Fu Xiang chased after Shen Yiren right after she leapt over to the ring. She had released just eight people when Fu Xiang blasted a gust of wind from his palm strike toward her that forced her to evade. However, four warriors who she had just released were murdered by Fu Xiang's brutal palm strike that was like lightning strike. Shen Yiren went to save them but Fu Xiang moved and then unleashed a string of palm strikes consecutively, killing another four.
Fu Xiang laughed: "You mocked me for not going all the way and lacking guts, but look at you."
He struck again three times consecutively while laughing. They fought one-on-one, but Shen Yiren wasn't a match for Fu Xiang in her current condition. Shen Yiren attacked a few times, but Fu Xiang won the upper hand after just a few moves from her.
He laughed and mocked her: "Vice-captain Shen, you had the opportunity to release more people. All you had to do was kill the imperial guards stopping you, but you instead took your time bringing them under control. You also had the option of releasing more people while I was busy killing these people, but instead, you came here to try and rescue these people who were doomed. You had far too many chances. You messed up because you were being wishy-washy as a woman."
"I'm different to you." Shen Yiren looked at him with a firm gaze and said: "These imperial guards revolted with the orange prince so they're criminals. I would've killed them without a word if I ran into them in the pugilistic world. However, I'm currently in the palace so I must follow the rules here. I would be violating the rules if I don't have them interrogated. Those you deemed 'doomed' were people I personally released. They were brave warriors who had the courage to put up a resistance when we're in such a dire situation. I wouldn't be able to face their souls on the other side if I didn't rescue them. You on the other hand, have lived for so long and yet you have no sense of morality or care for bonds. I feel sorry for your parents."
Her words were undisputedly full of justice. Fu Xiang had no response for them.
Then a voice from behind called out: "I'm coming!"
Long Zaitian tumbled and crawled his way over after his fight. He landed between Shen Yiren and Fu Xiang. As soon as he landed, he immediately bounced over to Shen Yiren's side. He smiled and said: "Miss Shen, everything went according to our plan."
He then wore a bitter smile and added: "It's just that our enemies turned out to be stronger than we expected so our plan failed."
"Plan? You two were always in contact?"
Fu Xiang looked at Long Zaitian and Shen Yiren who was panting for air. He didn't wait for Shen Yiren's reply. Instead, he revealed a weird smile and ridiculed her: "I see how it is. Poor Young Master Song got knocked out by his majesty for your sake too. You sure are a philanderer, Miss Shen."
"I'll follow whoever I please. What's it to you?"
"Of course, of course. I was just wondering if I'd be fortunate enough to have the honour of joining you."
Shen Yiren didn't respond this time.
Fu Xiang said that to see what Shen Yiren's condition was like. He knew that she hadn't made a complete recovery when he heard her shaky voice and saw her very pale face. Now that he was at ease, he said: "So you were a spy, huh, Long Zaitian. No wonder why you had his majesty send half of the imperial guards away. I told his majesty you couldn't be trusted and I was right."
The prince was slowly running toward this direction from far away accompanied by two guards. As he ran he embarrassingly spouted "I knew it too. I knew it too! I was just giving him a chance to wise up! I'm a very smart guy!"
The orange prince's party's true power was now bared for all to see.
Other than the highly-skilled Fu Xiang, there were five members from the Black Winds Thirteen Wings who were slowly surrounded present. Though half of the imperial guards had been sent away, there were still hundreds of imperial guards below the ring. Every prince is allowed to have one-thousand five-hundred imperial guards under his control. The prince's imperial guards weren't meant to be in the palace. They managed to get in because Eunuch Nan opened the palace gates for them. But nobody knew that.
It was Long Zaitian and Shen Yiren versus six highly-skilled fighters and hundreds of imperial guards. Slice it as you like, they were doomed.
Long Zaitian scanned their surroundings. There were the two that he just killed. There were only seven members from the Black Winds Thirteen Wings present at the flying fish pavilion. The other six had gone off to capture the emperor. They had to bring this place under control before the emperor was captured or everything would be over.
Realising that, Long Zaitian's face turned pale. He laughed and said: "Haha, Old Fu, you certainly possess profound internal strength and extraordinary martial arts. I'm surprised you're still alive after that wound Miss Shen inflicted on you."
"Long Zaitian, I see you're talkative as ever. But it's pointless for you to buy time. You forcefully moulded energy before and are left with less than thirty-percent of your energy. You won't be able to recover in less than an hour." Fu Xiang laughed and went on: "As for your Miss Shen, let me tell you something about her out of good-will. She's been having an affair with that bastard, Ming Feizhen for a while."
