"Xiulan! Watch out!" A white shadow shows up in the skies and throws a flame on the enemy that's about to attack the first princess.
Bull's eye! The flame hits on the opponent's forehead.
Princess Yin Xiulan is occupied with dealing with these bloodthirsty creatures. Yes, another wave of these monsters is causing havoc inside the imperial palace. The innocent people who turned into these hideous creatures? The palace servants.
She turns her head to the direction where the flame came from and saw his other twin, the previous emperor. "Renshu... why are you here?!"
Even though he's wearing white robes underneath the white cloak that conceals his face, she could tell that it really is Yin Renshu. His built, the fire element of his spiritual root, and even his voice that is very much similar to Emperor Yin Wenyan.
"Wrong. You should tell me 'thank you'." Yin Renshu landed on the ground near his sister. It was a smooth landing, he almost looks like a martial god descending from the heavens.
The princess completely disregard his comment and changed the course of their conversation. "Where's Wenyan?"
Hearing the name of their brother, Yin Renshu can't help but make a face. No one can really blame him, not even Princess Yin Xiulan. He's still feeling bitter about his brother marrying Xu Zhengming. "I don't know! Maybe he's dealing with the empress dowager? Apparently, she's involved in this mess."
"I knew it. There's no way she's innocent!" Princess Yin Xiulan sways her fan which created a strong blow of wind, making the enemies fly several meters away.
While they are speaking, their hands are also busy defending themselves. They are still hesitant to fight against them knowing that these bloodthirsty creatures are actually live people who just went berserk.
As Yin Renshu charges fire to the opponents, he can't help but get worried about Xu Zhengming. Did he get berserk too just like these servants? What if they accidentally injure him? Or what if these bloodthirsty creatures injure him?
He looks around, searching for that beau but he's nowhere to be found. "Xiulan, where's Xu Zhengming?"
Princess Yin Xiulan made a hand seal, ready to cast an incantation. "He's with the empress. They're at the Empress Dowager's Hall." She then released the spell, pushing them into one corner where Zhao Yangguang is confining the berserkers within a huge barrier made of his own spiritual energy.
"Oh, you found her?" Yin Renshu, the husband, asked casually like it's no big deal. No one can blame him for this one also. He's forced to marry Xue Chi and make her the Empress.
The princess levitated herself from the ground to widen her range. With just a sweep of her fan, multiple enemies are sent flying towards the barrier. "Yes but I suspect that she's the one who made these servants go berserk."
"What do you mean?" Yin Renshu intentionally made his voice louder to cope up with their distance. He thought the empress is on their side?
Princess Yin Xiulan literally looks down on him to meet his gaze. "She's forming an array in empress dowager's hall. It's a strange one, and I have a bad feeling about it. I think it has something to do with dark arts."
"I see. So she's with her."
This is what the array that the empress is activating for. The talisman that they created using the empress' blood to write the characters on it made this chaos possible. That talisman is the key to activating the bigger formation that the empress dowager prepared herself. The mentioned formation is so huge that the entire imperial palace is within its circumference.
This enables the poison they got through their consumed food to worsen its effect. Of course, the imperial chef doesn't have the idea that the food they serve to everyone contains strange substances. This is the reason why a lot of servants have been visiting the imperial infirmary, complaining of their sore throat and other symptoms.
Good thing, the Prince Yin Wenyan cooks for himself and Xu Zhengming back then so he didn't get to eat the poisoned food. Princess Yin Xiulan also has a similar case. The late Lieutenant General Liu always prepared their food personally so she unintentionally avoided the poison. As for Emperor Yin Renshu, he became very cautious of his food ever since he learned that Xu Zhengming got a fever because he ate the food prepared for his majesty. And so, he had Court Lady Han cook for him every meal.
The moment that the darkness dominated the skies, the ground starts to get illuminated with a faint glow of red light, creating a strange emblem on it. This is when all the servants, also the imperial soldiers of the imperial palace start to act strange.
