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.