to nurture Immortal Soldier Demon Weapons for the Sect. Depending on the world's grade, the type of Immortal Soldier Demon Weapon required differs, and these have to be handed over to the Sect every three hundred years."
He quickly added: "To prevent some worlds from becoming the private territory of a particular family, the Sect mandates that a world's ruling family should be changed every thousand years. In other words, a family can possess a world for no more than a thousand years!
Therefore, before leaving, these families often use all the world's valuable resources within a reasonable scope to forge powerful Immortal Soldier Demon Weapons to take with them..."
"Within a reasonable scope, use up all the valuable resources of this world..."
Alkaid listened to Jiang Shengtian's answer and had an inkling of what was to come: "Heavenly materials and earthly treasures are not considered within reasonable scope, but the teeming masses..."
"Still need to leave behind several tens of millions..."
Jiang Shengtian's expression became unnatural: "Too few people would affect the grade and require compensation to the successor families..."
"Two hundred years ago, during the Industrial Revolution, there was an abundance of goods, which led to a population explosion. Was it Jiang Family's final harvest of this world?"
"That... isn't entirely the case... The Industrial Revolution stemmed from technology obtained from the Sect... which began to be promoted in some subordinate worlds more than two hundred years ago..."
"Technology from the Sect?"
Hearing this, Alkaid, with the insight of a well-informed traveler, quickly speculated: "It must be technology from the Moon Demon Empire."
At those words, Jiang Shengtian's face paled: "You..."
"The Artifact Sect, was it defeated by the Moon Demon Empire?"
Alkaid continued.
Jiang Shengtian looked at Alkaid, his face changing hues.
The next moment, a sword light suddenly swept across his palm, cutting off a finger.
The intense pain turned Jiang Shengtian's face ashen as he shouted, "I do not know... According to Mo Huang, our Artifact Sect was defeated, but... we can't verify it... More than forty years ago, we completely lost contact with the Sect..."
"Why does Red Star still monopolize the quota to go to the Artifact Sect if the contact was lost?"
"We didn't want other nations to know this information, so we monopolized all the quotas to go to the Sect to avoid exposing any weaknesses. Otherwise, once they know we can no longer receive support from the Sect, Red Star's deterrence to neighboring countries would significantly decrease, even affecting our ruling status..."
Jiang Shengtian hastily explained.
"So, tell me, how much do you know about the Rebirth Society? And that Demon Lord Bloodcry."
"The Rebirth Society!?"
Jiang Shengtian's pupils shrank.
At that point, he seemed to realize something. Looking at Alkaid, he suddenly widened his eyes: "You're from the Salvation Society!? Who are you!?"
Alkaid was about to say something when he heard the sound of a rushing wind from outside.
Many people were rushing towards this direction at full speed, among them, several Martial Saint Level auras.
Especially the one leading them...
As the doors of the True Cultivation Hall were forced open again, the towering and fully armed Hall Master of Stellar Sanctum, Thunder, appeared outside the hall.
"Step back."
Alkaid stepped forward, with the Divine Shadow Sword pointing directly at Jiang Shengtian's head.
"You can't escape. Release His Majesty, and I can promise you a way out..."
Thunder, with the cultivation of a Primordial Chaos Martial Saint, stepped forward and spoke in a deep voice.
"Because he didn't obey, I'm sorry, but you'll have to lose another finger..."
Alkaid said.
As Jiang Shengtian's face turned pale and he cried out "Stop!" the sword light flashed.
Immediately, the sound turned into a suppressed scream.
"You..."
Thunder became enraged.
From his Battle Garment, resembling external skeletal armor, several gun barrels aimed at Alkaid.
"I don't want to say the same thing twice."
Alkaid said, "Whether or not you can kill me is one thing, but before you make a move, your Emperor and Family Head of the Jiang family will certainly die. Do you believe that?"
"Retreat... Thunder... step back..."
Jiang Shengtian, mustering immense willpower to endure the pain of having two fingers severed, shakily gave the order.
Seeing this, Thunder, after pondering, eventually stepped back: "State your demands plainly, and stop harming His Majesty. Otherwise... there will be no possibility of compromise between us."
"My demands," Alkaid said, pulling Jiang Shengtian to a dead angle out of the outside view, "are to release all the members of the Salvation Society you've captured."