“Prince Jin’s descendant, who exactly is your master?” Before Lian Jie could interrogate further, Lian Qin beside him was already cursing furiously.

Si Lanfeng smiled in reply: “I already said you’ll all meet him sooner or later. Right now, your enemy is me.”

Murong Ding sneered coldly: “You think you’re worthy to fight me? You haven’t even grown all your fur yet, little whelp! Since Prince Jin’s coward doesn’t dare come out to die, then call out that old traitor Wei to fight us!”

“Teacher Wei?” Si Lanfeng smiled faintly, suddenly turning to look toward the inner city: “Teacher Wei is currently attacking the imperial palace’s inner court – he has no time for this.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Lian Jie and the others’ expressions all changed. Yan Da urgently said from behind: “Seventh Master, Ninth Master, General Murong, we must enter the city to support the imperial guards. We absolutely cannot let the imperial palace fall!”

“Come and die!”

Murong Ding roared, swinging his great blade and charging forward as the vanguard.

But Si Lanfeng didn’t engage the enemy. With a wave of his hand, his deputy received the order and shouted: “Archers prepare!”

Then the front row soldiers all crouched down, middle row archers took up their bows, while multiple rows of archers suddenly appeared on the city towers, aiming ahead.

“Release!”

At Si Lanfeng’s command, arrows rained down from the sky. Murong Ding was halfway there, raising his blade to block. Lian Jie and several deputies quickly led troops forward to barely pull him back!

Though Si Lanfeng’s arrow formation was swift and fierce, Murong’s army wasn’t weak either. They had sufficient shields and armor. Under Murong Ding’s command, they retreated while changing formations. Arrows were ultimately limited – after some time passed, though many soldiers were wounded, they had weathered this wave of attacks.

Seeing the arrow assault weaken, Murong’s army quickly charged forward, willing to take more damage to attack the city. Without cannons yet, siege warfare relied solely on manpower. The Wei army on the towers had used up most of their arrows, so they dared not shoot randomly for fear of hitting their own people. The two armies soon clashed together!

Wei’s army had about one hundred ten thousand men, slightly superior in military strength and held the defensive position. But though Murong’s army was weary from several major battles, they fought more courageously as the battle progressed. In terms of warfare, Si Lanfeng was also inferior to Murong Ding and several major generals, so for a time it was a difficult stalemate.

Si Lanfeng stole a glance backward, his heart tightening slightly: how was the situation in the inner city? He had to hold out for one or two hours – Wei Chenghui capturing the imperial palace’s inner court was just a matter of time!

In the rear wing of Murong’s army, Yan Da didn’t retreat to the very back. This old chancellor personally took fireworks from a soldier’s hands.

Meanwhile, just one wall away from the city tower, throughout the vast capital, prosperity vanished in an instant. Now there was chaos and panic everywhere.

In the marketplace everyone was in danger, running about and rushing home!

At this point escape from the city was impossible – battle raged ahead while armies attacked the imperial palace’s inner court behind.

At the same moment, troops led by Wei Chenghui’s other two deputies were attacking the imperial palace’s inner court. The situation here was exactly reversed – the defending imperial guards were shooting arrows, resisting the army’s siege.

On the city tower, Ming Yanchu watched the bee-like swarming army and frowned. The dark attendant Jialu and Bai Hu stood on his left and right.

After the war with Quan and Chao ended, Lian Yu had transferred the dark attendant back to the palace to assist Ming Yanchu and Wuqing in continuing their secret investigation of Suzhen’s whereabouts.

“They have at least forty thousand men. We only have seventeen thousand imperial guards.” Seeing their arrows nearly exhausted and enemy troops already taking out scaling ladders, fierce as wolves and tigers, surging forward to storm the city, Bai Hu murmured.

The imperial palace had always maintained strict security, and with battles raging in the capital’s outskirts, the defending imperial guards were even more cautious. But this battle came too suddenly, without warning – Wei’s army had already split into two groups and reached them.

And in such numbers.

How long could this city hold?

Upon hearing the news, Ming Yanchu immediately brought Bai Hu and Jialu to the city tower to command the battle alongside several imperial guard captains.

The dark attendant also frowned deeply. He was usually one of the deputy guard captains who trained and commanded the imperial guards. The imperial palace’s survival was his responsibility. Suddenly, his eyes lit up: “Lord Ming, Lord Bai Hu, look quickly.”

In the distant sky were several fireworks bursting one after another.

“Those are fireworks used by our army. They’re notifying us.”

Ming Yanchu was quite excited and shouted sternly: “All captains, listen to my orders! Our main army has arrived and is battling another group of rebels outside the city. They’ll soon enter the capital to support us. We must defend to the death and absolutely cannot let the rebels break through. We must guard His Majesty’s home well!”

“Though I, Ming Yanchu, am a eunuch, I live in this great imperial palace. Today I will certainly live and die with this city!”

“Yes!”

The captains were also greatly inspired and shouted in succession: “The main army is about to arrive – all imperial guards defend to the death! We cannot let the traitors take His Majesty’s home! We are the imperial palace guards – if the city stands, we stand; if the city falls, we fall!”

