The chaos of the imperial city’s ghostly disturbance had just come to an end, and Lu Shuang had gained tremendous benefits from it.
To the northwest of the Grand Chancellor’s residence—that was where the biting northwest wind blew from—two horse-drawn carriages were traveling down the street without a hitch, when suddenly their horses panicked.
The two carriages crashed into each other violently.
Inside the carriage were small warming stoves, which immediately caught fire.
Whatever goods were stored inside became engulfed in flames, and thick, dense blue smoke billowed out.
A refreshing and intoxicating fragrance was carried by the northwest wind, sweeping fiercely toward the area around the Grand Chancellor’s residence.
This exquisite scent filled the air, drawing deep breaths from the city guards patrolling inside and outside the Chancellor’s mansion, as well as the chancellery’s many protectors stationed both openly and in secret posts.
Everyone felt a warmth spreading through their bodies, a heat rushing upward through their blood directly to their heads.
On a tall building on the west side of the Grand Chancellor’s residence, several young maidens dressed in light veils suddenly appeared on the rooftop.
They shook silver bells delicately, creating a soft ringing sound that drifted through the air in every direction.
The ‘ding ding’ of the bells carried a strange rhythm.
The soldiers and guards who heard it immediately felt a burning heat course through their bodies; their hearts became restless and uneasy, and without realizing, their emotions fell under a strange control.
The maidens began to softly sing and dance.
Their laughter, sweet and gentle like the finest heaven-sent music, was carried by the powerful Yuangang energy, spreading for over ten miles downwind, completely enveloping the nearby neighborhoods.
To the north of the Grand Chancellor’s residence, close to the two burning carriages, a squad of city defense soldiers clad in heavy armor, armed with long halberds, marched in formation outside the city wall.
Suddenly, two soldiers roared loudly and wildly attacked their comrades with their long weapons.
The shining three-foot halberd heads struck ruthlessly, piercing through several soldiers’ bodies like a sharp blade through bamboo.
The gravely wounded soldiers screamed miserably, baffled at this sudden betrayal, their eyes immediately flooding with bloodlust.
They raised their weapons and struck back fiercely at their attacking comrades.
The squad leader had not even managed to stop his suddenly frenzied subordinates before his own eyes turned bloodshot.
Amidst the maidens’ tender laughter, the officer drew his sword with a shout.
A pale white Yuangang aura twisted around the blade.
With a roar, he slashed, piercing the chests of seven or eight soldiers, who spat blood and flew back.
What happened among this group of city defense troops spread like a plague.
Just like the incident a few days ago in Siji Street, the originally normal soldiers and guards around the Grand Chancellor’s residence—even including the mansion’s own stewards, servants, maids, artisans, kitchen staff, and laborers—had all bloodshot eyes like lunatics.
They began violently attacking the people near them.
The Grand Chancellor’s residence instantly erupted into chaos.
On the small hill behind the courtyard, beneath the tall buildings, a senior official of the Grand Chancellor’s residence suddenly dashed up the stone steps with urgency, shouting sharply: “My lord Chancellor, something has happened inside the mansion! Someone is causing trouble... your excellency, please…”
Suddenly, sharp whistling sounds came from all directions.
Around the Grand Chancellor’s residence, multiple signal arrows soared into the sky, exploding into bright fireballs.
War cries broke out everywhere.
The southern and western gates of the residence were breached.
Groups of men dressed in various colored clothes, armored and armed with sharp blades, all plain-looking but with deadly intent, strode silently into the mansion.
They killed anyone they saw, slashing and hacking without mercy.
In their ranks were many highly skilled archers, moving just behind the main group.
Whenever they encountered enemies, arrows rained down relentlessly.
The armor-piercing arrows made by Dayin’s imperial forge were devastatingly effective.
The guards inside the Grand Chancellor’s mansion, wearing only swords and blades without armor, were pierced by arrows one after another, each shot leaving a bloody, gaping hole.
Unlike the bowmen of the imperial army or the elite Yulin Guards, who fought in large units on battlefields providing covering fire, the archers among these assailants operated independently, choosing their targets freely.
Every arrow was like the fangs of a venomous snake striking out of the darkness—precise, ruthless, and deadly.
This was the style of the underworld.
Their threat in the chaos was ten times more dangerous than even the imperial or Yulin archers.
“Come...” A guard captain tried to suppress his bloodthirsty impulse, darting out from the shadows to call for reinforcements, only to be struck by an arrow that pierced his throat.
“There are...” Another city defense commander staggered out with several subordinates.
Before he could finish speaking, a volley of arrows struck him and his men in vital areas.
The commander, burning with internal heat but growing weak in his limbs, along with several brave soldiers behind him, was riddled with arrows and collapsed in a pool of blood.
“Wha…” A clerk of the Grand Chancellor’s residence rushed out of his office wielding a lightweight ceremonial sword, about to shout commands.
But nearly a dozen arrows simultaneously pierced his vital points, nearly cutting him to pieces.
Two fist-sized oil jars flew out and slammed mercilessly into the clerk’s quarters.
Oil splattered everywhere.
Phosphorescent flames ignited the oil instantly, engulfing the rooms in a blaze.
Fires broke out all around the Grand Chancellor’s residence, answering the hundreds of flames blazing across the distant neighborhoods.
