Chapter 782: Chapter 488: One Person, One Sword, Routing a Thousand Troops
"We humbly welcome Your Majesty back to the palace!"
Zhao Douan’s shout resonated with inner Qi from his chest, creating an overwhelming sound.
Immediately, it rolled from the South City Gate towards the two armies battling at the Meridian Gate Square.
At this moment, the vast square was filled with the interplay of light and shadow from weapons, the incessant sounds of shouting and clashing weapons.
The rebel armies of the Imperial Guard and Thousand Cows Guard had formed an alliance, creating a semicircle to protect the Court Meeting hall.
Other imperial guards rushing over upon hearing the news were attempting to charge at the semicircle. However, the abrupt outbreak of this coup left many guard leaders unclear about the situation upon their arrival, rendering them hesitant to act decisively.
Additionally, in the chaos, organizing an effective resistance was challenging. Though soldiers uninvolved in the rebellion vastly outnumbered the rebels, they faltered before the copper wall and iron bastion of rebels, unable to breakthrough.
At the frontline where both sides clashed, many corpses already lay on the ground.
At this stalemate, a shout from behind interrupted the battle.
Soldiers on both sides instinctively froze, adopting defensive postures, and looked toward the source of the sound.
The leader of the first-arriving Yulin Guard abruptly turned, his tall stature enabling him to see the Sovereign and minister walking from the city gate over the heads of the soldiers.
"Boom—"
It was as if a thunderbolt exploded in the Yulin Guard leader’s head. His eyes widened, nearly dropping the blood-stained longsword in his hand. Thinking he was hallucinating, he vigorously rubbed his eyes and focused again.
No mistake!
The two walking side by side, wasn’t it Your Majesty and Junior Guardian Zhao?!
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty has returned to the palace..."
Despite countless questions swirling in his mind, the tall, silver-armored, silver-helmed leader murmured excitedly before shouting, raising his longsword high:
"We humbly welcome Your Majesty back to the palace!!"
In another direction, the Hu Ben Guard commander, who had just arrived with a team of imperial guards at the Meridian Gate, suddenly tightened the reins on horseback. Startled, he stared at the distant female emperor and the red-robed official walking with a sword, both clad in dragon robes.
He was dumbfounded for several breaths, unexpectedly dismounting and kneeling with one knee on the ground, shouting in a deep voice:
"We humbly welcome Your Majesty back to the palace!"
Their examples signal like a cue, prompting the outermost imperial guards around the rebel army to turn around instantly. They knelt en masse, shouting in unison:
"We humbly welcome Your Majesty back to the palace!"
Zhao Douan, walking beside the Empress, watched with awe as thousands of imperial guards knelt in unison ahead, stepping back to both sides.
Like a sea parted, a path was made for the Sovereign and minister leading to the great hall.
How magnificent was this scene?
How astonishing?
Meanwhile, the rebels standing side by side, forming a copper wall, facing the Meridian Gate, seemed frozen, suddenly losing the will to fight.
Countless faces were filled with shock, doubt, and fear... as if unwilling to believe the scene before them.
Li Yinglong stood among the rebels, also armored, sword in hand, overseeing from horseback.
When Zhao Douan and the Empress appeared out of nowhere, and the chants of welcoming reverberated, Li Yinglong’s face turned pale as if struck by lightning, staring incredulously at the recognizable Sovereign and minister.
"No... it’s false... it must be false..."
A chill surged up Li Yinglong’s spine, almost cracking open his skull.
His eyes filled with extreme fear, unease, and confusion, which quickly turned into an almost frenzied shout:
"It’s fake! What are you dazing for? Shoot! Zhao Douan cannot appear in the Capital! It must be a false impostor!"
He dared not even mention Xu Zhenguan’s name!
The Young Master’s shouting had some effect, the rebels, momentarily stunned, regained some spirit.
Of course, at this moment, the Empress was still fleeing in the south, unlikely to appear here.
Even taking a thousand steps back, if the two in front were real, they had no retreat.
"There are only two impostors, what do we have to fear with our thousands?" Overwhelmed with stakes on fate and family, the Imperial Guard commander roared fiercely, slashing with his sword.
The Thousand Cows Guard leader snapped back with a start, a ferocity surged beneath his eyes:
"Shoot! Kill the impostors!"
By now, they no longer cared if the Sovereign and minister before them were real or impostors. Even if they were real, confirmed intelligence stated the Empress was severely injured.
Together with Zhao Douan, at best they equaled a worldly martial artist, facing thousands of elite imperial guards equipped with magic artifacts, armor, and weapons, without any chance of victory.
"Li Yinglong, I’m surprised you still remember me,"
Zhao Douan smiled, though standing on the ground, looked up at the horseback Young Master as if looking down:
"I considered the bigger picture and spared you once, not expecting you and your Li family to remain stubbornly incapable of change. In that case, today I’ll send you on your way."
As those words fell, a deep, shrill whistle echoed in everyone’s ears, and the rebels glimpsed a dark golden thin line slicing through a ten-zhang distance.
A thin red line appeared on Li Yinglong’s neck, blood seeping out little by little.
He was stunned, seemingly unaware, reaching to cover his neck but realizing hot blood flowed uncontrollably, spattering through his fingers.
"Gurgle gurgle..."
The former number one playboy of the Capital, the embodiment of "Li Party" leadership, had fought Zhao Douan several times, only to be utterly defeated as the "Young Master" of the inner circle, watched death’s stillness emerge in his eyes, and his body fell from the warhorse.
His helmet clattered to the ground, the soft face showing eyes where the last ember extinguished, still containing traces of unwillingness before death.