Chapter 29
In the darkest moments before dawn, the outline of Shengjing finally appeared on the horizon, like a dormant giant. Towering city walls and formidable watchtowers cast a vast shadow against the leaden sky. Yet, at that moment, a strange, dead silence pervaded this city, a symbol of supreme power in Dayong. The gates were closed, the drawbridge suspended high. Atop the battlements, shadowy figures loomed, the gleam of armor flickering in the darkness like will-o'-the-wisp fire.
Gu Linzhi stood alone outside the moat. The jet-black, exceptionally majestic horse, "Dark Clouds Stepping on Snow", now had thick white mist coming out of its mouth and nose, and was drenched in sweat, as if it had just been pulled out of the water. Its sturdy muscles trembled slightly in the thin morning light. On the horse's buttocks, there was a knife wound so deep that the bone could be seen, and the flesh was rolled up, and blood mixed with sweat kept flowing down. Gu Linzhi's dark robe had long been soaked with blood, sweat, and mud, and it stuck tightly to his body. Several torn wounds on his shoulders and ribs were still bleeding faintly. The scar on his cheek was soaked with sweat, and the stinging sensation was like a fine needle pricking him. The most eye-catching thing was the black crow he was holding horizontally in front of him.
Mo Ya's body was cold and rigid, like a stone devoid of all life. His stern face was pale, devoid of any color, his eyes closed, his lips pressed into a rigid line. His only remaining right arm drooped limply, his left shoulder wrapped in thick, blood-soaked linen, but it could no longer restrain the fading life. Gu Linzhi's right arm was tightly wrapped around his back, veins knotted on the back of his hand, as if trying to pass on a last shred of warmth, but he only felt a piercing coldness.
One man, one horse, one corpse.
Like a silhouette struggling out of the bloody sea of hell, he faced the heavily guarded and murderous Shengjing City alone.
Torches suddenly lit up on the city walls, illuminating the tense and frightened faces behind the battlements. The city commander, holding the hilt of his sword at his waist, trembled with pressure, his voice echoed through the still dawn:
"By order... by order! Martial arts are on high alert at all four gates of Shengjing! Anyone trespassing without your Majesty's order... will be killed without mercy! Who is under the city walls?! Report their names immediately!"
Gu Linzhi slowly raised his head. His deep eyes, piercing the gloom, gazed at the towering city walls, at the dense gleam of crossbows gleaming from behind the battlements. The fatigue of a night of bloody battles and assaults was etched between his brows, but his eyes, like stars tempered by icy water, were sharp, calm, and bottomless, containing a icy storm capable of incinerating everything.
He did not answer the guard's shout.
His right hand slowly released Mo Ya's cold body, allowing him to remain seated, leaning against the front bridge of the saddle. His left hand reached into his bosom and took out something.
A palm-sized, heavy, black token, neither gold nor iron! On the front, a single iron-painted, silver-hooked character, "Gu," etched powerfully through the back! The edges of the token were covered in fine, mystical patterns resembling dragon scales, radiating a cold luster in the faint morning light—the Black Iron Token!
Gu Linzhi raised his arm suddenly!
"call out--!"
The black iron order turned into a black light that tore through the darkness, and with a sharp whistling sound, it shot towards the top of the city like a spear!
"clang--!!!"
There was a deafening, teeth-grinding sound of metal clashing!
With incredible precision, the black iron token embedded itself deeply into the thick, vermilion-lacquered, coiled dragon pillar at the center of the tower, a symbol of imperial majesty. It sank nearly a foot into the wood! The end of the token trembled violently. The cold, incandescent "Gu" (Gu) in the torchlight etched itself like a demon's brand, firmly fixed to the dragon pillar.
The entire city wall fell silent! All the defenders, including the commander, were utterly terrified by this earth-shattering scene that defied imperial authority! Countless terrified eyes were fixed on the humming black iron order embedded in the dragon pillar!
"Open—the—city—gate!"
Gu Linzhi's voice was not loud, but it was like the friction of ten thousand years of black ice, with a penetrating power that could freeze the soul and an unquestionable iron-blooded majesty. It rolled out in the dead silence of the dawn, hitting the thick city walls and causing waves of echoes!
The commander on the city wall's rooftops was pale as paper, his lips trembling, his palms brimming with sweat as he pressed against the hilt of his sword. He stared at the black iron token nailed to the dragon pillar, then at the dark figure below the city walls, battered and bruised yet still standing tall like a solitary peak, radiating a monstrous malevolence. A chill from the depths of his soul instantly consumed him! Open the city gates? Disobey the order and you'll die! Refuse to open? This evil spirit below the city walls... If he dared to nail the token to the dragon pillar, he could kill him on the city walls!
