Everyone inside the hall grew alert, their expressions turning grim and eyes sharp. For a large contingent of troops to approach the emperor's bedchamber in the dead of night without an imperial decree or permission was unnatural under any circumstances.
"Lights out!" Zhang Yuanqing commanded his teammates, then shot a glance at Brother Red Chicken. "Ready your defensive items and go check outside."
Xiao Yuan, the Palace Master, and the others swiftly blew out the candles in the bedchamber and outer hall, plunging the palace into darkness.
Brother Red Chicken looked solemn. Without needing Zhang Yuanqing's reminder, he had already taken out a set of rattan armor and donned it. He strode through the curtains, crossed the outer hall, and came to a halt outside the tall latticed doors.
Next, he retrieved a stone stele and gripped it in his left hand. In an instant, his shoulders sank slightly as though weighed down by a great mountain. With some effort, he raised his right hand and pushed open the latticed door.
Looking out, he saw a contingent of Imperial Guards holding torches, rushing along the lakeside toward the square outside the bedchamber.
Leading them was Zheng Wenhan, a long sword slung at his waist, alongside a gaunt, middle-aged general.
Standing behind the threshold, Brother Red Chicken shouted harshly,
"Halt!
"This is His Majesty's bedchamber! Intruding with weapons—are you seeking to rebel?!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, the senior general unslung his bow and shot a powerful arrow.
*Swoosh!*
The arrow, suffused with abundant sword aura, screeched shrilly as it tore through the air. In the dark, a swell of yellow light ballooned outward, forming a spherical shield.
In the next second, the shield collapsed. At the critical moment, Brother Red Chicken ducked, shielding his heart and vitals. The arrow pierced his shoulder, its momentum unabated, smashing the stone tiles in the hall with a loud crack before pinning itself to the floor.
Brother Red Chicken ignored the shattered stone stele, swiftly slammed the door shut, and ducked low, scurrying back toward the bedchamber in a bullet-dodging crouch.
"Fuck! The Zheng family is rebelling!" Brother Red Chicken pressed down on his bleeding shoulder, grimacing in pain. "There's an expert among the enemies—a peak Saint-stage Swordsman."
To pierce a defensive item of a Level 4 Earth Monster with a single arrow, among the Orderly classes, only the sword aura of a Swordsman could achieve such a feat.
"Stop the bleeding first. If it's just a Level 6 Swordsman, it's not so bad," Xiao Yuan said, glancing at the burly, thickset Consort Wan.
This one was a Level 6 Plague God.
Meanwhile, the noisy clamor of footsteps drew closer. Zhang Yuanqing spoke rapidly:
"It won't be that simple. The Zheng family had no reason to carry out an assassination tonight—no, this is no longer an assassination; this is a rebellion. It means the Zheng family has uncovered the real cause of Zheng Longtu's death. The act went bust... Or maybe not bust, but no time for that now. Hurry and set up the traps and mechanisms to meet the enemy! I'll buy time..."
If it was an outright rebellion, they couldn't possibly have brought only a single Level 6 Saint.
Brother Red Chicken, the Palace Master, Queen, and Xie Lingxi tacitly opened their inventories, taking out humanoid puppets, repeating crossbows, thousand-needle canisters, armor-piercing bear traps, spore sprayers, and other mechanical weaponry, methodically deploying them.
Ever since acquiring mechanist arts, members of Return of the Dead had grown accustomed to carrying sets of mechanical weapons ranging from Transcendent to Saint stage, with even larger stockpiles stored in the guild warehouse.
After all, mechanical weapons could be used to set traps and also serve as cannon fodder to scout ahead—versatile in function and purpose.
Xiao Yuan retrieved two black earthen jars. From one jar flew hideous black beetles, clinging beneath the doors, windows, and roof tiles; from the other crawled venomous, brightly patterned snakes, slithering toward the threshold and windowsills, with some climbing up pillars to drape over the roof beams.
Jiang Jingwei was not a member of Return of the Dead and had nothing to set up, so she thought of lying in ambush behind the door. But Zhang Yuanqing yanked her back:
"Stay away from the front doors!"
