Chapter 445

"Kill!"

"Ah……"

Outside came the stern shouts of killing and the dying screams of the Tàijiān and palace maids!

Soon, Mulan's Black Cavalry seemed to have taken the lead.

The entire princess manor descended into chaos.

Heng Xian stood in the darkness of the room, the tea in his cup still steaming.

He truly hadn't expected that this trip to the Imperial Capital of the Great Zhou would have so many variables.

Even detoxifying the emperor, he didn't know if it was right or wrong!

The shouts of killing and the screams outside were drawing nearer.

The royal family truly has no affection—mothers can kill their sons, grandmothers can slaughter their descendants!

He opened the Heavenly Hexagram: "Is Ji Yaoyue in danger?"

The hexagram showed: "None for now!"

Heng Xian asked again: "Give me a plan to get Ji Yaoyue out safely!"

The hexagram showed: "Very difficult! With your cultivation, it's basically impossible! However, the Heavenly Hexagram has set three escape routes for you, each with an eightfold chance to flee the city and get away from here!"

Heng Xian rubbed his brow; the Heavenly Hexagram is indeed awesome, able to turn a mediocrity into an iron-blooded, ruthless, emotionless top expert! Yet he happens to be someone who values life's rituals, a person of flesh and blood!

If he now leaves Ji Yaoyue to her own fate and runs away, even if his cultivation reaches great heights in this lifetime, his heart will still have a knot!

This is the same choice as when the nine clans of Donglan City destroyed the Heng family back then!

Perhaps this is Heng Xian's weakness!

He asked again: "I want the method to take Ji Yaoyue away!"

The hexagram showed: "Very winding, very difficult! The host still has one last chance to escape; after ten breaths, the opportunity will vanish!"

Once again, the Heavenly Hexagram ignored saving people and emphasized escaping.

Heng Xian fell into a brief hesitation: should he run first… then come back?

Thinking this, he whooshed out of the room.

Having reached outside, he made to leave, but a glance revealed the ground littered with corpses—Tàijiān, palace maids, Black Cavalry guards, and unknown soldiers.

Meanwhile, Mulan was being held up by three black-clad, mystic-armored soldiers with spears, pinned to the wooden pillar of a small pavilion; the spear tip had pierced her chest, her disheveled hair and face smeared with blood, yet she still waved the knife in her hand.

Beside him, the bare-bottomed child who had been renamed Bai Chaoyu clung to a chessboard, being stepped on by a soldier.

At the sight of Heng Xian, Mulan summoned her last strength and shouted: "Master! Run!"

Heng Xian involuntarily stopped; upon seeing the two, he knew his ten-breath escape chance was gone!

Hehe…

From near and far came the clanking of armor; a large group of black-clad, mystic-armored cold-blooded soldiers, led by a black-armored general, slowly advanced.

Glancing at the wreckage not far off where Heng Xian had just counter-killed twenty Foundation Establishment cultivators and the corpses of Yuan Dan Initial Realm experts, the general coldly said: "Heng Xian, you've slain only elite troops; it seems you truly rebel. I am the Imperial City Guard General, Tie Wumao, under orders to seize you—take him down!"

Heng Xian chuckled lightly: "Just you?"

His danger certainly didn't come from these foot soldiers!

"Could it be not enough?"

The general let out a vast waves cry as he drew his waist blade, pressing it to Mulan's neck: "Be good and—"

Before he could finish, hundreds of phantom swords suddenly appeared, carrying unmatched killing intent, arriving in an instant!

Pfft pfft pfft…

Hundreds of soldiers were instantly pierced through by the phantom swords, spitting blood as they flew back, a bloody red glare.

Only the thickest phantom sword aimed at the general's brow did not kill!

The general's blade was raised halfway; he himself possessed Yuan Dan Initial Realm cultivation, skilled in charging assaults, but his speed was halved—this half could easily take his life!

He swallowed a mouthful of saliva; beads of sweat dripped down.

"Did your order call for seizing me or killing me?" Heng Xian asked.

This is crucial—whether to kill or capture reflects the Heavenly Empress's intent; knowing her intent allows me to further devise a plan.

The general struggled to reply: "Capture, capture alive!"

"In your next life, be a good person!" Heng Xian nodded.

Pfft!

The phantom sword pierced the general's skull.

Pap pap…

At that moment, applause came from the walltop.

Heng Xian looked over and saw four people standing on the roofs around the courtyard—four senior Tàijiān!

Judging by their aura, three were Yuan Dan Initial Realm Great Perfection, one had unfathomable cultivation, possibly at the Nascent Soul stage!

