The throne, once covered in rotting flesh, shone brightly, and Liu Xing realized that the Twelve Sun Armor might be stronger than he had thought. He still did not know the details of this armor, but the qi emitted from the throne would be of great help in saving Elder Yang Zhaoyan later, and perhaps in helping Hong'er out of her dying state.

The throne emitted a blinding yellow light for a moment, and Liu Xing thought the armor would soon reveal itself. But not long after, even as the rotten meat covering the throne melted, revealing a white and golden majestic throne, it stopped emitting qi and ceased its activity. It was like a machine that rumbled as if to start, but then suddenly stopped as if something had jammed inside.

"What? Why did it stop shining?" Yang Suyin looked around. "Where is the Twelve Sun Armor?"

Prince Yang Jinyan's once bright and hopeful expression vanished. "Am I not worthy? Am I not worthy to be granted the Twelve Sun Armor?!"

"Perhaps it was not about worthiness," Liu Xing said, trying to remain calm. "Perhaps the amount of qi you sent was not sufficient. Hurry, send your qi to the throne again."

"Wait a minute, Hong'er," the prince muttered. Hong'er's breath and heartbeat began to slow, and blood started to pool beneath her.

Prince Yang Jinyan tried to send more qi into the throne. It shone again, but like before, it stopped shining after a moment. Yang Suyin handed many pills to the prince, and the prince used them to send vast amounts of qi to the throne, but to no avail.

The prince tried again and again, and even Yang Suyin began to help by sending his qi, but though the throne shone for a moment longer than before, there was no change. He thought that perhaps his conjecture had been wrong. Perhaps sending qi to the throne was not the way to reveal the Twelve Sun Armor. But for now, he refused to acknowledge that possibility.

"If it was qi, I have plenty," Liu Xing said. He had plenty—and not just normal qi, but potent qi. If his potent qi could not make the Twelve Sun Armor reveal itself, then nothing would.

Liu Xing put his right hand on the prince's left shoulder. Yang Suyin sent his qi to the throne directly, but Liu Xing did not want to do that. After all, he was not from the Yang clan—who knew what complications might arise if he sent his qi directly? Extracting some qi from the Ethereal Pearl, he let it travel to his hand and into the prince. When his qi entered the prince's body, Prince Yang Jinyan jerked and snapped his head toward Liu Xing, his eyes wide and mouth agape.

"What are you doing? Hurry up and use it!" He wanted Prince Yang Jinyan to save Hong'er.

He knew what it felt like to lose someone close, and seeing the prince cry and beg stirred something within him. He wanted to see Prince Yang Jinyan succeed in saving Hong'er, wanted to see her recover from her dying state, and wanted to witness their happy reunion. For that, he would help them with everything he could.

The prince nodded, cycled Liu Xing's potent qi for a while, then dispersed it from his body and sent it to the throne.

Usually, sending qi to other people was difficult. People could reject it, and there were matters of compatibility. But this was potent qi, and Liu Xing doubted the prince would reject it when he needed it most. The process was as successful as he had expected; the potent qi bathed the gold and white throne, which absorbed all of it and began shining brightly. Before, it had looked like a little lamp in total darkness, but right now, it shone so brilliantly it was as if the sun had descended into the night, illuminating everything. Seeing this, even Liu Xing's heartbeat began to race. He wondered what the Twelve Sun Armor would look like.

The throne began to tremble, then split open, revealing a hidden compartment below. Liu Xing, Yang Jinyan, and Yang Suyin stepped closer to look into the compartment, but a moment later, something leaped from it and floated above the split throne. Seeing this, Liu Xing's eyes widened, and his heartbeat began to race frantically, thousands of questions swirling in his mind. It was armor, indeed, but not what he had expected. Hell, he never thought he would see something like that at this moment!

"What? Where is it? Where is the Twelve Sun Armor?" Yang Suyin asked once again.

