Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
An hour ago.
âWhat? Zhou Bao has arrived?!â
Outside the imperial palace, Elder Chen got the news that Zhou Bao had arrived just when he was about to leave. Before he got this news, he looked at leisure, but after that, his expression darkened. It was as if he suddenly ate a fly while he was enjoying a feast of delicacies.
âYes, Your Excellency. Eunuch Feng has led him into the inner palace!â A white-robed young general knelt down in front of Elder Chen. He was the one that Zhou Bao and Yan Yunfei met when they entered this city. After being kicked by Zhou Bao, he rushed toward the imperial palace, taking no notice of his injuries, and bumped into Elder Chen, who was coming out of the palace.
âI see. Go back now. Keep a lookout for your ruffian subordinates and donât allow them to cause any trouble!â
âYes,â replied that general. His expression turned strange and asked, âHow about our plan?â
âPlan? What kind of plan? We have no plan!â Elder Chen glared at him and added on, saying, âGo back! Pretend nothing has ever happened. Now, do what you usually do! Zhou Bao is a variable. However, whether he comes or not, he cannot influence the overall situation. Go back now and remember that, without my personal written order, no one can act recklessly!â
âYes, I see!â The young general replied, turned around, and left.
âZhou Bao, haha, you really are a variable. However, even if you come here, youâre unable to change this situation, but merely cause me some troubles!â After thinking about this, Elder Chen waved his hands to drive his sedan carriers away. He stood at the palace door and watched the deep and serene imperial palace as if he was waiting for something.
He smiled faintly as he saw a white light column fall from the sky. Soon, his imperceptible smile vanished. Later on, the whole imperial palace fell into chaos.
The guards guarding the palace door began to panic at the sight of the strange phenomenon inside the palace. They were totally at a loss. At this point in time, Elder Chen was panicking too. He pretended to be calm and went into the palace to scold the panicking guardsâ leader loudly. He then gave them some orders and took control of the surrounding guards.
The sound of âsaving the Emperorâ started to spread. Then, a bunch of officials that were kneeling down in front of the Queenâs bedroom earlier swarmed out of the palace in a panic. They were running while yelling.
âHurry up. Follow me to save the Emperor!â
Elder Chen yelled and led this group of guards to rush towards the Queenâs bedroom. Upon their arrival, they saw Zhou Bao driving out those assassins in the palace and the latter committed suicide together.
âGrand Tutor, whatâs up? What happened? Who are they?â Elder Chen ran to Queenâs bedroom hurriedly. The stone road was wet and slippery. Obviously, Elder Chen had not practiced any martial arts, as he slipped on the road after running a few steps. He leaned forward and fell to the ground heavily, with mud and water all over his body.
âPlease get up, Excellency Chen.â
While watching this scene, the expression of one of the Three Lords changed suddenly. Elder Chenâs views on politics were different from theirs. However, as a senior official, he could not watch an official die from falling without doing anything. After all, he was a member of the Three Lords, who should be broad-minded.
âIâm okay. Thank you very much, Chancellor!â Elder Chen replied hurriedly as he saw the old man who had lifted him up. Forgetting the mud on his clothes, he rushed to the door of Queenâs bedroom, asking, âGrand Tutor, w, what happened? His Majesty, where is His Majesty?â
âHis Majesty has been trapped in the bedroom!â Pei Tianming sighed gently and glanced at Elder Chen. Then, he turned his gaze to the bedroom, saying, âThis is a powerful formation that Iâm unable to destroy!â
He then looked at Zhou Bao, saying, âIâve already sent my men to Mingyi Lane, however, Iâm afraid that His Majesty cannot withstand any longer!â
âDo you think your men can arrive at Mingyi Lane safely under these circumstances? Furthermore, people from Mingyi School definitely know what has happened here since thereâs such a big uproar in the Royal Capital.â Zhou Bao said with sarcasm. âMingyi Lane is not far from Royal Capital. Besides, people from Mingyi School arenât blind. The chaos has occurred long ago, if theyâre willing to come, they would have arrived!â
âWhat?â Pei Tianming stared at Zhou Bao as if he had hit the most critical point that he was concerned about the most.
âFine. Unlike you, Iâm an outsider. The entire Jin dynasty is under your control now. Such a big fanfare happened and I donât believe you have no ulterior motive.â Zhou Bao added on and said coldly, âNeither do I want to know nor care about who was involved in it and who profited from it. But youâre right. No matter what, inside the bedroom lays my father-in-law and my mother-in-lawâs corpse. I cannot leave them alone!â While saying this, his all-direction eyesight easily caught Elder Chenâs expression, which was both weird and ferocious.
