madnovel Chapter 2912: Night in the Deep Palace
Chapter 2912: Night in the Deep Palace
Chapter 2912 Night Talks in the Palace
But before he could take five steps, three more light swishing sounds rang out as two more arrows were shot from the forest, hitting his left leg and right hand respectively.
The last arrow, in particular, pinned his right hand to a crevice in the rock, from which he could not pull it out!
Zhao Shuo's piercing screams echoed through the forest, startling countless night birds.
Zhao Huanrong's heart also clenched suddenly, and she felt an unbearable pain.
He was covered in sweat and clutched his chest with one hand.
His heart was pounding so fast, thumping so hard it felt like his temples were about to split open.
He used to have serious heart and lung problems, which improved after practicing spiritual cultivation, but he didn't expect to show weakness again at this time.
What's in the woods?
The answer was immediately revealed:
A blood-red beast emerged from the misty forest, its rider in red armor and helmet, wearing a dragon mask.
The moment she appeared, her powerful aura made Zhao Huanrong gasp for breath, and even the wind around her seemed to stop.
Zhao Shuo looked as if he had seen a ghost, pointing at her and shouting incoherently:
"Red, red, red..."
Such an image, such a face, such an aura, could only belong to the legendary Red General!
Both Zhao's uncle and nephew had heard that General Hong was among the Cangyan and Shen Kingdom armies that had won consecutive victories in the past seven days.
But she and her ruthless Great Wind Army had both passed away two hundred years ago!
Since the Nine Nether Emperor dares to use "Nine Nether" in his name, can he really bring back the god of slaughter from the underworld to the world?
There is a deep-seated blood feud between General Hong and Baling! Her mission to storm Baling's capital is to seek revenge.
The Zhao uncle and nephew escaped when the city fell. They caught a glimpse of General Hong from afar, and saw her casually nail a famous general from Baling to the wall.
Rumors are circulating throughout the capital that she enjoys torturing and killing living people, and it seems to be true!
General Hong only said two words:
"Still running?"
One of the soldiers from the Dafeng Army stepped forward, pinned Zhao Shuo down, and carefully broke his limbs.
Several sharp cracking sounds followed, accompanied by Zhao Shuo's incessant screams.
Zhao Huanrong was already covered in cold sweat and trembling like a sieve. Upon hearing these eerie sounds, she convulsed violently, her eyelids rolled back, and she fell backward.
Hu Min rushed forward two steps to check his carotid artery, then pressed on his chest and abdomen, and reported:
"His liver and gallbladder were shattered. General, he was terrified to death."
The hardships, anxieties, and fears Zhao Huanrong had endured in his entire life were less than a tenth of what he had experienced in the past seven days. He was old after all, and he couldn't bear it any longer before leaving the city. Seeing this scene before him, and knowing that his fate as the mastermind would be even worse than Zhao Shuo's, he was scared to death on the spot.
"He died a quick and easy death." General Hong smiled slightly: "He got off too easily."
The guards behind her secretly gave her a thumbs up. As expected of a general, she scared another one to death.
General Hong pointed his whip at Zhao Shuo: "Take this back with you, don't let him commit suicide."
"Yes!"
Zhao Shuo was in a state of shock, his mind blank. The word "suicide" reminded him of something. But before he could even speak, the Dafeng Army soldiers next to him dislocated his jaw.
……
As night deepened, the hustle and bustle of the palace finally subsided. After He Lingchuan took control of the capital of Baling Kingdom, everything here was handled by designated personnel. As the Emperor of the Nine Netherworlds, he only needed to issue instructions on important matters.
His injuries were far from fully healed, so he kept to himself in the army. The battle to capture Baling over the past few days had been led by General Hong. He Lingchuan was nominally the Emperor overseeing the operation, but in reality, he was quite idle, with even logistics handled by Xu Shichu and others.
It's rare for him to be on the front lines during a war and still be so relaxed.
Now, He Lingchuan stands on the terrace of the Darling Project's iconic building, watching the darkest moment of the day in the capital.
After seven days of recuperation, he has basically regained the freedom to walk and can occasionally run a few steps, but his meridians are still very fragile and cannot withstand immediate jolting.
The battle on the Earth Mother Plains had taken a heavy toll on him; when he was forced back to life, he was barely alive. Even with the help of Chaos and the remaining life force of Jialoutian, he would have to wait a while before he could regain his ability to mount a horse and take up arms.
After tonight's earth-shattering events, the entire capital of Baling Kingdom fell into an eerie silence. Despite being a city of hundreds of thousands, the city was now almost deserted, with only a few lights still burning in the residences of the wealthy and powerful.
The wind blowing into the terrace was exceptionally refreshing. This was a high platform built by the former king of Baling Kingdom for himself, and it was over a hundred years old. It was said to be used for observing the stars and getting close to nature.
However, He Lingchuan believed that this claim was nonsense. The sole purpose of the previous Baling King in building this high platform was to create a spectacle within the palace to demonstrate his national power and authority.
He knew it very well, because he himself enjoyed doing it.
Emperors, after all, like to stand on high places, pointing out the landscape and looking down on the world.
This terrace is more than 30 feet above the ground, magnificent and imposing, but the top is only about 100 square meters, resembling a Taoist temple, presumably meant to emulate the immortals' seclusion from the world and their enlightenment at the summit.
However, the King of Baling did not give up the pleasures of the human world, so he set up high beds, soft pillows, and incense-scented curtains in this Taoist temple.
In the past, Prince Baling would sit on a soft couch and be carried up to the terrace by a special person. He Lingchuan, being injured, did not want to climb the steps, so he ordered a teleportation array to be set up on the flat ground and the terrace, allowing them to travel up and down in an instant.
He was drafting an agreement by hand when rumors began to circulate outside. The Red General, wearing a dragon mask, strode quickly across the white jade steps of the corridor.
"You caught them?"
He Lingchuan looked up and smiled at her, his hand still waving.
"Yes, caught him." General Hong walked to his side, turned his back, and gently pressed down with both hands, and sat down on the table.
The two were less than an arm's length apart. He Lingchuan could even smell a faint scent of blood carried on the wind.
"You just killed someone?"
General Hong shrugged: "Yes, just before I entered the palace gates, a guy ambushed me with about thirty men."
Are there still such blind people who dare to come here to seek their own death? He Lingchuan raised an eyebrow.
"Perhaps it's because his father and brothers also died at my hands." General Hong casually crossed his right leg over his left. "Remember General Qinglu, whom I knocked off his horse with a single spear thrust three days ago? That was his father."
Her armor fit her perfectly, and with just this one movement, it accentuated the long, slender lines of her legs.
He Lingchuan noticed that even though she was half-hunched over, her waist was still very slender, so delicate that it could be grasped in one hand.
She pointed to her temple: "How's your head?"
The guy's eyes looked much clearer than when he first woke up seven or eight days ago; the confusion had faded, replaced by a lot of confidence.
"I've gradually sorted out a lot of memories." He Lingchuan put down his pen and pressed his Qingming acupoint. "The more I sort through them, the more I realize how vast my past memories are."