At first, they felt unbearable thirst. No matter how much water they drink, they're not satisfied. Then their pair of canine teeth began to grow longer than usual as their fingernails also start to grow abnormally. This process of transformation is pretty much similar to what happened to Xu Zhengming when he has first gone berserk. And the next things that happened are quite predictable.
Meanwhile, the Union Hall looks like a deserted area. The guests have long gone fled their way out. Some successfully found a place to hide but the majority is just unfortunate. A lot of them got bitten and they only have two possible results. It's either they died out of blood loss or turned into bloodthirsty monsters as well.
The only ones that remained there are the emperor who tries to defend himself and at the same time trying not to hurt the one that's attacking him; the attacker which is Court Lady Han; and the empress dowager who's having a good time watching the show in front of her.
"Your majesty, you're not going anywhere." The empress dowager took a sip of the wine in her hand. She currently sits on a chair as if she's just doing her pastime. In fact, the looks on her face say that she's a little bored now. "You know you can easily get rid of her but you let yourself waste your strength and energy on her. Just a tip, kill her."
"You... you're a wicked woman!" Emperor Yin Wenyan gritted his teeth. It's been quite some time now since Court Lady Han tries to scratch him using her long and sharp fingernails, and perhaps bite his neck and drain his blood.
Because of the resentful energy around them, as well as the effects of the poison, the old court lady is a lot stronger than she's supposed to be. Since the emperor can't fight back... or rather he chose not to fight back, he could only use his blade to block the attacks that Court Lady Han is charging unto him.
The empress dowager just laughs softly just like what she always does. "I'll take that as a compliment." Being called wicked seems to please her even more. Who knows what's going on in her mind?
Court Lady Han swings her sharp nails until his majesty got stumbled on a table's foot, which causes him to fall flat on the wooden floor. That was careless of him. Perhaps it's because he's too cautious not to hurt this old woman, or maybe because he's thinking a lot of things at the moment. Whatever it is, this leads to the greater advantage of Court Lady Han. She leans and was about to scratch his face. Fortunately, the emperor reacted fast and blocked the attack in time with his sword.
She then grabs his majesty's blade using her claws. Her unusual strength matched with Emperor Yin Wenyan's which made his majesty have a hard time grabbing it back.
While he's struggling, he heard a familiar voice. It's a little low so he can barely hear it. However, he's sure it's quite familiar to him. Of course, he knows this voice. That voice belongs to the woman who took care of him and his brother when they got back into the imperial palace.
"Your... majesty..." Court Lady Han managed to utter some human words. "Kill... kill me... please."
"Court Lady Han... Court Lady Han!" He yells on her face. She actually still has a little consciousness left. This gave his majesty a spark of hope. She can still be saved! "Hang on! Fight it!"
"I can't hold... myself for... long. Kill... me... your majesty." Pain is evident in her voice.
Her agony is clearly expressed in every word she speaks. Tears start to flow from her eyes. She wants to take good care of his majesty, not cause him harm. All she ever wanted was to serve him until she can't do so anymore. Protect him like a mother dog protecting its pup. This is the very reason why she hated Xu Zhengming, and just seeing him makes her blood boil. However, her body is doing the exact opposite and this tormented her heart.
"I... don't want... to hurt... you."
"Court Lady Han!" All of a sudden, his majesty froze.
Blood flows out from her chest and runs through his sword. Court Lady Han pierced her heart with Emperor Yin Wenyan's blade, severing her remaining life. She chose to die than to go against his majesty.
The scene made the empress dowager laugh so hard that it echoes in the entirety of the Union Hall. She even claps her hand as if she's truly pleased with what she just witnessed. "That was quite entertaining."
Her annoying laugh made Emperor Yin Wenyan lose his composure. He yells at the top of his lungs, making his voice become hoarse. "Do you think people's lives are yours to play with?! May your soul rot in hell!"
The empress dowager sips on her cup of wine with poise before putting it to the nearby table. She slowly walks closer to the emperor who's currently holding Court Lady Han's body. "That's fine too. I could only hope that your curse will happen to me. I want my soul to rot in hell so that I won't be able to go through the wheel of reincarnation anymore. I don't want to live in this cruel world anymore!"
