Chapter 547: Night raid on the imperial palace
At this moment, midnight had already passed. The on-duty imperial guards of the imperial palace had gathered together in threes and fours in a dark place as they drank wine and gossiped about random stuff. In this terrible weather, who would think that it was necessary to patrol? Moreover, other than an empty lodge, there were no other places to hide. There was basically no way for anyone to infiltrate the imperial palace. Not to mention the fact that the layer of snow outside could already reach one’s thighs. Long Zhan’s commands entered through the left ear of the guards and went out their right ear. They didn’t believe that there would be any problem in such a heavy snowstorm.
At this time, in the imperial study of the imperial palace, a wall quietly opened, revealing an entrance to the secret room. A dozen or so people in ragged clothing entered the imperial study. They were all of varying ages. There were some who were old men who seemed to be in their seventies or older. There were also some middle-aged men. However, all of them had something in common. They were all bloodthirsty and their eyes flashed with a brutal radiance along with an insane desire for freedom.
In the past, these people had an illustrious reputation in the Violent Dragon Empire or even the entire Blue Waves Continent. Their name once used to terrify people the moment it was spoken. Their names were so scary that kids would stop whatever they were doing and cry. The hands of every one of them were soaked with blood as they had killed countless people. As for their strength, they belonged to the peak of this continent. Especially after they were imprisoned in the Heaven Forbidden Prison. They had nothing to do other than to train themselves. As a result, their current strength was far higher than before and they were the perfect choice to be vanguards.
The door of the imperial study suddenly broke into pieces with a bang. A haggard looking white-haired old man jumped out of the study and attacked two eunuchs who were on night watch duty. Those two screamed the moment the old man attacked, but their voice ceased abruptly as their heads flew in the air. Their bodies collapsed on the floor as blood flowed out from the part where their head was severed from their body.
“Hahaha, I haven’t tasted the taste of blood for a long time, it’s really nostalgic...” The old man laughed wildly. Stretching out his tongue, he licked the blood which had splattered all over the corner of his mouth. He became excited as if he had eaten some kind of aphrodisiac.
“Old fellow, you are too greedy, how can you think of eating all by yourself?” A middle-aged burly man with a scar on his face said in dissatisfaction. He was imprisoned in Heaven Forbidden Prison for nearly ten years. In the past, he used to have a business of killing people for their properties. Moreover, the higher the difficulty level, the more interested he was. Long Zhan took a fancy to his strength and employed a plot to capture him alive. However, the scar-faced man was stubborn... How could he submit and pledge allegiance to Long Zhan? As such, Long Zhan had no choice but to imprison him in the Heaven Forbidden Prison.
“Scar Face, if we are not standing on the same side now, this old man will be digging out your heart and drinking your blood.” The old man coldly snorted.
“Why are you making so much noise? Are you afraid that there will be no one left for you to kill? I’m afraid that you are going to have to kill until you become exhausted.” A peculiar voice resounded. This face of this person was dirty and messy and his long hair was all over the place. One couldn’t tell whether this fellow was a man or a woman. He looked to be extremely weak. However, the two arrogant fellows didn’t dare to refute him and they obediently closed their mouth.
At this time, several groups of patrolling guards rushed over to the imperial study. They were attracted by the scream of those two eunuchs.
When they saw that these guards were delivering themselves to be killed, these bloodthirsty lunatics became excited. They roared and rushed towards the guards, efficiently dealing with them. Other than leaving behind some screams, these patrolling guards were turned into mincemeat. Those colorful intestines, internal organs, and those severed hands and legs on the ground looked very bloody and terrifying. Even those veteran soldiers who had seen blood might vomit after they saw this scene. As a matter of a fact, they were not afraid of dying. However, dying in this way was somewhat beyond their mental endurance.
A loud alarm sound resounded all over the imperial palace as more and more prisoners entered the palace from the secret path which led from the Heaven Forbidden Prison to the imperial study.
Long Zhan had never expected that the war would start from inside the imperial palace. He had arranged practically all his troops around the walls of the imperial palace which resulted in the center of the imperial palace being empty.
The imperial palace was very big. Due to the fact that the troops were unable to arrive in time, more than six thousand prisoners from the Heaven Forbidden Prison slaughtered a majority of the people in the imperial palace in an extremely short period of time. The imperial palace truly became the field littered with corpses and blood flowed like a river, dying the accumulated white snow dark red.
When Long Zhan received this news, he was dumbfounded. He had thought of thousands of scenarios but he had never considered the possibility of the battle starting from inside the imperial palace. Moreover, he already had a hunch that something would happen tonight, but he had never thought that the enemy wouldn’t attack from outside. Instead, they came straight into the middle of the imperial palace as they mercilessly slaughtered everyone.
