Chapter 712

In the inner city.

Xu Pingzhi rode on horseback, leading 15 cavalrymen and 50 Imperial Blade Guards on foot, patrolling the streets at a moderate speed.

The Imperial Blade Guards carried bows and crossbows on their backs and swords on their waists, looking solemn.

Martial law was enforced in the inner city. People were not allowed to go out, and those who went on the streets without permission were killed. This was to prevent the panic of the people and to prevent the enemy spies from secretly instigating the people and creating chaos.

Even a three-year-old child would not believe that there were no spies from the rebel army in the capital.

"Boss, do you think the capital can be defended? Listen to the movement, it seems that the southern part of the city has fallen. "

On the right rear, a young Imperial Blade Guard caught up with him on horseback and said in a worried tone.

Xu Pingzhi was immersed in his own world and did not hear it.

"Boss?"

The young Imperial Blade Guard tilted his head and raised his voice as he shouted.

Only then did Xu Pingzhi snap out of his daze. He frowned.

"Just patrol the streets and do your job. The rest will be taken care of by the officials. Don't think too much."

The young Imperial Blade Guard grinned and said,

"If you say that 'my nephew' will take care of it, I will feel at ease."

Xu Pingzhi was now a Qianhu of the Imperial Blade Guard, and a Qianhu with real power. It was enough to say that he held an important position and had great power.

All of this, of course, was due to his amazing "education" level. Everyone in the capital knew that Baihu Xu Pingzhi of the Imperial Blade Guard taught the unparalleled hero Xu Yinluo and the two-ranked Jinshi Xu Xinnian.

The former was a household name, needless to say.

The latter was highly talented, able to write and use martial arts to pacify the country. He had made many contributions on the battlefield.

To this day, there was no longer anyone who criticized Xu Pingzhi for not being a good son and burying Xu Yinluo, a good scholar.

It was true that Xu Yinluo was a scholar, but it was certainly not wrong to ask him to practice martial arts.

The young Imperial Blade Guard whispered tentatively,

"Boss, give me a definite answer. Is Xu Yinluo sure that he can defend the capital?"

Seeing that Xu Pingzhi did not respond, he prodded,

"You don't know, but during the defense in the capital a few days ago, we could all see that the rebel army is most likely coming. Everyone said that Xu Yinluo was a spent force and that the victory in Xunzhou was Daibun's final radiance.

"Or maybe there was no victory at all. It was just a lie to deceive the people and us."

Normally, Xu Pingzhi would defend his nephew, and it would be very easy to get information out of him.

But now, he could only sigh silently in his heart.

His eldest brother had fought his way to the capital. This meant that the father and son would have an ending today.

Second Uncle Xu was different from Auntie. Auntie stood firmly on her unlucky nephew's side. After all, he was a child that she had raised with her own hands.

However, Xu Pingfeng was Second Uncle Xu's biological brother. Even though the two of them had become strangers since long ago, when he thought about how only one of his nephew and older brother could live and how they would fight each other, Xu Pingzhi's heart surged with pain that was difficult to conceal.

… …

In a barracks in the city, Wei Yuan stood in front of a map of the capital. His eyes were not on the map, but on a bronze mirror in his hand.

The mirror was in the shape of a half-moon and was incomplete.

The scene of the battle was reflected in the mirror. This magic treasure, the "Celestial Divine Mirror," had been given to him by Xu Xinnian. It could help him strategize and observe the battle in real time.

Wei Yuan was currently only a mortal and could not participate in the defense of the city.

The northern gate of the capital was guarded by Yunlu Academy's Zhang Shen, Li Mubai, and Xu Xinnian. Their opponent was the former commander-in-chief of Yunzhou, Yang Chuannan.

Wei Yuan remembered that this person was born into a family of generals. On the surface, he was a member of the Royal Faction. In his early thirties, he had been appointed commander-in-chief of Yunzhou. Wei Yuan did not have much contact with him, but Wei Yuan remembered Yang Chuannan's father, Yang Zhao.

