Upon hearing the Black Serpent Emperor’s question, the first thing Michael truly wanted to do was raise a middle finger.

After all, the man had just attacked him mercilessly without hesitation. If not for Michael’s terrifying foundation, that strike alone might have heavily injured him.

Unfortunately, Michael was still a civilized person. Also, taunting people was not really his style. If Michael wanted to do something, he generally preferred acting directly.

And that was exactly what he did.

BOOM!

Without warning, Michael’s mental energy exploded outward violently as he directly attacked the emperor’s mental imprint. The surrounding mental space instantly trembled.

Countless black chains condensed from the void while illusionary purple mist spread rapidly across the surroundings. At the same time, strange eye-like symbols appeared behind Michael one after another.

Mental methods were actually extremely rare. Compared to direct combat techniques, spiritual attacks were far harder to cultivate and even more dangerous to use. One mistake could easily damage one’s own soul permanently.

Michael himself did not truly specialize in such techniques. However, he possessed quite a few undead who did, like Jester, Blue, and Purple. Especially Jester.

After absorbing the memories of the evil cultivator Li Yang, Jester had become horrifying in terms of mental abilities. Consciousness Erasure, Mind Nest, Memory Harvest.

Many of those abilities possessed terrifying effects even against stronger opponents. And thanks to Michael’s Law, he could directly copy portions of their traits and abilities for himself.

The next instant, BOOOOOOM!!!

The emperor’s mental imprint collided directly against Michael’s attacks. The entire mental world shook violently. Black serpentine dragons roared above while countless illusionary eyes opened throughout the void simultaneously.

For several exchanges, neither side actually managed to suppress the other immediately. This genuinely surprised Michael.

Fortunately, Michael still held the advantage overall. His mental strength was simply too monstrous. Gradually, the emperor’s imprint began destabilizing under the pressure. Cracks spread across the surrounding mental world.

Seeing this, Michael’s eyes narrowed slightly as he prepared to completely destroy the imprint in one move.

However, the emperor suddenly smiled coldly. "You wish to search the mind of this emperor’s son?"

The next moment, the emperor directly raised his hand.

BOOM!!!

The entire mental space instantly began collapsing. Michael’s expression changed slightly afterward.

This bastard.

The emperor had directly destroyed the Third Prince’s mental world himself. The moment the mental world began collapsing, Michael immediately withdrew his senses.

BOOM!!!

A violent force instantly expelled him from the Third Prince’s consciousness. Even Michael’s real body outside staggered back half a step afterward while a sharp headache throbbed faintly behind his eyes.

In front of him, the unconscious Third Prince suddenly convulsed violently. Then, "GHH...!"

Foam began leaking from the prince’s mouth while his eyes snapped open unnaturally wide. However, there was no intelligence left inside them anymore. Only emptiness.

The prince’s pupils trembled nonstop while saliva dripped down his chin. His body twitched weakly across the shattered ground as incoherent sounds escaped his throat.

"Aah... ahhh..."

Michael frowned slightly afterward.

The emperor had been completely ruthless. Rather than allowing Michael access to the prince’s memories, he had directly destroyed his son’s mental world entirely.

At this point, even if the Third Prince survived physically, his mind had already become crippled beyond repair. A fool. Someone who could no longer think properly.

Michael stared silently at the prince for several seconds. The once arrogant imperial prince who had treated countless lives casually now looked utterly pathetic lying in the dirt.

Eventually, Michael exhaled slowly.

Although he had failed to fully access the prince’s memories, the brief confrontation alone had still allowed him to understand several things.

First, the Black Serpent Emperor was terrifyingly powerful. Even a mere mental imprint left inside his son possessed strength capable of contending briefly against Michael.

Second, the emperor clearly valued secrecy regarding the imperial family far more than he valued the mental well-being of his own son. The implication of this made Michael even more uncertain about the information he had received from Princess Priscilla.

"According to the princess, the empire should possess only three Legendary beings at most, but from what I can see based on the emperor’s mental imprint alone, he is most likely in the Legendary stage already."

With this analysis, it meant the empire had at least four Rank 4 beings. The same number as Michael.

However, this did not weaken Michael’s resolve in the slightest. After all, quantity did not equal quality. Not only did Michael have the same number of Rank 4 undead as the empire’s assumed count, each of them was also extraordinarily powerful. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Lily, who was the weakest among them, was practically impossible to kill as long as she did not go up against someone too far above her level. In fact, her opponent would be lucky if she did not simply swallow their attacks and convert them into energy.

As for Beginning, the Rank 4 demonic supernatural, and the High Drake, each of them was exceptionally strong.

The High Drake in particular was already at the absolute peak of Rank 4. Beginning, on the other hand, could use its law to fight above its class entirely.

Then there was also Michael himself to factor in. Though he had not yet reached Rank 4, he could still provide meaningful assistance to his undead against a Rank 4 opponent.

Putting all of that aside, he also had more than two thousand Rank 3 undead. However, Michael hoped he would not need to deploy his Rank 3 forces against a Rank 4 opponent, since even if they won, the losses would cause him considerable pain.

The last incident was still quite fresh in his memory.

Michael slowly turned to look at the Third Prince again.

In all honesty, the prince’s current state was quite pitiful. The once arrogant imperial prince now lay twitching weakly in the dirt with empty eyes and saliva leaking continuously from his mouth. There was no intelligence left inside those eyes anymore. Just emptiness.

However, Michael felt no pity for him. Not even slightly.