Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio 

  At night, the little building glowed with light. A large number of eunuchs and serving girls surged into the deserted garden from all directions like magic. All kinds of dishes, fruits, and steamers were delivered smoothly into the building. The Emperor and Fan Xian talked and smiled as they ate in the building. They chatted away while that woman, the one lying across the history of the Qing Kingdom and between the Emperor and Fan Xian, remained silent in the picture upstairs, calmly watching everything. 

  What should have been the start of a massacre became a last supper between father and son. Fan Xian was aware of this and accepted it. It was impossible for one person to start a two-person battle. Since he had already endured for so long before making such a brave and ruthless decision, what difference could one more night make? Most importantly, just as the Emperor said earlier as he easily broke his set up and walked away, since it was a battle between two people, time had to be given for the Emperor to do that which he had already implicitly promised Fan Xian. 

  Was one night enough time? 

  “Your Majesty, Mistress Ruoruo has come to bid you farewell,” Eunuch Yao said respectfully as he stood below the small table with his head bowed. 

  “Let her come in.” The Emperor smiled slightly and glanced at Fan Xian to show him that he would do what he agreed to. 

  A gust of chilly wind carrying snowflakes swirled into the building. An icy looking woman followed the wind in. Her steps were steady, and her expression was calm and unchanging. She bowed shallowly in front of the Emperor. It was Fan Ruoruo. 

  After she bid farewell to the Emperor, this girl, who had been under house arrest in the Palace for a number of months, slowly turned and looked calmly at her older brother. Gradually, a faint wetness appeared in her eyes. 

  Fan Xian stood and shook his head with a slight smile. “No crying.” 

  So, Fan Ruoruo did not cry. She bit her bottom lip firmly and managed to force a smile as she said, “Brother, long time no see.” 

  It had indeed been a long time. The brother and sister had not seen each other again since Fan Xian returned from Dongyi. After Fan Xian returned to the capital, he had only seen that autumn rainfall. At that time, Fan Ruoruo was already under house arrest in the Palace as a hostage to control him. 

  Fan Xian went forward and gently held his sister’s slender shoulders and gave her a hug. By her ear, he quietly said, “Be good. Be filial toward father and mother.” When he said this, Fan Xian felt as if time was going backward. It seemed that the icy woman in front of him was still the young child many years ago in Danzhou who couldn’t even speak clearly. 

  Fan Ruoruo made a sound of acknowledgment and left. She knew why the Emperor was letting her leave the Palace. Her brother and the Emperor must have come to some kind of agreement. The things she trusted most in her life were her brother’s lessons and plans, so she had no suspicions at all. She just calmly and silently accepted all of it. 

  The little building recovered its silence. However, it was not silent for long. With an awkward expression, Eunuch Yao announced, “The Third Prince is here, just outside the building. I couldn’t stop him.” 

  Neither the Emperor or Fan Xian had expected for the Third Prince to appear at this time. They had not thought that Shufang Palace would not be able to hold back this youth. 

  The Third Prince entered the building and bowed toward the Emperor and Fan Xian. In a muffled voice, he said, “Greetings, father. Greetings, teacher……” 

  Strangely, the Third Prince turned and left after saying these words. Without any care to etiquette and rules, he left behind the Emperor and Fan Xian, who had sunk into silence. Naturally, both of them had clearly seen the Third Prince’s expression earlier and saw that the child’s eyes were already red. Presumably, he had already cried outside the building. 

  The Emperor looked at the empty ground. He suddenly gave a smile filled with complicated emotions after a moment of silence. There was a faint glimmer of disappointment, but there was also a trace of admiration that he could not hide away. Li Chengping had come to the little building today to send Fan Xian off. Such affection and daring aligned well with the Emperor’s nature. 

  “Not bad, right?” Fan Xian asked. 

  “You taught him well. This is something I’ve always admired about you. I’ve also never seen you treat him particularly well. Regardless of whether it is the officials in court, your subordinates, or even my sons, it seems they are all willing to stand on your side,” the Emperor said. 

  Fan Xian was silent for a moment. He then said, “That is probably because I always treat them fairly.” 

  Eunuch Yao walked into the building for the third time and calmly said, “Someone outside the Palace has sent the book Sir Fan junior needed and a sword.” 

  It was the sword of the Wei Emperor. It was quietly placed in front of Fan Xian on the table. The book was a list of crimes committed by the He faction, written by previous members of the Overwatch Council for use in the Emperor’s edicts in future days. 

  Eunuch Yao stood in front of the Emperor and calmly narrated what happened outside the Palace. Naturally, the internal court had a number of spies in Jingdou, but there was no need to specially investigate the disturbances in Jingdou to know about it. 

  The Imperial Censors of the Imperial Censorate were kneeling on the snowy ground outside the Palace crying mournfully and asking the Emperor to harshly punish Fan Xian, an unforgivable murderer. Fan Xian was not a fanatical murderer. The lives that had disappeared in Jingdou were all powerful members of the He faction. As for the Imperial Censors that were just pedantic, they were still living just fine. 

  Other than these Imperial Censors, the civil officials in various departments in Jingdou also began to communicate in secret, preparing to exert pressure on the Royal Palace. All of this was because the court had been shocked by the massacre that had happened. They felt a boundless and endless fear. Thus, they had to make a stand. 

  After Fan Xian entered the Royal Palace from the Hall of Governmental Affairs, many of the court officials waited outside the Royal Palace. They were waiting for the Emperor’s edict. A day had passed. It was now night, yet the Royal Palace remained silent. The officials began to feel enraged and fearful. Was the Emperor still thinking of the affection between father and son after Fan Xian had done such a hair-raising and bloody thing and would not punish him severely? 

  Because of the Palace’s silence and officials’ concerns, the Imperial Censors once again knelt outside the Royal Palace. 

  When the wind and rain desired to come, the pressure was immense. Mountains wished to collapse and lakes wished for great waves. 

  Eunuch Yao’s report did not change the atmosphere in the little building. Regardless of whether it was the Emperor or Fan Xian, neither cared about the officials’ pressure. Besides, after tonight, one of them would eventually have to give some kind of explanation to the world. 

  The Emperor smiled. He raised his wine cup and slowly took a sip. He then touched on a subject or two that had not been raised yet. “If you die, will the words you leave behind be able to control the crazy people under your command? If not, why should I agree to let them go?” 

  “You need to take a gamble that my words can control them. Otherwise, if the world falls into chaos, it’s not a scene you wish to see.” 

  The Emperor’s finger slowly turned the wine cup. Narrowing his eyes, he said, “Are you not worried that I will kill you and not do what I promised?” 

  Fan Xian lowered his head slightly. He was silent for a moment before he calmly said, “The promises of an Emperor cannot be chased back even by four horses.” 

  “Four horses, not one.” The Emperor smiled. “It’s four horses. Your mother also said these strange words back then, which is why I remember. I just didn’t think that you also knew of it.” 

  The Emperor sighed and said, “In today’s world, if the person in front of me was not you and instead was your mother, no matter what, I would not give her the right to a fair battle.” 

  Fan Xian mockingly said, “You indeed did not give her any justice back then.” 

  The Emperor shook his head and coldly said, “I would not give her such a right because I knew that she would not use this world to threaten me. To use the world as a bargaining chip means to invest all the people into the gamble. She would not bear to do that, but I would be able to bear it.” 

  “I am willing to use the lives of everyone in the world to threaten you,” Fan Xian replied calmly. “This was the difference I spoke of earlier.” 

  The Emperor shook his head again and said, “That is why I don’t understand. Since you love this country and care for the people, how could you use it to threaten me?” 

  “I must give my love first to those beside me. The other thing is that I have always been a shameless person who is afraid of death. If truly forced into an impasse, of course, this impasse is not just referring to me. I do not object having the world and Your Majesty’s wild ambitions accompany me to the grave,” Fan Xian said with his head down. “Actually, I have been waiting for a person, but that person has still not returned. I have no choice. I can only fight desperately myself.” 

  His were spoken with misery and helplessness. However, the Emperor’s eyes gradually lit up. He knew who Fan Xian was waiting for. In the Emperor’s opinion, in the world at present, only that person could threaten his life and rule. After the murder in Taiping Courtyard all those years ago, he had always maintained a faint fear toward that person’s existence. He even sent the last emissary from the Temple to the alley by the Fan manor. 

  Even with this, Wu Zhu still did not die. 

  “He won’t come back.” The light in the Emperor’s eyes was gradually restrained. In a slow voice, he said, “It’s been three years. He wanted to find out who he was so he could return to the Temple. If he truly returned to the Temple, how could he come out again?” 

  Fan Xian nodded and accepted this truth sorrowfully. If Uncle Wu Zhu still remained on this land, he would not be so passive in front of the Emperor to the point of threatening mutual destruction. 

  “How did you make the Temple stand on your side back then?” Fan Xian furrowed his brows as he looked at the Emperor. This was one of his biggest questions. 

  “I have never been to the Temple. After being with your mother for a long time, I learned that the Temple was actually a place that was gradually falling into ruin. The Temple never interferes in worldly affairs. This is true.” A mocking smile rose to the Emperor’s lips. “However, the Temple has always quietly influenced this land. It is unfortunate that I am a man of this world. They could not do anything to me. Your mother and Lao Wu were people of the Temple. This one difference was enough. Naturally, I knew how to make use of this.” 

  Fan Xian let out a sigh and shook his head. He had no choice but to feel admiration for the Emperor’s powerful resolution. In the eyes of the Emperor, the Temple that everyone worshipped was nothing more than a sharp knife. 

  “During the Northern Expedition, all the Meridians in my body were shattered. I could not move a single finger. My eyes could not see, my ears could not hear, and my nose could not smell. I was like a dead man. However, my soul was hidden within that shattered shell, unable to escape and unable to find release.” The Emperor suddenly began to narrate the events of the past. “It was like being in an endless darkness, enduring the torture of loneliness. Such pain made me come to a decision.” 

  Following the Emperor’s narration, the light in the little building dimmed slightly. It was as if it was about to sink into the sea of darkness that had no release. 

  “Other than oneself and the loneliness one can experience, nothing else was real,” the Emperor said. “Other than myself, I no longer trusted anyone else. In order to achieve my purpose, I don’t need family or friends.” 

  \r \r \r 

  “When I woke from the darkness, the first things I saw were Chen Pingping and Ning’er,” the Emperor said with narrowed eyes. “Thus, I had the most trust in them. You don’t need to worry about Ning’er’s safety.” 

  “However, I never thought that Chen Pingping would betray me.” The Emperor’s eyes narrowed more severely. A cold light shone through. His tone was vaguely angry and sorrowful. With a mocking smile, he said, “I trusted one wrong person and caused things to be as they are today.” 

  “You haven’t experienced that kind of waking pain in the darkness, so you don’t understand what I am saying.” 

  “I have had such an experience.” Fan Xian shook his head. Naturally, he did not explain anything. That had been a very, very long time ago, an unfortunate event he had encountered in that other world. “However, I did not become someone like you. It is personality that determines fate.” 

  He abruptly narrowed his eyes and said, “If Ye Qingmei did not appear in this world, what would things be like now? Would they be better?” 

  The Emperor’s eyes gradually grew icy. Staring at Fan Xian’s face, a trace of anger flashed across his face. He coldly said, “Putting aside what the Qing Kingdom would be like today without your mother, you just need to remember that the court of the Wei Kingdom was corrupted all the way through. Not only could it not compare to the Qing Kingdom I ruled, even when compared to the Northern Qi of today, there is still a vast difference.” 

  “Even though the Wei court was thoroughly corrupted back then, it was still a colossus monster. Your mother’s arrival in this world at least destroyed that massive mountain. Do you know why there are no previous subjects of the Wei Kingdom who miss the previous dynasty? Do you know why there are none who are connected to their old kingdom and have raised armies in opposition in the territories I have conquered?” The Emperor smiled coldly and mockingly. “Think about it.” 

  Fan Xian smiled and said, “I can’t be bothered to think about it. Mother and father are both remarkable people. For me, the son, it is not a very honorable thing.” 

  The Emperor finally laughed out loud. The two of them continued to eat, drink, and talk. The father and son, ruler and subject, were actually very similar. They were both cold and heartless at their core. It was just they had different opinions when it came to the world, past, and present. They had different opinions on all matters, but this did not affect the mutual trust, respect, and fear they had for each other all these years. Firmly, they stood at the peak of the world. 

  Wind and snow swirled around the little building all night. This was the last supper, the last long talk. 

  As the night grew darker, the two of them sat on different chairs and began to meditate and rest under the light from the lanterns. Even the zhenqi flowing in their bodies was harmonious. Other than being Tyrannical, each had a power to destroy. Yet, they melded harmoniously in one place. 

  Unconsciously, the day brightened and the sun rose. The snow and wind outside stopped. The thick carpet-like snow on the ground reflected the clear light in the sky, illuminating the northwest corner of the Royal Palace with particular brightness. 

  Fan Xian woke and sighed in his heart. He stood. His right hand picked up the sword of the Wei Emperor from the table as he walked to the door of the building. Then, he turned and looked quietly at the Emperor on the chair. 

  The Emperor slowly opened his eyes. His pupils were unusually clear and bright, unusually calm and cold. There was no longer a trace of emotion that mortals should have. All that should have been said had been said. From this moment on, there was not a strand of affection between them. 

  Fan Xian raised his right arm. From his shoulder to elbow to wrist to hand, he steadily held the hilt of the sword. It did not tremble at all. The tip of the sword, terrifyingly steady, pointed directly at the Emperor’s face. 

  The sword was still in the sheath, but it began to emit the sound of a dragon’s cry, ringing like the pipes in Chen Garden. Thick Tyrannical zhenqi flowed into the body of the sword from between Fan Xian’s thumb and forefinger with the desire to awaken this sword. A light barely visible to the naked eye began to build up in the gaps of the sheath. 

  The body of the sword struggled within the sheath, wanting to escape but unable to find a way out. It was miserable and distressing. It made one’s heart tremble with fear. 

  Who knows how much zhenqi Fan Xian poured in to create such a startling scene? The Emperor’s pupils shrunk, but his hands remained on the chair. He did not rise. However, the last Great Grandmaster in the world discovered that his favorite son was much more powerful than he had expected. 

  In the cold winter day, a drop of sweat fell from Fan Xian’s brow. His delicate face was filled with a heavy and unyielding expression. He had accumulated strength for a long time, yet the Qing Emperor still had not moved. He could not wait forever. He was already close to losing control of the sword grasped in his hand. 

  With a quiet slapping sound, Fan Xian’s right fought took a step back and landed heavily on the threshold of the door while his right hand struck out with the sword in a move to singe the sky and finally burst forth. 

  The white light shining between the gaps in the sheath suddenly disappeared. The little building became absolutely silent. The sheath of the sword could no longer endure the Emperor’s sword’s anger and struggle. Suddenly, silently, and strangely, it flew like an arrow straight toward the Emperor’s face. Fan Xian’s first strike was the sword sheath. 

  The sword sheath carried his seven days of hard thinking, the accumulation of his strength after a long night of talking, and a very thick layer of Tyrannical zhenqi. In an instant, it shot out. Its speed was reminiscent of Yan Xiaoyi’s arrows as it easily tore through the air and exceeded the limits of time. In just an instant, in the blink of an eye, it arrived before the Emperor’s eyes. 

  Suddenly, a very steady hand appeared in the air. It was a hand that had once commanded the wind and rain on Dong Mountain, a hand whose middle finger bore a callus from holding an annotating brush for too long. 

  This hand caught the sheath as if it were catching a firefly flickering light, like catching a speck of dust amidst millions of snowflakes. This hand was fast enough to catch light, fast enough to catch shadows. How could it not catch a sheath with shape and substance? 

  The calmness of the little building was instantly broken. The sword sheath began to emit a dragon-like cry again, but then it suddenly stopped. 

  The sword sheath Fan Xian had accumulated power in for a long time was like a giant dragon being choked around the throat, unable to breathe. Decrepitly and weakly, it hung its head and lay gasping in the Emperor’s palm. 

  The Emperor slowly stood. His expression was unusually calm, but he had to admit that Fan Xian’s realm had already exceeded his judgment. This attack that seemed like a dragon from beyond the sky had the faint sense of having left this space. 

  The doorway of the little building was completely empty. The Emperor coldly looked in that direction as the chair behind him shattered with a rustling sound, becoming powder, dust, and nothing as it scattered across the ground. 

  Fan Xian had put all of his strength into the sword sheath. It seemed that he had staked everything on this one attack. There was no audience around the little building, so no one expected that after that moment, his body would rise up even faster, sweep up, and fly away. 

  His body was like a large bird. He was actually lighter and faster than a bird. He was like a snowflake caught in a wild wind. At a speed impossible for humans to reach, he floated 150 feet away through the doorway of the little building in an instant. 

  Suddenly, snow began to fall again from the sky. 

