"Murong Tie, you know nothing of the power of curses!" Liang Feifan thrust his intestines back into his abdomen. "Did you really think I came here unprepared?!"
With a flip of his right hand, Murong Tie produced a bone dagger.
As the blade flashed, a deep gash opened on his left palm.
Strangely, no blood flowed from the wound. Instead, a visible vortex formed.
The corpses of the black-clothed cultivators slowly floated up, mysterious talismans appearing on their bodies, identical to Murong Tie's.
The next moment, the bodies of the black-clothed cultivators underwent a grotesque transformation!
They began to shrink, as if being subjected to immense, relentless pressure.
Bone fragments poked out from flesh and blood, only to be instantly crushed into dust.
In the time it took to draw a single breath, all the corpses condensed into fist-sized blood orbs!
This scene was also unfolding outside the imperial palace.
The rebelling ministers and soldiers felt a sharp pain throughout their bodies, and then lost consciousness completely…
One by one, fist-sized blood orbs passed through the barrier and flew towards Murong Tie's palm!
"Rumble—!"
The ground beneath the imperial palace began to shake violently, and a massive vortex storm enveloped the entire palace!
"Crack, crack..."
The protective barriers around the palace and its structures began to shatter inch by inch, dissolving into nothingness!
Suddenly, terrified screams echoed throughout the imperial palace!
Unbeknownst to anyone, dark clouds had already gathered in the sky.
"Rumble, rumble—!"
Deep thunderous roars reverberated ceaselessly!
Countless blood orbs converged in Murong Tie's left palm, forming a single blood orb the size of a human head.
The orb was so black it looked red, exuding a foul and sickening stench.
Liang Feifan and Liang Dekuai accidentally inhaled some of it and immediately felt dizzy and disoriented.
Liang Dekuai was relatively fine.
At most, he felt dizzy and nauseous.
Liang Feifan, however, fared much worse!
Blood burst from his seven orifices, splattering everywhere!
His already pale face turned ashen, and he collapsed onto the ground, utterly weak!
Murong Tie's body slowly floated into the air.
"Although I may not escape death today," Murong Tie said with a look of madness, "the destiny of your Liang family has also come to an end!"
Then, Murong Tie tossed the black blood orb high into the sky.
The fluctuations emanating from the orb grew stronger and stronger, appearing as if it would explode at any moment.
"Once I detonate the curse on Liang Rujing, there will be no more Liang family in this world!" Murong Tie's insane roar echoed from above.
Finally.
The fluctuations from the blood orb reached the critical point of explosion!
And then…
The dark clouds dispersed…
The storm subsided…
The earth fell silent…
…
Murong Tie blinked in confusion.
Why was this not unfolding as he had planned?
Wasn't he supposed to detonate the curse and destroy the Liang family?
Why did it feel like he detonated nothing?
…
"No! This is impossible!" Murong Tie could no longer remain calm, looking at Liang Feifan and Liang Dekuai with utter disbelief. "You were supposed to…"
He stopped mid-sentence, cut off by the appearance of two figures in his line of sight.
It turned out that after Liang Dekuai had not returned for a long time, the three people inside the house had begun to suspect something was amiss.
Ye Fan was just about to go out and see what was happening when the ground beneath their feet began to shake violently.
Ye Fan and Liang Rujing, holding onto the walls for support, made their way to the main hall.
And then they saw the scene before them.
A pile of half-dead cultivators lay on the ground. Liang Dekuai and an unfamiliar old man were huddled together, trembling.
In mid-air, a monstrous, alien-like entity was gleefully playing with a black orb…
"Liang Rujing!"
Upon seeing who had arrived, Murong Tie's composure completely shattered!
"No! This is impossible!"
"I clearly detonated the curse on you, why are you unharmed!"
"No! I don't believe it!"
…
Murong Tie, shouting in a frenzy, once again activated the black blood orb in mid-air.
The scene from before repeated itself.
Dark clouds appeared with rumbling thunder.
A vortex storm enveloped the entire imperial palace.
The ground began to shake violently.
The blood orb again reached the critical point of explosion.
And then.
There was no then…
From Murong Tie's words earlier, Ye Fan had a rough understanding of what was happening.
That black orb was supposed to be the means to detonate Liang Rujing's curse.
However, the curse on Liang Rujing was no longer present, so it naturally could not be detonated.
Trying to use a dead battery to play on a phone was probably wishful thinking…
Murong Tie clearly could not accept reality and continued to try.
At first, Liang Rujing's family was a little nervous, fearing he might still cause some unexpected trouble.
But after a while, they stopped paying attention.
Well…
It was like an after-dinner entertainment program…
Given Murong Tie's strenuous performance, a round of applause was in order, wasn't it?
So Ye Fan took out chairs and a table, and pulled Liang Rujing to sit down.
Then, he took out a large watermelon from his ring and cut it into several pieces.
"Father Emperor, come over here," Liang Rujing waved to Liang Dekuai.
Liang Dekuai, supporting the weakened Liang Feifan, walked over and sat on a small stool.
After a brief introduction, Liang Rujing learned that this unfamiliar old man was actually her ancestor.
After a few polite greetings, the four of them began to watch while eating watermelon.
More accurately, Ye Fan and the other two ate watermelon, while Liang Feifan suppressed his injuries with his true qi.
"Ancestor, won't you have a piece?" Liang Rujing thoughtfully offered a cut slice of watermelon. "It's delicious."
"You all eat, don't mind me," Liang Feifan shook his head and continued to suppress his injuries.
"Alright then." Liang Rujing didn't insist and continued to eat her watermelon with delight.
"Hey? Ye Fan, this little stool of yours is quite good! It barely shakes even when the ground is shaking."
"If you like it, I'll give you a few later."
"Is this person an idiot? Still trying so hard when he knows it's useless?"
"Why bother? Maybe he's enjoying himself."
…
Fifteen minutes later.
Murong Tie was exhausted…
Especially seeing Liang Rujing and the others ignore him and eat watermelon, he coughed up a large mouthful of blood in anger!
It felt like being watched by a crowd while performing as a monkey…
"Even if I can't destroy both families today, I'll take you old bastard down with me!" Murong Tie roared and plunged his hand into the black blood orb.
The next moment.
His flesh began to melt and rot, merging with the blood orb.
"Buzz, buzz, buzz…"
After absorbing Murong Tie, the blood orb began to tremble rapidly.
With each tremor, its volume increased!
With each tremor, the evil aura it emitted surged!
In just a few breaths, the black blood orb grew to a size of thirty feet in diameter!
"Whoosh!"
A black blood tendril shot out, striking a nearby guard.
The guard didn't even have time to scream before dissolving into a pool of blood!
The blood was then absorbed into the air, merging with the blood orb!
The guards in that area were startled and quickly retreated.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"
Several more blood tendrils were fired.
Before the guards could run far, they were all absorbed by the blood orb!
Liang Feifan's heart sank!
If this blood orb were allowed to grow larger, the imperial palace would surely be in danger!
No, he had to stop it!
"Pfft—!" Just as Liang Feifan was about to stand up, he coughed up another large mouthful of blood.
He was willing but powerless.
"Whoosh—!"
"Whoosh—!"
Just as Liang Feifan fell into despair, two figures shot out from the sky.