Pulling Jiang Jingwei behind him, he summoned the Yin-Yang Robe and Red Dancing Shoes and put them on. While his teammates laid the traps, he strode out into the outer hall and called out sternly,
"Chancellor Zheng! Uncle! We have never treated the Zheng family poorly! Why rebel? How can you face Our deceased imperial mother?!"
As soon as his voice faded, an arrow brimming with sword aura penetrated the latticed door, hurtling toward the sound.
The Red Dancing Shoes glowed with a faint, dim light, guiding him into an elegant pirouette that evaded the arrow.
Zhang Yuanqing instantly shouted, "Who shoots arrows from the shadows like a gutless coward?!"
Another arrow shot in, and the Red Dancing Shoes effortlessly dodged it again.
Although it was a rule-based item from the Transcendent stage, dodging ranged attacks like this presented no difficulty at all. Of course, if a Level 6 Swordsman attacked at close quarters, the Red Dancing Shoes might not be able to evade.
"We stand right here! Shoot a few more if you have the guts!" Zhang Yuanqing taunted.
Having fired two fruitless arrows, the Swordsman outside could not fathom the true situation inside and halted his fire instead.
Zheng Wenhan broke his silence and responded in a clear, booming voice:
"His Majesty is being held hostage in the palace by assassins! This chancellor has led troops to surround the Summer Palace. Today, all four palace gates have been sealed by this chancellor—no one enters, and no one leaves! If you lay down your weapons, surrender obediently, and release His Majesty, your corpses may yet be left intact. Otherwise, this chancellor shall raze the Summer Palace to ashes!"
*There won't be any reinforcements. The good news is, the Imperial Guards aren't all under the Zheng family's thumb, or there would be no need to seal the palace gates...* Zhang Yuanqing instinctively analyzed the intelligence from the man's words while shouting back,
"Chancellor Zheng, drop the pretense! Since you've already found out how Zheng Longtu died, let's lay our cards on the table. Both Zheng Longtu and Beauty Wan have confessed the Zheng family's ambition to usurp the throne.
"Though We care little for books, We know that the winner takes all. Even if We die today, We wish to die knowing the truth. How did you learn of Zheng Longtu's cause of death?"
In truth, he had already guessed, but he still needed to buy as much time as possible for his teammates to lay their traps.
Outside, silence hung for a few seconds before Zheng Wenhan's voice drifted in: "Since you already know this chancellor's ambitions, you should understand that if the assassin's target had been you, Longtu would never have risked his life to save you."
"Based on that alone?"
Chancellor Zheng's tone turned sharply fierce: "This chancellor requested the Imperial Preceptor's disciple to question the spirits! Foolish ruler, you killed my son and doomed his soul to never find peace! Today, this chancellor shall rid the people of this menace!"
With that, the latticed doors of the bedchamber were violently burst open. Using the dialogue as cover, a squad of Imperial Guards had quietly crept up to the palace and launched a surprise assault.
*Twang, twang, twang!*
Several stationary crossbows aimed squarely at the entrance discharged instantly, striking down the armored soldiers in the front rank. Taking advantage of their comrades absorbing the initial volley, the soldiers behind swarmed into the hall.
Immediately afterward, they stepped onto the bear traps spread just inside the threshold. Shouts of agony erupted, followed swiftly by crossbow bolts fired from the shadows that picked them off.
More Imperial Guards surged in, undeterred by the mechanical weapons. They were well-trained elites who dared to charge city walls during sieges, let alone the emperor's bedchamber.
Screams rang out incessantly. The Imperial Guards storming the bedchamber were either killed by the mechanical weaponry or bitten by venomous bugs and snakes, dying of lethal poison.
In a mere three to five minutes, the entire first wave of Imperial Guards lay dead inside the hall.
The doors hung wide open, bodies carpeting the space from the threshold deep into the hall. The interior remained pitch-black, as though an insatiable beast lurked in the dark, ready to devour anyone who entered.
Zheng Wenhan said in a deep voice, "Use fire!"
The Imperial Guards drew arrows, wrapped cloth around the tips, doused them in oil, set them ablaze with torches, and drew their bows toward the bedchamber.
