Chapter 246

Crown Prince Li Heng of the Eastern Palace was furious in his bedchamber. He smashed a cherished celadon-colored secret-color porcelain vase fired in the Yue kiln onto the ground. A peony inserted in the vase withered instantly, and the clear water overflowing with spiritual light flowed all over the floor. Li Heng roared: "Who is it? Who plotted against me!"

"An Lushan has rebelled! The demon army has breached Luoyang. Now in the world, the Emperor's prestige in the court is completely lost, and people's hearts are all leaning toward me... but just..." Li Heng wanted to smash something else, but there was nothing handy left by his hand.

He had no choice but to sit down indignantly and say: "But on that day, I was tainted with the suspicion of regicide and rebellion. Now the Emperor has placed me under house arrest in this Eastern Palace, and most of the Eastern Palace's subordinate officials and staff have been detained."

He turned his head back, half in fear and half in panic, and said: "Jingzhong, I can only discuss this with you now! Originally there was a Li Mi to help me, but yesterday... I don't even know whose person he is anymore!"

A beardless man with sunken cheeks stood in front of Li Heng. His eyes revealed a cold, snake-like gaze. He was neither arrogant nor impatient at this moment, and his calm appearance gave Li Heng great reliance. Li Jingzhong said in a low voice: "Your Highness, outside the city is a million-strong demon army, and Chang'an is in imminent danger. According to my view, this Chang'an cannot be held. The fortified city of Luoyang fell in just one night. The Tongguan Pass is an ancient majestic pass, yet the rebel army captured it in just one hour."

"How long can this Chang'an be held?"

Li Heng was so frightened that he lost his head and said in a daze: "What should be done? What should be done?"

"In my opinion, the Crown Prince should leave!" Li Jingzhong said in a low voice: "Now Chang'an is empty. That Li Taibai, and He Zhizhang, were so lawless in the Xingqing Palace that day. An Lushan was stabbed by them, which is why he was terrified into leading his troops to rebel."

Here he cleverly reversed the order of events, turning Qian Chen and the others' act of assassinating An Lushan, which was based on their realization that he was rebelling, into...

Framing it as an assassination attempt that forced An Lushan to rebel.

But at this time, Li Heng, who was frightened out of his wits, had completely believed Li Jingzhong's words. He heard Li Jingzhong continue: "But although An Lushan is powerful, it is because he relied on the emptiness of the Great Tang's heartland. The forces loyal to the Great Tang in Bashu, the Western Regions, and the Southeast are still strong! In the past, didn't the Primordial Spirit True Immortals of the Daoist and Buddhist sects also sit in the court? As long as the Crown Prince walks out, the forces loyal to the imperial court will have a backbone and will gather around the Crown Prince."

"The Crown Prince is justified, and can take charge of this force!"

"But the Emperor..." Li Heng worried.

"His Majesty sits in Chang'an and cannot be moved. Precisely because of this, the state cannot be tied to one city. If Changancheng is breached, the Crown Prince can be preserved, and only then can the ancestral temples continue to be worshipped! This is where the great righteousness lies... Therefore, the Crown Prince should uphold filial piety, take a step back, and leave a perfect backup for the Great Tang!"

Li Heng had already been completely persuaded by him. He stood up and said suspiciously: "But now An Lushan's million-strong demon army has surrounded Chang'an tightly, how can we leave?"

Li Jingzhong bowed and bent his body, saying: "The act of breaking out of the siege values quality over quantity. Your Highness only needs to lead a small team of ten thousand trusted cavalry to escort you, and use the Supreme Clarity Pearl to protect you. You should be able to break out, like a dragon entering the sea, and accept the allegiance of the imperial court everywhere."

"The Supreme Clarity Pearl!" Li Heng lost his composure instantly and said tremblingly: "But now the Supreme Clarity Pearl is the eye of the city-protecting array of Chang'an. If the Supreme Clarity Pearl is taken away, the power of the array will drop by seventy percent, and even suppressing the Nine Heavens cracks will be difficult. How can it withstand the attack of a million demon troops?"

"Your Highness, one must be decisive when it is time to be decisive! The demonic path has the magic treasure Great Heavenly Demon Stele. Without the Supreme Clarity Pearl to protect you, even a True Immortal cannot kill his way out."

Li Heng was the second person in Changancheng who could use the Supreme Clarity Pearl. The Crown Prince is the heir to the country. If the Emperor cannot activate the Supreme Clarity Pearl, the Crown Prince can activate this pearl with his own destiny. But the Profound Emperor was still there, and Li Heng had no certainty that he could get the Supreme Clarity Pearl from the Emperor's hands.

