Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

Within the Lingyan Pavilion, Liang Wangsun sensed the arrival of Xiao Zhang.

As experts at the top of the Proclamation of Liberation, they were both far too familiar with each other.

He knew just how crazy and terrifying Xiao Zhang was, and he could even sense that tonight, Xiao Zhang's spear strike was even more powerful than the one he had sent at Su Li in Xunyang City.

But he did not raise his head, as he was rather tired, but also because he knew that Xiao Zhang would not be able to land within the Lingyan Pavilion.

The darkness in front of the Lingyan Pavilion suddenly began to blaze. In an extremely brief amount of time, it transformed into a blazing cloud of fire.

With a rip, a tear appeared in the deep red cloud of fire.

A spear jabbed out from this tear.

This spear's exterior was very ordinary. It was pitch-black and free of any carvings, yet it gave a most terrifying aura.

Just like the hand of some devil stretching out from the abyss.

The white paper covering the descending Xiao Zhang's face was suddenly covered in a layer of metal gray and the two eyes in their holes suddenly seemed to blaze, even turn somewhat insane.

The blazing darkness was torn into pieces, the blazing red cloud dispersed into countless strands as his metal spear fiercely stabbed towards the other spear.

Boom!

A howl of pain burst from Xiao Zhang's lips, countless tears appearing in the white paper on his face. His body was sent flying like a stone in the darkness outside the Lingyan Pavilion, retreating backwards at high speeds like a stream of light until he finally crashed against the walls of the Imperial City.

Many cracks appeared on the thick walls of the Imperial City, just like the white paper on his face, and countless bits of gravel came tumbling down from the cracks in the wall.

The blazing darkness gradually calmed back down. There were no more flames, only a red light, the Red Cloud Qilin.

Xue Xingchuan sat upon the Red Cloud Qilin, gazing at the fallen Xiao Zhang at the base of the wall with an indifferent expression.

The gravel falling from the cracks in the wall fell on Xiao Zhang's body.

He used his spear to stand himself up. The gravel on his shoulder descended once more, together with the stream of blood from his mouth.

He used his somewhat trembling left arm to wipe the blood off his face. He gazed at the Lingyan Pavilion several hundred zhang away with a rather complex expression, somewhat reverential, somewhat fearful, and extremely excited.

It was no wonder that he was the second-ranked Divine General on the continent. Xue Xingchuan's strength was far too formidable, so formidable that even he was somewhat unable to endure it.

But the emotions in his eyes were not completely because of Xue Xingchuan. The majority of it came from the seemingly unremarkable spear in Xue Xingchuan's hand.

"Frost God Spear!"

Xiao Zhang stared at the spear in Xue Xingchuan and sharply cried out.

His gaze burned with incomparable fervor, his voice shaking like boiling tea.

The Frost God Spear!

Emperor Taizong's divine weapon!

Ranked first on the Tier of Legendary Weapons!

......

......

Xue Xingchuan's strength was truly too powerful, even more powerful than the rumors, so powerful as to be absurd.

The pivot of the Imperial Design lay in the Imperial Palace. The Divine Empress had Xue Xingchuan guard the Imperial Palace precisely because he had absolute confidence.

Tonight, all the experts of the Divine Domain had been drawn to the Mausoleum of Books by the Divine Empress.

Even if there were experts of the Divine Domain who used the darkness to sneak in, they would find it impossible to avoid the Imperial Palace's Heavenly Slaughter Array.

As for experts below the Divine Domain, none of them were Xue Xingchuan's match.

Xiao Zhang's miserable loss in a single blow was proof.

Let alone the fact that the Frost God Spear was now in his hands. He now even had the ability to fight with an expert of the Divine Domain.

Only if Wang Po himself came and was also holding Zhou Dufu's Halving Blade would there be even the slightest hope of victory.

But everyone knew that there was no chance of Wang Po appearing tonight. Although he had no love for the Divine Empress's cruel reign, he had an insoluble grudge of a thousand years with the Chen Imperial clan.

No one could defeat Xue Xingchuan with Frost God Spear in hand, and so no one could break the Imperial Design, and so the situation in the capital would remain from beginning to end under the Divine Empress's control.

From any angle, this was a situation that was impossible to resolve.

Xue Xingchuan dismounted from the Red Cloud Qilin and patted it on the back, indicating that it should leave.

A streak of fire illuminated the darkness as the Red Cloud Qilin left the battlefield to some place deep within the palace, to await its next summoning.

Xue Xingchuan stood at the bottom of the long steps of the Lingyan Pavilion, calmly gazing at Xiao Zhang and Xiao De, these two experts of the Proclamation of Liberation, and slowly raising the Frost God Spear in his hand.

The several thousand soldiers in the Imperial City raised their divine crossbows, preparing to release a cruel rain of arrows.

Suddenly, Xue Xingchuan's forehead suddenly creased, and his complexion subtly changed.

"My apologies." Xiao Zhang's voice penetrated through his blood-spattered white paper, seeming particularly cold and terrifying. "I am not your match, but tonight is not a competition of strength!"

Upon hearing these words, Xue Xingchuan's complexion changed once more, his eyes turning cold like an iceberg.

Xiao De placed one knee on the floor and suddenly slapped the ground. The stones on the ground were instantly shattered and sent flying into the air.

Simultaneously, he used his final magical artifact. A frenzied Qi accompanied those flying stones in all directions, raising up plumes of dust and instantly obscuring the scene.

An extremely fierce roar of madness rose out of the dust.

It was Xiao Zhang's voice.

The darkness and the dust together shrouded the Imperial City and footsteps like war drums sounded out.