  During the process of flying, Fan Xian almost stopped his breathing. Using only the methods in the book Ku He left before he died, he felt the cold in the flow of the air and went with the flow, floating away. 

  As he floated, he had time to think. From the Emperor’s chair to the outside of the building was 40 feet, but the Emperor had to catch his attack and think. Presumably, he would not come out too quickly. 

  The four Great Grandmasters were all extraordinary. In the end, they were not immortals. They each had their own weaknesses. Master Ku He’s biggest weakness was his old physical body while Ye Liuyun’s strongest point was in his cloud-like movements. If the Great Grandmaster in the building right now was Ye Liuyun, Fan Xian would not dare to hope he would be able to keep the other in the building. 

  However, it was the Emperor in the building. His zhenqi cultivation was the best of this time and filled to the brim. Even though he relied on zhenqi to move, there were always the limitations of the body. Of course, there were ghost-like tricks to be used to dodge and hide within a small area, just like how Ye Liuyun faced a sky full of arrows in the past. 

  However, the Emperor might not be able to force his way out of the little building within such a short time and execute a flawless attack immediately after. 

  Fan Xian’s feet slid in the snow for nearly two feet and left two lines in the snow. The moment he landed, sword light flashed. He half knelt on his front knee with the sword held horizontally in front of him in a killing stance. 

  At the same moment the icy cold sword light illuminated his delicate features, an abrupt, powerful, and swift fire swallowed the little building in an instant. Just like this, an ocean of fire appeared in the snowing Royal Palace. 

  With a few muffled sounds, countless tongues of fire shot into the sky and enveloped the small building within. Red and burning light immediately warmed the sword Fan Xian held horizontally in front of his face, turning it red. 

  Such a large and quick burning fire could not have occurred naturally. Who knew what Fan Xian had prepared in the little building? 

  What made Fan Xian feel slightly disappointed was that a breath of air flowed through the ocean of fire. A human figure stood brilliantly in front of the fire looking at him on the snowy ground, tossing the ocean of fire behind him. 

  The Emperor’s dragon robe was already singed in some places. His hair had become slightly messy, and his face was pale. He still stood arrogantly and looked coldly at Fan Xian. 

  “When did you move the fire powder of the Third Bureau into the Palace?” The Emperor looked at Fan Xian with slightly narrowed eyes. 

  Fan Xian smiled broadly, tightening his hold on the hilt of the sword and replied. “During the Jingdou rebellion three years ago, when I was regent. It was not difficult to move as much fire powder as I wanted into the Palace.” 

  The Emperor slowly approached Fan Xian with his eyes narrowed. In an icy voice, he said, “So, for today, you’ve already prepared for three whole years!” 

  Like the Emperor, Fan Xian also narrowed his eyes so that the bright ocean of fire would not affect his vision. Pressing his lips together, he said, “I just think that mother would also feel angry if her picture continued to hang in this building. Since it is so, I might as well burn it.” 

  If the Emperor had not met with Fan Xian in front of the little building yesterday, if the Emperor had chosen to act immediately instead of having a long conversation, Fan Xian would not have been able to find an opportunity to activate the trigger and light the fire powder. 

  Until the moment Fan Xian snapped the threshold, he was filled with confidence that the Emperor would set the final battlefield in this little building in this desolate garden because there was Ye Qingmei’s picture upstairs. The Emperor would certainly choose to completely end the decades of gratitude and grudges, affection and hatred between him and her in front of her picture. 

  Fan Xian could confirm this because he knew better than anyone else in this world the Emperor’s thoughts. He knew what kind of person the Emperor was. The Emperor was a cold and heartless man who pretended to be a kind-hearted and affectionate person. Fan Xian was also very fake. If one were to use words from the other world, the father and son were both people who liked to pretend to bourgeois airs. For this play, the little building was, without question, the best stage for the two of them. 

  At the moment the fire began to burn, Fan Xian’s heart jumped slightly. The reason he had chosen to make the fire powder he had hidden for three years as his grand weapon was because Chen Pingping’s wheelchair in the royal study had given him confidence. Faced with an attack that came from all sides and with no place to hide, even a Great Grandmaster could not make something from nothing and find a way to escape. 

  The metal shards fired from the gun in the wheelchair was like so. Presumably, the devastating fire would also be like so. 

  Unfortunately, the Emperor stood, still perfectly fine, on the snowy ground, although his face was particularly pale earlier. Presumably it was because he had burned up a lot of yuanqi as he sought an escape from the ocean of fire. In the end, this blazing fire did not cause him any irreversible injuries. 

  “Fire is too slow,” the Emperor said without a trace of emotion as he looked at Fan Xian coldly. 

  “Try the sword.” Fan Xian held the sword of the Wei Emperor and bared his teeth in a delighted smile.

  Chapter 716: There Are Snowy Swords And Frost At Cang Mountain (1)

  Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio 

  Since he had already acted, there was no reason to abandon it. Fan Xian’s eyes grew brighter and brighter. There was not a miscellaneous thought in his head. It was all a vigorous will to fight and a condition that had already been elevated to the peak. With the Wei Emperor’s sword in hand, he might not have the world but at least he had the courage and wild ambition to charge at the world. In his eyes, the unfathomable Great Grandmaster Emperor in front of him was the world. 

  Goose-feather sized snowflakes floated down in the Royal Palace. Abruptly, four streaks of sword light lit up the darkness. Four unstable and strange tracks appeared in the air. Inside each streak was a terrifying sword light. It was impossible to tell which of the four strikes landed first and which landed last. 

  Unlike the killing intent contained within the four streaks of sword light, the power of the sword passed emotionlessly. It mixed with the wind and snow like an antelope hanging from its horns to avoid calamity. It was too wonderful for words. No one knew where it landed. 

  In an instant, Fan Xian appeared in front of the Emperor. The sleeve on his right arm fluttered. Every muscle beneath it exploded outward with shocking strength. In a flash, the sword flew in and out four continuous times. 

  The four strikes moved between heaven and earth. Each strike pierced through the falling snowflakes and struck at the Emperor’s temple, by his sleeves, in front of his shoes, and outside of his dragon robe. 

  All four strikes missed. The last one was only an inch away from the Emperor’s abdomen, yet this one inch of distance was like thousands of miles of mountain and water. The strength of the sword was all used up like a dried-up waterfall, unable to surge again or move closer. 

  The Emperor’s wide sleeves shook slightly and danced casually without a care before the four strikes illuminating the dark and wintery Royal Palace. Easily but also wondrously, the Emperor avoided the four strikes that Fan Xian had prepared for a long time and released at lightning speed. 

  Fan Xian was not like Sigu Jian, who pushed ahead without considering the consequences. The four strikes Fan Xian sent out in an instant carried more of the intimate aura between Tianyi Dao and the world. Only with this was he able to strike like lightning. He used the power of the moving snowflakes and protection of the wind and snow to pierce as smoothly as floating snow toward the Qing Emperor’s body, cornering the Emperor so he could not immediately make a lightning-like counterattack. 

  These four strikes did not carry a sliver of Dongyi’s Sword Hut’s cold-bloodedness and killing intent. On the contrary, it made one feel closer, giving Fan Xian the opportunity to get close. However, even these four strikes so deeply imbued with the aura of Tianyi Dao still could not hurt the Emperor. In fact, he did not even retreat a single step. He remained standing steadily and coldly where he was as if he had not moved earlier. 

  The realm of the Great Grandmaster’s cultivation was indeed one that mortals could not touch. Even in front of such an attack that drew on the strength of the world, the Emperor was still able to easily neutralize it. 

  The tip of the Wei Emperor’s sword groaned and trembled endlessly in front of the bright yellow dragon robe. It seemed like it had a kind of hopelessness and defeat, so only wanted to lower its head to accept its fate. But, it was also dissatisfied and struggled desperately. The four snowflakes pierced through by the sword began to show signs of disintegration. 

  Unlike the sword in his hand, there was not a trace of disappointment on Fan Xian’s face. His expression remained calm, but the light in his eyes was abruptly restrained. It dissolved into a deathly stillness that was dim and void of heart and emotions. There was only a killing intent. 

  His eyes were like Sigu Jian’s eyes that were filled with murderous intent and pierced through the large tree to the heavens. There was no mixing of emotions, only coldness. The sword in his hand instantly became a dead object, a weapon that could only be used by a saint. A deathly coldness made the four gradually dispersing snowflakes on the sword immediately turn into frost, freezing like a mirror. 

  The sleeve on his right shoulder suddenly split open as a series of clapping sounds rang out abruptly. The two circulations inside Fan Xian’s body turned quickly, clashing and struggling against each other. They burst through the acupuncture point at the shoulder. The Meridians charged straight to the elbow and wrist, and then into the hilt of the sword. 

  His right arm seemed to swing out ferociously. He used the strength of the Coffin-Breaker technique to power the sword. The previously exhausted sword regained new strength and immediately grew a foot in length, piercing into the Qing Emperor’s dragon robe. 

  This was the true attack, the final attack Sigu Jian conferred to Fan Xian before he died. It was motionless and heartless, harsh and final. One glance to bring down a city, another to destroy a nation, and a third to ruin one’s heart. Sigu Jian sought to pacify the world and did not commit regicide for the world. 

  Wind and snow swirled ferociously in the Palace. The Wei Emperor’s sword had already become a sword of snow, icy and decisive. Leaving no way to escape or to turn the situation around, it pressed inexorably forward. 

  A terrifying sound of friction rang out. It only sounded for a moment. To Fan Xian’s ears, it seemed to ring for countless years. It dragged on slowly before finally coming to a stop. 

  Two well-maintained figures, like white jade sprouts, steadily and coldly caught the Wei Emperor’s sword between them. The sound of friction had been produced by the friction between the icy body of the sword and two fingers. Half of the ice and frost on the body of the sword had been removed by the fingers. The two fingers rested at the center of the sword as faint steam rose from them. 

  Even though the Emperor was a Great Grandmaster, he would not underestimate Fan Xian’s attack because it was overly cold and severe. The body of the sword had actually broken through his fingers and forcefully pressed forward half the length of the sword. 

  In the end, the Emperor did take a step back. However, there remained an inch of space between his body and the tip of the Wei Emperor’s sword. Fan Xian still could not push past that one inch and truly come into contact with the Emperor’s dragon robe. 

  The Emperor stared coldly at the son in front of him. Some frost had gathered on the beard on his chin. He appeared particularly scary. The joints of the two fingers holding the Wei Emperor’s sword were slightly white and majestic. The Tyrannical zhenqi of a thousand lakes, rivers, and streams surged forward from these two fingers. 

  With a gentle twist, the extremely sharp sword of the Wei Emperor began to bend like a noodle between the Emperor’s fingers. However, the Wei Emperor’s sword had once been the treasure of the royal family, so it did not break even under such terrifying pressure by the Grandmaster. 

  Fan Xian was very close to the Emperor. He maintained his fencing posture. His right leg was to the back and slightly bent. His entire body maintained a perfect line, not revealing any flaws or giving one the sense of being impregnable. 

  He held the sword of the Wei Emperor in his hands. In the end, he was not Sigu Jian. This sword was not him. Rather, it was connected to his body. It was like a spread-eagled stick figure that suddenly sprouted an awkward limb. 

  Wild zhenqi surged from the Wei Emperor’s sword like a giant river. Blood sprayed from between Fan Xian’s thumb and forefinger. Still, he did not draw back the sword. He knew that it was a battle of resolution rather than a battle of willpower. He could not allow his enemy to steal his strength. The coldness in his eyes grew deeper and deeper as the zhenqi in his body began to surge out. 

  Fan Xian did not withdraw his sword, but the Emperor withdrew his fingers. 

  The very bent sword of the Wei Emperor bounced back like lightning. Like a snapped back horsewhip, it sliced toward Fan Xian’s face. Fan Xian’s eyes could clearly see the bright glimmer of sword light. 

  The ice and frost on the other half of the sword also flew off with this rebound and explode from the Wei Emperor’s sword. It dissolved into countless icy shards that blew up between the Emperor and Fan Xian. 

  Fan Xian let out a sharp cry and quickly released his grip. His wrist dropped like lightning. He then grasped the hilt of the sword in a reverse grip. In the snow, his feet stumbled eight steps back as he slipped and retreated with his head tilted up. 

  With this head tilt, the defenses he had perfectly and ruthlessly woven earlier immediately melted like snow. His motions lost their flow. 

  The Emperor’s body moved like a gust of wind and headed straight for Fan Xian’s body. A common and simple punch flew out, landing directly on Fan Xian’s chest. 

  With a muffled groan, Fan Xian’s body flew out explosively from this seemingly light-handed punch. He became like a snowflake in the sky, tumbling miserably without an iota of strength. His figure flicked countless times in the air, made seven or eight flips, and swept passed dozens of feet of desolate courtyard before wretchedly landing on a patch of snowy ground far, far away. 

  Sending up a wave of snow and crushing dozens of dead roots, Fan Xian held his chest and vomited up a mouthful of fresh blood. However, he still determinedly climbed to his feet and stared intently at the Emperor in the distance. 

  No one could fly dozens of feet through the air with no reason, even when struck by the Emperor’s Way of the Emperor’s killing punch. That unopposable force could not make a person fly out dozens of feet. 

  \r \r \r 

  After all, the human body had weight. It could not truly be like a snowflake. On Dong Mountain, even when Sigu Jian was sent flying by the Emperor’s punch, he had rolled like a stone in the Qing Temple before wretchedly crashing into that bell. 

  Who could move as Fan Xian did earlier, flying so far in the air truly like a snowflake? 

  The Emperor glanced coldly at the shoe clenched in his hand and icy cold and reflective metal tip poking out from the tip of the show. He furrowed his brows slightly. When he had landed a punch on Fan Xian’s chest, Fan Xian had the thought of exchanging a life for a life and had kicked out sinisterly from under his robe. The tip of his foot contained this metal point. It had clearly been coated in poison. 

  The Emperor threw the shoe into the snow and narrowed his eyes at Fan Xian, who was climbing to his feet with difficulty. “Little tricks cannot be used to accomplish great things.” 

  Fan Xian coughed. Some blood came up. With some difficulty, he took out a thin sheet of metal from inside his shirt and tossed it into the snow by his feet. “But little tricks can save a life.” 

  There was already a handprint on the thin sheet of metal. Strangely, it was not an imprint of the Emperor’s punch. Instead, it was the imprint of the back of a horizontally held palm. 

  When the Emperor’s punch was about to land on Fan Xian’s chest, other than the sinister kick from under his robe, Fan Xian’s left arm had slid naturally through the wind and snow and moved with startling speed to a stop in front of him, protecting him from the danger. 

  However, his Coffin-Breaker technique was no match for the Emperor’s Great Grandmaster strength punch. The punch blew through his defense like dead leaves. The Emperor’s fist had pressed against his palm. In the end, it had still struck heavily against his chest leaving a horizontal palm print of the back of the hand. 

  With a sheet of metal hidden in front of his chest, at the last moment, he had activated Tianyi Dao’s zhenqi to shield his heart Meridian. With the additional buffer of his palm, it allowed Fan Xian to hold onto his life before such a horrifying punch. 

  The fight between the Qing Emperor and Fan Xian, father and son, had only just started, but they were already separated by dozens of feet looking at each other across wind and snow. Victory had already been decided. No matter how well-prepared Fan Xian was, the difference in strength was too large. The wondrous power of a Great Grandmaster could not be compensated for by hard work. 

  From the moment he drew his sword, Fan Xian had used methods of Tianyi Dao, Haitang’s natural sword techniques he had taught himself. Then, he congealed snow into frost, combined these four Tianyi Dao strikes into one self-taught Sigu Sword attack, and delivered with the Ye Family’s Coffin-Breaker technique. 

  The last sinister kick and the metal sheet in front of his chest were skills that had been beaten into him by Uncle Wu Zhu since he was young. They were Fan Xian’s little tricks that he was famously dependent on. However, the foundation used to trigger these wondrous skills and link them all together was the Tyrannical zhenqi that Fan Xian had worked hard to cultivate for over 20 years and had long become part of his body. 

  In the world, there were four Great Grandmasters and a blind man. The best martial arts in the world could all be found in Fan Xian. In this world, only Fan Xian had such good luck as to learn so many wondrous skills. Since the dead or departed warriors had entrusted their last hope in opposing the Qing Emperor to Fan Xian, he was able to fight fairly with the Emperor. 

  Even with the three linked attacks that he had been building up to for a long time and the secrets of the Great Grandmasters that he learned himself, he still did not gain any advantage before the Emperor. From beginning to end, the Emperor only retreated one step, raised two fingers, and launched one punch to leave Fan Xian with serious injuries. How could such a difference be evened out through training and meditation? 

  A superior ninth-level ace was a rarely seen apex figure in this world. Given Fan Xian’s present cultivation, he could go anywhere he wanted in the world. Faced with a Great Grandmaster, no one imagined that a superior ninth-level ace had any ability to challenge above their level. 

