Chapter 1661: Support Has Arrived

Dismiss the notion that "if you don't go, you're insincere"; such talk only deceives the devout. King Yao, as the ruler of a nation, understood very well that dealing with gods was like conducting business: ultimately, it depended on who needed whom more.

If the gods needed him, a slight delay or neglect on his part would not be a major issue.

Ever since He Xiao killed the Red Lodge master, King Yao had holed himself up in the Frost Immortal Palace, eating and sleeping there, refusing to leave even an inch. Even if the Fourth Prince needed to go to the temple for treatment, King Yao would not accompany him. He had so many ministers and palace attendants; why wouldn't he make good use of them? He wasn't a benevolent commoner father with no one to delegate to, forced to do it himself.

At the time, Bai Tan was disheartened and still somewhat unconvinced, but Qingyang and Chief Steward Liang both objected, stating that if the plan failed, it would first alert King Yao.

Therefore, they chose the current compromise.

As expected, King Yao was stunned as soon as he heard it was "divine magic."

Divine magic meant even imperial physicians couldn't help.

True to his nature as a seasoned ruler who had held the throne for decades, even amidst his surging anger, he managed to turn and instruct You Rongzhi: "Send him to the temple for treatment, and make it quick!"

You Rongzhi complied, ordering two palace guards to carry the Fourth Prince.

Prince Rui's legs were already unable to move, so he could only let them handle him.

Qingyang gave a slight sneer, thinking, "Just as expected."

Just then, urgent bell tolls suddenly rang from the west: three long, two short, repeated three times.

Not only did King Yao's expression change at the sound, but the imperial guards, initially confused, then became greatly alarmed.

In their entire lives, they had never heard such a bell.

The reason was simple: these bells hung in the palace gate towers, and their ringing signified an invasion of the palace city by external enemies!

In this very moment, it meant Bai Tan's army had breached the west gate of the palace city.

How... how could this be possible?

The defensive capabilities and complex magic formations of the Yao Kingdom's palace city far surpassed those of any other Flashgold nation. One former King Yao had even proudly declared that even if Lingxu City had walls, it could never match the Yao Kingdom's palace city in combining both beauty and practicality.

King Yao was even more perplexed.

It was clear that Xu Yankun, Bai Hengbo's planted subordinate, guarded the South Gate, and Bai Tan should have attacked from there. Why then did the bells from the West Gate ring?

As if in response to the bell tolls, shouts suddenly erupted nearby. Torches, initially like scattered sparks, converged into a terrifying sea of fire!

This sea of fire was rushing towards them.

The sheer scale of it made King Yao's face turn pale and sweat bead on his forehead.

Few guards had been left in the palace that night. This large contingent of troops was rampaging through, and he even saw them slaughtering guards along the way—so they were definitely not there to protect the King!

Zhao Song's troops were still blocking the entrance to the Frost Immortal Palace. As soon as this new force arrived, they immediately clashed with them.

Outnumbered, the situation looked grim.

Zhao Song bellowed, "Bai Tan has rebelled! Bai Tan has rebelled! Those who join his rebellion will have their entire clans exterminated!"

Bai Tan's voice, as expected, rang out from among his troops: "Zhao Song, it seems you, too, have been bewitched by He Xiao's demonic words, secretly instigated, and intend to harm the King!"

He wanted to set up a convenient scapegoat, and He Xiao was perfect for the role—he wasn't present anyway, and his reputation was high.

Many palace guards knew that Zhao Song had been by He Xiao's side almost constantly for the past few months. Everyone in Tianshui City knew that He Xiao was truly a capable man who succeeded in everything he undertook. If he harbored malicious intentions, brainwashing Zhao Song and inciting him to rebel would be child's play, wouldn't it?

Thus, the crowd instead showed expressions of realization.

"So that's what happened! It was He Xiao!"

"Good! Let's continue fighting these treacherous turncoats!"

Seeing this, King Yao's beard trembled with rage.

