Imperial God Emperor (Web Novel)

The whole street seemed to be stunned into stillness, like a picture frozen in time.

A bone-chilling iciness circulated in the void.

Clack clack clack... Wei Heng's teeth chattered.

He felt as though all his energy had been sapped from his body and he couldn't even grip the iron whip in his hand. He was so terrified that he lost his ability to think logically; he was probably wishing that he had never shown up that day.

Hundreds of Demon Dragon-armored soldiers that surrounded the carriage were frozen on the spot.

They were all elite soldiers who had fought on the battlefield. They had seen blood, corpses and spilled blood in warfare, having witnessed countless gruesome and intense battles. All of their experiences resulted in them carrying a steely evil qi that ordinary martial artists lacked, and they would never hesitate even if they encountered immense dangers and difficulties. Yet, they were now so terrified that they found it difficult to breathe and couldn't even reach for their swords.

The atmosphere was quiet and deadly still.

Time seemed to have stopped.

A long while later.

"Are you a swordsman violating the prohibitions of the state by using violence? Haha, I don't know who you are but I must admit that you're very powerful. Nonetheless, this doesn't mean that you would dare to provoke me... Moreover, haha, I doubt that you would actually have the guts to kill me," a cold voice rang out from the carriage, dripping with contempt. The person inside the carriage seemed to have calmed down, and her voice became softer, her arrogance returning. "I do admit that I've underestimated your power this time but I want you to know that there are also true martial experts allied with the King of Zhenyuan's residence."

Ye Qingyu didn't speak.

His silence made the woman in the carriage even more certain that she was right.

"Even a Quasi-emperor wouldn't dare to show me such disrespect," the cold and contemptuous voice took on a smug tone as she continued, "You might be someone who isn't from the Royal City, but you should know how powerful the King of Zhenyuan's residence is. There's no need to bring harm upon yourself."

Ye Qingyu stood in front of the carriage with his hands behind his back as he stared at the black carriage door, but he didn't make a move to attack.

It was as though he was really frightened by her words.

"Hahaha..." the woman in the carriage laughed loudly and there was a tinge of scorn in her contemptuous laughter, "I've seen so many of your ilk. What are you still doing here? Don't you know that you're challenging the authority of a king of the Guardians' camp?"

"Moron."

Ye Qingyu raised his head and his eyes flickered brightly, as though they were charged with lightning.

"A moron like yourself—so spoiled and corrupted by power, who has forgotten what you should truly fear, has truly rewritten my assumption of how dumb the noblemen of the Guardian's camp could be..." he said, then he lifted his hand.

The carriage that was carved from black formation obsidian, signifying the authority of the emperor, was instantly destroyed as though it had been attacked by the passage of time. It immediately turned into black powder and drifted across the night sky like dust in the wind.

After the carriage was destroyed, a beautiful woman who had such an immense sense of superiority and who had been seating arrogantly in the carriage was revealed. The contempt on her face had been replaced by expressions of panic and fear.

A powerful wave of energy charged toward her and this energy pull her toward Ye Qingyu against her will.

Her beautiful, fair and slender neck landed on his palm and his fingers wrapped themselves around it mercilessly. The moment she sensed the destructive power emitting from his fingers, she was so terrified that she couldn't even speak.

"You were the one who had urged the carriages to crush everything in their way, that day at the Wanyi Bazaar, weren't you?" Ye Qingyu asked, enunciating each word clearly as he stared into her terrified yet indignant eyes.

"Hack hack..." the beautiful woman started coughing violently.

She was livid and wanted to spew curses at him, but when her anger bubbled up to the surface, for some reason, all her angry curses turned into pure terror and she couldn't bring herself to say those words any longer. Instead, she nodded feebly.

She felt like crying.

She was filled with a mix of helplessness, fear, terror, and shock. All these emotions frantically clashed and merged within her.

"Do you really think that your authority will be able to decide everything? Moron... all authority is nothing but a passing cloud in front of absolute power," he shook his head regretfully at the ignorant princess.

This woman had been raised under the protection of the King of Zhenyuan's influence and power. Over time, she completely failed to realize that in their world where martial artists ruled, the strong preyed on the weak. This was why she chose the dumbest method of threatening and yelling at him to resolve matters, even when she was already in dire straits and knew that he could have killed her at any moment.

It was possible that as time passed, the martial artists of the Royal City, especially the noblemen, had already lost the true courage and sharpness that a martial artist ought to possess. They were so used to submitting to authority that this only fueled the arrogance and domineering attitude of the so-called royals and noblemen.

The prevalence of this attitude throughout the Dark Realm and the Vast Thousand Domains was certainly regrettable.

"I was silent earlier because I was wondering what prompted a mere Great Saint like yourself to behave so arrogantly at the Royal City of the Guardians? Has the King of Zhenyuan gone mad with age? How did he manage to raise such an idiotic daughter? I heard that your nickname is Poison Flower?" he asked.

