Chapter 173: Breaking the Siege

Chapter 173: Chapter 173: Breaking the Siege

The sound of footsteps drew nearer by the second. Jeremy’s mood also grew increasingly tense, his chest feeling as if weighed down by a boulder.

From the magical fluctuations transmitted over, he read about five people.

What was worth mentioning was that they weren’t affected at all by the sleeping smoke blanketing this room. Either they had just set foot in the palace and hadn’t been exposed to the smoke layer yet, or their realms were high enough to be immune to that type of poison.

In short, if a fight broke out, he didn’t even have a half-chance of winning.

But the absorption process still needed another two minutes.

The dragon orb in his palm had only dissolved by two-thirds. If interrupted midway, the entire effort of tonight — three hours of spreading poison, one life taken, and the only opportunity within seven days — would all be poured down the drain.

Too much of a loss.

Weighing his options in less than a breath, Jeremy instantly unleashed an illusionary clone, making it leap out of the eastern window, deliberately causing a noise.

The good news was that the tactic succeeded. The footsteps in the corridor halted, then changed direction — exactly as he calculated.

The bad news was that less than half a minute later, they realized the anomaly.

The clone had no heartbeat, no scent of blood, and most importantly, it ran too straight.

The sound of footsteps returned, faster than before.

Fortunately, exactly the moment the door was about to be pushed open, the final stream of light from the dragon orb fully dissolved into his meridians.

Done.

Jeremy suppressed his breathing to the lowest possible level, downed the remaining invisibility magic potion, and pulled his hood over.

The exact moment the door burst open, he shot out of the window frame the clone had opened beforehand.

Behind his back, the guards who had just entered, seeing the bloody scene in the room — the young prince lying face up on the mattress, his chest blown open with a hole — instantly panicked and yelled loudly.

"Assassin! Over here!"

"Chase them quickly!"

With the support of the tier-five cultivation level in the illusion, Jeremy could unleash multiple clones simultaneously without too much consumption.

Seeing the pursuers about to catch up, he decisively released six clones, making them scatter and run in six different directions — two towards the main gate, two towards the rear garden, and two climbing straight up the palace roof.

As for himself, he stopped in a blind spot behind an artificial rockery right in the middle of the courtyard, not leaving immediately.

As the proverb goes: the most dangerous place is the safest place.

Running towards the crowd now would only backfire. The entire prince’s estate had been alerted, and troops were pouring into every exit.

He pressed tightly into the rock crevice, holding his breath, listening to the heavy thud of running feet brush past less than three steps away from him.

Taking advantage of that moment, Jeremy raised his hand, glancing down at the totem mark on the back of his hand.

Exactly the moment the absorption process concluded earlier, a few lines of golden ancient text had appeared in his head.

Roughly saying: the first dying wish has been completed.

No words of praise. No rewards. Just a short, blunt notification before turning off.

Perhaps also for that reason, the totem that had been glowing brilliantly now dimmed completely, returning to a leaden gray color like an ordinary tattoo.

Along with it, the dull ache the bloodline curse had sown into his marrow also vanished. For the first time since waking up in this identity, his body felt light.

As for what the so-called second dying wish was, currently there was still no movement.

He also didn’t know when it would jump out.

Regarding the unknown, Jeremy didn’t bother too much. Thinking ahead yielded nothing anyway.

What was worth thinking about right now was: taking advantage of the entire prince’s estate being in chaos, perhaps he should take a risk one more time.

After all, Evelyn’s hunting task still hadn’t been completed. And she was chained in prison, her magic power sealed, her body covered in whip marks — having no way to hunt on her own.

If he had already made it out here, bringing a target back for her was just a matter of convenience.

Having had that thought, Jeremy wouldn’t stop.

He waited in his current spot for a few more minutes, borrowing the three remaining clones to observe the situation from three directions. Confirming the pursuers had all scattered towards the main gate, he then quietly crept along the base of the wall, sneaking towards a more secluded palace located in the northwest corner.

The children of the Ice Dragon race prince, to the Mermaid race, none of them were good things.

Jeremy saw that exactly as he stepped through the door.

Everywhere in the room were decorations made from Mermaid bones. A polished fish tail spine hung on the wall like a trophy. Several wine cups carved from skulls. A curtain woven from emerald green scale fragments, still shimmering under the lamplight.

And on the table, a hair comb made from finger bones.

Perhaps because his current identity was a Mermaid prince, upon seeing this scene, a surge of killing intent uncontrollably welled up in his heart.

It wasn’t his emotion. But it was so real it was hard to distinguish.

This time he didn’t hold back either.

He blew sleeping powder through the door crack, waiting for the young prince sleeping on the bed to completely pass out, then walked in, pried his mouth open, and poured an invisibility magic potion in.

