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Sam walked down the long, wide hallway of the palace.
The heavy wooden doors of the dining room were closed. He didn't slow down.He just pushed them open.
The heavy doors slammed against the stone walls with a loud crash.
The soft music stopped instantly.
The dancers screamed and ran to hide in the far corners of the room.
The princes stopped laughing.
They looked up from their plates of food.
"Who are you?"
The First Prince demanded.
He stood up and pointed his golden cup at Sam.
"How did you get in here?"
"I walked,"
Sam answered simply.
"Where are the guards?"
The Second Prince yelled, looking toward the hallway.
"Guards! Come in here! Kill this peasant!"
No one came. The room stayed completely quiet.
Sam took a slow step forward.
"Your guards are kneeling in the dirt outside,"
Sam said.
"They cannot help you."
The Third Prince stood up. He grabbed a heavy, jeweled sword from the table.
"You must be crazy,"
The Third Prince sneered.
"Do you know who we are? We are the royal princes. We are the future masters of this entire world. We have the divine blood of the Phoenix in our veins."
"You have dirty blood,"
Sam corrected him.
"You are thieves, cowards, and murderers."
The First Prince laughed aloud. It was a cold, ugly sound.
"So what?"
The First Prince asked, crossing his arms.
"We are royalty. The strong eat the weak. That is the only law of this world. If we want to take the grain from the farmers, we take it. If we want to burn a city, we burn it to ashes. What are you going to do about it?"
"I am going to end it,"
Sam said softly.
Sam didn't raise his hand. He didn't draw a weapon.
He just let a tiny fraction of his power leak into the room.
The air instantly turned thick and heavy.
The long wooden table cracked in half.
The expensive plates and golden cups shattered into tiny pieces.
The princes fell hard to their knees.
The pressure was too much for their bodies.
They could not even breathe properly.
"What... what is this?"
The Second Prince gasped. He tried to summon his royal fire, but nothing happened. His hands remained empty.
"My cultivation!"
The Third Prince cried out in panic.
"I cannot feel my profound energy! It is gone!"
"You are just normal men now,"
Sam told them calmly.
"Without your stolen power, you are nothing."
The First Prince began to shake violently.
The absolute arrogance was completely gone from his eyes.
Now, there was only pure terror.
"Wait,"
The First Prince begged, holding his hands up.
"Who sent you? Was it the Blue Wind Nation? We can give you gold. We can give you land. Whatever they paid you, I will pay you double!"
"I don't want your gold,"
Sam replied.
"My father will kill you!"
The Third Prince screamed.
"The Divine Phoenix Sect will hunt you down to the ends of the earth! You cannot kill us!"
"Your sect is already bowing outside,"
Sam said.
Sam walked up to the First Prince.
"You said the farmers should starve,"
Sam told him.
"You said you would take their children and sell them to the dark iron mines."
"I was joking!"
The First Prince cried, tears streaming down his face.
"You were not,"
Sam said.
Sam tapped his foot lightly on the floor.
The stone beneath the First Prince cracked open.
A heavy, dark energy wrapped around the prince.
It felt exactly like an entire mountain was pressing down on his chest.
At the same time, his body began to wither rapidly.
His muscles shrank. His stomach hollowed out.
He felt the terrible, agonizing pain of starving for months in just a few seconds.
He felt the crushing weight of a collapsed mine.
The First Prince screamed once, and then his body simply turned to dust.
Sam turned to the Second Prince.
The Second Prince scrambled backward across the floor.
He hit the stone wall and cried like a child.
"Please! I did nothing wrong! It was his idea!"
The Second Prince pointed at the pile of dust on the floor.
"You wanted to burn innocent cities to ashes,"
Sam reminded him.
"You wanted to make free people into slaves."
"No, no, please!"
Sam looked at him with cold eyes.
"You like fire so much. Let us see how you handle it."
Sam snapped his fingers. A tiny, invisible spark entered the Second Prince's mouth.
It didn't burn his skin. It burned him entirely from the inside.
The Second Prince grabbed his own throat.
His eyes widened in absolute horror.
He could not scream because his lungs instantly turned to ash.
He fell over, his body smoking from the inside out, until there was nothing left but a black scorch mark on the floor.
The Third Prince was the only one left.