“If the city stands, we stand; if the city falls, we fall!”

All the imperial guards raised their arms and shouted together.

Two guard captains personally led troops down scaling ladders to fight below, preventing enemy forces from scaling the walls.

After they went down, the imperial guards on the wall quickly withdrew the ladders.

The attackers were elite troops with rigorous military training. Though the imperial guards could at least fight two-to-one with their martial skills, they still fell batch by batch. However, everyone held a death-defying determination to defend this city.

The righteousness between ruler and minister, the name of imperial guards.

Seeing few imperial guards left standing below the city, watching imperial guards on the wall frantically wielding blades to cut down enemies constantly climbing up, the last guard captain led a group of imperial guards down cloud ladders. The moment their feet touched ground, they all turned back and severed the ladders.

Not paving bridges for enemies to advance, not leaving themselves retreat routes.

Some surrounded by four or five enemy soldiers below the city refused to retreat backward, still blocking attacks forward until stabbed to death by multiple enemy blades. Some fighting one enemy soldier after another until covered in blood, when they could resist no more, embraced enemies and jumped from the walls, their brains dashed out.

Clearly, Wei’s army wasn’t as unafraid of death as the imperial guards. This was their first battle – they still needed to preserve strength. So despite the stark enemy-ally disparity, Wei’s army momentarily couldn’t capture this fortress.

Below the city tower, on the inner palace side, palace maids and eunuchs had all fled in terror toward the palace’s depths. Only one group moved against the wind.

Wei Chenghui leading a group of ten black-clothed men.

He naturally knew what was happening outside. His brow was also slightly furrowed. He had concentrated Wei army’s elite forces here, but if they couldn’t take it quickly, Si Lanfeng’s side might not withstand Murong’s army.

These men all had high martial arts skills, but there were still two to three hundred imperial guards defending below the city gate. They had to kill these imperial guards to reach the previously identified weak point in the city wall and smash through it!

Just as he too was killing with bloodshot eyes, suddenly over ten figures leaped across the sky above the city wall. Among them, the leading eagle-eyed man called loudly: “Lord Wei, this poor monk brings disciples to assist you and the young master!”

On the city tower, Ming Yanchu and the others were also greatly shocked. This group had extraordinarily high martial arts – suddenly running from afar, using lightness skills to reach the city tower from the midst of two battling armies without needing scaling ladders or footholds. Even passing overhead, they could only watch helplessly!

Bai Hu and the dark attendant wanted to fight them, but with more and more enemy troops surging up from below, the dark attendant desperately fought enemies while Bai Hu had to protect Ming Yanchu. Both were already wounded and couldn’t spare themselves.

But the next moment made their eyes flash with fire – they had scattered the imperial guards. The leading white-haired old Taoist with eagle eyes and hooked nose and Wei Chenghui reached a section of city wall, smiled at each other, and struck with several palms.

Broken stones flew, sparks scattered.

A huge breach was immediately blasted open in the wall.

Seeing Wei’s army flowing into the palace like water through the gap, Ming Yanchu went mad and picked up a great blade that had fallen beside him from either enemy or imperial guard. He jumped out of Bai Hu’s protective circle and slashed at enemies still on scaling ladders.

He was quickly struck twice in return, but he only laughed heartily, not caring. The dark attendant was burly – seeing this, his eyes reddened: “The city can’t be held today, but Lord Bai Hu, Lord Ming has shown me cultivation kindness, ten years of loving care and attention – he’s like my master. Don’t make meaningless sacrifices. Keep your lives to return to His Majesty’s side and regroup.”

“He feels guilty about Judicial Official Li being captured. I’m not Su Fufeng – I will never betray him and His Majesty.”

He suddenly grabbed Bai Hu and leaped beside the disheveled Ming Yanchu. With a hand chop he knocked out the blood-covered Ming Yanchu and handed him to Bai Hu—

Bai Hu gritted her teeth, held Ming Yanchu, used lightness skills to slide down from the inner side of the city tower. Her martial arts were high, and no one would bother with her now. Soon she escaped the battle circle. Just as she was about to flee into the secret passages deep in the inner palace, she couldn’t help turning back. She saw imperial guards on the city tower still constantly fighting enemies. The dark attendant resisted desperately. The white-haired old Taoist and Wei Chenghui leaped onto the wall and each struck him with a palm. Though he was truly stubborn and no match for them, he still ran several steps and painfully killed two more enemy soldiers before being pierced through by four or five Wei soldiers’ blades.

He knelt on the city tower, refusing to fall, bathed in blood, looking toward the direction they had left…

With the wall breach opened, in less than half an incense stick’s time, the imperial palace’s inner court was captured. Only a hundred imperial guards remained, but they swore not to surrender and were all slaughtered to the last man. All died for their country. Wei Chenghui, carrying his second son Wujun, along with the white-haired old Taoist Wuliang Shangren and Yu Jinglun, Mao Hui and others, joined forces with Si Lanfeng’s army.