Changying Prefecture City.

With Demon Fiends roaming outside the city walls, the main streets of the prefecture city were teeming with people.

But this was only true for the outer city.

The inner city district remained clean and tidy. Restaurants, brothels, gambling dens, teahouses, theaters, and other such establishments opened their doors for business every day.

The young masters of the various families and the idle rich went about their lives just as they always had.

As the son of the King of Lie Mountain and the soon-to-be Crown Prince, Zhong Tianhu was fawned over by crowds wherever he went.

So for the past few days, he had been living quite extravagantly.

When he went to a restaurant, someone else would book the entire place. When he visited a brothel, someone else would foot the bill.

Right now, he was at the Juying Building, listening to the flattery of the crowd and occasionally offering a word or two.

Zhong Tianhu knew his old man, the King of Lie Mountain, didn’t approve of this lifestyle.

’So what? Zhong Tianlang will most likely never wake up.’

’Even if he did, his strength would be greatly diminished.’

’As for my other brother, Zhong Tianbao, his talent is lacking. He’s still just an Alien Body: Xianfeng, and his mother comes from an ordinary official’s family.’

’Not like me. My mother is from a Noble Family!’

’And I myself am a Super Body: Celestial Ladder.’

’In terms of status, strength, backing, and circumstance, there’s no one else for the position of Crown Prince of Lie Mountain but me!’

’Even if Zhong Zhengtang himself doesn’t like it, it’s useless.’

This confidence, born of his powerful backing, was the source of Zhong Tianhu’s flamboyant behavior.

...

Outside the Juying Building.

In a hidden attic atop a building a hundred meters away, Gu Zheng stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze fixed on the bulk of the Juying Building, its main entrance, and the street outside.

Pedestrians came and went on the street.

Fu Changying and Jia Shisan were hidden in the shadows, completely unnoticed.

Zhong Tianhu, inside the Juying Building, was even more oblivious.

Time slowly trickled by.

Suddenly—

"Master, I’ve spotted Blind Chen!"

Fu Changying suddenly sent a message via his mind.

’Blind Chen?’

’That guy from the Medicine God Organization? The one who wanted to eat me?’

"Where is he?"

Gu Zheng replied.

Fu Changying said, "At the end of the street to the right of the Juying Building, disguised as a blind beggar."

"You keep your eyes on Zhong Tianhu."

Gu Zheng responded.

Then, with a flicker, his figure shot out of the attic.

After a few blinks, he arrived on a rooftop overlooking the long street to the right of the Juying Building. From his high vantage point, his gaze swept across the distance and locked onto an old, blind beggar leaning in a corner, begging.

"Pang Hu, keep an eye on that man!"

Gu Zheng patted the head of Pang Hu, who was sleeping invisibly on his shoulder.

"Mrow?"

The Little Fatty Cat opened its eyes and let out a drowsy cry.

"That person there. Follow him!"

Gu Zheng pointed at the old beggar, then withdrew his hand and shifted his gaze.

"Mrow!"

Pang Hu lifted a fleshy paw, pressed it against Gu Zheng’s cheek, and a cunning look appeared on its small, round face.

"...Fine. I’ll add an extra portion of Spirit-Eating Ants."

Gu Zheng stroked Pang Hu’s head. "I’ll make good on it when we get back to the Demon Slayer Bureau headquarters."

"Meeeow~"

Only then did Pang Hu nod, its azure eyes staring at the old beggar for a moment.

SWOOSH!

With a flicker, it vanished from Gu Zheng’s shoulder.

Gu Zheng also turned and left.

’I’ll deal with Blind Chen later.’

’Taking care of Zhong Tianhu is the priority!’

Just in case, Gu Zheng had to watch from the sidelines.

...

Returning to the street where the Juying Building was located, Gu Zheng continued to hide in the attic, watching from a distance.

He waited until evening.

Finally, a group of people poured out of the Juying Building’s main entrance.

Zhong Tianhu, surrounded by the crowd, had an extraordinary air about him, instantly marking him as someone special.

The group, reeking of alcohol, bid each other farewell.

