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    ## Chapter 401: Royal Confrontation! Li Yuan Makes His Move

    Deep within the Blood Demon Cavern.

    The area was surrounded by towering mountains, with wisps of blood-red mist enveloping the void. It was impossible to observe anything from a distance. Ordinary trial participants simply couldn’t reach this place.

    In fact, some elite geniuses and royal descendants were told that this area was a “forbidden zone,” even those with Demigod strength were not allowed to enter.

    The reason for its designation as a forbidden zone was also due to the abundance of rare and valuable treasures growing in this region.

    At this moment, at the edge of the forbidden zone, a large number of ferocious beasts were attacking a team.

    “Young Master, hurry, these beasts are too strong,” a ten-meter tall golden-armored warrior roared, holding a battle axe: “Quickly, hold off the other beasts, create a path for the Young Master to escape.”

    He was tasked with leading nearly a hundred Heavenly Flight Warriors to protect his master, participating in the Blood Demon Cavern trials, striving to enter the final top ten.

    Unexpectedly, they encountered this catastrophe.

    “Nine Uncle!” The young man in black armor, standing far away, was furious. These guards had been with him for decades, carefully selected by his father, incredibly loyal.

    He had thought that the “forbidden zone edge collection” task, according to intelligence, wasn’t dangerous. How could such a change happen?

    Only twenty of the Heavenly Flight guards were still alive.

    Only thanks to “Nine Uncle,” who had just broken through to Demigod, could the team hold on.

    However, among those attacking beasts, there were also Demigod-level creatures. Although beasts had low intelligence and didn’t cultivate star techniques, they mainly relied on bloodline growth. They were often the weakest at the same level. But their bodies were naturally strong. The key was that Nine Uncle had just broken through to Demigod as well.

    “Why are there so many beasts here?”

    “I don’t know.” The Heavenly Flight guards felt wronged, the weakest of them was at the Heavenly Flight Peak level. They were desperately trying to create a chance for the young man in black armor to escape.

    “Just then!”

    Swoosh!

    The young man in black armor swung his battle axe, a faint fiery red glow shimmering on the blade. He slashed across the body of a beast over thirty meters long.

    Immediately, the beast’s huge body fell from the sky, splitting in two, blood and organs flowing out.

    The young man in black armor seized the opportunity and instantly flashed hundreds of meters behind the beast, about to break out of the encirclement.

    Suddenly,

    “Boom!” The earth, which had been trembling due to the fierce battle, suddenly split open, followed by a gigantic hand extending from the ground, its surface covered with swirling blood-colored air currents.

    The sky seemed to darken.

    “This is…?” The young man in black armor was about to collide head-on with the giant hand. A sense of despair filled his heart, instinctively.

    This was a state that appeared when the gap in life levels was too great.

    “Blood Demon! It’s the legendary Blood Demon! The Blood Demon has awakened? We’re doomed!!” Fear filled the young man’s heart, as he remembered the intelligence reports mentioning it.

    The Blood Demon, the strongest beast in the Blood Demon Cavern, usually only awakened once in dozens of trials.

    But once it awakened, it became a nightmare for countless trial participants.

    Encountering it, it was almost certain death!

    “Rumble~” The giant hand seemed huge and slow, but in reality, it moved incredibly fast. As soon as it appeared, it directly swept past the young man in black armor. It was like a giant stone colliding with an egg. The young man’s body instantly shattered… dead beyond saving.

    This scene shocked the remaining golden-armored warrior.

    “Boom!” The terrifying palm was like a bloody pillar of blood, reaching hundreds of feet high. It continued to slam down.

    The earth shook violently.

    … The battle soon ended, the beasts calmed down, and the giant hand returned to the ground.

    Under the invisible force of heaven and earth, the mountains and valleys that were destroyed earlier gradually returned to their original state.

    “A bunch of fools.”

    “The master clearly warned the Yuan Kingdom’s high-level officials that this is a forbidden zone, they shouldn’t enter… they still dared to come.” An invisible thought extended from the depths of the forbidden zone, shrouded in blood mist, into this area: “How many Heavenly Flight-level creatures have you killed in total?”

