Chapter 757: Blessing Against Blessing

Someone actually stood out? At a time like this, to share the fire with Prince Shun, to go against the Empress Dowager?

Wait, it's actually Prince Shou?

After seeing clearly who the person stepping forward was, the crowd fell silent.

A thought flashed through everyone's mind: so these two princes had long been colluding, joining forces from within and without to seize this opportunity to launch their attack today!

At least in this building, no one was a fool. At this moment, no one would think this was Prince Shou acting on a whim, releasing his spiritual light to verify if he was protected by his ancestors; this was clearly a pre-arranged plan between the two to charge at the Empress Dowager. Today, the Empress Dowager set a trap, and the two princes also set a trap, both having made full preparations; it was just a matter of who was better prepared.

These court elites all had a feeling: the winner would likely be Prince Shun; he had planned with intent against the unsuspecting. The Empress Dowager clearly did not know they were going to launch an attack.

The Empress Dowager was stunned and said, "Uncle, why is it you?"

Logically, she shouldn't have said such foolish things, but firstly, with her nerves stretched tight, she inevitably lost her composure, and secondly... she was indeed in a political alliance with Prince Shou, an alliance that had not yet dissolved.

During these past few days while she was stabilizing the situation, she had indeed been in contact with Prince Shou; though she hadn't laid out the entire situation, it was tacitly understood, and she had even promised Prince Shou that he could return to the court and hold the power of regent once again.

She had even thought Prince Shou was on her side.

Who would have thought that Prince Shou would be the first to jump out now?

Prince Shou sighed and said, "Empress Dowager, is what Prince Shun said true? Did you really murder the monarch? If that is truly the case, then I was truly blind to have sincerely assisted you for so many years, and to have voluntarily stepped aside to hand over such a magnificent empire to you. I have truly failed my poor imperial nephew, and failed the ancestors of the Great Jin!"

I...

Go to hell!

The Empress Dowager could only choke on the curse, feeling a wave of nausea as she looked at Prince Shou's loyal and patriotic face.

However, it was not over yet.

As Prince Shou stood out, standing before the people like a torch, several others among the royal clansmen arranged in order nearby stood out one after another; they were all idle princes in Jingshi. Although idle, having likely never held power for a single day since birth, they were close relatives of the emperor, all within the five degrees of mourning. As soon as they came out, each of them wore the spiritual light of ancestral protection, standing silently behind Prince Shou.

These people, individually, had neither the courage nor the ability, but with Prince Shou taking the lead, their courage came. As they gathered in numbers, their ability also came.

Now it was the royal clansmen against the Empress Dowager!

The Empress Dowager glared at them, a golden, dazzling light before her eyes, causing a wave of dizziness and powerlessness.

She suddenly thought: what have I been doing these past few days? They said it was to stabilize the court, so how could she not have noticed the conspiracy and collusion happening right under her nose? Was she really a failure?

Not just herself, the State Preceptor was also a failure; had he detected such a conspiracy? If he couldn't detect it, what was the point of him guarding Jingshi?

Or was he tacitly allowing it, or even planning it?

Prince Shou looked up and saw the Empress Dowager stunned like a wooden chicken, a look of triumph flashing across his face. Just by looking at the Empress Dowager's state, he knew that this plan had already succeeded by more than half; all that remained was...

Prince Shun said loudly, "Fellow royal relatives, fellow marquises, we are all subjects of the Great Jin, having received deep imperial grace; we should eat the monarch's salary and be loyal to the monarch's affairs! This is no Empress Dowager, this is a traitor who murdered the monarch! The national traitor is right here; let us execute the national traitor. It happens today!"

He roared, and golden light erupted from his body!

At this moment, Prince Shou stepped forward and said, "I will help you!"

As he spoke, he placed his hand on Prince Shun, and immediately a wave of golden light flowed into Prince Shun's golden light. The golden light from both sides merged without any obstruction, becoming even more solemn and vast, with an even stronger sense of oppression.

It was as if the Son of Heaven had arrived in person. Ten thousand golden bells rang!

The Empress Dowager shouted angrily, "Kill him!"

Although Prince Shun's momentum was vast, the iron guards prepared by the Empress Dowager did not retreat in fear, but instead charged forward frantically! One could see the Sword Light pouring down like mercury, thumping against the golden light; if the brightness of the golden light was ten, the combined Sword Light was probably one hundred!

However, it was all useless.

The quantity of Sword Light did not represent power; the golden light on Prince Shun formed a suppression against almost all power. Under this golden-grade power suppression, those iron guards were nothing but scrap metal!

Prince Shun sneered and laughed loudly, "You bunch of sycophants, like clowns, are not worth a single blow!"

With a boom, the iron guards were swatted away like flies. Prince Shun stood alone, then approached step by step: "Miao Shi, today we take revenge for the Emperor!"

The Empress Dowager was panicked to the extreme at this moment, and instead became furious, shouting, "Do you dare?!"

She slammed the table and stood up, a golden light appearing behind her, and a golden page opened!

The Empress's Golden Book!

The Empress Dowager was the Empress personally conferred by the late emperor, possessing the Golden Book and Golden Treasure. This Golden Treasure and Golden Book bestowed by imperial power also protected her like the ancestors' spiritual light at this moment.

If one looked closely, one could see that the golden light of this Golden Book was of the same origin as the golden light on the several princes; it was also power derived from the emperor, and this wave was imperial power against imperial power!

Wang Feizai was watching the battle with trepidation, and suddenly thought: Great Ancestor was so generous, protecting the princes and protecting the Empress, everyone is untouchable, so why not protect the empire of Shenzhou? Or is it people-oriented, and the empire is secondary?

