Free Web NovelChapter 396: Chapter 398: Killing Spree
Hua Manman’s heart skipped a beat when she heard the familiar voice.
She immediately looked up toward the sound.
Prince Zhao, clad in black, stepped over the threshold and strode inside.
The warm yellow light of the lanterns stretched his shadow long across the floor.
His narrow eyes were deep and sharp, their pupils darker and more profound than the night behind him.
His boots were silent as they touched the ground, yet his presence was so oppressive it made everyone’s heart pound in their chest.
The color drained from Li Hao and Xianfei’s faces.
Xianfei reacted in a flash.
She yanked Hua Manman in front of her, pulled a pin from her hair, and pressed it to Hua Manman’s throat, shouting shrilly.
"Assassin! Guards!"
Li Hao swallowed his fear, drew the sword from his waist with a SWISH, and stepped forward to shield Xianfei.
He struggled to appear calm.
"How did you get in?"
Li Ji answered unhurriedly, "I followed this young brother here, of course."
His gaze flickered to the Yulin Guard kneeling on the floor.
The guard’s blood ran cold under that glance. His limbs gave way, and he collapsed onto the floor, cold sweat pouring down his forehead.
A ghost of a smile touched Li Ji’s lips. "If this young man hadn’t led the way, it would have taken me much longer to find you."
The Yulin Guard scrambled to explain.
"Your Highness, Prince Dongyang! I-I didn’t know someone was following me! I swear I didn’t know!"
Li Hao didn’t spare the Yulin Guard a glance. His eyes were fixed on Prince Zhao as he demanded,
"You’re the one who sent men to take Zhengde Gate, aren’t you?"
Li Ji admitted it readily. "I am."
Li Hao’s expression soured. He blustered,
"You should know your Princess Consort is in our hands. How dare you still oppose us? Aren’t you afraid we’ll kill her?!"
Li Ji’s lips curled in a sneer.
"If you dared to face me in a real fight, I might respect you as a man. But you’re hiding behind a helpless woman. Can you even call yourself a man?"
Li Hao flushed, his face burning with shame.
He had once dreamed of becoming a great, admired hero like Prince Zhao, fighting on the front lines to defend his country.
But after everything that had happened, that innocent dream had been clouded by shadow.
Now, he could barely protect himself.
His old ambitions and ideals were nothing more than empty words.
Xianfei interjected at the opportune moment.
"Prince Zhao, there’s no need to waste your breath. You have two choices: surrender to us, or watch your woman die right here."
Li Ji’s gaze passed over Li Hao’s shoulder to Hua Manman, held captive by Xianfei.
Their eyes met across the distance.
Li Ji clearly heard Hua Manman’s thoughts—
’My stomach is killing me. Was it the shepherd’s purse I had for lunch?’
Li Ji: "..."
’At a moment like this, a matter of life and death, she’s still thinking about such nonsense.’
’That’s her, all right!’
By now, hundreds of Yulin Guards had heard the commotion and rushed to the scene.
Drawing their swords, they began to surround Li Ji.
Xianfei whispered to Li Hao.
"We can’t stay here. Let’s go, now."
With the gates breached, the entire Imperial Palace would soon fall.
They had to escape before Prince Zhao’s reinforcements arrived.
Xianfei intended to take Hua Manman with them.
Hua Manman, of course, was unwilling. Li Hao knocked her out with a single blow and slung her over his shoulder.
They fled in the ensuing chaos.
Li Ji tried to stop them, but the Yulin Guards swarmed him, and he was unable to break free.
Pressed for time, Li Ji held back no longer and began to slaughter them.
Every strike was filled with chilling killing intent, every move fatal. He left nothing but destruction in his wake.
In moments, more than half of the hundreds of Yulin Guards had been cut down. The ground was littered with severed limbs.
Li Ji stood amidst a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. Fresh blood dripped from his sword, and his dark pupils seemed stained red, making him look like one of the Asura Ghosts that had crawled out of the underworld. The sheer force of his murderous aura was suffocating.
The remaining Yulin Guards were ashen-faced with terror, daring not to take another step toward him.
When he raised his eyes to look at them, the guards nearly wet themselves and fell back a step in unison.
These Yulin Guards were usually only responsible for protecting the Imperial Palace. They had never faced a true battlefield, let alone seen the legendary Prince Zhao in a blood rage.
They had once dismissed the rumors about Prince Zhao as mere exaggerations.
Now they saw that Prince Zhao was even more terrifying than the legends claimed.
Li Ji looked at the deputy commander of the Yulin Guards and asked in a hoarse voice.
"Where did Prince Dongyang and Xianfei go?"
The deputy commander stammered, "T-They should be heading for Anyang Gate, to the east."
But what he was actually thinking was—
’Prince Dongyang and Xianfei are definitely headed for Tianwu Gate to the west. They have arrangements there. They might even be able to bring back more men and fight their way back in.’
Li Ji swung his longsword.
The blade carved a sharp arc through the air, slitting the deputy commander’s throat with perfect accuracy.
The deputy commander fell into a pool of his own blood before he could even process what had happened, his eyes wide in death.
The other Yulin Guards watched, filled with both resentment and fear, but not one of them dared to make a sound.
Li Ji flicked the blood from his sword, then leaped, using Qinggong to race toward Tianwu Gate to the west.
Xianfei had already arranged for carriages and men near Tianwu Gate.
As soon as they arrived at Tianwu Gate, men came forward to meet them.
"How is General Xu?" Xianfei asked as she climbed into the carriage.
A trusted aide replied, "I’ve already sent word to General Xu. We are to meet at Moon Cold Mountain, outside the city."
Xianfei nodded. "Let’s go."
Hua Manman was thrown into the carriage.
Xianfei and Li Hao sat on either side of her.
The carriage passed through Tianwu Gate and headed straight for the West City Gate.
Initially, the rebel army had been able to control the prisoners they’d released. But as the battlefield descended into chaos, many of the convicts escaped. They stormed the homes of innocent civilians, raping and pillaging.
The people cried out for help, but the government couldn’t even save itself, let alone anyone else.
The whole of Shangjing City was plunged into disaster.
Xianfei heard the cries from outside the carriage.
She closed her eyes and silently recited Amitabha Buddha’s name.
Li Hao couldn’t resist lifting the curtain. He saw a family being robbed by prisoners. An elderly member of the household had been brutally murdered, and thick blood was flowing down the front steps.
His pupils contracted. As if burned by the sight, he quickly dropped the curtain.
He had known releasing the prisoners would have terrible consequences, but facing the reality of it still left him shaken.
Hua Manman soon regained consciousness.
She was awakened by a sharp pain in her stomach.
But she didn’t dare make a sound, cautiously opening her eyes to a mere slit.
Seeing she was still a hostage, she immediately shut her eyes again, feigning unconsciousness.
