You don't want your secret to be revealed by others, right?

Otherwise, he would have had no chance to set up such a trapping array to deceive a cultivator who had reached the Saint level.

Had it not been for this trapping array, Tian Ku Bodhisattva could have simply left. As long as he posed no threat to Lin Yue, he wouldn't have been able to activate the Imperial Decree.

Tian Ku Bodhisattva clearly did not expect the activation conditions of the Imperial Decree to be such; otherwise, he would have stubbornly defended himself rather than using ghastly spirits to hinder Lin Yue.

"The greatest threat posed by Hong Xi has now been dealt with."

Lin Yue tucked away the storage treasure left by Tian Ku Bodhisattva and swiftly refined it with Taiyang Fire while musing to himself, "I've also killed more than thirty Great Cultivators. That should be about enough."

His plan was actually quite simple.

It was to let Hong Xi draw out the enemies who had once annihilated the remnants of Prince Lin Mansion, such as the prominent Tian Ku Bodhisattva and those Great Cultivators.

During the several months Lin Yue spent with Hong Xi, he had long since obtained the secret of the sole survivor of the Prince Lin Mansion remnants—Prince Tian Xuan, Xiahong Wuyuan.

Those who had once sharpened their blades against Prince Lin Mansion were actually all worried about Xiahong Wuyuan's revenge.

Now that Hong Xi's identity had been exposed, these people would naturally come out and try to eliminate the roots and the stems.

He naturally could play the waiting hawk, cleaning them up all at once.

In this way, most of Hong Xi's enemies would be wiped out, significantly reducing the threat to her.

As for the remaining enemies, there was nothing to worry about. She had already been handpicked as a disciple by the Blood Sea Saint Mother. Even if the Blood Sea Saint Mother's true body could not act, as long as Hong Xi reached the Blood Sea and cultivated the Blood Sea Demon Body, her safety would be assured.

Moreover...

The secret of Prince Tian Xuan had another even more important role to play.

"Tian Ku Bodhisattva has died at my hands; the Demon Clan should understand my current strength now..."

Lin Yue narrowed his eyes slightly, "Next, if they wish to move against me, they would at least send several Demon Saints or even Heaven-Defying Heavenly Demons..."

He suddenly showed a hint of a smile, "No, if not, it would be a real loss."

Immediately, Lin Yue casually collected the Array Path treasure of the trapping array, and with the gold bracelet on his wrist rotating, it turned into a fiery blaze beneath his feet.

In the blink of an eye, he appeared tens of miles away above a lush green peak. With a distant palm strike, the surging power instantly penetrated the void, landing directly on the greed-filled Prince Xun, who was hidden within the mountain.

After delivering that palm strike, Lin Yue did not bother to check the result, instead controlling the Flying Spirit Chasing Sun, piercing through the void at a stunning speed, instantly covering thousands of miles.

After a while...

"Boom..."

The lush green mountain suddenly collapsed and shattered, and with it, the strong life force of Prince Xun was extinguished.

Following that—

"BOOM!!"

A thunderous roar that made heaven and earth tremble suddenly erupted, accompanied by horn-like wailing echoing throughout the land, a low and mournful cry filled with sorrow, as though the whole world grieved together.

Above in the grey sky, dense clouds spread, shrouding the sky and starting a drizzle.

After several years, the phenomenon associated with the fall of three generations of the Xiahong bloodline appeared once again.

...

A moment later.

On the collapsed green peak, streaks of light with terrifying auras descended.

The leader, dressed in Prince's attire, was young and handsome with a scholarly elegance—none other than Prince Cheng of the Twelfth Princes.

Alongside him were the respect-worthy Dong Qi of the five dignitaries of the Heavenly Punishment Department, elder members of the Heaven Patrol Alliance, and many more Cultivators of the Great Cultivator level.

In no time, countless eminences from Di Hong City gathered near this collapsed peak at the border of Jingzhou.

"Prince Cheng."

Dong Qi of the Heavenly Punishment Department, appearing like a youth and wearing a gold mask that obscured half of his face, had electric light swirling in his deep eyes.

Frowning slightly, Dong Qi said, "Tracing from the scene, within a five-hundred-mile radius, no intense aura of sin nor any suspicious traces were found."

Twelfth Prince remained silent, looking at the collapsed green hill, and spoke in a deep tone, "State the conclusion."

"There are two most likely possibilities."

Dong Qi spoke softly, "First, the culprit might be Duanmu Yan or the Star Lord. Both of them leave no sin when they kill and possess astonishing strength. Second, the murderer could be a Saint level cultivator with extremely high merit or national fate's protection, adept in concealment, capable of killing and then distancing themselves over five hundred miles away from the site in such a short time."

The Twelfth Prince remained silent for a while before saying, "Today, Qiong'er left Di Hong City for Cangzhou to eliminate the remnants of Prince Lin Mansion. Besides the Demon Path's Tian Ku Bodhisattva, there were also more than thirty Great Cultivators accompanying her."

