I proved immortality through the imperial examination.

Chapter 234 The Calamity Arrives
"promise!"

The knights accepted the order.

Li Si mounted his horse, his halberd pointing forward, and shouted, "Clear the way!"

Dozens of knights simultaneously urged their spirit horses on.

Light burst forth beneath the hooves of the Pegasus as they raced through the air like a golden torrent of iron, sweeping wildly across the skies above Chang'an.

Seeing this, the other Sky Knight teams in the sky quickly made way for them.

Xue Xiang, with his flowing sleeves, followed closely behind and left the capital in style.

Inside the Prince's Mansion.

Ning Shu stood under the corridor, as if frozen in place.

She had thought that Xue Xiang would make an excuse to leave, or that he would sneak out cautiously, hide among the crowd, and then make further plans.

But to everyone's surprise, he left the capital in such a spectacular way.

The head eunuch, Li Fang, stared wide-eyed, his mouth agape for a long time. He was gazing at the rapidly shrinking streak of light on the horizon, as if in a dream, and it took him a long time to realize that his breathing was disordered.

His lips trembled, and he froze on the spot. "Princess... is this what you meant by... that he never lies?"

Ning Shu didn't move, but just quietly gazed at the sky.

Li Fang glanced at her again, unable to resist wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. "He certainly doesn't lie... but... but this is a false imperial edict... this guy must be incredibly audacious..."

The more he spoke, the more horrified he became, and the more chills ran down his spine. "False... false imperial edict... this is a crime punishable by extermination of an entire clan... since this guy dared to do such a thing, then... then he must have never intended to come back... those spirit stones of yours... he probably really swindled them away..."

Ning Shu said softly, "If the eyes of the Autumn Sorrow Guest were filled with a mere 100,000 spirit stones, he would not become the Autumn Sorrow Guest."

Even if they were tricked into giving them away, it wouldn't matter. If the Crown Prince's residence were gone, wouldn't these spirit stones ultimately benefit Prince Duan and Prince Zhao?

Li Fang's throat moved, but he couldn't speak.

…………

Two days passed in a flash.

The Crown Prince's Residence, South Garden.

Chang'an City remained under lockdown, with all residents carrying travel permits and patrols everywhere. The atmosphere inside the Crown Prince's residence grew heavier with each passing day.

To ease everyone's minds, Ning Shu actually tended to the garden in the mansion that day.

She squatted by the flower bed, gently handling a newly transplanted angelica stalk with both hands. She pressed her fingertips lightly into the soil, straightened the roots, and then covered it with a thin layer of soil.

The soil felt soft and delicate on her fingertips, allowing her to temporarily forget the turmoil raging outside the Crown Prince's residence.

The chief eunuch, Li Fang, stood a few steps behind her, his hands tucked into his sleeves, his gaze fixed on the distant sunlight.

For the past two days, the sky has been overcast.

He couldn't help himself and stepped forward, carefully speaking, "Princess, it's been two days, and Bei Qiuke still hasn't returned."

Ning Shu continued arranging the flowers without stopping. "Manager Li, is there nothing else? If not, could you go to the kitchen and see what we should have for dinner today, okay?"

Li Fang was taken aback.

Suddenly, a young eunuch stumbled and crawled in from the garden entrance, his face ashen and his forehead covered in sweat. He knelt down hastily, "Princess... urgent... urgent report!"

"Useless lackey, catch your breath and speak."

Li Fang shouted.

The young eunuch gasped for breath, his voice almost breaking, "Prince Duan...Prince Duan was attacked in his residence and is seriously injured!"

Li Fang was suddenly jolted, as if struck by lightning. His sleeves tightened instantly, and his eyes were fixed on the little eunuch who had come to report.

Ning Shujun frowned slightly.

The young eunuch wiped the sweat from his face. "...When the King of Zhao was on patrol, he was surrounded by assassins and was seriously injured!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire garden seemed to surge within the walls, and even the flower branches swayed slightly in the wind.

Li Fang gasped, lost his footing, and quickly grabbed the stone table next to him for support.