Just when the defending general was terrified and at a loss as to what to do!
“Squeaky—!!!”
A heavy, teeth-grinding sound of hinges suddenly rang out! Yongding Gate, the largest gate in the south of Shengjing—those two massive gates, clad in heavy iron sheets and symbolizing the imperial facade—slowly opened inward without anyone's command! The drawbridge also groaned dully and began to fall!
Inside the city gate corridor, shadows loomed. A torrent of black armor, heavy as a mountain and carrying an aura of iron and blood, silently formed up like awakened steel giants! The dark armor shone with a cold luster in the dim light of the corridor. Beneath the visors, pairs of cold eyes, like stars in the night, pierced the darkness sharply and focused on the lonely figure outside the city gate.
Former members of the Jingbei Army!
No tiger talisman, no imperial edict! The appearance of the Black Iron Order was as firm as a mountain! Like the most loyal guards, they opened the last barrier to the heart of the empire for their commander at the most critical moment!
Gu Linzhi didn't even look at the terrified defenders on the top of the city. He suddenly kicked his horse's belly!
"drive!"
"Dark Clouds Stepping on Snow" let out a high-pitched neigh, and its four hooves churned like an arrow from a bow, carrying Gu Linzhi and the body of the black crow leaning in front of him. Stepping on the suspension bridge that had just landed, it rushed into the open Yongding Gate like a black lightning! Rushed into the murderous Shengjing City!
None of the defenders on the city walls dared to move, not one dared to stop them! They watched helplessly as the blood-soaked figure, swathed in boundless murderous energy, vanished into the deep corridors of the city gate. Only the black iron token, deeply embedded in the Panlong Pillar, still emitted a low, stubborn hum in the cool morning breeze.
Qianyuan Palace.
The chill of late autumn seemed to be kept out by the palace's solemnity, but within the western warm chamber, the air was colder than an ice cellar. The silver charcoal in the animal-headed copper cauldron burned brightly, emitting a warm red glow, but it couldn't dispel the invisible, suffocating oppression and... fear that permeated the air.
Emperor Zhao Heng sat vacantly behind his desk, his face sallow, his eye sockets sunken, his bloodshot eyes fixed on a crumpled secret report on the table—a despairing, incoherent dispatch from Cao Wushang after his hasty escape from Changting Posthouse! Gu Linzhi was not dead! The blood edict and the royal seal were irrefutable proof! The Bee-Bing Death Squad had been completely wiped out! Cao Wushang himself was suspected to have suffered a backlash from the whistle, severely injured!
"Waste! A bunch of waste!!" Zhao Heng threw the secret report to the ground, his chest heaving violently like an old bellows, "Several...hundreds of people! Can't kill him?! Can't even...can't even kill the half-dead guard in his arms?! Cao Wushang! You eunuch! You misled me! You misled me--!!!" He roared, his voice sharp and piercing, with the madness and hysteria of being forced into a desperate situation.
Wang Defu had already collapsed to the ground in fear, his whole body shaking like a sieve, not daring to breathe.
"Where... where has he been?! Where has he been?!" Zhao Heng suddenly grabbed the edge of the imperial desk, his knuckles turning white from the force, his nails almost digging into the hard rosewood, his bloodshot eyes staring fixedly at the direction of the palace door, as if an evil ghost might rush in to take his life at any time.
"Your Majesty..." Wang Defu's voice was filled with tears. "Just now...just now, news came...Gu...Gu Xiang, he...he knocked on Yongding Gate with the Xuantie Order...he is...heading towards the palace..."
"boom--!!!"
It was as if a thunderclap exploded in Zhao Heng's mind! He felt his vision go black, and the world spun! A cold despair instantly gripped his heart! Here he comes! He's coming! Bringing with him the ironclad evidence that will nail him to history's pillar of shame! Bringing with him that monstrous blood feud and murderous intent! Here he comes!
“Stop him! Stop him for me!” Zhao Heng jumped up from the dragon throne like a cat whose tail was stepped on, screaming, “Send an order! Imperial Guards! Imperial Guards! Stop him for me! Kill him without mercy! Kill him without mercy——!!!”
"Your Majesty...the commander of the Royal Guards...is just outside the palace..." Wang Defu's voice trembled.
"Get in here!" Zhao Heng roared.
