"…"
Appearing over the skies of the Lingchen imperial palace, Bujian Yue's ruby red eyes are immediately focused onto the figure, who is wearing a mianguan crown.
"That's…? Hong Xiao Emperor's head?"
"Isn't that the first prince of the Hong Xiao Empire?"
"The empress is there too!"
"Uh? Aren't those the heads of Princess Xiao Kui's guards?"
Bewildered eyes are directed at Bujian Yue; for not a single person is aware of his identity, but seeing as how he is able to display such a lofty air in this situation, he can't possibly be ordinary.
"…"
Nervously stepping forward, the Lingchen Emperor clasps his hands together, and performs a deep bow, while asking—
"May I ask who senior is?"
"…"
Ignoring the question, Bujian Yue remarks—
"I've told Princess Xiao Kui that we'd meet again in the Lingchen Star Realm soon, so then… Where is she right now?"
"…!"
If he isn't able to realize Bujian Yue's identity through this question, then the Lingchen Emperor may as well have abdicated his throne centuries ago.
(Fuck! A thousand fucks! This bastard is that Bujian Yue?! Less than an hour and a half… That's all the time it took for him to decapitate the head of the Hong Xiao Emperor, and to come to my star region! How the hell did he cultivate to be this powerful?! This is utterly unreasonable!)
Amidst the Lingchen Emperor's cursing, Bujian Yue had already spread his divine senses, and had already locked onto the whereabouts of Lin Xiao Kui.
"Come here."
At the gesturing of Bujian Yue's right hand, a shrill scream approaches from the distance, and the figure of Lin Xiao Kui—who is dressed in a pale green set of robes, flies forth, and lands her neck into the former's grip.
"The ninth princess?"
"Wasn't she…?"
Seeing the ninth princess alive and well, shock is rather evident on the faces of those who are nearby, but faster than they can get over this shock, Bujian Yue remarks—
"Hello, my would-be-wife."
"…"
"…"
Silence looms in the air in response to Bujian Yue's remark.
None of the people gathered here are dimwitted.
That being the case, it was as if a thousand volcanos had gone off within the palace officials' heads.
(Bujian Yue! He's that Bujian Yue?!)
(Wasn't he supposed to be blind?!)
"…"
Ignoring the condemning glares of the palace associates, who had all gathered in front of the audience hall by this point, the Lingchen Emperor looks between Bujian Yue and Lin Xiao Kui with great anxiety.
"…H-Hello, my would-be-husband."
Being sharper than her peers from an early age, Lin Xiao Kui naturally knows that she must act humble right now.
"…"
As Bujian Yue smiles subtly, Lin Xiao Kui stares into the former's ruby red eyes.
Without the eye band to cover Bujian Yue's face, Lin Xiao Kui can say with certainty that the former is the most handsome man that she's ever met.
"…"
Raising his left hand, and pressing the side of Lin Xiao Kui's head, Bujian Yue removes his right hand over her neck—to cup the other side of the latter's head.
Holding Lin Xiao Kui's head in his hands, Bujian Yue leans his face forward, and towards this act that could only be described as passionate, Lin Xiao Kui's heartbeat rises rapidly.
(This…-? Does he intend to kiss me? Although it's rather sudden, and we're in front of many eyes, I don't-)
"Soul search."
"Aaaaaaaahhhh!!!"
Pouring his divine senses into Lin Xiao Kui's spiritual sea, the latter raises a hysterical scream of agony, as Bujian Yue reads through her memories like an open book.
"…"
Upon the conclusion of his soul search, Bujian Yue releases his grip over Lin Xiao Kui's head, causing her to fall downwards.
"Xiao Kui!"
Rushing forth, the Lingchen Emperor catches his daughter in his hands, and glares at Bujian Yue, but before the former can say anything, the latter says—
"I see. In the end, it truly is like what I had figured. Using the well-loved ninth princess's false death, you wished to incite the peace-favoring faction to go to war with the Hong Xiao Star Realm."
"…!"
"…!"
Towards this reveal, the palace officials—who are all a part of the peace-favoring faction, threw a glare of rage and disgust at the Lingchen Emperor.
"Your majesty, is what he said true?"
"Your majesty, what is the meaning of this?"
