Hearing Xie Yan Lai speak this way, the imperial guards were shocked, their faces growing even paler, but no one objected.

If not for Xie Yan Lai, they would all be corpses by now.

It had happened very suddenly. They had been changing shifts at the city gate, and as they faced the approaching imperial guards, just as they were about to step forward as usual, Xie Yan Lai suddenly stopped them.

“Who’s the shift leader today?” Xie Yan Lai demanded.

The imperial guards on the other side were startled, then barked, “Why ask so many questions!”

As their words fell, Xie Yan Lai shouted: “Traitors, prepare to die!”

With these words, his hand pressed on his long saber.

The guards were startled—what was Xie Yan Lai doing?

Arguments and fights with others were common daily occurrences, especially over the past few days. Although they had looked down on Xie Yan Lai before, they had been outwardly polite out of consideration for his Xie family lineage. But since Xie Yan Lai had been publicly whipped by his family, everyone regarded him with undisguised contempt.

Some even sneered in his face.

Xie Yan Lai’s wounds hadn’t healed, yet he remained combative. These past two days, he had scuffled with people almost daily.

But drawing a blade was different—this was a matter of life and death. A commoner from a mountain village in Han Prefecture could die at a Xie family son’s hands without consequence, but killing an imperial guard in the palace city couldn’t be settled with just a beating from the family head.

Although they didn’t much like Xie Yan Lai, a death would cause trouble for everyone. The guards hurried forward to restrain him, but before they could reach out, they saw the approaching guards on the other side draw their weapons with a clatter—

The guards froze. Was this necessary? Why was everyone so impulsive tonight? Xie Yan Lai hadn’t even drawn his blade yet, but the others had already drawn theirs.

Were they also ready to fight to the death?

While they were stunned, the guards on the other side also seemed to hesitate, creating an eerie atmosphere.

“You—” One of the guards beside Xie Yan Lai began to feel something was wrong and, instead of moving forward, started to question.

But before he could finish, the guards opposite, realizing they’d been exposed, dropped their pretense.

“Kill them,” their leader ordered.

The battle began just like that.

The casualties were severe. In the blink of an eye, half the guards had become enemies.

Thanks to Xie Yan Lai’s intervention and bluff, which forced the enemy to reveal themselves prematurely, they had gained the opportunity to retreat and sound the alarm, ultimately successfully withdrawing to the city tower.

Standing on the high tower, they could see that the entire capital had fallen into fighting, with fires everywhere.

What was happening? How had everything suddenly turned like this?

“The Crown Prince… has he really… met with misfortune?” a guard murmured.

During the earlier fighting, the other side had shouted many frightening things, such as: the Crown Prince is dead, the Yang and Xie families have rebelled, the Third Prince is punishing evil, protect the Emperor, surrender immediately or be considered traitors—

Those jumbled words toward the end—they all worked in the capital and had heard such talk before. The most crucial part was what came first: the Crown Prince is dead.

Everyone knew about the undercurrents between the Crown Prince and Third Prince, but they never imagined the Third Prince would actually make his move, or that the Crown Prince would truly die.

Their expressions were somewhat dazed.

“I don’t know,” said Xie Yan Lai, glancing at the people around him. “Do you want to surrender now?”

If the Crown Prince was dead, then only the Third Prince remained, and in the future, the Third Prince would be—

The guards’ expressions grew complicated.

“Killing me, a son of the Xie family, could even count as an achievement,” Xie Yan Lai continued, his gaze sweeping around.

In the torchlight, the youth covered in blood with a blade in hand emanated a terrifying killing intent. Seeing his gaze, everyone instinctively looked away.

Earlier, some had indeed thought this way, and some had even acted on it, trying to attack him from behind while he was fighting, but Xie Yan Lai had killed them with a backhand strike.

Once, twice, three times—no one dared try again.

They had always known this Xie family son was violent and fierce, but only today did they truly witness the extent of his ferocity.

“I advise you all not to try,” said Xie Yan Lai. “First, I don’t want to die, so killing me won’t be easy. Second, even if you kill me, you won’t meet a good end.”

No good end? The guards raised their heads, exchanging glances in confusion.

The youth leaped onto the battlements, his back to everyone, spinning the blade in his hand.

“Don’t forget, everyone’s identity here is that of imperial guards, tasked with protecting the palace city and forbidden palace for His Majesty. Without the Emperor’s command, if you surrender to someone else and let them into the city, what good end could you expect?” he said, turning his head slightly to look at them, his phoenix eyes cold and mocking in the torchlight. “The Emperor won’t spare you, and the future ruler won’t use people like you either.”

Their expressions shifted. As guards closest to imperial power, they knew best the nature of those in high positions.

“Yan Lai is right!” A guard stepped forward and declared loudly, “We are palace city guards. We must protect the palace city. No matter who it is, even the Crown Prince, anyone who brings troops to invade is a traitor. Without His Majesty’s order, we must defend the palace city to the death.”

Following his shout, more guards stepped forward, all agreeing.

“Yan Lai is right!” “Stop thinking about letting Yan Lai die; think about who’s trying to get us killed!”

The momentum suddenly surged, sweeping away their previous confusion as they all looked toward the youth standing on the battlements with his blade.

“Yan Lai, we’ll all listen to you.”

Xie Yan Lai ignored the clamor behind him, gripping his blade and looking beyond the wall, saying: “You don’t need to listen to me. Everyone just do your duty, and as for the outcome—do what you can as humans, and leave the rest to heaven’s will.”

The guard who had first spoken up waved his hand: “Do your duty. Even if we die, our families won’t be implicated. Spread out and guard the walls.”

The guards responded in unison and dispersed without hesitation.

Only a few guards remained here, and they called out to Xie Yan Lai again.

“Yan Lai, don’t worry. Things have come to this point, and we’re all fighting for our lives. No one will think of trading you for merit now.”

Another added fiercely: “If anyone dares to do that, I’ll be the first to kill them. My life was saved by you, Yan Lai. If you hadn’t taken that blade for me, I would already be facing the King of Hell.”

To these heartfelt words, Xie Yan Lai remained unmoved, saying calmly: “We’ve fought this far already. We might as well hold out to see the outcome.”

The men nodded, and one added: “Yan Lai, just now we received news that a group of people seemed to have come out from the inner palace.”

Xie Yan Lai looked toward the inner palace, where the lights seemed to flicker, yet it also seemed wrapped in darkness, impossible to see clearly.

“Are they coming this way?” he asked.

The guard shook his head: “No, we don’t know what they’re doing.” He couldn’t help stepping forward. “Yan Lai, should we go see and ask?”

Xie Yan Lai snorted derisively: “No need. If they don’t care, we don’t care either. Let’s all just wait.”

The guards agreed.

Xie Yan Lai said no more. Wait—not just indifferent to the current situation, but to the outcome as well.

Whatever the result, he had no good ending.

If the Third Prince won, the Xie family would be finished, and so would he. If Xie Yan Fang won, he would still be just a dog in the Xie household.

Xie Yan Lai turned his gaze back to the area outside the city. The chaotic fighting outside continued. How was that girl doing?

She had been desperate to leave the capital but never managed to fulfill her wish, and now she was caught in the chaos.

Was she hating him now, blaming him for not sending her the letter earlier so her father could take her away?

Thinking of this, Xie Yan Lai couldn’t help but smile, his hanging hand tightening on the blade.

Chu Zhao, you’d better stay alive. If she survived this time, he would immediately send her a letter.

If, that is, he was still alive himself.