Chapter 1662: Gradually Approaching

Ding Qingshan, one of Qingyang's Green Guards, was proficient in multiple weapons and had been originally scheduled to compete against He Lingchuan at King Yao's birthday celebration. The magical artifact he now produced was several thin silver threads. As the pillar-guarding stone beast lunged at him, he quickly formed the silver threads into a loop and flung it forward. His movement was extremely fast, and the pillar-guarding beast was snared around the neck.

This was like a wild dog caught with a rope; no matter how it struggled, it was useless. The pillar-guarding beasts were relatively small, and as long as Ding Qingshan lifted one off its feet, it couldn't attack enemies.

He used this method to capture two pillar-guarding beasts.

Another Green Guard nearby saw this, casually pulled out a heavy hammer, and went to smash the pillar-guarding beast's head.

The hammerhead emitted a black glow, showing it was clearly no ordinary item.

"Stop!" Ding Qingshan yelled, but it was too late. With two resounding crashes, the pillar-guarding beast's head was smashed to pieces.

The force was undeniably immense; ordinary palace guards couldn't even scratch the bronze hide of the pillar-guarding beasts.

However, though its head was shattered, the pillar-guarding beast did not fall immediately. The scattered stones on the ground quickly rolled back together, re-forming its head before reattaching to its body.

The re-formed pillar-guarding beast returned to the fight!

"Just as I thought!" Ding Qingshan cursed under his breath.

Not only did this thing have a bronze hide and iron bones, but it could also regenerate even after being smashed. Others who saw this felt a deep sense of despair:

How were they supposed to fight this?

How could flesh and blood beings defeat something like this? It knew no fatigue or pain; it could simply outlast you!

Qingyang suddenly pointed at a lunging pillar-guarding beast and said to the strongman, "Hit its rear!"

Even when fighting stone beasts, people were still accustomed to attacking their heads, necks, and limbs, just like attacking living creatures. However, the hips and shoulders were highly defended areas and were usually ignored.

The strongman obeyed. He dodged two attacks, found an opportunity, and delivered two powerful backhand hammer blows. Sure enough, he smashed the rear half of the pillar-guarding beast to smithereens, breaking it into seven or eight pieces.

The stones on the ground began to roll and reassemble themselves, quickly nearing full restoration.

Qingyang's gaze lingered among the shattered stones. Suddenly, she raised her wooden staff and tapped one of the stones.

Crack.

Her movement was small and appeared to have little destructive power, but the solid stone split into two. Then, Qingyang bent down and picked an olive-sized, perfectly round white pellet from inside the stone.

The moment this object was removed, the pillar-guarding beast immediately stopped moving. Even the scattered stones on the ground ceased their reassembly.

Indeed, this object was the core control center of the pillar-guarding beast. It received King Yao's commands and attacked enemies designated by him.

Qingyang squeezed it. This small white bead was quite elastic, and when held up to the light, a faint black dot could be seen within the bead.

This black dot could even move.

It was a living thing.

It looked like... an egg? Qingyang frowned. What kind of creature's egg would look like this?

Just then, torches flared in the distance, and another group of people arrived.

Tu Han and Shan Zezhong arrived, shouting as they joined the battle.

They had been blocked by Bai Tan outside the main south gate, forcing them to take a detour and enter through the west gate. The bell chiming from the city tower earlier had been rung by them.

Yao Palace was not small. They had been delayed on their way and arrived late to aid the King.

There was a major riot by displaced people in Tianshui City. The authorities were short-staffed, so King Yao had sent palace guards to assist, leaving only a thousand people in the palace. Normally, this arrangement would be fine, but unexpectedly, Qingyang and Bai Tan suddenly rebelled tonight. These thousand palace guards had been arranged by Bai Hengbo; over four hundred of them joined the rebellion, while the rest tried to rush to the King's aid but were repeatedly repelled due to their insufficient numbers.

It wasn't until Tu Han and the other man received King Yao's secret order that they led their troops to storm into the palace city, gathering scattered palace guards along the way, and finally reaching Frost Immortal Hall.

With this, the numbers on both sides became more balanced. The royalists were no longer solely reliant on Zhao Song and the Imperial Guards struggling to hold on.

King Yao was overjoyed. With Bai Tan's army outside Frost Immortal Hall also having their formation disrupted by the stone beasts, he once again sternly declared: "Throw down your weapons, kneel, and cover your heads, and I will spare your lives!"

Seeing the sudden arrival of large enemy reinforcements and the stone beasts of Frost Immortal Hall slaughtering wildly, many of the Tianshui City Patrol soldiers under Bai Tan began to waver. They had only just mustered the courage to rebel and assassinate the King, but now that the enemy grew stronger, they lost heart and secretly withdrew from the battle, kneeling down.

Sure enough, after they threw down their weapons and knelt, the stone beasts charged past them, not even glancing their way.

In just a few dozen breaths, over a hundred people knelt outside the courtyard. Bai Tan was furious. He rushed over and decapitated several of them. "All of you, get up!" he roared. "This old bastard breaks his promises. If I die, you will all be subjected to death by a thousand cuts!"

At the same time, he glanced at Qingyang, feeling a secret urgency. Why hadn't the regent yet exerted her full power?

At this moment, only his loyal troops remained fighting stubbornly, along with the temple soldiers lent to him by the Divine Temple.

These temple soldiers were not supposed to possess elemental power, but a few days prior, Bai Tan had secretly registered them as part of the Tianshui City Patrol. At that time, he was the Minister of Punishments, and the Tianshui City Patrol fell under his jurisdiction, so his approval was valid.

This move proved to be a brilliant one, for in the end, only these temple soldiers remained the most steadfast.

Seeing the situation turn, King Yao finally felt relieved. He pointed at Bai Tan and sneered, "I gave your entire family high office, generous stipends, and endless wealth. Yet you are still not satisfied? You even conspire with this old hag to rebel? How can there be such an ungrateful, treacherous wretch like you in this world?"

Learning that Qingyang's accomplice in the rebellion was Bai Tan, King Yao was utterly perplexed. For the past two hundred years, the Yao Kingdom had treated the Bai family quite well. What exactly did this scoundrel hope to gain from his treachery?

Bai Tan swung his blade, parrying a pillar-guarding beast, and said sternly: "The Yao Kingdom is riddled with corrupt officials, rampant greed, and declining national power. It would be one thing if you simply turned a blind eye, but you brazenly extort bribes from your subjects and pilfer from the national treasury to fill your own coffers, enriching yourself at the expense of the state!"

He scoffed, "The people are full of grievances. You are deaf and blind, deluding yourself that it is still a prosperous era. You are utterly unaware that the Yao Kingdom is in decline, and now, even the ragtag allied forces can't be suppressed! A person like you, who is overly ambitious, insatiably greedy, yet incompetent and useless, will only bring disaster to the Yao Kingdom for every day you remain on the throne! My pulling you down is for the benefit of the Yao Kingdom's people!"

King Yao spat on the ground and said malevolently, "Kill him! Let him watch himself be torn to pieces!"

With a gesture, nearly half of the stone beasts went to attack Bai Tan, more than those besieging Qingyang.

Traitors are always the most hated.

Although Qingyang had found the weakness of the stone beasts, not everyone could smash their tough bodies and then find the white egg within the stones in the dim light. Therefore, Bai Tan's elite troops were struggling greatly, overwhelmed by the stone beasts' assault.

All their previous training had been for fighting living creatures, not for dealing with such unkillable monsters.

Qingyang finally raised her staff. "I'll lend you a hand," she said.

She blew gently on her wooden staff, and the leaves on it floated up, adhering to the various stone beasts as if guided.