Chapter 515: Lethal Blow
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Left Prime Minister Yu Yiping bellowed at the city guards. He was extremely anxious. If the right Southern Region messengers escaped, he would not be able to absolve himself from blame.
As such, the city guards were not going to move away from the ministers.
They continued to hold their ground under the pretext that they were protecting the ministers. They didn"t move despite the constant screaming and bellowing.
The eight Southern Region messengers looked at each other, then charged through the servants and guards and tried to make a break for it.
"Stop them!" Left Prime Minister Yu Yiping was on the verge of panicking.
He didn"t care if he was being surrounded by city guards. His body turned into a ray of light as he shot through them.
He sent eight city guards rolling on the ground spitting out mouthfuls of blood.
"Ah! The Prime Minister is killing us!"
"Prime Minister... we are trying to protect you!"
"Aiya!"
The city guards began to scream and shout as they fell to the ground when Yu Yiping charged through them.
The other city guards also shouted at the top of their lungs.
"Mercy, Prime Minister, mercy!"
King Duan drew his sword and lowered it in front of Left Prime Minister Yu Yiping.
"Prime Minister, why did you attack the city guards?"
"..." Left Prime Minister Yu Yiping was bitter.
He knew exactly what King Duan was thinking but there were certain things that he couldn"t say. He had no choice but to charge through...
He had to try and stop the Southern Region messengers from escaping.
He grit his teeth and didn"t respond. He morphed into a ray of light and went around King Duan. He shot towards the fleeing messengers.
However...
King Duan had bought enough time for the city guards to intercept Left Prime Minister Yu Yiping once again. They formed a wall in front of him.
"Move aside!" A glow appeared in Left Prime Minister Yu Yiping"s palm. It was as bright as the moon.
As this glow lit up, an icy wave swept across the city guards and pushed them to the side. There was a layer of frost on the ground.
The surrounding citizens were all shocked to see what was happening.
"Run, they"re about to fight!"
"What"s going on? Why is the Left Prime Minister fighting the city guards?"
"Oh gosh... lives are going to be lost."
The crowd began to run away in all directions.
Both the a.s.sistant ministers were speechless when they saw the chaos. They were incredibly bitter.
However, there was nothing that they could do about it.
They knew what Left Prime Minister Yu Yiping was thinking, but they were in a dilemma as well.
Ever since they were made a.s.sistant ministers, their minds had been focused on politics and wealth. They only used their mouth and were rarely required to take action.
But this was the capital.
The Left Prime Minister, a rank one official, had attacked the city guards! There was no way they could keep this under wraps.
The two of them made their decision almost instantly.
Since they couldn"t do anything to make this go away, they had to do what was most beneficial for them. That meant capturing the eight Southern Region messengers.
"The criminals are fleeing! Arrest them!"
"Have all the guards in the Ministry of Law surround and arrest them!"
"Arrest whoever dares to obstruct the course of justice!"
The two a.s.sistant ministers threw caution out of the window. Since King Duan was determined to stop them, they had no choice but to try to break out of this.
The guards and wardens of the Ministry of Law charged through the gates.
"Catch the criminals!"
"Move aside, we are trying to arrest criminals!"
The drew their swords and one group charged at some of the city guards standing guard at the gates. The other group tried to go around the guards.
Things were getting out of control.
King Duan chuckled icily. His blockade had given the eight Southern Region messengers plenty of time to run away.
As long as they managed to escape, Left Prime Minister Yu Yiping would never be able to absolve himself from blame.
King Duan could tell that these eight Southern Region messengers were "imposters" and not the original eight sent to carry out the plan. It was a trap.
A trap designed by Fang Zhengzhi.
Even though he didn"t plan to follow Fang Zhengzhi"s plan all the way through, he was not about to pa.s.s up such a golden opportunity.
This was a chance for him to inflict some serious damage on Left Prime Minister Yu Yiping. If these men ran away and couldn"t be brought to justice...
It would cause some serious hurt to Left Prime Minister Yu Yiping.
However...
At that very moment, the eight Southern Region messengers stopped and looked around, almost as though they were choosing their escape path.
"Split up and run, dumba.s.ses! How can you not know something so simple?" King Duan cussed them out in his heart. He scorned Fang Zhengzhi"s choice of people.
Why would he find such idiots?
Don"t they know how to escape?
The Shadow Sect...
They weren"t so great after all!
Just as he was thinking about it, a few voices cut through the air.
"Let"s run to the Southern Gate! The Eastern Gate is heavily guarded, we will charge through the Southern Gate!"
"Okay, we will all go there!"
"Yes! Let"s charge together! We will live as long as we manage to break the defences!"
The Southern Region messengers screamed enthusiastically. Their voices could be heard by everyone on the streets.
"..." King Duan"s eyes were on the verge of popping out of their sockets. He really wanted to fall to the ground. He had never seen such idiotic criminals in his life.
Not only did they not split up, they announced where they were running towards! They wanted to fight their way out? Where did they think they were?
This was the capital!
Why were they that stupid?!
King Duan was furious and bitter. He hated the fact that these eight people were so useless. He hated Fang Zhengzhi"s choice of men.
If they were caught, it was all over.
