The Invincible Bodyguard Starting by Escorting the Doomsday Imperial Princess Chapter 101 : Chapter 101

Chapter 101: A War Between Nations Is About to Begin

“This...” The old eunuch could not understand the aning of those words.

All he knew was that ever since His Majesty had ascended that throne, the thing that had worried him most was the Demon-Suppressing Towers scattered across the realm. Yet in the end, soone had still managed to exploit a loophole and turn them into a weapon for overturning the court.

Why... was it the sa the mont she arrived?

Suddenly, the old eunuch thought of sothing else and imdiately reported, “Your Majesty, there is one more matter!”

“According to a report just sent by the Military Intelligence Bureau, the thousand-year Mountain Ghoul suppressed in the Demon-Suppressing Tower of Pingyang Commandery had only just broken free when it ran into Consecrator Wang Yuan of the Fiend Suppression Bureau...”

“What happened to Wang Yuan?!” Zhou Tianyuan imdiately pressed, his voice rising sharply.

This Wang Yuan was one of the very few Purple Palace Realm experts within Great Zhou’s Fiend Suppression Bureau, a true pillar capable of guarding an entire region. If anything happened to him, it would be a grave loss to Great Zhou.

The old eunuch hurriedly continued, “He... he was struck and severely wounded on the spot by that Mountain Ghoul.”

“What?!” Zhou Tianyuan suddenly slamd a hand onto the armrest of the dragon throne, and a majestic draconic aura burst forth from his body. Even the candle flas throughout Jade Pivot Palace seed to freeze for an instant!

“However... however, Your Majesty, it was only a false alarm!”

The old eunuch was so frightened that his soul nearly fled. He hurriedly finished the report. “That Mountain Ghoul... provoked an Escort Master who happened to be passing by, and that Escort Master... killed it with a single stroke.”

Zhou Tianyuan froze. The towering rage around him vanished just as suddenly as it had appeared, and he shot the old eunuch a glare.

He found that the older this old thing got, the more he spoke in fits and starts.

Could he not simply finish in one breath?

Imdiately afterward, Zhou Tianyuan slowly rose to his feet and walked to the great sand-table map once more, lowering his eyes as he murmured to himself, “An Escort Master? How could there be such a formidable Escort Master?”

“To kill a thousand-year Mountain Ghoul in one stroke, that would require at least peak Purple Palace Realm.”

At the ntion of that, the old eunuch’s face also filled with an incredulous joy.

“And according to the military report from below, that Escort Master is very likely the murderer who killed those thirteen jianghu wanderers as well.”

“Because the Mountain Ghoul was beheaded by a single stroke, and ten of those thirteen jianghu wanderers were likewise beheaded, with the cuts equally smooth and identical!”

“Only soone whose beheading blade art has reached a certain level could produce such a thod!”

“It’s only that... only that this man’s identity as an Escort Master is too special, and in addition, he possesses the terrifying strength to kill a thousand-year Mountain Ghoul with a single stroke. The people below did not dare act on their own authority, which is why they reported the matter upward and await Your Majesty’s decision.”

“Hss...” Zhou Tianyuan’s brows knitted together once more, and his fingers unconsciously tapped at the edge of the sand-table. “Since when did such a formidable Escort Master appear within Great Zhou?”

The identity of an Escort Master was an extrely unusual one.

They were subject to none of the laws of any imperial dynasty, and yet were explicitly protected by all imperial dynasties.

After all, in this age of chaos overrun by demons and fiends, any truly capable Escort Master was walking credibility and a guarantee in his own right.

So long as he did not slaughter innocents indiscriminately, and so long as the killing occurred in the course of an escort, Great Zhou’s laws truly could not touch him.

If Great Zhou were to use overwhelming force and arrest him by compulsion, then once word spread, every escort firm and every Escort Master beneath the heavens would regard Great Zhou as forbidden ground and refuse ever again to take a single escort through its lands.

When that happened, trade routes would be severed, supplies would stop flowing, and in less than three months, popular resentnt would boil over and the foundation of the state would begin to shake!

That would be no different from severing the nation’s lifeblood with its own hand.

Zhou Tianyuan stood with his hands clasped behind his back before the sand-table, his gaze deep and solemn.

Since this man had never been famous before, that ant he was very likely not a subject of Great Zhou... could it be...?

