6 - Story (1)

*Several months ago, two hours before the start of Xu Xin's fall*

"Xin'er, where are you going?" A man with intricate golden robes, a handsome face, and purple eyes questioned Xu Xin as he headed out the door of the castle.

Xu Xin was a well built kid with a fierce look on his face that would strike fear into anyone that saw it. He was clearly a born killer, but his body radiated an aura of strength and elegance, contrary to his appearance. His aura was no weaker than some great geniuses twice his age.

"I'm going to check on Mei'er, father. She said that something went wrong, but she didn't say what."

They were both surprised that something had gone wrong, because Qi Meixiang had never failed to do something before, especially something as simple as clearing out invaders.

She was Xu Xin's fiancée, who he had been predetermined to marry since he was born. However, he didn't mind since he truly loved her beyond belief. They had grown up together, and with every passing year, his love for her grew stronger.

She was a strategist, and although she wasn't nearly as good at manipulating others as Xu Xin, she was almost as good as him with tactics and strategies. They were both born prodigies, but Xu Xin outclassed her in every way.

She was naturally talented with directing others, and she had never failed to accomplish a task before, and she usually did so with minimal to no casualties. However, something had gone wrong with something as simple as clearing out invaders?

He wasn't worried that something had happened to her because of him because their relationship had always been kept private and only a select few people knew.

Something in this situation was suspicious, but they weren't super worried since she could handle herself well enough.

But Xu Xin had a gut feeling that something was wrong, hence why he was going to check up on her. He was one of the strongest people in the kingdom, and he could resolve almost any situation.

For this reason, some people referred to him as a demon, a cultivation maniac that was too strong for this place, as if he didn't belong here.

But without saying anything else, Xu Xin left the castle, headed towards the woods where the invaders were at full speed.

He seemed to be a blur as he moved, too fast for normal people to even see. His whole body was surrounded in a golden flame that seemed to ignite the air itself on fire as it pushed him even faster.

The odd thing was that this flame didn't burn him or his clothes. Instead, it helped him to go faster and be stronger. This was because this flame was a weaker form of inner breath. It was pseudo inner breath, because it was halfway developed into inner breath.

He was below the level of the female archer at this point, but he was even stronger than her. It wasn't for nothing that he was the strongest genius in the kingdom.

As he moved through the forest, his every step left a burning footprint on the ground that contained a terrifying aura of fire and metal.

An hour later, Xu Xin reached the area where the invaders were supposed to be, but what he saw when he got there shocked him.

Rather, it was the lack of what he saw that shocked him. There was absolutely nothing here. He was absolutely positive that he had come to the right place, but nothing was here, not even the slightest sign of battle.

He then searched around a bit, but found nothing. He was extremely suspicious of what was happening right now, but he wouldn't get any answers just by wondering, so he looked around a little more.

Just as he was about to give up, he suddenly heard a raspy voice ring out nearby.

"Hello, crown prince Xiao Xin. We have a warning for you. Stop resisting, or Qi Meixiang dies."

At this point in time, Xu Xin was still known as Xiao Xin, his birth name, and he only adopted the name Xu Xin after his downfall, which was about to happen.

Xu Xin instantly looked over to where the voice came from, and he was instantly on guard once he saw who it was.

About fifty feet away from him was a person in black robes with a white mask on. On the mask were two trails of blood that came from the eyes, and they went all the way down the robes of the person, to their feet.

Xu Xin was extremely wary of this person, not because he knew who it was, but because of who they stood for. This was a blood priest, and it was someone that Xu Xin couldn't fight against.

"What does the blood order want?" Xu Xin's voice was extremely solemn as he knew they weren't kidding about Qi Meixiang. The blood order had spies everywhere, and if they said they could kill her, he didn't dare to doubt it.

He was curious about how they had found out about their relationship, but that wasn't the main issue. The main issue was that she was usually not heavily guarded because nobody knew that she was technically the future queen. This meant that they truly could kill her if they chose to.

Xu Xin walked up closer to them, and he was now within proper speaking distance, only about five feet away from the blood priest.

"Stop attacking members of the blood order in secret, and we will spare her. If you don't, we will poison her with the blood devil madness poison and let her die a horrible death." The blood priest knew not to ask him to do anything in the light, because Xu Xin could kill him if he angered him too much right now.

Xu Xin was stronger than the blood priest, but the blood priests stood for the whole blood order, and killing one was waging war on the whole order. This was part of the reason that Xu Xin didn't attack right now.

He had been killing the members of the blood order that came into the kingdom, and he did so without telling anyone, and the blood order had found out and was threatening him to make him stop.

They had members that could kill Xu Xin, but that would be the same as waging war on the kingdom, which they didn't want to do, at least not yet. With this exchange, both sides could get what they wanted peacefully without having to worry about each side breaking the agreement.