Instantly, a rain of fire engulfed the Summer Palace, igniting the doors, windows, and roof.
In the dry autumn and winter chill, the blaze flared up immediately, burning fiercely.
Just then, from the artificial lake fifty meters away from the Summer Palace, there came a thunderous roar as two water dragons surged forth, undulating gracefully as they lunged toward the blazing palace.
The Plague God among the Imperial Guards intervened immediately, manipulating water against water to keep the two water dragons from drawing near.
The two massive water dragons wheeled wildly in midair like headless flies.
Seeing this, Zhang Yuanqing in his Yin-Yang Robe and Queen both made their moves. Under the clash of multiple forces, the two water dragons shattered completely, turning into a torrential downpour that extinguished the guards' torches and doused most of the flames raging over the Summer Palace.
The second wave of assault was successfully neutralized.
For a moment, the Imperial Guards surrounding the Summer Palace did not dare act rashly.
Yet Zhang Yuanqing knew this was only temporary. Zheng Wenhan would continue to attack and probe until all of their defenses were exhausted.
"It seems this chancellor underestimated Your Majesty, and underestimated this palace teeming with beauties. Just how many contingencies did my sister leave for Your Majesty?" Zheng Wenhan's voice carried from outside.
Zhang Yuanqing called out loudly, "A million soldiers are hidden within Our bedchamber. Do you believe it?"
Zheng Wenhan did not respond.
*This can't go on; we have to escape the palace...* Thoughts raced through Zhang Yuanqing's mind, and an idea suddenly struck him. He said,
"If this standoff continues, we're dead for sure. I have an idea..."
As everyone looked toward him, Zhang Yuanqing said,
"All of you put on My daily robes, disguise yourselves as Me, and then charge the lines together before scattering in different directions. That way, Zheng Wenhan will be forced to split his forces, and everyone's chances of survival will increase."
Fighting the enemy inside the Summer Palace carried an enormous risk of total annihilation, whereas scattering offered the best chance to maximize the team's survival rate.
"But if we do that, someone among us is bound to die," Brother Red Chicken said, his brows tightly furrowed. "We're all brothers! If we die, we die together. I disagree."
No sooner had he spoken than a blazing light erupted outside. In the next second, a colossal fireball two meters in diameter crashed through the window and smashed into the hall.
*Boom!*
The fireball detonated. A scorching shockwave overturned tables and chairs, and spilling flames set silk fabrics and woodwork ablaze.
Although the fireball exploded in the outer hall, the intense shockwave set everyone's blood churning inside the bedchamber, sending them staggering.
Before they could recover, another blast erupted from the roof. Tiles and beams caved in and plummeted. This blast struck right above their heads; Xie Lingxi, possessing the weakest constitution, spat out a mouthful of blood from the concussive force.
Scorching waves of flame singed their hair and charred the venomous snakes hanging from the beams.
"Fuck!" Brother Red Chicken cursed. "A Level 6 Fire Demon! How many experts does this old bastard have under him?!"
The previous two probes had made the Imperial Guards hesitate to launch another mass assault, opting for bombardment instead.
"For a chancellor who holds supreme power in court, it wouldn't be surprising if he sent a Dominator. It's just that our storyline hasn't progressed to that point yet," the Palace Master murmured. "Do as Yuan... as His Majesty says. This is our only chance to survive."
Xie Lingxi and Queen showed a flicker of worry. Having become Saints the most recently, their foundations were the shallowest, meaning their mortality rate under these circumstances would be higher than the others.
Yet the Guild Leader's (Brother Yuanshi's) plan was correct. Given the current situation, scattering to flee was the right choice. After all, this was the imperial palace, and they were turtles trapped in a jar—fighting as a unified group would only lead to a total wipeout.
The group quickly rummaged for the emperor's daily robes and hurried into them. Zhang Yuanqing channeled his disguise technique, altering their appearances one by one until they were all turned into Zhao Shun.
Consort Wan stared flabbergasted at the scene.
Zhang Yuanqing glanced at her. "We know you're shocked, but save your shock for later. First, let's get out of here."
Consort Wan was indeed a death agent; nodding, she cast aside all stray thoughts.
