Chapter 638 - 627: God of Capture

How exactly?

Difficult to analyze.

Ding Ling didn’t think much, just felt it was necessary to speed up the unification of Jiuzhou. After all, the world is full of emerging experts; it’s better to improve oneself sooner rather than later to avoid long nights full of dreams.

Ding Ling stood up.

He prepared to take a trip to the Imperial City.

As for the Ascenders who kept coming in to seek refuge, Ding Ling had someone pass a message to Nie Feng and Youruo, letting them handle it as they saw fit.

Those who were reliable and highly skilled could be accepted.

...

Ding Ling arrived at the Imperial City.

This Imperial City was very luxurious, even more overbearing and majestic than Xiong Ba’s World Association by several times. Walking through it, there was a feeling of being in a Jade Light Treasure Land.

Thinking of the description of the current emperor in the original novel, Ding Ling was at ease.

The novel repeatedly mentioned either directly or indirectly the decadence of the current era, saying the emperor neglected state affairs and lived recklessly.

With such an emperor.

The grandeur of the Imperial Palace becomes understandable.

It’s just...

"Is this Imperial City always so silent?"

Ding Ling walked through the corridors of the pavilions and towers, the sound of his footsteps echoing all around. Besides that, it was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

"Could something have happened?"

Ding Ling’s eyebrows twitched.

He performed the Free-Will Ascension Step, Shrinking Inches, his figure swiftly moving, reaching a hundred yards away in no time. This time, delving deeper into the Imperial City, he saw clearly.

Indeed, many people had died.

There were also those who were barely clinging to life.

It seemed the culprit shouldn’t have gotten far?

Or maybe they were nearby.

Ding Ling merely glanced at the wounds of these victims and knew their causes of death were completely different from those of the World Association. The people of the World Association died terribly, and Qin Shuang was even crushed with a single slap.

It’s important to know that Qin Shuang wasn’t an ordinary person.

To easily shatter Qin Shuang’s body with a slap, collapsing the ground by nearly three feet, was reaching an incredible level of power.

This expert was inclined towards killing with brute force, charging recklessly.

Whereas the dead in the Imperial City died quietly, mostly with slit throats or poisoned.

It showed that the perpetrator was an assassin-type character.

Ding Ling walked to the Imperial Palace Main Hall and saw the emperor dead on the Emperor’s Seat, along with court officials lying in a pool of blood.

The pungent smell of blood assailed his nostrils.

Ding Ling’s expression changed slightly:

"All dead."

He looked at the emperor on the throne, thinking of players invading, Ascenders endlessly entering this court and Jianghu, wondering if the emperor of this world was still Wuchang?

Or was it Wenlong?

Judging by the timeline.

At this point, Wenlong shouldn’t have met Wu Wudi yet? And hadn’t been taught the Black Tortoise True Skill?

But with the plot breaking down, who knows if Wenlong might have another adventure?

Ding Ling only saw the emperor’s corpse but did not see the body of someone who looked exactly like him.

It seemed Wuchang and Wenlong could both be alive, or perhaps only one had died. After all, who could definitively say the current emperor wasn’t an imposter?

Ding Ling shook his head and turned to leave.

He hadn’t come to the Imperial City with the intent to kill; he had come to quickly subdue the current emperor and complete the unification endeavor.

Only then could he concentrate on improving himself, facing the calamities he might encounter next.

The person who could easily wipe out everyone in the World Association, silently ’frighten away’, ’abduct’, or defeat the Sword Saint, was no simple character.

This person would certainly not watch him, Ding Ling, rise smoothly and unify Jiuzhou.

He might just suddenly appear one day, dealing a thunderous blow.

Ding Ling was mentally prepared for this.

He even specifically instructed Nie Feng to send a Pigeon Post to Duann Lang, to be extra cautious and wary of strangers during this time, lest they be taken advantage of and lose their lives.

Da da!

Just as Ding Ling stepped out of the Imperial Palace Main Hall, a rush of footsteps suddenly came from afar.

Sounds that were a hundred meters away one second were right next to him the next.

Ding Ling focused his gaze.

He saw the newcomer dressed in black, wearing a mask that only revealed a pair of eyes that flickered with a sharp gleam. Surveying the scene behind Ding Ling in the Main Hall, the figure quivered upon seeing everything, looking at Ding Ling with disbelief:

"Did you kill the emperor and the court officials?"

"No."

Ding Ling didn’t know who this person was, but he assumed they probably weren’t a villain, hence his rather amicable disposition.

"If not you, then who else?!"

The man in black roared with fury:

"Who exactly are you? Why such ruthlessness? Not even the three-year-old children in the Imperial City were spared!"

Along the way.

Ding Ling saw countless corpses.

There were the elderly, the weak, and even women and children.

He even witnessed a lovely two- or three-year-old child fall dead at their home’s entrance, eyes unclosed in death, which deeply moved him. Understanding the man’s unbridled fury, he calmly said:

"My name is Ding Ling. If I wanted to kill such defenseless people, I would do it openly. Young children, innocent and powerless, I would not stoop to harm them."

"You are Ding Ling!"

The man in black seemed to have heard of Ding Ling’s reputation and unconsciously stepped back, but quickly stepped forward again:

"I know you. Rumor has it you want to unify Jiuzhou. The emperor ordered your capture, so did you kill the entire Royal Family because of that?"

Ding Ling looked deeply at the man in black, patiently responding once more:

"For the last time, I didn’t kill anyone in this Imperial City. Although I’m not a righteous man, I own up to my deeds. If I killed, I killed; if I didn’t, I didn’t!"

With those words,

Ding Ling performed the Free-Will Ascension Step, Shrinking Inches, in one leap, bypassing the man in black. In the next instant, he was already a hundred yards away, nearly disappearing from sight.

Suddenly, a man leapt out from the side, stabbing a sword towards Ding Ling:

"Stop!"

Ding Ling didn’t dodge. The Vigorous Qi of Star Shifting enveloped him, and as the other’s sword thrust at him, it was spun and redirected with a strange gesture towards the attacker’s own heart.

The attacker was shocked, hurriedly releasing the sword, yet he was still pierced in the shoulder by a Sword Qi, letting out a muffled groan as he was sent flying several yards away:

"How brilliant a technique of leveraging force! Who are you?"

"His name is Ding Ling."

The man in black flew forward, shouting loudly:

"God of Capture, stop him, don’t let him go. He killed the emperor and the full court of civil and military officials."

"What?"

The one called God of Capture was none other than Xiong Ba’s son, Long Teng.

Half his face was covered with an iron mask, the other half a picture of resilience.

He was tall, with a remarkable presence.

The image he presented was clearly that of an iron-faced, unbending God of Capture.

These two words, ’God of Capture’, were a fitting reflection of his character.

At this moment, hearing the man in black’s words, shock crossed his face. Quickly, his eyes filled with rage and sorrow as he yelled at Ding Ling:

"Ding Ling, why did you commit such a dastardly act?!"