Afterwards, he hoisted him over his shoulder, sneaked out through the window, and crept towards a secluded corner.

The advantage of a high cultivation level is the ability to transmit power to clones from a distance, sustaining them for much longer.

Waiting until he was completely out of the prince’s estate perimeter, finding an abandoned, uninhabited coral palace at the edge of the city, Jeremy finally dispersed all his clones to retract his magic power.

He dropped the unconscious Ice Dragon onto the stone floor, then drew a teleportation magic array on the spot.

Following that, he immediately activated the mark of the teleportation scroll he had secretly left behind in Evelyn’s cell previously — the thing he had planted when tossing the magic potion bottle through the iron bars’ gap.

A flash of light. Then he was standing back in the familiar dark dungeon area.

Evelyn still hadn’t slept.

The moment she noticed the movement, she immediately cast her gaze in this direction.

Seeing Jeremy suddenly appear, and the clone sitting leaning against the wall dissolve into smoke right in front of her, she was slightly puzzled. But asked nothing.

She didn’t ask. Naturally, Jeremy wouldn’t proactively say either.

Under the conditions of being able to use high-tier magic tools plus tier-five magic power, breaking the defense system of this cell was no difficult matter.

Jeremy used a key-shaped magic tool, inserted it into the magic-patterned lock, and turned it half a circle. The shackles on Evelyn’s wrists popped open, dropping to the floor.

He didn’t speak any superfluous words, immediately pulling her to step into the pre-placed magic circle.

The distance wasn’t far, so the teleportation only took about three minutes.

Right upon arriving, Jeremy dispelled the invisibility effect on the Ice Dragon, then tossed him down in front of Evelyn.

He spoke succinctly: "A descendant of the Ice Dragon race prince. Kill him, absorb the heart and dragon orb, and the task is done."

Evelyn lowered her eyes to glance at the unconscious person at her feet, then said her thanks first: "Alright. Thank you."

Jeremy waved his hand: "No need. Absorption takes ten minutes. I caused a bit of a big commotion, you do it quickly. I’ll keep watch for you."

"Mhm."

Evelyn gave a response and then crouched down.

In her hand appeared the exclusive weapon of the Mermaid royal family — a water-patterned short blade, exactly identical to Jeremy’s, only differing in its greener, bluer hue.

The moment it was summoned, she didn’t hesitate at all, plunging the blade tip straight into the opponent’s heart position.

Then skillfully sliced a long line downward, dragging past the navel by about an inch before retracting her force.

Waiting until the skin and flesh were completely separated, internal organs and fresh blood spilling out, she finally stopped her hand.

She barehandedly dug out the deep red heart and the dragon orb, her expression as calm as if gutting a fish, then began to absorb.

That practiced movement didn’t surprise Jeremy. After all, this wasn’t the first time he had witnessed it.

Regardless of whether killing people or magical beasts, Evelyn seemed to have a habit of completely destroying the opponent’s body. In the Myriad Beasts Domain, she had once punched a griffin until it turned into meat paste, even though it had stopped breathing long ago.

Consider it a type of personal hobby. Nothing worth being astonished about.

Ten minutes isn’t long.

But under conditions where every second is spent in constant fear of being discovered, it becomes endless.

Jeremy stood guard at the door, releasing his spiritual consciousness in all four directions, counting every beat. From afar, the sound of drums and bugles from the birthday celebration still echoed unceasingly — the only thing currently covering for them.

However, they were still lucky. Until Evelyn finished absorbing, no one had approached.

Perhaps because this place was too desolate and ruined. An entire dead coral palace, no one bothered to come.

Evelyn summoned a stream of water to wash the bloodstains off her hands, asking while wiping: "Where to now?"

This question Jeremy had thought over carefully while still sitting in prison.

"Back to the Mermaid royal palace first. Whether Lucius and Phoenix’s situation is them being controlled and losing consciousness, or if they were inherently just illusions is still unclear. For now, let’s just worry about ourselves. Once we get back, we’ll send people to look for Leon; we’ll decide the next step after regrouping."

"Alright."

Evelyn proactively asking meant she handed total decision-making authority to him. Naturally, she had no further opinions.

Because royal family members had been assassinated consecutively on the exact night of the birthday celebration, the entire main city had been locked down tight.

But these people ultimately still exposed a flaw. While the military orders were still being relayed from one gate to another, Jeremy and Evelyn smoothly exited the city, exactly a few minutes before the magic barrier completely covered the main city.

Evelyn’s realm in the illusion was also tier five. So when the two moved at full speed, in less than seven days, they had completely escaped the perimeter of the Ice Dragon territory.

However, on the very first day they set foot back into Mermaid territorial waters, the totems on the back of both their hands lit up simultaneously.

The second dying wish task was bestowed.

And at the same time, the massive army of the Ice Dragon race was also pressing close to the boundary line between the two races.