    “We’ve only hunted down less than 30,000. This time, it’s a crucial trial for the Yuan Kingdom, many powerful clan descendants and guards came. Many of them became Demigods as soon as they entered.” Another powerful thought transmitted from the earth.

    “Therefore, the killing speed is slower, my children have suffered great losses, many died. It’ll take a long time to nurture them back.”

    The two thoughts exchanged.

    “Trial?”

    “Humph! This is the ‘land of food’ that the master established. It’s just an agreement with the Yuan Kingdom’s emperor.” The thought from the depths of the forbidden zone transmitted: “Regardless of their trials, our task is to monitor the formation, gradually collect ‘life essence,’ prepare materials for the master’s pill refining. The next submission date is approaching. Let’s initiate a Blood Calamity.”

    “Very well.”

    “It’s been over ten years since the last Blood Calamity. Let’s initiate one, the Yuan Kingdom’s high-level officials shouldn’t have any objections.” The thought from the earth responded.

    These two thoughts were one of the hidden forces in the ‘Blood Demon Cavern’.

    In a dark canyon within the Blood Demon Cavern.

    There were many cracks on the ground of the canyon, obviously the aftermath of a fierce battle. The Demigod-level warship, which was flying at high speed, had escaped from the pursuit of a large number of ferocious beasts and had slowed down.

    Li Yuan was still on the warship.

    “What’s your name? How did you come to the Blood Demon Cavern?” The silver-armored girl looked at Li Yuan, her voice melodious.

    Although she was kind, it didn’t mean she was stupid. She also knew that no ordinary people would come to the Blood Demon Cavern.

    Even on the Starry Sky Continent, ordinary people would only reach level 10 or so by adulthood… those who could become Heavenly Flight Warriors were actually considered ‘elite,’ they could achieve a lot in some small places.

    “Your Highness, my name is Xu Yuan.” Li Yuan casually made up a name, a little helpless: “I was captured by accident.”

    “Captured? Then you’re really unlucky.”

    “No wonder you’re only at level 34, you actually went to the Inner Region. You probably don’t know anything about intelligence.” The silver-armored girl’s eyes showed a hint of pity.

    Li Yuan was speechless, the Inner Region?

    To him, the so-called Outer Region and Inner Region didn’t matter. There were just fewer people in the Inner Region, which could avoid a lot of trouble.

    Li Yuan naturally wouldn’t explain further. The more you say, the more mistakes you make.

    The silver-armored girl shook her head: “The trial task was initially voluntary. I don’t know why, but since hundreds of years ago, it’s been stipulated that 200,000 Heavenly Flight-level warriors must be gathered every year… those who are not enough will be captured from various states in rotation…”

    Li Yuan listened.

    According to the intelligence he collected, the survival rate of the Blood Demon Cavern was very low. Every year, 200,000 Heavenly Flight-level warriors gathered… less than 30% of them would survive each year… Over time, many Heavenly Flight-level warriors in the Yuan Kingdom were naturally unwilling to participate.

    This led to the capture, of course, it was officially called ‘recruitment’.

    If it was a Heavenly Flight warrior with a certain background, as long as they showed their identity, they wouldn’t be included in the recruitment.

    “If it was just a simple trial, to select talented cultivators, there are many ways to do it. But they insist on gathering a large number of Heavenly Flight-level warriors every year, with such a high death rate.” Li Yuan thought in his heart: “This Blood Demon Cavern probably hides secrets.”

    A vast and invisible formation enveloped everything.

    Those strange beasts… all pointed to the Blood Demon Cavern’s specialness.

    As far as Li Yuan knew, in the Divine Domain, some super strong beings often carried out crazy massacres for the growth of certain special treasures, the refining of pills, the enhancement of treasures, etc.

    It was common to massacre hundreds and thousands of planets at a time.

    For example, the ‘Empty God Soul Liquid’ that Li Yuan used before was refined from the souls of Empty God experts…

    “In any case, it’s good to be able to leave the Blood Demon Cavern safely.” Li Yuan pondered in his heart.

