Nightfall

“Don’t try to fool me! My father went out of the palace with the National Master or Master Huang Yang. And he never worried about the safety when he was in the palace because of the God-stunning Array. Nobody could kill the Li’s in the palace!”

Li Huiyuan shouted harshly, “I want to see how you can kill me!”

He might have looked calm and confident, but at last, his voice was trembling.

Xu Chongshan lifted up his right fist, and said expressionlessly, “A punch would be enough to kill you.”

Xu Chongshan waved his fist. The fist broke the wind and punched heavily on a yellow oil-paper umbrella.

After a rumbling sound, the surface of the umbrella caved in a little, but it wasn’t torn apart.

He Mingchi, with the umbrella in one hand and Li Huiyuan in another, backed up to a hundred feet away.

Behind him was the unimpressive little building.

On eaves of the far-away halls and walls, there were lots of animal carvings. After Xu Chongshan waved out his first strike, a slight aura was slowly given out by these divine carvings.

Xu Chongshan paled after he sensed the aura, but he didn’t care.

He had been a bodyguard in the palace for more than ten years. He started as a normal bodyguard and finally became the marshal of all bodyguards. There was no one who knew the Imperial Palace’s tactical array more than him.

Even Ning Que, who had followed Master Yan Se’s last wish to maintain the God-stunning Array, was inferior to Xu Chongshan when talking about the Array.

What made him cautious was He Mingchi who was standing before the small building.

“Why are you here?”

He Mingchi didn’t answer. Instead, he looked at him and frowned; then he said, “Another leftover of the Devil’s Doctrine? You’ve been hilding in the palace for so many years.”

Upon hearing those words, Li Huiyuan opened his eyes widely and said resentfully, “I should’ve known that you were a subordinate of the she-devil!”

Xu Chongshan ignored him and talked to He Mingchi calmly, “I know you’ve been hiding your cultivation level for all these years. It’s a pity that you’re no match for me even in your real level.”

“And you can no longer be my match even if you become the National Master of the Empire in the future.”

He Mingchi looked at him and said, “You’re a powerhouse of the Devil’s Doctrine and of course I am no match for you. But you’ve made a little mistake on your judgment today, and that will cost your life.”

Xu Chongshan felt that the aura of the animal-carvings on the eaves grew overwhelmingly in mere moments.

Xu Chongshan realized that the guy appeared before the small building at midnight, and then some crazy idea came to his mind. He watched He Mingchi with astonishment and said, “How dare you get in the building! There’s no way that you can open the array eye!”

He Mingchi glanced at Li Huiyuan and said with a smile, “This is a privilege His Majesty gave me. As for the array eye… I can still open the Killer Matrix without the array pestle.”

Xu Chongshan moaned and paled suddenly. He felt his chest getting stuffier and his heart beating faster and faster, which nearly cracked all his bones, and his blood felt like bursting out.

He took a deep breath and forced himself to resist the suppression the God-stunning Array brought on him. Then roaring came out of his two lips. His body, which was strong like a mountain, moved forward with a rumbling sound, and his first headed directly to Li Huiyuan standing beside He Mingchi.

He Mingchi was surprised that this powerhouse of the Devil’s Doctrine could remain so vigorous under the suppression of the Killer Matrix. He turned serious and opened the umbrella before him, then he pulled Li Huiyuan behind him.

His right fist, or even his whole body clashed heavily on the yellow oil-paper umbrella.

The umbrella cracked and its ribs had broken into pieces.

He Mingchi spit out blood and fell backwards, knocking into Li Huiyuan’s body.

Li Huiyuan screamed in pain, not knowing how many of his bones were broken.

Xu Chongshan was standing like a mountain. He clenched his fist and was going to strike again.

In the dark Imperial Garden, a light sound rang out.

His face paled like snow. He had his hand on his chest, and then he fell down.

His heart was shattered.

On the palace grounds under the dim night lights, broken porcelain pieces were everywhere. All the eunuchs and maids, with the palm prints and scars on their faces, were terrified and restless.

After being treated by an imperial physician, Li Huiyuan’s injury was finally stabilized. He looked at the bandages on his naked body and at He Mingchi, who was pale and coughing incessantly. All his remaining fears turned to anger.

He Mingchi coughed and said, “Your Majesty, we should inform Her Highness of this immediately.”

“Don’t bother her.”

Li Huiyuan didn’t know why but he didn’t want to see his sister now, or why he was afraid to see her. He subconsciously asked to prevent the news from spreading, no matter what dangerous situation he was faced with.

He looked at the eunuchs and maids in the hall, and warned in a cold voice, “Anyone who lets out the secret will be clubbed to death.”

The eunuchs and maids fell on their knees immediately.

Li Huiyuan got angrier when he thought about the danger he had encountered. His eyes turned red, and his right hand, which hadn’t been hurt, was shaking. He slapped heavily on the desk and said coldly, “I know that the subordinates of the she-devil didn’t give up. And they will try to steal my throne while the Empire is in danger.”

