Chapter 264: Murder in the Hall
Chapter 264: Murder in the Hall
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
The King of Shu-lik fell in a pool of blood. The killer stood before the throne and lifted the dagger that was still dripping with blood. He then kicked the eunuch down the steps.
At that moment, everything within the main hall froze and everyone stood still. The first person to react was Prime Minister Shi. He had been waiting for this moment and instead of being in accordance with the agreement of "taking the initiative" to be a hostage, he ran out of the hall hurriedly.
Fang Wenshi was the second to react. The Dragon King had carried out the worst one out of the three borrowed blade murders. However, the scholar did not have a choice, his life was linked to this bloodthirsty killer. Thus, he could only follow his movements and ran towards the throne in a panic.
The eunuch who was kicked to the ground was in utter confusion. He felt as if someone had run past him and hugged the enemy's legs while shouting, "Protect His Majesty." It was Fang Wenshi who was randomly shuffling around and pretending to stop the assailant.
More than ten ministers circled around. They were screaming like women and had lost all their senses. Moyang was stunned. He stared at the killer for a while before suddenly turning around and pointed at Prime Minister Shi, who was running away. "It's you! Prime Minister Shi killed the King! Prime Minister Shi killed the King!"
The six temple guards rushed in with long axes. When they heard Moyang's words, they were at a loss and didn't know who to attack.
Prime Minister Shi stood in front of the doors. He grabbed his clothes with one hand and pointed at Moyang with the other. "The military counselor is the mastermind, kill him!"
The killer was still standing in front of the corpse of the King of Shu-lik, holding the weapon in his hand. However, he only got a little amount of attention. Both parties were anxious to push the crime as the mastermind of the regicide onto the other party, completely ignoring the existence of the actual killer.
A group of guards of more than 30 people ran in from the outside of the hall, holding scimitars. They rushed in without saying a word and cut down the guards holding the axes. They then stood in front of Prime Minister Shi, waiting for his orders.
The scene became more and more chaotic, and the timid ministers looked around for places to hide. Moyang used all his strength to yell, "Someone come! Someone come!"
There was another group of people that rushed into the main hall before the guards who were protecting Prime Minister Shi established their footing. These people took the advantage of the disorder and came in through the gaps of the chaos. Some were standing on the steps leading up to the throne, while holding their blades with its edge facing outwards. They even managed to save the drowning mouse, Fang Wenshi.
Chu Nanping brought more than a dozen teenagers and arrived just in time. He threw a saber at the Dragon King that stood before the throne while holding a long sword himself.
Half of the 20 teenagers who came from the Great Snowmountain were killers that received secret training from Gu Shenwei for two years. This was the first time that they were brought into the spotlight. Some were excited, some were nervous, and some were even trembling.
"Kill the rebel party." Prime Minister Shi shouted with a shaking voice, but his expression was fierce.
The guards brandished their blades and were about to act. Suddenly, sounds of drums came from outside the main hall along with uniformed shouting. It was an obvious gathering of troops.
Prime Minister Shi's face suddenly changed, and the guards around him also looked around and paused.
A general clad in full armor strode into the main hall. There were nearly 200 soldiers that followed him from behind and surrounded everyone. "Protect His Majesty! Protect His Majesty!" the general commanded.
The eunuch reacted like he was seeing his parents for the first time in a while. He kneeled on the ground and crawled towards the general, crying, "Your Royal Highness, you just missed it. His Majesty has been assassinated."
Prime Minister Shi was thoroughly shocked. He had clearly sent someone to monitor the Prince. While the action was taken on this side, an assassin had also been planted to assassinate the Prince on the other side. How is it possible for His Highness to be in the main hall with all of these soldiers? It was too late to think about such pressing matters, thus Prime Minister Shi immediately went beside the Prince, full of grief and said, "Nephew, the Great Snowmountain's assassin was instructed by Moyang to assassinate my royal brother, His Majesty. You have come at the right time, you must avenge my royal brother. "
Moyang was filled with indignation and shivered. "Such slander, the people from the Great Snowmountain are endorsed by you. How could it be that I incited them?"
"The night before, you met with the Dragon King of the Great Snowmountain secretly in your countryside manor. Was this not true? I thought you were merely blackmailing him, but I didn't expect it to be..." Prime Minister Shi was extremely invested in his acting, sobbing profusely and unable to speak any further.
The prince held his scimitar and screamed, "Everyone shut up!" He then glanced at the assassin who was still standing in front of the throne. "Everyone put down your weapons."
The teenagers brought by Gu Shenwei were not calm and collected enough. All of them put down their blades one by one. The only one who still held onto his sword was Chu Nanping.
The prince pointed at the guards behind the prime minister and commanded. "You too."
The guards looked at each other and no one disarmed.
Prime Minister Shi said, "Your Highness, they are my people. The assassins' kungfu is extremely strong, so they can be very helpful."
The Prince was unwaveringly cold. As more than 200 soldiers advanced at the same time, Prime Minister Shi thought about the matter in his heart before looking back to his guards and saying, "lay them down."
The guards obeyed and laid down their scimitars. They looked very hesitant and looked at each other.
Aside from the Prince and the guards, there were only two people in the entire main hall that were still holding their weapons, Gu Shenwei and Chu Nanping.
"You are the Great Snowmountain's Dragon King?" the prince asked quietly.
"Yes, that's me."
"You have no way to escape."
"Right."
"Who is the true culprit?"
Both Prime Minister Shi and Moyang listened diligently because the words of the Dragon King would determine who won and who lost, or who lived and who died.
"Golden Roc Fort."
The Dragon King's answer was not what everyone expected. Even Fang Wenshi looked back at him with uncertainty.