Ning Shu's furrowed brows relaxed, and she raised her hand, "Issue the order: the entire manor is on high alert, and the protective array is pulled to its limit."

Upon hearing the order, the guards on duty in the distance immediately struck their chests with talismans, and the array instantly rose from the earth's veins. Streaks of light surged from the base of the wall into the air, and dozens of layers of array light overlapped, making the entire Crown Prince's residence seem to be covered by a giant shroud.

Li Fang said urgently, "Princess, this old servant is going to risk his life to say something outrageous, but the attack on Prince Duan and Prince Zhao is a sign of the Heavenly Annihilation of the two, which is good news for us."

Why should we be on high alert instead?

Ning Shu glanced at him indifferently and sighed inwardly. It was only because of her father's attachment to the past that such a person could be kept in the mansion and promoted to the position of chief steward.

Ning Shu patiently explained, "How do we know it's not a case of the thief crying 'stop thief'? The two of them have been plotting against the Crown Prince's residence for more than just a day or two."

Now that the Crown Prince's residence is in a precarious situation, the more trouble they stir up, the more they hope to clear themselves of suspicion.

The two feigned injury, pretending to be ill and staying out of the palace. In the end, even if the Crown Prince's residence fell, the two would have an excuse.

They've already figured out how to clean up public opinion after the war, and they've all been "severely wounded." Chief Steward Li, tell me, is the real crisis still far away?

Li Fang felt as if his entire back had been soaked in ice water. He leaned against the stone table, his voice hoarse, "What, what should we do!"

"there is always a solution to a problem."

Ning Shuteng moved swiftly and entered the central courtyard.

At the sound of a drum, the courtyard was teeming with people.

Ning Shu sat upright in the center of the courtyard, with twelve array plates arranged on a wooden table in front of her.

She skillfully manipulated the secret technique, activating array plates one by one. Light surged from the center of the plates to the surroundings, forming a chain of runes that refracted to the four corners of the courtyard.

Standing in the courtyard were all the Crown Prince's officials and personal guards who were still able to defend against the enemy.

They and the Crown Prince share a fate that is intertwined; once on board, they can only go with the tide.

In the Qianqing Hall behind the central courtyard, the Crown Prince sat upright before his desk.

He wore a plain-colored scholar's robe, with a sky-blue jade pendant at his waist, and his hair was tied up very securely with a crown.

His expression was calm, his eyes were fixed on the Classic of Filial Piety, and his fingertips touched the pages as he turned them slowly and deliberately.

The Crown Prince remained completely unperturbed by the rumors circulating outside.

Ning Shu sat guarding the center of the courtyard, with several layers of light and shadow separating the two, giving the entire mansion a strange sense of tranquility.

Beneath this tranquility, a gust of wind outside the courtyard suddenly pushed open the corner of the corridor.

Li Fang strode over, his back bent low. "Princess, the women, children, the elderly, the weak, and the clerks in the manor have all been moved to the underground palace."

Having said this, he straightened his chest and said, "The rest of us, including this old servant, are ready to fight."

Ning Shu nodded gently, her worries subsiding.

Just then, a young guard rushed in from outside the corridor. He came to the front of the courtyard, knelt down, and presented a red and gold token.

Ning Shu reached out and took it.

The guard took off his helmet, looked up and said, "Princess, an urgent report from the palace: the Empress has ordered the Dragon Guard and Phoenix Guard to be dispatched, with five hundred soldiers from each battalion, who have arrived at the left and right sides of the Crown Prince's residence."

The crowd erupted in cheers, overjoyed beyond measure.

Both battalions are elite Imperial Guards; their deployment signifies the Empress's direct stance.

Li Fang couldn't help but raise his hand to wipe his forehead, his whole face as if it had been lit up. "Dragon Guard... Phoenix Guard... Princess, this is a tremendous help!"

His Adam's apple bobbed, and he couldn't help but look at the Crown Prince in the hall.

