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

Chapter 128 - 52, The Prince Arrives!_2

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Master watched the black-robed elder kneeling on the ground, his gaze fixed as if he recognized the man, muttering, "The housekeeper of Prince Cheng Mansion? A Puppet Body?"

Members of the Tantian Sect also appeared one after another, all staring at the decaying black-robed elder, obviously recognizing who he was.

"Indeed, remnants of the Tantian Sect."

The black-robed elder scanned the crowd and then slowly said to Lin Yue, "Your Highness, this is merely one of my Puppet Bodies. Although it’s a pity to destroy it before its time, if Your Highness wishes to destroy it, then go ahead."

"The housekeeper of Prince Cheng Mansion?" Lin Yue murmured softly.

"Your Highness, after the Twelfth Prince was ennobled, he took the title of Prince Cheng," the Master explained. "And this man, judging by his face, seems to be the housekeeper of Prince Cheng Mansion. This must be just one of his many Puppet Bodies."

"Just a puppet?" Lin Yue frowned slightly.

"A mere split of Divine Thought," the Master sighed. "We once fought with this man alongside the Sixteenth Prince, but we have never seen his True Body."

The housekeeper of Prince Cheng Mansion then scoffed, "Fight with me? If it were the second-generation disciples of the Tantian Sect saying this, it might be true. But you third-generation disciples only play with cheating and shadowy tricks, at best you are only fit to play with my Puppet Bodies."

Lin Yue frowned slightly and said, "It seems we can’t get any information out of him."

He had originally wanted to use the threat of death combined with his Prince status, plus a few other measures, to extract information from this man’s mouth.

But now it seemed that, if it was only a Puppet Body, why would the other party care?

"Do you wish to keep this Puppet Body of mine to chop up for firewood, Your Highness?" asked the housekeeper of Prince Cheng Mansion, deferentially. "Since Prince has such a request, it is naturally my bounden duty to comply and let Your Highness deal with this body as you wish."

Everyone could hear the sarcasm in his tone.

"You’ll be firewood soon enough, rest assured."

Lin Yue glanced at him, then turned to the black-robed man with the mask kneeling beside him, "See if that man is Life and Death Chess."

With a flick of his finger, the Master sent a ray of light shattering the mask on his face.

As the mask fragments fell, they revealed the gloomy and pale face of a young man. His eyes were dull, and beneath his pale skin, tiny blood vessels moving slowly like earthworms could be seen, though they appeared black.

"Indeed, it’s Life and Death Chess," the Master nodded slightly.

"Hm?"

Baili Fengzhi suddenly spoke up, "Your Highness, I have seen this man before."

The housekeeper of Prince Cheng Mansion’s gaze turned sharply cold.

"You’ve seen him?" Lin Yue turned to look at Baili Fengzhi.

"I encountered this face six years ago."

Baili Fengzhi nodded, "He was the son of an important official from Jingzhou who came to join the military at the Northwest Border to defend the Northwest Pass and earn merit by killing demons. He bore the ’Dragon Order.’"

"The Dragon Order?" the Master said, "That must be the descendant of a significant official in the court, whose ancestors followed Your Majesty in conquering the lands and were granted this token for their dragon-following merits."

"Oh?"

Lin Yue looked at the young man turned into Life and Death Chess and said, "Such an offspring of a significant official actually turned into a moving corpse like Life and Death Chess by the people under the Twelfth Prince? If it were discovered, the Twelfth Prince would, without doubt, make an enemy of that official."

It certainly wouldn’t be enough to threaten the Twelfth Prince with just this matter, but at the very least, it could cause him to make a significant enemy.

So, once the Twelfth Prince finds out, he will surely come to stop it, destroy the body and eradicate traces, even silence those in the know...

Therefore, the most urgent task at hand is to immediately go into hiding, avoid being discovered by the Twelfth Prince, and quietly return to Jingzhou once preparations are complete.

This could turn out to be quite a valuable trump card.

Perhaps it could be used to make connections with that significant official or even ally with other forces opposed to the Twelfth Prince.

"Since that is the case..."

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Lin Yue stared coldly at the housekeeper of Prince Cheng Mansion and suddenly shouted, "Kill this man immediately!"

