A hysterical growl pierced the frigid, snowy night, followed immediately by an eerie, suffocating silence.
In this moment, no words were needed, nor the cold menace of drawn blades; the youth in blood-stained robes merely standing there had already said it all.
Xu Yuan walked down the imperial steps, his blood-stained robes fluttering in the heavy snowfall. Reaching the palace courtyard, he met the gaze of the young man in python robes, whose dark eyes were devoid of light.
"It seems you never expected to see me here."
Li Zhaoyuan had lost his composure, but only for an instant. Quickly suppressing the surging emotions in his chest, he looked at the man who had stepped down the imperial steps to face him on equal footing, wanting to ask several questions in response.
All his fury stemmed from incomprehension.
He could not comprehend why the other would rebel.
He could not comprehend which of his actions had crossed the line.
He could not comprehend what had rendered talks between the imperial throne and the Chancellor impossible, driving things straight to open warfare.
When clearly,
everything he had done followed the dying wishes of the previous generation of emperor and Chancellor.
Yet...
In the end, Li Zhaoyuan did not ask any of those questions.
In that brief span of time, he had come to understand a great deal.
With a sigh, Li Zhaoyuan's expression suddenly relaxed. It was the relief of the late emperor's shackles shattering from around him, yet also the helplessness of knowing that what he had spent his entire life trying to prove could never be fulfilled.
Looking at Xu Yuan, he murmured softly, "It doesn't matter anymore. Since you are already standing here, none of it matters.
"Compared to Chancellor Xu, Our imperial father was truly benevolent to the extreme.
"Not only did he strip Us of everything, but he also left Us Li Qingyan—an imperial scion possessing both the legitimacy to ascend the throne and the supreme imperial art—along with high-ranking imperial ministers who merely watch from the sidelines with folded hands, and countless pitfalls lining every step forward."
As he spoke, Li Zhaoyuan suddenly let out a low chuckle.
"Yet even so, out of Our duty as a member of the Great Yan imperial clan, We continued to tread the path he laid out for Us. Now that you want to tear it all down, We should thank you. Having possessed nothing from the start, having endured the agony of loss countless times, the only power We hold now is something left behind by Li Yaoxuan—so experiencing it once more hardly seems intolerable to me."
His words faded into silence beneath the howling of the freezing wind.
Xu Yuan said nothing in response, though a faint trace of pity crept into his eyes.
Li Zhaoyuan paid it no heed. He merely drew that sword of a sovereign in silence, its polished blade gleaming with bone-chilling cold in the snowy night.
"Even so, We will not simply hand you what you seek."
With that, Li Zhaoyuan shifted his gaze down the mountain, looking upon the beating heart of Great Yan below. Towering flames lit up his pitch-black pupils.
"Throughout history, all palace coups and rebellions boil down to four words: slaying the rebel ringleader. That is actually quite simple; what is difficult is confronting the chaos once the ringleader has fallen.
"Come, try to kill Us.
"This is the chance at assassination We personally promised you.
"Only now, I fear it must be done through war between the throne and the Chancellor.
"I hope you can bear the weight of it all, Xu Yuan."
Past midnight.
The forty-eighth year of Jiajing, the sixth day of the second month—the day of the new Great Yan emperor's coronation.
The skyward salvo of Sunshroud shells unfurled into a canopy like a pair of clasped hands sealing off the interior from the world outside, completely cloaking Great Yan's grandest megalopolis below.
Without moonlight, the lanterns gradually flickered out. And almost at the exact moment the Sunshroud canopy rose, dazzling spheres of light flared across the sleeping city of Di'an.
The Chancellor's Manor, the headquarters of the Tian'an Chamber of Commerce, the headquarters of the Institute of Natural Philosophy, and the various parade grounds where the Black Scale Army was stationed...
In practically a single instant, the imperial family's meteorological weapons descended upon the Chancellor's faction's most heavily guarded sanctuaries throughout Di'an.
In a flash, centered on brilliant spheres of light that rivaled the rising sun, patches of radiance spread into the surrounding streets, obliterating everything within!
It could hardly be called an ambush, nor was either side unprepared; this was a future both the imperial court and the Chancellor's faction had foreseen.
Though Li Zhaoyuan had not understood why Xu Changtian would rebel, his threat to Xu Yinhe had never been an empty boast: killing him was tantamount to war between the imperial throne and the Chancellor.
And now, that threat had come to pass.
When the dust settled from the first wave of meteorological weapons, the Tian'an Chamber of Commerce headquarters lay in ruins, and the Institute of Natural Philosophy—which had developed countless cutting-edge creations—was flattened. Perhaps the only place that survived was the imposing Chancellor's Manor; shielded by protective arrays, it remained intact, though the formations flickered erratically under the meteorological onslaught.
