Chapter 429: Crown Prince's Plot to Rebel? Clear the Monarch's Side!

Zongzheng Yuer pointed to the sky and shouted with a chilling voice, and a bolt of thunder split the heavens.

The Crown Prince roared wildly as if he were insane.

Drawing his sword, he was about to ascend the city tower himself to behead Zongzheng Yuer.

He watched the letters fluttering down from the sky.

The townsfolk hurriedly picked them up.

Listening to Zongzheng Yuer's every word strip him clean, he felt she was the most wicked poisonous woman in the world.

"Zong—zheng—Yu—er—"

"I will kill you!"

"And you all—"

"I will slaughter all the city's people!"

"All of you shall be buried with the Crown Princess!!"

The Crown Prince truly went mad.

One sword thrust instantly killed a civilian standing within arm's reach.

Seeing the scene, Su Miaoyu seized Li Qingluo, trembling: "He is a madman, he truly is a madman!"

"Hurry and stop him from going further mad!"

"Otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable."

"He really is no longer the Duan Rongyin of before…"

"How did he become like this?"

The Crown Princess's steadfast resolve wavered and shattered at this moment.

Li Qingluo: "He wants to kill the people, while the Lotus Sect seeks to protect them."

"A Crown Prince like this, the world should see clearly now, shouldn't it?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Li Qingluo didn't hesitate, flinging a concealed weapon toward a parcel hanging from the protruding corner of a distant tavern.

The parcel's rag tore open.

Lotus petals fluttered across the sky.

Li Qingluo shouted, "Everyone—!"

"Swear to protect the entire city's people to the death!"

The Lotus Sect followers hidden among the crowd instantly seemed invigorated, turned and charged, officially clashing with the Crown Prince's men.

They shielded the civilians behind them.

Even if it meant drawing a sword and dying for the people, they would not hesitate.

"We... aren't bad people..."

For the greater cause and their ideal realm, they threw themselves into the Lotus Sect without regard for themselves.

However, the Lotus Sect gradually ceased to be what it once was.

It became a cult in the people's mouths.

It turned into a term for burning, killing, and looting.

It became something everyone despised and hated when mentioned.

But at this moment, they fought back, blood boiling, wanting to prove they could also protect DaLiang's people...

The Crown Prince went mad.

All the townsfolk only knew that today they had heard the mad woman's endless nonsense, Zongzheng Yuer.

They read the letters.

They heard the demonic words.

If these words spread across the realm.

And then reached the Emperor's ears.

All of his everything will collapse again!

During those five years at Southern Mountain Villa, Duan Rongyin's heart had long since twisted and gone mad.

At this moment, the toxicity within him grew stronger, driving Duan Rongyin nearly insane, brandishing his sword and slashing toward the city wall.

He cared nothing for the civilians' safety.

Stubbornly issuing orders, he vowed to slaughter everyone present today.

Soon, the tide of battle became clear.

These Lotus Sect followers were merely wanderers scattered across the jianghu.

A single imperial edict gathered them again for their ideals.

Yet their fervor could not match the regular army's royal guards.

They were slain leaving no armor behind.

In an instant, they were defeated like a collapsing mountain.

But the civilians, protected by them, mostly retreated to the street's end.

They still stood bravely and loyally at the front—

Instead, the Crown Prince's Shadow Guard watched the scene, pressing forward step by step.

"Kill—"

They kept charging forward.

On the other side, the Crown Prince, under cover, had already killed his way onto the city wall.

Li Qingluo seized Su Miaoyu, glanced at her: "Crown Princess, don't disappoint me."

After she finished speaking, she shoved Su Miaoyu away: "Hurry up and go!"

She released Su Miaoyu.

Although Su Miaoyu still did not know her true identity, she still gave her a deep look.

Then she turned and, under the cover of Kill Two, hurried toward the exit on the other side.

The Crown Prince charged up.

Zongzheng Yuer was the first to draw her sword and rush forward.

"Duan Rongyin, if you have the guts, fight me one-on-one!"

One-on-one is impossible.

The Crown Prince was surrounded by a crowd.

He glared viciously at Zongzheng Yuer, his once deeply loving lover, now completely turned against her.

They hated each other to the bone.

Li Qingluo, together with everyone, drew their swords and charged out, engaging in a fierce melee with the Crown Prince's forces.

Zheng Lingzhou and Zheng Wanshu led the Lotus Sect in a final death-defying resistance below.

Although the Lotus Sect followers were dwindling.

But Li Qingluo, leading the Kill-named ones, still managed to overwhelm the Crown Prince's side.

"Seize him!"

Li Qingluo gave an order, pointing at Duan Rongyin.

Kill One and Kill Three were the first to rush out.

Zongzheng Yuer, who had originally intended to slip away, hesitated again upon seeing this.

Could it be that Li Qingluo really can capture Duan Rongyin?

The people around Duan Rongyin kept surging forward endlessly.

Thus, Kill One and the others really couldn't quickly capture him.

Seeing the battle stalemate, at that moment a thunderous sound of horse hooves came from outside the city.

The city gate was blown open with a "Boom—".

Led by Liang Gao, Vice Minister of War, thousands of troops arrived.

"Crown Prince Duan Rongyin—stole the tiger talisman, without taking the imperial order he privately led the Beitu army to besiege Qishan—"

"Throwing the court into chaos, colluding with heretics, seize him at once—"

What is going on?

