procrastination
Xiao Wan'er hurried all the way, traveling day and night, just to get back to Chang'an as quickly as possible. As she was rushing forward at full speed, she suddenly felt something strange ahead and stopped immediately.
After releasing her spirit, she saw that the front was covered with dense metal wires. If an ordinary person bumped into them, they would probably be cut into pieces of meat.
"Come out." Xiao Wan'er immediately entered combat mode, her voice cold.
As soon as he finished speaking, a group of people appeared behind Xiao Wan'er. They were all dressed as Turks, and the leader was actually at the Transcendent Realm.
"So you Turkic monks aren't completely wiped out," Xiao Wan'er taunted. "Have they been beaten down by the Tang Dynasty and are now reduced to doing shady things in the dark?"
The leader ignored Xiao Wan'er's sarcasm and, with a single gesture, his men charged forward. Xiao Wan'er had no time to tangle with them and immediately unleashed her full strength.
With just one spell, Xiao Wan'er's body was surrounded by extremely hot flames, which turned everyone who attacked her into charcoal.
Xiao Wan'er slowly walked towards the Turkic leader from the ashes.
"Everything that's in the way has been dealt with. Hurry up, I'm in a hurry."
The Turkic leader's expression remained unchanged, but he was horrified. According to the information he had received, Xiao Wan'er had only been in the Transcendent Realm for a few years and was far from possessing such strength.
"Damn Li Longji, he is setting a trap for me!" he cursed in his heart.
But since he was already here, it was impossible to retreat. He mobilized all the spiritual energy in his body, drew out his sword and rushed forward.
Xiao Wan'er once again formed hand seals, and her magic power continuously swept towards the Turkic leader. The situation soon became Xiao Wan'er's offensive and the Turkic leader's defensive.
Although both were in the Transcendent Realm, there was a disparity in strength, and it wasn't long before the Turkic leader was defeated. Xiao Wan'er drew her sword and severed the tendons in his limbs, then destroyed his dantian, ruining his cultivation. Then, she placed her hand on his crown, preparing to search his soul.
Unexpectedly, his flesh suddenly expanded and exploded. Every bit of it turned into sparks, blasting a deep crater within a ten-foot radius. Xiao Wan'er, covered in wounds, struggled to find a pill and swallowed it raw. Then, she tore open a talisman and, with her last bit of strength, ran to a deserted spot. She cast a protective array before fainting.
Only two hours after Xiao Wan'er escaped, a team of Shenlong Guards appeared beside the tiankeng, and the leader was the commander of the Shenlong Guards.
"Commander, we haven't found Xiao Wan'er, you see..." Everyone searched for Xiao Wan'er to no avail, and one of the team members whispered to the commander for instructions.
"That's fine. Xiao Wan'er must have been seriously injured and couldn't make it in time for the operation," the Dragon Guard commander ordered back. "It's a shame she escaped. We weren't able to execute her as Your Highness instructed."
Xiao Wan'er was unconscious for two days and one night before finally waking up with difficulty. The defensive formation showed no signs of being attacked, but she ached everywhere, unable to get up. She immediately took out three healing pills and swallowed them all at once. The pain finally eased, and her injuries were slightly less severe.
She was well aware that she had been set up. The person who had set up the trap knew her style very well, so they had cast a forbidden spell on the Turkic leader. They had not intended for the Turkic leader to kill Xiao Wan'er, but knew that Xiao Wan'er was accustomed to searching her soul after battle, so they designed it so that once Xiao Wan'er searched her soul, the forbidden spell would control the Turkic leader's flesh and blood to self-destruct.
Anyone so familiar with her style of operation could only be someone within the imperial court. On a normal day, with more time, Xiao Wan'er would have consulted the diviner to uncover the mastermind. But now, having received the secret letter and now unconscious due to her injuries, her already limited time was stretched even further. Xiao Wan'er had no choice but to abandon her pursuit for the time being. Enduring the pain and injuries, she climbed to her feet and continued her swift march towards Chang'an.
But she was injured, so her speed was naturally not as fast as before.
On the Gengzi day of June, Prince Xiang, Prince Linzi and Princess Taiping jointly launched a coup.
The time for action was almost up, but Princess Taiping was still staying in the princess's mansion, glancing outside from time to time, as if she was waiting for someone.
Perhaps because she had been waiting for so long, there was obvious anxiety between her eyebrows.
After a while, a guard walked into the princess's mansion and walked quickly to Princess Taiping.
"Princess, there's no sign of Deputy Commander Xiao at any of the city gates in Chang'an."
Princess Taiping's eyebrows were tightly knitted together, and she was obviously angry.
"Why did it happen at the critical moment?"
"Princess, the time has come," the guard whispered, "it's time to act."
"Forget it, let's not wait for her," Princess Taiping ordered, "Just do it!"
The Tang Dynasty court was peaceful for only three years before a new round of bloody battles began.
Xiao Wan'er was running at full speed when she suddenly felt something, her body lost its balance, and she almost fell to the ground. She steadied herself, stopped, and looked in the direction of her inspiration.
Chang'an City happens to be in this direction.
Xiao Wan'er was horrified and immediately asked for a fortune telling. The result made her feel very unwell.
"Damn it, it's too late!" She overdrew her spiritual energy and forced herself to increase her already extreme speed, heading straight for Chang'an City.
"I will make that man who colluded with the Turks pay the price!"
The coup's outcome came out on the very day. Inside Princess Anle's residence, Princess Anle, who had been fighting the imperial guards alongside her husband, realized the situation was hopeless and was dressing in front of the mirror.