His majesty's pair of phoenix eyes narrow, and his sword-like eyebrows almost met in the middle. "You're crazy."
"Guess what? You're right." Still looking pleased and satisfied, she smiles at Emperor Yin Wenyan. "Are you angry because your court lady died or is it because I ruined your wedding ceremony? Who's your bride anyway? How come you didn't introduce her to us? That's rude, your majesty." She chuckles as if ruining a wedding is just some kind of a prank.
Then the empress dowager snaps her fingers. "Right, where is she? It would be perfect if you die with her."
Actually, the empress dowager does not intend to destroy this new chapter of his majesty's life by carrying out her plans on the night of his wedding. It's just purely coincidental. The emperor wanted their wedding to be held on the full moon because being married under a full moon signifies that the relationship will be blessed with balance, equality, and unity. Meanwhile, the empress dowager thinks that the full moon will influence the flow of the spiritual energy.
Enraged, the emperor rises on his feet and charges towards the empress dowager. He would not allow anyone to harm Xu Zhengming. No one is allowed to do so as long as his majesty lives.
Just as his blade was about to pierce her highness' chest, a shadow enters his majesty's scope of vision and so, he changed his tactics into a defensive one.
A stinging sound of metal that got collided with something sharp echoes in the Union Hall. It's his majesty's sword that was a strike against the pointed sharp nails of Ye Feng, the deceased eunuch. The empress dowager summoned him beforehand and came to shield her when it sensed that she's in danger. Something he'd most probably do if he's still alive.
"So, you're the one who controls him?" He can't forget how fierce this corpse is. He clearly remembers how aggressive it is when it matched Xu Zhengming. They're both agile, and a low-level cultivator would not be able to defeat him. The last time, he could even barely keep up with this creature.
His majesty's grip on the hilt of his sword tightens. He badly wants to cut that corpse into several pieces with his sharp blade. "You actually dared to harm Xu Zhengming?"
Hearing a name that doesn't ring a bell on her, the empress dowager put a puzzled expression on her face. "Xu Zhengming? Who's that?"
Xu Zhengming... Xu Zhengming... she's wondering if she heard this name before. Judging from his majesty's looks, she thinks that this person is someone important to him. Xu... Xu... was it his personal eunuch? Is his eunuch called Eunuch Xu? That seems to be the case.
Now that she thinks about it. Perhaps it's really him. The emperor's personal eunuch can turn into a bloodthirsty creature too. He can even match Eunuch Ye in combat. But then again, she isn't so sure about it, and not that it matters to her now. Even if he managed to summon him and fight for his side, there's not much he can do. They're outnumbered.
"Whoever this person you talk about is, you're wrong. I only intended to kill you three. But don't hate me for that. That's the grand empress dowager's orders."
"The one you're doing now, is it her orders too?" The emperor asked without averting his eyes away from this vicious beast that's in front of him. While he's guarding himself, he thinks of a way on how to deal with Eunuch Ye.
The empress dowager thinks for a while. She's hesitating whether she'll tell him about it or not. But in the end, she decided to give an obvious hint. "Partly yes, partly no."
But come to think of it. Would it even matter if he'll know everything or not? She already made her move and the opponent is on checkmate. There's no way they can get away this time.
Now that the grand empress dowager is mentioned, she wonders if her body starts to get rotten by now? Are there maggots eating her flesh at this moment? Just the thought of it makes her grin. Actually, the empress dowager personally thinks that she deserves a heavier punishment than that.
And then the empress dowager noticed that the night is getting deeper, and she has to do something one last time.
"Your majesty, I'm afraid I have some things to deal with. But don't worry, Eunuch Ye will entertain you as much as you want." She smiles sweetly at the emperor and even waved her hand before turning her back on him. "Well then, please excuse me."
Emperor Yin Wenyan tried to come after her but Eunuch Ye gets on his way, violently swaying his sharp nails on him. His majesty hates how he can't get a hold of her and give her the sentence she deserves. In the end, he could only yell in an angered tone. "Empress Dowager!"