Chapter 431: One Step Away |
East Straight Gate, a majestic portal that had witnessed countless merchants and travelers pass through, bearing the prosperity of the capital, had now become a hellish battleground of blood and fire.
The blazing flames from the torches cast flickering light and shadow across the terrified faces of the soldiers. The sounds of battle cries, the clash of weapons, and the dying screams of the wounded intertwined, tearing through the silent night sky of the capital.
A dozen or so agile, ghostlike black figures, escorting a prisoner in chains whose back remained straight as a blade, pierced through the seemingly impenetrable defensive line of the Imperial Guard like a sharp knife.
At the very front was a death-man wearing a bronze mask. He wielded no weapon, yet his seemingly ordinary palms were the deadliest tools of all. Facing three Imperial Guards who flanked him from the side, their long spears leveled, he didn't even spare them a glance. He simply slapped out casually.
*Boom!*
An invisible force erupted violently. The three Imperial Guards, men and spears alike, flew backward as if struck head-on by a battering ram, screaming in agony. Midair, they spat out blood. When they hit the ground, their bones shattered. It was clear they wouldn't survive.
These guards were none other than the Shadow Guards, the ultimate trump card that Yongchang Marquis Chen Yuan had spent ten years secretly cultivating using the elixirs provided by the black-robed man.
Every single member of this group was at least at the early-stage Qi Refining level. Before an army of mortals, they were incomprehensible monsters.
Though the Imperial Guard had the advantage in numbers, they were as fragile as withered autumn grass before the Shadow Guards, easily mowed down in droves. When blades and spears struck the Shadow Guards, they only sparked against their bodies, leaving not even a white mark behind.
"This... this isn't power that mortals can possess!" he roared hoarsely. "Loose arrows! Loose arrows, I command! Shoot them down!"
On the city wall, archers who had been ready for some time released their bowstrings.
*Whir—*
A dense rain of arrows descended like a black storm cloud, covering the sky and the earth, their sharp whistling piercing the air and sending chills down spines.
Yet, a despair-inducing scene unfolded.
The arrows, flying like locusts, struck the Shadow Guards' bodies with a series of metallic *clinks*. Arrowheads shattered, shafts snapped. Aside from leaving shallow white dots on their black robes, not a single arrow managed to pierce their skin!
Yongchang Marquis Chen Yuan was guarded tightly in the center of the battle circle. Watching this devastating, effortless slaughter before him, the once-dim flame of hope reignited in his eyes and burned ever brighter!
He trembled with excitement.
It worked! The black-robed man hadn't lied to him! This batch of death-men, nurtured with countless resources and elixirs, was his final trump card, and the strongest one at that!
He turned his head to glance toward the Imperial Palace. The cluster of buildings, appearing even more forbidding in the night, now held only boundless hatred in his eyes.
"Xu Qing... the Emperor... just you wait!" he raged silently in his mind. "As long as I escape this day, before long, I will return with three hundred thousand iron cavalry and repay everything you've done to me today a hundredfold! When that time comes, the capital will flow with rivers of blood!"
The flame of hope blazed fiercely in his chest.
The world was vast—if he could just break out of this cage, it would be a wide sea for the fish to leap, a vast sky for the bird to soar!
The Shadow Guards protected him, smashing through everything in their path, advancing all the way to the foot of the massive city gate. The final defensive line, consisting of several hundred Imperial Guards, wavered before them.
The gate was within arm's reach!
"Break the gate!" the Yongchang Marquis growled, barely containing his explosive excitement.
The leading Shadow One moved like lightning, instantly breaking through the last few Imperial Guards blocking him and reaching the massive gate forged from ten thousand pounds of Mystic Iron.
He took a deep breath. A bloody gleam flashed in his eyes behind the bronze mask. The spiritual energy of his late-stage Qi Refining cultivation surged into motion, converging entirely into his right palm.
"Open!"
With a thunderous shout, his palm, not particularly thick, slammed heavily against the icy cold gate!
*BOOM—!!!*
A terrifying sound so immense it made the entire capital tremble!
Under that single palm strike, the colossal gate, along with its massive crossbars, was forced inward, twisted, and deformed! Countless splinters of wood and shards of metal shot toward the inside of the city, tearing apart the soldiers who had been trying to brace the gate with their bodies and heavy logs in an instant!
The enormous gate burst open with a grating *creak*!
Beyond the gate was the free, cool, and moisture-laden night air, the endless darkness leading to the Northern Barbarian!
A wild, joyous light exploded in the Yongchang Marquis's eyes!
He couldn't wait, taking a step forward—
Just one step.
Right as the tip of his foot was about to cross that threshold, the symbol of the boundary between prison and freedom,
His foot froze, as if a spell had been cast on him, stopping dead in midair.
The wild joy on his face froze as well, like a lake suddenly sealed by ice.
Not just him.
The dozen or so Shadow Guards behind him, who had been slaughtering fiercely and brimming with momentum just a moment ago, all halted their actions simultaneously. The violent killing intent radiating from them was snuffed out instantly by an invisible force, replaced by a primal vigilance and trembling, like that of prey meeting its natural predator.
Outside East Straight Gate, which had just been ringing with battle cries, fell into an eerie, suffocating silence.
The torchlight stretched out from the open gate, illuminating the empty ground beyond.
And there, at the border between light and darkness,
A figure in a blue robe stood, having appeared there without anyone noticing when.
He stood with his hands behind his back, a low-pulled bamboo hat covering his entire face, revealing only a clearly defined chin.
He simply stood there quietly, as if he had merged with the heavy night.
He released no earth-shattering pressure, not even a trace of spiritual energy fluctuation.
But just standing there, he had become an invisible yet insurmountable wall, blocking everyone's path, and... blocking the hope that had just begun to burn in the Yongchang Marquis's eyes.