  For Fan Xian to be able to force the Emperor back one step in the wind and snow, as well as survive the Emperor’s attack, was already a shocking matter and enough to make him proud. 

  Fan Xian coughed up blood and took off his other shoe to stand barefoot on the icy and snowy ground. Narrowing his eyes slightly, a never before seen pride and confidence appeared in his eyes. Such a startling emotion after a wretched defeat was not because he had forced the Emperor back or because he had survived. Instead, it was because, in his calm heart, he had a certainty toward his judgment: the Emperor was old. ……

  During the seven days the Fan manor was shut up in seclusion, other than thinking about the psychological battle and how to preserve the lives of those he loved, what Fan Xian thought about the most was the matter of the Emperor’s true condition. Just what kind of realm was the Great Grandmaster’s realm? Fan Xian had seen Ye Liuyun and Sigu Jian attack, but this was not the same. Since Great Grandmasters were known to be unfathomable, how could he estimate the Emperor’s true strength? 

  Fortunately, while he was in Dongyi before Sigu Jian died, this Great Grandmaster had analyzed with Fan Xian for a long time the matter of the Qing Emperor’s realm and had come to a judgment that, while blurry, was very close to the truth. 

  The culmination of the Qing Emperor’s cultivation had been during the Northern Expedition. The Tyrannical zhenqi in his body had surpassed the boundaries of the realm and destroyed all of his Meridians at once, turning him into a useless man. For some reason, in the end, not only did the Emperor recover to his previous state, he also became the fourth Great Grandmaster in the world. 

  The Meridians in Fan Xian’s body had also exploded before. With Haitang Duoduo’s help and the nursing of Tianyi Dao’s natural technique, he had fortunately repaired his Meridians. But, how exactly had the Emperor survived back then? 

  Sigu Jian had crossed swords with the Qing Emperor on Dong Mountain and told Fan Xian the conclusion he had come to. There were no longer any of the Meridians that humans ought to have in their bodies in the Emperor’s body. Instead, his entire physical body had become a channel. Zhenqi moved within his body without any obstacles, regardless of whether it was inhalation or exhalation. It happened at a startling speed. Without the restrictions of the Meridians, the Tyrannical zhenqi in the Emperor’s body could accumulate without limit to a realm that humans would not dare dream about. 

  Each Great Grandmaster had their own way of breaking into the realm. Some relied on their closeness to the world, and some relied on cold-heartedness and seeing the world as nothing. However, the Qing Emperor had broken through to the realm without any introspection. Instead, he had valiantly and endlessly practiced and stored the Tyrannical zhenqi in his body like a sea. He used a quantitative change to bring about qualitative change. 

  This was the Qing Emperor’s terrifying strength. He had relied on his endless zhenqi and unusually fast breathing technique to control so much power on Dong Mountain. He had been able to direct the bottomless zhenqi he had cultivated for dozens of years with a flick of his finger into Master Ku He’s body, bursting through his flesh. 

  If one could truly confirm the truth of Qing Emperor’s realm, then one matter was worth considering. Half of the Tyrannical zhenqi the Qing Emperor had accumulated for many years had been fed into Ku He’s body. Naturally, such an expense was worth it to kill a Great Grandmaster. However, this half-depletion would probably take the Qing Emperor a number of years to make up again. 

  A common practitioner of the martial arts only needed a few days of meditation to fully refill their zhenqi. Even if they depleted half their zhenqi, they would, at most, need to recover for just a few days. But, the Emperor’s path had never been the same as others. For everyone else, their zhenqi could, at most, fill a pond. The Great Grandmasters could, at most, fill a small lake. Their methods of using what was in the small lake were wondrous, such as making the lake water steam. 

  However, inside the Qing Emperor’s body was an ocean. A mere three years was probably not enough to refill it after depleting half. 

  Half a sea was still unfathomable and something Fan Xian could not oppose. However, the Qing Emperor had suffered endless attacks these few years. With the Jingdou rebellion, heartache, and the death of his sons and mother, his heart had probably been damaged. Furthermore, the damage caused by the black wheelchair inside the royal study last autumn was also probably impossible to fully recover from. Even a Great Grandmaster was not completely immune to Chen Pingping’s methods. 

  If the Emperor had still been the Emperor from before the Dong Mountain incident, even if he was the gently smiling, seemingly mediocre but actually cold and heartless Emperor from three years ago, Fan Xian would have no chance at all. When it came to the scene on Dong Mountain, Fan Xian understood it clearly. He knew what terrifying power was contained within the Emperor’s Way of the Emperor’s punch. 

  The Emperor’s punch today was clearly not as powerful as the one on Dong Mountain. Regardless of how many life-saving techniques Fan Xian used and the fact that he had used the breathing techniques he had long hidden at the bottom of the chest, Fan Xian was still alive. If this was the previous Emperor, this one punch would probably have shattered Fan Xian’s palm, the metal sheet beneath his shirt, and half of his body. 

  This was enough to prove that the Emperor had already come down from the altar. He was old and no longer as powerful as he once was. 

  Fan Xian narrowed his eyes and looked at the Emperor through the wind and snow. Fresh blood trickled out from the side of his lips, but he wore a bright smile on his face. It was a rare opportunity in his life to fight without the fear of death. Furthermore, he faintly scented a glimmer of victory. It was truly exhilarating. 

  The Emperor also looked at his son through the wind and snow. His eyes narrowed as a cold light flashed through them. He knew very well why Fan Xian was able to survive his attack. It was not because of his sinister kick, the palm he placed cleverly in front of his fist, or that absurd sheet of metal. It was because of Fan Xian’s bodily motions, the one that allowed him to fly effortlessly dozens of feet back through the snowy air like a snowflake. 

  Since it was effortless, much of the zhenqi power in the Emperor’s punch had been wasted on the snowy air and had not truly landed on Fan Xian’s body. The question was, where had Fan Xian learned such a thing? No one in this world could float for dozens of feet and become so weightless. 

  The Emperor narrowed his eyes further. He realized that he no longer fully understood his son. He didn’t know how many surprises Fan Xian had waiting for him. 

  “You are already at the level of Hong Siyang,” the Emperor’s voice rang through the wind and snow and landed clearly in Fan Xian’s ears. 

  Fan Xian’s expression grew slightly serious. He knew that this was the Emperor’s ultimate recognition of him. Back in the day, other than the four Great Grandmasters, it was old Eunuch Hong’s strength that was the most unfathomable. The Emperor had once said that if it were not for the fact that the Hong Siyang’s body was strange, there would probably be one more Great Grandmaster in this world. 

  Now, the Emperor had placed him on par with Hong Si yang. Fan Xian felt a slight sense of pride. However, he also knew the Emperor had certainly noticed his technique in dissipating the Way of the Emperor’s punch earlier. That was strange because it was the technique Master Ku He had asked Sigu Jian to pass onto Fan Xian before he died. Fan Xian’s breathing amidst the wind and snow, as well as his intimate walk through the air like a bird, were all because he could sense the faint ripples between heaven and earth.

  Chapter 717: There Are Snowy Swords And Frost At Cang Mountain (2) In The Space Of A Flick Of The Fingers [JW1]

  Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio 

  Fan Xian stood expressionlessly amidst the wind and snow, breathing calmly. His slightly trembling palms were turned toward the sky. Every inch of his skin and every pore on his body greedily absorbed the names and shapeless yuanqi between heaven and earth. A faint layer of light appeared over his clothes. 

  He did not know what this clear and lively yuanqi was, where it came from, or why it existed. Ever since he had sensed the existence of these things by the East Sea, he discovered that if he recited the confusing breathing technique recorded on the little volume, he seemed to be able to absorb the yuanqi that existed between heaven and earth and change it into true essence. 

  After the attack and impact earlier, the abundant and famous Tyrannical zhenqi in Fan Xian’s body was depleted in an instant. In such a dangerous situation, he could not have hidden any. In front of the Emperor’s face, Fan Xian’s began to adjust his breathing again. 

  Even though the Emperor had been injured, moved, and grown old, he was still a Great Grandmaster. 

  With the lift of his hand and foot, the Emperor took control of the situation, leaving Fan Xian with no choice but to retaliate with all his strength. In an instant, his store of zhenqi was nearly fully consumed. Although he was greedily absorbing the yuanqi between heaven and earth, the fluctuations amidst the wind and snow were very weak. Additionally, the amount of yuanqi he could sense was very thin. For this situation, it was not any help at all. Although he was regaining his zhenqi slightly quicker and could manage to climb to his feet in the snow, how could it help him defeat a Great Grandmaster? 

  For the warriors on this land, foreign magic was an existence of little value or interest and not worth considering. Even when Master Ku He, an open-hearted and fearless Great Grandmaster who even dared to eat human flesh, began to study this magic in the last days of his life and had the fate to obtain that small notebook, he still did not manage to forge another path. At most, it could only be considered a helping technique. 

  Just like Fan Xian now He breathed in and out, meditated, and restrained his qi, but it was like trying to breathe in a paddy field and being able to suck in oxygen from the muddied water. 

  He couldn’t wait any longer. The figure in the bright yellow dragon robe on the other side of the wind and rain was already moving with slow and determined steps across the snow. The dozens of feet seemed distant. It seemed like the snowflakes there were many times smaller than the other snowflakes. However, for the Qing Emperor and Fan Xian, what difference was there between the edge of the world and close at hand? 

  Fan Xian’s eyes contained neither joy nor anger. They just showed calmness. The slightly warped sword of the Wei Emperor stretched horizontally across his brow, glowing with an icy light. The large and small circulations in his body moved slightly, making the pool of qi behind his waist glow with a bright light. 

  Ever since his rebirth, he had diligently and steadily meditated and stored his vigorous zhenqi. It was like the summit of a snowy mountain being struck by a powerful ray of sunlight. In an instant, it became a trickle. Then, the water in the trickle grew and grew, forming a little stream and eventually a large river, surging through his Meridians, which were thicker than anyone else’s in the world. They flowed into his four limbs and each area of his body, strengthening his spirit and hammering against his fleshy body. 

  The snowy ground beneath his feet split like a lotus and a flower exploded outward. Fan Xian’s body trembled. Weakly, but with unusual ruthlessness, he carried these completely different auras and moved forward with his sword. 

  A lightning-like flash of sword light illuminated the sinister world, lighting up every snowflake. One could even clearly see the edges of the snowflakes. 

  After the attack earlier and under the powerful pressure the Emperor exerted, Fan Xian, and the Sigu Sword he inherited from Dongyi’s Sword Hut, finally combined perfectly under the protection of the two circulations of zhenqi and light body technique to reach the true final realm. This attack was the same brightness as when the Shadow pierced Sigu Jian inside the manor of the Master of Dongyi. 

  With a crack that was difficult to hear, Fan Xian miserably and decrepitly fell down from the air and flew back, landing heavily on the snowy ground. However, the lotus snowflake he had formed earlier still maintained its shape in the air. From this, one could see how quickly he had moved forward and back, to the point that the lotus snowflake had not even had the time to shatter. 

  He had moved forward smoothly and struck out casually, ruthlessly, and naturally. But, his retreat was even faster and incredibly miserable. 

  The Emperor slowly took back his calm and Tyrannical fist that was extended in the air. He narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at Fan Xian in the snow, still silent. In the face of this attack, even the Emperor had to move slightly to avoid the sharp blade. Thus, his fist had not been fully wound up. Since the previous punch had not killed Fan Xian, presumably this punch would not either. 

  Fan Xian was like an undefeatable cockroach. He climbed up with difficulty from the snowy ground with a trickle of soon-to-be frozen blood hanging from the corner of his mouth. He stared coldly into the Emperor’s calm eyes. Suddenly, he vomited up a mouthful of fresh blood. 

  Everything in the world, regardless of whether it was speed, technique, or movement, related to martial arts was built on the foundation of zhenqi. With insufficient qi, how could one move as fast as lightning? How could one use those wonderful techniques? Zhenqi was the foundation of martial arts. The Meridians in Fan Xian’s body were different to that of normal people. The techniques he cultivated were also different. They were very Tyrannical and vigorous. Looking around, he was truly an anomaly. 

  However, the Emperor’s body was even more unusual. The Meridians in his body were not magnanimous and different like Fan Xian’s. Instead, he had no Meridians. From the top of his head to the tip of his toes was a channel for conducting zhenqi. The Emperor’s cultivation of the Tyrannical martial method was even more powerful. Plus, there was an imperial aura amidst the fierceness. 

  Comparatively speaking, the Emperor was an upgraded version of Fan Xian. Fan Xian was a little monster while the Emperor was a big monster. Yet, Fan Xian wanted to rely on his own strength and apex cultivation to openly oppose the Emperor. This was, without a doubt, a courageous and absurd decision. 

  The old saying held true. In this world, regardless of whether it was in personal cultivation or power, Fan Xian was already one of the most powerful people. In reality, he was already the second best, which he admitted to himself. However, the person he faced today was the best and most powerful person in the world.

  There was not a glimmer of defeat in Fan Xian’s calm eyes. With his eyes narrowed, he watched as the Emperor gradually approached him through the wind and snow. He knew that when the Emperor reached him step by step, that would be the moment it would be difficult for him to obtain any advantage in movement through that strange magic. 

  Fresh blood dripped down from this lip and landed on his robe. It immediately froze into a bloody frost by the coldness in the Palace. 

  The black eyes narrowed as Fan Xian raised the sword of the Wei Emperor in a reverse grip with his wrist horizontal and forward, fully alert. He used the strip of cloth tied to his wrist to wipe away the remaining blood on the side of his lip. Licking his lips, he smiled and said in a hoarse voice, “So invigorating.” 

  Ever since his youth, he had grown up under the care of the Overwatch Council. From a very young age, he was trained to take over the Overwatch Council. From his bones to his skin, from his head to his toes, everything had been submerged in the Overwatch Council’s sinister darkness. He had met countless difficulties in his life and many powerful enemies. Each time, he had always done everything he could to weaken the other, to use those despicable and unmentionable methods to achieve the final victory. However, he had rarely depended on a sword in his hand to bravely carry out a direct and hot-blooded battle with powerful enemies. 

  Looking at the gradually approaching Emperor and feeling the authority filling the air gradually pressing down on his body, a firm and determined expression flashed across Fan Xian’s delicate appearance. At such a tense moment, he thought of Yan Xiaoyi’s hand pulling open his longbow in the primeval forest to the north of Danzhou three years ago. It seemed to have also approached his body in this cold way. 

  On the meadow, Fan Xian had courageously stood up. Now, he also stood up bravely, staring at the Emperor coldly through the wind and snow. Taking a deep breath, he faced the approaching wind, shook his right arm, and stood firmly on the snowy ground. Like a civet stepping on a snow lightning attack, his figure abruptly shook as he vanished from where he stood. 

  He escaped? The Emperor watched as the gray shadow moved with the wind and snow and swept across the walls of the deserted palace, moving quickly toward the south of the Royal Palace. He furrowed his brows slightly as a complicated and cold smile rose to the corners of his lips. The Emperor shook out the sleeves of his bright yellow dragon robe and immediately dissolved into a blurry yellow shadow, disappearing as he followed Fan Xian’s shadow. 

  In the air above the Palace, Fan Xian’s hands dropped naturally by his sides. Quickly but naturally, he flew along with the wind and snow, becoming a gray shadow above the walls and eaves of the Palace. 

  In the desolate courtyard earlier, he had put on the appearance of a young cub fighting for its life that had turned tail and fled, using everything he had to escape into the snow and wind to run away from the Emperor There was not a glimmer of humiliation in his heart. The Emperor was a Great Grandmaster, a big monster. In any event, he was not a man. It was normal to not be able to defeat someone who wasn’t even a man. Staying to fight desperately even though one knew one could not win was stupid. 

  Sensing the slight changes in the wind and snow through his clothes, Fan Xian’s posture was unusually beautiful. He flew like a cold-resistant bird, changing his heading periodically. He sketched out one beautiful arc after another, yet his speed did not reduce at all. 

  In the long silent Royal Palace, it was already time for the sun to rise. Occasional eunuchs and servants sweeping the snow caught a glance of a gray shadow sweeping through the air. They all thought it was just a trick of the light. No one in the world could fly so fast. 

  Fan Xian swept freely through the air, flying through the sinister and quiet Royal Palace. Every 60 to 80 feet, he would touch down lightly on the corner of an eave or wall without any obstruction to his figure at all. He would then enter another palace. Such bodily movement and speed had truly never been seen before. 

  A drop of sweat rolled down Fan Xian’s back from the back of his neck. This full-strength flying technique did not burn too much of his true essence. Using the power of heaven and earth, escaping into heaven and earth, and obtaining the miracle of heaven and earth, flying through the air actually calmed his state of mind. The two circulations in his body began to warm up. Drop by drop, they began repairing the damage he sustained under the Emperor’s attack. The unnamed martial technique also seemed to exhibit the highest levels of output in this harmonious atmosphere between heaven and earth, allowing him to recover faster and significantly improving his condition. 