Nascent Soul…

This is the danger predicted by the Heavenly Hexagram!

"Marquis Champion, what tactics! Earlier you counter-killed twenty Yuan Dan Initial Realm experts, and now you slay the Imperial City Guard General without blinking!"

That Nascent Soul senior eunuch wore strange lipstick, effeminate yet somehow gave off an extremely fierce aura.

Heng Xian laughed: "To catch me, they actually deployed a eunuch of this caliber—what a grand move!"

The Nascent Soul senior eunuch covered his mouth and chuckled lightly: "Who would dare look down on a young man like Marquis Champion, unrivaled in poetry, brimming with strategies, and transcendent in cultivation?"

Heng Xian said: "Makes sense, I like that description!"

The senior eunuch said: "So, will you follow on your own, or shall we take you?"

Heng Xian earnestly said: "Going of my own accord is certainly more pleasant than being dragged away!"

"Please!" the Grand Tàijiān gestured invitingly.

Terms: Grand Tàijiān. No other.

Heng Xian glanced at Mulan, gave a light cough, leapt into the air, and followed the Grand Tàijiān out of the courtyard. Due to the city‑protection formation, he landed back on the ground and climbed into a carriage.

Terms: Heng Xian; Mulan (a person's name); city‑protection formation; carriage.

The carriage raced forward; Heng Xian lifted the sedan curtain and saw that the street outside was empty, with not a single person. Amid the booming of hooves, countless soldiers streamed back and forth, as if two waves of troops were clashing.

Terms: sedan curtain; soldiers.

The Grand Tàijiān sat aside and explained, "It's the Imperial City Guard, the Xiāoqí Guard, and the Black Cavalry Guard fighting—quite a spectacle! Too bad the Marquis can't see it."

Terms: Grand Tàijiān; Imperial City Guard; Xiāoqí Guard; Black Cavalry Guard; Marquis.

"What a pity!" Heng Xian sighed and asked, "Right, where are we headed?"

Terms: Heng Xian.

The Grand Tàijiān said, "It's just the Rebirth Prison."

Terms: Grand Tàijiān; Rebirth Prison.

"The Rebirth Prison is the foremost of the Great Zhou's Eight Great Prisons; its name alone suggests it sends people to the afterlife. In fact, it is infamous for its iron‑blooded cruelty—its prison guards are all parentless wretches, and it employs at least thirty kinds of torture and blood penalties."

Terms: Rebirth Prison; Eight Great Prisons of the Great Zhou; prison guards; torture; blood penalties.

For over a thousand years since the state's founding, only a handful of those who enter manage to come out alive.

No new proper terms.

"Naturally, Heng Xian had heard of it too, and he nodded, saying, 'What an honor!'"

Terms: Heng Xian.

The Grand Tàijiān laughed and said, "Someone like the Marquis deserves this treatment."

Terms: Grand Tàijiān; Marquis.

Heng Xian couldn't help but say, "Damn, this is a pretty good deal—I'm damn happy."

Terms: Heng Xian.

"Hahaha..." the four Grand Tàijiāns laughed, "heehee."

Terms: Grand Tàijiān; four Grand Tàijiāns.

The carriage turned into an alley, quickly leaving behind the shouts of killing from the main street. After winding left and right, it arrived, after the time it takes to burn two incense sticks, before a gloomy great prison gate.

Terms: carriage; alley; great prison gate.

The Grand Tàijiān gave a cold, grim shout to the outside: "This one doesn't like to be bound; otherwise, do as you please."

Terms: Grand Tàijiān.

"Understood!"

No terms.

Dozens of prison wardens were already waiting at the prison gate; they responded with a call, then coldly surrounded Heng Xian and led him inside.

Terms: prison gate; prison wardens; Heng Xian.

Inside the great prison, they passed through pitch‑black, gloomy passages; the air reeked of foul stench, and muffled groans of pain echoed faintly from the dark corners.

Terms: great prison; prison passages.

The environment is truly awful!

No terms.

What's worse, Heng Xian discovered at least dozens of terrifying restrictions; let alone someone at the Yuan Dan Initial Realm, even one who has reached the Yuan Dan Great Completion would doubt they could escape.

Terms: Heng Xian; Yuan Dan Initial Realm; Yuan Dan Great Completion.

Upon reaching the deepest cell, Heng Xian was shoved inside; the cell door was locked, and ten prison wardens simultaneously activated the sealing restrictions.

Terms: cell; cell door; prison wardens; Heng Xian.

(End of chapter)