Those shadow guards sacrificed their lives charging into the great hall, solely to protect their Western Liang Emperor. They advanced fearlessly, unafraid of death, joining the battle within the great hall, seeking only to protect their sovereign with their lives.

The shadow guard squad leader, gravely wounded while protecting Li Tianjiao, saw the shadow guards rushing in from outside the hall one after another, all lunging toward Bai Qingyu to entangle him. Clutching his bleeding arm, he gripped his long sword and slowly retreated with Li Tianjiao, having already backed into a corner of the great hall.

Bai Qingyu’s eyes were calm and pitch-black, his sword qi surging violently. Moving with the force of wind and thunder, his attacks were relentless, killing moves. Wherever the cold light reached, scalding blood mist sprayed forth. His techniques were like torrential rushing tides, so swift that one could barely see clearly—even his afterimages were overwhelming to follow. It was impossible to tell he was someone still recovering from grave injuries.

These elite Western Liang shadow guards were actually no match for Bai Qingyu. It took several working together just to impede his steps. Li Tianjiao clenched her teeth tightly, retreating calmly and composedly, her heart filled with regret—she should have simply killed Bai Qingyu earlier.

The shadow guard squad leader swung his sword to cut through the golden fabric binding Li Tianjiao, speaking solemnly: “Your Majesty, we subordinates will do everything in our power to hold back the enemy forces. Your Majesty must leave quickly!”

Within the Western Liang palace were secret passages, generally kept strictly confidential, known only to the reigning emperor. This was so that in extraordinary times, the emperor could escape, preserving hope for Western Liang.

The emperor’s personal shadow guards almost all knew which palace contained the secret passage, but didn’t know the passage’s exact location—this too was to guard against potential betrayal by shadow guards.

At this moment, the shadow guard squad leader’s words made his meaning crystal clear—he wanted Li Tianjiao to escape through the secret passage.

They certainly couldn’t get out through the main entrance now, and the secret passage was in this very palace. If Li Tianjiao could enter the secret passage, she could safely escape the city.

But… what the shadow guards didn’t know was that Li Tianjiao had absolutely no idea where the secret passage was.

When the previous Western Liang Emperor died from Bai Qingyun’s assassination, he simply hadn’t had time to tell Li Tianjiao the passage’s location.

Later, after Li Tianjiao ascended the throne, when she was alone here, she searched everywhere but never found it. Even the palace blueprints in the library didn’t mark the secret passage’s location.

The people who originally designed and built this Western Liang palace had all been slaughtered clean by Li Tianjiao’s great-grandfather on the day the palace was completed.

Moreover, even if Li Tianjiao knew where the secret passage was, she absolutely would not leave!

“I will not go!” Li Tianjiao broke free from the fabric binding her hands, clenching her teeth tightly. “I… will live and die together with Western Liang!”

This was her final pride as Western Liang’s Emperor.

She could kneel and beg for Western Liang General Cui Shanzhong to come out of retirement, but she absolutely could not flee the country in disgrace to live shamefully.

If Yun Jing fell, Western Liang would perish. When the country exists, the people exist; when the country falls, the people perish.

From the moment she went to request Old General Cui Shanzhong to come out of retirement, she had already resolved to die for her country.

Li Tianjiao charged forward, picking up the long sword of a fallen shadow guard from the ground. She was willing to fight Western Liang’s final battle alongside those soldiers who were still sacrificing their lives for Western Liang. Even if she died… she would die on Western Liang’s soil!

Perhaps it was Li Tianjiao’s fearless persistence that sparked these shadow guards’ determination to fight to the death for their country—they showed signs of growing more courageous despite setbacks.

The shadow guard squad leader protected Li Tianjiao from behind, watching as shadow guards threw themselves forward one after another, only to die under Bai Qingyu’s sword.