The crown prince in the hall was still turning the pages of his book, only slightly pushing the pages aside an inch, as if he hadn't heard anything.

Ning Shu breathed a sigh of relief and thought to herself, "With the Dragon Soaring and the Phoenix Soaring, even if the assassins from the Annihilation Path really come, the Crown Prince's Mansion will no longer be alone."

Just then, a bright ring of light appeared in the southwest direction of the Crown Prince's Palace's protective array. The light ring circled in the sky, like a huge halo drawn by an invisible hand.

The moment that beam of light appeared, all twelve array plates in mid-air vibrated violently at the same time.

Then, the second and third...

Five halos lit up in succession.

The five halos seemed to be embedded in the light array, growing brighter and brighter.

At the center of the halo, ancient magical runes would occasionally light up.

An elderly man in plain clothes shouted, "It's a teleportation array, no, it's an ancient teleportation array!"

He was Wei Xiang, a veteran tutor in the Crown Prince's Palace. He was over a hundred years old and had extensive knowledge. He spent his days immersed in old books, searching for and extracting passages.

When the Crown Prince's residence was in trouble, everyone in the residence advised him to leave, but he insisted that "a subject should die for his master" and that he would live and die with the Crown Prince's residence.

His insights are trusted by the people.

Ning Shu became anxious, "May I ask, sir, is there any way to interrupt this teleportation array?" When the Empress sent the Dragon Guard and Phoenix Guard, Ning Shu's anxiety subsided.

She never expected that the enemy would arrive directly on the battlefield via a teleportation array.

Wei Xiang shook his head, "This is an ancient teleportation array with extremely strong energy, capable of enabling multiple people to teleport simultaneously from multiple locations."

"Blocking them is impossible now. Quickly get the Dragon Guards and Phoenix Guards into attack mode."

Ning Shu waved her hand, and a desolate bugle call sounded.

The Dragon Guard and Phoenix Guard took off from the two flanks outside the mansion, their golden armor standing in neat rows, and their spirit horses treading on talismanic light, instantly sealing off the outer perimeter of the Crown Prince's mansion.

Heavy crossbows and talisman bows were lined up in a row, their bowstrings drawn taut, and spiritual light danced between the arrowheads. Dozens of spirit cannons roared into formation, their muzzles slowly rising to aim at the faintly vibrating halos in mid-air.

A group of hymns dressed in dark blue Confucian robes slowly stepped forward, stood between the two camps, unfolded bamboo slips, and raised their hands in greeting.

The next moment, they chanted in unison, "When I was fifteen or twenty, I seized a horse from the barbarians on foot. I shot and killed a white-browed tiger in the mountains, and I'm no match for the yellow-bearded boy from Ye..."

As soon as the poem began, a clear stream of literary energy suddenly shot up from the direction of the Confucian Temple in Chang'an, spreading out into a vast and magnificent image.

Amidst the light and shadow, armored cavalry galloped on their horses, their hooves pounding on invisible war drums, creating ripples in the air.

The young officer, wielding a long sword, with sharp eyes and brows, rode a nomadic horse across the sky. Wherever his sword pointed, the setting sun turned blood red. A white-browed tiger crouched and roared, but was cut down from the mountain peak by a single rider.

The winds and sands of the northern lands were swept up by the scholarly atmosphere, transforming into long, gray-yellow ribbons trailing behind the banners, as ten thousand cavalry pressed in with the force of a torrent...

"The Old General's Journey" is a masterpiece by Xiong Jingang.

someone exclaimed.

If Xue Xiang were here, he wouldn't be surprised.

This poem, "The Old General's Journey," was written by Wen Yuan when he transformed into the Bear Vajra to fight against Prince Duan during the chaos at sea.

Generally, only poems published for the first time have the ability to evolve imagery.

There is only one exception: if the poem is included in the Confucian Temple and allowed to be refined by the ancestral trees there, then the poem can be selected as a "war poem" and included in the military.

It is worth mentioning that the war poems in the army were ultimately second-hand, with the imagery refined by the Confucian Temple and distributed to the army.