  He tapped lightly against the head of a stone beast at the corner of the eaves and did not even jingle the copper bell held in the beast’s mouth. Fan Xian flew in the air above the palaces and looked down on the ground and people in the palace with a particular sense of being an immortal and disdaining of mortal life. Particularly for the people starting fires and sweeping the snow, not a single one of them realized that someone was flying in the air above them. Such a feeling was wondrous. 

  But, the sweat continued to drip down Fan Xian’s back. Although all of his mind was focused on the harmonious realm and he had no intention of turning back to look, he could still clearly sense a powerful but hidden power following steadily behind him, like the footsteps of a god of death. Although slow, it was impossible to completely leave behind. 

  He had not expected to still be unable to throw off the Emperor after increasing his speed to such a level. Fan Xian’s eyes narrowed slightly. He continued to charge toward the great gates of the Royal Palace to the distant south. 

  From the desolate courtyard in the northwest corner, Fan Xian left easily and headed south. Strangely, he did not choose the closest palace gate to the north or those walls to fly over. 

  He had talked with the Emperor for so long in the Palace, so he naturally had something to rely on. Both father and son were aware of the situation at hand. Fan Xian promised the Emperor that this was only a battle between two people. For the sake of the future generations of the Qing Kingdom, the Emperor could only place the pressure of an Emperor on Fan Xian alone. 

  As long as Fan Xian could escape this one time, the world would be at peace for many years. For the sake of the various bargaining chips hidden around the world, the Emperor would not make a move against Fan Xian’s subordinates before his death. This was the meaning the Emperor’s process. It was impossible to chase back even with four horses. 

  However, the Emperor would not allow a power to exist and hide within his kingdom that could be a threat to him, so he had to kill Fan Xian. 

  Fan Xian did not leave the palace. Although the tall, cinnabar red walls around the Royal Palace were supposedly able to stop any ninth-level warrior in the world. Uncle Wu Zhu luring old Eunuch Hong out of the Palace back then had already proved that the wall was nothing to a warrior who truly stood at the peak. This was especially true for someone like Fan Xian, who had put down endless hours of hard work in flying techniques ever since he was a child. 

  Fan Xian continued to constantly head south through the snowing Palace. He swept by Shufang Palace, Hanguang Palace, the rundown Eastern Palace, and Guangxin Palace. He saw many people, but no one in the Royal Palace saw him. 

  He swept over three formal palaces, six courtyards, saw 72 women, and finally landed on the largest palatial hall within the Royal Palace, Taiji Palace. 

  There was never anyone on top of the towering palace, other than the craftsmen who may have rushed hurriedly on top when it was being built during the inception of the kingdom. According to the hearsay, two people fell to their deaths while building the large hall. In the end, they had even invited someone from the Tianyi Dao Sect from the Wei Kingdom to calm the resentful spirits. 

  On Taiji Palace, a thick layer of accumulated snow lay on top of the glazed tiles. The two colors blended together beautifully like a magnificent fabric. It made one unwilling to destroy it. But, Fan Xian did not have the time or inclination to admire the snow. He moved along the middle of Taiji Palace and floated upward. Although it was incredibly slippery beneath his feet, it was unable to shake his body. 

  Sweeping up, Fan Xian’s foot landed on the tall spine in the center of Taiji Palace. He stood in the harsh wind. His body was buffeted by the falling snow, and his clothes fluttered loudly in the wind. He stood on the highest point of the Royal Palace. Facing him was the majestic front gates of the Royal Palace. Around him were the seemingly low palace walls. He could even see that half of Jingdou had sunk under a thick covering of snow. 

  He didn’t know where Ruoruo was now after leaving the Palace. He didn’t know if Wan’er and the others had already left Jingdou. Fan Xian stood at the highest point of the Royal Palace and looked with narrowed eyes at the manifold layers of private residences in Jingdou as he waited for the yellow shadow behind him to materialize. 

  Fan Xian did not turn around. A powerful sense of disappointment flashed through his eyes. The sound he had been waiting for did not ring out, and the change he was waiting for did not happen. The entire Royal Palace remained silent, particularly on top of the majestic hall. Other than the Emperor behind him, there was only the wind and snow, nothing else. 

  Fan Xian slid down the glazed tiles of the hall. Although a great battle in the wind and snow at the summit of the Royal Palace would presumably be great to watch and extremely dignified, in his opinion, one could only live with dignity. It was impossible to die with dignity. 

  The gray shadow and bright yellow shadow seemed to come to a stop and land at the same time on the thick snowy ground in front of Taiji Palace. 

  The Emperor stood in front of Taiji Palace’s long corridor. Behind him was the deep main door of the hall. Usually, he summoned and held audiences with his officials in this palace and controlled the lives and deaths of countless people in the world. Now, he stood there alone. 

  Fan Xian stood in the square in front of the hall, surrounded by a thick layer of snow. He looked at the thick gates of the Royal Palace in front of him and narrowed his eyes slightly. It was as if he was unsure if he had the strength to break through those palace gates. He slowly turned and looked at the Emperor. “In reality, in the end, everything is just like a fight between two wild beasts.” 

  The Emperor was silent with a cold expression. He looked at Fan Xian like he was looking at a dead person. Ruler and subject finally stopped their flight and pursuit, which had completely surpassed the imaginations of everyone in the world. They stood quietly in front of the hall, revealing themselves to the eyes of people. 

  The eunuchs sweeping snow outside the hall, the serving girls quietly walking by in the long corridor, and the red-faced guards holding knives and standing to attention all opened their mouths in shock as they watched the Emperor and Sir Fan junior stand on the snow-covered ground. Shocked and confused, they couldn’t speak for a moment. 

  Fan Xian looked at the Emperor calmly, but he was thinking of other things. He sensed something odd. Charging from the northwest deserted courtyard to the south of the Royal Palace, the Emperor came close to him a number of times and found a number of opportunities to kill or capture him, but the Emperor did not take action. Why was this? 

  Presumably, the Emperor, with his slightly furrowed brows, also did not understand why Fan Xian did not escape out of the Palace and instead headed south. 

  Fan Xian was waiting for a change. Unfortunately, after the Emperor revealed himself on top of Taiji Palace, the first change did not happen. But, what about the second? The Emperor knew clearly just how much potential Fan Xian had. Any change at this time had to be something that even Fan Xian did not know about. 

  It was just like the miraculous incident in the Hanging Temple back then. Coinciding destinies and gathering of fate, each person had their own goal. In the end, no one could control the changes that happened. 

  Fan Xian firmly believed that this change he knew nothing about would happen because the Hanging Temple incident back then triggered powerful factions all around. However, as the greatest enemy of the Qing Kingdom, the Northern Qi court maintained its silence the entire time. 

  The Northern Qi inherited the legacy of the Wei Kingdom and had been in this world for thousands of years. Did it not have any plans against its greatest, the Royal Palace of the Qing Kingdom in Jingdou? Fan Xian did not believe that. He firmly believed that Northern Qi must have hidden a trump card within the Royal Palace. Now, while the Qing Kingdom’s ruler and subject, father and son, turned against each other and sprayed blood over the Royal Palace, was the best opportunity for the Northern Qi Emperor to use his trump card. 

  A muffled thud like battle drums or the singing twang of tens of thousands of bowstrings sounded, as if a large battle had burst forth. In reality, it was just the massive city guarding crossbow on a corner tower of the Royal Palace. In the silent, even oppressive atmosphere, the spring-tightened crossbow began to move. 

  A steel crossbow bolt as thick as a child’s arm flashed like a black bolt of lightning under the powerful force of the spring. It charged through the air outside the corner tower. Its vibrations created an explosion in the air as it tore through the endlessly dancing snowflakes right in front of Taiji Palace. Spinning quickly, it forcefully split open a dark channel through the air and shot at the bright yellow figure in front of the hall. 

  No one knew how the solidly cast city guarding crossbow base was turned and aimed in the direction of the Royal Palace. No one knew how the Northern Qi people infiltrated into the imperial soldiers of the Qing palace and quietly took control of that tower. Fan Xian only knew that the Northern Qi’s trump card had been played. That was enough. With a sharp whistle, Fan Xian sank his zhenqi into his feet. His body became as heavy as stone. Moving like a waterfall, he moved with his sword, following the giant crossbow bolt closely as it spun toward the Emperor. 

  \r \r \r 

  The powerful crossbow bolt was very close. In the end, the distance was too great. In the Great Grandmaster’s realm, the Emperor only had to shake out his sleeves to retreat, forcefully using his powerful cultivation to turn distance into time and avoid this startling attack. 

  However, Fan Xian saw, from the corners of his eyes, a shaking serving girl kneeling in the long corridor stand up at this moment with a glimmer of coldness flashing through her eyes. She pulled a slender needle from her hair and struck toward the Emperor’s back. 

  Both the Northern Qi people and Fan Xian seemed to have underestimated the Qing Emperor’s will and reaction, which had been honed through decades of training. When everyone thought that the bright yellow figure in front of Taiji Palace would split apart the giant crossbow bolt, the Emperor’s figure disappeared from where he stood. He had abruptly moved forward three steps on the snow. 

  With a giant boom, the massive bolt flew past the Emperor’s temple and pierced ruthlessly into the jade-smooth stone boards. In an instant, the surface of the stone shattered like bean curd. Cement and mud sprayed in all directions. It just happened to block the secretly attacking female assassin behind the stone. 

  The Emperor’s right arm shook out his sleeve. A giant wave of zhenqi took control of the shards of rock and snow behind him. Striking out like a giant dragon, it headed straight for the body of that serving girl. 

  Fresh blood sprayed outward. Countless shards of stone and snow struck like arrows against the serving girl’s body. In an instant, her body was riddled with hundreds and thousands of wounds. 

  This assassin did not even have the time to attack. She didn’t even have the time to make a sound before she collapsed into the snow and dissolved into a blurry puddle of blood and flesh. 

  Using this force, the distance between the Emperor and Fan Xian reduced a little more. Fan Xian was charging forward with all his strength. In a flash, the father and son were almost within reach of each other. They were so close that Fan Xian could see the Emperor’s slightly thin face, icy and emotionless eyes, and the murderous intent showing in his calm pupils. 

  The Northern Qi’s trump card was indeed incredible. Regardless of who they were dealing with, they were probably sufficient. However, it was not a pretty sight for them to go against such a Great Grandmaster as the Emperor, but there was not a glimmer of disappointment in Fan Xian’s eyes. He continued to pierce through the air with his sword, ruthlessly aiming for the Emperor’s eye. 

  It was still the same situation as the two times they crossed swords earlier. The Wei Emperor’s sword in Fan Xian’s hand could not touch the immortal demon-like figure of the Emperor, who moved in fantastical and boundless ways on an inch of ground. The blade at the tip of the sword disappointedly and weakly broke through the air to the side of the Emperor’s cheeks with a whoosh but accomplished nothing. 

  However, the Emperor’s fist had come rushing toward him again. This was a true punch of the Way of the Emperor. The Emperor no longer held anything back. In the wind and snow-filled sky, the jade-like fist suppressed all whiteness and flashed a light that should not exist in the world as it crashed toward Fan Xian’s chest. 

  The Emperor’s face was very pale, an unhealthy white. It was as if this Great Grandmaster had put all of his considerable zhenqi into his punch. If this punch landed, no matter what miraculous zhenqis Fan Xian had to protect himself and regardless of his clever birdlike flying technique, he could only be shattered into pieces. 

  The Wei Emperor’s sword left Fan Xian’s hand. With a whistle, it flew through the snowy air toward the tightly closed doors of the great hall. 

  He faced the brilliantly white fist. With a harsh cry, he began to tremble violently. Stupidly and slowly, his finger stretched toward the Emperor’s face across three feet of space. 

  The slowness was only a kind of sensation. In reality, the finger contained all of the true essence Fan Xian could force out in this life. It was too condensed. The insubstantial qi actually created a feeling of substance and seemed to have a weight, making his finger shake violently in the snow. He was also shaking. His face was unusually pale, and his eyes unusually bright. 

  Even with a sword in hand, Fan Xian could not drive it into the Emperor’s body, much less a finger. Besides, his finger was still some distance from the Emperor while his murderous fist was about to touch Fan Xian’s robe. 

  A sharp cry came from the tip of Fan Xian’s finger. It was like a demon that wanted to tear through its human disguise and crawl out from its fleshy prison. It was also like the note of a bamboo flute that could no longer endure its loneliness after not being played for a long time and wanted to burrow out and become a few lines of music in the air. 

  A clear and severe streak of sword qi filled with killing intent spewed forth from the tip of Fan Xian’s finger. In an instant, it crossed the distance between the two people and shot toward the Emperor’s throat. 

  Remembering when he was small, the Danzhou urchin was as easy to tease to a smile. Why would zhenqi immediately disappear into the air when it left the body? Uncle Wu Zhu did not know internal qi and was unable to explain. Why had none of the martial artists in the world tried it? Fan Xian began to experiment with it as a child. With unusual diligence, he silently practiced for a long time without the advice and correction of others. Afterward, he was able to push zhenqi out of his palm and return it to his body across a very small distance. Was this because of the two circulations in his body or because of his stubbornness and hard work? 

  But, what could this do? It simply wasted a great deal of his time. By the time he entered Jingdou, his Unnamed Tyrannical martial method, which he had been practicing since his youth, had still not become as famous and astounding as Haitang’s or Thirteenth Wang’s. The zhenqi that could return to him on his palm could not be used on a true battlefield. It was even more impossible for it to form outside his body as a killing weapon. Other than climbing the cliffs of Danzhou, climbing the red palace walls, stealing keys, stealing kisses from his fiancé, what else could it be used for? 

  But Fan Xian was not satisfied because Ye Liuyun had once come to that precipice and left tens of thousands of pits on that stretch of sand. He knew that there were people in the world who could exert controlled amounts of zhenqi. Thus, he stubbornly, and even stupidly, followed this path. However, he was still, unfortunately, unable to do anything even after a long, long time. 

  This was because Fan Xian did not know that other than him, a strange creature, only those in the world who had reached that other realm were able to control zhenqi outside their body. Although the ninth-level warriors in the Sword Hut could have a faint sheen of light on their sword, there was some difference in quality compared to the progress of one’s person. 

  The ignorant and stubborn child gradually grew up. The ultimate martial method that other’s saw as a treasure became the symbol of stubbornness in his hands. Until one day, on the banks of the East Sea, he finally felt, through the coming and going zhenqi on his palms as it gradually extended outward a little then a little more, the ripples in the air that were no longer in his body. 

  Fan Xian could sense the fluctuations of true essence between heaven and earth. Of course, he could clearly sense the zhenqi that belonged to him as well as control it and use it. Regardless of whether it was because the ignorant and stubborn youth was stubborn to the end or because of that little volume, when all was said and done, the final result was the shapeless sword qi that sprayed out of the tip of his finger now. 

  With sword in hand, how could he pierce this illusory and indistinct bright yellow figure in front of him? His finger trembled but only a thought was needed to change the flow of the sword qi for it to split through the air. Who could dodge it? 

  The Emperor could not. In front of this harsh sword qi, he only had time to turn his body while his fist brushed past Fan Xian’s shoulder and struck empty air. 

  Although it had hit empty air, the clothes on Fan Xian’s left shoulder still shattered completely as a large pit opened up in the snowy ground behind him. Snowflakes danced all around. 

  The sword qi at the tip of Fan Xian’s finger also struck the Emperor. Accurately speaking, it had brushed past the Emperor’s neck. The shapeless sword qi had torn through the thin layer of skin on the Emperor’s neck. Fresh blood seeped out. 

  The opportunity could not be lost. Another sharp whistle erupted from behind Fan Xian’s lips. He forced what remained of the true essence in his body into the tip of his finger. Pressing forward through space, he aimed once again for the Emperor’s eye. 

  The Emperor’s punch fell empty. His face paled further. Looking at Fan Xian’s new attack coming toward him, there was no sign of retreat in the Emperor’s eyes. On the contrary, a mocking smile rose to the corners of his lips. 

  The Emperor also extended an index finger and brought it down on the tip of Fan Xian’s finger and sword. His body floated forward. In an instant, the distance between them disappeared into nothing. 

  The flow of qi spluttered. Instantly, the Emperor’s fingertip touched Fan Xian’s fingertip, which was endlessly spewing forth sword qi. Two slender index fingers came together. One hand trembled continuously while the other was unusually steady. Powerful qi flowed between the pads of the two fingers. The light grew increasingly bright, making the snowflakes dancing through the air retreat back. 

  The Emperor restrained the smile at the corner of his mouth. With a light wave of his right arm, his index finger came down on Fan Xian with the pressure of Dong Mountain. With a crack, Fan Xian’s index finger shattered. 

  It was as if his body had been struck by a heavenly hammer, flying backward like a kite. However, he did not sweep backward like when he was actively on the defensive. Instead, it was as if he no longer had any strength to support himself. He crashed fiercely into the snowy ground, unable to move again. 

