It was in the west of Kunhuang Island.

Holding his Broadsword in his arms, Lu Qiange suddenly heard cheers as loud as the thunder coming from the deep underground palace. He instantly knew that they had succeeded. His lips silently quirked upward, and his purple eyes were shining bright.

Huanan Jiyan guarded at the entrance as her eyes locked on the inside of the underground palace. Now light glimmered in her eyes, but the smile frozen on her face turned dark and sad.

She suddenly thought of her Father and Mother.

Although she knew Gu Yunxi and Ninth Uncle weren't outsiders of her family, her duty as a legitimate princess made her feel frustrated as she couldn't predict that who would become the next emperor.

She really hated to see her uncle and her brother fight against each other for the throne, since she didn't want to see anyone bleed or die.

Some movement from the forest caught Lu Qiange's attention as he quickly narrowed his purple eyes, staring at the flowing light mist that ceaselessly moved.

Down on all fours, a member of Men of Sacrifice leaned his ears to the ground, listened, and said,

"Your Majesty, many people are coming."

With stone-cold features, Lu Qiange didn't say anything. Instead, he stretched out his hands and dragged Huanan Jiyan behind his back.

A red light passed by as Lu Qiange pulled the "Deer Blood Sword" out of the sheath. He and his fifty Men of Sacrifice of Udan had been well prepared for the fight.

Before long, Honour Guards in black and purple official suits with soft golden armors ceaselessly rushed out of the forest with glinting blades in their hands. Then Lu Qiange and others were quickly surrounded by the Honour Guards.

Obviously, the Honour Guards outnumbered them.

With a long sword in hand, the head general quickly glanced at Lu Qiange and the others with cold eyes, and then his lips curled into a sneer,

"I have His Majesty's oral decree for you. He said that all of the people inside or outside the underground palace should be killed at once. All the Honour Guards, go to kill them now!"

"Wait―"

Huanan Jiyan hastily swiveled to stand in front of Lu Qiange with her stone-cold face. Cocking a brow, she asked loudly,

"Yao Xiaojun, don't you recognize me?"

The burly man cocked his head to glance at her before nodding with contempt.

"Hehe, yeah, yeah. Actually, I'm busy looking for you everywhere. Never shall I imagine you'd willingly show up here."

The girl's brow instantly pressed together as her shining eyes were bloody-red out of anger. With gritted teeth, she pointed at the general,

"Back off with your men since you've recognized me. Don't you know my Father and Mother were both murdered by Huanan Xin? You are a general. How dare you help Huanan Xin and follow his order instead of helping me take down the bad guy for our dynasty?"

"Shut up―"

A trace of fear flashed in the general's eyes, and then he angrily yelled with the raised fist salute in the air to pretend to be utterly respectful,

"What the hell are you? How dare you speak the full name of His Majesty? Well, well. Fancy finding by sheer luck what you have searched for far and wide. Here are the rebels of Eastern Depot in collusion with the western tribes who are harassing our Country of Dayi. All the Honour Guards, whoever kills the most rebels will be awarded by His Majesty!"

The general shouted out loud as he ordered the Honour Guards to charge forward.

"Kill them―"

"Kill!"

"Ah, ah! Kill, ah, ah―"

Lu Qiange wielded his Deer Blood Sword and attacked enemies right in their faces.

All the Men of Sacrifice got impassioned as they all answered the call of Lu Qiange and lunged at Honour Guards as if they were crazy wild oxen.

It was on Wangxian Rise on the east shore.

"Oops. Is that Master Leng?"

"Rumour had it that he'd suffered a shipwreck and dead, hadn't he?"

"What...What's wrong with his face?"

Below the cold jade Rise of hundreds of feet, the officers gradually got back to normal from the shock. They had different reactions, such as gossiping and shocking.

Standing on the rise with his proud posture, Gu Di just silently looked at the people below with a smile.

On the ship, Huanan Xin lowered his monocular telescope and grinned devilishly, saying to himself,

"Very good, Leng Qingtang. What an ambitious man! Southern Jiang's turmoil didn't kill you. The shipwreck didn't kill you, yet you even dare to come here to die after grabbing away my woman. You've really got a damn gut!"

On the Wangxian Rise, the fake emperor got panicked as his face was ghastly white. Taking a step back, yet he raised his hand with his middle finger curled like a eunuch's finger.

"Leng, Leng Qingtang, you...you're alive!"

Gu Di's scorching eyes went bitterly cold as he sneered,

"I've fought on many fronts for Your Majesty. How could Your Majesty visit Kunhuang Island today without me?"

With stone-cold features, he swiftly rolled his eyes before staring at the panicked woman behind the emperor.

The woman's body instantly quivered and collapsed with a shriek on the fence nearby.

Wangxian Rise instantly was besieged by lots of Honour Guards. People below the rise continuously shouted,

"Hurry, hurry up and protest His Majesty!"

Immediately, Gu Di bent his back and dashed to the emperor as fast as a flash of lightning.

The next moment the sound of broken joints and bones could be heard with shrill cries. The Wangxian rise was covered with blood.