"Now we need a way to improve our chances of survival. The palace gates have been sealed by Zheng Wenhan's men. How do we get out?" Zhang Yuanqing asked, looking at her.
Consort Wan understood immediately and replied in her gruff voice,
"The water of Summer Palace Lake connects to the rivers within the city. By swimming through an underground river, one can reach outside the city. However, the subterranean river is narrow and long; unless one is proficient in water arts, traversing that underground passage is exceedingly difficult."
"I can make it!" Queen's eyes lit up, and she quickly added, "I have a Transcendent-grade item that turns the user into water. Does anyone else need it?"
Xiao Yuan said, "I can take flight with Gu Transformation."
Wasps were renowned for their speed; if she wished to flee, no one could stop her.
The Palace Master said, "I can fight my way out of the palace without the subterranean river."
She had already completed one side quest and regained her Saint-stage power. With a Red Phoenix Star Official's charm, red strings of fate, and hypnosis, escaping the palace wouldn't be difficult as long as she wasn't singled out for concentrated fire.
Brother Red Chicken, Jiang Jingwei, and Xie Lingxi, on the other hand, had no special escape methods.
Zhang Yuanqing pondered for a moment, opened his inventory, and tossed a human-skin mask over. "Lingxi, you don't need to flee the palace. Use this to hide among the palace maids."
This item had belonged to the Ninth Elder of the Southern Sect—Transcendent quality, Illusionist class, with the sole function of disguising one's appearance.
Xie Lingxi was clever; with its aid, hiding in the imperial harem would pose no problem.
Then Zhang Yuanqing took off the Red Dancing Shoes and flung them to Brother Red Chicken, saying:
"Take this item. Use Fire Traveling to flee. If your spiritual energy runs low, put them on and run. They ignore terrain, running in them costs no stamina, and they can evade long-range attacks at the Saint realm.
"Queen, give your item to Jingwei."
Just as the Red Dancing Shoes were about to circle their master to demand their price, Brother Red Chicken stowed them into his inventory.
During this exchange, two more fireballs detonated within the bedchamber. One of them injured Zhang Yuanqing, but as a Night Walker, he paid the wound no heed and calmly continued:
"In a moment, all of you charge their lines at once. Consort Wan and I will bring up the rear. Zheng Wenhan knows I have guards and will recognize my true body, but since you are disguised as me, he won't dare ignore you completely. He likely won't dispatch too many troops to hunt you down, and I will buy you as much time as possible."
This step was crucial. If no one stayed behind to hold the rear and draw the main force, the pursuers would be too strong, plunging the team into a desperate plight.
And the reason he was sending his teammates out first was to draw off a portion of the enemy's firepower.
With the strategy finalized, Zhang Yuanqing whispered before the next fireball struck,
"Move!"
Brother Red Chicken and Jiang Jingwei were the first to rush toward the breach blasted open by the fireballs, both leaping through and sprinting away to the left and right.
Outside, Zheng Wenhan was momentarily taken aback before immediately barking, "After them!"
Just as he spoke, his gaze shifted, and he added, "Twenty men each! Relay orders to the guards at the gates: anyone who approaches within fifty paces of the palace gates is to be slain on sight!"
Two squads of well-trained Imperial Guards set off in pursuit.
No sooner had they left than two more Zhao Shuns in daily robes dashed out from the fire-ravaged palace entrance, fleeing in separate directions.
The Imperial Guards fired a volley of arrows at them before immediately giving chase.
Then came a third pair of Zhao Shuns bursting from the hall and making a run for it.
"Chancellor Zheng!" The Level 6 Fire Specialist among the guards could no longer hold back, frowning as he demanded, "Why dispatch so few troops? What if the foolish ruler escapes?!"
Neither Zheng Wenhan nor the swordsman general paid him any mind, their sharp gazes remaining fixed on the bedchamber.
Right at that moment, another two pairs of Zhao Shuns rushed out of the bedchamber, but instead of scattering, they stuck together shoulder to shoulder.
Zheng Wenhan's gaze turned fierce as he drew the long sword at his waist. "Warriors of the Southern Dynasty, follow me to execute the foolish ruler!"
Chapter 853