  The ruler and subject, father and son locked in a battle of life and death on the snowy ground seemed to have both forgotten the sword flying through the air. The sword of the Wei Emperor had been whistling toward the main door of Taiji Palace ever since it had left Fan Xian’s hand. 

  In reality, neither of them had forgotten. In such a battle, between such powerful people, no one would take any extra actions that would unnecessarily use up energy. 

  There was bound to be a follow-up to the flight of this sword. The follow-up was the exquisite and complicated decorative motifs on the silent front door of Taiji Palace. When Fan Xian’s fingertip first erupted with the startling sword qi, the tightly closed doors of Taiji Palace opened without explanation. 

  Thirteenth Wang, in simple clothing, flew out of the dark heart of the Qing court and caught, in mid-air, the Wei Emperor’s sword that had left Fan Xian’s hand. With his right arm slightly bent, he swept through the air like lightning. His figure expanded slightly. He let out a violent cry, gathering the killing intent he had been accumulating for a long time into this one attack. Just like this, he struck ruthlessly toward the back of the Emperor’s neck. 

  Thirteenth Wang, brave and without equal, exhibited heroicness in this attack. Compared to the white-clothed Shadow’s attack in the Hanging Temple, when he had jumped out of the sun, it was even hotter and brighter. It was clearly a sneak attack from behind the Emperor, yet it he managed to make it feel just and honorable. 

  The pure-hearted and last disciple of the Sword Hut had inherited fully and truly from Sigu Jian. Furthermore, he came to an understanding of the Tyrannical zhenqi during Fan Xian and Sigu Jian’s conversation that night. At this moment, he gathered his lifetime’s cultivation into one attack, making it incredibly powerful. If Fan Xian was faced with this attack, he would certainly be injured. 

  It seemed the Emperor knew that a superior ninth-level ace would suddenly run out of the depths of the hall behind him. Crushing Fan Xian to the ground with a finger of mountain-like force, his face did not change at all. Without turning around, he simply swept his sleeve back. 

  Throughout his life, each of the Qing Emperor’s punches, fingers, and sleeves were at the apex of humanity. No one dared to gaze at its brilliance. However, the sweep of his sleeve now was unable to swallow up mountains and rivers. Calmly and easily, it swept toward Thirteenth Wang’s heroic attack. 

  In the end, he was not a god. Just as Fan Xian judged, the Emperor was no longer in his prime. These years of loneliness, age, sickness, and injury had made him actively or passively, physically or mentally, choose to come down from the altar. 

  Thirteenth Wang’s explosive cry still echoed in the empty Royal Palace as the brilliantly glowing Wei Emperor’s sword pierced the sleeve of the Qing Emperor’s dragon robe with a soft sigh, brushing past the Emperor’s chest. 

  When the Emperor had swept his sleeve, he had already turned slightly. Although Thirteenth Wang’s attack had been ferocious, it still had only brushed past him. It only scratched across the Qing Emperor’s flesh. 

  However, the Emperor’s hand in his sleeve had moved like a golden dragon in the clouds and captured Thirteenth Wang’s wrist. 

  Thirteenth Wang’s wrist trembled. The Wei Emperor’s sword in his hand raised its head like a snake spirit and pierced toward the Qing Emperor’s chin at an impossible angle. The Qing Emperor gave a muffled groan and threw his shoulders back, crashing into Thirteenth Wang’s chest. With a number of cracks, Thirteenth Wang sprayed forth a mouthful of fresh blood as a number of his bones snapped. 

  He felt a vigorous strength about to throw him off. With a muffled grunt, his eyes glowed red. He stretched out his hand, without regard for his life, and wrapped a death-grip around the Emperor’s right hand, refusing to let go. 

  At this most critical moment, a flowery figure flashed behind Thirteenth Wang. Just like how she had not been present earlier, she appeared as freshly and cleanly as nature. Just like how a returning clansman desiring hot water and a flower in the wind and snow needed warmth, she naturally captured the Emperor’s other hand, his left hand. 

  Haitang Duoduo had arrived. This saint girl of Northern Qi, the present leader of Tianyi Dao, was like a very quiet and weak girl as she hovered by the Emperor’s side, by his sleeve. Like a cloud or a petal, she could not be shaken or thrown off. Intimate and natural, she made one disgusted and fearful. 

  For some reason, Haitang did not choose to target the Qing Emperor’s weakness. Instead, she focused all of her cultivation and bound the Emperor’s left hand. 

  The Qing Emperor’s eyes were unusually cold and calm. His already thin face appeared even gaunter as his eyes sank in deeply and his face paled. He knew that the two young people holding down his hands were the ones that the two dead old men had left behind especially to deal with him. Still, his expression did not change. Only a bell-like sound rang out from within his not very powerful chest. 

  In an instant, vigorous zhenqi entered the bodies of the two young superior ninth-level aces. In the space of a breath, Thirteenth Wang’s right arm began to wilt and grow hot. A number of streams of fresh blood flowed out of his five senses. 

  Haitang Duoduo’s situation was not any better. A mouthful of fresh blood spewed out of her mouth as her body began to tremble violently. It was as if she could be shaken into the snow at any moment by the Emperor. 

  At this time, blood began to stain the snow in front of Taiji Palace. Not far in the distance, Fan Xian lay decrepitly in the snow as if he would never move again. It seemed that there was no one who could help Haitang and Thirteenth Wang, these two young people that had been recognized by the previous Great Grandmasters as the most likely to step into the Great Grandmaster realm. Were they just going to die at the hands of the only Great Grandmaster left in the world? 

  A wave of caution flashed through the Emperor’s heart. Although he had been on his guard since last night, he had never felt any arrogance about his Grandmaster realm. He was not Sigu Jian. He did not give Fan Xian’s side any opportunities. Although, up to now and on the Taiji Palace, he had still not encountered the change he was most on guard again. This present wave of caution still made him narrow his eyes and look at the bloody, snowy ground in front of him. 

  Wherever the Emperor’s gaze touched, the snow seemed to melt at a rapid pace. Of course, this was not because of the heat of the Emperor’s gaze. Instead, from the moment the sword qi erupted from the tip of Fan Xian’s finger, the snow beneath had already began to melt. 

  All of this had happened in a moment. The Qing Emperor injured Fan Xian with a finger, his two hands had been locked down by two powerful martial artists, and the snow began to truly melt and loosen. 

  There was a white-clothed man beneath the snow. The foremost assassin in the world, the king who forever walked in the darkness, the head of the Sixth Bureau of the Overwatch Council whose sword had taken countless lives, the first disciple of Dongyi’s Sword Hut, and the shadow beside the wheelchair had only ever worn white twice in his life. 

  Once was in the Hanging Temple. He had jumped from the sun. His entire body had been enveloped in golden light, like an immortal. The second time was now. He rose from the snow-covered ground all in white, like a saint. 

  The Shadow faced the same man, the most powerful person in the world, he had attacked two times in white clothing. Thus, the Shadow’s attack now was his most powerful and sinister attack ever. 

  Unlike Fan Xian and Thirteenth Wang, his sword also seemed white, without any light on its surface. It appeared very simple and dim. However, his attack was also very simple and not particularly fast. But, it was very steady. The angle he chose was strange. The angle of the blade and the turn of the sword were all according to a calculated position and extended outward without any shaking. 

  This one strike was very strange. He did not aim at the Emperor’s face, eyes, throat, abdomen, or any other fatal position. He also didn’t aim at his feet, knees, waist, or any of these strange choices. Instead, he aimed at the juncture of the Emperor’s left thigh. 

  With a thud, even someone as powerful as the Emperor did not manage to avoid the Shadow’s attack. The slightly white tip of the sword gently pierced into the juncture of the Emperor’s thigh. A stream of blood flowed out. 

  The Shadow was an assassin. His life was lived to kill others. In his eyes, there was no one who could not be killed. Just as many people thought, an injury to the thigh was not a fatal blow, but the Shadow knew that there was an artery at the juncture of the thigh. Once it was sliced open, blood sprayed out over three feet. No one could survive it. 

  Although this attack pierced shallowly into the juncture of the Emperor’s thigh, it was not enough to kill this powerful man because that artery had not been sliced open. Lying in the snow, the Shadow was like a focused butcher. Steadily and carefully, he flicked upward. 

  Compared to the sky full of snow, the Emperor’s face was a few shades paler. In the instant the white-clothed Shadow struck, he had already retreated backward, sliding backward with Haitang and Thirteenth clamped around his hands. However, the white-clothed Shadow still made the attack. 

  The Emperor felt a flicker of pain. His eyes narrowed. Then, he person became a dragon in the wind and rain, picking up all of the snow, people, sword intent, and resistance around him. Enveloping everyone present, he floated up in front of Taiji Palace.

  Chapter 718: There Are Snowy Swords And Frost At Cang Mountain (3)

  Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio 

  Wind and snow whirled around the blurry figures. Moving clockwise through the air, it gradually formed countless lines. It appeared like the woolen balls woven in private residences or like the silk from the spring silkworms in Jiangnan. It formed into a ball and completely enveloped the figures caught in danger within it. 

  This white snowball was not still. On the contrary, it moved toward Taiji Palace at an astonishing speed. No one knew what kind of thoughts the aces inside used to ensure that the quickly spinning strands of snow were not sliced apart into scattered snow by the wind. 

  When Thirteenth Wang and Haitang swept out of Taiji Palace, they had opened two doors. Taiji Palace was like a giant beast crafted from shadow with its mouth wide open, preparing to swallow the large and round snowball into its pitch black abdomen. 

  However, the hall doors were not completely open. The mouth was not open wide enough. When the snowball reached the front doors of Taiji Palace, its size was larger than the palace doors. The snowball crashed at a high speed against the palace doors. Strangely, it did not make any noise. The complex carvings on the wooden door were instantly destroyed by the killing and battle intent contained within the snowball. A number of deep scars appeared in the wood before it scattered with the wind. 

  Tens of thousands of years of time could perhaps destroy everything so silently. Yet, this object formed of hazy strands of snow also produced such a powerful effect. The once weak snowflakes had become like countless sharp knives as they spun at a high speed and cut through everything in their way. 

  Such terrifying effects was naturally because of the Great Grandmaster in that space. He was currently exhibiting the apex of his realm. 

  The snowball spun through the air, flew through the long imperial pathway, and crashed into the imperial platform. With another boom, the snowball exploded. Snowflakes flew like arrows in all directions, making Taiji Palace shake weakly. There was no sign of the main beam breaking, but the beautiful decorations within the magnificent hall were all shattered into rubble. 

  A number of shadows moved forward. Thirteenth Wang and Haitang flew decrepitly into the rubble with fresh blood pouring out of them. Thirteenth Wang’s arm had long become strands of flesh and blood twisted together. All its Meridians were broken. 

  The Shadow, who had performed the last attack, laid in white clothing in front of the imperial platform. Everything below his head was covered in blood. He did not move at all. It was impossible to tell if he was alive or dead. The sword remained weakly in his hand with a stain of blood remaining on the tip of it. 

  In the end, this sword did not manage to slice open the artery at the juncture of the Emperor’s thigh. Under these circumstances, the Shadow’s fatal strike had clearly pierced into the Emperor’s flesh. But, the tip of the sword remained unmoving and still as they moved into the hall and throughout all the shaking and chaos until it was finally shaken out of the Emperor’s body. All the work was to no avail. 

  During this time, the Emperor used his grand zhenqi cultivation and Tyrannical power released through the Way of the Emperor to suppress everyone within an integrated realm. Within this territory, the Emperor’s thoughts were the standard for everything. No one was able to oppose it. 

  The bright yellow figure appeared particularly dazzling in front of the chaotic imperial platform. The Emperor still stood straight. He did not even glance at the destroyed dragon chair behind him. His face was pale. The hands outside his sleeves trembled slightly. Although injured, he was still unsurpassed and undefeated. 

  Lying in front of the imperial platform like a dead fish, the Shadow suddenly moved. He floated up. His white clothes fluttered in the wind as blood dripped from the corner of his lip. With extreme ruthlessness, he pierced toward the Emperor’s throat. 

  The strike missed, as was expected. Pale-faced, the Shadow spat out a single word mixed with blood and saliva, “Retreat!” 

  When he made his final attack, he was already retreating backward quickly. Since he wasn’t able to kill the Emperor the first time, he would no longer have an opportunity this day. Although the Shadow wanted to avenge Chen Pingping, who had been sentenced to death by a thousand cuts, in the end, he was an assassin. Of the four people who entered the Palace to carry out the assassination, he had the most ruthless gaze and calmest state of mind. Since the first attack failed, naturally, he would retreat. He was just worried that the two heavily injured young aces would forget themselves and continue to battle with the Emperor, which was why he had shouted out loud. 

  Before the sound of the word had fallen, three figures shot out of the wretched Taiji Palace and charged outward. The least injured, Haitang Duoduo, brought up the rear. Shaking open her flowery coat, it dissolved into a flowery shadow and released inside the darkness of the hall. 

  At the moment the petals disappeared, three superior ninth-level aces also disappeared from within Taiji Palace. The Emperor continued to stand silently on the imperial platform. Surprisingly, he did not give chase. After the powerful attack earlier, the three warriors had all suffered injuries and would not be able to retaliate. Escaping the hall was the tail end of a powerful attack. If the Emperor attacked now, presumably, he would be able to easily kill the three of them. 

  The Emperor did not move. He just silently lowered his head and spread open his hands. He felt cold pain coming from his neck. He looked at the split flesh on his chest. The blood stain was seeping out of the bright yellow dragon robe, as well as the bloody hole at the juncture of his thigh. 

  Three parts of his body sent clear messages of pain to his brain, making this powerful Emperor slightly startled. How long had it been since he had been injured? Three years ago on Dong Mountain, when he had faced Ku He and Sigu Jian, the Emperor had only used the grand zhenqi he had been accumulating for a lifetime and his supreme mental strength. Yet, now, he had been injured when faced with just a few young people. 

  The Emperor stretched out his left hand and touched it to his chest. He looked at the blood on his white hand and furrowed his brows slightly. It was as if he felt an overwhelming tiredness. For the first time, he wondered to himself if he was truly getting old. 

  A chilling coldness flashed through his eyes. He knew the four people who had attacked very well. There was no need to say much about An Zhi. For him to be able to force out an external sword qi, his talent and hard work were evident. The Shadow had always followed that old dog but had always hidden his existence within the space the Emperor existed in. The foremost assassin in the world was indeed incredible. 

  As for Ku He and Sigu Jian’s last disciples, the Emperor was also no stranger to them. Although he had never met Haitang Duoduo, he knew this saint girl of Northern Qi very well and of her relationship with Fan Xian. In the past, the Emperor had thought of having Fan Xian marry this woman. As for Thirteenth Wang…… The Emperor remembered that scene on Dong Mountain clearly and had a great appreciation for it. 

  Other than the Shadow, such talented young people would, without a doubt, be the most incredible figures in this world in the future. Today, they had attacked the Emperor together. Although they failed, they failed with such vigor that the Emperor could not help but feel admiration and have no desire to kill them. 

  The Emperor slowly walked out of the silent Taiji Palace. Step by step, he slowly put in order the Tyrannical zhenqi in his body that was beginning to show signs of instability. With a cold expression and unusually cold eyes, he quietly looked at the palace gates that Fan Xian and the other had already successfully opened. 

  He didn’t care about how Fan Xian and them had been able to open the palace doors under the eyes of the Imperial Army and guards. He wasn’t worried that these thorns in his side, these enemies that reminded him of his age through youth and pride, would disappear into the sea of people. 

  “Kill them all,” the Emperor ordered calmly as if narrating a household matter. Confidently and coldly, he ordered the deaths of the young warriors who escaped out of the Palace. He then accepted a brand new and clean dragon robe from the hands of Eunuch Yao, who had just arrived at the entrance of the hall, and began to change his clothes. ……

  The Shadow retreated the fastest. He snatched up Fan Xian, who was in a half-conscious state, from the snowy ground. With a muffled grunt, he forced down the mouthful of fresh blood that welled inside his body. Like a word, he floated slyly in the direction of the palace gates. Behind him, Thirteenth Wang followed in a strange posture while Haitang Duoduo, who had already taken off her flowery coat and was just wearing an unlined purple robe, brought up the rear with a calm expression. 

  All four of them had suffered various degrees of injury. Surmounting the palace walls had become a difficult mission, so they could only charge toward the palace gates. Everyone knew that Taiji Palace faced the front gates of the Royal Palace. It was the most strictly guarded place within the entire Palace, yet the Shadow charged forward coldly without a glimmer of hesitation. This was not because of Fan Xian’s instruction. Instead, it was because he was a man of Dongyi. He knew what the Sword Hut had the most of. 