"It's empty! Has that bastard already gotten the original and the replica?" Prince Yang Jinyan's voice trembled, then morphed into rage. "I'll kill him! I'll kill him! I'll kill him!"

The throne slid back into position, hiding the compartment below, and what was supposed to be the Twelve Sun Armor floated atop it like a wicked spirit. "Both of you, calm down. The armor is floating right on top of the throne right now. It's just that you guys cannot see it."

"Why?"

"It is shrouded by darkness!"

His voice rose to a high pitch at the end of the sentence. There was no way for the prince and Yang Suyin to understand the context, but even so, they widened their eyes. The sight had made Liu Xing, a Purple Moon Sect disciple, panic. Even if they did not understand its real meaning, they understood what he felt.

The Twelve Sun Armor was full-body armor without a helmet, with a floating crown atop it instead. It had engravings depicting a bird with twelve heads, as well as many subtle engravings on its surface portraying light and sun. It was majestic armor, but the darkness shrouding it like black wisps of smoke also made it look like an evil armor born from darkness itself. Seeing this darkness, Liu Xing wondered what in the hell it was doing in this empire. He had never thought his mission to help this empire would lead him to encounter darkness again.

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"Who made this armor? How did he make it?" Liu Xing asked.

"It was the second emperor. He made it for his wife. He killed her, and the armor became cursed. Why? Is it important? More importantly, are you telling the truth? Is the Twelve Sun Armor really here? If so, Hong'er need to wear it. It would heal her."

Liu Xing licked his lips. Thousands of questions floated in his brain, but he suppressed them all. Hong'er needed to wear this armor, but he had a bad feeling about it. He suspected this particular darkness did not have harmful properties; hell, it should enhance the armor, or even be an integral part of it. But the mention of it being cursed made Liu Xing hesitate to leave it be. Moreover, this darkness was something that needed to be eliminated.

"Wait a minute, I'll try something first."

"No! We need to make her wear it as soon as possible!" Prince Yang Jinyan said.

Liu Xing tried to calm himself and knew he needed to deal with Prince Yang Jinyan patiently. The prince was just worried about the girl, and Liu Xing understood that. He, too, wanted to help her. After all, there was no way he would let her die like that.

"I know, which is why I'll give you a simple explanation. This armor is shrouded by something dark. I've tangled with this kind of darkness before; that's why it's invisible to you both. I only need less than a minute to try to extinguish that darkness from the armor."

Prince Yang Jinyan clenched both fists, as if he wanted to kill Liu Xing but was trying to rein in his emotions; however, he soon nodded. "Make it quick."

Liu Xing nodded. It should be fast. After all, while waiting for the prince's response, he had already positioned his gun before the armor. The last time his gun had come in contact with darkness, it had absorbed the darkness. There had been no noticeable change then, and he hoped there would be no change this time either. Since this armor was said to be cursed, changes to his gun would probably be bad.

He controlled the tip of the gun to touch the armor, and like a swarm of moths finding light, the darkness shrouding the Twelve Sun Armor began to converge on his gun. The darkness swirled around it, creating a ball that fully enveloped his gun. For a moment, Liu Xing felt his connection to the gun sever, and he panicked briefly. But soon, as if his gun refused to be drowned by that darkness, it began to absorb the darkness, almost as if inhaling it.

Soon, it was over. His gun floated, encased by his qi, bobbing slightly like a soap bubble. The darkness that had shrouded the Twelve Sun Armor was fully absorbed, revealing gleaming white, red, and golden armor. The floating crown above looked like a white tiara for an empress, adorned with twelve gleaming red gems.

"Twelve Sun Armor!" Prince Yang Jinyan shouted, pointing at it.

"It looks as if it materialized from nothing," Yang Suyin commented, his eyes wide as saucers. "What a beautiful armor."

