"Third Prince, I am ordered to escort you to the capital. Since we've met, shall we depart now?" Su Miaozhen suddenly spoke. Why would Great Han's national guardian save a crippled prince? She burned to see Lin Yu's hidden strengths.
"No. Third Brother's escorts were slaughtered by demons—he can't travel unguarded. He will return to the border with me until Father sends new escorts." The First Prince refused immediately, also seeking clues about Prince Su through Lin Yu. With Prince Su's help, he could surely claim the throne.
"Hehe! Your Great Han escorts are worthless. At least Great Zhou warriors don't abandon their commander and flee!" Su Miaozhen sniffed disdainfully.
"You...!" The First Prince flushed with anger, but with Zhao Yihu's corpse still warm, he had no retort.
"Brother, I should depart for Great Zhou. Once in Great Zhou, what use are escorts? If they want me dead, even 100,000 troops couldn't save me." Lin Yu shook his head and walked toward the Great Zhou cavalry. Though his cultivation needed no protection, he preferred Su Miaozhen to the First Prince.
"Well said. But rest assured, Third Prince—you are our honored guest as long as our nations are at peace." Su Miaozhen laughed heartily, riding beside him toward Great Zhou's border.
The First Prince left in a rage, withdrawing his forces.
Following Su Miaozhen across the border, Lin Yu journeyed toward the capital.
"Third Prince, what is your relationship with Prince Su? Why did he save you from afar?" Su Miaozhen turned, her eyes shining like stars through her ferocious mask.
"I know not why Prince Su saved me—perhaps to prevent war and bloodshed. In truth, I've never met him." Lin Yu looked sincere—he hadn't lied. He truly had never seen Prince Su.
Su Miaozhen studied him, trying to discern the truth, but finally gave up.
Lin Yu looked at a ruined structure on a nearby mountain. "General Su, I've seen many such ruins on hills. Why are they abandoned?"
"Those are temples." Su Miaozhen replied.
"Temples?" Lin Yu was confused.
"Built before Great Zhou, they were abandoned long ago. Said to be where Buddhist monks lived, but one night, all vanished, leaving the temples to decay." She shook her head. "That's all I know. The Demon Clan invasion and Sect wars erased much history—the Buddhists' disappearance is one mystery."
Lin Yu got along well with Su Miaozhen, though she never removed her mask. Approaching the capital, he still didn't know her appearance, wondering if she hid ugliness, but her beautiful eyes made that hard to believe.
Arriving in the capital, he was taken to the hostage manor south of the city to await the Zhou Emperor's audience. With no escorts, the manor was empty except for a few servants and guards, who kept their distance as he was a foreign prince.
Lin Yu preferred the solitude—too many people would hinder his visit to the Demon Prison. After settling in, Cauldron Lord urged him to scout the prison. Yielding, he sneaked out at night after two days.
Eh? Before entering the city, he sensed terrifying spiritual energy from a nearby forest, as if something were breaking free.
"What's happening?" Lin Yu frowned at the woods.
"Demonic energy—intense demonic energy...!" Cauldron Lord sounded excited.
"Let's check it out." Lin Yu dashed into the forest, moving hundreds of zhang in an instant.
Deep in the woods stood the ruins of a temple, ancient and vast, once bustling. Now only rubble remained, with demonic energy surging from beneath a hall. Dozens of Xiantian warriors stood guard, three or four at Purple Mansion Realm, led by a Purple Mansion Ninth Grade expert, one step from Myriad Manifestations.
"To think Lanruo Temple really seals demons! Our Fu Clan can finally wrest the throne from the Li Clan!" The Purple Mansion Ninth Grade warrior, Fu Jian, laughed ecstatically.
Long ago, the Fu Clan lost to the Li Clan in a power struggle and went into hiding. The Li Clan founded Great Zhou. The Fu Clan never forgot their defeat, vowing to destroy Zhou and reclaim the throne.
Fu Jian had amassed strength but lacked the power to confront Zhou—until an ancient book revealed that before Zhou's founding, a demon灾 (calamity) struck, and Buddhist monks sealed demons under Lanruo Temple, then vanished, causing Buddhism's decline.
Finding Lanruo Temple's ruins near the capital, Fu Jian brought men to break the seal. Demons loose so close to the capital would ravage it, weakening the royal family and letting the Fu Clan rise. They might even ally with the ancient demons.