This person was merely a puppet body, and perhaps its true body, even if separated by thousands of miles, could be aware of everything the puppet experienced. Once the Twelfth Prince was informed, he would likely send people to pursue and assassinate them!

The Master raised his hand, and with a grab through the air, the dense white mist surged towards the puppet body of the housekeeper of Prince Cheng Mansion, seeping in.

"Boom!"

At the same time, the Four Symbols Essence of the sun, moon, stars, and constellations converged above, transforming the sky into a slowly flowing night sky, with endless stars twinkling. The sunlight of Taiyang and the moonlight of Taiyin descended at the same time, turning a great amount of essence into a luminous giant hand, harboring a torrential power as it grabbed towards the puppet body of the housekeeper of Prince Cheng Mansion!

With the techniques of the Four Symbols Heaven Barrier Peak, to crush an ordinary Four Symbols Level puppet body that was unable to resist, was naturally a piece of cake.

Under the vast cover of light, the puppet body suddenly raised its head, the corners of its lips revealing a faint, almost imperceptible, smile.

In an instant, the luminous giant hand seized the puppet body, ready to completely crush it into dust.

However—

The closing luminous giant hand suddenly began to tremble, no longer able to close, as if what it was holding was not a decaying piece of wood, but a piece of indomitably sturdy Divine Iron!

The Master’s face changed.

"Should I call you Seventeenth Brother?"

A gentle and warm male voice suddenly rang out from within the luminous giant hand, the voice so calm, it felt like a warm spring breeze, making it hard to harbor any hostility.

But Lin Yue’s pupils suddenly contracted.

The next moment, an invisible fluctuation quietly spread, and the luminous giant hand suddenly shattered, turning back into Four Symbols Essence and vanishing without a trace. Even the vast mist formed by the Heaven and Earth Law thinned out considerably!

Within the faint mist, the rotting, wood-like puppet body had now stood up, and a vaguely illusory face had re-emerged on its countenance.

It was a face of a refined and cultured man, with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, exuding an extraordinary bearing, with a gentle and jade-like scholarly charm in his smile.

"Divine Thought descending?"

The members of the Tantian Sect immediately understood what was happening.

Clearly, there was a terrifying presence whose Divine Thought had reached an inconceivable level of power, using this puppet body to cast down a strand of Divine Thought!

"Are you... the Twelfth Prince?"

Lin Yue guessed the identity of the other party and slowly spoke.

Was this the legendary Prince Xiahong?

The Twelfth Prince, rumored to be the reincarnation of the Myriad Poison Demon Ancestor, turned out to be so gentle and approachable. It was unimaginable that such a person could be the Demon Ancestor of the Poison Skill?

"You should call me Twelfth Brother," the refined man said with a smile.

And the members of the Tantian Sect became incredibly vigilant, circulating their mana and preparing themselves.

Lin Yue took a deep breath and said, "I didn’t expect the first prince I would meet to be you, that’s good in a way."

The Twelfth Prince looked at Lin Yue and smiled, "Seventeenth Brother, there is a favor Your Elder Brother would like to ask of you. As long as you agree, I will spare everyone here and leave them alive, sounds good?"

His tone was as if he were discussing a matter so trivial it could not be more minor.

As if a brother was saying to his sibling, "Let me have this egg to eat, and I won’t bully you today."

The lives of the Tantian Sect members seemed to already be in his hands.

"What are you talking about?" Lin Yue’s expression darkened.

"It’s just a small matter."

The smile on the Twelfth Prince’s face felt like a warm spring breeze as he glanced at the Life and Death Chess kneeling beside him and spoke gently, "Seventeenth Brother only needs to hand over this token of Life and Death Chess to me."

Lin Yue slowly said, "If I don’t hand it over, will you kill everyone here?"

"Everyone but you."

The Twelfth Prince smiled, "As brothers, I naturally wouldn’t commit such an act of fratricide. If you insist on keeping this token of Life and Death Chess, then I’ll just make another move in response. However..."

His amiable gaze swept over everyone around, speaking softly, "If you make this move, brother, I’ll have to capture all the pieces around you."

Lin Yue remained silent.

This Twelfth Prince was actually treating all of this as if they were chess pieces on a board, subject to capture or be captured!

"Seventeenth Brother, there are no take-backs in placing a piece. Choose," the Twelfth Prince gently looked at Lin Yue.