As several figures step forth, and raise questions of this nature towards him, the Lingchen Emperor grinds his teeth together.
"…"
Taking the Lingchen Emperor's silence as a confirmation, all the palace officials—regardless of their factional standings, give off an air of hostility towards the former.
For the war-favoring faction, had they known that there was an Imprisoning Heaven present, none of them would have the courage to challenge the Hong Xiao Star Realm.
Eventually, the Lingchen Emperor heaves a sigh, and turning to Bujian Yue, he asks—
"Bujian Yue, just what is it that you came here for?"
"…"
Smiling venomously, Bujian Yue replies—
"Lingchen Emperor, how do you deal with those that wish to do you harm?"
"I-"
"Thousand cuts to carve a man into ribbons, five horses to divide the body, execute both the main culprit and the rest of their household, correct?"
"…"
Twitching his lips, the Lingchen Emperor—who had ordered these punishments in the past, is unable to come up with anything to reply with.
Grinding his teeth, the Lingchen Emperor remarks—
"A great man has a great heart, don't tell me your heart's eye is truly that-?"
Laughing aloud, Bujian Yue says—
"Sorry, my heart's eye is truly that small—after all, I've been a blind man for most of my life. All the palace maids, who stole portions of my meals in the past, I devoured all of them to sate my hunger."
[…There was suspicion that the 46th prince was the culprit behind those disappearances.]
[It was actually true…]
Towards this reveal, the sealed souls all looked at Bujian Yue with shock.
"Now then…"
Taking a step downwards, Bujian Yue's foot touches upon the magic array of the Lingchen imperial palace, to which—
*Chi!!! Chi!!! Chi!!! Boom!!!!!* withstanding the pressure of Bujian Yue's strength, the magic array lasts for a single breath's worth of time, prior to collapsing.
"…"
Appearing in front of the Lingchen Emperor, Bujian Yue summons the blood sword, and with a single swing, he severs the heads of the former and Lin Xiao Kui.
Drawing the blood of the two into the blood sword, Bujian Yue examines the weapon, and mutters—
"Hmm, still lacking."
The reason Bujian Yue chose to cultivate the Sacrificial Blood Refines Myriad Souls technique is all for the sake of creating an innate magic treasure.
(…I'll eventually die from this curse. I might as well create an innate magic treasure for my future incarnations.)
Reincarnation exists, and for Bujian Yue—who has reincarnated 1,023 times before his current life, he knows this for a fact.
And wagering on the potential of a miraculously low odd, he wishes to create a weapon for his future incarnations to have a shot at removing this curse that has followed him throughout the course of all his previous reincarnations.
Heaving a sigh, Bujian Yue turns to the palace officials, and orders—
"Bring all members of the imperial household, and the war-favoring faction over."
Following these words, several individuals turned around, and thought to flee; however—
"Kneel."
*Thud! Thud! Thud!* immediately, all who had made attempts to flee drops onto their knees.
Seeing this, several individuals twitched an eye, and momentarily—
"…Understood."
Nervously someone replies, and begins to make arrangements.
While waiting, Bujian Yue waves his hand—breaking the soul sealing art, and freeing the souls contained in the heads.
Immediately, the laws of the world begin to draw these souls into reincarnation.
...…
In less than an hour, all members of the imperial household, along with the war-favoring faction's members are brought over.
"…"
Glancing at the war-favoring faction's members, Bujian Yue asks—
"Is peace not fragrant to you all?"
Without waiting for anyone to reply, the blood sword is swung, and heads fly.
As Bujian Yue begins to draw blood from the corpses, the members of the imperial household turn pale; and overwhelmed with terror, a few individuals soiled their pants.
"…"
Glancing into the eyes of each individual, Bujian Yue seems to be examining them like a rare specimen.
"…"
Gritting his teeth, one of the palace officials steps forward, and says—
"Senior, the eighth prince is pure of heart, he-"
Swing the blood sword, heads fly once more, as bodies collapse.
Of those who are still alive, the eighth prince is included.
Drawing the corpses' blood, Bujian Yue says—
"Make arrangements with my imperial chancellor—to merge the Lingchen Star Realm with the Hong Xiao Star Realm."
Having said this, Bujian Yue leaves.