Slightly Crazy Eyes...
The situation was at a stalemate for a small second as everyone stared at each other.
The Emperor knew he had the upper hand but he had already lost too much earlier when he was thinking the exact same thing, so he didn't want to get arrogant and ruin everything for such a stupid reason again.
His grip on Wang tightened, trying to squeeze out a few screams out of his squirming body to break the little girl mentality, but to his surprise, Wang didn't make any noise.
'What is this feeling?' he couldn't help but ask himself after feeling a sense of dread for a second.
''Be careful, these little brats have way too many tricks up their sleeves.'' he said to his little brother who looked like he couldn't even care less.
Little brother, who was bored and already feeling the victory a few steps away, stopped to look behind him in wonder.
'Don't be ridicilous...' he thought, but instead of complaining, he followed to his elder brother's request.
Li Jing thought about her options as she treated her wound, her eyes going between Wang, The Emperor, his little brother, his elder brother's soul, and finally the advisor.
While everyone was paying attention to the actual threats in the battlefield, Wang's body was going through some indescribable changes.
The Emperor was the first to take note of the changes as he was holding him in his arm. He raised a single eyebrow in curiosity but stayed silent about it, thinking he could easily take care of him no matter what he tried at this point. Wang was an extremely exhausted, fatally wounded cultivator who was weaker than the Emperor even in his peak condition, there was no reason to be scared of him. He was merely a tool to use against Li Jing at this point.
Wang let go of his breath and released a deep sigh. His wounds started festering at visible speed as he stopped trying to protect himself from the vicious, fiery aura of Li Yan's mysterious and powerful attack.
The purple gas that was spreading from him all this time seemed to get thicker and darker for some reason. His skinny, malnourished body that lacked nutrients even cultivators at his strength required seemed to get even paler and skinnier.
Li Jing's eyes drifted to him, but she held back before shouting in worry.
'He can't be trying to use that technique again before even he recovered from its side effects yet!'
She trusted him enough to shut her mouth and let him do his own thing as she distracted everyone on the battlefield.
Her body started releasing white, cold mist from all of its pores as if she was trying to mimic her older brother in her own way.
The Emperor and his brother tensed seeing her acting up and got ready to intercept her attack.
'We don't need to attack her,' the Emperor thought as he tightened his grip on Wang, 'We have exactly what she wants here, she will eventually tire herself out.' he said to his brother with a telepathic technique.
The little brother, Li Nan sighed in annoyance but complied.
'We could take care of her without any of this, but sure, let's do it your way. You are becoming more paranoid each and every year.'
An ice-cold sword, roughly a meter long, was created from pure ice and spiritual energy for Li Jing's use.
She fitted the sword in her hand and created a similarly blue and cold mace for her other hand.
''How about you surrender, little girl?'' Li Nan said after he felt the danger radiating from both of those weapons, replacing his bored voice with a much more serious one.
''And you will simply release my brother?'' she seemed to be joking with him as she created another weapon for herself, a long sword swimming around her as if it was alive.
'Are we just going to let her prepare like this?' Li Nan asked his brother with urgency in his voice.
'Just stick to the plan.'
The answer he got didn't satisfy him, but he simply nodded and tightened the grip on his sword.
''I will kill your brother if you don't cripple yourself.''
''You will do that if I cripple myself as well, spare your breath.''
As the atmosphere tensed and everybody put all their attention on Li Jing, they seemed to have forgotten about her brother who was still in the Emperor's grip.
Li Jing's eyes shifted to Wang's direction for a mere moment, yet she had to hold back her scream after she saw the horrible sight.
His eyes had lost all of their colors. His pale skin was riddled with purple scars all over it except his abdomen, which was half gone, half burnt.
She could see his inner organs. His guts, stomach, and half of his lungs were all there for everyone to see.
His face had aged horribly, looking a few centuries older as if he was at the end of his lifetime.
'It's okay... It's okay... It is okay! Once we finish off these people we can raid their vaults and treasuries. No, forget about that.'
She eyed the luxurious ring worn by the Emperor.
'We just need to kill him and take a look inside his ring, I'm sure there is something good enough to not only rescue my brother but also benefit him.'
A terrifying killing intent radiated from her even without her knowledge as she eyed the Emperor like a beast looking at its prey.
'This is not the first time something like this is happening. Hahahaha, my elder brother always somehow managed to turn things around and gain incredible benefits from disastrous moments. I am sure this is just one of those moments... After all, he promised me. We would be Emperor stage cultivators together.'
A crazed look took place on her face as her eyes lost some of their rationality, freaking out her enemies.
'Is she using some kind of secret technique to increase strength at the cost of her intelligence?'
Thinking how serious and rational she had been until now, they couldn't help but make assumptions and raise their guards.
'I have had enough waiting!' Li Nan screamed in his head, ignoring his brother's warnings.
He couldn't help but be overwhelmed by the things happening right now. He wasn't even 100 years old and his battle experience was nowhere near his brothers. He had just seen Li Jing get stronger and stronger each and every second they left her alone, his brother was wrong!
He had to take things into his own hands since his brother couldn't see the situation clearly due to his cowardness and pain from losing a few cultivators just a few minutes ago.
The black sword in his hands glowed as golden runes and law inscriptions lit up, giving off a deadly presence.
'Draconic Ruin Sword is one of the most powerful artifacts of our Empire, no, one of the most powerful artifacts in the world! It's almost an Emperor grade equipment for fucks sake! Why do I have to be afraid of her when I clearly cut her stomach as if I was cutting through the paper just a moment ago!'
A dark aura enveloped by another golden aura rose, threatening to destroy everything in the world into nothingness!
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[An: If I don't finish this volume or write at least 10k words by the end of this week, I am a worthless cuck.
There, I said it. Now I have to write. I will write even if I have to resort to such childish means lol.]