1762 Lin Xiaojing

The Emperor had gone through multiple shocks in just the last few minutes.

First, Alex had somehow taken away the entirety of the Azure Dragon's treasure and body, something even he was incapable of.

Then, he had declared war against him and his empire. That was something the prophecy had said would happen, but it hadn't completely happened, so there was some solace there.

After that, Alex had brought out a ship full of thousands of people, ready to fight in the war that had just been declared. Their soldiers were surrounding the ocean, waiting for any army from the Southern Continent trying to sneak in, but to his surprise, they were already there.

Then, there was the surprise that Alex had given him with the trade. The techniques he had been presented alone had been something of a great shock, but what was more shocking was the fact that they apparently came from an individual from the higher realms who called himself the Alchemy God.

Finally, the arrival of these two new individuals had him reeling in shock. He was still unable to figure out how these people were being kept hidden, but that didn't matter.

What mattered was the fact that he recognized both of the two new people

The first one was someone who used to be his cook but had become his enemy for some reason. The Emperor still had no idea why that had happened.

However, that was not what truly shocked him. What shocked him was the presence of the young woman whom he recognized and feared so much.

The first time he had seen Hannah, he had nearly been killed. He knew the only reason he hadn't died back then was because of the young woman's relative inexperience when it came to battles and killing another.

However, her eyes were different now from back then. The thin black sword in her hand seemed ready for blood as well.

The Emperor felt a chill in the back of his neck, coursing through his spine.

Zhou Linfan pulled out a clean purple sword and charged for the Emperor without a single instance of hesitation.

One of the Emperor's subordinates moved up front, ready to protect their emperor, only to be sent flying away in a single swing from Zhou Linfan.

That was when they realized that Zhou Linfan had a cultivation base in the 8th Saint Transformation realm, just a single realm lower than the Emperor himself.

There was no one here capable of fighting him in a single battle, other than the Emperor himself.

Long Tiankong brought out his Noble Dragon spear as well as his Golden Dragon shield and flew into battle.

Zhou Linfan's body and his purple sword glowed with a soft white edge all around as something seemingly glimmering formed around him.

He struck the Dragon Emperor with his sword, creating an attack that sensed blasts of crystals flying at the Emperor.

The Emperor put up his shield, creating a golden barrier in front of it, blocking all the attacks at once. He struck back with a lightning attack, which Zhou Linfan surprisingly blocked rather easily.

The Emperor gave a look full of hate. "Zhou Linfan! Why do you fight me?" he asked. "I am your emperor."

"You are no emperor of mine," Zhou Linfan said. "You stopped being one the moment you killed my father, my mother, and the rest of my family. You killed all of my kin, so for that, I shall destroy you here today."

The Emperor's eyes widened slightly at the words. The words 'kin' and 'destroy' triggered something in the back of his head.

"Who… who are you really?" the Emperor asked. He feared what he was going to hear next.

"I am Zhou Linfan, but there was a time when I had a different name. I was Lin Xiaojing, son of King Lin Haoming of the Lin kingdom," Zhou Linfan said loudly. "For the injustice you brought to my family and kingdom, I shall kill you here today."

The Emperor felt another sense of fear from those words. Not only had a king made the declaration that he would be killed today, but so had the son of a king.

'No!' the Emperor thought. This was not going to happen to him. He looked around, wildly searching for the final of the three.

'No, as long as there is no White Tiger, I'm safe,' he thought and fought back against Zhou Linfan.

Alex looked at the fight in the air, standing outside of the battle. Zhou Linfan had requested that they don't interfere until they needed to, so they were staying behind.

He turned around, looking at the battle behind him. The chaos in the sky made it impossible to tell who was winning right now.

There were far too few soldiers on the Emperor's side while Alex had brought nearly 10 thousand of them. While his army was weaker, the overall strength they had was way more than the Emperor's army.

However, that was slowly changing. More and more soldiers of the empire were flying from far away or through different teleportation formations, making their way into the battle.

They were adding to their numbers slowly, but surely. Soon enough, he would be outnumbered here.

'Come on guys! I need the help,' Alex thought desperately.

"Alex, how is the situation?" Hannah asked him. "Can we kill him?"

"I've done my half of the trade, so I don't believe I will be in any trouble if he does end up dying," Alex said. "So you're free to do so if you can."

Half a minute later, Zhou Linfan fell back with his breathing in disarray. "Alright, I admit. I can't beat him alone," he said.

"Very well," Hannah spoke. "I shall aid you."

The Emperor was rearing to fight more, but when he saw Hannah move, he instantly lost all anger, and instead fear gripped him.

"Move back!" he shouted immediately. "Form the array."

The few subordinates that had hung around the Emperor immediately got into formation. An illusory golden dragon appeared behind them, floating around the group of people that then empowered the Dragon Emperor.

The Dragon Emperor's aura rose tremendously, making him way more powerful than he already was.

Alex felt a hint of shock at the increase in strength. He was confused for a second, but thinking about it afterward, some things made more sense now.

Unlike the Hell Emperor's Divine Battle Array, which accounted for the number of people involved in the array, it seemed this array involved not the number, but the strength of the people involved in the array.

That was how despite only having half a dozen individuals around the Emperor, the Emperor's aura had still improved so much.

"He's stronger," Alex said softly. "Be careful."

"I will," Hannah said and moved forward to aid Zhou Linfan in his battle against the Emperor.

Alex looked at them go, and while he wanted to fight too, he couldn't. He had to let Hannah and Zhou Linfan tire the man out a little before joining in.

For now, his eyes were on another person far beyond the Emperor and the people in an array, who was staring at everything with a dull look in his eyes.

Alex moved toward the Crown Prince.