Chapter 536 – The Setting Sun Amongst the Willows (2/2)

The tens of thousands of cold-resistant willows began to burn.

This was not the blaze brought about by the twilight, but true flames.

The cold winter garden seemed to have been instantly plunged into the blazing abyss of the Netherworld.

With a massive boom, flames were sent flying in every direction. The scorched willows toppled, the wells shattered, the walls collapsed.

After a long time passed, those rampaging Qis finally calmed.

The mansion was in ruins, its cold pond no longer able reflect the images of others.

Zhu Luo leaned against a shattered willow by the pond, his face pale, his chest covered in specks of blood. Even more seriously, his left hand had been severed at the wrist.

The fat old man stood on a rotted table, his plump body almost causing the edges of the table to collapse and seem ready to shatter at any moment. No joy could be found on his portly face, nor any of the majesty of an emperor. Only exhaustion and ugliness was left behind.

He had reached the threshold of the Divine Domain many years ago. If not for his fear of the response from that person in the capital, perhaps he would have already crossed it. In the battle just now, he had even displayed strength to rival that of the Divine Domain.

But he and Zhu Luo had still lost, and had lost miserably. If that sword intent's true goal had not been Zhu Luo, if his clan's techniques and the Golden Crow Sword had not shared a similar source, he might also have suffered severe injuries. Moreover, even with his assistance, Zhu Luo might already be dead.

And their opponent had merely been a letter of Su Li's.

Zhu Luo slowly stood up and looked around him.

The limitless beauty of the Myriad Willows Garden was now a part of the past—only scorched earth remained. In the distance, some willow trees were still burning.

The Myriad Willows Garden still existed, but it no longer resembled its name.

Just like him.

He was keenly aware that this was Su Li's revenge.

To this, there was nothing he could say.

”Forgive me, but I cannot take part in this matter in the capital.”

Zhu Luo said to the portly elder, not turning to face him, his expression somewhat desolate.

The portly elder knew that this was inevitable. Putting aside the possibility that Zhu Luo would forever be unable to return to the strength he held at his zenith, it was highly likely that he would have to leave the ranks of the Storms of the Eight Directions.

To Zhu Luo, the most important matter was to find a way to manage the futures of his clan and the Emotion-Severing Sect, because those two were his true legacy.

His mountainous body staggering, the plump old man made his way out of the Myriad Willows Garden.

Outside Hanqiu City, his subordinates assisted him in clambering with great difficulty onto an enormous carriage.

A middle-aged man, face caked with powder and voice rather piercing, whispered, ”Prince, what happened?”

”Do you know? I originally thought that if this grand affair succeeded, the first thing I would do is steal that big imperial carriage of the Liang Household.”

The portly elder narrowed his eyes in the direction of Xunyang City and sadly said, ”But now I don't even know whether I'll have the chance to sit in it for the rest of my life.”

He gazed at Xunyang City, but he was really gazing at the capital.

He spoke of the Liang Household's imperial carriage, but he really spoke of that throne in the Imperial Palace.

That middle-aged man had already been deeply unsettled by the strange phenomena occurring in the Myriad Willows Garden, but upon hearing the prince's sighs, he became unsettled to the extreme.

He and these soldiers and officials were all subordinate officers of the prince's household, but they could only obey the orders of the capital. In the past few years, he and the other subordinates had taken incredible risks to assist the prince in spreading the word. If the prince's grand affair failed, what path did they have to survival?

”Wuqiong Bi has entered the capital.”

The middle-aged man wanted to raise the prince's spirits, so he hurriedly relayed the news he had just received.

The portly elder was somewhat surprised. Although Wuqiong Bi was also one of the Eight Storms, she had never been a target of his recruitment efforts, because she was also a woman.

Why had that old Daoist nun gone to the capital? Might it introduce new variables?