He was a talented general who was very good at commanding troops and attacking cities.

The Yang family had a military book called "Twelve Strategies to Destroy a City". It was written by Yang Zhao's grandfather and passed down for three generations. It was only finished when Yang Zhao was in charge.

It was said that this book classified all the strategies to attack a city from ancient times to the present into twelve strategies. If it was made public, the Yang family would be able to leave a mark in the history of military strategy.

However, since the book was written, it was designated as a "family study" and not to be passed on to outsiders.

"Seeing it today, it deserves its reputation."

Wei Yuan looked at the northern city wall, which was full of cracks. It was no longer suitable to continue defending. In at most 30 minutes, Zhang Shen and the others retreated. Just like the southern city, they changed to fighting in the streets.

The western gate was guarded by Hengy Yuan and Chu Yuanzhen with the imperial guards and the remaining Gu Tribe warriors. The situation here was the most stable. The Gu Corpse Tribe pulled out a group of fearless corpse soldiers and cooperated with the Dark Gu Tribe's assassination skills to defeat the Yunzhou Army.

As for the western gate, Wei Yuan only needed to ensure that there were enough artillery shells and rolling logs to support them.

On the east side were the night watchmen, Jin Gong, who led the Twelve Capital Guards and the Hundred Wars Camp of the Imperial Army's Five Battalions.

The battle here was the most tragic. They were facing the Xuanwu Army's heavily armored soldiers. These soldiers were armed to the teeth. Guns and arrows could not hurt them at all.

Relying on magic weapons, heavy armor, and sabers, even the elite of the elites, the imperial guards were no match for them.

Together with the Rank-4 and Rank-5 Warriors from Yunzhou, they were invincible.

Fortunately, there were not many Rank-4 martial artists. The city wall was well preserved and could still hold on.

The southern city, which was the weakest guarded, had already fallen because Wei Yuan deliberately gave them a way out.

Wei Yuan had buried a large number of mines in the southern city. There were two thousand armored soldiers hidden in the houses. There were 16 cannons set up on the main road. The civilians had long been evacuated.

Once the Yunzhou Army penetrated deep into the city, the Daibun Army would take advantage of the situation and attack them.

However, Qi Guangbo had been fighting steadily. He had only sent a small number of troops to attack the southern city. While fighting the defenders, he was also familiarizing himself with the road.

The roads in the capital were complicated. If they rushed in without knowing the road conditions, it would be easy for the Daibun Army to take advantage of the terrain to divide and conquer them one by one.

"He's a pretty good commander."

Wei Yuan calmly issued orders and deployed manpower according to the situation. At the same time, he paid attention to the image in the Celestial Sphere Divine Mirror.

"Observe Kouyang Province!"

Wei Yuan said in a low voice.

The Celestial Sphere Divine Mirror mumbled nonsense while reflecting the situation in Kouyang Province.

The reason why it did not reflect Xu Pingfeng was that it was beyond the scope of the Celestial Sphere Divine Mirror's ability. It would be reflected.

Moreover, Kouyang Province was their ally and would not refuse Wei Yuan's observation.

Wei Yuan glanced at it and shook his head slightly. It was not that there was anything wrong with the operation of Kouyang Province and Xu Pingfeng. In fact, both of them were experts. It was very exciting to see them counter each other's moves.

It was just that they could not escape the stereotype of a Warrior fighting against other systems. Therefore, it was not too amazing.

Perhaps only a Warrior like Xu Qi'an, who had many tricks up his sleeves, could break the predicament of a Warrior fighting against other systems.

However, Wei Yuan noticed one thing. The more they fought, the deeper they moved toward the palace.

"Observe Ji Xuan!"

Wei Yuan ordered. The Celestial Sphere Divine Mirror shifted its view.

In the image, a black figure appeared. His hair was messy, and his armor was broken, revealing his strong upper body. He looked like an unruly God of War.