The imperial guards led their troops through the gate. Seeing her, the deputy commander beside him pointed at her nose and said, "You, a princess, have colluded with the queen to poison His Majesty. Today, we will execute you and tell His Majesty's spirit!"
Princess Anle sneered, "The victor makes the king, the loser the bandit. I am inferior in skill to you, and you can kill me or chop me up as you please. But you are the ones who rebelled after all. Even if you throw dirty water on me and my mother, it won't change your nature as traitors!"
The deputy general was so angry that he attacked Princess Anle without waiting for the order from the commander. Princess Anle did not hide away. She dressed neatly and went to die calmly with her husband.
The mission was completed, and the commander of the imperial guards, who had been severely scolded, did not want to stay in the princess's mansion any longer, so he immediately took his subordinates to report to the Prince of Xiang.
It was at this time that Xiao Wan'er finally rushed back to Chang'an City.
A deathly silence fell over Chang'an. Officials and ordinary citizens, unwilling to get involved in the struggle for the throne, all tightly shut their doors and windows, fearing their homes would be affected. Wounded, Xiao Wan'er summoned her last remaining strength and made her way through the deserted streets straight to the Daming Palace.
Suddenly, a hand stretched out from the alley and dragged Xiao Wan'er into the dim alley.
Xiao Wan'er immediately tried to resist, but unexpectedly she was held tightly in the arms of the man who came.
"Wan'er, it's me," the voice of the person who came rang in her ears. It was Pei Yingguan. "How did you get hurt like this?"
Seeing that it was Pei Yingguan, Xiao Wan'er felt relieved: "On the way back to Chang'an, we encountered the remnants of the Turkic people. There was a person who had reached the Transcendent Realm among them. He blew himself up before dying."
For some unknown reason, she didn't fully reveal the truth. After all, using flesh and blood to self-destruct under the control of a forbidden technique was still self-destruction.
Upon hearing this, Pei Yingguan immediately probed the spiritual energy into Xiao Wan'er's meridians. After a detailed examination for a week, his brows were tightly furrowed.
"Nonsense! How dare you rush back when you're so badly injured!"
Pei Yingguan said as he took out a pill from his personal space and handed it to Xiao Wan'er. Xiao Wan'er opened the pill bottle and a strong medicinal fragrance rushed out of the pill bottle and rushed straight to her face.
This is the best elixir Pei Yingguan has.
"Eat quickly." Pei Yingguan urged.
Xiao Wan'er swallowed the pill immediately. The moment it entered her stomach, a strong medicinal power burst out, repairing her dried-up and cracked meridians and damaged body.
"Hurry up and meditate." Pei Yingguan said.
Xiao Wan'er sat down as she was told and used the medicine to repair her body, and her wounds gradually healed.
Inside the Daming Palace, Empress Wei's defeat was inevitable. With the Divine Dragon Guards once again lining up, the bodies of their soldiers lay scattered across the path of the Imperial Guards. The captain of Team Geng 7 stood guard beside Empress Wei, wounded and battered, with the bodies of two of his former captains lying before him.
"Forget it, now that things have come to this, you can leave." Seeing that defeat was inevitable, Empress Wei decided to let her go.
"Your Majesty!" Captain Wei refused to leave. "I swear to live and die with you!"
"Let's go," the Queen waved her hand. "You are a cultivator. It's not easy to cultivate all the way to this point. You won't die if you leave now. Why do you have to die with me?"
"Empress Wei is right, Captain Wei. If you lay down your weapons now, you can still continue to be the captain. Why sacrifice your life to a hen crowing at dawn?"
Commander Li stepped forward with a sword in hand, and the imperial guards behind him quickly surrounded Empress Wei and her entourage.
"A hen crowing at dawn?" Captain Wei was clearly also seriously injured, but upon hearing this, he still bravely prepared to continue fighting. "We're all human beings, so why is it that when men are in power, it's natural, but when women are in power, it's like a hen crowing at dawn!"
"Stubborn!" Seeing this, Commander Li revealed his true cultivation level. It turned out that he had reached the Transcendent Realm at some unknown time.
Captain Wei's heart was filled with grief. She gritted her teeth and rushed towards Commander Li with her last remaining strength.
Xiao Wan'er took a long breath before opening her eyes. Under the powerful effects of the medicine, her injuries had completely healed, and her physical condition had returned to its peak.
"What is the current situation in Chang'an?" she asked Pei Yingguan.
"Empress Wei and Princess Anle attempted to forge an imperial edict to usurp power. Prince Xiang, Prince Linzi and Princess Taiping led the imperial guards to eliminate the evil. Empress Wei and Princess Anle have now been executed, and the people they controlled have been rescued. The situation will be stabilized soon." Pei Yingguan replied.
"Really?" Logically, Xiao Wan'er should have believed Pei Yingguan, but there was always an inspiration that prompted her to always maintain a certain degree of suspicion towards Pei Yingguan. She decided to return to the Turkic ambush, "There must be a Turkic traitor within the court. The Turkic monks I encountered on my way back to Chang'an knew my style very well, and I almost couldn't come back."
Pei Yingguan also looked solemn when he heard this.
"Junior sister, go home and have a good rest first. I will report this matter to His Majesty once the situation has been stabilized."
"Okay." Xiao Wan'er nodded and prepared to go home, but the feeling of disharmony in her heart still lingered.
At this time, a female monk wearing the uniform of the Dragon Guard came running from the direction of Daming Palace.
"Captain Xiao!" she yelled, "Prince Linzi wants to kill Shangguan—"
Before she could finish, Pei Yingguan suddenly drew his sword and slashed at her.
Her eyes were still open, but her body had already split into two parts. Blood spurted out, and the upper part of her body fell to the ground with a loud bang.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
