Mark has dismissed the light clone and is standing very near to Song Yun but the latter completely lost his courage to even try to attack him despite the fact that he is a 7-circle Spirit Warrior.
But then again, it is not surprising. While being in a frozen state, he witnessed legendary realm experts killed like it was nothing. How would he be a match for this enemy of his?
Until now, Song Yun refused to believe that Mark was strong enough to kill Cerberus on his own. In those two battles that he had with Mark so far, he lost to the latter's unique but powerful puppets.
He also knew that Mark is invincible inside the store. This is why he was confident in killing Mark when he is outside without the protection of any puppet. The presence of two 8-circle realm experts and a peak-7-circle realm expert only boosted his confidence even after taking the 8-circle beast king, the presence of Bai Xun and Shang Wen into consideration.
Still, the reason he didn't launch an attack in the presence of the Emperor is that he feared that either Queen Consort or the princess might become a casualty. If that happens, his clan would be done for.
But, the end result struck him so hard that he couldn't even breathe properly as Mark stood a couple of meters away from him.
Meanwhile, Bai Xun stayed silent. He doesn't know whether he should interfere or not. Attempting to kill Mark in front of everyone is already a crime but a minister like him colluding with the members of a banned organization would be subjected to life imprisonment. "Maybe, death is an easy way out," thought the Supreme Commander.
Suddenly, he remembered Song Yue. As he took a glance at her, he saw the lady was just staring at them in silence. It is difficult to know what's going on in her mind.
Fortunately or unfortunately, Mark had different plans. The moment he took Song Yue under his protection, he knew that he cannot kill her father. But, he wouldn't let him off either.
As Mark was thinking about how to punish this noble who never learns his lesson, Chen Xiao finally stepped forward to beg her future son-in-law, "Please show mercy on his life, Lu Zhen. If not for his sake, do it for Song Yue. Let him get punished by the law, instead. Don't take his life at a happy occasion like…"
As Cheng Xiao was trying her best to convince her future son-in-law, Mark interrupted her, "Don't worry, Ms. Cheng. Both of you are still guests that I invited and I won't forget my manners as a host."
"Supreme Commander Bai…" He called out to Bai Xun who was staring there.
"Ah, Yes?" Bai Xun sounded a bit nervous.
In fact, even at first glance, Bai Xun had figured out that these three guards who appeared to be in the 6-circle realm were suppressing their strength greatly. Once Song Yun ordered them, they stopped suppressing their strength, and eventually, it became clear to him that they are far stronger than him.
Then, he saw Mark take a pill that strikingly resembled an advancement pill before killing the three of them.
As far as Bai Xun's knowledge is concerned, the advancement pill's effect loses as it increases the grade.
For example, a low-4-circle expert takes an intermediate pill. He will become a low-5-circle. However, if a low-5-circle takes the same pill, usually, he becomes a peak-5-circle. Of course, there will be exceptions.
Upon watching the lightning clone's attacks, Bai Xun estimated that its strength is near a peak stage of the legendary realm. This only suggests that either Mark was atleast at the elementary stage of the legendary realm (low-8-circle) or this special lightning clone could be summoned by taking a pill that looks like an advancement pill.
Either way, Bai Xun now felt that even if he takes an advancement pill and uses his Semi-divine weapon, he might not be able to defeat Mark. And that feeling of helplessness made him very uncomfortable.
Anyway, back to the present, Bai Xun responded to Mark's call and looked at him to see what he might order.
Mark then said, "I will follow the law. You are the Supreme Commander and you are also the witness. The evidence is there on the ground." He pointed at the dead bodies.
"I want the Imperial palace to investigate it impartially and confirm whether my accusation is true or not. I hope you guys won't disappoint me by showing mercy to Song Yun due to your familial relationship and giving injustice to me.
As for their belongings, I'm keeping them as compensation for ruining my engagement ceremony."
After saying what he had in his mind, Mark then looked at Cheng Xiao, "I believe you were satisfied with this."
"Thank you." She bowed in gratefulness.
Mark then turned around to walk toward his fiancée who was just standing there like a statue. Upon reaching her, he asked as softly as possible, "are you alright?"
Without saying anything related to the incident, she turned around, "let's return home, Lu Zhen." She then started walking away without taking a glance at either of her parents.
Mark then looked at the other guests and bowed slightly, "I apologize for the inconvenience but I guess we will have to end the ceremony. You can continue to dine. My siblings will be with you."
After giving a glance to Song Yun for one last time, he walked out of the venue.
He silently followed her upstairs. As she opened the door and was about to enter, Mark grabbed her hand, "wait. Let's talk. I can't let your father go unpunished but I can forget this matter and…"
Before he finished, Song Yue interrupted him, "I want to be alone for some time to organize my thoughts."
Mark freed her arm and nodded, "okay. When you are ready to talk, knock on the door."
She then closed the door and sat on the bed. Grabbing her head, she let out a deep sigh, "Everything is perfect until a while ago. Why does it have to turn out like this?"
Mark was too happy with the presents he received and the high-quality equipment he had looted and doesn't want his mood to turn worse by thinking about Song Yun. By losing courage, he was sure that this leader of the Song Clan would no longer try to harm him again. And even if he is wrong and Song Yun would return for revenge, Mark was confident about beating him to death.
He didn't dwell on the matter but unknowingly he was already being soft because of Song Yue. After all, this is a guy who killed people without hesitation even when it is not necessary.
After clearing his thoughts about others, Mark returned to his room and locked the door before opening the inventory.
He first took out the equipment he looted from the bodies of assassins. The armor set was all gold grade. So, he didn't bother to read their details and directly dismantled them.
Twelve of the armor equipment yielded him a total of 3522 credits. And two of those daggers, which were used by the 7-circle expert, also belonged to gold grade but gave him 852 credits due to their higher quality.
Regarding the other two which belonged to 8-circle assassins, they were of platinum grade. Because of that, Mark hesitated to dismantle them. Instead of acquiring six to eight thousand additional credits, he decided to hand over them to Alina.
As she was also an assassin-type robot, he felt that they will be suited for her, although it will be a bit of a hassle for her to use them when she can just use far more powerful Protos' daggers. At the very least, she would be happy to receive a present.
"Okay, let's see if they have anything in their storage rings. It would be nice if they have ether crystals." Mark hopefully connected his consciousness with one of the two gold-grade storage rings using the ether energy. It belonged to the young 7-circle expert.
Apart from usual clothing and food, he found a heap of ether crystals of different sizes, talismans, different pills, and a scythe with a long handle.
"Hmm…" He intently stared at the scythe that was giving off a strange aura before taking it out of the ring.
As it appeared in his hands, Mark felt its weight. It was as light as a feather. Mark felt amazed, "I wonder what metal it is made of."
Just then, the scythe started shaking violently as if it wanted to escape his hand. Mark acted fast and placed it in the inventory before inspecting its details by clicking on its image on the inventory slot.
"Crystal+?" Mark couldn't keep his calm as he stared at the holographic screen.