    … In the eyes of Princess Jiang Xuan, Li Yuan was just a Heavenly Flight Warrior with no background, an ordinary guy who was captured by bad luck.

    “Your Highness.”

    The burly warrior named ‘Guo Shu’, no longer needed to fully control the warship, stepped forward and said in a deep voice: “We’ve escaped the pursuit of the beasts. These three people are of unknown origin, for your safety, it’s better to let them go.”

    Princess Jiang Xuan had saved more than just Li Yuan.

    During the escape just now, she also rescued two others.

    “You two are both Heavenly Flight Peak level. Do you still want to venture in the Inner Region?” Princess Jiang Xuan looked at the other two Heavenly Flight Warriors.

    The two Heavenly Flight Warriors glanced at each other and nodded: “Thank you for saving us, Your Highness. We both want to try for the Black Abyss Guard’s quota, so we won’t follow you.”

    If they followed the royal princess, it might be safer, but they would have a hard time getting more beast heads.

    Swoosh! Swoosh! The two Heavenly Flight Peak warriors turned into streaks of light and quickly left in another direction.

    “What about you? Aren’t you leaving?” The burly warrior looked at Li Yuan, frowning slightly.

    “Guo Shu, let Xu Yuan follow us,” the silver-armored girl said: “His strength is too weak. We haven’t left the Inner Region yet. If we let him leave now, he’ll be killed by a group of beasts.”

    “Your Highness, we still have to complete the mission. Bringing him along will drag us down.” The burly warrior said in a deep voice: “Level 34. He’ll be able to leave the Inner Region with a little luck… didn’t he just venture into the Inner Region alone?”

    With Li Yuan’s strength, it was difficult to completely conceal his ‘Heavenly Flight level’ life force in front of other powerful people if he used the technique to conceal his cultivation aura.

    But he could easily suppress his life force from 38.9 to 34, even ordinary Demigods wouldn’t notice.

    “Guo Shu!”

    “I don’t want to fight this time.” The silver-armored girl shook her head: “We’ll also return to the Outer Region. Let’s wait until the trial is over.”

    “Not fight?” Guo Shu was slightly surprised: “Your Highness, this trial is very important.”

    “Fang Shu and Dong Li are probably dead. I don’t want you guys to suffer any more. If you all die, it’ll be meaningless even if I succeed in the trial.” The silver-armored girl’s eyes were slightly red.

    In her heart, Guo Shu and Dong Shu were like family, watching her grow up since she was little.

    “I don’t want to fight. Even without the rewards of this trial, I feel I can enter the ‘Yuan Imperial Palace’ to cultivate by myself, at most I’ll be a few years late.” The silver-armored girl looked at everyone.

    “Your Highness.” The burly warrior was anxious.

    He would rather die than let the princess complete the trial mission.

    The Heavenly Flight Peak level guards next to them couldn’t help but say: “Your Highness, we are willing to risk our lives.”

    “My mind is made up.” The silver-armored girl was resolute.

    The burly warrior sighed. He knew the silver-armored girl’s character. She seemed gentle and kind, but she was actually very stubborn.

    “Alright.”

    “Let’s go, head to the Outer Region, and wait for the Blood Cavern door to open.” The burly warrior said in a low voice, then glanced at Li Yuan.

    Lucky kid.

    The burly warrior didn’t care about Li Yuan.

    A level 34 Heavenly Flight Warrior could only be considered a Heavenly Flight mid-level, he couldn’t pose a threat to Jiang Xuan, who was at level 36.

    In terms of strength, Jiang Xuan was among the strongest among Heavenly Flight Peak warriors.

    Let alone threatening him, a newly promoted Demigod.

    In the burly warrior’s view, since the princess was kind and wanted to bring him along, there was no need to make the princess unhappy, it was just a small matter.

    Whoosh! The warship continued to travel along the dark canyon, away from the forbidden zone, the atmosphere was a lot more relaxed.

    The burly warrior and the guards were clearly familiar with the terrain.

    Some human warriors they encountered along the way fled far away upon seeing the warship… This level of warship obviously belonged to a powerful clan descendant who came for the trial.