He Mingchi said in a gentle voice, “Your Majesty, please don’t get angry. We need to be careful about this.”

Li Huiyuan was infuriated and shouted, “Careful about what? You’re always telling me and my sister to be patient! You’re always telling me to mind the overall situation! Now see what those people have done! They’re trying to kill me! How can I be patient with that!”

Cruelty and coldness emerged on the new Emperor’s face. He stared at He Mingchi in the eyes and said, “I don’t have the patience anymore. I want to kill all of them.”

Zhuge Wuren was waiting for the good news from the palace in his home, and he was quite patient.

Xu Chongshan, who had lurked in the palace for so many years, was quite a reliable person in Zhuge Wuren’s eyes. And as long as Xu Chongshan struck, the new Emperor Li Huiyuan had a poor chance to survive.

However, the news of the Emperor’s death didn’t come to him. Several men in black showed up and before Zhuge Wuren could open his mouth to beg, he was killed by those men in black who were very likely to be his old subordinates.

At the same time, assassins showed up in the house of the Minister of Rites and the house of the Taichang Temple’s Director.

Chang’an City on that night was full of spreading rumors and screams of killings. Some residents panicked, others set fire to create chaos. People fought and died in abrupt clashes, and the chaos spread, growing fiercer and fiercer.

Those officials supporting the Empress were brutally struck and many of them died or were hurt. These officials might have had strong servants guarding their houses, but these servants were no match for cultivators.

The former house of the Grand Secretary, and the House of the Zeng’s which had been long deserted, grew crowded again tonight. The lanterns hung on the wall by the stewards were knocked off and burning on the stone edge. People gathered here from all directions and screamed, trying to break into the house.

There was a loud boom, and the Zeng’s house gate was pulled down. Numerous people flowed into the house. They attacked whoever they ran into, and broke whatever they saw. The servants and steward of the house had weapons in their hands, but there were just a few of them. They failed and drew back. Several men in black cloth came to help, but they were killed by a silver ray in the darkness before they started to move.

The formation made by the steward and the servants was dispersed after they were hurt. The crowd flowed to the rooms at the back of the yard. They shouted with excitement, “Find the parents of the she-devil, and stone them to death!”

In the garden behind the house, Zeng Jing and his wife were listening to the killing and fighting sounds in the front of the house. They looked at the vegetable plot with no fruit in it. Then they kept silent and held each other’s hands.

“I’ve been retired since the accident happened to our daughter, and I cared no more about political affairs. I didn’t go back to the royal court when the new Emperor ascended the throne. And I never attended Her Majesty’s appointment. I thought I was honest and inconspicuous enough, but the sister and brother pair in the Imperial Palace, they still remember me.”

Zeng Jing looked at his wife and said, “So sorry to have dragged you into this.”

His wife continued with tears on her face, “I have nothing to fear if we’re dying together. The only one I’m worried about is our daughter. How sad she would be if she won’t be able to see us anymore.”

“Without her, we wouldn’t end up so… ” Zeng Jing pause and sighed, “It’s over now. I guess this is our destiny.”

Those crazy mobsters had rushed into the back of the house. Zeng Jing looked at the bloody table legs and stones in their hands and held his wife in his arms silently.

At the same time, He Mingchi showed up by the vegetable plot with the yellow oil-paper umbrella under his arm.

He looked at the leader of the mobsters and frowned.

The angry and crazy crowd slowly dispersed.

The house of the Zeng’s went back to peace.

Zeng Jing and his wife had no time to check on the injured servants and stewards. They looked at He Mingchi, and they had a lot to ask.

They could’ve been killed if he hadn’t shown up.

But obviously, the guy was the prime culprit of the riot in Chang’an tonight because those mobsters and their leader retreated after their first glance at him.

“I heard that you will become the National Master of the Empire.”

He Mingchi smiled and said, “I missed the chance.”

Zeng Jing said coldly, “Of course you did, especially after all these bloody things you’ve done.”

He Mingchi was talking about the opportunity, and Zeng Jing was talking about the qualifications. They were not talking about the same thing.

“I’ve never said I was a nice person.”

He Mingchi looked at him and said, “So Your Excellency, you don’t get to judge me. You don’t need to ask why I would let you and your house off today, because I don’t know the answer, either.”

“You’re the birth parents of Yama’s Daughter, why can’t I kill you?”

He Mingchi was thinking it to himself, and he looked quite confused. But he couldn’t figure out the reason, so he shook his head and left the house of the Zeng’s.

The crowd left, and the gate of the house had been broken. A broken door could be dangerous on the chaotic night. What was worse, someone had set fire at the front of the yard, and it was expanding.

Zeng Jing, his wife, and other injured people left the house in order, with one supporting another. They set the carriage and left for the Yanming Lake where they could get away from the chaos in the house of their son-in-law.

At the same time, ten men in black cloth ran closely with short knives in their hands. The leader looked relieved when he saw that Zeng Jing and his wife didn’t get hurt.

“Your Excellency, Mr. Qi asked us to bring you to the Spring Breeze Pavilion.”