He didn't try to run away. He just sat on the floor, shaking violently. He wet his pants in pure fear.
"You wanted a great war,"
Sam said, walking toward him.
"You wanted to lead an army and break walls. You wanted to slaughter people who did absolutely no harm to you."
"I surrender,"
The Third Prince sobbed, pressing his head against the floor.
"I will leave the empire today. I will become a beggar in the streets. Just let me live!"
"When a soldier invades a home, he doesn't listen to the people crying,"
Sam said.
Sam just looked at him. An invisible blade of pure air sliced through the room. It was perfectly clean and perfectly fast.
The Third Prince stopped crying.
His head slid off his shoulders and hit the floor with a dull thud.
The room was completely quiet again.
No one else was hurt. The dancers were still hiding in the corners, completely untouched.
Sam didn't even look at them.
Suddenly, loud, rushing footsteps echoed down the hallway.
Dozens of people charged toward the dining hall.
These were not regular palace guards.
These were the true masters of the Divine Phoenix Sect.
They wore deep red robes with golden flames stitched on their backs.
They were the highly respected elders, the grand elders, and Feng Hengkong himself.
They had felt the lives of the princes end. They came with absolute, blind fury.
They burst through the broken doors of the dining hall.
Feng Hengkong saw the dead bodies on the floor.
He saw the ashes and the blood.
His face turned bright red with pure anger.
"You!"
Feng Hengkong roared at Sam.
"You killed my sons! I will tear your soul apart!"
Feng Hengkong gathered all of his profound energy.
His body turned into a massive pillar of furious fire.
The other elders did exactly the same.
The heat in the hallway became intense enough to melt the stone walls.
They prepared to charge at Sam.
But before they could take even three steps forward, a calm voice came from the broken window behind them.
"Stop."
It was a single word, spoken very softly.
Jean stepped through the large window and walked into the dining hall.
Sue Grey walked right behind her.
Feng Hengkong didn't care. He threw a massive, deadly fireball straight at Jean.
Jean didn't blink. She just looked at the fireball.
The fire stopped in mid-air. Then, it turned around and flew right back into Feng Hengkong's chest.
It didn't burn him, but the sheer force knocked him backward onto the floor.
"I said stop,"
Jean repeated.
She released the power of the Mother Flame.
The entire dining hall turned cold.
The massive pillars of fire surrounding the angry elders vanished instantly.
The sect members felt an ancient, terrifying force grip their hearts.
"My flames are gone,"
An elder whispered in absolute horror.
Then, Sue Grey stepped forward.
The young girl looked at Feng Hengkong on the floor.
The True Phoenix aura expanded rapidly. It filled the room, the hallway, and the entire palace grounds.
Feng Hengkong tried to stand up.
He tried to fight the heavy pressure. He was a great cultivator. He ruled over millions of people.
But his own blood betrayed him.
The Phoenix blood inside his veins recognized its true master.
It forced his body to shut down completely.
His legs gave out. He fell hard onto his knees.
The other elders collapsed right behind him.
They couldn't raise their heads. They were pinned to the floor by pure, biological respect.
"Why... why can I not move?"
Feng Hengkong groaned. He tried to lift his head to look at the young girl, but the pressure was far too heavy.
"Because you are facing us,"
Jean told him.
"You claim to serve the Phoenix,"
Sue Grey said.
Her voice was young, but it echoed in their minds like a god.
"But you use our name to hurt innocent people. You are not worthy of the fire."
The elders began to weep openly.
They felt the judgment of their own god weighing on their souls.
They realized they were completely helpless.
Their entire sect, their hundreds of years of hard training, their ancient arts—all of it meant absolutely nothing here.
They couldn't go against Jean and Sue.
It was simply impossible.
Sam walked past the kneeling Sect Master. He stopped near the doorway.
"Your princes are dead because they were evil,"
Sam said down to the elders.
"Your empire will not start any wars. Tomorrow morning, Feng Xue'er will take the throne. She will be the new Emperor."
Feng Hengkong wanted to argue, but he could not force his mouth to open.
He could only nod his head against the cold stone floor.
"If you support her, your sect will survive,"
Sam finished.
"If you try to control her, or if you ever talk about invading another country again, I will return. And next time, I will not leave any ashes behind."
Sam looked at Jean and Sue.
"We are done here,"