Within the parade grounds of the Imperial City Bureau's Guard, aerial fortresses began to lift off alongside hundreds of combat-ready demon beasts, while even more resting Imperial Guard soldiers were roused from sleep to don their armor...
Beifeng City.
The flames of war had once reduced this vital pass—which had safeguarded the Northern Border for a millennium—to ashes. After several years of reconstruction, Beifeng City had regained a semblance of its former scale. Though still far from its pre-war prime, it had once again become the command center of the Beifeng Army.
Late into the night, when most soldiers were asleep, the central government office remained brightly illuminated. Several military garrison commanders sat in the high hall chatting idly about military and court affairs. The mood could not be called oppressive, but it was certainly far from lighthearted.
"After the twin campaigns to exterminate the barbarians and the sects, our Beifeng Army was divided into detachments stationed across strategic locations in the three northern provinces—all to provide blizzard relief, guard against remnants of the northern sects, and monitor the various contingents of the Black Scale Army. But starting after today, we will likely begin marching south to pass through the border."
"So the throne is truly to be handed to that Li Zhaoyuan?"
"Old Tian, drop the complaints. You saw the Second Prince on the battlefield yourself. This new emperor genuinely possesses the capacity of a formidable ruler, and this was the shared will of the late emperor, the Marquis, and Her Highness. After tomorrow, he will be our new sovereign. Speak no more of such treasonous talk."
"I'm merely voicing grievance on Her Highness's behalf. Formidable ruler though he may be, he will almost certainly have no room for Her Highness."
"..."
A momentary hush fell over the hall.
Signs of this had already begun to surface. Though Li Qingyan had received orders to lead troops on this deployment, she commanded only second-line units, and the senior generals of the Beifeng Army had not seen Her Highness for a long time.
Once Li Zhaoyuan ascended the throne and solidified his grip on power, the fate awaiting Li Qingyan would likely be the crippling of her cultivation, followed by a grant of land to live out her remaining years in obscurity—or more likely, "falling in battle."
No sovereign could tolerate the existence of a blood relative holding a status like Princess Wuyuan's. It had nothing to do with whether the sovereign possessed visionary ambitions; it was simply that she threatened the very foundation of his rule.
As generals of the Beifeng Army, they had watched Princess Wuyuan grow step by step and knew full well what talent and stature she possessed. Yet, in the end, they were merely subjects.
The affairs of the imperial family were not theirs to decide.
All they could do was obey orders from above.
Amid sighs and rueful murmurs, hurried footsteps echoed down the corridor outside the hall, shattering the silence.
Then,
a terrified voice carried by the wind and snow drifted inside:
"Com—Commander! Di'an... we've lost contact with Di'an!!"
Outside Qinlong Pass, wind and snow whirled wildly.
Clad in white armor, Qin Yuan stared at the vibrating crystal in his hand, recalling the words the young master had spoken to him when he was summoned to Di'an:
[What I am about to assign to you may seem like an impossible task for your crypt remnants, but if you want a future, you must take it.]
[Throughout the entire operation, you crypt remnants will have no reinforcements. The Black Scale Army stationed in the Northern Border is currently under the watchful eye of the Beifeng Army and cannot act rashly, while the Black Scale forces in the Capital Region must handle affairs in Di'an.]
[Only you are an army unaccounted for. But right now, all I can offer you are various war supplies.]
[Qin Yuan, take Qinlong Pass. Cut off any army from the three northern provinces attempting to march south into the Capital Region. I, Xu Changtian, promise your crypt remnants a future of limitless possibilities!]
Crushing the buzzing crystal in his hand, Qin Yuan looked up once more toward the brightly lit, magnificent mountain pass. Glancing at his countless clansmen concealed in the snowy plains beside him, his calm eyes hid both anticipation and dread for the future as he uttered eight words:
"At all costs, take this stronghold."
Along the Tianhe defense line,
the full moon hung in the sky. The great river, nearly ten li wide, surged eastward, serving as a natural moat that forcefully divided the armies to the north and south.
Half a month had passed since northern Hongnong fell.
The Imperial Guard and the Sect Alliance's grand army had also confronted each other here across the waters for half a month.
When the Black Scale Army withdrew, they had sabotaged everything in Hongnong. Now taking over, the Sect Alliance had to rebuild everything from scratch. To guard against the Imperial Guard potentially crossing the river and striking south at any moment, the Sect Alliance army south of the Tianhe worked day and night without pause, fortifying their defense line along the river.
Having accompanied the Sect Alliance army, the black-robed young woman stood in midair south of the Tianhe as she always did, gazing into the distance toward Di'an—toward the direction of that man.
Only tonight,
she noticed something unusual north of the river.
Ran Qingmo murmured in confusion,
"...Across the Tianhe, why is a contingent of the Imperial Guard heading north?"
