The quiet City of the Divine People was now completely filled with screams. The slave uprising and the sand dwellers’ assault turned the outer city into instant chaos, and even the upper citizens in the inner city fell into panic.
The information spread to the temple at the fastest speed. The only remaining high priest, Hoyi, had stayed outside the House of Selti these past few days. Countless mid-level and low-level priests also remained here, waiting for news from the Necromancer Realm.
In Hoyi’s original judgement, Ye Shui and his group entering the Necromancer Realm would be quickly dealt with by the Spirit God King. The Spirit God King would even use the three necromantic relics to leave that place. He had originally been full of supreme confidence, but with two days passing without any news from the Necromancer Realm, his heart grew increasingly uneasy.
The Spirit God King was the master of the Necromancer Realm, commanding countless undead armies. No matter how one looked at it, Ye Shui and his group could not possibly oppose the Spirit God King there. How could any mishap occur?
The sand dwellers’ attack made Hoyi even more restless.
“Go and summon all the princes here.” Hoyi stood at the railing, looking towards the outer city, his voice somewhat cold as he instructed.
As the only remaining high priest, Hoyi was the absolute ruler of the entire City of the Divine People besides the Spirit God. A low-level priest immediately agreed and hurried away.
“Lord Hoyi, do you intend to…” A trusted subordinate thought of something and walked to Hoyi’s side to ask.
Hoyi nodded. “The greatest strength of the City of the Divine People lies in the Spirit Gods, but the Spirit Gods can only exert their full power when possessing a host. Ordinary people cannot bear the power of the Spirit Gods. Only the princes from the outside world can be possessed by the Spirit Gods.”
Spirit Gods at the level of the dead could only possess princes because the princes automatically awakened guardian spirits upon entering the Secret Realm World. The Spirit God would kill the prince’s guardian spirit and take its place, forcibly possessing the prince’s body. Among all Spirit Gods, except for the special Beast Spirit God, the others needed this method to possess a host.
After learning of the Crown War’s activation, the City of the Divine People had begun collecting princes, originally to allow the Spirit God King to choose a suitable host among them. But now, with the situation urgent, Priest Hoyi could only make a decision: have the other Spirit Gods worshipped in the House of Selti possess the princes respectively to counter the crisis facing the City of the Divine People.
Besides the Spirit God King, the City of the Divine People worshipped four other Spirit Gods.
Excluding the Beast Spirit God, there were the Blood Spirit God, the Void Spirit God, and the Drought Spirit God.
The Beast Spirit God, being special, could possess anyone at will. The other three Spirit Gods could only choose princes as hosts. Priest Hoyi decided to select three from the Third Prince, Fourth Prince, Seventh Prince, Eighth Prince, and Ninth Prince, forcibly letting the three Spirit Gods possess them to gain powerful strength. As for the Beast Spirit God… Priest Hoyi silently glanced at the City of the Divine People one last time, then turned and walked into the House of Selti.
After being possessed by a Spirit God, one’s consciousness would be enslaved by the Spirit God. He would no longer be himself, his self would cease to exist. In a way, it was akin to death. The Invincible Priest had originally been his friend, but after becoming the host of the Beast Spirit God, Hoyi could no longer find any familiar feeling in him. Priest Hoyi did not want to become the next host of the Beast Spirit God, but now he had to do it.
For the glory of the City of the Divine People.
After the Invincible Priest was killed by Ye Shui, the Beast Spirit God had also suffered severe damage, but it remained powerful. And he would be the next host of the Beast Spirit God!
…
Xue Yi of the Moonstone Family, upon learning of the sand dwellers’ assault, immediately hurried nervously to the Ninth Prince’s residence.
Ever since two days ago when Ye Shui and his group had infiltrated the City of the Divine People, the Ninth Prince seemed like a changed man. Xue Yi felt his transformation most acutely. Every time she invited the Ninth Prince, he would make excuses to brush her off. Over these two days, he had stayed in his room almost without stepping out.
Xue Yi did not know what had happened to the Ninth Prince, but upon hearing that the sand dwellers were attacking, her first thought was to stay by his side. The current Xue Yi had long lost the confidence she had upon first arriving in the City of the Divine People. An emotion rare for her was quietly changing her: regret.
She somewhat regretted why she had broken things off with the Sixth Prince, regretted why she had chosen the City of the Divine People, and most regretted why she had stood in opposition to Ye Shui and allied with the divine people… These fools in the City of the Divine People had never understood Ye Shui’s terror from the start!
