Wu Hao had about two hundred members for this attack!!
Pulled from their duties of imprisoning all the Soul Kings from their respective cities, they were the last of Wu Hao’s forces!!
In other words, it’d be a very simple matter for the loyalists of the Tianhun School to send a few members to those cities and ‘liberate’ them!
It was an all-or-nothing attack! They had nothing to lose and everything to gain with this!!
A few of these people were Soul Emperors, but not many! The vast majority of the members were all Soul Kings!
These were the members Wu Hao’s ‘elders’ spent countless years amassing and building. In total, their strengths were equivalent to the Tianhun School!
The Tianhun School had far more experts in their school than any other, but it wasn’t very noticeable at a glance. That was because the school would allocate their stronger individuals to be in charge of the multiple provinces and cities.
But now that Wu Hao had gathered his half of the school to this final battleground…
That was the major advantage to being the ‘bad guy’. They could take actions in the shadows and then pull off a radical operation like this without any warnings whatsoever.
……
Wu Hao and the Divine Ancestor began to take action once everyone flew off to attack the Imperial Palace. When they were just a few kilometers away, the Divine Ancestor raised his right hand into the air. A flash of violet and black appeared in his palm before he sent it flying down!!
“Crack!!”
Next came a clap of thunder loud enough to shatter the heavens. Then came a lightning bolt the color of black and violet!
“Boom!!!”
The entire world was engulfed by the sound brought by the lightning-bolt before cascading all over the golden dome and…canceling it out!!
The defense of a mid-stage class nine soulbeast had been taken out in…just one blow!!
“Anghhhh…”
A furious roar echoed out from the palace at the strike. A second pulse of energy radiated through the air before a new golden dome was back in its place around the palace.
But dozens of individuals managed to make it into the palace before the second barrier could be put back up!
“Whoosh whoosh whoosh…”
Multiple figures from within the palace took this moment to fly out. Intercepting the invaders who managed to make their way in, these experts began to unleash attacks of their own in an attempt to repel them.
And in moments, the entire palace was surrounded by the noise and sight of people making battle…
“Whoosh!!”
There were a few individuals from within the palace that didn’t move to attack the trespassers. Leaving it to those already fighting, they flew higher up into the sky to attack those beyond the barrier!
“Ahh!!”
On the other side of the barrier, one individual had been cursing his timing and flew at the nearest streak of light to make combat. But when he saw just who it was inside the light, he let out a scream of terror and turned to run away…
“Whoosh!!”
The man, an Early-stage Soul Emperor, didn’t even feel it when the glint of a sword shot through him. His screams died at once as his body stiffened up and began to fall back down to the earth…
He was dead!!
An Early-stage Soul Emperor had been killed in one blow!! There was no resistance, no barrier, no offensive maneuver. Only the sharp glint of a sword could be seen before it went through the Soul Emperor and disappeared without a trace!
“Soul Slayer!! That’s the Soul Slayer!! Dodge it!!”
Someone cried out in warning to his comrades the moment he saw his comrade be killed.
But rather than go after the other Soul Emperors, the person holding the Soul Slayer ascended even higher to where Wu Hao was!
The person was none other than the current ruler of the empire…Wu Hong!!
In his hand was a rather simple-looking sword. One that was paradoxically the strongest Regalia owned by the Royal Family and most ‘famous’ of the Ten Great Regalia, the Soul Slayer!
A dozen other individuals flew up with Wu Hong but they changed paths to deal with the others.
The numbers favored Wu Hao’s side, but that wasn’t the only fighting force the Royal Family had. Already, multiple figures from all over the Capital were making their way over!
The Royal Family wasn’t the only one with a formidable fighting force. The Zheng, Huang, Chen, and all the other major houses and families were all readily available to supply fighters of their own.
……
As more and more people began to join the fray around the palace, two individuals flew up to stand right behind Wu Hong.
“The previous Emperor!! He’s still alive!!” Wu Hong snarled in surprise.
The elder standing to Wu Hong’s left was one of the two protectors of the Royal Family, Zhangsun Wuhen, an Early-stage Soul Saint. The figure on the right was another elder with hair as gray as ash and wore robes with a golden dragon embossed on it. This was the previous Emperor that had been closed off in isolation for two hundred years; Wu Lie!!
“He’s a Mid-stage Soul Saint! Divine Ancestor…” Concerned, Wu Hao looked to the man beside him.
“Worry not, leave these two…to me!!”
Unperturbed, the elder took a single step out and flew toward the three!
Soulforce exploded out from the two Saints behind Wu Hong in preparation. Together, the two flew past Wu Hong to take on the incoming elder!
