Chapter 613 - Fighting Spirit Coming From the Ruler of Qian Zhou
Fighting Spirit Coming From the Ruler of Qian Zhou
Inside the city, all of the citizens gathered in one place. Using all of their strength, they shouted as loudly as possible: “We can do it!”
The people then stopped ramming themselves against the gate then took a few steps back to stare at the gate. This sort of order caused the soldiers protecting the city to feel shocked.
It was unclear which soldier took the lead, throwing down their weapon and standing in the crowd of civilians. With someone taking the lead, the rest followed, casting aside their weapons and mingling in with the crowd. Casting a look of disappointment in the direction of Qian Zhou’s imperial palace, they retracted their gazes and turned toward the gate.
The heavenly sound that came from the outside spoke once more; however, it loudly shouted: “Everyone, step back!”
Everyone took many steps back to look at the city gate from a great distance. Not long later, they heard a heaven-shaking sound come from the gate. After the avalanche, the gates of Qian Zhou’s capital were in a poor condition. With the someone ramming it from the outside, the gates were broken with a “boom!”
After the heaven-shaking sound, there was a deathly silence. The soldiers outside the city did not enter, only separating to two sides after breaking down the gate to stand in two orderly lines. The citizens in the city looked over nervously. After all, Da Shun was still the enemy army to them. After the city’s gate was broken, would they treat them well or simply exterminate them all. They were both possibilities.
For a moment, it was as though everyone was participating in a gamble. Whether it was a victory or a loss would depend on the heavens.
Just as everyone was in a nervous daze from seeing the groups of soldiers, they saw the steam coming from the large pots. There were people stirring them with large ladles and smiling toward the city. The fragrance drifted over and invaded their senses once more.
Qian Li took the initiative to step forward. Standing in front of the city’s gates, he loudly said to the citizens: “My Da Shun’s promise and good faith had already been said to you by his Highness Prince Yu. Right now, everyone should line up properly. The elderly and children should be at the front. The women and the sick should be in the middle with the men at the back. After getting settled, slowly follow this general out. There are congee and soup outside. There are also eggs, and everyone has a portion.”
Qian Li’s words caused everyone’s eyes to light up. There would not just be congee and soup. There would also be eggs. Eggs were things that people were unable to eat even if there was no avalanche!
The citizens followed Qian Li out of the city and began to line up for food. On the other side, Xuan Tian Ming and Feng Yu Heng led the army into the city. Roughly 30 percent of the soldiers went to rescue those affected by the disaster. Another 30 percent of the soldiers began to face off against the imperial family of Qian Zhou in a show of force. Prince Lian’s 100 thousand soldiers were led to the Feng family’s lair by Prince Lian and General Hei. There, the people from the imperial family were forced out of the imperial palace, one by one.
Feng Yu Heng stood before the ruined palace and watched the members of the imperial family be led out, repeatedly shaking her head. “There are definitely more than this.”
Prince Lian nodded, “Of course, there are still some living in their palaces. Ya Ya, don’t worry. I have already sent people to capture them. I guarantee that they will all be sent to you.”
“Where’s their emperor?” Feng Yu Heng looked at the group and found that none of them looked like it. “I heard that Qian Zhou’s ruler looks like a weak scholar. Say, where would he be hiding?”
Prince Lian reached out and pointed into the imperial palace: “That brat’s favorite place is the imperial palace’s Phoenix Pavilion. It is four stories tall and faces East. It’s perfectly between two mountains and can see the break of dawn. Look, Phoenix Pavilion is the tallest; however, it is also sturdiest. It did not collapse even through this sort of disaster. Thinking about it, he is definitely there.”
“Is he not escaping?” Feng Yu Heng asked Prince Lian, “Is the ruler of Qian Zhou stupid? Not escaping?”
Prince Lian smiled wryly, “Where can he escape to? The heavens collapsed. Da Shun is to the South, and there is a disaster to the North. Any ruler of a country that would run away is nothing more than a stray cur. He has always been a prideful person. Based on my understanding of him, he is definitely in Phoenix Pavilion, waiting to die.”
“That works. Since he’s waiting to die, this imperial daughter will send him off.”
Watching Feng Yu Heng rush into the imperial palace with her steel knife raised, the murderous intent that she exuded was not much different from Xuan Tian Ming. Prince Lian lamented that there really was no loss that the two were together, for they would be able to see someone similar to themselves. He stomped his foot and called out: “Wait a moment!” He then rushed forward to stop Feng Yu Heng.
When she was stopped, Feng Yu Heng slapped her forehead before he could say anything else, “Right! If you didn’t remind me, I would’ve forgotten.”
Prince Lian thought that she remembered that Xuan Tian Ming had gone to direct the search and rescue operations after capturing the members of the Feng family. At this moment, they were not together. This girl finally remembered that she could not rush into a dangerous situation alone and should wait for her husband. Who knew that Feng Yu Heng turned around and rushed toward the members of the imperial family. While walking over, she said: “This graundaunty brought all of these people out for the sake of getting revenge for my younger brother. Come, come, come, I’ll cut off all of your fingers. Then whether you live or die will be left to his Highness to decide.”
The members of the Feng imperial family were scared witless upon hearing what Feng Yu Heng had said. Which of the people that had survived the great war from the previous generation were not the current ruler’s trusted subordinates? They had become accustomed to their lives of luxury. They had also become accustomed to acting arrogantly. The avalanche in Qian Zhou first resulted in them losing their homes, but immediately following this, Da Shun’s army entered the city. This caused them to completely lose a country.