Flanked by two Attendants, Zhong Tianhu was the first to mount his horse and ride off, while the others clasped their hands in salute.

The Attendants kept up on either side, their speed not lagging in the slightest.

They were clearly at the Alien Body: Shadow realm.

CLIP-CLOP, CLIP-CLOP~

The tall, handsome horse trotted down the street.

Pedestrians hurried to get out of the way.

As they passed an alley, the horse under Zhong Tianhu suddenly stumbled and pitched forward, collapsing to the ground.

Zhong Tianhu sensed it and leaped into the air.

But halfway through his leap, his feet also went numb, and his lower body stiffened.

"Poison!"

The smell of alcohol on Zhong Tianhu vanished instantly, his face turning grim.

Unwittingly, he and his horse had been poisoned together.

The poison gas was invisible and odorless; he had no idea when he’d been exposed.

As his lower body stiffened, Zhong Tianhu began to fall.

WHOOSH!

A fierce wind suddenly gusted.

An invisible aura of energy abruptly erupted, shooting out from the nearby alley.

HUMMM!!

Space trembled as if a switch had been flipped.

An unseen yet immense power rose from all directions, seemingly sealing the void and compressing Zhong Tianhu at its center.

"ROAR~~!"

A roar followed close behind.

An azure Flood Dragon materialized from thin air, its immense pressure spreading out to cover a radius of dozens of meters.

A massive hammer rapidly bloomed from within the Divine Strange Flood Dragon.

In an instant, it smashed down viciously toward Zhong Tianhu.

"BOOM~!"

A tremendous bang echoed through the clear sky.

As the shockwave burst forth, a brilliant golden shield appeared on Zhong Tianhu’s body, covering him completely and blocking the Divine Strange Flood Dragon.

However, it lasted for only half a breath before shattering with a loud crash, dissolving into specks of light.

But the power carried by the hammer’s projection was not exhausted—at least half of it remained, crashing down on the now-unshielded Zhong Tianhu.

SPLAT~

"Pfft!"

With a sickening thud, the left side of Zhong Tianhu’s body caved in from the shoulder down.

Amidst a spray of blood, the area from his left shoulder to his waist was crushed into a mangled pulp. Zhong Tianhu fell stiffly to the ground, his internal organs spilling out in a gruesome mess.

His wide eyes held terror, fury, astonishment, confusion, unwillingness, and a deep longing for life.

The aura of life around him rapidly faded.

Under a single hammer strike, Zhong Tianhu was dead!

"Young Master!"

"No~!"

The two Attendants beside Zhong Tianhu cried out in terror, their faces deathly pale. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

’It was too fast!’

’The disaster struck too quickly.’

From the moment Zhong Tianhu’s horse fell to the moment he was smashed by the hammer’s projection, half his body caved in, dying with his eyes wide open—the entire process took less than a single breath!

Zhong Tianhu was dead, right before their eyes.

’Their master was dead, yet the attendants were still alive and well?’

"Kill!"

"Kill him!"

Snapping out of their terror, the two Attendants charged into the alley, chasing after the rapidly disappearing Fu Changying.

Once they were gone, the other people on the street came to their senses one by one.

"Ah~!"

"Murder!"

"Run! That’s Zhong Tianhu! Zhong Tianhu’s been killed! The sky is falling!"

"Falling my ass! Zhong Tianhu isn’t the Sovereign. Who the hell does he think he is?"

"If you want to die, don’t drag me down with you!"

...

The street erupted into chaos.

The crowd scattered in all directions, not a single person daring to stay and watch.

Simply because the man who died had too high a status.

The son of the King of Lie Mountain!

The son of a prince with real power, killed in the middle of the street—this was a major incident.

Big enough to turn Changying Prefecture upside down!

...

In the attic a hundred meters away.

Gu Zheng murmured to himself, ’The Sky-Splitting Dragon Hammer... it’s just as incredible every time I see it.’

’Only those who have faced the might of the Fu family’s Divine Weapon head-on can know its terror.’

’If you can’t break it head-on, the only result is death.’

’And a very ugly death at that.’

’Just like Zhong Tianhu, with half his body smashed to a pulp.’

