At that moment, Shun Long, Liu Mei, Jiang Chen, and Bai Longtian, all saw a silver-colored pendant on the crown prince's neck that was shining with a bright silver light, as it slowly turned into dust.
It was obvious that the pendant on his neck was a protective artifact that could protect the crown prince's life when he was in danger, similar to the pendant that Liu Mei had received from Elder Xuan when she accepted her as a disciple.
However, unlike Liu Mei's pendant, the crown prince's pendant could only be activated once before it lost its power, and the power behind it wasn't anywhere close to Liu Mei's that could protect her even from the attacks of a late-stage Dao Emperor.
Naturally, although it could only be activated once, its value couldn't be measured with spirit stones as it had successfully saved the crown prince's life before it repelled Xingyi away, even managing to injure her in the process.
And yet, although Xingyi had clearly been injured by the silver light's power, she still stood up with some difficulty, as she turned her eyes towards Shun Long and looked at him with a bright smile on her face.
Shun Long's gaze was fully focused on the crown prince's body from the moment that Xingyi had appeared next to him as the look in his eyes finally turned cold.
Seeing that Xingyi's body was sent flying by the powerful silver light coming from the pendant, Shun Long's entire body suddenly lit up with a bright azure and golden light, as he mumbled 2 simple words
''Time Siphon!''
Before Commander Peng could react, the light around Shun Long's body suddenly exploded outwards, enveloping the crown prince in the next second.
''Your Highness!''
Almost as if he could sense what was going on, a horrified look appeared on Commander Peng's face before his aura burst out from his body, as it instantly covered the crown prince, trying to expel the mix of gold and blue light from Shun Long's 'Time Siphon' that had now surrounded him.
As a powerful Dao King who had reached the early second stage in the Dao King realm, it only took a second for Commander Peng to completely expel Shun Long's 'Time Siphon' from the crown prince's body, but the moment he did so, a horrifying scene appeared in his eyes.
The crown prince's face had lost all signs of life, the look in his eyes having turned dull and lifeless.
His previously youthful face had was no longer there, as his cheeks were sunken in while wrinkles had covered his entire face. The crown prince's arms and legs were no different than a corpse's if it wasn't for the almost non-existent layer of skin left on them, while his previously luxurious robes had actually turned into rags that seemed to have endured the passage of tens of thousands of years!
Commander Peng was no longer certain if the person in front of him was truly the crown prince of the Tang dynasty, Tang Long, as he stared at him with eyes filled with disbelief.
Even the young woman whom Commander Peng had thrown on the ground previously couldn't help cover her mouth in shock as her eyes stared at what had remained from the infamous crown prince of the Tang dynasty.
Of course, how could the crown prince who was barely at the early rank 1 of the Nascent Soul withstand Shun Long's 'Time Siphon' for even a second when his cultivation was boosted purely by consuming pills?
His remaining lifespan was sapped in the blink of an eye, leaving behind nothing but a lifeless corpse.
Originally, Shun Long wasn't planning on revealing his 'Time Siphon' since he was still recording everything in his sect identifying token, but knowing that there was a chance for the crown prince to have a trump card that could save him from Xingyi's ambush, he knew that he had no other choice if he wanted to kill the crown prince in front of a powerful early rank 2 Dao King realm expert!
Just as Commander Peng turned around and stared at Shun Long with a murderous look in his eyes, Shun Long didn't wait for him to do anything as he raised his right hand, opening a large space tear, before Liu Mei, Xie Xingyi, Jiang Chen, and the injured Bai Longtian, all entered inside it.
''Little Bastard! Stay right there!''
Seeing that Shun Long was about to enter inside the space tear as well, Commander Peng shot forward at full speed, swinging his bronze spear towards the space tear's entrance, unwilling to let Shun Long escape.
Unfortunately for him, Shun Long was already too close to the space tear, and after taking one last look at the furious Dao King, he entered inside it as he disappeared from the interior of the palace!
A moment later, Shun Long and the rest had all appeared just a couple hundred meters away from the royal palace, to the place where Liu Mei, Jiang Chen, and Bai Longtian were previously waiting.
After he deactivated the 'Memory recording formation' from his sect identifying token, Shun Long turned his head to look at the injuries on Xingyi's and Bai Longtian's body, before the look in his eyes turned serious.
Although Xingyi didn't seem to be injured, from the fact that she was having some difficulty standing up, it was obvious that her internal injuries weren't light.
As for Bai Longtian, he had already reverted back to his original size from his 'Golden Buddha form', but the large cut on his waist was still dripping with blood and it didn't show any signs of stopping.
If he wasn't a body refinement cultivator as well, Shun Long was certain that he would have already died from blood loss long ago.
''Xingyi, Longtian, hold on for a few more minutes.''
Without wasting any more time, Shun Long instantly opened another space tear that led directly towards the city gates of Tang city, before they all entered inside.
However, just as they appeared less than 200 meters away from the city gates of Tang city, Shun Long suddenly felt a chill in his heart as the sky above Tang city suddenly started to darken.
At that moment, a horrifying aura emerged from the depths of the Tang dynasty's royal palace covering the entirety of Tang city in less than a second, before a furious voice that was filled with killing intent sounded in the ears of every single person within the city
''To kill my great-grandson inside my own royal palace... regardless of who you are... you will die today!''