Unwilling to cause inadvertent damage to their comrades, the three Saints ascended even higher into the skies.
Tht left Wu Hong to stand there face-to-face with Wu Hao.
“...Why?”
Wu Hong finally asked after a lengthy moment of silence.
“Save it with your lamenting,” Laughed Wu Hao, “Are you thinking, perhaps, why we brothers of the same last name are fighting and killing each other? Or maybe do you think that the Soul Refining School has me under Soul Puppetry? Is that why I’m doing all this?”
Wu Hong looked startled. That actually was what he was thinking, but that didn’t look like the case if Wu Hao was saying it. Then…what was the real reason then?!
As if enjoying the look of surprise on Wu Hong’s face, Wu Hao began to laugh even harder. “Us? Brother fighting brother? How laughable!! Allow me to tell you…your precious ‘little brother’, Wu Hao, ceased to exist a long time ago!! I am this body’s master!! Hahaha!!!!”
“You’ve what?!” All color bled away from Wu Hong’s face at once. “Explain yourself!” He snarled, “You…who are you?!”
“Who am I?!” Barked Wu Hao, “I…am the prince of Liang, Liang Fu!!”
“The prince of Liang?!” Wu Hong’s eyes flew wide open, “The Liang Kingdom?! You’re a descendant? But how could that be?!”
The Liang was once one of the more powerful kingdoms on the continent prior to the Unification. Back then, the Liang had been the most ardent one against it and was ultimately defeated by Wu Tianhun himself. It was recorded that in their last act of resistance, the royal family of the Liang burned down their palace and the remaining members became martyrs.
And now there was Wu Hao claiming to be the prince of this said kingdom. If that was the case, then there was only one thing he was after—the restoration of the Liang!
Wu Hao—no, Liang Fu, laughed mockingly at the confusion on Wu Hong’s face. “Are you wondering then, how I became somebody else? How I, someone who grew up with you since birth, am not your brother? Yes…this body is indeed Wu Hao’s. But Sixty years ago, his body became host to me, Liang Fu! Your precious younger brother’s soul is no more! Hahaha!!!”
“Are you saying then…” Wu Hong snarled after a second or two of shock, “that you Possessed him?! You…you took over Wu Hao’s body sixty years ago?!”
“Not slow on the uptake, are you? That’s correct! Do you remember sneaking out from the palace with Wu Hao sixty years ago? You were the real target but we had to settle for the next best thing when the guard came back faster than we planned! Do you understand now…? That before your younger brother could even awaken to his soulforce, I already Possessed him! The real Wu Hao died sixty years ago in your place!! Haha!! How do you feel? Regret? Anger? All those who share this cursed name of Wu…should die!!”
Liang Fu’s emotions were getting the better of him. The longer he talked the more erratic his soulforce became. Eventually, the air around him became as cold as ice.
The truth left Wu Hong stunned. A myriad of emotions flickered across his eyes as he stared at Liang Fu. Shock turned into disbelief, disbelief turned into anguish, and anguish turned into…rage!
“To think there was still a few of you who didn’t die after the fall of Liang…and to think there was such a conspiracy…Scoundrel, you shall all die for this!!”
“Boom!!”
Fury in the form of soulforce exploded out from Wu Hong. Multiple beams of golden light shot forth from the Mid-stage Soul Emperor like a shining sword upon its withdrawal from its sheath. There was no longer any hesitation in the man’s eyes as he regarded Liang Fu with murderous wrath!
Liang Fu didn’t look at all flustered. “You’ve finally decided, haven’t you?” He mocked, “But do you really believe you can kill me? The two of us may be of equal strengths and the Soul Slayer is indeed the world’s strongest sword capable of killing a Late-stage Soul Emperor or an Early-stage Soul Saint, but don’t forget…I have the Regalia, Ironheart! Without it I may be easy to kill, but with it acting as the Soul Slayer’s opposite, death will not be easy!”
He paused here to laugh mockingly at Wu Hong again. “And did you think I was explaining the truth to you out of the kindness of my heart? Do you really think the two fogeys behind you would be a match for the Divine Ancestor of the Liang?”
“What?!”
Like being dipped into icy-cold water, Wu Hong felt his heart grow cold at Liang Fu’s words. Then he heard the anguished scream of someone familiar to him from above!
Looking up, Wu Hong watched as a figure came plummeting down from the skies—it was Zhangsun Wuhen!!
The Early-stage Soul Saint had been so readily defeated in just a few minutes!!
Liang Fu looked pleased. “Soon enough, even Wu Lie will die by my Divine Ancestor’s hands. Every last person with the name of Wu will die!!
“From today onward, the Wu shall be no more!! The entire world will rightfully belong to the Liang!!”