’It’s too fast, the force is too concentrated, and it even seals the surrounding space.’

’The other half of Zhong Tianhu’s body was actually unharmed.’

’It’s just that all his internal organs spilled out.’

First poisoned by Jia Shisan, his lower body paralyzed, then attacked by the Sky-Splitting Dragon Hammer—even at the peak of the Super Body Realm, Zhong Tianhu couldn’t withstand it.

"Now, it’s up to the two Princess Consorts."

With Zhong Tianhu dead, things in the King of Lie Mountain’s Mansion were about to get interesting.

Gu Zheng turned and glanced toward the direction of the King of Lie Mountain’s Mansion.

Then, with a flicker, he shot out of the attic.

「A moment later.」

Gu Zheng appeared in a remote, dilapidated courtyard.

"Medicine God... Blind Chen?"

Gu Zheng spoke calmly, looking at the blind old beggar cowering in the corner.

"Who... Who’s there?"

The old beggar looked around blankly, nervously glancing about. He trembled and said, "Spare me, my lord! Spare me! This lowly one didn’t know this place was occupied. I’ll leave now, I’ll leave right now."

As he spoke, he used his hands to support himself against the wall and slowly stood up.

"Do people from the Medicine God Organization enjoy acting so much?"

Gu Zheng said softly, "A real blind man moves much more nimbly than you. Besides, I could smell the medicinal aura on you from a street away."

The old beggar’s movements paused.

A moment later, he turned around with a strange laugh, his blind eyes "looking" at Gu Zheng.

"And who might you be? What business do you have with this old blind man?"

As Blind Chen spoke, he reached into his pocket to pull something out.

HUMMM~!!

An invisible pressure was suddenly released.

The full oppressive force of the Heroic Body Realm converged, enveloping Blind Chen.

THUD!

Blind Chen was forced to his knees on the spot, sprawling on the ground. A small ball he held in his hand fell with him before he could throw it. It cracked open with a POP, releasing a puff of grayish-green gas that shot straight toward his mouth and nose.

"Mmph~"

Blind Chen held his breath, his body rigid. He tried to roll away, but he couldn’t move at all.

...

...

The King of Lie Mountain’s Mansion.

"My son!!"

A shrill scream suddenly pierced the air above the Prince’s Mansion.

The next moment, a beautiful woman in courtly dress rushed in, flying into the main hall where people were kneeling both inside and out.

In the center of the hall lay a mangled corpse.

It was Zhong Tianhu, half of his body caved in.

"Ahhh!!"

Yu Xinru screamed, rushing forward, her whole body trembling. She wanted to reach out and hold Zhong Tianhu, but she couldn’t bring herself to touch him. Her beautiful face and elegant figure shook uncontrollably, her lovely eyes filled with pain, grief, fury, and sorrow...

"Who was it! Who killed him!"

Yu Xinru shrieked, turning her trembling gaze to the silent Zhong Zhengtang at her side.

"Who killed my son!!"

"The Fu family," Zhong Zhengtang replied with a sigh. "Tianhu’s body was damaged by the Sky-Splitting Dragon Hammer. Many people on the street saw it—a giant hammer accompanied by a Flood Dragon-like roar suddenly leaped from the void and smashed him to death..."

"There was also poison!"

An old woman suddenly walked in from outside. Without even glancing at Zhong Zhengtang, she went to Zhong Tianhu’s corpse, her eyes gleaming. "There are traces of poison gas on Tianhu’s body! I have seen this kind of gas before. The deadly poison used by the Jia Family is exactly this type of gas!"

"The Jia Family?"

Yu Xinru trembled all over and asked sharply, "Granny, are you saying someone hired them to kill my son?"

"Although a member of the Jia family may not have done it personally, they were definitely involved! There’s no escaping that!"

the old woman said calmly.

"Who was it? Who wanted to kill my son!?" Yu Xinru was frantic.

"Um..."

A man in fine, close-fitting robes, standing in a corner, suddenly spoke up. "I... I think I saw someone from Princess Consort Ying’s side contacting a member of the Jia Family..."

"What did you say!?"