Ded?

Blood dripped down from Li Jing's nose as she closed her eyes and diverted her full attention to the dark golden aura of the Li Nan's sword.

The released aura came towards her with the force of a tsunami.

Almost instantly, Li Jing released her Diamond Spear as well, sending it straight to the middle of the Dark Golden Aura.

Diamond Spear pierced straight through the Dark Golden aura of the Draconic Ruin Sword and dispersed most of its power.

Dispersed power from the sword didn't just disappear, it crashed into the environment around them like a wave and destroyed anything in the vicinity.

''GUHK!''

Suddenly, a choking sound resounded.

Li Jing's eyes widened in shock as her head lowered to see the black sword that went through her body, not only piercing through her lung, but also her heart.

She staggered on the air as Li Nan's gleeful, almost crazed eyes stared directly into hers with joy.

''Thank you, thank you so much for focusing so much on my Sword aura!'' Li Nan laughed deep from his heart.

'N-n-not a... not a problem. Everything w-will be fin-ne.'

Li Jing thought to herself in pain and shock as she tried to remove the sword from herself.

'If only I can remove this sword, I can heal myself for sure.' she thought as she eyed Li Nan's spatial ring.

Draconic Ruin Sword wasn't just stopping her healing, but also actively destroying her inside each and every second it was inside with its violent aura. Its presence alone was a death risk for anyone below the Deity Ascension stage!

Li Nan traced her eyes and looked at his spatial ring with a smirk.

Without saying a single word, he took out a pill.

''This pill could probably heal you.'' he said as he popped the pill into his mouth while watching her desperate eyes.

''Too bad, traitorous bitches don't get anything.'' he said with a light in his eyes, ''Did you know? I ate 3 of these miraculous elixirs during our small fight.''

''Ghuk!''

''If you accepted my nephew's invitation, you could enjoy such privileges as well. Too bad, you are too stupid to see it.''

He took out another pill and danced it around his fingers.

''Did you know, you can't even make this pill anymore? A few generations back, one of my ancestors was a pill genius who created the recipe along with hundreds of these beauties. Unfortunately, he was a bit paranoid. He refused to record its recipe in fear of others stealing it, but he died before he could teach it to his son, the next emperor.''

He ate another pill as he 'tortured' her with trivia.

''So, I just need one of those, huh?''

Suddenly a sound froze both of them.

Boney fingers clutching onto Li Jing's fair skin suddenly tightened as if the corpse came back to life.

''Soul puppetry.'' the ghastly sound whispered, making both Li Jing and Li Nan shiver.

Wang's corpse suddenly got away from Li Jing's clutches and attacked Li Nan.

Li Nan, who was at his peak condition thanks to his pills, tried to get away but he was too late.

The moment Wang's finger touched him, his fate was already sealed.

He held back a shout of pain as he focused on getting away.

''Too late, that's my corpse poison, my last trump card. It can even destroy your soul.'' Wang chuckled.

''You are bluffing! Who would even create a technique to use after death!'' Li Nan shouted back as he ran away

''Do you truly want to try your luck?'' Wang said with a raised brow.

Li Nan stopped in his tracks as he felt the pain from the poison deep in his soul.

''If I die, it will be too late for both of you. You can't open the lock on my ring fast enough to rescue yourselves!''

''Then give me the pill and I will release the poison!''

''As if I would believe that you damn monster! I saw how you killed my brother!'' Li Nan shivered in disgust and phantom pain, ''Somebody who can do that can't be a good person. You can't be trusted!''

''I can't argue with that logic.'' Wang nodded.

''As expected, it won't work. At best both of us will die. Do you truly want to leave your Empire to ruin? The royal family will be over with you.''

''Even if I die, Uncle Hong will still be alive. He not only possesses the royal bloodline, but he is also benevolent and wise. He would take good care of my family and manage the Empire well.'' Li Nan said with tears daring to stream down his face.

Of course he didn't want to die. He wanted to beg, fall to his knees and hug Wang's thigh, do anything it takes to survive. But he knew nothing would come from it. The best he could do was mutual destruction as this monster would probably take revenge on his Empire if he survived.

His legs shook, not from pain, but from fear, but he didn't give up his pride.

''Fine.'' Wang spat out resentfully as he stared at Li Nan with murderous eyes before turning back to Li Jing, changing his eyes from murderous to sorry.

''I am sorry I cou-''

Before even he could finish his sentence, Li Jing hugged him with tears streaming down her eyes like waterfalls.

She ignored her injury or the poisonous body of Wang and just hugged him without any words as if she was trying to make the most of her last few minutes.

Wang froze in shock for a second before hugging back and patting her head.

''Don't worry. I won't be able to accompany you, but I will definitely ensure your survival.''

''Don't...''

''I am not lying.'' he said as he pushed her away from himself before raising her head from her chin.

''Trust me for the last time, okay?'' he said as he looked into her eyes.

She sniffled before nodding slowly.

He slowly released her grip from himself and looked back.

Li Jing looked at his back expectantly, waiting for him to miraculously save to situation again, but he didn't do anything.

He simply stopped there and closed his eyes.

His deadly aura slowly grew weaker and weaker, until it finally ceased to exist.

''W-what are you doing?'' Li Jing said between her sobs.

But she didn't get an answer back.

A few seconds later, Wang's body disintegrated into the thin air.

''WHAT!?''

Both Li Jing, Li Nan, and Advisor Hong looked around in shock as they tried to process what just happened in front of their eyes.

Seconds later, Li Nan disintegrated into the thin air as well.

Everything about him disappeared, except his ring. His luxurious spatial ring that probably carried enough treasures to salivate a middle-grade sect leader.

The ring slowly floated and found itself in Li Jing's shaky hands.

''It's unlocked?''

She quickly took out the pill that the guy kept boasting about and stuffed herself full of them.

Within seconds, she could feel herself get better. Her inner organs were almost fully healed except her heart and all the remnant aura from the Draconic Ruin Sword and poison from Wang's body were gone.

Advisor Hong who just witnessed everything with his own two eyes shook from terror before disintegrating as well.

-------------------

[An: I figured these chapters were kind of boring but I still felt like they were crucial enough to keep, so I came up with an idea. Wouldn't it be better to post it all at once rather than post 1 semi-boring chapter a day? You guys are kinda used to me randomly disappearing for a few days anyways (I'm 100% guilty on that) lol.

There is only a small epilogue left. You know, some reactions, explanations about what just happened and what happened afterward.

Anyways, as I have promised, this marks the end of Volume 1!

Volume 2 is 'Power of Depression' until I find a better name lol. I intend to make all the volumes different while keeping the spirit of it the same. Repetition is a bitch but keeping the soul of the story is not repetition, at least in my opinion.

Thanks for sticking out for this long, and thank you for reading.

Have a nice day.]