He held a jade talisman in his hand, which he gently crushed. A bright light rose up, and then it disappeared.

Only a white robe was left in the air. Sun Xuanji looked left and right for a moment. Then, he suddenly turned his head and looked in the direction of the palace.

"He's aiming for the palace."

Wei Yuan raised an eyebrow.

…

Above the palace.

A small square platform flew out of Xu Pingfeng's sleeve. With a gentle push, the square platform flew into the teleportation array.

In the next moment, it crashed into the palace with a boom. It turned into a seven feet tall and ten feet wide platform.

Light flashed on the platform, and Ji Xuan's disheveled figure appeared.

He used the teleportation jade talisman and Xu Pingfeng's teleportation array to come to the palace.

At the same time, bronze artifact parts flew out of the pouch on his waist.

The bronze parts automatically joined together in the air, forming a huge metal disk.

The saber intent of Kouyang Province slashed at the bronze artifact. Light was shaken off, but it couldn't damage the artifact at all.

During this process, Xu Pingfeng also used teleportation and defense arrays to block the attacks of Kouyang Province. The bronze artifact didn't take long to build. It was assembled in four to five breaths.

Xu Pingfeng stepped on the ground, and the circular array that matched the artifact spread out, forming a rotating domain that isolated the palace from the outside world.

This was a plan that had been made long ago. Considering the existence of the teleportation jade talisman, Xu Pingfeng had been observing the fate energy in the palace and locking on to the empress's position.

With his status, ordinary aura-shielding spells could not escape his eyes at all. Unless it was a Dharma artifact left behind by the first-generation supervisor, or a Dharma spell in the Transcendent domain like the Heaven Gu Star Shifting Dipper.

…

"Retreat a hundred feet!"

Zhang Shen waved his hand, and more than a dozen enemies who had just climbed to the top of the city wall and were ready to kill with their sabers disappeared strangely.

"Go back!"

Li Mubai waved his sleeves and hit back the arrows and cannonballs that were shot at him.

Compared to the other city gates, the north gate, which was guarded by the Confucian scholars from Yunlu Academy, was the most stable and well-preserved.

The Confucian scholars cooperated with the fourth-rank experts in the garrison and defended the north gate well.

However, because of the overuse of the spell, the two Confucian scholars were shrouded in a faint layer of Light, which was so thin that there wasn't a drop left.

His physical and mental strength were on the verge of exhaustion. If this continued, without the protection of the Awe-Inspiring Righteousness, the backfire of the spell would be directly imposed on him.

"Swoosh!"

Amidst the shrill sound of the air being torn apart, a cold arrow that carried boundless energy shot towards Zhang Shen's chest.

The exhausted Zhang Shen was shocked. At this moment, he heard Xu Erlang's calm voice.

"Move three feet to the left!"

Light surged, and the spell surged. The arrow moved three feet to the left, grazed Zhang Shen's arm, and blasted a deep hole in the city wall behind him. Rubble flew everywhere.

Xu Erlang shook off the ashes in his hands, as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders.

After the battle in Xunzhou City, he had successfully advanced and officially stepped into the sixth-rank Confucian scholar realm. Confucian scholars in this realm could use other people's skills for free. They could attach anything they saw to the tip of their brush and record it on paper.

They truly had extraordinary combat strength.

At his age, Xu Erlang could be considered extremely talented.

In the Xu family, only a monster like his eldest brother could suppress him. His father, Xu Pingzhi, was currently a seventh-rank Spirit-Refinement Warrior.

Just now, he had been recording Zhang Shen and Li Mubai's spells. He had only succeeded once, and as soon as he was done, he used it on the sheep.

Xu Erlang's rank was low, so the spell recorded was not as good as the original, so it could only move three feet to the right.

Xu Erlang moved closer to the parapet and glanced around. The one who shot the arrow was the former commander of Cloud Province, Yang Chuannan.

