Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
A dim light lit up the side hall of Hanguang Palace. Faint light seeped out from the lantern on the table, making the entire room appear more sinister. It wasn’t as bright as the moonlight shining in through the large hole in the ceiling.
The serving girl looked with terror at the dust-covered Fan Xian and opened her mouth to scream. No sound came out.
With a thud, Fan Xian’s feet moved. He abruptly took eight steps. Holding his sword out flat in front of him, it pierced through the serving girl’s throat.
Blood sprayed out in a bloom. Fan Xian lowered his head slightly. His wrist turned gently. The Emperor’s sword in his hand pulled out and slyly slid out from under his armpit to strike at a eunuch’s throat.
He quickly took three more steps and spun around on the tip of his left foot. He turned as beautifully as a dancer. The Emperor’s sword in his hand glittered with a cold light. Following this spinning motion, a streak of cold light appeared meters in front of him.
Where the cold light reached, the eunuchs and serving girls, who had been startled awake, fell to the ground in puddles of blood.
His right foot once again landed on the stone boards, which slightly shattered them. Fan Xian’s body was like a large bird. With a strange pose, he abruptly retreated back and crashed ruthlessly into the arms of another person.
He lowered his head. Suddenly, he sprung up like there was a spring attached. The Emperor’s sword left his hand and flew straight toward the chest of a person charging toward him.
His sword-less right fist swung heavily to the left and punched the last person to the ground. With a clatter, the person had no chance to react and fell heavily to the ground. His head had shattered like a watermelon.
In the space of a breath, he had killed eight people.
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After Fan Xian had ruthlessly charged into Hanguang Palace, he had not said a word and silently attacked with all his strength. The Emperor’s sword and his Tyrannical zhenqi made him seem like an invincible spirit. In a moment, he had stolen the lives of all of his enemies and had not let them make a single sound.
His sword technique was said to be that of Sigu Sword, but it lacked some of Sigu Sword’s endless killing intent. It had more of the Shadow’s natural coldness.
His fist technique was supposedly that of the Ye family, but it completely lacked Ye Liuyun’s confidence, ease, and simplicity that comes from the sea. Rather, it had the sense of bravery that naturally flowed out from the Tyrannical zhenqi.
To kill in such a way, who could stand in the way?
Other than the dead people on the floor, there were only Yi Guipin, her son, and Lady Ning in the side hall. Lady Ning had come to check in on the Third Prince’s injury and had not returned to her own room. This brought Fan Xian a great deal of convenience.
None of the three nobles had been able to sleep. After Fan Xian had charged into the Palace like a god, they had reacted in the first instance. Through a thin layer of gauze, the nervously watched Fan Xian’s every action.
No matter how much confidence they had in Fan Xian, they had not thought that he would use such an explosive method to kill all the people sent by the internal court to watch and guard them in so short a time.
Lifting the silk curtain, the three of them walked out. Looking at Fan Xian, the expression on their faces were all different but had the same shock. They felt that the Fan Xian before them seemed, in some ways, to be different than the Fan Xian before he went to Dong Mountain.
Yi Guipin’s face was filled with joy. Since Fan Xian had braved the danger and entered the Palace to rescue her and her son, then the worries she had said to Chengping earlier at dusk no longer existed. While they lived under supervision in Hanguang Palace, Yi Guipin had no idea when she and her son would die. Abruptly seeing their savior, her state of mind relaxed. Then, she looked at the room full of corpses and dismembered limbs. She involuntarily felt her legs turn to water and began to fall.
The Third Prince, Li Chengping, stood to the side and supported his mother’s body. He gazed at his teacher with gratitude and nodded his head vigorously. His eyes were suddenly moist.
They were deep in Hanguang Palace. No one knew how many soldiers had surrounded the outside. The eunuch ace from the internal court at the front of the Palace was still there. Fan Xian knew that although his explosive surprise attack could successfully bring him into contact with these three people, if he couldn’t rescue them, it was still a hopeless situation.
Thus, he didn’t waste any words talking to the Third Prince or his aunt. Instead, he said coldly and straightforwardly said, “Follow me and charge out!”
