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As those cold knives pressed against their throats, more than half of the guests gave up on resisting.

Kindness won’t lead an army and righteousness won’t make you rich.

The majority of the guests who had given in were merchants, most of whom had few noble sentiments. The way they saw it, between righteousness and their lives, living on was more important.

You could be sure that, should someone dare take the lead and submit, most of the merchants would follow their lead.

"Jiayi."

When Lin Xiyue saw that Li Jiayi had a knife to her throat as well, she immediately wanted to go help her. They had never interacted with each other, but after arriving in the Immortal Region, one of them was the younger sister of a city lord, and the other was the chief disciple of the Hundred Flowers Gate.

Furthermore, they were both from the Modern Realm, so it was natural that their relationship would be pretty good.

However, before she'd taken more than a few steps, she felt the blade of a sword press against her neck.

"Zhao Ziming!" Lin Xiyue practically shouted.

Zhao Ziming’s lips curled into a tender smile. Without moving his longsword from her throat, he said, "Xiyue, I absolutely couldn’t bear to harm you, so just stand there quietly. If you do, I can guarantee that no one will harm you. Of course, that's on the condition that you're obedient. If you aren't….”

The blade pressed closer to her throat, drawing a thin line of blood across her pale neck.

"Do you understand?"

"Zichao!"

Even now, Lin Xihe couldn’t believe it. She wasn't willing to believe that Zhao Zizhao was involved with demons. She gazed at him in confusion, but all she got in return was a cold look.

"You...."

She couldn't speak. Her lips quivered as indescribable disappointment flooded her face.

"I never would've thought that I was nothing but a pawn to you," she said after a moment.

"Don't say that, Xihe," said Zhao Zizhao, stroking her cheeks, "In my heart, I truly do love you. Soon, this immortal Region will be under my control, but that doesn’t have to affect our wedding."

"Then let them all go," she said, looking directly into his eyes. "Do it for me."

"That, I can't do," said Zhao Zizhao coolly, gently stroking her face. “The guests are an important part of my plan. I can't just let them go, but I do truly love you...."

His fingers gently traced her cheeks. She smiled, then...

Slap.

"Get your filthy hands off me."

She glowered icily at Zhao Zizhao and Black Dragon, but her heart was filled with bitter laughter.

She was truly foolish.

Emperor Ye had made trouble for Zhao Zizhao from the moment he saw him. She’d never even considered why he would do that. Could it really be simply because of Zhao Ziming?

That seemed unlikely.

Emperor Ye was, after all, a figure of high status. He wouldn't take his anger out on Zhao Zizhao simply because of a small figure like Zhao Ziming.

In that case, there was definitely something about Zhao Zizhao himself that Ye Zichen disapproved of.

Judging from the current situation, that was definitely the case. It seemed that Emperor Ye had actually already known that Zhao Zizhao was involved with demons.

Yet she herself had never once suspected him.

Since she’d been able to become a city lord, she considered herself good at reading people.

But.....

"City Lord Lin is truly heartless. Brother Zhao has treated you with the utmost sincerity," said Black Dragon as he leaned against the gates.

"Shut your mouth," roared Lin Xihe furiously, "you’re just as bad.”

With that, she examined the situation. She and Emperor Ye were the only two people who hadn’t been captured by demons.

What exactly are you thinking?” said Lin Xihe. “If you hope to use this as an opportunity to bring ruin to the Immortal Region, you're far too optimistic. It's true that many prestigious figures have come to my wedding, but I sincerely doubt that I’m important enough to attract every major figure in the Immortal Region. The facts prove it; many major powers aren’t present.”

“What am I thinking? Actually, I’d quite like to ask what Emperor Ye is thinking,” replied Black Dragon, still leaning into the doorway. Arms crossed, he gazed at them with an air of superiority.

"Emperor Ye,” he said playfully and with the utmost confidence, “you just said you wanted to see my methods. Well, I've shown them to you. What are your thoughts?”

"Oh, so it's my turn to speak?" said Ye Zichen inquisitively. Then, expression relaced, he shrugged.

“Not bad at all,” he said. “You got the whole situation under control in an instant; it’s a huge improvement over last time. To tell the truth, your invisibility was rather unexpected. It seems that not only have you not been wasting your time, but you’ve actually also learned quite a few new group skills.”

“This is largely due that dear friend of yours, Grandmaster Su,” bragged Black Dragon, obviously quite pleased with himself. “These group concealment formations let us all become invisible and even masked our auras. That’s the true highlight of the formation; if it didn’t conceal our auras, given your strength, you would’ve sensed us and broken the formation within seconds.”

His expression was somewhat inquisitive. Earlier, when he’d fled from the Immortal Region, that was largely due to Ye Zichen. If he got to see Ye Zichen crumple in defeat, it would feel amazing!

“You’re quite self-aware,” said Ye Zichen without modesty. On the contrary, he affirmed Black Dragon’s boasts.

“This humble one has seen your methods before,” said Black Dragon with a calm smile. However, when his gaze fell on Ye Zichen, he realized that despite everything that had happened, his expression hadn’t soured at all.

To the contrary, he looked relaxed, or even flippant.

“Emperor Ye, you don’t seem worried in the slightest,” said Black Dragon. “Could it be that you hope to use the Three Realms to threaten me? It won’t work: I’ve received word that the current Three Realms’s defenses are weak and that all your higher-ups are at some meeting.”

“So you even know that,” said Ye Zichen with a curious smile.

“Know your enemy and know yourself, then you’ll always be victorious. Last time Emperor Ye and the Three Realms left me with such pleasant memories. This time, how could I not be somewhat more careful?” laughed Black Dragon modestly.

“It’s good to be cautious,” affirmed Ye Zichen. “It’s just, it seems that you haven’t actually been all that careful.”

“Hm?” As he heard Ye ZIchen’s words, Black Dragon sensed something was amiss. Then he watched as Ye Zichen lifted his hand into the air.

Snap.

He snapped his fingers.

Seeing this, Black Dragon felt an unconscious pang of anxiety, then saw….

All of the wedding guests’ bodies twisted and distorted. The demon soldiers standing behind them were utterly baffled as they watched every single one of the hostages vanish into the thin air.

In an instant, the situation had reversed.