Liu Xing agreed; it was beautiful armor. But before he could appreciate it more, the armor and crown rushed toward Hong'er, who lay on the fleshy ground. As they moved, Liu Xing could clearly see the armor melting and transforming into a pure yellow light. This light then bathed Hong'er with its warm and powerful qi, making her float in the middle of the room. Her robe began to melt around her, revealing her naked body. But what interested Liu Xing the most were the lower and left sides of her body, which looked as if they had been bitten by giant pink worms. Red blood began bubbling from her wounds; then these red bubbles transformed into flesh growing rapidly to seal them. An arm and a pair of feet began to sprout. The new flesh was pinkish-red, like the skin of a delicate wound just healing, but a moment later it became pale white, the same color as the rest of her body.

When her body was whole again, Hong'er suddenly opened her eyes and gasped for breath, as if she had been drowning and had just managed to spit out all the water that had flooded her lungs.

Seeing Hong'er alive and well, Prince Yang Jinyan's face broke into a wide smile, and happy tears fell from his eyes. Seeing this, Liu Xing could not help but smile. He knew how important this girl was to the prince, and witnessing the prince's profound relief at her well-being warmed his heart. It was a good outcome.

The yellow light that had bathed her then began to swirl around her, causing her to float in a standing position. The light solidified into a fine red dress with subtle embroidery of sun and bird symbols. A crown settled on her head, while matching red shoes formed on her feet.

Hong'er blinked several times, as if confused by what had happened, then glanced at Prince Yang Jinyan, who was crying uncontrollably, and smiled. Her smile was warm, like that of the morning sun, and Liu Xing suspected Prince Yang Jinyan felt as if his entire being were blessed by blissful warmth.

"Hong'er, you're alive." Prince Yang Jinyan wiped his tears.

"Yes, it's because of you." She looked at Yang Suyin and nodded, then looked at Liu Xing and also smiled. "And you two." Her eyes returned to the prince. "The truth is, even while dying, I could still see and understand things around me. I could see you, my prince, crying and begging. It wasn't very manly, you know—an emperor should always have dignity. But I suppose I can't be mad about it, since you did it for me."

Some tears began to fall from Hong'er's eyes, and she tried to wipe them from her cheeks. Her eyes were red and glistening, as if she too felt immense relief at what had happened.

"I know some rumors about both of you," Yang Suyin said, "but I never imagined your connection to be this strong."

"Yes." Yang Jinyan nodded, this time his back straight and chest puffed, trying to look like an emperor. "When this troubled time is over, I will become emperor, and she will be my one and only wife."

Hong'er blinked several times, looking confused for a moment before a bright, goofy smile flashed across her face. Liu Xing imagined she must be very happy about this; it was, essentially, a proposal.

But while this was a happy moment, it had to end. After all, they were still in the middle of a fight. The Royal Barrier remained deployed, Elder Yang Zhaoyan was still under Wei Yi's control, and Yang Lihuo would still undergo a rebirth into something likely unholy.

As Liu Xing thought this, the castle suddenly trembled. A huge sound, as if a giant were walking, echoed through the chamber, accompanied by the screeching and groaning of the earth, as if the ground itself were opening its maw. Liu Xing glanced at the people around him. Yang Jinyan clenched his hands, his expression murderous. Yang Suyin narrowed his eyes, and Hong'er looked aloof, exuding a cold, murderous aura—a stark contrast to their previous happy and warm expressions.

"Are you guys ready to fight again?" Liu Xing asked.

"Yes. We finally secured the Twelve Sun Armor for Hong'er. While it will not make her invincible, with her cultivation, she will be as strong as a Sun Refining cultivator," Yang Jinyan said.

"All right then, let's go. Our next destination is the Emperors' Tomb, and our mission is to save Elder Yang Zhaoyan. Do you guys agree?"

"Yes," the three of them nodded.

Yet, that goal would not end this battle.

This battle would only stop when one side had won: either Liu Xing's side or Wei Yi's.

Only time could tell.

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