    As for beasts? Any beast that dared to approach the warship, if it was too numerous, would be easily killed by the burly warrior with his Demigod source energy.

    Although the Demigod’s long-range attacks were not as powerful as their close combat, it was easy to kill ordinary Heavenly Flight beasts.

    If there were only a few, Jiang Xuan would get some practice. Her swordsmanship was powerful, but she obviously lacked combat experience.

    They passed through canyons, traveling tens of thousands of kilometers.

    “Xu Yuan, according to the map, we’re not far from the Outer Region.” Jiang Xuan said: “If you want to, you can follow me until the trial is over. You were just captured, there’s no need to participate in this bloody battle.”

    “Mm.” Li Yuan nodded. It didn’t matter to him where he stayed.

    After so long, Li Yuan had some judgment. Jiang Xuan should be a genius from the royal family of the Yuan Kingdom. She shouldn’t have been cultivating for long and held a certain position in the royal family, but she shouldn’t be from the core of the royal family.

    “Li Yuan, there’s a large group of people approaching, including a Demigod.” Gu You’s voice sounded in Li Yuan’s mind.

    “Mm?” Li Yuan’s heart moved.

    Soon, at the other end of the canyon, a faint tremor suddenly came. A void warship appeared in everyone’s sight. The warship was even bigger, and the deck was packed with people.

    “There are quite a few people.” Li Yuan narrowed his eyes: “They’re all at least Heavenly Flight Peak level. Three Demigods?”

    This was the strongest team Li Yuan had seen in the Blood Demon Cavern.

    Li Yuan wasn’t worried at all.

    But the burly warrior and the other guards’ faces changed: “Bad, it’s Jiang Lei’s team. Hurry and leave.”

    Jiang Xuan’s face also became serious.

    Whoosh! The burly warrior Guo Shu controlled the warship. The warship’s speed began to decrease, attempting to fly in the opposite direction, but it would take time.

    At this moment,

    Boom! The other warship, which was flying at extremely high speed, suddenly accelerated, incredibly fast, like a huge streak of flaming light, quickly rushing towards Jiang Xuan’s warship.

    “So fast.” The burly warrior’s face changed. This speed was even faster than the speed he could achieve when fully controlling the warship.

    Obviously, there was a Demigod on board the other warship who had comprehended the truth of wind.

    Seeing this, Li Yuan was also quite surprised.

    Demigod-level warships were incredibly fast, even on the Starry Sky Continent, under the incredible pressure of the restraint, they could still reach about 4 kilometers per second.

    You know, on Blue Star, Heavenly Flight Peak warriors could reach speeds close to 3 kilometers per second. Demigod warriors, on the other hand, generally reached 7 kilometers per second or more.

    But on the Starry Sky Continent, the normal flight speed of Heavenly Flight Peak warriors was less than 1 kilometer per second, imagine how powerful the pressure of the restraint on the Starry Sky Continent was.

    In just under ten seconds, the huge warship had already blocked Jiang Xuan’s warship’s path.

    Rumble! Jiang Xuan’s warship was forced to slow down.

    “Haha, isn’t this the noble Princess Jiang Xuan? Why are you running away like a rat seeing a cat when you see me?” This voice of laughter, transmitted through source energy, echoed throughout the canyon.

    Clickety-clack! The guards on the deck of the huge warship dispersed, and a young man, also wearing silver armor, stepped out of the crowd. He had an exotic and handsome face, wearing a purple-gold hair crown, seemingly of high status.

    Beside him, besides the guards, there were three figures exuding powerful auras, each with a cold expression, looking down at Jiang Xuan and the others.

    “Jiang Lei, what do you want?” Jiang Xuan’s face changed, her face was icy cold.

    She didn’t expect to encounter this opponent.

    “How dare I do anything to you? My respected Princess Jiang Xuan.” The silver-armored young man showed a hint of cruelty, with a hint of mockery in his words: “Your father is a Peak Empty God expert, his fiefdom alone is a whole state… oh, I almost forgot, your father has been dead for ten years.”

