I Can Deduce Arts by Slaying Demons

Chapter 560: Chapter 369: As You Wish!

"Father?"

Lu Xuan’s lips curled slightly, a golden gleam flowing in his eyes.

He could clearly see countless black streams of energy writhing beneath the other’s skin, like a puppet on strings.

"My good son..."

Emperor Zhenwu’s mouth opened and closed mechanically, yet the voice seemed to come from a distant place.

"Aren’t you curious about my appearance...?"

As he spoke, the temperature in the hall plummeted.

The floor, the pillars, even the dragon throne began to seep with thick black miasma.

That miasma, like a living being, slowly crept toward Lu Xuan’s feet...

Lu Xuan suddenly laughed.

He lightly stomped his foot, sending out a golden ripple.

Where it passed, the black liquid evaporated instantly like meeting the blazing sun!

"My son..."

Emperor Zhenwu’s voice shifted, echoing as if from the abyss.

His bluish face twisted, at times as ferocious as a demon, at others showing a hint of human pain.

Pale fingers extended from the sleeves of the dragon robe, their nails now an eerie green-black.

"I didn’t think...all of this was true..."

His head tilted at an unnatural angle, his white hair dancing like venomous snakes in the air.

The lifeless, pupil-less eyes stared fixedly at Lu Xuan, filled with a chilling greed: "What exactly happened to you?"

As he spoke, Emperor Zhenwu’s body began to convulse unnaturally, as if something was struggling within him.

The bright yellow dragon robe was torn open by some force, revealing skin covered in black patterns.

Those patterns squirmed like living creatures, forming faces of agony.

"I...I can feel it..."

Emperor Zhenwu suddenly floated closer, exuding a decayed aura.

He reached out a claw-like hand, trying to touch Lu Xuan’s face: "My son, this power within you...does not belong to this world..."

Ever since Lu Yi and the others died half a month ago, Emperor Zhenwu had received secret reports.

The Imperial Guards following Lu Xuan recorded with trembling pens a horrifying fact—

"The Crown Prince appears to have reached the peak of Martial Grandmaster status!"

In the Imperial Study, Emperor Zhenwu’s withered fingers crushed the secret report into dust.

His cloudy eyes now seethed with incredulous fear: "Impossible...this cannot be!"

He knew his son too well.

The Crown Prince, frail and sickly since childhood, who had to rely on elixirs to reach even the first rank of Martial Artist.

How could he have crossed the chasm that eludes most in a lifetime, in just a few days?

"It’s fake, this must be fake, someone is impersonating the Crown Prince, my son is definitely not him!!!" Emperor Zhenwu’s roar echoed through the palace.

He dispatched the elite Imperial Guards, even activating spies hidden in the Eastern Palace for decades.

But each report back was more terrifying than the last—the phenomenon of hundreds of golden dragons soaring outside Qianfu Town.

Disabling the ninth prince Lu Xuyang with a mere wave of the hand in front of the dungeon.

And just now, the oppressive aura that forced his own younger brother, King Shangwu, to kneel and admit defeat...

Emperor Zhenwu’s face twisted and distorted in the candlelight, black lines subtly squirming under his skin: "My good son...what secret do you hide?"

At this moment, the Emperor’s heart surged not just with shock but with a near-mad greed!

The black miasma writhed furiously under Emperor Zhenwu’s skin.

He had deliberately kept Peng Lie alive, to force his Crown Prince son to return to the palace.

And now...the son carrying an earth-shattering secret was finally standing before him!

"Let me see..."

Thick black liquid began to seep from Emperor Zhenwu: "What heaven-defying fortune have you obtained, to rise to greatness in such a short time!"

"Sigh..."

Lu Xuan sighed softly, golden light swirling in his eyes.

He looked calmly at this "old emperor" before him, his voice carrying inexplicable complexity.

"Is this all really worth it?"

Emperor Zhenwu’s body suddenly froze.

The face, veins bulging, oscillated between humanity and monstrosity.

His left eye had a strange ghostly green, while the right suddenly regained a moment of clarity.

That was an eye that once belonged to a human.

"Worth it?"

Emperor Zhenwu’s voice suddenly became hoarse and fragmented, as if two people were speaking at once.

His withered fingers clutched the dragon robe on his chest, the black lines beneath his skin writhing violently as if in a terrible tug-of-war.

"My...son..."

Tears mixed with black blood rolled from Emperor Zhenwu’s momentarily clear right eye.

In that instant, Lu Xuan saw countless complex emotions.

Pride from expanding the territory,

hidden pain from sleepless nights,

a desire for immortality,

and...a father’s guilt.

"Father just...just doesn’t want to die..."

This nearly pleading whisper was soon drowned out by an inhuman roar.

Emperor Zhenwu’s visage twisted again, black energy spewing from his seven orifices.

But that fleeting spark of humanity was enough to let Lu Xuan understand everything.

The emperor, once gazing over the nine provinces, was ultimately just a mortal fearing death.

Between life and death lies the deepest fear of the world.

Emperor Zhenwu’s hunched body trembled violently, his cloudy eyes reflecting the utmost dread of death.

What does death mean?

The emperor’s throne turning to dust, the renowned military exploits fading like smoke, the lifelong ambitions turning to mere soap bubbles.

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