The former commander of Cloud Province had displayed extraordinary military attainments in the Qingzhou campaign. He was well-versed in the art of war and was very good at attacking cities.

"This bastard …" Xu Xinnian gritted his teeth and said in a deep voice,

"Master, Mr. Mubai, you should rest for now. Leave this to the Imperial Guards."

In terms of stamina, he was no match for the Warrior. Even now, the Warrior was still very lively, running back and forth between the walls.

Zhang Shen and Li Mubai were about to nod when they suddenly sensed something. They looked in the direction of the palace. There, a huge disk emitting majestic power enveloped the entire palace.

The fifth-rank and fourth-rank experts also sensed the majestic power of the Heaven's Fate Master's magical artifact.

They might not know what happened, but they could all sense the abnormality in the palace.

"Your Majesty …"

Xu Xinnian's expression changed slightly.

Yang Chuannan's lips curled into a smile as if relieved of a heavy burden. Since they had fought their way to the capital, they had to get the head of the Daibun emperor no matter what. Otherwise, the trip would not have been in vain.

Would the morale of the Daibun soldiers be stable after they killed the empress? Would the officials still be calm? Would the people still be able to suppress their fear?

To shoot a man, first shoot the horse. To capture the bandits, first capture the ringleader. This was a principle that had never been broken since ancient times.

…

"What's going on …" Chu Yuanzhen rode the wind and soared into the sky.

The golden Master Hengy Yuan leaped up and stepped on his flying sword. In the process, he blocked a cannonball for Chu Yuanzhen.

"What kind of magical artifact is that?"

Grandmaster Hengyuan looked into the distance with a grave expression, at the bronze disk that enveloped the imperial palace.

During the battle in Xunzhou, the members of the Heaven & Earth Society had been in charge of hunting down the demons of the Earth Sect, so they had never seen this magical artifact.

"Her Majesty is in danger."

Chu Yuanzhen's expression was grave. He knew that Huaiqing had a way to protect herself, but his intuition told him that Huaiqing was in danger.

In front of the Yunzhou Army, Qi Guangbo took a deep breath and said loudly,

"Attack the city!"

There were still 5,000 soldiers behind him. They were the last elites of Yunzhou.

With the beating of the drums, they came out in full force.

The moment the bronze disc appeared, almost all of the high-grade cultivators in the capital city sensed its existence.

Every top magical artifact of this kind had its own special symbol and was destined to not be low-key.

Zhang Shen, Li Mubai, Chu Yuanzhen, and the experts in Jinluo and the Imperial Guards were shocked.

Since the bronze disk had appeared in the direction of the palace, regardless of whether it was a friend or foe, the palace was definitely under attack.

"Why hasn't Duke Wei ordered reinforcements?" Some of the experts loyal to the empress were impatient.

For the sake of the big picture, if they returned to the palace now, it would be equivalent to giving up the city wall.

…

In the underground chamber of the West Garden, Aunt's heart suddenly trembled and she stammered,

"Lingyue, I don't know why, but I'm suddenly scared …"

As she spoke, she looked at her daughter and found that Xu Lingyue's face was grave. She looked up slightly and stared at the southeast.

Her good sister, Mu Nanzi, looked at Xu Lingyue in the same way.

"What's wrong?" Aunt asked.

Xu Lingyue whispered,

"There are masters coming."

As for how strong they were, she wasn't sure. After all, they were self-taught and lacked the relevant knowledge and experience.

"They are masters of the Transcendent Realm. There, there are three of them …"

Mu Nanzi swallowed her saliva. She was finally a little scared.

Even though she had gone through a lot with Xu Qi 'an, he was not here and the enemy seemed to be nearby. The Flower God would still be scared.

Aunt's voice trembled.

"Is, is it Xu Pingfeng?"

Her voice was a little shrill.

Hearing the name Xu Pingfeng, Old Concubine Chen turned her head and looked over with a complicated expression.

In the basement, the womenfolk were in an uproar, and the timid ones started crying.