Charging out was easier said than done. With the 200 people he had brought into the Palace, it was impossible if they wanted to control the entire rear palace. As for the Imperial Army, Fan Xian didn’t know if the internal purging was over or whether or not it could be resolved before the situation became dangerous.
Fan Xian pulled out his long sword from the body of the eunuch and used it to slant light into the silent Lady Ning’s eyes. Seeing a glimmer of a gratification on Lady Ning’s face, he couldn’t help also smiling. He pulled out a black dagger from inside his shoe.
The Third Prince’s dagger was already hidden in the trees and bushes beside Chen corridor. Seeing his teacher pull out a dagger, he thought he was going to give it to him for self-protection. He wanted to move forward a step while supporting his mother.
Unexpectedly, Fan Xian turned the dagger around and gave it to Lady Ning.
Lady Ning held the slender black dagger. She immediately gave off a heroic air. She had been a female slave that who survived the Northern battlefield. After all these years, she had not forgotten that iron-blooded incident.
Fan Xian did not look at again at the women and child. He directly headed toward the hall’s side door.
This door did not lead to the outside of the Palace. Instead, it led to the front hall. If it was not easy to charge out of the Palace, then they may as well charge inward.
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A hand landed on the wooden door. Without any warning, the wooden door was pulled apart by powerful forces, like it was made of paper. It shattered. The shards danced through the air.
Before the wood shavings landed, Fan Xian’s palm was already stuck to a eunuch. Fan Xian gave a muffled huff and pushed all of his zhenqi forward. Exchanging just one palm, he had already felt this eunuch’s power. There were indeed hidden talents among the guards in the internal court. Eunuch Hong’s disciples and grand disciples were not to be trifled with.
With a pop, the eunuch’s facial features began to flow with fresh blood. His body was overwhelmed by the Tyrannical zhenqi and could not withstand it. However, his task was only to delay Fan Xian for a moment to allow the aces in the front Hall and empress dowager to get ready.
Fan Xian did not give him a chance to stall for time.
Smoke rose between his palms. The poisonous fog forced its way toward the face of the martially powerful eunuch.
The eunuch’s expression changed.
Fan Xian’s right hand shook. With a loud buzzing noise, the long sword past above his shoulder. This was a difference in strength. Under the combined attack of the Tyrannical zhenqi and poisonous smoke, the eunuch had no extra strength to retaliate. He could only watch as the smear of light flashed through his eye.
Fan Xian’s left wrist flipped. He withdrew the Emperor’s sword back into his sleeve, without giving the eunuch martial ace another glance. His legs bent slightly as his body charged forward like a giant bird flying into the woods.
He didn’t head toward the path where countless aces were surging through. Instead, he headed straight for the wall of the side hall.
With a giant boom, a large hole appeared in the wood and brick walls. Fan Xian’s didn’t pay attention to the safety of the three people behind him. He flew straight through the big hole.
A cracking sound came from the neck of the eunuch ace frozen by the door. His neck snapped in the middle. His bloody head fell down.
Yi Guipin and her son looked dumbstruck at the scene. Lady Ning set her face. Lifting the black dagger Fan Xian had given to her, she led the shocked mother and son toward the large hole. She had guessed why Fan Xian was so rushed and had smashed a large hole into the front hall. She also knew that before Fan Xian controlled the situation, their three lives were completely placed on the dagger he had put into her hands.
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What did a surprise attack need? It needed speed like lightning and to be as unexpected as lightning on flat ground. Fan Xian’s actions had perfectly implemented this objective. From when they entered the rear palace to until after they were discovered by the guards, he and his subordinates’ speeds had abruptly increased. They moved like gusts of wild wind through the rear palace.
He stepped on the stone railing, shattered the golden tiles, landed in the hall, and killed everyone in the briefest amount of time. If one began to count from the first cry of the guards, he only used the time it took to throw 10 punches to successfully kill his way into the nucleus of Hanguang Palace.
