Lin Qian took a deep breath, gently patting Xiao Jiang's head, then crouched down to his level. "Xiao Jiang, the dead cannot be brought back to life, at least not by me. But rest assured, I will avenge your parents."
"Now, the people in this settlement are citizens of the Huaxia Empire. Since someone dared to harm my people, they will pay the price."
Lin Qian's words left Xiao Jiang disheartened. His small eyes seemed to lose their light, his expression became vacant, and his pupils lost focus. He could only nod dully in response.
Seeing Xiao Jiang in this state filled Lin Qian with sorrow. He walked over to Yue Liqun with a dark expression and asked in a low voice, "What happened here? How does this relate to Shen Zhixing?"
Yue Liqun's face was equally grim as he slowly explained the situation to Lin Qian.
According to Wang Gang's account, a powerful Blackhorn Clan cultivator in the Awakening Realm had suddenly appeared here. After saying a few words, he launched an attack on the settlement, casually releasing a soul-force strike.
The attacker claimed that his son had died in this area, so he assumed the people here were responsible. Since the truth couldn't be determined, he decided to punish the entire settlement as a lesson. He warned that if the real culprit wasn't handed over within ten days, he would obliterate all the settlements in the area.
As for the small courtyard in the sky above the settlement where Lin Qian had once resided, the Awakening Realm cultivator noticed that it had withstood his attack without a scratch. Thinking it was a valuable object, he took it for himself.
The attacker identified himself as a subordinate of the Blackhorn Nation's Thirteenth Prince.
Lin Qian now fully understood what Yue Liqun meant when he said that Shen Zhixing had moved the Rebellion Palace to his royal city.
It turned out that Shen Zhixing's son, whom Lin Qian had killed, was none other than the son of the Blackhorn King, the Thirteenth Prince—Shen Zhixing himself.
"It seems Shen Zhixing and I are destined to clash," Lin Qian said coldly, a sneer playing on his lips. "A worthless man who couldn't even control his own son—like father, like son. Shen Zhixing himself is no different, hmph."
After hearing Lin Qian's account of why he had killed Shen Zhixing's son, Shen Yi, Yue Liqun was now fully convinced that the old Palace Lord had likely been murdered by Shen Zhixing.
There was no way Shen Zhixing, as Shen Yi's father, could have been unaware of his son's behavior. The fact that he allowed it to continue unchecked spoke volumes about his character.
"Shen Zhixing, as the Thirteenth Prince, has his own royal city, which is carved out of a mountain," Yue Liqun explained to Lin Qian as they traveled toward Shen Zhixing's domain. "Royal cities are smaller than regular cities, designed exclusively for the princes. They are carved into mountains and are heavily fortified."
"However, Shen Zhixing's royal city is heavily guarded, with a large private army. He also moved the entire Rebellion Palace there. There are at least a thousand Blackhorn warriors in the Awakening Realm, and nearly a million in the Life-and-Death Realm. The number of Blackhorn warriors in the Sky-Breaking Realm is even greater. As for the slaves, there are no ordinary people within the city."
"Those below the Nirvana Realm have no place in the royal city."
After hearing Yue Liqun's description, Lin Qian nodded. "Since there are no ordinary people, that makes things much easier."
"Easier?"
"In the city we captured earlier, there were too many ordinary Blackhorn Clan members and enslaved people from the other four clans, so we had to avoid using excessively violent methods," Lin Qian said, his eyes cold as he looked ahead. "But if there are no ordinary people in his royal city, we can simply wipe it out."
Meanwhile, inside his royal city, Shen Zhixing was examining the small courtyard that Lin Qian had previously occupied, curious about its durability. He even tried attacking it with his soul-force, only to find it completely unscathed.
"Impressive, this is indeed a valuable item," Shen Zhixing said with satisfaction, nodding as he touched the courtyard's walls. Then, he waved to several Awakening Realm Blackhorn warriors kneeling nearby. "Continue monitoring the ten settlements in that area. If the culprit isn't handed over, wipe them all out to avenge my son."
"My lord, what if the culprit is handed over?" one of the Blackhorn warriors asked.
"If they do, bring the culprit back to me, and then kill everyone in those ten settlements. Let them all accompany my son in death," Shen Zhixing said coldly, knocking on the courtyard walls. "My son is gone, and nothing can bring him back. The only thing I can do as his father is to ensure that a few million people join him in the afterlife as his servants."
"After all, those four lowly clans should be grateful for the honor of serving my son in death. Now go!"
"Yes, my lord!"
After his subordinates left, Shen Zhixing continued to admire the courtyard, marveling at its craftsmanship.
"The materials used to build this courtyard are extraordinary. If I could forge a soul weapon from them, the grade would be quite high," Shen Zhixing muttered, stroking the courtyard walls in admiration. "I wonder which fool used such rare materials to build a house—what a waste."
As he pondered, Shen Zhixing thought of Yue Liqun. "Finally, I've gotten rid of that eyesore. But who would have thought the rumors of people from the surface world would turn out to be true?"
"I just hope that human doesn't disrupt my plans." When Shen Zhixing thought of Lin Qian, his eyes grew cold.
At the current rate, in another twenty years, the entire Blackhorn Nation would reach its breaking point with the Blackhorn King. At that moment, Shen Zhixing would rise up, fully justified, and win the support of the entire Blackhorn Clan.
Then, he would reveal the truth about the Military Initiation Brew...
"No, if Yue Liqun tells those old fools about this, it could be troublesome." Suddenly realizing the potential threat, Shen Zhixing slapped his forehead. "And that human said he has an antidote. I should just kill Yue Liqun and capture that human. I'll torture him until he gives me the formula for the antidote."
"Then, when the time comes, I'll reveal the truth about the brew and the antidote at the same time—only then will I truly win over the people!" With this plan in mind, Shen Zhixing decided to head out immediately to kill Yue Liqun and capture Lin Qian.
What Shen Zhixing didn't know was that Lin Qian and Yue Liqun had already arrived just outside his royal city.
After snapping the neck of the last Blackhorn scout, Yue Liqun pointed to a mountain glowing faintly in the distance. "Your Majesty, that's Shen Zhixing's royal city. What should we do next?"
"I plan to shatter it," Lin Qian said coldly, staring at the towering mountain ahead.