Her courage had completely left her and thus, she could only nod as tears rolled down her cheeks.

All her arrogance, schemes, sense of superiority, and confidence had melted away like ice when she felt his iron grip around her neck. She truly understood what terror was in front of absolute power.

"Oh, Princess Poison Flower... Haha, I bet you don't know that people call you this not because they fear you, but because they think you're dumb. No matter how poisonous a flower is, it is ultimately only a flower, so how would it be able to resist the power of a blade?" he asked scornfully.

At that moment, Wei Heng who was beside her had finally recovered his wits.

He was consumed with regret and extreme terror. If he had known how fierce and brash Zhang Longcheng was, he would have never instigated his mistress to seek revenge once again. If his mistress died today, he would definitely face the same fate.

"You... wait, don't kill her. You... can't...." he cried in panic.

Ye Qingyu waved backhandedly without even turning around and just like what happened to the carriage earlier, Wei Heng immediately transformed into snowflakes that danced across the sky before disappearing in the void.

Ye Qingyu had already shown him mercy the previous time and spared him from death, but, since Wei Heng still dared to attempt another attack, why should he spare him once more?

Princess Poison Flower's eyes immediately widened, but her pupils constricted to the size of pinpricks.

When she saw her closest servant die in front of her, despite him dying in a rather beautiful manner, free from bloodshed, this was the final straw that broke her. Her nefarious schemes and merciless ways that she had been so proud of suddenly seemed extremely laughable; his death immediately caused all her arrogance to disappear.

"The order at the Royal City will need to be changed. True martial artists should be accorded proper respect and they should not cower under the reigning authorities," Ye Qingyu said clearly.

Princess Poison Flower trembled for she sensed the mighty and abundant aura emanating from him.

This was a truly mighty and noble spiritual strength.

"There will always be bloodshed in reforms... and since that is the case, let's start with your blood," he said and his fingers tightened around her neck. There was a loud crack as her neck immediately broke and twisted at a horrifying angle.

"Ack... cough cough... no..." blood gushed from her mouth as she struggled with all her might.

A ray of light flickered within her body and unleashed some form of power as she tried to break free of his grip.

This power had been planted within her by a Quasi-emperor.

"Hmm?" he said as the grip on her loosened.

Princess Poison Flower broke free and her broken neck was instantly healed as her blood qi surged.

She looked at Ye Qingyu as though he was a demonic ghost, then she turned to flee. She no longer wanted to spend a second in his presence.

However—

Icy ripples circulated in the surrounding void.

She was thrown back by an invisible icy force.

This was a restraining formation that he had laid in place from the very beginning.

"Since you've come, you should be prepared to face the consequences of your actions," Ye Qingyu smiled mercilessly as he bore down on her.

"No, wait, listen to me..." Princess Poison Flower stuttered in utter panic.

All her schemes and veneer of authority were nothing in front of this man and for the first time, she realized how pathetically helpless and vulnerable she was.

At the same time.

Hidden by darkness in the distance around the area.

All was quiet and the streets were empty, but this didn't mean that no one was paying attention to this battle.

There were more than ten figures scattered across different parts of the darkness and they were all top-level experts who had become one with the yuan qi of the universe. No one could detect their presence apart from Quasi-emperors.

"Reform..." a thin figure muttered distractedly, as though Ye Qingyu's words had touched him.

In another part of the darkness.

"Humph, he speaks arrogantly and looks down on the noblemen... We can't keep Zhang Longcheng around," someone else said. Black jade and pearl qi swirled around this figure and cruel qi could be heard in his voice as he spoke.

From a different location.

"Zhang Longcheng is indeed a talented man and is truly a sleeping dragon. I can't believe such a person arrived at the Royal City. Is lady luck really smiling on Nie Tiankong? First, he made a significant contribution, then he obtained the support of this sleeping dragon... However, Zhang Longcheng is too ruthless, and he'll fail if he is too stubborn!"

From another vantage point.

"Haha, the overbearing King of Zhenyuan has finally met its match... Hehe, this man has potential since he even dared to kill Princess Poison Flower. We might even need to rely on him to topple the King of Zhenyuan from power in the future."

These people had all formed different opinions about Zhang Longcheng.

They represented the various forces of the Royal City and their opinions varied in accordance with their motives and interests.

At that moment—

Swish!

A flowing light rushed toward the inn, instantly ripping past the night sky.

"Hmm? I guess Nie Tiankong is rushing over after hearing the news."

The figures hidden in the void immediately disappeared because they knew that this matter would be resolved with his appearance.

No one doubted his ability to govern and regardless of how he settled the battle at the inn tonight, they would all know the result and form their own conclusions; it was unnecessary for them to linger.

A barely perceptible smile flashed across Ye Qingyu's face.

Had Nie Tiankong finally arrived?