Not only did the enemies not have time to react, Fan Xian didn’t even leave time for himself to think and judge. He depended on the numerous years of intelligence reports from the Royal Palace, spies in the Palace, and his superhuman senses to kill his way in.
The mission this time mostly depended on the courage he usually lacked—an arrogant anger to fight desperately for his life while in mortal danger.
When Fan Xian killed his way into Hanguang Palace as quickly as possible, the 56 swordsmen of the Sixth Bureau that followed him also fanned out in the darkness and surrounded Hanguang Palace. However, they purposely limited their speeds so they just happened to finally arrive outside Hanguang Palace.
The Overwatch Council swordsmen were excellent in killing in the darkness, while the internal guards were the elite of Qing Kingdom’s fighters. Although they could not compare to the knife-wielding Tiger Guards Fan Jian had secretly trained for the royal family, their fighting power was still strong.
Outside Hanguang Palace, the killing began in all directions. In a flash, knives and swords met. Countless people were killed as endless amounts of fresh blood sprayed out. In just a few breaths, the boundary line formed by dozens of black-clothed swordsmen were forced back a fair distance toward Hanguang Palace.
If one observed closely, one could see that the swordsmen’s retreat was not forced. Instead, it was an active choice. Although it appeared they were being forced back by the guards, they had reduced the size of the circle and surrounded Hanguang Palace more closely.
The smaller the defensive circle, the stronger the rebound power. Many people had already fallen. However, the black-clothed assassins also blocked Hanguang Palace’s main door. If the people inside wanted to escape out, it would be difficult.
This was precisely the battle strategy of chaos surrounding a blooming center that Fan Xian had planned. The Overwatch Council’s loyal subordinates used the darkness to contend with the increasing number of internal guards. At the center of the entire Royal Palace, inside Hanguang Palace, a bright and deadly flower was going to bloom.
This flower had to be held between Fan Xian’s fingers.
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When the turmoil initially began in the Palace, the guards and internal court aces had reacted quickly. The nobles in the Palace did not have this ability. The old housemaids in Hanguang Palace opened their dazed eyes and cursed silently but didn’t know what was happening outside.
Some agile serving girls heard coughing from the bed and quickly climbed up to help the true mistress of Qing Kingdom rise.
The empress dowager had a headache these few days. There was a yellow thread tied around her forehead. She leaned tiredly in the serving girl’s arms. A glimmer of confusion flashed through her eyes.
The elderly woman’s ears were not good, so she didn’t hear the giant noise of Fan Xian breaking through the roof of the side hall. She also didn’t hear the sound of Fan Xian killing eight people in a flash. This old woman had lived for many years within the Palace and had experienced countless wild winds and weathered many storms. Steeped in politics and conspiracy, it caused her to immediately become alert.
A cold light flashed through her pupils. She abruptly sat up from the serving girl’s arms. In a severe voice, she cried, “Close the Palace doors! Everyone retreat in!”
The empress dowager’s reaction was not fearful or hurried. Since she had guessed that there was trouble in the Palace, at the first instance, she was going to gather all the fighting power she commanded to her side. She understood her importance. Since enemies had entered the Palace, she was the first target.
Her reaction was just like the first time she heard of her son’s death. Simple and accurate. It was impossible not to admire her.
However, she was destined to be disappointed. Before she had gathered her strength, someone had already struck at the heart of Hanguang Palace.
Just when the guards outside the Palace and the Sixth Bureau Swordsmen had exchanged blows for the first time, the wall to the rear and side of Hanguang Palace suddenly gave a giant boom.
Brick and wood flew wildly. A hole suddenly appeared. A dark human shadow flew out from the hole. Like a dragon moving through the night, it flew through the air in a breath and charged directly toward the empress dowager’s phoenix bed.
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The closest distance between the rooms was not the distance between the doors. Rather, it was the wall. Two rooms that appeared to be very far apart were often just separated by a meter-thick wall. If one went through the wall, the horizon was right before their eyes.