Li Heng smiled bitterly: "Jingzhong, I know your loyalty. But now that I am in this situation, how can I still get the Supreme Clarity Pearl?"

Li Jingzhong stepped forward, leaned into Li Heng's ear, and said in a low voice: "Crown Prince, His Majesty has lost his virtue, which is why he lost Luoyang and Tongguan. Even Chang'an is in jeopardy. Now people's hearts are suspicious. There are many people who want to leave and want to follow the Crown Prince. I can contact people in the palace for the Crown Prince. They wouldn't dare to rebel, but wouldn't they dare to follow the Crown Prince on an eastern inspection?"

Li Heng was overjoyed, pointed at Li Jingzhong and said: "Jingzhong is truly my backbone minister, and has the talent to assist the country!"

Li Jingzhong knelt down immediately and said loudly: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for giving me a name. From now on, I am your loyal dog, serving Your Majesty!"

At this time, a drum sound came from the Heaven-Bearing Gate, and the twelve street drums transmitted it one after another. The drum sound roared and shocked the whole city. Even in the Rate-Correction Temple of the Eastern Palace, there were Crown Prince's attendants beating drums. Li Heng said in horror: "What happened? Is there a change outside the city?" Li Fuguo climbed to a high place and took a look. He saw a pair of Pear Garden disciples in the Rate-Correction Temple who were beating drums with all their might. Their cultivation base was only in the Penetrating Law Realm, but they were risking burning their life-essence true yuan and fundamental magic power to beat the drum sound to the maximum.

At this moment, Changancheng was full of roaring, and the whole city was filled with a murderous atmosphere. The small officials of the Rate-Correction Temple who had not followed the Crown Prince to the banquet that day and thus had not been liquidated, and even the night-watch eunuchs, were all lining up, waiting to replace the Pear Garden disciple who was beating the drum.

At this time, the lowly Pear Garden disciples in Changancheng were all beating drums to cheer for the defenders, reporting to the country with a heart of hot blood. But the Crown Prince, the heir to the throne, was shivering in the Eastern Palace, planning to abandon millions of commoners and flee Chang'an!

Li Fuguo felt no waves in his heart and reported to Li Heng: "Your Highness, it is the street drums of the Chang'an Drum Tower sounding an alarm. It seems the outer city cannot hold on!"

Li Heng jumped up and said: "Quickly contact the loyal and righteous people for me, and get the Supreme Clarity Pearl for me!"

Li Fuguo nodded and said yes...

Outside Changancheng, on the tower ship, the Corpse Poison Sect Master was bleeding from his seven orifices, his soul damaged. Only then did he barely open his eyes and shout: "That person's cultivation is low, at most Core Formation. Mobilizing the magic power of a city's drum array like this, he cannot issue it many times. At most five strikes, and his physical body will be shattered and he will die!"

At this time, a loud noise came from the sky, accompanied by the drum sound like a tide. A lightning dragon crossed the sky, and the silver thunder, like a horned dragon, rolled in the clouds, radiating huge branches that covered the battlefield.

The thunder sound and the drum sound intertwined, finally completely triggering the vast power between heaven and earth.

Qian-Heaven Yang-Rigidity, vast and righteous qi, covered heaven and earth.

The thunder light fell, and a single touch caused the living-soul demon lords carrying demonic qi and yin qi to vanish into ashes. The demonic qi rushing to the sky above the demon army was hit hard, and three or four tenths of it were beaten apart and torn to pieces.

Li Linfu gave a muffled grunt and said: "This world ultimately still rejects the aura of the Nine Heavens. Even if there are a million border troops to provide shelters for the demon lords, it is very easy to trigger heavenly tribulations and heavenly punishments!"

A bolt of thunder light cut through the sky, illuminating the figure on the city tower.

At this time, Qian Chen, who had revealed his true face, was intertwined with black and white electric light under the illumination of the thunder light. His hands were still dancing wildly on the zither, triggering and accumulating this thunder power. Qian Chen's hair crown was scattered by a purple thunderbolt. He was disheveled, and his figure appeared very tiny under the power of heaven and earth.

But when he drove the power of heaven and earth with the zither sound, using the Internal Scene True Thunder Pill as a guide, a bolt of thunder light ten feet thick struck the Great Sage Thunder Sound zither in front of Qian Chen, it gave people an incomparably strong sense of deterrence. Like a god governing the power of heaven and earth!