“Reporting to Your Majesty, this subordinate has found out that those people are not people from the Ximen Clan. They resemble escapees of the Heaven Forbidden Prison.” The trusted subordinate of Long Zhan ran over and reported while breathing heavily.
Bang, Long Zhan slammed his hand on the desk in front of him and the desk fell apart. His face was twisted in anger. He gnashed his teeth and coldly said, “What a good scheme... Do you think that just some random mob will be able to do anything?”
The imperial palace was already in chaos. No matter if they were imperial maids, eunuchs, imperial concubines or high-ranking imperial concubines, all of them were fleeing from all parts of the imperial palace. They were extremely afraid and they were all panicking.
Eventually, several tens of thousands of guards as well as several magician battalions came forward to block those prisoners who were carrying out a wanton massacre in the palace. Under their countless magic arrows, there was heavy casualties among the prisoners.
“Swords Masters move to the front, magicians in the middle, kill your way forward.” That strange voice resounded again, giving out commands. Those prisoners listened to the order of the mysterious voice and they quickly arranged themselves into the formation. They rushed towards the troops who had heavy armor and shields.
The person at the lead was that fellow who looked neither like a man or woman. Although he looked weak, the purple sword blade in his hand instantly took the life of more than ten soldiers. He displayed his strength which was at the Swords Saint realm.
“World of Snow and Ice.”
“Raging Flame Burning Heaven.”
“Heaven Falls Earth Rends.”
Three rank 10 magic spells flew towards the imperial guards practically at the same time. The strong destructive power of the spells practically annihilated all of the soldiers who were in front. This moment, the terrifying attack power of magicians was displayed clearly. As long as magicians had ample time to chant their incantation, the warriors had no chance to win against them.
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Merely, more reinforcement arrived at this moment. The number of magicians on the side of the imperial palace was increasing. As for the prisoners’ side, their casualties were increasing. Even though the levels of the magicians on the side of the imperial palace was weaker compared to the prisoners, they made up for the difference in quality with sheer quantity. They were able to cast a barrier that was able to withstand the attack of the other side by combining their magic power. The overall situation quickly changed.
This moment, the sky had already gotten bright. The night had passed quietly and the blizzard had already stopped at an unknown time. Among those more than six thousand prisoners, only around 300 were left at this moment and they had a hard time as they held off the attacks of the troops from the imperial palace. Even though there were only 300 odd prisoners left, the imperial guards didn’t dare to let down their guard. It was obvious that all of the remaining prisoners who could survive up to this point were powerful experts. Once they got the chance to counterattack, their damage would increase exponentially.
“Quickly end this battle.” Long Zhan frowned and sent down orders. These mere six thousand prisoners not only killed more than ten thousand imperial guards... Moreover, the greater part of his troops and magicians were dealing with the prisoners. As of now, it was already morning and the snowstorm had subsided. He was afraid that the Ximen Clan would seize the opportunity to launch an attack.
“Everyone, hold on a bit longer, freedom is not far away from us.” That neither man nor woman Swords Saint screamed.
“This father can still hold on for more than ten days without any problem. Hey, old guy, what about you?” The scar faced man was sweating but he was still firmly holding on. He still had the energy to make fun of the old man who was sweating profusely.
“When this old man became famous, you were still sucking on your mother’s breast. It would be better for you to take care of yourself.” The old man said while breathing heavily.
At that time, from the east and west wall of the imperial palace, two magic signals soared towards the sky. Long Zhan was tense in his heart. The Ximen Clan truly seized this chance to attack. Why were the troops from the Dark Church not here yet?
The magic signals caused the soldiers who were holding back the prisoners to feel uneasy. Their defense and attacks became disorderly for a moment.
“It’s time.” That neither male nor female Sword Saint said inwardly. The golden colored ring on his hand instantly shone with blinding radiance. With a loud scream, the wind blew against his face which revealed it. Upon seeing his face, people retreated in shock. A scared face was ugly but it was at least acceptable. However, the face of this Swords Saint didn’t have any skin on it. It looked extremely terrifying.
Just when everyone was shocked, a layer of faint golden light appeared around this Swords Saint. Then the purple radiance around this huge sword unexpectedly turned into golden color. In other words, he instantly leapt from the Swords Saint realm to the Swords God realm.
“Swords God’s attack.” This Swords Saint suddenly transformed into a dazzling golden light as he crashed into the barrier which was in front of the imperial guards.
This magic barrier rippled violently and cracks started to spread all around. Before long, the barrier dissipated.
At the moment the barrier broke, the remaining experts rushed into the defending troops as they started to slaughter them. It was as though they were wolves who were released into a flock of sheep.
Meanwhile, the sky above the walls of imperial palace twisted and the huge barrier broke into pieces. That barrier protecting the imperial palace unexpectedly collapsed by itself.