Feng Yu Heng stared at these people; however, she felt more and more that something was off. She asked Prince Lian: “Why is there not a single young person? Is your Qian Zhou really suffering from a problem with old age?”
Prince Lian said: “It’s possible that the old guys went into the imperial palace, while the young ones are at home.”
Just after this was said, the soldiers that had rushed toward the imperial family’s residences returned. All that they brought back were the older members of the imperial family.
Feng Yu Heng immediately understood what was happening and quickly ordered Ban Zou: “Give the order to search the world for the escaped members of Qian Zhou’s imperial family. Regardless of whether they are men or women, capture them alive if possible. If they can’t be captured alive, just kill them. Bring their heads and pinkies back to me.”
Ban Zou nodded and left. These words sounded like a curse to the ears of the people from Qian Zhou.
“Imperial daughter Ji An, why bother with eradicating everyone!” Someone shouted loudly: “The children are innocent, so why bother with exterminating them?”
Feng Yu Heng’s eyes became fierce and reached into her sleeve. Pulling out a whip, she fiercely lashed out. With a “crack”, the whip cut through the thick winter coat and cut straight through the flesh. She said: “Children? My brother is also a child, but your Qian Zhou still cut off one of his fingers and subjected him to suffering. If it was not for me arriving in a timely manner, how could he still be alive? Should you be allowed to kill others without others fighting back? Who taught you this sort of twisted logic?”
As she spoke, the whip cracked once more. A large amount of blood appeared in front of that person, and the person’s face began to turn pale from the pain.
“Qian Zhou’s imperial family, for cutting off one of my younger brother’s fingers off, I will cut off all of your fingers for him to see. It will serve as a lesson to him. From this moment forward, there will be no mercy.”
With the words spoken, the whip was put away and a military knife raised. Starting from the first person, she cut off all ten fingers from the members of the imperial family. With all of the fingers removed, blood quickly dyed the ground in Qian Zhou red.
Facing this, it was Feng Zhao Lian that began to laugh. The hatred that he had buried in his heart for many years was finally released. Every time that Feng Yu Heng cut off a finger, his heart soared with joy. Like an evildoer, his laughter filled the imperial palace of Qian Zhou and echoed the ruins for a long time.
There was not much of the imperial palace that had not collapsed; however, the majority was uninhabited. Only one person remained on the top floor of Phoenix Pavilion. This person wore an imperial robe and a crown on his head. Although the imperial robe appeared a little shabby after the avalanche, it still had a bit of a mighty appearance.
This person had the appearance of a scholar, but if one looked carefully, a profound power could be found hidden.
“Feng Zhao Lian, me not killing you back then was a miscalculation on Our part.” He sighed with a plaintive expression. “Qian Zhou has fallen; however, I wonder who will be the last person I see?”
At this time, Prince Lian was standing at the entrance of the imperial palace while holding a sword that he had taken from a soldier. Using a great deal of strength, he was able to hold the sword steady. At first, he was following along behind Feng Yu Heng. After Feng Yu Heng finished cutting off someone’s fingers, he would cut off their head. Ignoring how Prince Lian was unable to do other things, he was just as good as Feng Yu Heng when it came to exacting revenge. He was definitely not merciful. It was just that there was a limit to his strength. There were times when he was unable to cut through cleanly and needed a soldier behind him to finish up. In summary, after the last person was executed, he looked up and found that Feng Yu Heng had already charged into the imperial palace and was quite far away.
“Hey! Hey, hey! Ya Ya! Wait a moment!” He quickly gave chased. The sword had completed its duty and was tossed to the side, as he chased after Feng Yu Heng.
Feng Yu Heng moved quickly, as though she was using qinggong, and charged into the imperial palace. This left Prince Lian at death’s door from chasing after her. In the end, it was Ban Zou that could no longer bear to watch and gave him a hand. Only then did he bring him to Feng Yu Heng.
Prince Lian quickly said: “Wait for your man a little bit. You can’t go in on your own. Or bring some more people with you. You can overwhelm him with numbers.”
Feng Yu Heng did not speak. She was surrounded by an aura of fury. The hatred that she had toward the imperial family of Qian Zhou that she had suppressed for so long could not be held back.
Ban Zou asked: “What is it? Is your cousin very good at martial arts?”
Prince Lian snorted coldly, “Either way, it’s better than you.”
“Really?” Ban Zou, surprisingly, did not argue with him. Instead, he asked very seriously: “Just how good is he?”
Prince Lian shook his head, “I can’t say for certain. I don’t know martial arts, but I heard people say that he is the strongest expert in all of Qian Zhou.”
“The strongest expert?” Ban Zou’s lips curled, revealing a desire to fight, “As you see it, if Imperial daughter and I worked together, would that strongest expert have a chance of surviving?”
Prince Lian thought for a bit then nodded, “Yes. I figure that you two would not be his opponent!”
Finally, Feng Yu Heng stopped. Prince Lian rejoiced, thinking that this girl was finally going to listen to his advice to go back and search for Xuan Tian Ming. As a result, he looked up and found that the three were already standing in front of Phoenix Pavilion.
Feng Yu Heng squinted her eyes. She had heard what Prince Lian had just said. At this moment, however, it was very clear that a strong fighting spirit came from inside the Phoenix Pavilion.
Even for her, this fighting spirit made it so that her heart could not help but tremble…