Xiao Zhang began to charge, a fierce horse, ramming through the dust and stone fragments, tearing through the darkness. In the wink of an eye, he arrived in front of the Lingyan Pavilion.

With a boom, a clap of spring thunder seemed to explode from the front of his spear as it stabbed at Xue Xingchuan.

Xue Xingchuan snorted, and his true essence exploded and surged. With the shake of his wrist, the Frost God Spear came down to meet it.

There was a crisp bong like a thousand-year-old bell had been rung.

The Frost God Spear shone amidst the dust and darkness, the faint sun high in the autumn sky, exuding an aura of absolute bleakness and somberness.

At the same time, this spear seemed to contain an indescribably lofty aura and a nigh unimaginable imperial might and pressure.

Even Xiao Zhang could not avoid this spear and was directly knocked to the ground.

Several ear-grating screeches resounded from the long steps of the Lingyan Pavilion.

Xiao Zhang's two hands were placed on the head and tail of his spear, raised up horizontally towards the sky. The middle of the spear was already bent!

His two arms were already bent!

His knees bent with them!

He kneeled on the ground!

The flagstones shattered!

His knees shattered!

His wrist bones shattered!

Blood shot out of every part of Xiao Zhang's body, his lips included, momentarily forming a sphere of blood in the darkness.

What was even more horrifying was that even after suffering such severe injuries, enduring the might of the Frost God Spear, Xiao Zhang still did not completely fall.

For what reason did he hold on? He was clearly no match for Xue Xingchuan, so why had he charged towards him?

Just then, Xue Xingchuan's complexion changed once more.

This was already the third time.

His expression underwent an even larger change than the last two times. His two brows shot up as if he was particularly angry and his complexion turned extremely ugly as if rather bewildered. His eyes were somewhat disappointed as if not daring to believe. Then...a stream of blood shot out from between his lips!

This blood was green.

Just like how his eyes were also turning a faint green.

Just like how his eyebrows and hair caressed by the breeze were also turning green.

Xue Xingchuan had been poisoned, severely poisoned.

He could clearly sense tens of thousands of little knives incessantly scraping, stabbing, and cutting into his meridians.

His true essence was leaving with unimaginable speed from his body and venting out into the world.

What sort of poison was this? To be able to injure him?

In this very short time, he concluded that the poison in his body was assuredly that legendary poison, the tasteless and colorless, formless and substanceless Peacock Plume.

But was that not a method belonging to the Demon Princess? Could it be that those people opposing the Divine Empress had actually colluded with the demons?

But just when had he been poisoned?

Since Principal Shang was Daoist Ji, this divine doctor was assuredly a great poison master. On this aspect, he had always acted with great caution.

In this half-year, no matter if it was eating or cultivating, even bathing or changing clothes, he had never let anyone else do it, always acted with great prudence.

Suddenly, he remembered something and understood how he had been poisoned. He turned towards a palace hall in the darkness, his complexion changing once more, becoming somewhat painful, somewhat sad, somewhat desolate.

It turned out that the doctor's medicine had been a lethal poison.

The human heart that was the most impervious to poison.

......

......

In that quiet and dark palace hall, the Zhou Tong that had been severely injured earlier in the night lay on his bed like a corpse, his eyes open wide as he stared at the roof.

His eyes were like those of a dead fish, no luster within them. They gave a rather nauseating feeling, just like the stench rising from his mouth as he muttered to himself.

"That which is most impervious to poison is the human heart, and the human heart is human nature, and human nature is to livewhat's wrong with that?"

Zhou Tong stared at the roof, his face a deathly gray. No one would be able to hear his feeble voice say to himself, "None of us are a match for him, not even the Empress. Our family is just the two of us, we can't all die. He promised me that I would live, so...Brother...it's best if you're the one that dies."

......

......

Blood dyed Xue Xingchuan's armor green, shining with a faint luster.

The dark Imperial Palace suddenly became abnormally quiet. Countless gazes fell upon the long steps in front of the Lingyan Pavilion.

Xiao Zhang knew that the major task had been completed. He could no longer hold and painfully drew back his already-broken arms. His right leg, the only unharmed limb on his body, stepped on the fractured ground, and he left Xue Xingchuan.

Xue Xingchuan was constantly coughing, each cough bringing up a jade-green stream of blood.

The gentle breeze softly blew through the darkness and brushed against his brows and hair.

He no longer had the strength to hold the Frost God Spear, somewhat tiredly placing it down.

With a thump, the ground slightly shook as the Frost God Spear fell to the ground.

Xue Xingchuan did not fall. His hand tightened and he slowly lowered his head, then closed his eyes.

......

......

The air above the Imperial City was filled with countless cries of alarm, brimming with grief and shock.

Suddenly, two gouts of flame shot up from two watchtowers to the southwest while the Eagle Pavilion to the east suddenly collapsed. And for some reason, many treacherous crossbow bolts suddenly shot out from the darkness to stab into the bodies of their colleagues. Miserable cries constantly rang out and the entire place fell into turmoil. The Imperial Guards were thrown into disorder, no longer able to pay attention to the heavily injured Xiao Zhang and Xiao De.

When the dust settled, Xiao Zhang and Xiao De's figures had already vanished, but the chaos continued. The sounds of shouting and fighting could be heard throughout the darkness.

A tall and thin figure appeared at the west of the Imperial City, outside the Gate of Primal Respect.

The lights of the gates illuminated his appearance, handsome and cold. It was the Tang Second Master.

A deputy general of the Imperial Guard walked out of the gates and whispered to him, "Uncle."