The Prime Minister's Manor had severed all outside communications from Di'an, but Li Zhaoyuan had not been unprepared. The moment the various forces loyal to the imperial throne realized they had lost contact with Di'an, they all mobilized.
While dispatching top experts accompanying the armies to rush to Di'an to ascertain the situation, the various forces were also carrying out urgent redeployments. An elite corps of the Imperial Guard stationed along the Great River defense line was drawn up to probe northward toward the Capital Region. The three hundred thousand soldiers of the Beifeng Army stationed in the Northern Border began assembling, bracing for potential assaults from the Black Scale Army stationed nearby. And the Beifeng Army's Second Town, situated closest to the Capital Region, struck camp overnight to march south, intending to breach the pass.
Yet at the center of all these upheavals,
endless flames of war had already swallowed up one prosperous avenue after another.
Di'an's city-protecting array attempted to activate to purge all traitors within the city, but just as it surged to its peak, it ground to a halt.
This megalopolis was the core of the imperial house, but it was also the heart of the Prime Minister's Manor; the largest city-protecting array in Great Yan did not answer solely to the imperial family.
When the Imperial Guard rushed to the Chancellor's key installations that had been flattened by meteorological weapons, they were shocked to discover that the Tian'an Chamber of Commerce headquarters was already empty, everything in the Institute of Natural Philosophy had been quietly evacuated over the preceding month, and the soldiers from the Black Scale parade grounds had long since vanished into hiding across Di'an.
Then came the Prime Minister's Manor's counterattack.
Through the city streets, disciplined columns of the Imperial Guard marching to impose curfews across Di'an were ambushed by crossbow bolts raining down from both flanks.
High in the sky, aerial fortresses constructed at immense cost in effort and resources plunged to the earth one after another, throwing plumes of flame into the clouds.
Almost the instant hostilities broke out, the intensity of battle reached its zenith. The forces stationed within Di'an were the elite of elites. The Imperial Guard wrote their loyalty with their lives, while the heavy infantry of the Black Scale Army wielded their blades to execute the young master's will.
One side roared to execute the traitorous rebels,
while the other bellowed to crush the usurpers who forged imperial edicts to steal the realm.
Soaring vermilion palace walls crumbled, the Chancellor's Manor was engulfed in a sea of fire, and the most advanced weaponized creations of both the throne and the Chancellor were unleashed upon former comrades as though against mortal enemies.
Saints from both factions clashed violently within the palace city, and opulent jade pavilions and towering towers collapsed one after another amid the radiant brilliance of arts and sword techniques.
Marquis Wucheng and Zong Qingsheng—two generals who had once fought side by side in the war against the barbarians—served different masters tonight, leveling their weapons against each other. Their furious roars, carried on the clash of their military arrays' immense power, split the earth asunder, reducing thriving thoroughfares to dust in an instant.
"Is this what you wanted?"
Before Weiyang Palace, the courtyard had already been reduced to ruins.
Wiping away a trail of blood from the corner of his mouth, Li Zhaoyuan, half-kneeling on the ground, dragged his heavily wounded body upright and tightened his grip once more on the sovereign's sword crackling with arcs of lightning.
Realizing that death was certain for him tonight, he merely looked with a laugh at the youth in blood-stained robes who remained completely unscathed:
"The destruction of Di'an is only the beginning. Your Sunshroud canopy cannot stop word from spreading. As long as your Chancellor's Manor's rebellion tonight is verified and proclaimed across the land, the imperial clan will follow the established plan and endorse the Sect Alliance's banner of purging treacherous courtiers, joining hands to destroy your Chancellor's Manor!
"When that time comes, the imperial clan will remain the imperial clan, for the Sect Alliance needs a shared ruler of the world—and facing the united might of the imperial clan and the Sect Alliance, your manor is doomed to extinction.
"Xu Changtian...
"the dream of the previous generation will finally end by your hands tonight."
"You are wrong,"
Xu Yuan interrupted, his gaze passing over Li Zhaoyuan to look toward northern Di'an.
"Di'an will not be destroyed, and the dream of the previous generation of emperor and Chancellor will live on.
"It is just that the sovereign will not be you.
"She has already arrived."
"..."
Li Zhaoyuan fell silent for a heartbeat,
and immediately afterward, he felt the military array's power churning violently within him.
Someone was seizing control of his military array.
Using an imperial art identical to his own.
Realizing this, Li Zhaoyuan showed no rage or hysteria. Instead, he began to chuckle softly, a desolate, mocking laughter drowned beneath the wind and snow:
"Li Yaoxuan, this is the price of your hesitation.
"Great Yan is finished!
"The imperial house of Li is finished!
"The continuation of the dynasty you wanted has ultimately only served to sew wedding robes for someone else!
"With the Prime Minister's blade already pressed against your throat, you still clung to compromise. Ridiculous—utterly ridiculous! Hahahahahaha!"
Chapter 803