5 Crown Prince Lian

Mo <anno data-annotation-id="d8fb12d4-410c-4bcc-a1f4-8afd1f9ef038">Lian</anno> was completely unwilling to look at the other people, and his gaze remained on the little girl with stoic and aloof eyes.

Mo Lian dismounted from his horse and swiftly took a few steps toward Qiao Mu. His eyes followed the direction of the little girl's arm and were met with a desolate mountain overrun by weeds and dead trees. It appeared to have been bereft of human life for who knows how many years, and it looked like a stretch of death and decay from the distance.

However, the little girl simply kept her arm extended without a word. She did nothing but point indifferently at that mountain as she coolly watched the leading cyan-robed man.

Mo Lian really did not like how that beautiful pair of bright and clear eyes were staring intently at someone else like this. With a frown, Mo Lian suddenly looked back sharply and fiercely glared at the cyan-robed man.

His glare scared the cyan-robed man witless, and his hair nearly stood on end. He even involuntarily took a few steps back to avoid that frightening gaze.

Mo Lian's expression abruptly transformed like the rains of spring, and a smile resurfaced on his face as he turned to look at the silent Qiao Mu. It was as though the sharpness and iciness in his gaze earlier was merely a hallucination. He appeared to instantly understand the little girl's gesture and gently inquired, "The magnetite mine? It's on that mountain?"

As soon as he said this, the gazes of the Heavenly Dao Sect disciples shifted, and the noble young master, who was originally being flattered by the officials, slightly trembled. The cold sweat on his forehead seeping out once more.

As though just noticing the sweating noble young master, Mo Lian looked back and nodded at him with a faint smile. "It turns out my dear third royal brother is here as well."

The young master, Mo <anno data-annotation-id="420dbeca-859b-49c6-bb15-2d3f44ac7bec">Teng's</anno>, lips pulled into a grin, like he wanted to give a friendly smile, but that rigid smile looked like it was carved out by a knife and barely resembled one.

Mo Lian was merely greeting him casually, but when he saw the stiff and unnatural expression on his 'dear third brother', the smile in his eyes deepened. He approached Qiao Mu and went to hold her little hand in a natural fashion. "Let's go. Bring us there."

Qiao Mu retreated a step with caution in her eyes and avoided Mo Lian's hand. Her arm motioned at Qiao Liu and his family.

"You will only bring us there if we release them?" Mo Lian truly wanted to compliment his own wit. Although the little girl didn't say anything, he instantaneously understood her meaning every time.

"How presumptuous! You dare to negotiate with the Heavenly Dao Sect?"

"Release them," Mo Lian dryly stated, instantly stifling the voices of the Heavenly Dao Sect disciples.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince!" The Heavenly Dao Sect disciple was dissatisfied. Their sect had a superior position in the whole Sikong Planet, and the people had always revered and flattered its disciples. Wasn't this Crown Prince's manner of speaking a bit much?

"This Crown Prince is telling you to release them!" Crown Prince Lian spoke neither too loudly nor too quietly, even his tone was not too severe.

However, the moment he finished repeating his words, the youths in black behind him drew their swords simultaneously and held them in their hands, danger gathering in their eyes.

The disciples of the Heavenly Dao Sect all looked at Mo Lian angrily and opened their mouths, but they did not dare to argue.

They were very conscious of the fact that if they dared to refuse, their fate would be death.

All the people familiar with Crown Prince Lian's character knew that the crown prince might look as tranquil and serene as an immortal and as cleansing as the spring wind, but all of this elegance and exquisiteness was merely on the surface. In truth, His Highness the Crown Prince was remarkably calculating, full of schemes, and used to getting his way. Even the two deputy sect leaders of the Heavenly Dao Sect were extremely courteous to Crown Prince Lian, and they did not dare to rashly offend him.

Once Crown Prince Lian is enraged, the people who offended him tend to end up vanquished into ash and dying all 10 <anno data-annotation-id="bb9dfd73-8c6b-45ae-b375-f94c47b68572">times</anno>. What Crown Prince Lian disliked the most was repeating a sentence several times.

Typically, what he spoke aloud was his final decision, so the people close to him would not foolishly question him again.

His seemingly mild tone already contained killing intent.

The disciples of the Heavenly Dao Sect could do nothing but stifle their anger and retreat, waving their hands to release Qiao Liu and his family.

<annotations style="display: none;"><ol class="tinymce-annotation-container"><li data-annotation-id="d8fb12d4-410c-4bcc-a1f4-8afd1f9ef038">Mo Lian means ink lotus or black lotus</li><li data-annotation-id="420dbeca-859b-49c6-bb15-2d3f44ac7bec">Mo Teng literally translates to ink vines</li><li data-annotation-id="bb9dfd73-8c6b-45ae-b375-f94c47b68572">A derivative of the idiom 九死一生, which is literally dying 9 times but surviving once and means narrowly escaping a situation, but in this case, it's dying all 10 times.</li></ol></annotations>",