Li Qingluo's side exchanged glances.

However, behind the Prince of Jin, another tall figure emerged slowly on a black steed.

Who else could it be but Duan Rongshi?

Duan Rongyin lowered his head and saw the thousands of troops already at the city walls, his face turning pale with shock.

Dark clouds hung heavily on the horizon.

When exactly did these troops outside the city approach, and why did he not hear a whisper?

But how could Duan Rongyin easily admit defeat?

"Little Five!"

"You actually colluded with Liang Gao, intending to harm me?"

"You lead troops to assault the city; I see you as a treacherous minister!"

"What do you intend? Are you plotting rebellion?"

"The father emperor still resides in the Purple Hall!"

"You are so impatient, wanting to force me and the father emperor to abdicate in your favor?"

"You have truly disappointed the lord!"

"Why don't you rein in your horse at the brink, so I can take your head and personally apologize to the father emperor for you?"

"In that case, I am still willing to consider releasing the grandfather and granddaughter of the Xiuli Jiangjun Fu."

"Otherwise, after I deal with you today, I will send them to be buried with you!"

Duan Rongshi lifted his gaze to his brother on the city wall, his eyes devoid of emotion: "Elder brother. These troops, do you not recognize them?"

These years, elder brother has raised eight thousand elite private soldiers at the Cool Path Shu Pavilion beyond a hundred li.

These private soldiers have never been entered into the imperial military registers.

As crown prince, raising private troops is outright rebellion; do I need to inform you of this crime, younger brother?

Elder brother, under the pretext of privately mobilizing the Beitu army to besiege and eradicate the Lotus Sect remnants at Qishan, actually intended to draw five thousand elite Beitu troops to Qishan.

As long as you take the opportunity to slaughter them all, label them as Lotus Sect rebel traitors, and then replace them entirely with your own men, you will have a new Beitu army.

And those genuine Beitu soldiers have had their identities and lives replaced; in truth they are dead, unknown to the world.

Thus, the Beitu troops have been stolen and replaced, becoming completely your crown prince's army.

If it weren't for me, younger brother, who had just been suppressing bandits together with the Beitu army, I would not have timely noticed their distress signal and rushed to assist.

How is it that your men fought their way out of the encirclement and rushed back to the Eastern Palace to report, yet you haven't informed elder brother that your eight thousand elite troops have already been completely taken by this prince?

The Beitu army behind shouted with mighty voice: "Prince Su! Prince Su! Prince Su! Prince Su——"

The Crown Prince thought of Jiang Ruiqi.

Before he could finish his words, he was pierced through the neck by his own sword.

A sudden sharp pain shot through the Crown Prince's head.

He leaned against the city wall, nearly collapsing.

Li Qingluo also watched the scene quietly, her heart trembling for a long time without settling.

She knew nothing at all about the Northern Map soldiers and the Crown Prince's private troops.

It seems that he has been tripped up by this matter for the past two days.

But his appearance now also exposed that he had long defied the imperial edict and left Gui Fu Palace, didn't it?

Liang raised his knife aloft and shouted, "The Crown Prince intends treason; we, the ministers, follow Prince Su, Your Highness, to cleanse the ruler's side—"

"Charge, kill!"

All of the Crown Prince's men surged forward.

The city wall, inside and out, was instantly filled with people.

Li Qingluo, guarded by an assassin, said, "Girl, let's retreat."

With Zhui Yu and the three killers here, Li Qingluo indeed was no longer suited to linger.

She nodded heavily, after finding Que'er, the two of them followed the assassin down to the city tower.

The Crown Prince saw that he had been forced into a desperate corner.

In his heart he especially hated Zongzheng Yuer a thousandfold.

He brandished his sword, went mad on the city wall in a frenzy of slaughter, unable to distinguish friend from foe.

At last, he finally caught up with Zongzheng Yuer, who had almost completely escaped; he laid his sword across her throat and said, "It's all your fault! I will shatter your corpse into ten thousand pieces—!"

Zongzheng Yuer let out a scream, pointing at Li Qingluo, who was about to be killed, and shouted, "Li Qingluo! You promised to give me a way out, hurry and save me—"

Li Qingluo?

Duan Rongyin caught a glimpse of a white figure in the crowd.

She was wearing a veil.

But looking at her silhouette, it was indeed becoming more familiar.

It was actually her!?

Great, Duan Rongshi and she actually teamed up to plot against me!

Since that's the case, let Duan Rongshi also taste the pain of a torn heart!

The Crown Prince seized Zongzheng Yuer and was about to rush toward Li Qingluo's direction, when a flying arrow swooped down—

It pierced Duan Rongyin's chest.

Before Duan Rongyin could react, Zongzheng Yuer raised her hand, revealing a small dagger in her sleeve, and drove it in fiercely!

Duan Rongyin lowered his head in disbelief.

Staring at the arrow protruding from his chest.

And the dagger's hilt, which had been driven into his flesh, was all that remained…

"Rongyin—"

A cry of pain.

It was Emperor Yan, being carried, racing in from afar.

When he saw this scene, Emperor Yan let out a howl of pain, his eyes bulging.

Li Qingluo, hearing the sound, looked up toward the city wall.

She saw Su Miaoyu, dressed in white, veiled, standing in a corner, holding a curved bow.

Was that the arrow she had shot?