"This is preposterous! Qiu..." He instinctively reached for Qiu Long to get the amplification stone, only to remember midway through his words that his loyal servant was dead.

In his urgency, he had no choice but to demand it from other palace attendants, but no one else carried as many tools as Qiu Long did.

"Why aren't you looking for it?"

Several palace attendants scurried into the hall, rummaging through everything until they finally found one under a desk and rushed to present it.

King Yao was not a cultivator, so he couldn't use his primal energy to project his voice. Only by wearing the amplification stone on his chest could his voice resonate throughout the area around the main hall.

However, during the interval while the palace attendants searched for the amplification stone, the Green Guards inside the Frost Immortal Palace and Bai Hengbo's subordinates suddenly launched an attack, cooperating with Bai Tan from inside and out, besieging Zhao Song's two to three hundred men.

Caught in a pincer movement, it became very difficult for Zhao Song to continue blocking the entrance.

Seeing this, Du Yingdong, the Imperial Guard Commander guarding King Yao, immediately dispatched over a hundred imperial guards from behind the hall to rush forward and assist Zhao Song.

These several groups of troops were now mixed in a chaotic battle, making it impossible to tell how many layers of entanglement there were.

A dozen or so of Bai Hengbo's original subordinates couldn't withstand the pressure and directly surrendered, withdrawing from the battlefield. However, the two lieutenants remained clear-headed, knowing that if they lost, their side would have no chance of survival, and thus fought even more bravely than before.

It was now clear that Qingyang's subordinates were truly formidable. Despite being outnumbered, they held their ground against the imperial guards without showing fear, even gaining a subtle advantage after a few exchanges.

After just two exchanges, palace guards around Zhao Song began falling one after another. He was both shocked and enraged. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that several unfamiliar faces among Bai Tan's army were particularly powerful. They didn't charge forward like ordinary guards but instead delivered cunning auxiliary attacks from the flanks.

On closer inspection, none of them had the glow of primal energy about them.

"These aren't palace guards!" Zhao Song suddenly understood and yelled, "Gather! Gather! There are Beijia people among Bai Tan's forces attacking us!" What exasperated him most was that the opposing City Patrol Army also possessed primal energy; they were, after all, Tianshui City's regular forces.

Qingyang's personal guard numbered over a hundred, but she had only brought a dozen into the palace. The rest had been hidden among Bai Tan's troops and now surged out to fight. These were highly skilled individuals, one in a thousand in Beijia, and even without primal energy, dealing with the Yao Kingdom's palace guards in the dark and chaos was no challenge for them.

When the skill gap was significant, primal energy could only reduce it, not eliminate it entirely.

The battle in the Frost Immortal Palace courtyard revolved almost entirely around Qingyang, yet she strolled through the center of the conflict with casual ease. Occasionally, one or two imperial guards managed to get close to her, only to be effortlessly knocked down.

"If this fight continues, you will lose," she said, looking up at King Yao. "If you have any last tricks up your sleeve, reveal them quickly."

She had long noticed that King Yao's left hand remained tucked within his sleeve; even when the Fourth Prince underwent his strange transformation, he didn't reach out with his left hand to assist.

King Yao, his face ashen, revealed his left hand. In its palm lay a bronze sphere the size of a goose egg, its surface intricately engraved with complex patterns.

Ever since his son was ambushed, he had activated the Frost Immortal Palace's next layer of defenses, but this required some time.

He held the bronze sphere between both palms, rubbed it quickly a few times, and bellowed, "Rise!"

A cold, white light immediately emanated from within the bronze sphere. The bronze plates on its surface floated up into the air, the indentations deepened, and the sphere itself grew, becoming as large as an ostrich egg.

At the same time, the evil-suppressing stone sculptures of the Frost Immortal Palace stirred, and white light glowed from their eyes.

The Yao Royal Palace and its residences were fond of placing apotropaic stone sculptures, and their positioning followed specific principles.

