"You guys got Murong Fengjian wrong. It was me who elaborately planned the attempted assassination. It is grossly unfair to impute blame to him alone. Without my instructions, everything wouldn't have happened. "Tian Juechen stood up, and then looked to the six foreign envoys.
Tian Xuexi was so shrewd that he immediately figured out what Tian Juechen implied, asking, "Father, you mean..."
"Xuexi, Fengjian has been telling me that you're most like me among my thirteen sons. You got gift, ability, sagacity, ambition and selfish desire. If you can always be loyal to me, I may transfer the throne to you and I'd like to be an overlord when I become a ghost-immortal and grasp the theurgy of gold core in the future!" replied Tian Juechen.
His words shocked everyone present, especially the three immortals: Cao Yuehu, Duanmu Jianming and Zhiqing monk.
"What do you mean, emperor?" asked Duanmu Jianming.
"Father, although my teacher didn't tell me about your martial art, I've made a few discreet inquiries, so I knew that you have been taking the herbs refined by teacher, and you have already reached the highest level of the Sky Spirit Realm." Though with a sense of foreboding, Tian Xuexi curled his lips into a forced smile and said, "You didn't take pains to cultivate I guess, so you have no idea how difficult it is to ascend the immortality."
The disdain showed in Cao Yuehu's eyes, and he snorted, "Did you say the ghost immortal? There are three main stages of the Pre-celestial Greater Heaven: the full immortal, the ghost immortal and the gold immortal. There are few people who reached the first stage, not to mention the second stage. Even I don't have confidence to say that I'm capable of reaching such a difficult level."
Tian Juechen smiled and said with dignity, "Cao Yuehu, you have a limited outlook. Of course, with your ability, it is hard for you to reach the ghost immortal. I'm afraid you can't even enter the middle-stage of the full immortal in the rest of your life."
"How dare you to be so ignorantly boastful merely as a weak cultivator in the Sky Spirit Realm and relying on the herbs, even the emperor of our kingdoms didn't dare to talk to us in this rude way. Who do you think you are? I can't believe you hold such language."
Duanmu Jianming had ascended to immortality after innumerable hardships. As the Master of the Kingdom of Luocha, he was also the only immortal master in the history of his country and enjoyed a high status. He even didn't need to kneel down but had a seat when he met the emperor. Being imprisoned in the cell had already driven him crazy, and now Tian Jueche's arrogant remarks sent him into a rage.
"Easy, Duanmu Master. You are just similar to Cao Yuehu. The early stage of the full immortal is your limitation."
"You..." Duanmu Jianming was enraged. He was about to lose his temper but checked himself in time, and then said in a serious tone, , "Emperor, how did you recognize Cao Yuehu and me? We've changed our appearances, and you just led a dissolute life in this imperial palace. I thought you couldn't have known us. "
"Haha, Duanmu Master, you are really slow in thinking, huh?" Tian Juechen took a step forward, making Tian Xuexi took a step backward subconsciously, and then he continued, "I knew your scheme when the crown prince contacted you guys. I knew he has been plotting to usurp the throne."
The emperor's words flustered Tian Xuexi and sent cold shivers down his back. He uttered, "What?"
"Xuexi, since you know that I learnt martial arts and reached the highest level of the Sky Spirit Realm with a longer lifespan, you have been planning to usurp the throne, which I had anticipated. But you know, you are wrong, because I am not a cultivator in the Sky Spirit Realm. "
"Why?" Tian Xuexi's hands began to slightly tremble due to the more intense foreboding in his heart.
"Keep your eyes open." Without replying, Tian Juechen turned around to face the twelve princes behind him, and then warned, "If anyone turns on me, he will certainly come to no good end. Even if he is my son, he will be in trouble with me as well."
Tian Juechen didn't move, but his killing intent permeated in the air.
With years of experience of learning martial arts, Tian Xuexi was very sensitive to the crisis, and the thought of seeking asylum—behind the three immortal—drove him to immediately start to step backward as soon as he heard Tian Juechen's words.
"No. If he is just in the Sky Spirit Realm, the pressure he released won't make me feel dangerous, unless…" Thinking of this, Tian Xuexi looked to his father abruptly.
The tremendous threat of death overwhelmed him. All of the sudden, Tian Juechen disappeared.
"Where's he going?"
As Tian Xuexi retreated and explored the settings around him, he felt that a chill climbed on his back, pierced his skin and penetrated into the bones of his limbs.