Li Yang smiled faintly and said, "Why not choose to cultivate at the Divine Sect? What’s so bad about being the Divine Sect Saint Heir? You only ever think about being emperor—where does that leave your imperial father?"

"Uh..."

The Second Prince’s soul froze, a look of alarm crossing his face.

"Did you really think that with the Divine Sect’s protection, your father wouldn’t be able to do anything to you? Since the Saint Heir doesn’t want the position, then your father will take it for you."

As Li Yang finished speaking, he slapped the Second Prince’s soul.

The Second Prince’s soul changed expression, but before he could say anything, he was reduced to ashes, completely dissipating.

"My imperial son will never be left out in the wild to rot."

Li Yang looked at the Second Prince’s corpse.

A force far stronger than Spiritual Power, a Martial Cultivator’s power, pressed down, directly refining the Second Prince’s body until there was nothing left but his bloodstains in that dirt pit.

He knew the Divine Sect had inherited countless powerful means over the years, and could detect even the slightest clue.

So he had to be thorough.

Destroy the body, erase all traces.

Put an end to everything.

"The Underground Palace belongs only to the Great Tang Royal Family!"

After clearing away the Second Prince’s body and soul, Li Yang followed and charged into the underground palace.

"Whoosh!"

Jiang Feng sped toward the north.

He flashed over the North City Gate, soared past Laojun Mountain, and crossed stretches of forest.

Because the Three-legged Body Technique was too conspicuous.

He dove downward, casting Wind Control through the forest, flying close to the ground all the way.

"I smashed him several times just now. The Second Prince must be dead—no one can save him!"

"There’s no way I can stay in the Great Tang anymore."

"I have to run. The farther the better."

Jiang Feng spoke to himself inwardly.

He had to leave the Great Tang first. He was sure he had killed the Second Prince, not realizing that the Second Prince’s soul was actually crushed by the Great Tang Emperor himself.

He couldn’t tell whether he should actually thank the emperor.

"Eight Desolates Qi Chasing Skill—activate!"

Young Master Liu wore a face full of resentment. The Second Prince had special blood and possessed a Spiritual Root—the perfect material for dual cultivation of martial and spiritual arts. Who could expected he’d die right in front of him.

Now not only did he have no way to explain himself to the Sect,

he was also being hindered by the Great Tang Emperor.

All his anger was vented on Jiang Feng.

His Sword Flight was extremely fast, but still slower than Jiang Feng, especially since Jiang Feng’s Three-legged Body Technique had already reached the Perfection Level.

And his Cultivation was at the Fourth-Layer Qi Condensation.

Last time, with only Second-Layer Qi Condensation and the Three-legged Body Technique at Great Success, he still couldn’t catch up; let alone now.

Luckily the Divine Sect’s magical arts were endless.

The Eight Desolates Qi Chasing Skill let him use the trace of Spiritual Power left on the Red Dust Sword to track Jiang Feng’s escape path. He reasoned that Jiang Feng would have to rest eventually, and as long as he traveled day and night, he’d catch up in the end.

By then, a barrage of Magical Techniques and Divine Power would be enough to capture Jiang Feng for sure.

Just as Young Master Liu expected, Jiang Feng did need to rest. But before resting, Jiang Feng had already left behind several cities.

He flew continuously for two days, finally reaching his limit. Near a mountain range by the Turkic border, he took a brief rest.

Jiang Feng checked his attribute panel first.

Name: Jiang Feng

Fortune: 1004431

Cultivation Technique: Yangchun Technique (Great Success)

Skills: Three-legged Body Technique (Perfection+) Flame Saber (Proficient+) Wind Control (Proficient+)

Realm: Qi Condensation (Fourth Layer)

Divine Power: Immortality

"This... it went up by nearly a million?"

Jiang Feng was dumbfounded.

He felt suffocated and frightened.

He didn’t realize the Great Tang Emperor was involved. He mistakenly thought almost a million Fortune Points had come from the Six-armed Divine Emperor and Young Master Liu.

He had no idea that the greatest danger just now was the Great Tang Emperor, hiding in the shadows, the Second Prince’s father Li Yang.

"The Six-armed Divine Emperor’s power surpasses mine."

"Young Master Liu should be around the same as me."

"If the two of them teamed up on me, I’d have no chance of holding my ground."

Jiang Feng reviewed his fight with the Six-armed Divine Emperor and Young Master Liu.

Both of them were focused on defending the Second Prince.

