Chapter 830 — Elegy of the Imperial Scion

"You killed an Unchanging Constant? " Zhe Huali's pupils shrank, and behind him the demon blade's eye snapped open, fixing upon Prince Qiuming.

Lin Xiao, the little man in the lamp, had told them the secret of the Unchanging Constants and stirred up infighting among the boarders; Zhe Huali had himself suspected that the Unchanging Constants could die. He had only never imagined that Prince Qiuming would go hunting the other boarders, and that he would actually kill one.

Prince Qiuming said unhurriedly, "I wished to see whether killing another Unchanging Constant would affect us in any way.

Perhaps it might even leave us one man the more. But I have found that I have come to the edge of turning immaterial. In the last cycle, a portion of my power vanished. I fear I will become void before I can ever test whether the notion holds. " Zhe Huali's heart sank.

He himself did not yet feel himself turning immaterial, which meant the ghost ship judged Prince Qiuming's strength to be above his own; and so Prince Qiuming was being made immaterial by the ship, his power whittled away.

"I dare not cut away my own cultivation, for if I cut it away I would very likely die at another's hands. So I set all else aside and came looking for the two of you. " Prince Qiuming smiled.

"My purpose in descending to the lower realm this time was to rid it of Shen the Overlord Body and the rest of the reform faction, to strangle the threat from below in the cradle. Zhe Huali, you are of the Heavenly Court's Lingxiu Army, and I am a prince of the Heavenly Court.

You are my subordinate. You know very well what you ought to do. After I dispose of Shen the Overlord Body, I will cut away my own cultivation, you will become void, and I will live. Break this monstrous ship, and you may yet have a chance to survive. " Zhe Huali was silent, then suddenly shook his head.

"I do not trust you.

I trust only my blade. " He raised his head and looked far off at Prince Qiuming. "The road beneath me I walked out myself; my cultivation I refined myself; my life was given me by my parents, not bestowed in charity by a prince. I may be of the Heavenly Court's Lingxiu Army, but I am no lowborn mongrel.

The life my parents gave me I will hold fast in my own hand, and give to no one. " Prince Qiuming frowned slightly.

"My method is simple: rid the ship of every other Unchanging Constant, leave myself alone, and then take my own life.

" Zhe Huali stared at him in astonishment. Prince Qiuming said, "With no Unchanging Constants left aboard, the stability of the divine power will fall to its lowest point, and the divine power will collapse. Once it collapses, we will each return to our own eras, and no one need die. Set your mind at ease.

I am confident I have the strength to kill the mighty of thirty-five eras! " He was exceedingly conceited.

"You studied under Luo Wushuang, and then under Vajra, entering the Dao through the blade.

That is no small thing. But what you learned are all wild ways. " Zhe Huali frowned. Prince Qiuming said, "What I learned are the Emperor Throne arts of the Heavenly Court, taught to me under the personal guidance of the Court's Heavenly Masters. Many belittle the sons of the imperial house, thinking us all idle young lords. That is nonsense. We princes are many, and to rise above the rest a man must work harder than anyone, must be more diligent than anyone; otherwise a prince is a phoenix stripped of its feathers, worth less than a Plume-Crested Fire Pheasant Dragon!

And the intrigues within the imperial house are endless in their devices. The perils I have met in this life are no fewer than yours.

" Zhe Huali was filled with solemn respect.

"That a prince should be entrusted with so heavy a charge shows plainly that you cut a bloody road out from among ten thousand princes.

" Prince Qiuming smiled. "Then, Zhe Huali, will you follow me?

" "No.

" Zhe Huali said calmly, "Though I respect you, I will not be loyal to you, nor will I trust you. I trust only my blade. I am loyal only to my blade. " "You men who rose from low and humble stations, you rough-hewn folk — why must you always flaunt your talents and hold the world in contempt?

" Prince Qiuming sighed.

"You people are the ones I cannot abide. The moment you have a scrap of ability you turn your noses to the sky and think yourselves so very great. You never stop to consider that I was born better than you, and work harder than you, and stand higher than you in strength. I lower myself to speak with you civilly, and still you are this unruly.

" "Because.

.

. " Zhe Huali drew his blade and charged him, the demon blade raised high, and in an instant blade-light filled the heavens, blade-qi like a long rainbow, as he roared, "The station and the glory you held from the moment you were born are things we could strive for hundreds of years, or all our lives, and still never reach!

" His blade art grew faster and faster, and within the blade lay his own ambition, his own heart's blood, his own integrity! "You think it only natural that you were born into the imperial house; to us it is a thing beyond reach! " "You think us arrogant and contemptuous of all, never knowing how many of us poor and lowborn have died, how many white bones we have trodden upon, to come even this far!

" "You think yourself diligent, never knowing how much blood and sweat every single step costs us, how many bones of comrades and enemies we must climb over to crawl up to this place!

" "Follow you, and make you the Unchanging Constant? " Zhe Huali's demon blade went mad; blade-light like quicksilver spilled across the ground became his brush, his ink, letting him pour out his heart and write his own feelings.

"If I yield to you, if I follow you, how am I to face the comrades who died at my side? How am I to be worthy of the enemies who died beneath my blade?

" He laughed aloud and unleashed his own great Dao of the long blade. "Why should the sons of the Heavenly Emperor be born a cut above all others, as a matter of course?

Why should they be beyond death? " Prince Qiuming met his blade with sword-light and smiled. "I have heard that those who enter the Dao through the blade all carry a singular grandeur of spirit. A pity that I was born noble; it is a thing even I cannot avoid. But had I been born into a poor and humble house like yours, I too would have risen all the way, soaring to glory!

This is not confidence, but. .

. " His sword-light burst out of a sudden, like countless silver needles shuttling at flying speed, each needle aimed precisely at Zhe Huali's blade-light, blocking it. There was no longer a sword in Prince Qiuming's hand.

His body gave a sudden shudder, and behind him appeared the forty-nine principles of the Heavenly Dao, running crosswise.

He pushed both hands forward, and a dreadful divine power erupted, a monstrous force crushing down upon Zhe Huali's demon blade and driving it back!

One great hall after another in the barracks came apart, crumbling beneath the might of his divine power!

Zhe Huali grunted, spat blood, and unleashed the second stance of his demon blade, cleaving through the principles of the Heavenly Dao.

Chih-chih-chih. Silver needle after silver needle shot into his chest and out through his back, blood spraying. Prince Qiuming's body swayed, and behind him rose the phantom of a demon god, ox-horned, tiger-faced, human-bodied, ox-tailed. He drove out a fist, and rolling demonic qi of Youdu turned into a demonic divine power; the enormous fist, trailing countless silver needles, smashed into Zhe Huali, crushing him down with a thunderous boom onto the main hall before Shen Mu.

The main hall was half caved in by that one blow.