When Ye Shui was sent into the Necromancer Realm, all the divine people and even those princes believed he was surely dead. But only Xue Yi had a foreboding premonition. Two days passed with no news from the Necromancer Realm, as if confirming some of her suspicions.
In her haste, Xue Yi did not knock as she usually would. She pushed open the door to the Ninth Prince’s room and rushed in, about to speak when her body suddenly froze there. The Ninth Prince sat on a crude stone seat, looking like a lifeless puppet, unmoving. Threads wrapped around his body. Behind the Ninth Prince, a strange figure in a black robe floated in mid-air. Those threads extended from the black-robed figure’s fingers.
“This is…” Xue Yi’s eyes widened, sensing something wrong, and she immediately wanted to flee.
But the next moment, the door closed, and the First Prince appeared at the entrance!
“First Prince!” Xue Yi exclaimed.
“The second daughter of the Moonstone Family.” The First Prince looked at Xue Yi coldly.
“You, how are you here…” Xue Yi said in surprise. She was clever and, after glancing at the Ninth Prince’s odd state, quickly understood what had happened. “These past two days, the Ninth Prince has been under your control!”
“Correct… My guardian spirit is the dark magician known as the Puppeteer, who can control others’ words and actions, completely dominating their behaviour without their knowledge.” The First Prince explained. As he spoke, he drew a shortsword from his waist, preparing to end Xue Yi’s life.
Two days ago, the First Prince had been poisoned and nearly died at the Ninth Prince’s hand. But he was no fool and had some aces up his sleeve. He immediately consumed a life-saving potion, preserving his life, then activated his guardian spirit, the dark magician Puppeteer, which he had never revealed before, and took control of the Ninth Prince.
Two days ago, when Ye Shui and his group were sent into the Necromancer Realm, the Ninth Prince who appeared in the House of Selti with a worried expression was actually fully controlled by the First Prince at that time.
Over these two days, the Ninth Prince had remained under the First Prince’s control.
However, the poison the First Prince had been afflicted with was truly terrifying. Although the life-saving potion neutralised some of it, he remained extremely weak these past two days and could not fully suppress the raging toxin in his body…
Now, seeing Xue Yi stumble upon his secret, the First Prince instinctively wanted to eliminate her to prevent future troubles.
After realising what was happening, Xue Yi quickly calmed down and hurriedly said, “First Prince, I absolutely will not reveal your secret… You may not know yet, but the sand dwellers have already breached the City of the Divine People. I am willing to surrender to you. I only hope you can spare my life! I admit I made the wrong choice. I hope you can give me another chance.”
Her face was full of regret as she spoke.
The First Prince’s expression softened slightly.
The next moment, silver light flashed. Xue Yi turned into a streak of light, unleashing an assault sword technique, swiftly striking at the First Prince.
Clang!
Xue Yi’s shortsword was blocked by the First Prince’s.
Though hailed as the Merciful Prince, the First Prince was also a clever one. He knew Xue Yi’s nature well. Although his expression relaxed, he remained on guard. But now he was too weak. His own strength far surpassed Xue Yi’s originally. He had blocked her sneak attack just now. If it were his peak condition, he could counter and finish her off. But now his body swayed, struggling to continue.
Seeing her sneak attack fail, Xue Yi did not tangle with the First Prince. She activated the assault sword technique again, crashing through the door with a boom, trying to escape outside.
“You cannot leave!” The First Prince shouted urgently. “Puppeteer, stop her!”
The Puppeteer floating behind the Ninth Prince immediately waved its hand, shooting out threads that swiftly wrapped towards Xue Yi.
Xue Yi’s charging figure halted abruptly. She let out a cry of alarm and was pulled back. The Puppeteer’s threads were nearly invisible, making it look as if she had been struck by a great force from outside and thrown back to the ground.
Xue Yi’s face paled, looking at the First Prince in terror.
But at that moment, she saw a trace of fear on the First Prince’s face.
The Puppeteer had been restraining the Ninth Prince these past days, and the Ninth Prince had been resisting it. Just now, the First Prince had been forced to have the Puppeteer attack Xue Yi, which gave the Ninth Prince a slight opening to briefly break free from the control.
A ruthless expression appeared on the Ninth Prince’s originally puppet-like stiff face.
A small black shadow emerged beside the Ninth Prince, gradually clarifying into a petite girl in black clothes.
That was the Ninth Prince’s guardian spirit, an assassin accustomed to lurking in the shadows.
The Ninth Prince issued a hoarse command to the girl guardian spirit.
“Kill me!”
Hearing the Ninth Prince’s words, everyone else in the room was stunned.
