Woosh!
While the ministers were hesitating, three shadows streaked forward, forming a tight triangle around the cloaked figure.
The first was a woman, her expression colder than winter steel, her sword glowing with pale light as she locked her killing intent on the intruder. Her very presence silenced half the murmurs in the hall.
To her right stood a broad-shouldered man, his armor nothing more than the thick hide of a tiger draped across him. He carried no weapon, only the savage aura of the beast he had slain, his fists clenched like iron boulders.
And last, anchoring their formation, a towering old man with a beard so long it brushed the floor with every step.
His bald head glead under the faint light, and the cords of muscle running across his body looked as though they could tear mountains apart.
He was known for relying only on his flesh and strength, his enemies crushed by the raw weight of his blows.
Peak Golden Core. All three. Their aura flared without warning, sending the whole room into a frenzy.
"The Generals!" One of the ministers cried in surprise. "Shouldn’t they be on the borders, why are they here?"
"Could it be that his majesty had summoned them to guard the capital in case sothing like this happened?
Without a signal, they attacked at once.
The woman’s blade cleaved the air with a freezing arc.
The tiger warrior roared, his fists crashing forward like twin hamrs.
The bearded elder stomped, the marble beneath him splintering as he launched a strike with both arms, his muscles twisting like coiled dragons.
Boom!
The hall shook from their combined assault. Spirit images of the attacks flared to light, winds whipped, and the scent of ozone filled the air.
And yet—
The cloaked figure did not move.
A single pulse of darkness rippled outward.
In the next instant, the generals were thrown like broken dolls.
The cold woman’s sword shattered as she crashed into the far wall, coughing blood.
The tiger warrior’s armor split, his body slamming into the pillars hard enough to crack stone. The bearded elder was forced to his knees, his mighty fra trembling under an invisible weight before he too was flung across the chamber.
"How can it be?"
"They fell like ants before this being... just who is that?"
"What a disappointnt. All that chaos, all that betrayal, and all that rebellion... for what?" The mysterious person hadn’t even taken a step. Its cold, distorted voice suddenly gained a sharp edge, becoming more recognizable. "Can any gray horn beco a general these days?"
All the arrogance that had filled the chamber, all the bravado of monts ago, vanished like smoke.
The ministers dared not even breathe too loudly. So faces had already gone pale with despair, prepared to die in this hall of ruin.
Others looked shaken, hesitating—ready to bow their heads if it ant survival.
But one man did not flinch.
Pri Minister Shi Tzu rose from his seat, his old eyes steady, his voice cutting through the fear like a blade.
"I will not betray His Majesty. No matter who you are, no matter what you threaten, I will never kneel to you. My loyalty belongs to Emperor Wuhan alone."
For a mont, the court seed to hold its breath.
The cloaked figure tilted its head, those burning red eyes narrowing into slits. Then its cracked lips twisted into a smile.
"Then die."
The figure raised a hand. At once, strands of darkness slithered out, twisting into dozens of sharp spikes.
They shot forward with deadly speed, tearing the air as they rushed for Shi Tzu’s chest.
The pri minister stayed tall, not giving in even when death ca for him.
But before the spikes could get to touch his skin—
Clang!
One blow blew them away. The dark threads broke apart like fragile glass, leaving behind harmless pieces of shadow.
A new figure had appeared at the center of the hall, standing before Shi Tzu with a blade in hand.
Xin Yan.
Her black robes clung to her fra, the fabric flowing like liquid shadow as it outlined every curve of her body.
Her icy blue hair shimred in the dim light, falling behind her like a frozen waterfall.
Her sword glead with killing intent, and from her body spread an aura so murderous, so suffocating, that even the cloaked figure’s darkness seed to waver for a heartbeat.
Even though she was not even using a single strand of her qi, the imperial hall shook under the weight of her presence.
"Oh... What do we have here?" A surprised voice escaped from under the hood woven from darkness. A pair of thin and frail arms shot up from the dark veil, revealing the black painted nails that looked sharper than the tip of a sword.
Then the darkness around her followed her will, turning into scythes of disaster before hurling towards Xin Yan, aiming to claim her life.
The attack ca so fast that no one but Xin Yan could even track it. Her eyes followed the scythes around the room before they drifted straight towards her from both sides like a boorang.
She raised both of her hands; the blade in her hand disappeared at so point. Without flinching, she caught the scythe with her hand.
A chilling mist escaped her hands and covered the blade, spreading around almost instantly.
Crash!
When Xin Yan pressed her fingers against the darkness, it tried to push back but failed in the end, and the scythe made from it shattered into fragnts.
"To think he has friends with such peculiar people." The figure now spoke clearly. The familiar voice jolted sothing in the mind of the pri minister. "Looks like that kid is not a lost cause yet."
He stepped forward in disbelief and uttered, "this can’t be."
"You were supposed to be—" before he could finish, the voice completed his words for him.
"What? Trapped? Contained? Sealed in the prison created by my own son." The cloak of shadows lted away, flowing down like smoke before turning into a black dress.
The person who walked forward was no longer a shadow without a face; she was a woman—beautiful, dangerous, and enchanting to the point that she drew several gazes to herself as she moved.
Her black hair tumbled in curls down her back, and her lips curled into a seductive smile. Her eyes sparkled a faint red. Every move she took was slow, careful, and full of power, like a queen.
The ministers froze in shock. So gasped, and so were lost at the sight of her alluring figure.
Shi Tzu’s hands tightened at his side as he spoke, his voice low and filled with disbelief.
"You... you are the forr Empress. Feng Niu. The Kin-Slayer, The rciless Empress, The Crimson Widow, The Betrayer of Feng"
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