"There are no people here that are from Golden Roc Fort here," the Prince said. As a man whose father had just died, he seemed unusually calm.
"He is," Gu Shenwei said as he pointed to someone among the guards of Prime Minister Shi. "Second Young Master Shangguan Tian, this is the end of the matter, reveal yourself."
The guard panicked and said, "I am not." After saying this, he made a fatal mistake and unconsciously turned his head to ask for help, hoping to get a hint.
This group of guards looked around several times. Gu Shenwei had roughly guessed which person was Shangguan Tian. This lost guard gave him the final piece of evidence. Only the Dragon King had noticed it at first, but now everyone else has also turned their attention to his unattractive face.
"Are you sure?" the Prince pulled out his scimitar.
"Yes, it was Moyang who told me."
Moyang had received unwarranted accusations repeatedly, and he could hardly say anything. He pointed at the Dragon King and trembled for a moment before saying, "You are talking nonsense, I don't know Shangguan Tian was here. He, he should not be here, we agreed on this."
"What did you say?" Gu Shenwei immediately asked.
"I... you... what the hell is going on?" Moyang suddenly felt that something was wrong, the Dragon King was too calm, and the Prince was also too calm.
"I ordered you to answer this question." A majestic voice sounded behind Gu Shenwei.
The King of Shu-lik stood up while covered in blood.
The crowd was completely shocked. Most of the people in the main hall were kneeling down after the Prince kneeled down. Even the soldiers were of no exception. Only Gu Shenwei remained standing instead of kneeling. By his side, Chu Nanping was also not kneeling and stood guard beside the Dragon King.
"Moyang, obey the royal command," said the King of Shu-lik. Although his clothes were bloody, he did not lose his aura as an emperor.
"Yes, Your Majesty. I... I took Shangguan Tian's money and promised to persuade Your Majesty to attack Golden Roc Fort."
The next thing happened very quickly, and many people even wondered what had happened at the time.
The guard flew out and threw himself at the Prince who was not so far away from him, with a dagger in his hand.
Chu Nanping reacted at the same time as he did, and stabbed with his long sword. The two immediately exchanged three or four moves before separated.
Twenty of the 30 or so guards quickly picked up their scimitars from the ground, and the soldiers armed with halberds swarmed. The main hall was once again in complete chaos. Chu Nanping wanted to fight Shangguan Tian properly, but he was nowhere to be found.
The chants of "protect His Majesty, protect His Majesty" came and went, as everyone wanted to be in front of the throne. But they interfered with each other and caused even more confusion among themselves.
The prince rushed to the side of his father, blocking the front and commanded the soldiers to prepare for battle.
The bloody battle lasted for about a quarter of an hour. In the end, the main hall was covered in a layer of blood. There were dozens of corpses laid and spread all around.
"There is no Shangguan Tian." After the soldiers quickly counted the bodies, they reported to the King of Shu-lik. "The Dragon King is also gone."
"Shangguan Tian is here." With that voice, a human head flew in from outside the main hall. It rolled on the ground a few times before hitting one of the corpses and stopped.
Some people recognized that this was the head of that guard. A soldier grabbed and picked up the head, wiped it a few times, and then wiped off the disguise before presenting it to the King of Shu-lik and the Prince.
"Is it him?" asked the King of Shu-lik.
"Yes," Moyang replied weakly.
At the beginning of the battle, Prime Minister Shi lied down behind the pillars and started crawling towards the throne. "Royal brother, you are not dead. This is good. This is so good. It's all thanks to the Prince who saw through Moyang's schemes."
"Moyang's schemes? How can Shangguan Tian and those from the Golden Roc Fort become your guards?" Within the tone of the voice of the King of Shu-lik, there was an unbearable wrath.
"Royal brother, listen to me. I was framed. I don't know anything. I thought... "
"Take him away, don't let me see his face again," King of Shu-lik said disgustedly.
Several soldiers arrested Prime Minister Shi and walked outside of the main hall. Prime Minister Shi wanted to ask for mercy, but his mind was in a mess. He didn't understand how that killer designed this play with the King of Shu-lik. The palace was filled with his eyes and ears. The details of the guards that he gave the Dragon King were also not entirely true, and it was absolutely impossible to sneak into the palace unnoticed.
"Where is the Dragon King?" It was not just Prime Minister Shi, but the King of Shu-lik was also curious about his whereabouts.
Fang Wenshi was protected by Chu Nanping, but he was shocked since he could only be the mastermind on paper. The scene of the killing really happened in front of him and he could not stand it. However, the counselor's dream supported him as he stood in the midst of the confusion and said, "The Dragon King has left, and everything involving the Great Snowmountain will be under my responsibility."
Although there was no clear explanation that was given to him in advance, Fang Wenshi believed that this was the task that the Dragon King has given to him.
"Let's have a talk in the royal study room." After King of Shu-lik finished, he turned and left. The eunuch followed him closely from behind, like a dog that had just jumped out of the water.
The prince stayed behind to clean up the mess in the main hall. The ministers understood something and they stood in front of him to express their loyalty. The Prince pushed the ministers aside and said to Moyang, "Shangguan Tian gave you a lot of money, just go home with this money as your pension."
Moyang understood. He had saved his own life, but his authority had been reduced to ashes. However, like Prime Minister Shi, he didn't understand exactly how this little Snowmountain Gang chieftain was able to meet with the King and the Prince.
During the first Breaking Obsession, Gu Shenwei once met with the King of Shu-lik, and he immediately noticed that the eyes of the king were green.
Although there were many blond haired and blue eyed barbarians in the Western Regions, green eyes were extremely rare.