The palace door slid open silently. Xiao Zhan, the commander of the Imperial Guards, a burly, stern-faced middle-aged general, clad in Mingguang armor, strode in. He knelt on one knee, his armor clanging against the blades. His voice was steady, yet tinged with a subtle solemnity: "Your Majesty! Prime Minister Gu has arrived outside Chengtian Gate! He...he is alone, carrying...the corpse of Mo Ya, and demands...an audience with His Majesty!"
"Alone?" Zhao Heng's eyes flashed with a morbid hope and a frenzied fierceness. "Alright! Alright! Pass on my command! Let him in! Let him in alone! From Chengtian Gate to Qianyuan Palace, all guards, string your bows and crossbows! Draw your swords! If he dares to make the slightest move... a thousand arrows will pierce his heart!"
"Your Majesty..." Xiao Zhan raised his head, a complex look flashing in his eyes. "Prime Minister Gu... holds the Black Iron Order, and Commander Mo... is the orphan of a heroic Jingbei hero, his body still warm... If they were to use bows and crossbows inside the palace gates, I'm afraid... it would chill the hearts of the soldiers and damage... the prestige of the royal family..."
"Majesty?!" Zhao Heng, as if struck in the deepest sore spot, suddenly grabbed the heavy Nine Dragon Jade Seal on the imperial desk and slammed it to the ground! "Crack!" The priceless jade seal instantly shattered into pieces! "My majesty has long been trampled under the feet of Gu Linzhi! My words are my will! Those who disobey my orders! Behead! Behead——!!!"
The loud sound of the imperial seal breaking echoed in the silent warm room, like the mournful sound of the collapse of a dynasty.
Xiao Zhan looked at the shattered imperial seal on the ground, then at the distorted, maddened emperor sitting on the dragon throne. The last shred of hesitation in his eyes faded into deep fatigue and coldness. He kowtowed deeply, "I obey your command!" He stood up, his armor clanging, and strode away.
Zhao Heng slumped back onto the dragon throne, his chest heaving violently like a fish out of water. He stared at the fragments of the imperial seal on the ground, his eyes filled with endless fear, resentment, and... a madness that threatened to destroy everything. He suddenly looked up, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the basin of still-viscous, dark-red corpse-dissolving water in the shadows in the corner of the hall, as if grasping at straws.
"Wang Defu!" Zhao Heng's voice was hoarse with a desperate tone, "Go! Bring the things... here!"
Wang Defu was startled and crawled to an inconspicuous rosewood cabinet in the deepest part of the warm room. Trembling, he opened the secret compartment and took out a heavy golden nanmu box, one foot square and wrapped in bright yellow satin. With trembling hands, he held it in front of the imperial desk.
Zhao Heng pounced like a hungry wolf, ripping open the bright yellow silk and opening the wooden box! Inside, a thick stack of stationery and several account books lay quietly! They contained his dealings with Zhou Shihong, the Northern Di tribes, his dealings with the contraband salt and iron trade, and even his tacit approval of the cessation of the Jingbei Army's food supply… all those secret letters and accounts! They were the unwavering evidence of his treason and betrayal, his framing of loyal officials! Beneath his dragon robe lay the rotten, stinking heart!
With the flames of destruction burning in his eyes, he grabbed the stack of letters and account books and stumbled towards the basin of corpse-dissolving water! He wanted to destroy them completely! Along with all his sins and shame, they would all be wiped out!
Just then!
"Bang--!!!"
The two heavy, vermilion-lacquered doors of Qianyuan Palace, symbols of supreme power, were slammed open by an unparalleled force! The bolts broke, and splinters of wood flew everywhere!
The dazzling morning light instantly flooded into the dimly lit warm room! In the interweaving of light and shadow, a blood-soaked black figure, like a demon god walking out of the bloody sea of hell, stepped step by step, stepping over the shattered threshold, and walked in!
Gu Linzhi!
His dark robes were soaked with blood, the wounds on his shoulders and ribs still seeping, and the scars on his cheeks, in the backlight, looked like weeping blood. In his arms, he still held the cold body of Mo Ya. His steps were steady, each one seeming to tread on Zhao Heng's crumbling nerves! A mingled aura of blood, gunpowder, and icy murderous intent, like a tangible cold wave, instantly swept through the entire warm room!
Zhao Heng, clutching the fateful stack of letters, stood frozen in front of the corpse-composting basin. He stared at the approaching dark figure, at those bottomless eyes, reflecting all his fear and suffering like a cold pond. A wave of overwhelming despair instantly washed over him! The letters in his hand burned like a red-hot iron, nearly slicing them out of his grasp!
