The moment the music stopped, silence fell over the whole scene. Those who had been enchanted gradually came back to their senses one by one. Yelu Chenyi seized the moment, twisting his blade to slash directly at Ziqing’s throat.
Ziqing retreated through the air, and six mercenaries rushed forward together to block him—their black jiao-scale armor was impervious to blade or spear, but their role wasn’t to serve as human shields.
At this moment, only a swift resolution would benefit Xijing. Yelu Chenyi vaulted past the six mercenaries, chasing after Ziqing.
Meanwhile, Yingzi had already rescued Yelu Qianqian and Situ Haonan.
Situ Haonan, having recovered somewhat, carried Yelu Qianqian and fled over the city wall under Yingzi’s cover.
Ziqing glanced over and, surprisingly, fled outward along with them—as if she had come specifically to rescue Yelu Qianqian and Situ Haonan.
Wasn’t she looking for Jun Beiyue?
Where was Jun Beiyue?
Where was Yanzi?
Yelu Chenyi had no idea what had actually happened—how, in the span of half an hour, his entire Akbachu had lost track of everyone.
Could Yanzi have betrayed her? Otherwise, how could things have unfolded so silently in so short a time?
He knew Jun Beiyue had come for Yanzi, and also for Yelu Qianqian, but why hadn’t he shown himself yet?
If the sole goal had simply been to spark a war between Xijing and Xiliang and plunge Xijing into utter catastrophe, Jun Beiyue had already accomplished that!
Without her qin, no matter how many soldiers Han Ziqing brought, she was no match for him. He would absolutely not let this woman get away!
Seeing Yelu Qianqian and Situ Haonan making their escape, a flash of killing intent crossed Yelu Chenyi’s eyes. He abandoned the chase after Ziqing and turned instead to strike at Situ Haonan.
This man was the root of it all—if not for him, Qianqian would never have dared do something so ruinous to the nation.
Ziqing’s flight was meant to give Yelu Qianqian and Situ Haonan their chance. Seeing Yelu Chenyi turn to pursue them, she immediately joined forces with Yingzi to attack from both sides. Yet, not to mention the growing reinforcements of Yelu Chenyi’s guards, even combining her strength with Yingzi’s, the two of them together were still no match for Yelu Chenyi alone.
Situ Haonan, already wounded, couldn’t help worrying for Ziqing.
“Han Ziqing, go! Go!” Situ Haonan shouted. This was the woman Jun Beiyue had fought so hard to snatch back from the jaws of death—if something happened to her here, he’d never be able to answer for it.
“Han Ziqing, go!”
Situ Haonan shouted sharply, but Ziqing was locked in fierce combat with Yelu Chenyi and paid him no attention at all.
“You!”
Furious, Situ Haonan suddenly shoved Yelu Qianqian toward Yingzi. “You take her and go!”
With that, he was about to rush in to help Ziqing, but Yingzi abruptly pushed her back at him instead, as if deliberately, shouting loudly, “You two go! The Consort of Prince Yao wants to enter the city! She’s here to see an old friend! She won’t leave until she’s seen him!”
The moment those words left his mouth, Yelu Chenyi grew puzzled, and in that brief lapse, Ziqing—who had been fighting with total focus—seized the opening and unleashed several wind-blades at once, striking him square in the chest.
“Damn it!”
Yelu Chenyi spat out a mouthful of blood, and in a fit of fury swept his sword in a wide arc, flinging aside every Shadow Guard in his way. Twisting the blade, he moved with it, charging straight at Ziqing!
Situ Haonan couldn’t make sense of what Yingzi meant, but seeing the situation, he threw caution to the wind—forgetting even about Yelu Qianqian—and lunged forward to block with his own body!
Being a martial artist himself, he knew exactly what that sword strike would do.
He watched, helpless, as the blade was about to pierce through—when, at that critical instant, “Boom!”
A sudden deafening explosion shook heaven and earth.
What was happening?
Yelu Chenyi froze, his hand stopping involuntarily; the Xijing guards froze as well. What was that sound?
It was a sound utterly foreign to them. If it had happened somewhere else, such a sound might be explicable—but here, where everything was made of sand dunes, how could there possibly be a sound like a mountain splitting open?
In all the years of the singing sands, nothing like this had ever happened.
Could the gods have grown angry?
Could this somehow be the singing sands?
In their shock, everyone instinctively turned to look toward the source of the sound behind them—and the moment they did, every last one of them was struck dumb.
What was going on?
The towering, cloud-piercing walls of Akbachu, thought to be impregnable, had a massive gash torn open in them!
And before anyone could even begin to process what had happened, there came another sudden “boom… boom… boom!”
Several in a row—this was the sound of explosives, the sound of walls being blown apart!
Every person in Xijing watched with their own eyes as the wall was blasted open. In a world without explosives, this was nothing short of divine wrath more terrifying than an earthquake.
Some guard, no one knew who, suddenly cried out, “The gods are angry! We missed the time for the sand offering! The gods are angry!”
In an instant, the entire Xijing army fell into chaos and terror.
Yelu Chenyi furrowed his brow, staring at the collapsed wall shrouded in dust and smoke, momentarily at a loss. He couldn’t bring himself to believe in divine wrath, yet he couldn’t explain what had happened either, not in the moment.
It was only then that Situ Haonan finally let out a breath of relief, understanding what Yingzi’s earlier words had meant.
He couldn’t help glancing toward Han Ziqing, who was now coldly surveying the wall, and once again confirmed—this woman was without question a hundred times more ruthless than Jun Beiyue.
Had she really brought gunpowder just to blow up the capital of Xijing?
That was… that was a bit too direct, wasn’t it!
If she could, Ziqing genuinely would have considered it, but the gunpowder she’d made was limited, and after using a batch back on Liuxian Island, what remained wasn’t nearly enough to level Akbachu.
Still, it was more than enough to blast open a path for herself.
At last, the obscuring dust began to rise and clear, and the scene before them gradually came into focus.
There stood six mercenaries, composed and clad in armor, looking every bit like war machines, three to a side, standing right in the breach of the shattered wall. Behind them, inside the city, the Emperor of Xijing and Wanyan Lie both stood frozen, unable to comprehend what had just happened.
Only those six mercenaries had remained on the wall a moment ago, and then, somehow, it had simply exploded.
The six mercenaries bowed respectfully to Ziqing. “My lord, please enter the city.”
Ziqing lifted her chin, casting a provocative glance at Yelu Chenyi, and under the gaze of everyone present, strode forward boldly, as though an empress making her royal inspection.
After a long moment, Yelu Chenyi finally came back to himself and roared with fury, “Han Ziqing, how dare you!”
This woman had the audacity to destroy the walls of the Xijing capital—did she have any idea how unforgivable a crime that was!
This was tantamount to walking right up to the Xijing royal family and slapping them across the face in front of everyone!
The name “Han Ziqing” sent a shock through the entire crowd—this woman, an empress in bearing yet monstrously ugly in appearance, was the Consort of Prince Yao of Great Zhou!
What in the world was going on?