    “Hahaha, King Wushan has dozens of children. It seems you didn’t get much wealth and treasures. You came to the Blood Demon Cavern, but you only have one Demigod-level guard.” The silver-armored young man’s eyes were cold, his words full of disdain.

    “Jiang Lei!” The burly warrior Guo Shu was finally furious, roaring: “How dare you talk about King Wushan.”

    King Wushan’s daughter? Li Yuan was slightly surprised, he couldn’t help but look at Jiang Xuan.

    According to the information he had found, the Empty God level members of the royal family of the Yuan Kingdom were usually given the title of Marquis.

    Those who could be given the title of King were extremely rare, most of them were extremely powerful existences among Empty Gods or those who had made great contributions.

    For foreign Empty Gods, it was difficult to even be given the title of Marquis.

    “Get lost!”

    “Jiang Xuan, is this how you teach your subordinates?” The silver-armored young man’s face became cold, revealing a hint of murderous intent: “I was just stating facts, not insulting you. My father is Marquis Yingfeng, what? Jiang Xuan, do your Demigod servants want to convict me?”

    “This kind of servant should be killed!” The silver-armored young man was murderous.

    “Jiang Lei, it’s my subordinate who is wrong. I apologize to you on his behalf.” Jiang Xuan said decisively.

    She knew Jiang Lei’s cruel nature.

    If her three Demigod guards were all present, she wouldn’t be afraid of him, but now only Guo Shu remained. She decisively lowered her head, since the situation was against her.

    “Your Highness, I would rather die…” The burly warrior’s eyes turned red.

    “Shut up, Xu Guo. I’ve been too lenient with you, you don’t even listen to my orders?” Jiang Xuan’s face was filled with anger, she roared: “When we return to the royal capital, I’ll punish you severely.”

    The burly warrior was stunned.

    “Tsk!”

    “Jiang Xuan, don’t put on a show in front of me.” Jiang Lei sneered, his eyes as cold as venomous snakes: “Back then, you captured me and hung me in the Hundred Treasures Pavilion for three days and three nights, causing me to lose face… I’ll never forget it.”

    “Today is my chance to wash away my shame.” Jiang Lei stared at Jiang Xuan with a cold gaze: “Your father is dead. In this Blood Demon Cavern, even your elder brother can’t save you.”

    “You dare kill me?” Jiang Xuan’s face turned cold again. She realized that things couldn’t be settled peacefully, so she stopped pretending.

    “Dare not.”

    “I’m not stupid. You are a registered royal family member. If I kill you, once it’s found out, I’ll die too.” Jiang Lei sneered: “But today, all your servants must die!”

    “Without these servants, if you die in the Blood Demon Cavern, it won’t be my fault.”

    “I also heard that you treat these servants like friends or even family. I bet you’ll be very sad if they die, hahaha!!” Jiang Lei laughed cruelly.

    Jiang Xuan was furious, her face flushed.

    Xu Guo and the guards beside her also clenched their weapons tightly.

    Even though their strength was vastly different, they didn’t even think about giving up fighting.

    “Protect the princess.”

    The burly warrior Xu Guo telepathically said: “Your Highness, when the battle breaks out, you immediately drive the warship to escape. I’ll hold them off desperately.”

    “Guo Shu.” Jiang Xuan was anxious.

    “Your Highness, your life is important. Listen, don’t bet that Jiang Lei won’t dare to kill you. Life can only be grasped in your own hands.” Xu Guo telepathically said in a stern tone, he didn’t care about Li Yuan at all.

    In this situation, who would care about a Heavenly Flight mid-level warrior?

    “It seems they still want to resist?” The silver-armored young man Jiang Lei sneered. He suddenly roared: “All of you, charge! Kill them! Remember, don’t hurt Jiang Xuan, capture her alive.”

    “Yes, Your Highness!”

    “Kill!” The three Demigods and over 60 Heavenly Flight Peak guards beside him answered in unison, immediately turning into streaks of light and rushing towards them.

    Boom! Boom! Boom!

    The three Demigods flew out of the warship, their momentum was overwhelming. Each of them held a divine artifact, which was bestowed upon them by Marquis Yingfeng, it could unleash extremely powerful combat power and was used to protect Jiang Lei.