  The trump card Northern Qi played earlier was the city guarding crossbow in the corner of the Royal Palace. When that muffled thud rang out, only then did the Imperial Army in the Palace finally realize that there were assassins in the Royal Palace. However, the life and death battle outside Taiji Palace happened too quickly and ended too quickly. When the figure of the four warriors charged toward the palace gates, part of the aces of the Imperial Army were gathered at the corner tower of the Royal Palace while the ones left by the palace gate barely had the time to get into formation, like a large net. 

  This net had just formed when it was torn apart by sword light from the heavens. Four streaks of harsh sword light shooting into the sky came from nowhere and threw the Imperial Army by the palace gates into chaos with limbs flying through the air, blood spraying wildly, and tragic cries of surprise. 

  Of the thirteen disciples of Dongyi’s Sword Hut, other than the ones Fan Xian sent to Jiangnan to protect Su Wenmao and Xia Qifei and the ones left in Dongyi to steady the military, four ninth-level swordsmen had come. 

  No one knew how these ninth-level swordsmen entered the Royal Palace, but they knew that the disciples of the Sword Hut astounded the world with their killing intent. Given their ninth-level realm, no one in the world, other than the Sixth Bureau that the Shadow controlled, could oppose their assassinations. 

  In an instant, the slow reacting Imperial Army was left in chaos as the heavy palace gates were dragged open with a crack. Amidst the angry shouts of the Imperial Army generals and the guards on duty, the four disciples of the Sword Hut coldly took control of the long and deep passage of the palace gate and forcefully opened up a tiny space, protecting the snowy ground. The four people fleeing from the direction of Taiji Palace flashed through the gap of the palace gates like ghosts, charging toward the misty, cold, and expansive square in front of the Royal Palace. 

  Fan Xian had been struck by the Emperor’s finger. His index finger was completely shattered. His body was being ravaged by that wave of powerful Tyrannical zhenqi. If not for the fact that his Meridians were unlike that of normal people and he cultivated zhenqi of the same quality and nature as the Qing Emperor, he would probably have exploded under that finger as weighty as Dong Mountain. 

  Even though he survived, he still felt as if countless wounds had opened up in his Meridians. Inside and outside of his body, it was as if there were countless red hot metal wires swimming through his body. His heart thudded. An impossible pain pierced into his mind. Human nature’s self-preserving nature made him easily faint amidst such powerful pain. 

  However, Fan Xian could not faint. He knew he had not yet escaped the Royal Palace alive. His slightly blurry vision had already seen the distinct and ruthless sword intent from the disciples of the Sword Hut. He furrowed his brows with pain because he had not arranged for these disciples of the Sword Hut to come. He had not wanted to drag the Sword Hut into this mess. 

  The Shadow was a veteran official of the Overwatch Council. Haitang was his woman. Thirteenth Wang was his friend. The three people who entered the Palace for the assassination were all personally connected to Fan Xian. After all, this was a gentlemanly fight with the Emperor. The Emperor could tolerate Fan Xian asking these people for help and could guess that he would. If Fan Xian used the power of Dongyi or Northern Qi, the matter would probably become much more troublesome. 

  What was more troublesome now was the silence outside the palace. The snow-covered square outside the Royal Palace was as silent as a grave. It was as if there was no one there. When the four disciples of the Sword Hut dissolved into shadows and escorted the four of them to the snow-covered square outside the Royal Palace, it seemed that the entire world could hear their footsteps. Yet, they appeared very alone. 

  This death-like silence was too strange. Anyone would be able to tell that there was a problem. Although Fan Xian had not intended to use the disciples of the Sword Hut, his route out of the Palace was the same as the Shadow had chosen. It was also the front gates of the Royal Palace that no one would have expected. Another reason Fan Xian chose the front gates of the Royal Palace was because he had deduced that while he entered the Royal Palace to negotiate with the Emperor, the news of him ruthlessly killing He Zongwei should have already erupted in Jingdou. Those civil officials would certainly come to kowtow and cry their grievances. The stubborn Imperial Censors would kneel on the snowy ground and put endless pressure on the Emperor. 

  This point had been confirmed in Eunuch Yao’s report last night. Thus, when Fan Xian and everyone escaped out of the main gate of the Royal Palace, they should have seen officials with faces full of sorrow and heard a clamor of discussion. The white snow should have been trodden into muck while the servants of each manor should have been hidden in a carriage in a distant alley. They, the escapees, should have been able to flee in the chaos. Fan Xian had even thought of how to steal each manor’s carriage. 

  However, there was nothing, only a white hazy and clean ground. The only thing they could see were the footsteps they left on the snow and their faint shadows. The only thing they could hear was their heavy breathing. 

  Everyone realized something was strange. Behind them, the palace gates had slowly closed again. Unexpectedly, the imperial soldiers inside had not pursued them out. However, the Shadow continued to move forward with an icy expression. Although they knew there was something wrong and that this could only be a trap, what could they do other than charging over and out? 

  The square in front of the Royal Palace very large and expansive. During past military parades, it had once held 100,000 spectators. During the Jingdou rebellion three years ago, the Ye and Qin families had led armies to surround the Palace. Tens of thousands of soldiers had gathered there. However, only this group of people, who had bitterly killed their way out of the Royal Palace, could be seen on the layer of thick snow. They appeared very lonely and pitiful. 

  To the right and rear of this lonely group, a series of quiet miscellaneous sounds rang out. The fragmentary battles at the corner of the Royal Palaces seemed to have ended. The longest lasting spies and assassins Northern Qi had placed within the Qing Kingdom had probably been swept clean by the Imperial Army. However, two shadows fell down suddenly from the cinnabar red walls at the corner of the Royal Palace! 

  The walls of the palace were very high. The two shadows fell quickly. Just as they were about to fall to the ground and suffer a bone-crushing death, an unexpected cry exploded through the air. A curved knife appeared at the waist of one of the shadowy figures. He seemed to wave it mindlessly over the palace walls. In reality, they were slicing with great skill. With each fall of the knife, they left a deep mark on the newly repaired cinnabar red palace wall. 

  The person used a pair of curved knives and was very powerful. He was even able to maintain his form in mid-air. It was clear that the other person’s cultivation was slightly inferior. He only used the sword in his hand to pierce through the chain at the hilt of his companion’s knives. 

  In just the space of a few breaths, these two figures fell heavily off the palace walls. The tall and sturdy warrior did not suffer any injuries. He grabbed his companion. They ran toward the center of the snow-covered ground. Looking at the direction they headed, they seemed to be meeting up with Fan Xian’s group. 

  These two were one of the few remaining ninth-level aces in Northern Qi. Among them, one was Master Ku He’s last disciple, the foremost ace in the Northern Qi Royal Palace, Lang Tiao. The other was Friar He. 

  Fan Xian’s group had already run into the hazy snow when they suddenly realized they had a few extra and mysterious companions. They could not help but be startled. 

  For the sake of cooperating with Fan Xian’s plans, the Northern Qi Emperor had allowed his two most powerful warriors to secretly enter the Qing Kingdom. It could truly be said that he had put down blood capital. However, after Sir Lang Tiao first entered Jingdou, he was completely unable to exhibit his true powers. He only had the time to cooperate with the spies hidden inside the Palace and use the city guarding crossbow to send out that one attack. Then, he could only watch as the attack in front of Taiji Palace began and ended. 

  Nothing could compare to a hero caught in difficult circumstances. Lang Tiao, with a lifetime of vigorous cultivation, did not even make one swing at the Qing Emperor before he was forced to flee the Royal Palace by the Imperial Army. At his side, Friar He’s foot had been injured. 

  “Stop running,” Fan Xian, who had been carried by the Shadow all this time, said coldly as he watched Lang Tiao gradually approaching the point of convergence. His eyes narrowed slightly. He was very shocked, but there was also an absurd anger. Why did people always think they could cooperate in everything they wanted to happen? Regardless of whether it was the appearance of the disciples of the Sword Hut or Lang Tiao, they both made Fan Xian’s heart cold. He had planned and plotted for so long, yet at this moment, he had suddenly lost the foundations. He could not help but feel a dismal coldness. 

  What made Fan Xian feel even colder was the silence in the square. A group of them were gathered in the center of the square. Not far in front of them were private residences. The crossroads to the right were even closer, but everyone knew that there were unnamed dangers waiting for them at these places. 

  Fan Xian lost once again to the Emperor, completely and utterly. The appearance of the disciples of the Sword Hut and the two people from Northern Qi took away his last life-saving excuse. He didn’t know that the Emperor had already given the kill order in the Palace. He didn’t know that his mental battle was not able to succeed in the end. A faint exhaustion flashed through his eyes. 

  \r \r \r 

  Amidst this wind and snow, the Shadow silently stopped walking. Haitang wiped away the blood at the corner of her lips and walked to where Fan Xian sat in the snow with a slight smile. Crouching down, she tilted her head and said, “I said long ago that your wavering and desire to offend no one was a very childish thought.” 

  “I just want fewer people to die. In the end, this is a personal matter.” Fan Xian forced a smile with difficulty. Sitting in the snow, he felt the iciness beneath him and said, “Even acting completely shamelessly, tens of thousands would still come in worship. I cannot do it. Otherwise, how could things have ended up like this in the Palace today?” 

  Dragging his torn and bloody arm, Thirteenth Wang walked to his side and said in a hoarse voice, “At least you tried. Although you lost, you still did well.” 

  Fan Xian spat a mouthful of blood onto the snow beside him and said with a sigh, “But I’m truly terrified of death.” Although he said this, a rarely seen peace and happiness flashed through his eyes. 

  “Looks like you’re not very happy about my arrival,” Lang Tiao said calmly, coming to a stop in front of Fan Xian. “It’s just that your private vengeance is also our private vengeance, so our coming has nothing to do with you. Of course, I have to admit that I just realized that killing has little to do with martial cultivation. In this matter, I appear quite useless.” 

  Lang Tiao glanced at his disciple sister, Haitang Duoduo, and said to Fan Xian with furrowed brows, “If Duoduo had been willing to tell me your plan, things may not have ended this way.” 

  “Ah, perhaps the ending had long been destined. One must trust in life. But, if you can carry me out in a moment, I won’t say you’re useless,” Fan Xian said, giving him a wretched and toothy smile. 

  Just like this, this group of the world’s best warriors and assassins began to chat casually in the center of this hazy and silent snow-covered square. It was as if no one wondered who would be able to escape once the Qing Kingdom’s powerful and terrifying national machinery surrounded them. 

  The countless imperial soldiers on the palace walls became layers of black lines. With bows in hand, they stared coldly down at the assassins in the snow, ready to fire at any moment. Gong Dian stood in the center with narrowed eyes, looking at them in the snow. His heart felt heavy. He didn’t know how Sir Fan junior could smile at such a time. 

  While Fan Xian and them were talking, the situation in the square in front of the Royal Palace had changed. Countless bows poked out of the seemingly normal private residences. The arrows reflecting the cold light were like dense and fatal bales of straw aimed at the group of people in the snow. 

  The thunderous roar of hooves gradually rang out from the crossroads closest to them. Over 2,000 armored riders sealed off that direction, not leaving any space to spare. 

  With thousands of arrows pointed at them, who could survive? How could human bodies stand against a charge by Iron Riders? Everything seemed to have reached an end. There were no more changes that could stop this from happening and delay the arrival of the god of death. 

  Fan Xian narrowed his eyes and looked at the formidable riders at the crossroads, especially at Ye Zhong personally leading the riders. He looked at the terrifyingly sharp arrows on the second level of the residences and the dozen straw-hat wearing, cold-hearted, and fanatical Ascetic Monks gradually coming closer from the residences. Finally, he could not help but let out a sigh. 

  Back then, it had been his plan. The Great Prince’s purge of the Imperial Army had begun in those private residences while the Overwatch Council, along with cooperation from the Black Knights, had forcefully severed the rebel army troops along Zhengyang Gate and the crossroads. They had pinned Qin Heng to the outside of the Royal Palace and ended the Qin bloodline. 

  Now, the Emperor’s plan was just like his from three years ago, blocking off any chance of survival. It was truly as if history was being repeated. Perhaps there was something called karma in the underworld. 

  Besieging the enemy and killing the reinforcements, luring out the enemies, and sweeping aside all those who dare to oppose him, these were methods the Emperor had long grown used to using. However, proceeded by the brilliant example of Dong Mountain, what does such a formation count for? With such well-used methods and the support of the Qing Kingdom’s powerful strength, there was still no one who could break through the Emperor’s calculations. 

  “There really is nothing new in the world,” Fan Xian muttered indistinctly through a mouthful of blood with a scattered gaze. Then, his head tilted decisively and fainted in Haitang Duoduo’s arms. He had fought with the Qing Emperor a number of times. At the very end, he had forced out sword qi from the tip of his finger but still could not defeat the Emperor’s supreme zhenqi. Wretchedly knocked down by a finger, his true essence had been almost completely used up. It was already incredible for him to have endured until now before falling unconscious. 

  The footsteps around the square rang out slowly and steadily. The sound of hooves also did not slow. Countless Qing soldiers pressed closer to the square from all directions, gradually bringing the center of the square within shooting distance. The dozen Ascetic Monks in straw hats stood in front of the military and looked at these people coldly. Once the arrows failed to wipe out the assassins, it was time for the riders and Ascetic Monks to take the stage. 

  Other than Lang Tiao and the four warriors of the Sword Hut, there was no other unharmed person among them. Faced with such powerful martial force, everyone knew that it was impossible to escape. However, they had already entered the ninth-level. Other than Fan Xian, these people had long come to value life lightly. There was not a glimmer of fear on anyone’s face. 

  Lang Tiao and the four warriors of the Sword Hut met each other’s eyes and nodded, each knowing what they should do. Then, the foremost ace of the Northern Qi Royal Palace glanced tenderly back at Haitang Duoduo to see that there was no pain of farewell on her face. She just held Fan Xian quietly with a slight smile. 

  Lang Tiao also smiled. Looking at Fan Xian in Haitang’s arms, he shook his head and sighed with admiration, “To fall unconsciously so decisively at such a time, how can one not admire him?” ……

  The Emperor, having changed into a clean dragon robe, walked silently up the stone steps of the palace walls. The imperial soldiers he passed along the way all took a knee in a military salute. Not a single person dared to look directly at the bright yellow color. Eunuch Yao followed closely by the Emperor’s side. He suddenly heard the Emperor ask in a deep voice, “Why is there still no movement?” 

  “Ah……” Eunuch Yao’s heart jumped. He was unsure how to respond. He knew the Emperor hated Sir Fan junior right now, but he also knew that the Emperor’s favor toward Sir Fan junior these years had come from his heart. Particularly, after the Crown Prince and Second Prince died, the Emperor’s love for Sir Fan junior was known to the entire Palace. If he had ordered the firing earlier and if Sir Fan junior had died to the chaotically flying arrows, he didn’t know how he would explain it to the Emperor. 

  The Emperor personally mounting the palace walls made Eunuch Yao feel even more frightened. If he only wanted to besiege and kill those assassins outside the Palace, the Emperor’s set up was completely sufficient Why would he need to come personally? It was probably because there was still some reluctance in his heart. 

  “I want to personally see that traitor die in front of me.” Perhaps the Emperor saw through what Eunuch Yao was thinking about. Coldly, he ordered, “Fire.” 

  The words of an Emperor were his bond. With that cry, the arrows in the hands of the soldiers around the square flew out as the Emperor walked up the wide stone steps leading to the top of the palace walls. They flew densely and whistled through the air like locusts, hiding the sun and the sky as they headed toward an area nine feet in diameter in the snow-covered square. 

  If Fan Xian was uninjured at this time, perhaps he could have used the secret he had learned not long ago and rise straight up dozens of feet and dodge the dense rain of arrows. However, he had already fainted. No one else in the world could dodge such a rain of arrows. 

  In the instant before the Qing army fired, Lang Tiao let out a roar. Light glittered brightly in his eyes. He snatched up Fan Xian’s body from Haitang’s arms, single-handedly grabbed the chain between two curved knives, and wove the two curved knives into an impenetrable shield of knife light. Bravely and alone, he charged toward the closest Ascetic Monks. 

  The Qing Emperor’s slow footsteps landed on the palace walls. His bright yellow dragon robe was intimidating. His hands behind him were unusually steady. There was not a single tremor. His eyes were slightly sunken and unusually cold, without a trace of emotion. 

  He looked at the blood-red color on the patch of snowy ground in front of the palace wall and arrows scattered across the ground without a flicker of emotion. His gaze moved slightly. He saw Fan Xian, alive or dead, who had been shielded behind everyone else. His brows furrowed slightly. 

  The four warriors of the Sword Hut stood guard in each direction during the dense rain of arrows. Using their powerful ninth-level cultivation, they wove a sword net and protected everyone else within as they sliced through countless arrows. However, there was a limit to human strength. This was not like when Great Master San Shi died to the arrows outside Jingdou. Now, there were thousands upon thousands of arrows that fell like rain on the ground. Who could avoid getting wet? Who could avoid dying? 