This was great news for the ministers! Their eyes brightened almost instantly.
"South Gate?"
"Quickly, take the shortcut and cut them off!"
"Cut them off at the South Gate!"
The two a.s.sistant ministers gave the order almost immediately.
Left Prime Minister Yu Yiping looked at a servant standing behind him and threw him a token.
"Get soldiers to the South Gate!"
"Yes, sir!" The servant retrieved the token and sprinted away.
King Duan was furious. He knew that the Southern Region messengers could not possibly escape. He was extremely bitter.
Victory was so close, yet so far.
"Is it a bluff? They may have split up towards the East and North Gate." King Duan thought that there was a good possibility of that happening.
However, Lady Luck was not on his side.
Because...
After the eight Southern Region messengers finished their discussion, they sprinted towards the Southern Gate, screaming as they did so.
"Charge!"
"Charge!!"
"..." King Duan was speechless. He couldn"t believe that it was possible for people to be that idiotic.
Left Prime Minister Yu Yiping was equally confused.
The Southern Region messengers sounded like they wanted him to pursue them. They were announcing where they were running towards!
He felt like something was amiss.
There was even more to it. These Southern Region messengers always kept within his sight. Left Prime Minister Yu Yiping had no choice but to give chase.
"Move aside!" Left Prime Minister Yu Yiping"s body disappeared in a flash of light as he pursued the eight fleeing figures.
...
Inside the courtyard of the Stabilization Constabulary.
Xing Yuanguo held a chess piece in his hand as he pondered.
At that moment, a black lifeform shot down from the sky and landed on Xing Yuanguo"s shoulder.
It was a messenger bird.
This was widely used by the army.
Chi Hou was rather shocked to see this. These birds were only used for urgent reports or orders.
However, Xing Yuanguo didn"t seem surprised or anxious. He calmly removed the letter container from the bird"s claws and took out the letter.
"What"s wrong?" Chi Hou asked.
"Nothing." Xing Yuanguo placed his piece on the board and smiled. "Brother, I"ve lost!"
Lost?
Chi Hou was stunned. Xing Yuanguo was conceding? Shouldn"t he have conceded a long time ago? Just as Chi Hou was about to speak, he realized that this meant the round was over.
"Brother Yuanguo, are you saying that this round... is over?" Chi Hou whispered.
"Mm, this round is over. I will accompany you for a walk now as per our agreement." Xing Yuanguo nodded and stood up from his chair.
"Brother Yuanguo, you can rest first if you"re tired. I"ll just go walk around myself." Chi Hou murmured after some hesitation.
"No worries, I"m not tired." Xing Yuanguo shook his head.
Then, he pulled Chi Hou out of the yard by his hand. He was walking rather quickly.
This made Chi Hou slightly suspicious.
He could tell that Xing Yuanguo was trying to stall for time during the chess game. But if that was the case, why was he walking so fast now?
Was it the note?
He didn"t think too much and Xing Yuanguo didn"t explain. Most importantly, Xing Yuanguo was almost sprinting out of the yard.
He shot towards the gate.
"My lord!"
"My lord!"
The soldiers guarding the Stabilization Constabulary greeted them respectfully as they approached.
Xing Yuanguo nodded lightly but didn"t stop.
Before long, they were out the gates.
"Brother Yuanguo, where are we going?" Chi Hou was rather curious about why he was being dragged out. Most importantly, he had something on his mind.
Something he couldn"t stop thinking about.
He knew for a fact that the capital was not peaceful tonight.
"We are almost there. Brother Hong, you will know when we are there." Xing Yuanguo didn"t offer up any additional explanation. He continued sprinting away, a purple light flickering on his body.
The wind brushed by their ears.
Chu Hou"s body glowed green. He knew exactly how fast Xing Yuanguo and he were traveling.
However, he didn"t know...
Why they had to run so fast...
Was something about to happen?
Just as he was thinking about it, he saw some figures in the distance.
The capital was usually bustling and there were many people roaming the streets. However, Chi Hou was rather shocked to see these figures.
He recognized them.
"Fang Zhengzhi?! Ping Yang! Yan Xiu... why are they here?" Chi Hou looked at Xing Yuanguo, trying to read his expression.
However, Xing Yuanguo remained calm and expressionless.
Was it a coincidence?
No!
Chi Hou dismissed that thought almost immediately. All the events over the past few moments couldn"t possibly have been a coincidence.
If it wasn"t a coincidence...
Then what was it?
Could it be that Fang Zhengzhi and Xing Yuanguo had conspired? Was Xing Yuanguo involved as well?
Chi Hou didn"t believe that. Even though Fang Zhengzhi and Xing Yuanguo had interacted on Cang Ling Mountain and in the Southern Region, Xing Yuanguo would never help Fang Zhengzhi with this.
Xing Yuanguo represented the 13 Constabularies.
Xing Yuanguo"s stand was the same was that of the 13 Constabularies. If Xing Yuanguo interfered in this, it would also mean that he was interfering in the battle for the throne.
Xing Yuanguo would never do that.
As such, why would they meet Fang Zhengzhi and company here? What were they doing here?
What...
What in the world happened in the capital?