"Tian Ku Bodhisattva?" Dong Qi Zun slightly frowned.

Tian Ku Bodhisattva is after all a strong figure on the Demon Path, and although privately everyone tacitly understands, no matter if they are from the Demon or the Righteous Path, most would want to befriend the powerful, but publicly it's still not feasible to be too direct.

"Tian Ku Bodhisattva probably doesn't have that ability," Dong Qi Zun said, "Moreover, he has no protection of national fate but instead carries a slight sin. Should he dare to kill a Commandery Prince, a great sin would descend upon him, and he would immediately draw the Heavenly Punishment."

"The prince is aware it's not him."

Twelfth Prince said in a calm voice, "But since Qiong'er's death, he has not shown himself, not even leaving behind a single message."

"Could it be that Tian Ku Bodhisattva has been killed as well? A saint powerful enough to kill Tian Ku Bodhisattva... Maybe it really was Duanmu Yan or the Star Lord?" Dong Qi Zun said.

Twelfth Prince fell silent for a moment before saying, "Go investigate at Primordial Mountain."

...

Cangzhou territory.

Mountain ranges like paintings, vast green fields.

In the midst of a desolate forest, Lin Yue appeared beneath a large tree without a sound.

The mark left by the Blood Sea Saint Mother was here.

"Your Highness."

Suddenly, a Divine Thought Transmission echoed in his mind.

Lin Yue took several steps forward, and his view abruptly changed, appearing at the shores of a blood-red lake.

The lake, like blood, gently rippled, emanating a faint scent of blood.

In the center of the lake, there was a pavilion, and inside the pavilion were the Blood Sea Saint Mother and Hong Xi.

Lin Yue tried to penetrate the Void, but within this blood-colored lake territory, the Void was extremely difficult to penetrate. Just across the short distance of several dozen yards, he had to penetrate five times before reaching the Lake Heart Pavilion.

"Saint Mother, now that your Inner Heaven and Earth has descended into reality, it exerts quite a strong suppression on the Void," Lin Yue said softly in appreciation.

"Your Highness flatters me. The Blood Sea is naturally adept at suppressing the Void," the Blood Sea Saint Mother replied with a slight shake of her head. "With my Inner Heaven and Earth Domain manifested, Your Highness can still forcibly penetrate. This alone proves how defying the Dao you wield is."

Lin Yue said no more.

The Sun Chasing Path, after all, specializes in penetrating all obstacles, which is its greatest advantage.

However, the Blood Sea Saint Mother here was only an avatar, and this Inner Heaven and Earth was far from as powerful as her true body.

If it were her true body here, Lin Yue, with only the nascent form of the Sun Chasing Path, would not possibly be able to penetrate the Void forcefully suppressed by her.

After all, the Blood Sea Saint Mother was also an extremely defying saintly existence.

As the two conversed, Hong Xi stood carefully behind the Blood Sea Saint Mother, listening and couldn't help but size up Lin Yue, thinking, "Is this really the same seven-year-old child who called her master?"

"Your Highness, I have reviewed the disciple you introduced to me," the Blood Sea Saint Mother said with a smile, glancing at Hong Xi beside her.

"How is she?" Lin Yue asked.

"A princely granddaughter, from the Xiahong family's fourth-generation bloodline, naturally, the talent cannot be poor," the Blood Sea Saint Mother spoke softly. "She is quite suitable for the Blood Sea Path. With dedicated cultivation, achieving a Perfect Blood Sea Demon Body and becoming a Great Cultivator should not be difficult."

Lin Yue nodded slightly, much reassured.

The Blood Sea Demon Body is widely recognized as the foremost method for preserving life in the world.

Once cultivated to perfection, the true body can merge completely with the Blood Sea, and as long as the Blood Sea isn't dried up, one is undying.

In terms of difficulty, it is actually much harder than breaking through the Three Talents Heaven and becoming a Great Cultivator.

For the fourth-generation bloodline of the Xiahong family, breaking through the Three Talents Heaven Barrier is basic practice.

"Saint Mother," Lin Yue suddenly transmitted, "With Hong Xi here, do we still need to have a child together?"

"Your Highness, Hong Xi only carries the fourth-generation bloodline of the Xiahong family, and she isn't born of me, not as compatible with the Blood Sea Demon Path," the Blood Sea Saint Mother transmitted back. "If the child is of my own, nurtured diligently from the fetus stage, it will be the most suitable for the Blood Sea Demon Path, and only then might it have the chance to accommodate the Divine Power of the Blood Sea."

Lin Yue raised an eyebrow slightly but said nothing.

"Your Highness, there's no hurry. Wait until you become a saint, and then come find me in the Blood Sea," the Blood Sea Saint Mother said.