But Bai Qingyu was injured after all. Moreover, Physician Hong’s medicine had been mixed into the medicine prescribed by the Western Liang physician. Although it barely managed to wake Bai Qingyu, there were still some unpredictable reactions that made his pain even worse. Now, having to simultaneously face seven or eight of Western Liang’s most formidable royal shadow guards, though his expression showed nothing, he knew he was barely managing to hold on.

“He can’t continue! Your Majesty… we probably can’t keep him alive!” The shadow guard squad leader, who had been protecting Li Tianjiao while blood flowed from his arm down to his sword tip, said to Li Tianjiao. “But if we kill him, this subordinate might be able to fight desperately!”

Li Tianjiao’s black eyes were dim and lightless, yet she showed no hesitation, decisively ordering: “Kill him!”

Now that Great Zhou’s forces had attacked right to her palace hall entrance, what was the point of keeping Bai Qingyu? Even keeping Bai Qingyu now… Western Liang had no opportunity to negotiate terms with the Great Zhou.

Rather than this, it would be better to have the Great Zhou Emperor’s younger brother accompany Western Liang in death! Accompany her in death!

The shadow guard received the order and whistled. Two of the shadow guards attacking Bai Qingyu immediately withdrew, protecting the sword-wielding Li Tianjiao behind them while charging toward Bai Qingyu at extreme speed. Taking advantage of the moment when Bai Qingyu had just pierced through a Western Liang shadow guard’s chest with his sword and hadn’t yet had time to withdraw it, they struck rapidly…

Bai Qingyu’s ears twitched, hearing the sluggish sound of sword edges cutting through the air. Without waiting to pull his long sword from the shadow guard’s corpse, he stepped on the blood-splattered red lotus column base, leaped up, performed a sideways flip in mid-air, dodging the sword qi as the scattered hair by his temples was sheared off by the sword qi.

Before Bai Qingyu could land, the shadow guards who had just been fighting him, along with the shadow guard squad leader who had been lying in wait, all attacked simultaneously toward where Bai Qingyu was about to land.

Suddenly, sharp blades came whistling with the wind from outside the great hall…

The shadow guard squad leader who had been attacking Bai Qingyu was forced to stagger backward by the fierce sword qi that suddenly shot past, nearly grazing his eyelashes.

The long sword struck with thunderous force, stabbing deeply into a red lacquered round pillar. Bai Qingyu stepped on the sword hilt, using it to leap up once more. From the corner of his eye, he saw someone who had kicked a Western Liang Imperial Guard general into the hall… Xiao Rongyan wearing a mask.

He clenched his teeth tightly, kicking the long sword in Xiao Rongyan’s direction. Though he used the force of Xiao Rongyan’s long sword to leap out of the several shadow guards’ encirclement, the motion of kicking the sword to Xiao Rongyan caused him to stumble backward upon landing, his back slamming hard against a nearby pillar. Clutching his chest, he knelt on one knee, finally unable to suppress a mouthful of sweet blood.

Xiao Rongyan leaped up to catch the sword Bai Qingyu had kicked to him, then charged forward with wind-and-thunder speed, every move fierce and deadly. These royal shadow guards were simply no match for Xiao Rongyan.

Li Tianjiao’s eyes widened as she stared at the mask, accurately identifying Xiao Rongyan’s identity… Yan Country’s Ninth Prince!

It wasn’t the Bai Family Army, but Yan Country’s Ninth Prince who came to rescue the Great Zhou Emperor’s younger brother?!

She immediately felt chilled to the bone. So… Old General Cui Shanzhong’s scheme to sow discord had completely failed, and while Yan Country and Great Zhou were competing over who would take Yun Jing first, the Yan army commander, Ninth Prince, had personally led men to risk his life rescuing the Great Zhou Emperor’s younger brother!

If previously, when Great Zhou’s Emperor was trapped in Jiangzi City and Yan Country’s Ninth Prince led troops to his rescue while abandoning Yun Jing, it was because he was an extremely righteous person, then now, instead of leading the main army in the siege outside, he risked danger to save Bai Qingyu—this… could not be encompassed by the word “righteousness” alone.