Cold Prince's eyes instantly turned crimson with rage.
He first glanced at Lu Jun, suspended in midair, then at the Triangular Dimensional Prism shooting rapidly away, about to vanish from sight. In the end, with a furious growl, his body blurred into a streaking meteor as he chased after the silver light cluster.
Only a voice brimming with murderous intent lingered in the void:
"Liberty Temple, I'll admit defeat this time—but there will be retribution!"
Hearing this, Lu Jun smiled faintly and deliberately mocked:
"So-called Red Cardinal? In front of my great United States of America, you're nothing more than a chicken and a dog! Still dare to steal things?"
Dragging all the hatred fully onto the Liberty Temple, he wasted no time. Splitting open a rift in the void, his whole body erupted in dazzling silver light. With one stride, he vanished into the pitch-black fissure, leaving his destination unknown.
While in Ascension, the previously gray Time and Space Galaxy was restored. His space transmission ability had been greatly enhanced, and kilometer-scale shifts became effortless. After a few jumps, he shook off the Red Ghost's pursuit and melted back into the vast urban crowd.
All traces erased.
Walking along New York's bustling high-end commercial streets, Lu Jun calmed his aura. The blazing blood in his veins slowed, and he looked like nothing more than a vigorous, youthful man.
Recalling his experience transforming into the White Tiger state, he discovered a bug—the Time system's Time Field could actually be used twice in a single day, as long as Ascension refreshed the state.
In addition, a smile curved across Lu Jun's lips. A crystalline triangular prism floated in his hand before vanishing into his personal space. That fleeting glimpse was indeed the supreme treasure of Dimensional Magic, the Triangular Dimensional Prism!
So then… what was the prism he had tossed earlier?
Meanwhile, Evil God Cold Prince had been chasing for a long time before finally catching up to the silver light. The main problem was that the object had been enchanted with spatial magic; even when he was close, it would suddenly jump away, dodging him several times.
After much effort, he finally seized it. He congratulated himself on not choosing to fight that so-called "Liberty Temple" mage head-on.
If the Dimensional Prism had fallen into some random mountain ravine, it would have been like finding a needle in the ocean—lost forever.
Filled with anticipation, Cold Prince tore open the silver spatial power and revealed a beautiful prism. The aura was identical.
But when the Red Cardinal crushed it in his palm, a sharp crack echoed. The "Triangular Dimensional Prism" shattered like glass, scattering into glimmering motes of light that dissolved into the air.
It was a fake—only an exquisite shell, containing none of the vast power of the true treasure.
"Damn it, Liberty Temple!"
Cold Prince roared skyward. The towering Evil God form erupted with a storm of foul energy, sweeping across several kilometers and shocking nearby residents.
Before he could vent further, dense clusters of black-gold light dots rapidly approached from the horizon—the Liberty Temple's mages had arrived, accompanied by several terrifying auras. These were full-perfected Super Mages.
From the sky, someone bellowed:
"Over here! The Black Vatican killer hasn't escaped yet!"
Don't think the Magic Association's response was slow—in truth, Lu Jun and Cold Prince's clash had lasted only a few dozen seconds. High-level battles resolved outcomes in an instant.
Seeing this, Cold Prince was forced to flee, frustration heavy in his heart. The airport route out of America was no longer viable. He would have to hide across the vast plains, fleeing toward Mexico.
He was seething with impotent rage. Today was truly unlucky—first, some random passerby treated him like a child, ruffling his hair and pinching his face. Then, the Dimensional Prism he had painstakingly secured was snatched away.
But compared to losing the Prism—a treasure tied to the grand plan—being humiliated was nothing but a trivial detail.
Cold Prince swore he would drag out that "Temple Mage" and kill him.
At the same time, as Cold Prince was being hunted, Lu Jun too felt something. Mages were appearing along nearby streets, urging civilians to return home, as New York entered full alert.
"He should have realized that one was fake by now."
Lu Jun mused. Under Ascension, his Fantasy power had also been elevated—it could fabricate objects from the void. These phantasms could even briefly exist outside the field without immediately dissipating.
That was how he had fooled Cold Prince.
"Perfect. Toyed with Cold Prince, secured the treasure, and pinned the blame squarely on the Liberty Temple."
Lu Jun nodded with satisfaction. He wasn't worried about them causing him trouble—his true self and his masked identity were too different.
The former was known worldwide for his mastery of Water, Curse, and Summoning. The latter wielded the mysterious dual mastery of Psychic and Space—the one and only wielder of Fantasy and the Time Field.
Besides, this time he had deliberately fought in his normal form to test his current combat level. To his surprise, he hadn't expected that with just High-Tier he could exchange three or four moves with a Mid-Tier Monarch. In other words, he could easily escape from even a top-level Super Mage.
By the time Cold Prince freed himself from this mess, at least a year would have passed. At Lu Jun's rate of growth, counter-killing Cold Prince was within reach. If not, he could always use the Time-Space Liquid or the Ancient King's Robe.
"Click, click, click… With me constantly shoving the black pot onto the Liberty Temple this time, will it make Cold Prince turn around and come to stir up trouble in New York instead of in Kyushu as in the original timeline?"
Lu Jun found the idea rather interesting. After all, the original story explained that Cold Prince's campaign in China was half under Salan's orders and half because of his own resentment, wanting to compete with Salan to see who truly deserved the title of Death God.
But because Lu Jun killed Salan, the Ancient Capital Calamity was greatly diminished, even regarded as a humiliation by the Black Vatican—never before had a Red Cardinal died, and to this day they had no clue how it happened.
That being the case, Cold Prince no longer had any reason to go to China. On the contrary, he now had every motivation to launch a New York war.
Anyway, since Salan's death the butterfly effect had been set off. Various characters were shifting around, and with Lu Jun ambushing Cold Prince in New York, the direction was becoming even more unclear.
But after his trip to Peru, Lu Jun's cultivation rose, he bore the inheritance of an empire, practiced top-level methods, and his outlook and bearing had ascended to a new height. He no longer feared any unknown challenges and was confident he could achieve a perfect outcome in any upheaval.
He knew that as his level increased, the more events he intervened in, the more he would inevitably disrupt many pre-set plots. Fate would once again become unpredictable—no one could forever control the board, no one could be the exception.
What an individual could do was simply to accumulate enough power beforehand, gathering it into a great ship capable of sheltering from storms, parting the waves, and sailing forward, ready to face all challenges.
In this, he had already done well enough.
At the same time, Lu Jun was very curious—since he had seized the Triangular Dimensional Mirror, what method would Cold Prince now use to summon the Pyramid of Khufu?
"The Triangular Chaos Mirror?"
Lu Jun pondered, recalling the legendary treasure passed down in Egypt.
It was said to have been wielded by a woman named Kons in ancient Egypt, used to refract the radiance of the Underworld God projected into the mortal world, and was also the source of Egypt's mirage disasters and the flourishing of necromancy.
Unfortunately, it was nothing but a replica of the Triangular Dimensional Mirror. Leng Jue was much more inclined toward acquiring the authentic one.
Now that he had played the mantis stalking the cicada, only to be the oriole behind, snatching the genuine article, would the other side produce a counterfeit substitute?
For additional chapters
Versatile mage {40 chapters}
Douluo Dalu:This Soul Master is to Weird {30 Chapters}
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