At this time, he heard Prince Chun say, "That's not right!"

Wang Feizai asked from behind, "Father, what is it?"

Prince Chun said, "If she really murdered the monarch, she is not the Empress but a criminal; how could the ancestors protect her?"

Wang Feizai said, "But she is indeed protected! It seems the ancestors cannot distinguish much either. Anyway, she hasn't been deposed as Empress, so isn't she the Empress?"

Prince Chun shook his head:

"Not right, not right!"

"Not right!"

Prince Shou was watching the battle from behind, his heart filled with doubt and a sense of foreboding: This shouldn't be! After she murdered the monarch, the Golden Book should have lost its efficacy! The rules here were iron laws, just like the State Preceptor's rules of action; as long as one mastered them, there would be no mistakes. Others might be confused, but ever since he retreated behind the scenes, he had been studying these rules for many years, preparing for today; how could he be confused?

At this moment, he finally had a feeling that things were out of his control.

However, having reached this point, he could not turn back. Let alone the Empress's Golden Book, even if the Emperor's Jade Seal were here, he could not submit. He immediately roared at the other princes who had stepped forward, "Once the bow is drawn, there is no turning back; do you want to die?"

The other princes gritted their teeth and moved forward, also pouring all their power into Prince Shun. With this, Prince Shun's power increased greatly, overpowering the Empress's Golden Book!

Seeing that she was losing, the Empress Dowager cried out, "Gentlemen, whoever helps me, I will share the world with him!"

But the people around looked at each other, and no one responded. How could outsiders intervene in such a situation?

In fact, there were people among the crowd arranged by the Empress Dowager, but they dared not step forward. The cunning ones naturally wanted to see which way the wind blew, and the loyal ones, upon hearing about murdering the monarch, naturally became hesitant; for a moment, no die-hard loyalists stepped forward.

At this time, the Empress Dowager shouted, "Seeking death!" She stomped her foot, and the surroundings suddenly lit up!

Countless electric currents rose from the ground, like ten thousand spiritual snakes, winding toward Prince Shun!

This was not the power of the royal family; it was the power of the State Preceptor.

In these years, the deterrent power of the State Preceptor was even greater than that of the royal family; everyone only knew that the State Preceptor protected the royal family, and did not know that the royal family still had the power to protect itself.

At this moment, the thunder and lightning mobilized by the Empress Dowager came from the buildings in all directions; clearly, she had long prepared her trump card. This was her geographical advantage, enough to fight the many with the few.

Outside the standoff of golden light, the Empress Dowager borrowed another powerful external force to open up a new battlefield.

At this moment, Shun Wang shouted, "Well come!"

Outside his golden light, that layer of lightning cloak was propped up once again!

He had already displayed the power of lightning before; the Empress Dowager had suspected at the time that it was the State Preceptor helping, but later she doubted it, because:

It was too weak!

The Sword Light from the Eight Great Iron Guards' strike just now had shattered that layer of lightning defense, which was the only reason the Ancestral Blessing's spiritual light was drawn out; although it was not strange to lose when one fought against eight, if one were truly blessed by the State Preceptor, it would be impossible to break the defense even if one hundred Sword Heroes attacked.

Therefore, the Empress Dowager was inclined to believe he was bluffing; there were many lightning swords in the world, and perhaps Shun Wang had simply found a lightning Sword Technique for Body Protection to create the illusion that the State Preceptor was also on his side, in order to disturb the Empress Dowager's heart.

Thus, the Empress Dowager chose to use the State Preceptor's lightning Great Array, which had long been lying in ambush, to launch a surprise attack!

And Shun Wang returned the favor with lightning as well.

Thunder Light against Thunder Light was even more blinding than golden light against golden light; the lightning kept flickering and bursting, and that unstable, intense light made it impossible for people to open their eyes, while the violent aura made those watching from close range instinctively want to flee.

However, countless bolts of lightning also rose and circled outside this building, already blocking the exits and turning Jindinglou into a cage.

Wang Fei hurriedly stepped forward to protect Chun Wang, but Chun Wang pushed him away and said, "You, a Sword Guest, still want to protect me? Go play in the back—" Before the words were finished, a warm aura shone down, completely isolating him behind the violent Thunder Light.

Was it Sunlight?

That aura clearly felt like being shone upon by Sunlight, but one could clearly see no Sunlight before their eyes; there was only Thunder Light and the Great Ancestor's spiritual light all around, and except for Chun Wang and his son, no one noticed that they had other power protecting them.

Chun Wang looked at his son with worry: at such a sensitive time, this kid had actually obtained the protection of another kind of powerful force, which might not necessarily be a good thing. For the past few days, he himself had been summoned to stay at the Shangshutai, while his son had been in the manor alone presiding over the big picture; had he done something he didn't know about? Young people didn't know the gravity of things; he shouldn't bring about a great disaster.

At this time, Wang Fei raised his eyes to look at the battle, seemingly speaking to himself, and seemingly speaking to others: "Is he going to win?"

As soon as the words fell, only a loud "Crack—" was heard, and the lightning that was rolling from the outside in was pushed back, with a boom, blowing the walls of the top floor away!

In an instant, all four sides of Jindinglou were wide open!

Only then did the crowd see that Shun Wang, Shou Wang, and the others were standing in their original spots, their bodies protected by golden light, possessing a great Momentum of solemnity.

And the Empress Dowager, who had originally sat in the seat of honor, had already been overturned to the ground, covered in dust and dirt, her hairpins and jewelry scattered. As for Xingwang, he was lying in the corner, his aura completely gone, life or death unknown.

The outcome had been decided!