Something suddenly fell down from the rise.

The stinking smell of blood shocked the people below the rise. They were in chaos after they had another good look at it.

On the ground lay a blood-stained sleeve of the dragon robe with a half arm in it. The five bloody fingers still twitched in front of the horrified faces.

The fake emperor had fallen in the blood on the Rise.

The squeamish Lady Yun was very much scared as she held her head tightly with both hands, her mouth wide-opened without a word. It seemed like her voice was stuck in her throat, and she couldn't let it out.

All the officers were astonished. Some went to call for help, some were passed out, and the others knelt down and cried over the broken arm. People were like ants struggling and tumbling on the hot pan, which was in total chaos.

Three hundred Honour Guards had set off as they waved their weapons with roars, dashing upstairs.

There were quite a few Kungfu experts that could practice the movement of the rib-tickling jump to get to the Wangxian Rise.

The tall man in the black robe rotated a round and waved his arms, gently pushing them forward.

The strong inner power came out from his swirling hands and rushed to the evil Honour Guards, which was too powerful to defend.

All happened at the split of a moment.

The bodies of Honour Guards were taken down to the rise by a crushing power like powerless withered leaves rushed away by the pouring rain. The guards fell down to the ground one by one, tumbled, whined, and spat blood.

Gu Di swiveled to the fainted woman and crouched to take a good look at her. Then his features suddenly turned dark.

Without any hesitation, he stretched out his hands and tore down the fake face disguising her identity. He clutched at her rosy neck, tightening his clench.

The woman's neck was broken in her sleep with a creak. Her head cocked to the side as blood oozed out of the corner of her lips.

Another two hundred Honour Guards dashed down the rise to half-surround the rise in a semi-circle form, and then they drew the bows toward the target on the rise.

Rising to his feet, Gu Di put his hands behind his back in solitude as his face was full of great anger.

The sun was over his head as the golden sunshine directly reflected on his black Kungfu suit which gave off a dazzling but cold light.

"Huanan Xin, you're such a despicable man! Why did you find yourself a substitute if you aren't guilty?"

Scorching light shot out of his black eyes as he coldly cocked his brow. Then he looked at a ship on the bank, exclaiming,

"I suggest you quickly show up, or I'll expose your true identity to the public."

"Hehe. Leng Qingtang, how dare you!"

There came the beautiful music from the ship, slow and gentle, like a breeze in March.

Huanan Xin stood on the board of the ship in his dragon robe which had a swirling dragon on it with terrifying teeth and claws as if it were alive.

Besides Chen Ying, eunuch director, he still got numerous guards around him.

All the officers just didn't notice his presence until the silence ended. They got panicked and hurried to kowtow to him, hailing "Long Live Your Majesty" three times.

The two men looked at each other as they both held the grudge, new and old, layering battlefield tension in the air.

Huanan Xin dropped the sleeves of his dragon robe and snorted,

"Leng Qingtang, the previous Emperor treated your Eastern Depot well, so why do you want to betray me? How could you fake your death in the shipwreck on your way back to the Jing City and collude with the western tribes behind my back?"

Gu Di squinted his eyes with anger and spat,

"Yuck! Huanan Xin, how evil you are! You know you stole the throne with dirty tricks. And it's you who planned to murder me on the sea first out of your fear for my Eastern Depot. How could you accuse me like this?"

Huanan Xin's eyes went cold as he snarled,

"Nonsense! Now let me ask you about Yunxi. Where's my Lady Yun?"

Gu Di slightly frowned as a bit of doubt ran across his black-and-white face with both handsomeness and ugliness on it, and then his features turned indifferent,

"Tsk. Stop playing saint. You are a monarch of the country who knew that Gu Yunxi was a rank-fourth sword-bearing guard of the Eastern Depot, yet you arbitrarily locked her up in your Imperial Palace and forced her to become your concubine. Even beasts are much better than you―"

"Shut up―"

Huanan Xin was riled up. He slightly moved his lips to signal to Chen Ying.

Chen Ying shook his horsetail whisk and ordered loudly,

"Come and take them here."

A squad slowly came in.

Seeing this, Gu Di's heart stuttered.

Those were his elites who disguised themselves as the men of the Eastern Depot and the western tribes.

He had dismissed them before he brought his men to save Yunxi. Never could he think that they'd get caught by Huanan Xin's men,

"Leng Qingtang, hurry up and give Lady Yun back, or His Majesty will immediately sentence these rebels to death. You know, both colluding with the western tribes and grabbing away the concubine are unforgivable capital crimes."

On the ship across from theirs, Chen Ying, the old eunuch, screamed at the top of his lung.

Gu Di never thought someone would have stolen away Yunxi before he did. He thought that Huanan Xin was insidious enough to purposely hide her away and pretended that he didn't know it.

As cold pervaded his eyes, Gu Di laughed loudly,

"Ha, ha, Huanan Xin, what are the odds do you think you'll win?"

Before he could finish his words, cold lights flashed, and half of his guards beside the emperor all fell down to the floor.

The other half diverted their blood-dripping blades on the necks of Huanan Xin and Chen Ying.