NOVEL NEXT Chapter 141: So It Really Is You, Champion Marquis!
“Emperor’s Nation-Stabilizing Fist… You’ve certainly laid out an elaborate scheme!”
On a mountaintop, Ji Hong stood tall, his hair whipping in the wind, his robes fluttering violently. His entire being radiated an aura so overwhelming that it seemed to dominate the world.
Behind him stood an elderly servant, and further back were over a hundred elite guards, each exuding a terrifying presence. Their blood and qi burned like raging furnaces, their strength reaching the absolute peak.
As the eldest prince of the Great Zhou Empire, Ji Hong possessed sharp insight.
The moment he laid eyes on Fa Zhao, he immediately grasped the situation.
Without a doubt, Fa Zhao’s appearance in Yunzhou territory was a trap carefully orchestrated by the Great Chu Dynasty!
And the primary target of this setup?
It was him—and other powerful figures of the Great Zhou Empire.
After all, this event had caused massive unrest across the entire Great Zhou territory.
Even now, more people were still rushing to this location.
“Your Highness, the fact that Fa Zhao is using the Emperor’s Nation-Stabilizing Fist… Could it be that one of the princes of the Great Chu Dynasty has personally taken action?”
Behind Ji Hong, the elderly servant spoke cautiously.
The Great Chu Emperor was vastly different from the Great Zhou Emperor.
In the eyes of many, the Great Chu Emperor was the ultimate winner in life.
Ordinarily, the stronger a cultivator, the fewer offspring they would have—this was an iron rule.
But the Great Chu Emperor had completely shattered this rule.
In his two thousand years of reign, he had sired over two hundred children.
That was an average of one child every ten years!
His eldest son was already over two thousand years old—a figure belonging to the older generation, with strength long since reaching the peak of the Divine Palace Realm, now preparing to break through to the Saint Realm.
If such a person had taken action today, then everyone present was in grave danger.
“Not necessarily.”
Ji Hong shook his head with a faint smile and said,
“The Great Chu royal family isn’t the only one who knows the Emperor’s Nation-Stabilizing Fist… There’s another person who has mastered it.”
“Your Highness means… the Champion Marquis?”
The elderly servant’s body trembled, his face filled with astonishment.
The Champion Marquis had always been a figure of much speculation in the Great Chu Dynasty.
There were constant rumors that he was actually the illegitimate son of the Great Chu Emperor.
Otherwise, how else could someone at the Divine Power Realm have been granted the title of Marquis?
If it were purely based on military merit, that would have been understandable.
But the truly inexplicable part was that, after the Champion Marquis was granted his title, the Great Chu Emperor personally bestowed upon him the Emperor’s Nation-Stabilizing Fist.
That was an exclusive martial art of the imperial family!
Giving it to an outsider was unheard of.
No matter how one looked at it, there was something suspicious going on.
And given the Great Chu Emperor’s dubious reputation, it wouldn’t be surprising if he had left behind some illegitimate children outside the palace.
“That’s right.”
Ji Hong nodded slightly, his gaze fixed on the distant battlefield.
Deep in his eyes, a chilling glint flickered.
“That man is utterly fearless—there’s nothing he wouldn’t dare to do.”
At that very moment, from the direction Ji Hong was watching, a streak of divine light suddenly shot across the distant horizon, tearing through the sky like a celestial river descending from the heavens.
Along its path, mountain after mountain crumbled into dust.
Its target was Li Xun, who was currently engaged in battle!
The sudden change stunned countless onlookers.
Before they could react, the blazing light had already arrived.
The weaker cultivators turned pale, their faces filled with despair.
Some even shut their eyes, preparing for inevitable death.
But just as many were ready to accept their fate, Ji Hong moved.
He stepped forward, placing himself directly in the path of the divine light.
His hand shot out—
BOOM!
He grasped the divine light in his palm, and with a single squeeze—
It shattered into dust!
Ji Hong’s expression remained indifferent.
His third sister meant nothing to him—her death was of no consequence.
But Li Xun could not be allowed to fall here.
Ji Hong had always viewed Li Xun as a talent worth nurturing.
Perhaps, in the future, Li Xun could even become a powerful ally.
In the past, Ji Hong had wanted to recruit Li Xun under his command.
But after witnessing Li Xun’s true potential today, he changed his mind.
Instead of making him a subordinate, it might be better to befriend him.
Now, by stepping in, Ji Hong was extending a gesture of goodwill toward Li Xun.
Of course, this was also partially an act of retaliation.
After all, the enemy had made the first move, attempting to trap him in their scheme.
If Li Xun hadn’t acted first, Ji Hong himself might have fallen into this elaborate ploy.
And now, someone was trying to rescue Fa Zhao.
No matter who they were, Ji Hong would ensure that they failed.
A cold voice rang through the battlefield—
“Whoever stands in my way—DIES!”
From the distant void, a golden radiance burst forth in the sky, like a celestial being descending from the heavens, shaking the Nine Heavens, shattering the leaden clouds, and transforming into an eternal divine rainbow that streaked toward them at breakneck speed.
At the center of this brilliance—
A golden divine chariot emerged, engulfed in dazzling light, resembling a rising sun that illuminated both heaven and earth.
Inside the Divine Chariot, a valiant and imposing man sat, wearing a purple-gold crown and clad in a long robe of deep violet.
In his hands, he wielded a divine spear, and before even arriving, he thrust his spear forward, aiming directly for Ji Hong’s skull!
This was a peerless strike, shining across past, present, and future, powerful enough to shatter the vast earth itself!
BOOM!
The spear streaked through the sky, surrounded by radiant auspicious light, resembling a celestial pillar collapsing, wrapped in misty chaos, radiating an earth-shattering force akin to the power of creation itself.
“So it really is you… Champion Marquis!”
Upon seeing the attacker, Ji Hong’s lips curled into a faint smile.
His blood surged like a roaring river, thundering inside his body with a deafening sound, an overwhelming force ready to explode at any moment.
He threw his fist forward, striking straight at the incoming spear!
BOOM!
The divine spear and the fist imprint clashed in midair, unleashing an unimaginable shockwave that rippled across the battlefield in all directions.
The sheer force of their clash sent countless cultivators flying, while those with weaker cultivation bases were instantly obliterated, their bodies bursting into clouds of blood mist before they could even react!
“What’s going on? What just happened? Why is the Champion Marquis clashing with the Eldest Prince?”
“It looked like the Champion Marquis was trying to ambush Li Xun of Profound Sun Sect, but the Eldest Prince intercepted the attack—so now they’re fighting!”
“Tsk tsk— The Champion Marquis wants to save Fa Zhao, while the Eldest Prince wants him dead. Just moments ago, they were on the same side, but now they’re mortal enemies.”
“Hah! The more we watch, the more it becomes clear—Fa Zhao was probably working for the Great Chu Dynasty all along! Otherwise, why would the Champion Marquis arrive with such fury?”
All those present backed away cautiously, distancing themselves from the battlefield.
Their gazes flickered between the two duels taking place, their hearts filled with shock and uncertainty.
At this moment, four legendary geniuses were locked in battle.
Ji Hong and Fa Zhao were of the same generation, each at least a hundred years older than Li Xun and the Champion Marquis.
Yet, despite this age difference, when the four stood upon the battlefield together, it felt as though they all belonged to the same generation of peerless prodigies!