Young Master Liu’s small purple sword tried a sneak attack at close range, but was blocked by his Qinglong Cauldron. At that time, he could still handle the Six-armed Divine Emperor snatching the Second Prince away with his arm.

From this, Jiang Feng judged that one-on-one, he and Young Master Liu would be evenly matched. Still, the Divine Sect’s long inheritance meant Liu likely had hidden trump cards, while his own were already exhausted. So before his strength improved, Jiang Feng figured it best to avoid Liu entirely.

As for the Six-armed Divine Emperor—

Jiang Feng recalled how, for the Second Prince, that man blocked a blow of the Loulan Slash Godslaying Style by sacrificing an arm, and then managed to clamp down tight on his Qinglong Cauldron.

If not for the cauldron obeying his will and shrinking or expanding at will, slipping through the emperor’s fingers, the Six-armed Divine Emperor might have forcibly seized it.

Or even snatched it away outright.

So when facing the Six-armed Divine Emperor, Jiang Feng needed to retreat every time—no matter how much stronger he became in the future, encountering that guy meant he had to keep his distance.

"I still need nearly a million more Fortune Points before I can upgrade my cultivation again. Should I save them or...?"

"Hmm, strength can always rise, but I’ve only got one life."

"Better to upgrade the Three-legged Body Technique!"

With that, Jiang Feng dumped nine hundred and sixty thousand Fortune Points into the Three-legged Body Technique.

He’d offended the Great Tang Royal Family and the Divine Sect—God knows what kind of situation he’d be caught up in next. It was obvious the Great Tang and Divine Sect would hunt him to the ends of the earth.

The Three-legged Body Technique was his life-saving method.

Jiang Feng could no longer afford to keep it hidden.

If he could upgrade, he had to do it now.

The attribute panel changed.

Name: Jiang Feng

Fortune: 24431

Cultivation Technique: Yangchun Technique (Great Success)

Skills: Three-legged Body Technique (Great Perfection) Flame Saber (Proficient) Wind Control (Proficient)

Realm: Qi Condensation (Fourth Layer)

Divine Power: Immortality

Jiang Feng’s body shifted.

A golden path appeared before his eyes. When he activated his Body Technique, he could, much like the very first time he faced Xiao Zhan, trigger the "plug-in effect" hidden in his body technique, flashing through the golden avenue at a speed ordinary cultivators could never hope to imagine.

Jiang Feng felt his speed had reached the pinnacle of the Qi Condensation Realm.

Among Qi Condensation experts, there would be few who could catch up with him.

As long as he didn’t get surrounded, even when facing cultivators at the Sixth, Seventh, or Eighth Layer, Jiang Feng believed he could still shake them off.

Of course, for now that was just his speculation; whether it would really work still needed testing.

But with the technique reaching Perfection, his means of survival had indeed increased. Feeling assured, Jiang Feng took his rest in the forest.

He gradually emptied his mind, absorbing spiritual qi, so that his spiritual power was always at its peak.

Another day and night passed in the blink of an eye.

When Jiang Feng opened his eyes, he saw that the leaves in this section of forest around him looked a lot more withered, especially the large tree behind which he was resting.

Once full of life and lush greenery, it had become weathered and ancient—its leaves not just all withered but nearly fallen away, and the bark splitting with cracks.

It was as if all the skills within it had been drained by him.

Every tree within a hundred meters was in this state.

Even up to a hundred meters out, the trees showed varying degrees of damage.

Only trees more than a kilometer away were still green with life.

"This..."

"Cultivation really is plundering by cunning, the strong preying on the weak."

Jiang Feng sighed in lament.

He’d been madly replenishing his spiritual power, devouring the spiritual qi between heaven and earth, and who knew—after a day and night, he had so thoroughly stripped this forest of vitality.

At this rate, in the next few days, this patch of forest would be left utterly lifeless; the fallen leaves now were just the beginning.

Jiang Feng’s spiritual sense could fully perceive that all plants within a kilometer had lost their vitality, and even the bits of lingering green would quickly wither with time.

He could only sigh at the devastation he’d caused the forest. There was nothing he could do, but leave quickly and continue to absorb spiritual qi elsewhere, once again strengthening his power.

His situation was perilous. Any concern for environmentalism had been thoroughly tossed aside.

"Hmm?"

But just as he was about to leave—

A ripple of spiritual power pierced straight toward him from outside the forest.

This time, Jiang Feng had become completely absorbed in cultivating, and time had flown without him noticing—a whole day and night gone in a blink.

Young Master Liu had finally caught up.