"Gu...Gu Linzhi! You...what do you want to do?!" Zhao Heng's voice was sharp and trembling, with a dying struggle, "You...you dare to kill the king?! You are committing treason! It is a heinous crime punishable by the extermination of all nine generations of your clan!"
Gu Linzhi stopped five steps from the imperial desk. He slowly and carefully placed Mo Ya's cold body on the golden tile floor covered with a thick Persian carpet. His movements were gentle, as if he were placing a rare treasure. Then, he stood up.
He didn't look at Zhao Heng. His eyes calmly swept across the pile of broken jade seals on the ground, across the open empty wooden box on the imperial desk, and finally fell on the trembling stack of letter papers in Zhao Heng's hand.
"Your Majesty," Gu Linzhi's voice was low and hoarse, carrying the fatigue of a night of running and bloody battle, but it was like a heavy hammer, slamming heavily into the silent warm room, "Is that evidence of your own guilt in your hand? Or..." He paused slightly, his deep eyes finally turning to Zhao Heng's face twisted with fear, "...is it the death warrant... for Gu Zhong and his 100,000 Jingbei Army soldiers?"
The words "Gu Zhong" struck Zhao Heng's head like two thunderbolts! His body trembled violently, and the letter in his hand almost fell out of his hand!
Gu Linzhi stopped looking at him and slowly raised his right hand. In his hand, he held the bright yellow edict, bloodstained and blackened at the edges by gunpowder smoke! With a flick of his wrist, the edict unfurled before Zhao Heng like a scroll! Drenched ink! Blazing bloodstains! The accusation pierced through the paper! Gu Zhong's tearful signature and the seal of the Jingbei Army commander burned Zhao Heng's eyes like a red-hot iron!
"The late emperor launched a northern expedition! A bloody battle at Wolf Mountain! The food supply was cut off! One hundred thousand soldiers... starved to death! Frozen to death on the icy plains! Fighting to the last man!" Gu Linzhi's voice suddenly rose, carrying a soul-piercing grief and coldness. "Your Majesty! The Jiangnan pests accused in this blood edict, Zhou Kang, have committed suicide, Zhao Wenbi's entire family was burned to death, and Zhou Shihong... has also been executed! They... are all dead!"
He suddenly took a step forward! The dark figure approached the imperial desk with an invisible sense of oppression!
"But this blood feud! The injustice of a hundred thousand loyal souls! This monstrous blood debt..." Gu Linzhi's voice was like a cold wind from the underworld. Every word was filled with ice, biting Zhao Heng's heart fiercely. "...Who will pay it?!!"
He raised his right hand again! The seal of the Northern Di Southern Court, carved with a ferocious wolf head and stained with Zhou Shihong's brain matter and blood, glowed with a cold and eerie luster in the morning light!
"When I used this Beidi King Seal to smash open Zhou Shihong's skull, I was wondering..." Gu Linzhi's gaze was like an icy probe, locking onto Zhao Heng. "...Your Majesty, when did you affix your...Nine Dragon Jade Seal to this treasonous contract?!"
"boom--!!!"
Zhao Heng's mind exploded! All his fears, all his sophistry, all his hopes for the future were crushed to pieces by Gu Linzhi's cold questioning and the blood-stained seal of the Northern Di king! He stared at the blood edict, the seal, and Gu Linzhi's emotionless, abyssal eyes. He seemed to see the silent accusations of a hundred thousand wronged souls of the Jingbei Army written in the blood edict! He saw the stigma of "tyrant" and "traitor" that would soon nail him to the history books!
"No...it's not me...it's not me..." Zhao Heng's whole body began to tremble violently, like a leaf falling in the autumn wind, his words incoherent, "It's...it's Cao Wushang...it's Zhou Shihong...it's them who deceived me...it's them...it's them who killed your father...and killed the Jingbei Army..." He pointed suddenly at the shattered jade seal on the ground, then at the basin of water for disintegrating corpses held by Wang Defu, his voice shrill and frantic, "Evidence...yes! Evidence! I'll destroy them now! No one will know after they are destroyed! No one will know! Hahahaha!"
Like a madman, he hurled the thick stack of confidential account books in his hand towards the basin of sticky dark red corpse-dissolving water!
"laugh--!!!"
A sharp plume of white smoke instantly rose, accompanied by the stench of rapidly scorching and dissolving paper! The stack of irrefutable evidence that would have nailed him to the pillar of shame violently tumbled and melted in the viscous corpse-dissolving water, transforming into swirling foam and black slag!