Outside the Frost Immortal Palace courtyard gate were two pairs of stone lions, two large and two small. The large ones stood over ten feet tall, while the small ones were five feet, all featuring bulging eyes, gaping mouths, and sharp teeth, exuding ferocity.

Behind the spirit screen wall was another pair of stone lions, only slightly smaller than the large ones outside the courtyard.

Outside the main hall, rear hall, and side halls of the Frost Immortal Palace, there was also a pair of stone sculptures each, slender and resembling winged tigers or leopards. Each pair varied in size and expression, displaying exquisite craftsmanship.

Furthermore, along the exterior of the long corridors, every two pillars featured a pair of stone beasts sculpted flush against them, reaching only to an adult's thigh. These were called 'Pillar Stabilizing Beasts,' providing support and stability to the columns and the overlying structure, a unique architectural feature of the Yao Kingdom.

The number of these stone beasts was considerable, thirty-three in total!

A strange light emanated from the eyes of these stone sculptures, and then they twitched like living creatures, shifting their stances!

They all faced King Yao, heads held high and chests puffed out, as if awaiting commands.

King Yao pointed at Qingyang, then at Bai Tan and his guards outside the courtyard, and commanded in a deep voice, "Go!"

These stone sculptures, transformed into monsters, roared and lunged towards their designated targets.

At this moment, the palace attendants finally found the amplification stone and rushed out to present it to King Yao. The King fastened it to his chest, took a deep breath, and bellowed, "Bai Tan and Qingyang are conspiring to rebel and cause chaos! People of Yao, do not be deceived any longer! Anyone who brings me the heads of these two shall be rewarded with a thousand taels of gold and bestowed with vermilion gates and a golden lintel!"

In Tianshui City, only first-rank dignitaries were allowed to paint their main gates vermilion. According to Yao Kingdom custom, anyone who performed a great deed and received a major reward would be personally granted a golden lintel by King Yao, which could be hung above their own gate for up to three months as a sign of great honor.

Thus, "vermilion gates and a golden lintel" signified immense merit and wealth; killing these two would ensure the prosperity of one's entire family for generations.

Amplified by the stone, King Yao's voice finally resounded throughout the entire area.

The Frost Immortal Palace was vast, measuring thirty-three zhang from the hall entrance to the courtyard gate. The dim light of dusk meant most soldiers weren't precisely aware of what was happening inside, only that fighting had erupted both within and without.

King Yao thought the soldiers outside the hall might see the error of their ways. After all, eight out of ten common soldiers who participated in a rebellion were confusedly led astray, either confusedly winning or confusedly losing their heads.

Indeed, a portion of the City Patrol guards among the army that followed Bai Tan became confused once more:

"General Bai has truly rebelled?"

"But this time, the King himself confirmed it; there shouldn't be any mistake, right?"

"But just now, the Goddess Fenghuo manifested and clearly praised Bai Tan for following the will of heaven!"

With the gods and the King at odds, whose orders should they follow?

When they entered the palace, this force still contained many palace guards. Bai Tan used them to break through the palace gates, then dispatched them to other palace halls or city gates. Now, the majority of his troops were trusted confidants and temple soldiers, but a portion of the City Patrol Army remained mixed in, a presence that couldn't be eliminated.

In that moment of hesitation, the stone beast sculptures arrived.

They were cold-blooded and ruthless, aiming for the kill upon seeing an enemy. Impervious to blades and spears, they made no concessions.

The weapons of the City Patrol Army only sparked upon striking them. The harder they were struck, the more joyfully they harmed people, as they felt no pain anyway.

Especially the two large stone lions, they seemed to enjoy ripping off living people's heads and swinging them around. After they moved through the crowd twice, four or five rolling heads appeared on the ground.

Even more terrifying, these stone beast sculptures themselves possessed primal energy!

They were inherently part of the Frost Immortal Palace and the palace city, virtually sharing the palace city's defensive capabilities.