20. A Strange Opponent
The people fighting outside all had the same question: Where’s my sword? Why did it fly away?
And the next moment, their swords became Miss Gong’s killing intent.
With a “whoosh!,” the outer barrier was shattered by Miss Gong, and over a hundred longswords flew through Prince Kui’s body.
This was a strike Gong Yiling had made with the determination to win.
This duel was all about information disparity. Since he was unwilling to reveal his trump card, he would have to suffer the consequences of being caught off guard by Gong Yiling’s ultimate move.
And the consequences were not just bad.
Who would have thought this girl could unleash such an absurd sword technique? Completely unprepared, he was pierced through.
An ordinary person would have died on the spot from such a fatal wound.
But this Prince Kui was no ordinary person.
Although a soccer-ball-sized hole had appeared in his abdomen, he could still walk, and his speech seemed unaffected.
“I underestimated you.” Prince Kui looked at the hole in his body and sneered. “But it doesn’t matter. The troublemakers in the Eight Desolations Deer Hunt have been revealed, and now one of them has appeared.”
“What is the Eight Desolations Deer Hunt?” Gong Yiling frowned. “Explain yourself!”
However, Prince Kui certainly wouldn’t tell her everything. He just laughed a few times. “Gong Yiling, the ‘Heavenly Sin’ will remember your name. The next time we meet, it will be your death.”
As he finished speaking, before Gong Yiling could respond, his body turned into a pile of useless dirt and collapsed.
An earth puppet technique!?
Gong Yiling muttered to herself, puzzled—This secret technique belongs to my mother. Why can this guy use it too?
And what did he mean by all that nonsense about the Eight Desolations Deer Hunt and the hard-to-distinguish troublemakers?
It felt like these people were up to something strange, but she knew nothing about it.
And just then, two people rushed in from the door, one after the other. It was Gong Muzhi and Qin Huaiqiu.
“Ling’er!”
They both rushed towards their daughter. Gong Muzhi, needless to say, and Qin Huaiqiu, after sensing something was wrong, had already killed the Sword Alliance elder.
But although the man was dead, he wasn’t completely dead.
It was like… have you ever seen a dead man suddenly pick up a sword and continue fighting?
In the end, he didn’t know how many times he had killed him. Even if he cut off his hand, he could still use that severed hand to perform sword techniques.
It wasn’t until just now, when all their swords were taken away, and after more than ten seconds, that this guy finally fell apart and became a real corpse.
“I’m fine.” Gong Yiling forced a smile and casually tossed the sword to Qin Huaiqiu.
“Thanks for the sword, Dad. I think I’ve taken care of the troublemaker.”
“Troublemaker?” Gong Muzhi’s gaze fell on Baiyao Sheng.
Her memory was still stuck on this person creating a dead puppet and trying to cause a big scene.
Now, seeing him kneeling on the ground, seriously injured, Gong Muzhi thought it was her daughter’s doing. “But he’s not dead. Do you want me to give him a punch? That will surely finish him off.”
“No, no, no!” Gong Yiling quickly waved her hand. “The one I fought was someone else. He’s just a pawn in their hands. Don’t make things difficult for him, Mom.”
“A pawn?” Gong Muzhi blinked, puzzled. “Who else came in just now?”
“It’s not just a person…”
Gong Yiling’s words trailed off.
Because the power surging within her was extraordinary. The overwhelming sword intent quickly consumed all her spiritual energy, and a storm erupted within her. She collapsed to the ground.
In the end… this was even more serious than last time.
But the feeling of risking her life, was it exhilarating or not? It was definitely exhilarating.
—
—
That day, during Baili Yue’s birthday celebration, a major event that would shake the entire dynasty quietly unfolded.
Besides a few who had received favors, most of the common people didn’t know what had happened. When they woke up the next day, they were told that the heavens had changed.
About eighty percent of what happened in the palace that day was unknown. They only heard from the ministers who had narrowly escaped that the emperor had gone mad.
So, public opinion, if not controlled, was useless, no matter how much prestige one had before.
What did these ministers say outside?
Following Shangguan Long’s excellent example, they portrayed Baili Yue as a selfish madman.
He hosted a banquet in the palace to slaughter everyone and refine their essence.
But then, he encountered a few tough nuts to crack and ended up getting himself into trouble.
See? Although it had nothing to do with him, the story was well-crafted and even connected to the massacres that had happened in the past three years, blaming them all on Baili Yue wanting to cultivate demonic arts and deliberately sending people to kill.
Coincidentally, this so-called truth completely matched what they had said when they were providing relief. And since this was basically the official story, it was a done deal.
However, since the troublemaker Baili Yue could no longer be the ruler of the Baiyao Dynasty, the throne was now vacant.
As for who should take it, that was a big problem.
The other members of the Baili family didn’t have enough prestige, and to push them onto the throne at this juncture, they would have to be tired of living.
And according to the original plan, Baiyao Sheng would take Baili Yue’s place with the Star Pavilion, and also pave the way for some of the Star Pavilion’s matters.
But that was the original idea. Now that Baiyao Sheng had some connection with the “Heavenly Sin,” and had done some disgraceful things herself…
So the focus could only fall on Leng Yuli.