    Dozens of Heavenly Flight Peak guards followed closely behind. This kind of momentum made Jiang Xuan, Xu Guo, and the others change their expressions.

    Too strong.

    Especially the black-robed elder leading the charge, whose aura was as scorching as stars. He directly waved the divine artifact staff in his hand, and countless fire serpents appeared around him, roaring, rushing towards them.

    “Law!!”

    “This is a newly promoted Demigod who has stepped into the threshold of the law of fire.”

    “Such a strong person, he should have become a Demigod long ago. He’s definitely a powerful character. Why did Marquis Yingfeng assign him to protect Jiang Lei’s trial task?” Xu Guo’s face completely changed.

    They were both newly promoted Demigods, only at level 40, but those who had comprehended the law and those who hadn’t were worlds apart.

    The black-robed elder alone was enough to sweep away all of them.

    “We’re done!”

    “No!” The guards beside Xu Guo all showed a look of unwillingness and a little fear.

    Li Yuan, standing at the back, shook his head slightly: “I thought that following a royal princess would save me a lot of trouble, and I wouldn’t be conspicuous, but it seems I still have to make a move.”

    Boom!

    Li Yuan, who was originally standing behind Jiang Xuan, with the weakest life force, the most inconspicuous one, suddenly erupted with incredibly terrifying power. His body instantly transformed into ten meters tall, and then countless yellowish-brown air currents appeared in the void around him.

    When the yellowish-brown air currents descended, the flames and fire serpents in the void instantly dissipated.

    The entire canyon, within a radius of several kilometers, was engulfed in surging yellowish-brown air currents.

    Nine yellow dragons appeared, swimming in this vast domain.

    The entire world seemed to become silent at this moment.

    On Jiang Xuan’s warship, Jiang Xuan and the guards were unable to move, Xu Guo was incredibly shocked, he felt like his entire body was burdened by a mountain.

    As for Jiang Lei’s subordinates, the dozens of Heavenly Flight Peak guards who had just rushed out of the warship were all completely suppressed, directly suspended in the void, unable to even move their bodies.

    The three Demigods were completely suppressed, they felt it was difficult to activate the true meaning of their Dao or the law.

    “How is this possible!”

    “We are Demigods, second brother has even comprehended the law.” The three Demigods were incredibly terrified.

    In their view, the three of them working together, armed with divine artifacts, were invincible in the Blood Demon Cavern, unless they encountered a Blood Calamity, a large number of Demigod-level beasts, or a similar catastrophe.

    Just now, their attention was focused on the Demigod Xu Guo, they didn’t notice the young man in black armor, who was only at level 34.

    But now!

    This inconspicuous young man suddenly erupted with such terrifying power. Just the suppression of his pure domain made them feel suffocated, their flight speed decreased by 90% or more.

    “What kind of domain is this?”

    “Is he a Demigod?”

    “How could such a super expert come to protect Jiang Xuan?” The three Demigods were panicked. They knew they had hit a snag.

    “Spare us!”

    “Senior, spare us.” The three Demigods frantically sent telepathic messages, wanting to survive.

    Li Yuan was calm.

    “Roar~” “Roar~” “Roar~” The nine yellow dragons, which were originally swimming, finally erupted, roaring across the sky, each bursting with power close to that of a mid-level Demigod, instantly strangling the dozens of Heavenly Flight Peak guards.

    The three Demigod experts were no better off.

    Even the strongest black-robed elder only resisted for a little longer before being torn apart by the nine yellow dragons.

    Death!

    In less than three seconds, Jiang Lei’s guard force was completely wiped out.

    Even the dozen or so Heavenly Flight-level guards on the deck of the warship were also directly killed.

    “Only you are left.” Li Yuan looked at Jiang Lei, his seemingly calm eyes made Jiang Lei feel afraid, his heart filled with endless terror.

    Jiang Lei had a feeling.

    He might be killed the next second.

    “Jiang Xuan.” Li Yuan looked at the silver-armored girl who was incredibly shocked, and said lightly: “Whether you kill him or not, you decide.”

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