In terms of power, it is far less powerful than when poetry first emerged, but it has the advantage of a large number of people and its power is still considerable.

The reason why the courts of various countries were not overthrown by powerful cultivators was not only because the great Confucian scholars talked about the fundamental principles of "ruler and subject, father and son," but also because the courts of various countries possessed war poems, thus possessing abundant martial virtue.

The attacks of the Dragon Guard and Phoenix Guard are ready and about to begin.

The five protective halos in the sky trembled violently at the same time, their light and shadows swirling and turning as if torn apart by an invisible hand.

In an instant, five gates of light appeared simultaneously.

The teleportation array is complete, and the gate is open.

Inside the array gate, spiritual energy surged, and runes flowed like flames as one person stepped out.

Some people were clad in armor and wielding weapons, their bodies surrounded by aura;
Some people are draped in black gauze, their shadows disappearing with their forms;
Some carried heavy bows on their backs and mirrors hanging from their chests, their aura as cold as ice.

From inside and outside the five light gates, dozens to hundreds of people emerged, each occupying a place and standing in mid-air, with ripples spreading out in the void beneath their feet.

The Dragon Guard and Phoenix Guard simultaneously converged at the front of the battle, with over a thousand men and horses moving as one, their spirited horses neighing and their armor clanging.

The talismanic bow was fully drawn, the crossbow bolts gleamed, the spirit cannons were pushed to the front, their muzzles flashing with talismanic light, and the array casters simultaneously infused them with spirit.

Immediately afterwards, the choir's chorus reached the line "He fought across three thousand miles, and his sword once faced a million soldiers," and a large number of images that had been held back in mid-air suddenly crashed down.

Almost simultaneously, the archers and spirit gunners also moved.

War drums roared, spirit cannons boomed, talisman bows fired in unison, and thousands of spiritual lights rained down. The spirit cannons blasted black holes in the void, heading straight for the five gates of light.

The intense bombardment struck the five light gates, and instantly, five-colored light converged, and dark golden threads suddenly appeared between the gates, instantly weaving into a complete light shield.

The light shield was translucent, resembling jade and water, with endless swirling patterns of light.

All attack waves were absorbed as soon as they made contact with the shield.

Space was distorted, and all the rays of light vanished without a trace, making the surface of the light shield even brighter.

The old scholar Wei Xiang stood with his head held high, his beard and hair trembling, and exclaimed in surprise, "I know, I know! This, this is the Taiyuan Reversal Array! This ancient and wondrous array not only teleports, but also has terrifying defensive capabilities."

All spells, techniques, and weapons can be absorbed and redirected. Unless attacked directly with an equally powerful ancient formation, it will never be broken!
But... but this formation has long been lost. What... what's going on?

Everyone inside the Crown Prince's residence paled, and even the commanders of the Dragon Soaring and Phoenix Falcons in mid-air were astonished.

The light shield formed by the five teleportation gates rippled heavily in the sunlight, like an inverted golden dome, neutralizing all attacks.

Ning Shu was in a state of utter confusion. She hurriedly took out twelve golden array flags, raised her hand and waved them. The array flags shot out into the air, and twelve golden rays transformed into twelve shooting stars, piercing into the earth veins of various parts of the mansion.

Ning Shu whispered a prompting.

In an instant, the ground trembled violently, and the spiritual veins within the mansion stirred. Runes rose from the cracks in the bricks, the steps, and the roof ridges, like streams of light wandering across the earth.

In an instant, the earth veins beneath the Crown Prince's residence fully awakened, and twelve golden rays surged forth from all directions, converging into a ring in the sky, within which were countless runes.

With a loud bang, as if the gates of heaven had closed, the great formation was fully formed, completely surrounding everyone in the Crown Prince's residence and the Crown Prince in the hall.

"Golden Palace Heavenly Wall Formation".

Wei Xiang was overjoyed, "This formation is as solid as a divine palace. Since the princess was able to prepare this formation in advance, we have nothing to worry about."