âThereâs definitely something wrong with him!â While seeing Elder Chenâs unnatural expression, Zhou Bao understood that Elder Chen probably was the one who had made this mess. At least, it had some connection with him. But he would not say anything without evidence. Moreover, even if Elder Chen played tricks on this matter, it was none of his business. He just needed to save Yan Yuntian.
With Yan Yuntianâs ability, he could easily control this situation. However, such a thing happened under his nose. It seemed that his ability was limited.
Elder Chen did not know that Zhou Bao had noticed his unnatural expression. In fact, at that time, he was standing beside Zhou Bao and behind Chancellor, with his head lowered. His eyes were blocked by Chancellorâs back. Therefore, he may have revealed a flaw accidentally, but he thought no one could notice it.
He was a little nervous when he heard that Zhou Bao would interfere with this matter. He was not a martial arts practitioner and naturally knew nothing about martial arts. But it did not mean he knew nothing about Zhou Baoâs strength. Zhou Baoâs strength had been tested by many experts and influences. Many sects had already proved his strength with their life and dignity.
He would not believe that a man who had fought against Mingyi School and came back safely could do nothing about this formation. It was unrealistic.
However, when facing such a situation, he felt helpless because he knew nothing about martial arts. Even if he did, he was not that foolish to risk fighting with Zhou Bao now. It would only present him no other choice but death. The only thing he could do was to wait and see.
âIâm in trouble now. Those guys have said that the formation is extremely powerful, then why havenât they killed Yan Yuntian?â Elder Chen thought secretly.
Yan Yuntian was still trying his best to withstand the attacks from those assassins, though he was furious at them.
Yan Yuntian was an Emperor who had achieved the biggest accomplishment since Jin dynasty had been built, and was also the one who aimed at being an eternal Emperor and achieve Human Emperorâs great cause. His enemies were all outside of the imperial court. Inside the court, everything was under his control. He connived at the strife in court in order to counterbalance the power of different factions. It was the way of the balance of the Emperor and the application of Emperorâs Intention. But now, such a big problem had occurred; there was someone who tried to assassinate him in his palace and had made a big uproar. This was neither a simple means nor an outsiderâs masterpiece.
There was someone who was able to lay a huge trap in the imperial palace and even took the Queenâs death into consideration, which meant there was something wrong with the people around him. Since they had conducted this action, they definitely would be in a group. Their status should be considerably high.
It was surely a great humiliation to him. They were slapping him in the face and spitting at him on the face wantonly. They were denying his ruling measures and mocking at him. Most of all, they were despising and negating the Way of the Emperor, one of the 3,000 Great Ways.
Therefore, he was enraged and boiling with anger.
âI donât care who you are and whoâs your backer, I will definitely make you pay the price, a high price!â Yan Yuntian thought angrily. His anger was raging. The golden Gang Qi encircling around him was like raging flames, and mysterious and ancient talismans appeared in the flames one after another. These talismans turned into strands of tiny force, which formed a pristine character after combining together.
That character floated above Yan Yuntianâs head and abruptly lifted that white ray up. Above his head, a secluded space took shape.
âMysterious Sky-reaching Pole!â He stared at the white light that was putting a lot of pressure on him as it fell on his head. Hatred could easily be seen from his eyes. He bit his tongue with great force and spat out a mouthful of light golden blood. As the golden character above his head glittered, the pressure on his body decreased. He carried Luo Xuehuanâs corpse and prepared to flee.
Just when he picked up Luo Xuehuanâs corpse, a mist formed and entangled with his Gang Qi.
âWhatâ¦!â Before he could figure out what had happened, he had lost all his strength. The talisman above his head darkened too. He suddenly fell backwards and sat on the ground, and his face lost all colors.
âItâs really troublesome!â Outside the bedroom, Zhou Bao knocked on the substantial Space Rampart, which was like the tempered glass in his previous life. He narrowed his eyebrows tightly. The situation was more troublesome than he had thought. He could break it with great force at any time. But the problem was, once it was broken by force, such an overlapped Space Rampart could generate a Space Storm and turbulence that could raze the entire Western Capital to the ground instantly. Although he knew there were assorted powerful formations being laid in the surroundings and even within the city, to a large extent, they were used to defend against foreign enemies and their invasion. However, this kind of Space Storm would destroy everything internally. The imperial palace was the center of Western Capital, while the Queenâs bedroom was the center of the imperial palace. Therefore, if the powerful Space Storm took place here, formations in Western Capital would be destroyed before they are activated.
Hence, Zhou Bao thought that this matter was very troublesome.