Chapter 610 – Simply Kill Them All (2/2)
Xu Yourong was somewhat confused. Wrinkling her brow, she asked, ”What if everyone opposes you? How is it possible to kill them all?”
”Of course you can kill them all. This is a very simple task.”
The Divine Empress's voice resounded through the vast and empty palace hall.
”First kill everyone over there.”
She gazed towards the distant north as if speaking towards those snowstorms that never ceased throughout the year.
”Then you kill everyone over there.”
She gazed towards the distant west as if making a proclamation towards the boundless ocean.
”After that, kill everyone there.”
She drew back her gaze towards a certain place in the capital.
With her words, the trees lining the Divine Avenue of the Li Palace suddenly began to move without wind, countless leaves rustling to the ground.
”Finally, kill everyone over there.”
She gazed to the sky, her eyes deep as if she wanted to see through the blazing sky.
……
……
Twilight gradually retreated and darkness fell. The restaurants outside the Orthodox Academy remained closed, leaving Hundred Flowers Lane very quiet. There was only the occasional call of those peddlers, but having been warned by the Orthodoxy cavalry, they knew that the Holy Maiden and disciples of South Stream Temple were all living in the Orthodox Academy, so their calls were very controlled and not very loud.
An old man selling gardenias borrowed the cover of night to draw close to the Orthodox Academy's walls. It looked like he planned to relieve himself when he suddenly vanished.
The carriage delivering ingredients from Clear Lake Restaurant entered the Orthodox Academy through the rear gate. The unusually large amount of night snacks was carefully carried by the chefs into the kitchen to be prepared for the students of the Orthodox Academy and disciples of South Stream Temple. One of the middle-aged men that had delivered the food chatted with a chef and then disappeared in front of the gray walls outside.
Similar scenes occurred in many other places, yet nobody noticed.
In total, fourteen people infiltrated the Orthodox Academy in the darkness, all of them assassins or killers.
Other than the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets and Black Robe, in the entire continent, only the Department for Purging Officials could find so many powerful assassins and killers in such a short time.
No matter how high the cultivation levels of the South Stream Temple disciples, how powerful their swordplay, or how formidable the sword array they had laid down, they were still disciples of the Dao who quietly cultivated on their mountain peak and so were far too lacking in experience on this aspect. Moreover, there were more than ten points of entry along the Orthodox Academy's outer wall. No matter how tight the patrols of the Orthodoxy cavalry, it was impossible for them to have complete control.
Not everyone in the Orthodox Academy was unaware of these assassins infiltrating the Orthodox Academy.
When that old man selling gardenias arrived at the Orthodox Academy's perimeter wall, Zhexiu opened his eyes.
He was not in the house, but in the great banyan tree standing by the lake.
During the day, Chen Changsheng had communicated his last will and had also spoken of many other things.
Tang Thirty-Six and Su Moyu were very quiet while Xuanyuan Po had run off. Zhexiu said nothing, simply climbed up the tree, and fell asleep with the Demon Commander's Banner Sword in his embrace.
Behind him was the sword array of the South Stream Temple, and further behind that was the house. Chen Changsheng was inside.
In order to kill Chen Changsheng, they first had to get through him.
In the Proclamation of Azure Sky, he was ranked second, the sole young genius able to threaten Xu Yourong's position. It was not because of how high his cultivation level was, but because his fighting strength was incredibly formidable.
His cultivation level was not the highest in the Orthodox Academy either, but if magical artifacts and other items were not counted, even Chen Changsheng was not his match.
He had grown up in the desolate yet treacherous snowy plains, a wolf club that had lived after confronting death.
Last autumn in front of the gate of the Orthodox Academy, Chen Changsheng had used one strike to break through a Star Domain, shocking the entire crowd. At the time, he had said that there were at least five people that could perform a similar feat, to defeat a Star Condensation cultivator while being in Ethereal Opening.
The five people he spoke of were Qiushan Jun, Xu Yourong, Gou Hanshi, himself, and Zhexiu. (TN: This seems to be retconned, as the original list did not contain Zhexiu or Chen Changsheng, instead including Nanke and Xu Yourong twice under her pseudonym of Chujian.)
Zhexiu was extremely sensitive to danger. He impassively stared into the darkness of the Orthodox Academy. It didn't take too long before he discovered the tracks of at least seven assassins.
However, something very strange occurred soon after, because those assassins began collapsing one by one. Some collapsed in the weeds, some collapsed in the forest, and one assassin attempted to escape into the water, but sank down and never floated back up. Under the starlight, only a few dull patches of red could be seen in the lake.
Only then did Zhexiu realize that so many experts were actually concealed in the Orthodox Academy. Although those experts were clearly friends and not enemies, this fact still made a chill run through his body.
……
……
A carriage stood outside Hundred Flowers Lane.
The lantern light in the carriage compartment was very dusky, somewhat yellowing the white paper on the table and turning the letters on the paper somewhat blue.
The complexions of the two officials of the Department for Purging Officials grew paler and paler.
It was without question that ever since the Divine Empress came to power, the government office within the alley of the Northern Military Department was the most sinister place in the continent and had always acted the most wantonly.
But the person the Department for Purging Officials wished to kill tonight was not an ordinary person but the future Pope. Upon thinking of this fact, the two officials still felt incredibly nervous and afraid.
Of the assassins that had infiltrated the Orthodox Academy, not one had returned.
Even more frightening was that no sound had come from the Orthodox Academy. It did not seem like a battle was occurring within.
The darkness enveloping the Orthodox Academy was like an abyss, silently swallowing the lives of the Department for Purging Officials' fourteen most outstanding assassins.