Black smoke pillars soared straight into the sky, merging with the thick clouds overhead.
Whether from a sudden change in the heavens or the earth’s own will, a heavy thunder clapped in the winter’s black clouds, and bolts of lightning rolled like wheels, grinding across the sky.
Through the gaps in the clouds, waves of lightning flickered, illuminating the burning Kunpeng District below.
In Kunpeng District, urgent whistles and gong sounds echoed from all directions.
Groups of martial enforcers, district magistrate officers, and city defense troops ran about like headless flies.
Some people fell in panic, blood splattered across their faces.
Kunpeng was home mostly to members of the royal family and the highest-ranking officials.
Fires raged everywhere.
The protectors of these powerful men roared orders, waving their lords’ official seals, commanding the marauding enforcers, officers, and soldiers to quickly surround their respective mansions, forbidding any harm to come to their masters.
Everywhere was fire, smoke, chaos, and wildly running crowds; everywhere were wildly gesturing guards and servants trying to control the situation.
No one had expected that Kunpeng District would be attacked.
For more than eighteen hundred years, since the founding of Dayin, except for the turbulent early years after its establishment and occasional sudden rebellions by remnants of the old dynasty, the empire had been peaceful and stable for a long time.
Especially Kunpeng, the premier district right beneath the imperial city’s foundations—who would dare set fire here? Who could dare?
But on this night, Kunpeng was like a defenseless young girl, completely exposed to those long-prepared conspirators.
In an instant, it plunged into extreme vulnerability and chaos.
‘Puchi’—the sounds did not stop.
Over ten thousand assassins completely surrounded the Grand Chancellor’s residence.
They stormed inside, killing and setting fires, tearing through almost half the estate in mere moments.
Chancellor Zhu Chong was extremely mindful of his personal safety.
Usually, thousands of city defense soldiers were stationed around his residence.
Inside, a large personal guard of family retainers was always on duty.
Those servants and workers were mostly strong, burly men.
But with the intoxicating fragrance and the chaotic sounds disrupting their minds, the soldiers and personal guards around the residence were weakened by more than half their fighting power.
Worse still, internal chaos erupted amongst them, with bloodied fights breaking out between comrades.
These assassins swiftly, efficiently stormed through the mansion’s corridors and galleries, cutting a path straight to the core.
Wherever they passed, no guard, retainer, servant, maid, or even the residence’s watchdog, all confused and embroiled in the chaos, escaped a brutal death.
Each one was cleaved with a blade, then stabbed with a dozen more strikes until completely lifeless.
The assassins scattered oil jars everywhere, smashing and scattering them at random.
In the brief time of a single tea break, nearly half the mansion was engulfed in roaring flames.
Alongside arson, the assassins also used poison.
Various explosive rounds were thrown that burst on impact, releasing clouds of toxic smoke and powder.
The sharp stench filled the air, and even some guards still fighting found themselves collapsing under the poison’s onslaught.
Yet this was no common place—it was the residence of Dayin’s Grand Chancellor.
These assassins struck with surprise and skill, taking the Chancellor’s mansion off guard.
They quickly swept through the official quarters where the Chancellor’s servants once worked and rushed through the second main gate into the core reception and administration area.
The defenses here were even more formidable than the perimeter.
At last, these assassins met the residence’s backbone of martial power.
Hundreds of heavily armored warriors arranged themselves in a perfect line, each face covered with thick damp towels, wielding specially forged horse-slaying sabers.
They were led by a dozen calm, long-robed men with feathered hats.
The columns of warriors blocked the fiercely charging assassins.
The sabers were raised in unison, sharp blades shimmering with faint Yuangang light.
As they swung, their blades sliced through the air with a piercing, dreadful tearing sound.
One stroke and hundreds of assassins were cleaved before they could reach the warriors, bodies and weapons split clean in two.
Another wave charged, and the warriors swung again—another two hundred assassins were cut down instantly.
For six waves in a row, nearly two thousand assassins were cut down effortlessly by these armored warriors.
Some didn’t die immediately and writhed on the ground in excruciating pain, letting out pitiful howls.
Then the assassins’ masters stepped forward.
These elites, also heavily armored, wielded long weapons like spears, horse lances, halberds, and wolf-tooth maces.
They charged with unparalleled ferocity toward the blocking warriors.
Unlike the silent foot soldiers, these elite killers displayed more independence.
They roared as they advanced, “Clear the court! Kill the traitors! Avenge our Anping Prefecture!”
Nearly a hundred elites were all at the Tuomai realm, albeit at its lower levels.
Their weapons glowed faintly with Yuangang aura, and every swing struck like thunderclaps.
Ten or so calm long-robed men burst out laughing softly, drawing their swords and lunging like floating clouds.
Sword lights whirled, and blades emitted Yuangang energy slashing fiercely through the air over dozens of feet.
Over a hundred Tuomai assassins were caught off guard and swiftly cut down by the deadly sword energy, blood spurting everywhere.
An elderly man in blue robes held a long sword, flicking his fingertip along the blade’s edge.
A clear sword hum soared into the air, echoing for miles.
“You fools who do not know your place, breaking into the Grand Chancellor’s residence at night. This is a crime worthy of exterminating nine generations!”
“Kneel! Surrender! I will give you a chance to—”
Before he could finish, ‘swish!’—his head exploded into fragments.
(End of Chapter)