Ning Shu was not as optimistic as Wei Xiang and the others. No matter how strong the protective formation was, these people had come from afar and were summoned by the Dao of Annihilation. How could they not have a trump card?

When Ning Shu frowned in worry, Liu Zhiwei's handsome face was completely covered by a heavy cloak.

Her eyes, as bright as the Milky Way, peered through the gaps in her cloak at the camp on the other side of the Crown Prince's residence.

She hoped Xue Xiang would be there; after all, according to the "love poem," she hadn't seen Xue Xiang for over three hundred years.

She also hoped he wasn't there, after all, the power mobilized by the Annihilation Path this time was simply too enormous, even she herself was terrified just thinking about it.

Currently, the assassin groups that arrived through the five portals are divided into five factions.

Since it was something that couldn't be done in the light of day, everyone covered their faces as required by the employer.

Even so, she could easily determine the origins of each faction by observing the spiritual energy emanating from the people.

The area where she was located was filled with the flow of spiritual energy, like a spring, and belonged to the Cangqiu Spirit Clan.

The two camps on the left and right have very similar auras. The one on the left with the aura of the cold moon should be the Northern Moon Spirit Clan.
The light on the right is gentle as fire, belonging to the Qingyang Spirit Clan.

The two sides directly opposite each other were completely different. One side was filled with demonic energy, and blood breath mixed with fierce wind swept upwards. It must be the demon alliance active in the human world.
The other side was cold and icy, covered with evil patterns, and extremely sinister; it must be the Witch God Cult.

Of the five factions before us, Foundation Establishment cultivators have disappeared, while Nascent Soul cultivators make up at least 30%.

Several other auras, like flames in an abyss, flickered and their strength was impossible to discern. Their oppressive aura forced her gaze to retreat the instant they made contact.

Seeing that the two sides were already on the verge of killing each other, a murderous intent was about to be formed in an instant.

Suddenly, a phantom fell from the sky, solidified into a white light, and instantly stood in front of the assassin group, facing the people from the Crown Prince's residence.

The man was wearing a white robe and cloak, his entire face hidden under the hood, with only his chin showing.

As soon as the white-robed, cloaked figure appeared, Liu Zhiwei guessed that he must be the convener of various assassin groups.

The white-robed, cloaked figure stepped forward, light patterns flickering beneath his feet.

He raised his hand, his voice calm, yet it carried throughout the entire Crown Prince's residence.

“Ning Boqian, a wise man knows when to yield. Your reign is uncertain, you have been abusing your power for many years, your officials are in disarray, and the people are suffering. Today, people from all directions have come together not for personal grudges, but to stop the chaos.”

His voice boomed, “If you take your own life, you can save lives from devastation and leave behind a good reputation. Otherwise, this place will be reduced to ashes today.”

Liu Zhiwei lowered her gaze slightly.

She knew it was a ghostly voice, and the person was not actually there.

But the sheer force of that momentum was truly rare in the world.

Then the white-robed cloaked man said loudly, "Since Your Excellency ascended the throne, the court has been in disarray, factions have seized power, close attendants have abused their authority, and veteran officials have been wronged."

The people were displaced, and taxes and corvée labor were tripled;
The river transport is neglected, and disaster relief is not provided in years of famine. Furthermore, a lightning strike was launched against the Ascension Platform, using the lightning-infused sand to forge an array, bringing calamity upon the ancestral temple. Such a successor, if not eliminated, how can the people be convinced of his legitimacy?

Every word was like a hammer blow to a stone.

Looking at the illusory figure, Liu Zhiwei thought to herself, "This person is truly eloquent and adept at twisting the truth."

These words were mostly excuses, but they were used very cleverly, as if this group of assassins, gathered for profit, maintained a "righteous" facade.

In an instant, everyone looked toward the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

Over there, the soft sound of a book closing could be heard.

The crown prince slowly rose, his figure faintly illuminated by the light curtain outside the hall.

He calmly looked at the white-robed, cloaked figure and said, "You may take my life if you wish. But please do not harm the common people."

(End of this chapter)