"Miss!" Qiu Shen's voice came from behind.

Ye Qingxue did not turn around; there were too many guards charging at her, and she had no time to look back.

But Qiu Shen picked up the dead guard's longsword, rushed to her side, killed all the guards around her, and then threw her a long whip!

Ah! Ye Qingxue suddenly dreamt of that afternoon at the flower-viewing banquet, when Qiu Shen threw her a long whip woven from wild grass during that tense moment.

Without a doubt, she was far more skilled with her whip than with her longsword.

Lu Zangfeng and the others did not expect that the brief time they had been waiting would have given Ye Qingxue the opportunity to kill so many of their brothers.

They regretted it, and they were even angrier.

"Kill them!" Lu Zangfeng roared coldly, and hundreds of guards rushed forward in a swarm.

They wielded hundreds, even thousands, of longswords, gleaming with a cold light, like a towering mountain about to crush Ye Qingxue.

How can meager manpower possibly contend with towering mountains?

After a short while, Ye Qingxue was forced to take a step back, then two steps, three steps, and then four or five steps.

If she had just stepped back to the main gate of the Zichen Palace, the entire Zichen Palace would have been in danger.

No, the entire Great Zhou Dynasty is in danger.

Ye Qingxue tried her best to resist, but in the end she still retreated to the threshold. She could even feel that the people inside the hall were looking at her expectantly.

It was as if she were the last wall, and they hoped she would stand firm so that the people inside would be safe.

General Lan was fighting not far away, and Qiu Shen was also fighting, but they were both entangled by the guards.

Although Cui Shao, the commander of the Palace Guard, was also fighting with his men, his men had been replaced too many times and he was no match for Empress Shen and Yun Chi.

Ye Qingxue was isolated and helpless.

Now, she was the only one left at the entrance of the Zichen Palace.

Sweat was falling, and blood was flowing.

"Ah!" Qiu Shen's scream came, and Ye Qingxue was startled. She looked in the direction of the sound and saw Yun Chi riding over and dealing with Qiu Shen.

The scream just now came from Qiu Shen being slashed in the back by a sword. She almost lost her footing, but she gritted her teeth and kept herself steady.

If I fall now, I will fall forever and never be able to stand up again.

However, her screams were like a knife piercing Ye Qingxue's heart, causing her to hesitate slightly in her actions.

Lu Zangfeng had been observing her from the crowd, not missing a single detail. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he approached Ye Qingxue from the side and, while she turned to deal with the guard on her left, stabbed her in the back with his long sword.

Ye Qingxue noticed it.

That chilling sword aura.

It approached her heart inch by inch.

If anyone were to enter her body, she would surely die.

"No!" She heard Granny Xing's heart-wrenching cry from inside the hall, and she felt countless concerned gazes falling on her.

At that moment, Yun Zhuo's face flashed through Ye Qingxue's mind: Where are you? Why haven't you come back yet? If you don't come back soon, we'll have no home. No, after the country falls, not only you, but also me, and countless other people of the Great Zhou, will have no home.

"laugh!"

It was the sound of a longsword piercing flesh, so clear and so piercing, but the pain Ye Qingxue had imagined did not come.

At the critical moment, someone ran over from not far away, hugged her, and took the sword for her before rolling to the ground with her.

Warm blood splattered on her neck and face.

Ye Qingxue's mind went blank for a moment. She quickly got up from the ground and turned around to look. When she saw Pan Heng's face, she saw him.

Lu Zangfeng's longsword pierced his body, going through his chest from behind, right to his heart. Blood flowed from the tip of the sword, and he vomited blood.

The sounds of fighting all around seemed to fade away like flowing water.

Ye Qingxue knelt on the ground and lifted Pan Heng up from the ground, not daring to pull out his sword or touch his wounds.

"Why are you here? Shouldn't you be outside the palace?" As soon as Ye Qingxue spoke, tears streamed down her face, mingling with the blood on her cheeks.

"You'll be alright. This palace is full of imperial physicians. They will definitely be able to save you. I'll take you to find one." Ye Qingxue pretended to pick him up.

Unable to kill Ye Qingxue with a single sword strike, Lu Zangfeng, enraged, seized the swords of the others and prepared to attack again.

The same applies to the other guards.

However, Dongbai and General Lan finally broke through the encirclement and reached Ye Qingxue's side, protecting Ye Qingxue and Pan Heng behind them, and once again protecting the gate of Zichen Palace.

Yun Chi, riding on horseback, watched from a distance of two zhang as Ye Qingxue held Pan Heng in her arms, and he frowned.

Ye Qingxue had just gotten up when she fell back down.

I never thought lifting someone was so difficult before, so why is it so difficult tonight?

Why couldn't she even lift Pan Heng?

Pan Yuanzhou, who had been protecting the emperor, rushed out and knelt beside Pan Heng, reaching out to touch him, only to find his hands covered in blood.

"Didn't I leave a letter telling you to leave with your mother and the others? What are you doing in the palace?" Pan Yuanzhou's voice seemed to have aged several years in an instant.

"Father is in danger, how can I, as your son, stand idly by? Father, rest assured, before I entered the palace, I had already sent Mother, my sister, and my grandmother away... cough cough..."

As Pan Heng spoke, he coughed up two mouthfuls of blood, his face growing increasingly pale.

He turned to look at Ye Qingxue.

"Given the current situation in the palace, there are no imperial physicians who can save me now, Miss Ye, you don't need to waste your energy. I am already very satisfied that I was able to save your life." His voice was weak, but he still smiled at Ye Qingxue.

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