Chapter 567: Blowing Up the Palace

Chapter 567: Blowing Up the Imperial Palace

Empress Dowager Yuan took a deep breath, refusing to believe her 400,000-strong army could lose to Chu Yi.

That weapon was formidable, but it could only kill one person at a time; she'd eventually run out of bullets.

As long as they could drag things out and find the sniper lurking in the shadows, they still had hope.

Moreover, she still had one ultimate trump card that guaranteed Chu Yi wouldn't dare lay a finger on her.

Nanny An looked flustered, and Empress Dowager Yuan glanced at her.

"What's there to panic about? Don't forget, we still have that person in our hands, so Chu Yi will have to do exactly what I say."

Nanny An froze, then it hit her who the Empress Dowager meant.

Emperor Chu.

The reason Empress Dowager Yuan had kept Emperor Chu locked up all this time instead of killing him was to use him as leverage against Chu Yi.

As long as they had Emperor Chu, Chu Yi wouldn't dare make a move against them.

But then!!! Nanny An suddenly thought of something terrifying.

"Your Majesty, last time you told the servants to cut off Emperor Chu's food and medicine—could he already be..."

Nanny An couldn't bring herself to say the word "dead."

Emperor Chu was barely hanging on thanks to his medicine; cutting that off was basically signing his death warrant.

If he died, would Chu Yi still be scared of them?

Empress Dowager Yuan frowned, a knot of unease forming in her stomach.

She immediately ordered, "Nanny An, go down to the underground chamber right now and see if that old man's still breathing."

"If he's alive, find a way to drag him out. If he's dead, drag out his corpse. Either way, I want to see him alive or see his body."

"I refuse to believe Chu Yi would just stand there and watch me desecrate his father's corpse."

Nanny An was shocked. She hadn't expected Empress Dowager Yuan to be so ruthless that she'd even think about mutilating Emperor Chu's corpse—not even leaving the dead alone.

But then again, if she weren't ruthless, she wouldn't be Empress Dowager Yuan in the first place.

Emperor Chu really was the best weapon against Chu Yi.

Shaking off her thoughts, she immediately replied, "Yes, Your Majesty. This servant will head to the underground chamber right away and bring Emperor Chu out."

Outside Cining Palace, gunfire rang out nonstop. Ji Yuntang was picking off targets with deadly precision.

Hua Feixue also jumped into the fray, taking on the hidden guards outside. He was fighting three at once without breaking a sweat.

Through a crack in the window, Empress Dowager Yuan watched this shocking scene unfold.

For the first time, she realized just how skilled Hua Feixue really was at martial arts.

She'd always assumed Hua Feixue was nothing but a useless fool—a Crown Prince in name only, incapable of anything.

Now she realized he'd been playing dumb and hiding his strength right under her nose all along.

His foolishness was an act, and so was his gluttony and drunkenness.

Even his usual sloppy appearance was a facade.

With skills like that, Empress Dowager Yuan doubted he could've reached that level without at least ten years of hard training.

She silently cursed the spies watching Chu Yi as useless—he'd secretly mastered such incredible martial arts, and not a single one had reported it to her.

The battle outside Cining Palace was fierce, and the fighting outside the Golden Throne Hall was just as intense.

Shen Xiangming led his troops in a fierce clash against the army commanded by Zhu Wei.

It was a battle of the outnumbered against the many.

Xie Liuzheng wanted to charge in and help the Shen family army, but then he thought, that won't work!

The enemy had at least twice as many men as the Shen family army. Charging in blindly would only let him kill a hundred or so, and that wouldn't solve anything.

Suddenly, an idea hit him—the tactic Ji Yuntang had taught him today: sowing chaos in the enemy's ranks.

Anyone who'd studied military strategy knew that to catch the bandits, you first catch their leader. Only when the leader falls do the soldiers below lose their footing.

With that in mind, he immediately killed one of Zhu Wei's soldiers, stripped off the man's uniform, put it on, and made a beeline for where Zhu Wei was.

The battlefield was chaos, and no one noticed him.

Meanwhile, Zhu Wei was locked in combat with a group of Shen family soldiers. Xie Liuzheng snuck around behind him without warning.

His martial arts were top-notch, and dressed in the soldier's uniform, Zhu Wei figured he was there to help.

After beating back a few Shen family soldiers, Zhu Wei felt a surge of relief. "Perfect timing! Go take them out."

"On it!" Xie Liuzheng replied, darting forward and slitting Zhu Wei's throat in one stroke.

Zhu Wei's eyes went wide in shock as he stared at him.

Even as he lay dying, he couldn't believe he'd been killed by some nobody.

But Xie Liuzheng yelled at the top of his lungs, "Commander Zhu! Commander Zhu, what's wrong!?"

His shout drew the attention of soldiers who hadn't noticed what was going on.

When they looked over, they realized Zhu Wei had been killed.

Right away, soldiers screamed in terror, "Oh no! Oh no! The commander's been killed!"

These soldiers had always followed Zhu Wei's orders, and he was their pillar of strength.

With him dead, their morale shattered and their spirits tanked.

Within the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the battlefield descended into utter chaos.

The Shen family army, originally at a disadvantage, saw the enemy in disarray and surged forward with renewed energy.

After stirring up chaos, Xie Liuzheng made his way back to Ji Yuntang's side.

He remembered what Ji Yuntang had said—there was something even more exciting planned for tonight, and he'd get to enjoy it to the fullest.

Xie Liuzheng eagerly went to find Ji Yuntang, who tossed him a cloth bag. "Go play with that!"

Xie Liuzheng opened the bag, and after looking at its contents, he was totally confused. "Yuntang sis, why are you giving me a few black stones?"

Ji Yuntang smiled, took one out, and explained to him.

"These aren't just any black stones. They're called hand grenades. Pull the ring on top, then toss them into the enemy ranks, and you'll see how much fun they can be."

Xie Liuzheng examined the grenade in his hand, feeling doubtful.

This little thing looked so ordinary—was it really that much fun?

Ji Yuntang said, "Bro, trust me, it's definitely fun. Go try it and you'll see."

"But remember, once you pull the ring, throw it immediately, then run like hell and don't look back. Whatever you do, don't accidentally hit your own people."

Hearing that, Xie Liuzheng suddenly felt this little thing in his hand was anything but simple.

Maybe good things really do come in small packages?

Eager to give it a try, he picked up the bag of grenades and, using his Lightness Skill, flew off.

Xie Liuzheng landed on a rooftop, and following her instructions, he pulled the ring.

Then, aiming at the enemy crowd, he hurled the grenade with all his might.

As soon as he threw it, he ran. Before he had gone far, he heard a thunderous "boom."

The flames shot into the sky, and the explosion thundered. Enemy soldiers at the center were blown into the air, limbs scattering, and screams filled the air.

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