The bolder ones shouted for the Imperial Army to escort them out of the palace. The scene became chaotic.

Aunt was not the only one who was scared. They also felt the pressure of a Transcendent Realm master and fell into a state of panic and fear.

Empress Dowager took a deep breath and reprimanded,

"Silence! Making such a racket, what a scandal! "

Only then did the clamor die down.

Among these womenfolk were the imperial concubines and the womenfolk of the civil and military officials. Huai Qing had gathered them in the palace, nominally to protect them, but in reality, they were hostages.

Although Empress Dowager did not like Huaiqing, she had given these women to her. As the master of the Imperial Harem, she had to take care of them.

Empress Dowager continued, "Her Majesty is still up there. Since she did not arrange for us to leave, she must have someone to rely on. Don't panic."

Xu Lingyue immediately said,

"My, my brother will not abandon me and my mother."

Her words were more effective than Empress Dowager's. The concubines and the women of the officials finally calmed down and wiped away their tears.

The rowdy ones no longer wanted to escape.

Empress Dowager looked at Xu Lingyue in surprise.

Xu Lingyue replied with a gentle and cute look.

…

Ji Xuan killed the Imperial Army that was swarming towards him. He heard Xu Pingfeng's voice.

"Throne Room!"

While Xu Pingfeng was entangled with Kouyang Province, he stepped over the palace walls and ignored the Imperial Army. He passed through the Meridian Gate and came to the square outside the Throne Room.

In front of him, under the eaves of the Throne Room, the Empress in a dragon robe stood on the Pill Emperor.

Looking at the beautiful Empress, hatred flashed in Ji Xuan's eyes. It was this bitch and Xu Qi 'an's rebellion that caused his brother Ji Yuan's death.

He suffered all kinds of humiliation before his death.

Ji Xuan had already learned from Xu Pingfeng that Wei Yuan dared to attack Yunzhou and kill his clansmen.

As the Seventh Prince, of course, he had to avenge his clansmen by slaughtering the royal family of Daibun. No one was spared.

However, there was no hatred in his heart. He was only angry that his base camp was destroyed. It was fine to kill his clansmen in Yunzhou, but it would be best if his father was killed as well.

Not only was Ji Xuan not angry, but he also wanted to clap his hands.

If the father was alive, how could the son make a name for himself?

Anyway, as long as it was the blood of the royal family, it didn't matter who he supported.

Ji Xuan glanced at the Teleportation Talisman in the Empress's hand and said,

"Why don't you try it?"

The Empress was expressionless. She looked down at him coldly and said,

"No need!"

Ji Xuan nodded and said,

"The soldiers of Daibun are fighting outside. As the emperor, how can he hide in the palace?

"I'll bring you to meet the soldiers of Daibun."

He wanted to kill the Empress in front of the soldiers of Daibun with his own hands.

Ji Xuan didn't waste his breath. His vital energy surged and pushed him to flash towards Huai Qing.

Huai Qing still didn't move. She raised her left hand, revealing a shard of the Earth Tome. She used the shard to point at Ji Xuan's head.

The next moment, a black shadow fell from the sky and landed heavily in front of Ji Xuan and the Empress. The square outside the Aurum Throne Room shook violently. Countless bricks and stones were sent flying, and dust flew everywhere.

The one embedded in the ground was Galo Tree, who was covered in golden blood and had his hands clasped in front of him.

Ji Xuan raised his head abruptly and looked at the sky.

He saw the bronze artifacts disintegrating one by one. He saw the "curtain" that isolated the palace from the outside world disappearing.

He saw Xu Qi 'an standing in the sky, his body as white as jade.

The artifact left behind by the Initial Supervisor was blown away by the Rank 1 Warrior with brute force.

…

From the imperial city to the inner city, and from the inner city to the outer city, all the experts who were paying attention, whether it was from Daibun or Yunzhou, saw the bronze artifacts disintegrating.