Zhao Heng watched the letter quickly disappear in the corpse-dissolving water. A crazy yet delighted smile appeared on his face, as if a heavy burden had been lifted off his shoulders. "Gone... Haha... Gone! Gu Linzhi! Did you see it?! Gone! What can you use to accuse me?! A blood edict? Haha! A torn piece of paper! The royal seal? A dead object! Who can prove it's related to me?! There's no evidence! There's no evidence! Hahahaha!"
He laughed so hard that he fell backwards, looking like a madman, his dragon robe was disheveled, his crown was askew, and tears were streaming.
Gu Linzhi quietly watched his frantic performance, watching the evidence of his crimes vanish into thin air in the corpse-dissolving water. His face was devoid of anger or disappointment, only a bottomless coldness and calm. It was as if he had anticipated all this.
"Your Majesty," Gu Linzhi's voice was low, resounding clearly amidst Zhao Heng's manic laughter, like ice beads falling on a jade plate. "Do you think that this blood edict is all I have in my hands?"
Zhao Heng's laughter suddenly stopped! Like a duck with its throat strangled! He suddenly widened his eyes and looked at Gu Linzhi in disbelief.
Gu Linzhi slowly pulled out another roll of bright yellow silk from his bosom. This roll of silk was brand new, without traces of blood or gunpowder. With a flick of his wrist, the silk unfolded—and upon it was the exact same handwriting as Gu Zhong's blood edict! The exact same accusation! The exact same signature and seal! But... it was a rubbing! An incredibly clear rubbing!
"Before Zhou Shihong was executed, I had copies of the blood edict and the royal seal made overnight." Gu Linzhi's voice was calm. "The original is here. The copy... by now, it must have been sent to the Censorate for archiving, sent to the desks of the cabinet officials, and sent to... the hands of the elders of the Zongzheng Temple."
It was like the last straw that broke the camel's back!
The madness on Zhao Heng's face froze instantly, replaced by an extreme, indescribable despair and despair! His body swayed, as if all his bones had been pulled out, and he slumped back into the dragon throne. All the light in his eyes was extinguished, leaving only a dead and empty space. He looked at the brand new scroll in Gu Linzhi's hand, then at Mo Ya's cold corpse on the ground, and then at the basin of corpse water that was still emitting white smoke and swirling with the remnants of sin...
"Ho...ho...ho..." He let out a meaningless gasping sound like a broken bellows from his throat. Suddenly, he raised his hand and fiercely grabbed the bright yellow dragon robe on his body!
“Sizzle!”
His sharp nails actually tore the tough satin apart! He tore it madly, as if he wanted to tear this robe that symbolized supreme power into pieces along with his long-rotten and stinking imperial dignity!
"Fake... all fake... dragon robe... jade seal... dragon throne..." Zhao Heng's voice was hoarse and broken, mumbling nervously, his eyes unfocused. "This dragon throne... sucks blood... sharper than the Northern Di scimitar..."
He suddenly raised his head, staring at Gu Linzhi with bloodshot eyes. His eyes were full of resentment, madness, and endless sadness.
"Gu Linzhi... you won... you won for Gu Zhong... for those 100,000 wandering ghosts..." He suddenly laughed nervously, his laughter as shrill as a night owl, "But so what?! Your father is dead! Your Jingbei Army is gone! Your guards have become cold corpses! Even if you pull me down from this throne... your Gu family... will still be extinct! Extinct! Hahahahaha..."
The crazy laughter echoed wildly in the empty warm room, filled with the despair and viciousness of the dying emperor.
Gu Linzhi stood alone at the foot of the imperial steps, his dark figure towering like a solitary peak, solemn and imposing as a mountain in the morning light filtering through the palace gates. The corpse of the black crow in his arms lay icy cold, the rubbing of the bloody edict in his hands heavy. He gazed at the maddened emperor, tearing away his robes from the throne. His deep eyes held no joy of victory, no gratification of revenge, but only a deep, icy coldness, like the frozen earth of the north, and... pity.
In the shadows of the corner of the warm room, a thin figure in a bright yellow python robe was trembling with fear at the crazy laughter. He tightly grasped the corner of the clothes of an old eunuch next to him, and his clear big eyes were filled with fear and confusion - it was the young Crown Prince Zhao Yan.
Gu Linzhi's gaze slowly fell on the child. Deep in those cold and silent eyes, a faint, indescribable ripple flashed by.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