It seed he had suddenly thought of sothing, and a sharp light flashed in his eyes.

He imdiately strode back to the imperial desk, slowly sat down, and pulled a yellowed morial from the pile before him. After skimming through it, his brows tightened even further, and he asked in a deep voice, “Have the identities of those thirteen jianghu wanderers been determined?”

The old eunuch thought for a mont, then finally shook his head. “Reporting to Your Majesty, they have not yet been identified.”

“However, the weakest among them was still at mid-Profound Passage Realm, and among them were four Purple Palace Realm experts.”

“Purple Palace Realm... so even Purple Palace Realm experts were sent out...” Zhou Tianyuan murmured to himself in a low voice. “Could it be... because of her?”

He suddenly lifted his head, his gaze like lightning, and stared straight at the old eunuch. “Was the Escort Master protecting a little girl?”

“Hmm?” The old eunuch froze, then seed to think of sothing and nodded at once. “Your Majesty truly sees all! The person he is escorting is indeed a litt—”

The words cut off halfway. The old eunuch suddenly realized sothing and stared wide-eyed in shock.

“Th-that... that little girl... could she possibly be...?!”

Zhou Tianyuan rose to his feet once more and began pacing back and forth through the vast Jade Pivot Palace, his hands clasped behind his back.

An Escort Master from outside Great Zhou, escorting a little girl, and killing thirteen jianghu experts...

He rapidly organized every piece of information he had received over the last several days in his mind. One clue after another fit perfectly with the timing predicted in the secret letter Su Jingyan had once sent him!

At that thought, Zhou Tianyuan’s steps abruptly halted, and he issued a stern command:

“Determine the identities of those thirteen n imdiately!”

“Yes!”

The joy on the old eunuch’s face had vanished without a trace, replaced instead by full solemnity.

He had only just bowed and retreated a few steps when a shrill and urgent cry ca from outside the hall:

“Eight-hundred-li urgent dispatch!!”

A sudden sense of foreboding rose in Zhou Tianyuan’s heart, and he imdiately said in a deep voice, “Admit him!”

“Admit him—!” the old eunuch shouted toward the hall entrance in his duck-like voice.

A dust-covered ssenger, panting for breath, rushed into the hall and fell to his knees with a thud, gasping as he reported,

“Y-Your Majesty! Th-the thirteen jianghu wanderer corpses... while being transported to Shangjing City... were suddenly intercepted by an unidentified force and taken away!”

“Outrageous! You... what use are any of you!” The old eunuch’s face imdiately darkened, and he shouted sharply.

“That is enough. Withdraw.”

Zhou Tianyuan suddenly raised a hand and cut him off.

The ssenger felt as though he had been granted an amnesty and hurriedly scrambled out of the hall.

Zhou Tianyuan’s face was as still and dark as deep water.

The bodies had been intercepted and taken away. Clearly, soone was trying to conceal sothing.

But this also gave him an important deduction—the people who had stolen the corpses were in all likelihood acting under Prince Luo of the North, the one hiding in the gutters!

They had taken those corpses in order to prevent him from uncovering the identities of those n and, through them, uprooting the hundred-year arrangent of their side at its roots!

This also completely confird another thing in his heart—the little girl being escorted by that Escort Master was very likely the Luo clan orphan, Luo Li!

But the one thing he still could not understand was this...

Why had that Escort Master fallen out with them?

By rights, should he not have t up with those people and assisted them in carrying out their grand plan of restoring the dynasty?

Internal strife?

That thought flashed through Zhou Tianyuan’s mind, but he extinguished it at once.

Impossible!

He had fought those remnants of the forr dynasty for a hundred years and understood full well how patient and how crazed those rats hiding in the gutters truly were.

They had prepared for this day for far too long. There was absolutely no chance they would throw themselves into chaos at such a critical mont.

Then the problem lay with that Escort Master instead?

At that thought, Zhou Tianyuan’s eyes narrowed, and without any further hesitation, the imperial aura of a sovereign suddenly surged through the great hall.

Then he gave his order in a deep voice:

“Transmit my decree! The Fiend Suppression Bureau, the Demon Suppression Bureau, and the Hanging Mirror Bureau are all to mobilize. At any cost, suppress the demons and fiends in every region!”