  After the rain of arrows, the four warriors of the Sword Hut were struck a number of times, but they remained standing valiantly with blood flowing down their bodies. Who knew if these disciples, who had inherited Sigu Jian’s ruthless viciousness, would fall over in the next moment? 

  Friar He, by the side of the sword net, had already become a hedgehog and could not be more dead. Given the past glory of this Northern Qi ninth-level ace, who would have thought that he would fall so easily in front of a powerful nation? 

  No matter how powerful a person was, they were as weak as ants before a flourishing kingdom unless this person’s power had exceeded that of a human, such as a Great Grandmaster. 

  After the rain of arrows stopped, a blood-covered Lang Tiao also retreated back. Earlier, he had tried to charge out with Fan Xian under his protection. In the end, he had not been able to break free of the dense rain of arrows. After the two soul-devouring curved knives killed two Ascetic Monks, he had retreated. Two bone-deep arrows stuck out of his right shoulder. Fresh blood flowed freely. 

  Haitang glanced at him. Lang Tiao did not turn around as he said heavily, “The Emperor has given orders for him to survive.” 

  At this time, everyone was injured or dead. Although they were all powerful warriors who could hold their own, they were unable to form a cohesive whole from the beginning and break through bravely. Judging from the formation of the Qing court, the Qing Kingdom had not left any possibility for their survival. ……

  The Emperor looked calmly at the bloody scene at the foot of the palace walls. After a moment of silence, he quietly said, “Continue.” 

  Earlier, in the instant that the assassination in front of Taiji Palace ended, the Emperor finally felt a sense of release, release from the shapeless chains pressing down on his body. Thus, he had recovered his usual self-confidence and elegance as he methodically arranged for all of this. 

  After Dong Mountain…… More accurately speaking, after the Taiping Courtyard incident 20 odd years ago, the thing the powerful Qing Emperor feared the most in this world was the youth with a piece of black cloth over his eyes and the chest that disappeared forever. 

  In front of Taiji Palace, the Emperor had forced Fan Xian to the extreme, but the chest and Wu Zhu had not appeared. The Qing Emperor’s final caution disappeared without a trace. He finally confirmed that the chest was not with Fan Xian. At least, it was not with Fan Xian right now. Lao Wu was presumably caught within the Temple, unable to ever leave again. 

  The Emperor narrowed his eyes and looked at the warriors desperately struggling for their lives at the foot of the palace walls. There was little disturbance in his heart. Just as Fan Xian had thought earlier, he had been like this even on Dong Mountain, let alone when faced with these little ninth-level aces. There was no sense of pride at all in the Emperor’s heart because such a small matter could not make him feel prideful. He just distantly and quietly looked at Fan Xian, whose life and death he was uncertain of, and felt a faint sense of exhaustion rising in his heart. 

  Following the order on the palace walls, the Qing Kingdom elites surrounding the square once again raised the longbows in their hands. The steady tips of the arrows were aimed once again at the blood-covered warriors in the snow. They did not know what powerful figures these assassins were. They only knew that as long as they sent out the arrow from their hand, death was the only option for those assassins, no matter how powerful they were. 

  Perhaps some generals or clever soldiers guessed at and saw Sir Fan junior’s existence and their hearts trembled slightly. After all, Fan Xian’s existence in the Qing Kingdom was a kind of legend. Yet, such a legend was about to die to their hands. As long as one was a Qing subject, one would probably be moved by this. 

  Just like Ye Zhong at the crossroads, Shi Fei behind the archers, Gong Dian on the palace walls, these three major figures of the Qing military all felt a faint sense of sorrow in their hearts. However, a ruler’s orders could not be disobeyed. Military orders could not be disobeyed. All of the soldiers raised the bows in their hands and took aim. 

  The Emperor narrowed his eyes even further. ……

  However, the Emperor did not realize, no one could have realized, that there was a person on the roof of Zhaixing Tower some distance from the square who was taking aim at him on the palace walls. 

  Zhaixing Tower was the third tallest building in Jingdou. Originally, it had been the old observatory of the astronomers. After the young lady of the Ye family entered the capital, a new observatory was built on a mountain outside Jingdou. From then on Zhaixing Tower gradually fell into disuse. Other than servants who came to clean, no one paid it any attention. 

  During the cold snowfall in January of the 12th year of the Qing calendar, a thinly built person lay on the roof of Zhaixing Tower with a large white fur coat covering his body which, along with the white snow on the surrounding buildings, covered the color of the green clothes he wore. 

  This person hid very well. Under the cover of the wind and snow, he completely blended in with the snow covering Zhaixing Tower. 

  In front of the expensive white fur coat, there was an icy tube-shaped object made of metal. It was the assault rifle that had killed Yan Xiaoyi explosively in the meadow. 

  Under the white fur coat, the person huffed out a breath of hot air to warm his frozen hands. He then put his eye back to the optical scope. He adjusted his breathing and used zhenqi to calm his nervous heartbeats. He then fixed the sight of his scope on the palace walls and onto the body of the Emperor. 

  The Royal Palace was very far away, but the Emperor was right in front of his eyes. He was very familiar with this feeling. He was also very used to the environment because the snow in Cang Mountain at night was even more difficult to endure than the snow in Jingdou now. 

  The mouth of the gun under the fur coat moved a hairsbreadth and completed its last adjustment. His finger steadily came into contact with the icy metal with a single tremor. After a momentary pause, it gently moved. 

  A light click became a muffled thud. It then became a startling bang of thunder. In the end, it evolved into the strange cry of a bird tearing through the air. Beautiful and terrifying sparks sprayed forth from the opening of the rifle.

  Chapter 719: There Are Snowy Swords And Frost At Cang Mountain (4)

  Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio 

  Zhaixing Tower was two or three li to the southeast of the Royal Palace. At such a great distance and under the cover of the swirling wind and snow, no one noticed the slight movement far away. The white and expensive fur coat on Zhaixing Tower trembled slightly. The sparks by the barrel of the gun made a loud noise, but the speed of sound was far slower than the movement of the bullet. 

  At least in this moment, the people on the palace walls and in front of the corner tower were still quietly looking at the warriors waiting for death on the snow in front of the Palace. The Qing military elites spread in all directions did not have any sense that the god of death’s sickle was already cutting through the air and coming closer to their Emperor in a way completely unimaginable to anyone in this world. 

  From Zhaixing Tower to the palace walls, the ripple representing death would last for more than a second, enough for a person to blink a number of times. This time, the Emperor, whose narrowed eyes had been focused on the scene beneath the palace walls, did not notice the occasional flash of light two to three li away. 

  Thus, very little time was left for this Great Grandmaster to react. Of course, he sensed the sudden appearance of a fatal aura in the world, one that even he could not oppose. He only had time to blink his eyes before his face turned pale. The light in his eyes flashed as his body quickly retreated like a gust of smoke. 

  The Emperor was injured. He had burned through a great deal of his zhenqi. At this critical juncture, he exploded with an energy that humans could not have. In an instant, he vanished from where he stood and crashed like a wandering spirit into the corner tower. 

  Suddenly, a muffled whoosh rang out. The bullet, spinning at high speed and unable to make a somersault, scraped past the shoulder of the bright yellow figure and smashed an almost 2-foot large hole of unknown depth in the solid palace wall. Bricks and gravel left the main body and sprayed outward like a blooming flower. 

  Other than the Emperor, who retreated like a wisp of smoke, no one else up and down the palace walls had any reaction. No one had even realized something had happened. At that moment, the vicious flower blooming from the bricks was still in flight. The sharp edges of the stone shards seemed to maintain a calm condition in the air and mixed with the snowflakes around it, landing in the same place. 

  Did the Emperor dodge this shot? No. Regardless of what reason the assassin in the snow on Zhaixing Tower had, he paused for a moment right before he moved his finger. Thus, he made the seemingly fatal shot hit empty air. Immediately after, a second shot followed the first with a thunderous crack. 

  The sound of the first shot had just reached the square in front of the Royal Palace when the second shot arrived. Like smashing through tofu, the bullet punched a fist-sized hole in the wooden door and shot into the silent corner tower. 

  There had never been a certain shot, particularly when the target was an unfathomable Great Grandmaster. The sniping ground that the assassin in the snow on the roof of Zhaixing Tower had chosen was slightly far away because of the tight security around Jingdou. He could clearly calculate the time needed for the bullet to fly through the air. He never expected that such a shot would be able to kill the Emperor, but he knew that the Emperor would tremble all over to avoid the shot and would not hold back. The biological and psychological shock would certainly make the Emperor use all the skill he possessed. 

  And, that was speed. The assassin on Zhaixing Tower clearly calculated the positioning and speed of the Emperor’s dodge. He shifted his position in an instant. His finger squeezed for the second time with unusual steadiness and fired toward the position the Emperor rapidly retreated to. He had actually put all of his hope on this second shot. 

  For the assassin to be able to calculate so much in so little time and come to a conclusion about the Emperor’s decision, it was clear that this assassin knew the Emperor very well and also understood the Emperor’s knowledge and fear toward this gun, which others knew of as the chest. 

  Most importantly, the Zhaixing Tower assassin knew the speed a Great Grandmaster could exhibit at a moment of life and death. Thus, he was able to accurately calculate the Emperor’s final location from which it would be difficult for him to move again. 

  This was impossible to calculate and impossible to prove. No one, other than the Great Grandmasters, could truly force a Great Grandmaster to such extremes, much less understand a Great Grandmaster’s speed. 

  Unless, a Great Grandmaster had personally helped that assassin on Zhaixing Tower and personally trained him countless times. ……

  Without even time to blink, fear suddenly took over the Emperor’s previously calm and cold state. Countless streams of Tyrannical zhenqi exploded out of his body in an instant. Pale-faced, his eyes narrowed slightly. With all his strength, he disappeared from where he stood and crashed into the long silent corner tower. 

  The Emperor, who had always been incomparably confident and powerful and never known fear, finally felt a sliver of fear, a sliver of fear toward death. Although he could not see what the aura that moved him so much was, he knew that the chest he feared the most had finally appeared. 

  A muffled explosion rang out through the walls of the Royal Palace. The second shot went through the wooden door of the corner tower and, following a straight and shape-less line, the killing bullet shot toward the chest of the trembling and wretched Emperor, who had just fled to the rear of the quiet room in the corner tower. 

  This shot was too incredible, to the point that it took into account all of the Emperor’s thoughts and actions. The Tyrannical zhenqi in the Emperor’s body had already exploded into a shapeless flow of air on the walls of the Royal Palace. His body was entirely empty. It was impossible for him to pull off another magical dodge. Even more terrifying, the second shot followed closely with no separation at all. When the Emperor sensed the soul-devouring aura moving toward him in a ripple-like motion, it was impossible for him to make any reaction. 

  However, even though the assassin on Zhaixing Tower calculated for everything, he was unable to account for the fact that the quiet room behind the Emperor was not actually quiet. Inside, there stood many people. A dozen silent, seemingly not breathing, people wore armor like spirits and held thick metal shields. 

  These people seemed to have stood in this quiet corner tower for countless years, never changing their positions and sealing off any possibility of anything firing into this room. During the Jingdou rebellion three years ago, the city was a bloodbath. Neither Fan Xian nor the Great Prince found anything strange about that room. Where had these armored, shield-wielding spirits been at that time? 

  Were these shield-bearers who looked like they had stood indifferently for countless years a final arrangement the Emperor had made to assuage the touch of fear in his heart? Was the sole mission of these shield-bearers, who had stood for countless years, to block for the Emperor from the fatal bullet fired from that chest? 

  How could these metal shields produced by the palace treasury stop the most powerful gunpowder weapon from that other world? This was the last dragon butchering knife, the last Emperor’s sword, the mistress of the palace treasury had left in this world. How could the other legacies she left behind stand against it? 

  No one was able to see clearly what happened in that instant. The shield-bearer standing to the Emperor’s left shook. The dust covering the metal shield held tightly in his hands shook. Immediately after, the Emperor behind the shield shook. 

  The shield-bearer fell with a crash. An opening appeared on the metal shield. It was as if a hammer of heavenly punishment descended from the sky and viciously struck the Emperor. The Emperor flew back violently, smashed through the rear wall of the room in the corner tower, and was knocked miserably into the icy snow covered ground. 

  Fresh blood flowed from the left side of the Emperor’s chest. The injuries he sustained in the Taiji Palace battle earlier were ripped open again by the powerful movements. The wound Thirteenth Wang sliced open on the right side of his chest and the injury Fan Xian’s fingertip sword qi opened up on his neck both begun to bleed again, turning this powerful ruler into a pitiful and bloody man. 

  The Emperor laid on the snowy ground panting for breath as his dark eyes focused and unfocused. The left side of his chest caved in slightly. It was difficult to see the true wound clearly through the puddle of blood. With the snowy ground beneath his head, he kept his eyes wide open and looked at the icy sky that flowed with snowy tears. His hands stretching out of his sleeves were clenched tightly together to stop himself sinking into darkness. 

  Boundless fear and anger surged into his mind. The chest had finally appeared. In this world, the Emperor had always thought that he understood the chest the best, even more so than Chen Pingping. Back then, Xiao Yezi had used this chest to silently kill kings and deliver King Cheng’s family onto the throne. 

  There was no one who did not fear the existence of such an item. Back then, the heir of King Cheng, the Crown Prince, was not afraid because this chest belonged to her. So, it belonged to him. But, after the Taiping Courtyard incident happened, the Emperor began to feel afraid. Every day and night, he felt afraid. He was afraid because he didn’t know when the chest would appear, from where there would suddenly be a burst of sparks that would steal his godly like hand from the air, taking revenge for its mistress. 

  Because of this fear, the Emperor rarely left the Palace after the Taiping Courtyard incident. Actually, as Fan Xian heard when he first entered Jingdou, the Emperor had pretty much never left the Palace again after that matter. 

  Although he had never seen the chest, he knew its terrifying use. He was like a turtle hiding in the lofty Royal Palace with the four walls of the Palace protecting him. It was impossible to find any building in Jingdou that could pass through these palace walls. 

  The Emperor’s subjects and officials all thought that the Emperor was busy with state affairs, which was why he remained locked deep in the Palace. Who would have thought he was afraid? Everyone thought the Emperor was generous and loving of his people and not willing to cause a disturbance, which was why he did not tour his kingdom. Who knew it was because he was afraid? 

  This situation continued until the fourth year of the Qing calendar. The Danzhou child finally entered the capital. Lao Wu truly seemed to have forgotten many things. No one connected him to the Taiping Courtyard incident. Only then did the Emperor gradually relax and would occasionally leave the Palace in disguise. Even so, he did not leave Jingdou. Who knew if the spark of revenge was waiting for him in the darkness of the endless Qing fields? For the Dong Mountain matter, the Emperor had no choice but to leave Jingdou. However, he summoned Fan Xian back to Danzhou, to his side, at the first opportunity. It seemed that he could only feel safe with this son by his side. 

  What a tragic life this was to speak of. The Emperor possessed vast territories and millions of subjects, yet he could not see or touch it. He seemed to have everything in the second half of his life. In reality, he was nothing more than a prisoner who locked himself in the Royal Palace. 

  The Emperor was not afraid of death. He was only afraid that he would not see his grand ambitions come to fruition before he died. There were not many people or things that could kill him in the world, other than the blind man and the chest. Thus, when Chen Pingping returned from Dazhou with unusual coldness and cold-bloodedness, the Emperor also felt a chill alongside his rage. 

  Just like this, the dust-covered shield-bearing warriors hid inside this corner tower in the Royal Palace. When the Emperor narrowed his eyes and put his hands behind his back as he watched the old dog die on the execution field in the autumn rain, these people had stood and waited silently behind him. However, the chest had not appeared that day. 

  The chest had now abruptly appeared. Sorrowfully, the Emperor discovered that he had still underestimated the terror of the chest. At least, he had underestimated the abilities of the person using the chest. He had not thought that aura of death would be able to accurately find his location under the protection of the corner tower and be able to easily break through the metal shields and, finally, land heartlessly on his body. 

  The pure white snow was dyed red by the blood flowing from the Emperor’s body. The people on the tower finally had a reaction. Although they still don’t know what happened, they at least knew that the situation had changed. 

  With a terrified expression, Eunuch Yao crawled to the Emperor’s side. His voice was so hoarse he could not say a single word. His entire body trembled as his hands clawed unconsciously at the wound on the Emperor’s chest. He pulled out some shattered metal pieces and flesh but was unable to find the weapon. 

  The Emperor’s body rose with his panting breaths. His slightly unfocused gaze looked at Eunuch Yao beside him. “I…… won’t…… die!” 

  These words were forced out by the Emperor through gritted teeth. Having suffered such heavy injuries, even the most ruthless words appeared tired and weak. The Emperor’s gaze went past Eunuch Yao’s face. He continued to stare fiercely at the snow falling from the heavens. In his heart, he cried out wretchedly, I am ordained by heaven! Who can kill me! I won’t die today because heaven will not let me die! 