It was an extremely clever move from the blood order, because they knew that Xu Xin couldn't speak for the whole kingdom in declaring war. As such, he was told to stop doing something that he shouldn't technically be doing in the first place.

"Fine. But leave Mei'er out of this. If you dare to attack her, you can forget about any form of peace."

After saying this, Xu Xin walked away with a calm look on his face. He knew that they wouldn't dare to actually kill her, but he didn't dare to kill a blood priest either. He knew that it was extremely dangerous, however, to continue to kill their members, as they had never made an empty threat before.

As he was walking away, he didn't realize that his younger brother, the second in line for the throne was hiding nearby with a smile on his face. "Got you," he said with a wide grin, "Now everyone will believe me."

Around him was a group of other people who all had shocked expressions on their faces. From their location, they couldn't hear what was said, so it looked like Xu Xin had betrayed the kingdom and was teamed up with the blood order, giving them information.

After all, this was obviously a planned visit, and people would often use letters like the one sent to Xu Xin to arrange secret meetings, so he couldn't use that as an excuse.

In their eyes, Xu Xin had betrayed them, and he was teamed up with the blood order to help bring down the kingdom, and they would spread this news as soon as they got back.

Nobody knew that this was all set up by the prince hiding with them to frame Xu Xin and become the crown prince. He had sent the letter to Xu Xin, and he had set up the meeting by exposing to the blood order the fact that Xu Xin was killing their members.

He had set up this whole thing entirely based on his own greed for the title of crown prince as well as the fact that, if it went wrong, there might be a war, which would also majorly benefit him, so it was a win no matter how it went.

As Xu Xin went back, he was worried about how they had found out. He was absolutely positive that nobody had seen him while he was killing those members, and the only one that knew about him killing them was his brother, who he used as cover to allow him the time to kill them.

He had been thinking about it for quite awhile now, and only now did he make the connection to his brother.

Then, suddenly, he realized something. Something he had missed previously. He had never thought about why his brother would so easily allow him to cover for him, and it was at this moment that he finally thought of the possibility.

He then realized what was about to happen, and he instantly started to run home as fast as he possibly could, worried about what might happen because of this meeting. If he was right, then his entire life might end tonight.

Up until now, he had been walking back in order to give himself time to think it over, and it had already been an hour since he left, meaning that he had to go as fast as he could in order to get back before the news spread if what he thought truly was happening.

As he ran back, he got more and more worried, and his pseudo inner breath burned with the fury of a dragon as it pushed him as fast as he could go through the forest, not caring about the damage caused on the way.

But he was destined to be too late, as fifty minutes later, when he arrived, he was met by the scene of utter chaos in the streets and guards patrolling everywhere, looking for him.

He knew at this moment what had happened, and he quickly ran through the city, going straight towards the castle, looking to at least save Qi Meixiang from her fate. He knew that she would be used against him, and he wanted to get to her before it was too late.

However, as he ran through the town, his golden flame pseudo inner breath caught too much attention, and many people tried to stop him as he went through, but he just blasted his way through, not caring if he hurt people or not.

At this point, there was no going back, and no matter how he argued, nobody would believe him, so there was no longer any reason to protect these people that tried to stop him.

He was loyal to the kingdom, but if they believed so easily that he had betrayed them, they didn't deserve his restraint and especially not his mercy.

Several people died on the impact of his pseudo inner breath, and the guards started sounding alarms loudly, catching the attention of the entire city as he blasted his way through.

Very soon, there was a swarm of guards around him, as well as a few captains of the guard, who were more capable of slowing him down.

As he continued towards the castle, he was slowed down by the captains of the guard, and this gave time for even stronger people to get here.

Just as Xu Xin was about to reach the castle, the first truly strong person showed up. It was an old woman who had reached the level of the blood priest, and she was completely capable of stopping him when paired up with all the captains of the guards.

Realizing that he couldn't reach her, Xu Xin yelled out with a voice louder than thunder, "MEI'ER, GET OUT OF HERE NOW!!!!!"

His voice rang through the entire castle, and she heard his warning from within. But she couldn't do anything, because she was already captured. In front of her stood the king himself, who then left to go outside the castle.

Xu Xin was now engaged in a violent battle, and dozens of people had already died to his hands.

His entire body was roaring with a golden fire that seemed to contain a life of its own, and it condensed into golden lion heads on his fists, which seemed to roar as they devoured the power of everyone around him.

Even the old woman at the level of the blood priest had been injured, and blood leaked from several places on her body as burns covered her skin.

However, it was at this moment that a pressure descended from the sky itself as everyone was forced to their knees. The only person able to stand was Xu Xin, and he was able to do so because this power was the same as his own, the golden flames.

"I'm not impressed, father. All of these years of loyalty to the kingdom, and yet you believe one mere coincidence set up by my brother?"

"SHUT UP!!!" The king walked forward and slapped Xu Xin so hard that he was sent flying into a nearby castle wall. He was instantly knocked unconscious by the pure force of the impact.