“Further, command the Northern Suppression Army and the Western Suppression Army to break camp at once and gather at full speed toward the capital!”

“Yes!”

The old eunuch bowed and accepted the order. Even his usually shrill voice now carried a gravity unlike anything before.

He knew—a war between nations was about to begin.

The Northern Suppression Army and the Western Suppression Army were the two heaven-supporting pillars of Great Zhou’s national fortune. To recall both of them to the capital at once was no different from announcing it to all beneath heaven.

His Majesty intended to fight the remnants of the forr dynasty to the death beneath the imperial city itself!

But if that happened, the main forces of both the Fiend Suppression Bureau and the Demon Suppression Bureau would also be pinned down by those great demons that had escaped their seals. The situation was anything but optimistic.

Before the words had even settled, Zhou Tianyuan spoke once more, his voice carrying an added note of undeniable command:

“Have the Master of the Imperial Clan Pavilion co to see imdiately!”

“Yes!”

The old eunuch did not dare think further. He bowed once more and quickly withdrew from Jade Pivot Palace.

A mont later, a refined middle-aged man in embroidered robes stepped into Jade Pivot Palace. His expression was steady and composed as he bowed in salute.

“This subject, Liu Jingzong, pays his respects to Your Majesty.”

“Minister Liu, rise.” Zhou Tianyuan raised a hand, then got straight to the point. “A war between nations is about to begin.”

The mont those words fell, the middle-aged man in embroidered robes visibly trembled, and a flicker of shock passed through his eyes. “Those remnants can no longer sit still?”

Zhou Tianyuan nodded gravely. Then he slowly walked up to the man and looked at him with deep intensity.

“In Great Zhou as it stands, there are not many people I can truly trust. You are one of them.”

“Now, I have an extrely important task to entrust to you.”

He paused, then said, word by word:

“A certain Escort Master has co to Great Zhou...”

...

“There are only eight hundred li left before we reach Shangjing City of Great Zhou!”

Green mountains rolled in endless succession, and the official road wound onward through them.

Looking at the transparent map suspended in the air before him, Chen Guan’s face finally showed a trace of delight.

After nearly a month on the road, they were finally about to reach their destination.

This was also, by far, the longest escort he had undertaken since his debut.

And of course, it had also been the most troubleso.

He instinctively touched the two thin debt notes tucked against his chest, then glanced at Luo Li, who was sleeping soundly atop a tree trunk by the roadside. He could not help wondering whether this dead girl would even be able to repay him when the ti ca.

“All right, get up already!”

Chen Guan closed the map panel, walked over, and kicked the tree trunk. The jolt made Luo Li start violently and slide straight off the tree.

“Ow!”

Rubbing her sleepy eyes, she shot him an annoyed look. The sky was only just beginning to lighten.

“We’ve already rushed along the road for a full day and night without stopping. Can’t you let rest a little longer? I’ve only slept for two hours!”

Chen Guan said irritably, “You’re a martial artist now too. You wouldn’t die even if you stayed awake for several days. Stop talking nonsense and get moving.”

Luo Li glared at him, but said nothing more.

Rubbing her backside, she walked alone to the small river not far away, scooped up a handful of cold water, and washed her face. Only then did the fog in her head finally clear a little.

But the mont she lowered her head again and looked at the reflection in the water, her entire body violently shuddered, and her pupils suddenly contracted!

In that clear river water, what was reflected back at her was not her own face, but an eerie visage—its skin pale as paper, its eyes black as ink.

The corners of its mouth were drawn up in a silent, ferocious grin, while rings of blood-red ripples spread outward across the surface from that face!

“Ah—”

Before she could scream, her waist suddenly tightened, and her body was instantly lifted from the ground. The familiar sound of wind ripping past her ears followed at once.

A large hand wrapped around her waist and yanked her violently backward!

Boom!

A cold blade light tore through the dawn, carrying the force of thunder itself as it hacked brutally into the placid little river!

The water’s surface exploded at once, sending up a thousand soaring waves!

From within the burst spray, a handso man in white robes slowly rose up, his skin even fairer and finer than that of a woman, standing suspended above the little river.

His pair of peach-blossom eyes studied the still-shaken Luo Li with keen amusent. After looking her over carefully, he extended a scarlet tongue and licked his lips.

“What a beautiful little girl... I like your skin very much.”