The Ninth Prince had finally broken free and summoned his guardian spirit, yet his command was… to kill me?
Had these days under the First Prince’s control driven him to such despair that he only wanted to end his own life!?
The girl assassin paused slightly, but she loyally followed the Ninth Prince’s order, her body turning into a shadow as she lunged at him.
However…
The girl assassin’s sword did not land on the Ninth Prince.
In that instant, the First Prince suddenly stepped in front of her.
The girl assassin’s short blade had already sunk into the First Prince’s chest.
“Sigh…”
The First Prince looked down at the broken blade in his chest and let out a sorrowful sigh.
The Ninth Prince was his son. Though furious at his son’s ruthless methods, he still did not want to see him die.
Thus, the Ninth Prince exploited that!
Though the Ninth Prince had briefly escaped the binding control, he knew the short time was not enough to fully shake off the Puppeteer. So he summoned his guardian spirit and had it attack him. The First Prince would not stand by… Just as he anticipated, the First Prince blocked the girl assassin’s strike for him.
With sadness and helplessness, the First Prince’s body slowly collapsed to the ground.
The invisible Puppeteer controlling the Ninth Prince dissipated, signifying the First Prince’s complete death.
The Ninth Prince stood up from beside the table, looking coldly at his father’s corpse, flexing his body.
A tiger does not eat its cubs, but a cub may devour its father.
“Ninth Prince…” Xue Yi stared blankly at the Ninth Prince.
The Ninth Prince continued to gaze coldly at his father’s body, his eyes filled with savage and ferocious intent. He had originally not intended to kill the First Prince. He had only used half a packet of the poison his mother gave him, planning to spare the First Prince’s life. But these two days had completely eroded the last shred of kindness in his heart.
“I am the emperor. No one can stop me!” The Ninth Prince muttered neurotically.
“I am truly curious…” At that moment, a woman’s voice suddenly sounded beside him. The accent was from the outside world, so it could not be from the City of the Divine People. Could it be one of the women from Ye Shui’s group? The Ninth Prince and Xue Yi both grew alert and looked towards the voice. At the corner of the wall, a massive man-eating flower was slowly rising. The flower bloomed like an opening mouth, revealing a girl’s figure.
In Clown Town, the Joker Girl Liya could perform a reverse summon through such a man-eating flower in moments of crisis to evade danger, but each time it required a huge cost and the aid of a clown relic.
But now, the Joker Girl Denny could achieve perfect reverse summon teleportation.
This proved that the Joker Girl Liya’s power had greatly enhanced after becoming a heroic spirit and fusing with Denny. She was no longer just Liya or Denny, but the Joker Girl Denny.
“Liya!?” The Ninth Prince said in surprise. Upon entering the Secret Realm World, he had seen footage of Denny acting in the secret room behind the church and guessed that the Joker Girl Liya had likely become a heroic spirit and signed a heroic spirit contract. Now Denny’s appearance confirmed his guess. That massive man-eating flower was all too familiar to him.
“I am not Liya, nor am I just Denny.” Denny said softly, her demeanour cold and calm. “The heroic spirit contract fused Liya and Denny together. But no matter what, our hatred for you remains unchanged. Ninth Prince, I have come to kill you.”
The Ninth Prince’s body tensed in defence. He had once been the Joker Girl Liya’s closest partner, so he knew how terrifying and mad this woman could be. It filled him with immense fear.
The Joker Girl Denny slowly walked towards the Ninth Prince, her beautiful face carrying bone-chilling coldness as she looked at him.
Xue Yi noticed that the Joker Girl did not glance her way.
She bit her lip, hesitated briefly, then suddenly moved, launching a sneak attack on the Joker Girl!
This Joker Girl was formidable, but what Xue Yi thought of was the silly girl Denny from the Anduin Family. She had a deep impression of that woman. In public encounters, she would subconsciously show mockery. Though she did not know how Denny had become so powerful now, the past illusion lingered: this woman was easy to deal with.
“Get lost, you stinking woman!”
However, the Joker Girl did not even look at Xue Yi. She just waved her hand lightly.
Roots like long snakes suddenly rose from the ground, swiftly wrapping around Xue Yi. Accompanied by Xue Yi’s scream, her body was flung away.
The Ninth Prince trembled all over, his eyes secretly glancing at the lurking assassin girl nearby, wanting her to attack. But before the assassin girl could move, a mouth-like shadow appeared on the ground. It was a terrifying mouth that directly swallowed the girl’s figure.
“Ninth Prince, dear.” The Joker Girl looked at the boy before her with cold mockery. “Guess how I will kill you?”