How many people in the world could be like Fan Xian? He circulate his innate Tyrannical zhenqi throughout his entire body and use Tianyi Dao’s pure Heart to protect his heart meridian so that he would not be hurt by the Tyrannical zhenqi’s rebound. Thus, he turned himself in a large metal hammer and smashed straight through the thick wall.
Fan Xian, clothed in black, charged toward the empress dowager with the power of lightning and thunder.
As he passed through, the air gave a tearing cry. One could imagine what terrifying level his speed had been raised to.
The distance between the hole and bed the empress dowager was sitting on was about 12 meters.
Along this path, the old housemaids and serving girls that were only brushed by the edges of his clothing were rocked to the ground by the Tyrannical zhenqi, which was present everywhere on his body. Their robes were askew as they were shaken to the ground by wildly bounding blood.
The eunuch aces that had been waiting in the empress dowager’s sleeping chamber finally moved with four explosive cries. Four dry and withered palms clawed toward the body of the rapidly moving Fan Xian. Like old trees blooming, they had to catch the giant dragon in the woods.
Within the four old and withered palms contained pure zhenqi that could only be formed through many years of practice. The empress dowager sat calmly in the Palace. If she didn’t have great martial power as protection, how could she use Lady Ning’s life to threaten the Great Prince, who held great military strength in his hands?
Hearing the sound of the wall being torn like paper, the empress dowager turned her head and just happened to see this sight. Her gaze was icy cold and filled with confidence. It was as if she thought the presently god-like Fan Xian would become a dead corpse in the next moment.
Out of everyone’s expectations, Fan Xian did not reduce his speed. The power on his body completely disappeared in an instant. It was as if he had disappeared in midair.
Both tyrannical and gentle, these two different zhenqis had actually appeared on the same body for a moment.
The pupils of the four powerful eunuchs constricted. They felt great astonishment in their hearts. In their lives, not only had they not seen such a thing, they had not even heard of someone who was able to reach the peak of both of these zhenqis, which were very different and contrary in nature.
Furthermore, the techniques of both of these two zhenqis were clearly powerfully protected secrets.
Although they were shocked, they didn’t relent or lose any confidence. They were four powerful martial artists of the internal court aces that Eunuch Hong led. They had always been responsible for the empress dowager’s safety.
They believed that no matter how powerful Fan Xian was, he wouldn’t be able to ignore their combined attack.
Fan Xian was not a Great Grandmaster, but he was the second quickest person in the world. That year on the meadow, even the tip of Haitang’s sword could not pierce his rolling body. Now, his nature had changed. He had gradually combined two types of zhenqi. What chance did they have?
There was only one Wu Zhu in this world.
Fan Xian’s body suddenly contracted in the air. Raising his left knee and twisting his right shoulder, his body trembled. He mysteriously turned his body in the air without any help.
His trembling in that moment changed his trajectory slightly.
The first withered and skinny hand grabbed Fan Xian’s right shoulder, but it was like it had grabbed a bundle of cloud, unable to exert any force.
The second withered and skinny hand grabbed Fan Xian’s left arm, but it grabbed the edge of the sword he had hidden sinisterly in his sleeve. The edge of the blade slid out of the sleeve and left a long cut on the hand containing pure zhenqi. It exposed the white bone inside. The fresh blood was stimulated by the zhenqi and completely sprayed out, covering half of Fan Xian’s body.
The third withered and dry hand grabbed onto Fan Xian’s right knee and tore off a piece of his clothing.
The fourth withered and dry hand caught nothing. It only grabbed one of Fan Xian’s shoes.
Watching this scene, a glimmer of coldness flashed through the empress dowager’s eyes. Before the coldness had retreated, it reflected a cold light.
Like a gust of wind, the sword in Fan Xian’s left hand already rested on the empress dowager’s neck.
Blood dripped down from Fan Xian’s split sleeve and landed on the empress dowager’s clothes and her face.
Fan Xian’s face was pale white. There was a streak of blood at the corner of his lips. Half of the black clothes on his body were soaked in blood. In the end, he had still been injured by the four eunuchs, but his gaze remained firm. He froze everyone in Hanguang Palace’s heart with the icy edge of his sword.