  The assassin on Zhaixing Tower accounted for everything but the strength of this Great Grandmaster’s physical body. More accurately, he did not account for the fact that the Emperor, who looked at the world from up high, would be so terrified of death as to wear a breastplate under his dragon robe. 

  After the shot from the rifle traveled through the Jingdou air, it went through the metal shield. Although it did not go off course and accurately struck the Emperor’s chest, it was the end of a powerful shot. It only shattered a large area of the Emperor’s breast bone but did not tear through all the flesh it came into contact with and immediately blow away this Emperor’s life. 

  In the desolated garden earlier, the Emperor had mockingly scolded Fan Xian when he had taken out a metal sheet from his clothes and said that small tricks could not accomplish great things. Who would have thought that, in the end, the Emperor would rely on these small tricks to, fortunately, escape with his life? 

  All those who do great things are cautious. No matter how extreme the caution, it was all necessary. It was necessary to cherish life, no matter how difficult and boring. Speaking from this matter, the Emperor and Fan Xian were two very similar and shameless people. 

  “Zhaixing Tower.” The Emperor’s scattered gaze focused on the gray dome above him. He knew the person using the chest could not be Lao Wu. If it was him, he would probably have killed his way into the Royal Palace already. He sighed, and said, “Kill everyone.” ……

  The Emperor was abruptly met with an assassination and had fallen unconscious. His life and death were uncertain. This was a lightning-like change. The shock made all of officials and generals on the palace walls feel numb. No one knew what they should do. Countless people up and down the palace walls surrounded the warriors who had still not escaped. If this second wave of arrows were sent out, everyone would probably die, including the still unconscious Fan Xian. 

  The imperial doctors were already coming from the Imperial Academy of Medicine. Gong Dian, pale-faced, had already rushed to the Emperor’s side and taken out the medication he carried. He was trying to stop the bleeding, but it did not seem very effective. 

  Eunuch Yao still firmly remembered the Emperor’s final instruction before he fainted. Trembling, he wound around the corner tower and carefully moved closer to the side of the Deputy Commander of the Imperial Army. In a hoarse voice, he announced the Emperor’s final order to kill everyone. 

  Eunuch Yao stood hunched over on the palace walls and appeared particularly funny, but he was truly terrified. He knew how powerful the Emperor was. Yet, such a powerful ruler had been injured so severely by an unseen assassin. How could he not be afraid? He was even worried that, in the next moment, he would be torn into chunks of flesh by an unseen line in the air. 

  What happened next made Eunuch Yao’s pupils shrink fiercely. He laid on the ground, once again proving his terror. 

  There was a muffled thud. The Deputy Commander of the Imperial Army was standing coldly on the palace walls and about to wave the flags and give orders for the soldiers up and down the walls to release a rain of arrows. However, his arm had just moved when his entire head suddenly disappeared. 

  Just like a ghost story in broad daylight, the head of the Deputy Commander of the Imperial Army suddenly exploded like a ripe watermelon or a filled skein on water. It exploded without reason, turning into a puddle of blood and bone on the palace walls, scattering all over the sky. 

  Even more horrifying, after the head of the Deputy Commander exploded, it seemed that his body did not know that its body had already become mush flying through the air. The right arm continued to rise. It then dropped down decrepitly. It looked like a puppet with its strings cut as it came crashing down. 

  Wretched cries rang out on the palace walls. Such a hair-raising scene had abruptly taken place in front of countless officials and soldiers. How could they not be frightened and scared? Everyone trembled and searched desperately with their eyes on the palace walls, beneath the palace walls, among their peers, and even amidst the empty sky filled with only falling snow. 

  Of course, they didn’t find anything. They had no idea what had happened. They only knew that the Deputy Commander’s head had suddenly exploded. 

  \r \r \r 

  How could these elites of the Qing military think of the fact that the assassin was many li away? They shouted fruitlessly and searched angrily. The fruitless searching gradually turned into terror. Was this kind of invisible assassin and unstoppable killing something that mortals could oppose? 

  Boundless terror began to spread across the walls of the palace. All of the soldiers searched helplessly. Some people were about to break under this silent pressure. The arrows aimed at the group beneath the palace walls unconsciously relaxed a little. 

  Discipline within the Qing military was very strict. It would not fall apart because of the Deputy Commander’s tragic death. On the battlefield and during rebellions, soldiers of the Qing military had seen countless strange situations and tragic deaths. However, this god-like strike now made it impossible for those who saw it to not think in strange directions. 

  Another general roared bravely, wanting to soothe the emotions of the imperial soldier. At the same time, he sent an order to attack. His roar only continued for a few moments before it stopped abruptly because the killing intent that terrified the soldiers on the palace walls struck again. A hole was blown through the chest of this general. His intestines turned into a puddle of blood. He didn’t even make a sound before he crashed down. 

  With this, the atmosphere of terror could no longer be suppressed. The situation on the palace walls dissolved into chaos. ……

  Naturally, the disturbance on the palace walls had reached the foot of the walls. The soldiers sealing off all escape by imperial order did not know what had happened. The archers aiming at the people in the snow waiting to die felt their hands grow sore, yet there was still no order to fire. The generals furrowed their brows even more. They were worried about what happened on the palace walls for things to become so chaotic. 

  If this was a usual battle, if the Royal Palace was a simple battlefield, then no one would stupidly wait for the Emperor’s order to fire. However, it was not like any other day. The tens of thousands of arrows were pointed at Sir Fan junior. 

  Everyone knew what killing Fan Xian meant. Everyone also knew that there were favoritism, resentment, affection, and hate between Sir Fan junior and the Emperor. Without the Emperor’s explicit orders, no one would impetuously fire. At this time, the generals at the foot of the palace walls did not know that the Emperor was heavily injured and unconscious, with his life hanging in the balance. 

  This strange silence did not continue for a long time. Generals must have their own reactions when faced with a tense situation. Even just outside the palace, the Qing generals had their own authority to take action. Hidden behind the archers, General Shi Fei furrowed his brows and looked at the center of the snowy ground. He noticed that the surrounded assassins seemed to have sensed the disturbance on the palace walls and began to have the courage and intention to break through the siege. 

  In the end, Shi Fei was the incredible figure who could single-handedly deal with Yan Xiaoyi’s subordinates, the Northern Expedition Camp. From somewhere, blood rushed to his heart. He did not directly give the order to attack. Instead, he had his deputy beside him give the order. For one, an unnamed terror made him make this choice. Additionally, Shi Fei was like all the other civil and martial officials in the Qing Kingdom. He never ever wanted Fan Xian to die directly at his hands. 

  This thought directly saved Shi Fei’s life. The deputy beside him had just raised the command flag in his hand when he fell to the ground. It was not because he did not sit steadily on his horse or some other reason. Following the body of the deputy, his horse beneath him also fell into the snow. Countless rivulets of blood stained the white snow red. 

  Shi Fei’s pupils shrank as he looked at the blood and flesh of his deputy with a slightly pale face. He knew that if he had given the order earlier, then he would have already died. Who could block this kind of shapeless, insubstantial, and unpredictable attacks? 

  Shi Fei also now knew the reason for the disturbance on the palace walls. But, was the Emperor still alive? ……

  After the chaos, the palace walls returned to its quiet peacefulness and a death-like stillness. The discipline of the Qing military was indeed the best in the world. Under the terrifying threat of that heavenly strike, who dared to move? All of the soldiers’ faces were pale to the point of turning green. They were waiting for the Emperor’s order, but the Emperor never appeared on the palace walls again. 

  Another gunshot sliced through the quiet of the square in front of the Royal Palace. When a straw-hat wearing Ascetic Monk tried to use his courage to lead the silent soldiers in a charge, he was accurately shot into the snowy ground. He didn’t even twitch at all before he turned into a dead body. 

  A death-like silence. Another gunshot. Another death-like silence. Another gunshot. 

  After four rounds, four new bodies were in the snow. The sound of the gun fell silent. It was as if it would not sound again. Everyone on the palace walls understood that this top assassin, who could kill at a distance, was warning everyone in the Qing court to not try to make any impetuous movements. Anyone who dared to move on this white snowy ground would become one of his targets. 

  A sound, a death, a body lying in the snow. There were no accidents. This kind of cold and silent announcement froze everyone’s heart. This was one person challenging a kingdom. ……

  The death-like silence dragged on and on. Even the horses grew restless and kicked their hooves, sending up showers of white snow. The warriors surrounded in the snow also seemed unwilling to touch the Qing military’s tightly stretched nerves and did not choose to force their way through at this moment. 

  No one knew what those muffled sounds ringing through Jingdou’s snowing skies were or how those people died. 

  In full armor, Ye Zhong sat coldly on his horse. He led enough elite riders to ensure two charges and the deaths of the warriors, but he also didn’t move. Although he could hear that the muffled sounds came from behind him with his ninth-level strength, he faintly felt that the omnipresent assassin could not cover the entire field. It was still a problem of finding a gap. If the riders charged over, presumably, the assassin would not be able to stop him. 

  But, Ye Zhong just sat silently and steadily on his horse. The Emperor’s life and death was uncertain and. He held the highest position on the field, yet he refused to say anything, just like how he had been in the Qing court all these years. He never revealed anything, but no one dared to underestimate him. 

  The reason Ye Zhong did not move was simple. It was not because the Emperor had not given an order. It was because he knew what those life-stealing items that seemed to fly in from nowhere were and what the muffled sounds were. 

  It was the chest. The chest had finally reappeared. Ye Zhong shuttered his eyes slightly, not caring about the hot gazes of the generals beside him like he was asleep. In reality, shocking waves were surging in his heart. 

  When the Taiping Courtyard matter erupted back then, he had been transferred by the Emperor to Dingzhou as backup. It was clear that the Emperor did not trust where he stood between him and Ye Qingmei. Remembering the past, Ye Qingmei had fought against the still young Ye Zhong when she first entered Jingdou. Ye Zhong knew the people back then too well. Although he never expressed any opinions, it did not mean he didn’t know about the matter of the chest, Taiping Courtyard, and why Chen Pingping betrayed the Emperor. 

  Many images and people flashed through Ye Zhong’s mind. He also felt somewhat tired. In the end, his gaze became clear and landed on the body of the young man in the snow, reminding him of the young man’s mother who had carried that chest, the young lady who had refused his inspection at the city gate. 

  In this matter, Ye Zhong felt that the Emperor was wrong. Thus, he remained silent. Before there was an order, he would not move. ……

  How long could a death-like silence last? How long would this wind and snow go on for before they stopped? A young man wearing light yellow robes climbed step by step up the walls of the Royal Palace. He stood by the walls and looked calmly down at Fan Xian in the snow. 

  The imperial soldiers on the palace walls had grown chaotic. Most of the people had their heads bowed unconsciously, hiding from death that possibly came from the heavens. Thus, this youth in light yellow robes standing on the palace wall appeared very tall and brave. 

  “According to Qing law, if the Emperor is unconscious and unable to oversee matters, do I not automatically become regent?” The Third Prince, Li Chengping, asked with his fists clenched tightly within his sleeves. 

  Eunuch Yao’s face was pale. His eyes darted wildly as he replied in a trembling voice, “But, the Emperor just fainted. It hasn’t been more than seven days.” 

  “Can the situation at hand wait? Do you want to watch the generals of the Qing Kingdom be struck down by heaven?” Li Chengping turned his head and looked ruthlessly at Eunuch Yao. 

  Eunuch Yao’s heart froze as he said, “Your Highness, these are state affairs. I should not interfere. I’m afraid that after the Emperor wakes……” 

  “There is nothing to be afraid of, disperse everyone.” The icy coldness in Li Chengping’s eyes grew colder and colder. The chill in Eunuch Yao’s heart grew deeper and deeper. Although the Third Prince had become a gentle prince these years under Fan Xian’s tutelage, Eunuch Yao knew what a ruthless character this prince was in the past. Once he was pushed too far and remembered this resentment, how would he live in the future? 

  Besides, the territory of the Qing Kingdom would eventually be handed to the Third Prince. If the Emperor could not be saved, it would be the Third Prince on the throne. 

  “Wait for them to leave the square before giving chase. There’ll be some explanation for my father. What point is there in being in a stalemate here?” Li Chengping narrowed his eyes and looked at his brother and teacher in the snow, not revealing anything he shouldn’t. ……

  In the snow on Zhaixing Tower, the metal tube under the white and expensive fur coat rang out endlessly, tearing through the air, and collecting the lives far away in the Royal Palace. These sounds were very loud. Although the recoil had been reduced a great deal, the snow on the roof of Zhaixing Tower still slid around from the shaking. However, the noise traveled very far and disturbed the people in the streets and homes around the area. 

  The bailiffs of the Jingdou government had long noticed the strangeness of this place. However, Zhaixing Tower was a forbidden area by the court. Although it had been deserted for many years, no one was allowed to go in and check without paperwork. Additionally, it was still the beginning of the month and the New Year was still being celebrated. The bailiffs thought to themselves that perhaps a child from some family was inside setting off firecrackers, although the sound of these firecrackers was rather loud. 

  In the end, it was the internal court that reacted quicker. Before the Emperor fainted, he had spoken the name of Zhaixing Tower with unusual coldness. The aces of the internal court quietly left the Royal Palace and headed to the left of the Royal Palace along the imperial river. Going through the woods, they reached the east side of Jingdou as quickly as possible. 

  Even separated by two streets, the loud noises from Zhaixing Tower reached them. These internal court aces gathered their focus and forced down the nervousness in their hearts as they split in four directions and approached. They believed that since the terrifying assassin was still on Zhaixing Tower, he would not be able to escape from their encirclement. 

  When the aces of the internal court charged bravely into the courtyard of Zhaixing Tower and finally reached the roof, they did not find anyone. There was only a clear imprint in the thick snow on the rooftop. Other than this mark, it was completely empty. It was as if no one had ever come. It was so quiet that it made one’s heart feel weak. 

  Snowflakes fell endlessly. The aces of the internal court carefully checked the mark left in the snow on the rooftop, but they discovered that the terrifying assassin had not left any clues. Although the mark was clear, it had been cleaned up. It was even impossible to see the shape of the person’s body. 

  An internal court guard stood guard at the entrance of an alley around Zhaixing Tower. His face was slightly pale. He cautiously watched the few pedestrians. Suddenly, he saw a servant-like person approaching him. His heart thudded loudly. 

  The servant was a youth. What made this internal court guard suspicious was the thick fur he had wrapped around him. Although the fur looked tattered and not worth much, it fully enveloped the green clothing within. However, it was flipped at the hem, revealing the other side of the fur. 

  It was pure as snow. It was a very expensive piece of fur. Whose servant would be able to afford such an expensive item? 

  The guard’s pupils narrowed. He stepped in front of the servant immediately and called for his companions. Unexpectedly, he felt his eyesight swim. Immediately afterward, everything beneath his chin felt numb. This ace of the internal court leaned against the wall of the alley and immediately died. His body was incomparably frozen and did not fall. 

  The servant rubbed his fingertip and removed the slender needle stuck in his chin. Wrapping the thick fur tightly around him, as if afraid of the cold, he walked out of the alley and quickly disappeared into the wind and snow in Jingdou. ……

  In Jingdou, the wind and snow was turbulent, so was the disturbance. Yet, not many people knew what happened in front of the tightly guarded Royal Palace. The dazed Imperial Censors of the Imperial Censorate had long been forcefully escorted back to their manors the previous night. The leaders of various departments had also been informed by the Overwatch Council and forcefully kept in their manors. Even Scholar Hu could not get near the Royal Palace. 

  Such oppressive tension and ripples did not take long to spread to the street in the south of Jingdou. Countless noble families lived on this street. Everyone’s fearful and suspicious gazes were focused on one family: the Fan manor. 

  The Fan manor was as usual. There was no panic, sorrow, or tension. Those meant to boil water, boiled water. Those meant to prepare food, prepared food. The results of Fan Xian’s negotiation with the Emperor in the Palace was clearly not reflected in the manor. The mistress of the manor, Lin Wan’er, did not take her family and leave the capital to return to Danzhou during this short period of time with the Emperor’s implicit consent. She continued to remain in the manor in a somewhat terrifying silence. She sat in the Flower Hall and waited for the return of her man. If he didn’t come back, what purpose was there in her leaving Jingdou? 

  “Why is Ruoruo still not up?” Lin Wan’er smiled warmly, but there was a faint sorrow in her smile. She looked at Sisi, who was feeding a child, and asked, “Did you call her?” 

  As she spoke, the young lady of the Fan family, who had just been released from the Royal Palace last night, walked in slowly from outside the hall. She was as clean as usual with the usual coldness between her brows. The shoes on her feet were stained with a drop of snow. She looked at her sister-in-law and smiled. She then sat down by the table. Picking up her chopsticks, her hand holding the chopsticks was steady and did not tremble at all.