Long Zaitian reacted like a man struck by lightning. His face twitched and he asked a question looking like he was vomiting blood at the same time: "Miss Shen, i-is that true? So you kept flirting with him to tell me to give up?"
Long Zaitian got thrown off his game by his opponent. Shen Yiren shot him an angry glare.
Shen Yiren thundered: "Look at the situation we're in! I can't believe you're still spouting this nonsense!"
Long Zaitian instinctively straightened up his posture. Shen Yiren loudly exclaimed: "You should all be starting to feel like you're recovering now as well. Whoever can still fight, get up in the ring!"
Fu Xiang's expression changed for the worse. He too didn't expect that reaction from Shen Yiren. Shen Yiren was most certainly afflicted by the effects of Thorn-Tears. Fu Xiang stayed hidden, waiting for the right moment when it was confirmed that everybody had been affected by Thorn-Tears. Fu Xiang is a cautious man. He wouldn't take action unless he was nintey-percent confident.
Shen Yiren had evidently recovered her strength though not completely. However, she wasn't feeling weak all-over. Fu Xiang was afraid that the members of the emperor's security guard detail and the Qilin Guards had recovered their combat abilities like Shen Yiren. If that happened, the flying fish pavilion would become impregnable once again.
But they didn't move after what Shen Yiren said. Well, that's not entirely true since they all wore painful expressions similar to Shen Yiren.
Thorn-tears is an anaesthetic that's made by Demon Mirror Heavenly Cloud Palace. It's not a poison. Technically speaking, it's an unbeatable drug. Even if there was something that could match, it would cost an unbelievable amount of money and effort to acquire. Mystery spent all of their money and took three years to get enough to poison the people here in the flying fish pavilion. Forget a skilled-doctor, not even the pharmacist from Heavenly Cloud Palace who can make it would be able to make such a large volume in a short amount of time.
Shen Yiren shouted: "I know that you are all in immense pain right now. But we have no time right now. Please come forth and protect the imperial city!"
However, she spoke with a pale expression and shaky posture.
Long Zaitian couldn't help but panic when he saw her in that state: "M-Miss Shen, what drug did you have me put in the drinks?!" Long Zaitian didn't have an antidote. He only obeyed Shen Yiren's order to add another drug to the drinks after adding Thorn-Tears. However, he didn't know what the drug was.
After a moment of silence, Shen Yiren replied in a shaky voice: "Poison hemlock……"
"Poison hemlock?!" Long Zaitian was astonished. He loudly exclaimed: "That's a poison!"
"You cure us of Thorn-Tears quickly then if you've got another way!"
Everyone in the flying fish pavilion gasped after they heard what was said. The warriors who were still able to hang in there started to feel their qi at their dantian become erratic like a sabre was slashing randomly at their dantian. Poison hemlock is a strong poison which can erase Thorn-Tears, but it is strong as aforementioned. Consequently, they naturally felt a little worried.
The hairs on the back of Fu Xiang's neck stood up when he heard the gasps from all side. He looked at Shen Yiren and asked: "You used poison hemlock to cure it? I said you weren't brutal enough but it looks like I was wrong. Not only are you brutal, you're a maniac too. You went and poisoned all the warriors here?"
Shen Yiren lowered her beautiful face. She suddenly stood up straight and shot the sword in her hand at him like an arrow. A sword aimed at Fu Xiang's neck flew toward him like a lightning bolt. Fu Xiang never expected her to still be able to fight, so he evaded in quiet a pathetic manner.
"It's just a bit of poison. You ramble too fucking much……" Shen Yiren slowly stood up with a pale expression. She took in a deep breath and then shouted: "His highness has gone missing! Why are you not doing your part with all you've got as vassals of the imperial court? Even the elder ministers who are weak put up a fight. Do you remember what your job is?"
The warriors lying on the ground with painful expressions witnessed the elder ministers' act. They certainly were weak, but despite that, they still mustered up their strength to fight back. Their fire of anger in their chest was still alight…… Except, they were far away so they didn't know the elder ministers actually fought back for Shen Yiren's sake.
The orange prince finally arrived. He loudly shouted: "The emperor is dead. I am now the ruler of this place. You are servants of the imperial court. You dare disobey my orders?"
Shen Yiren coldly said: "You're just a traitor. What right do you have to be giving orders?"
The orange prince retorted: "Do you have an imperial decree then?!"
"I do!"
He never expected for Shen Yiren to say: "Members of the three offices knew from day-one that there was an imperial decree that had existed since our first emperor which has been right in front os us…… Where is Liu Shan Men?!"
No one knows where they got their energy from. Perhaps the members of Liu Shan Men weren't heavily poisoned because they didn't possess profound strength. Together they shouted with vigour: "Enforce justice on behalf of the heavens!"
Long Zaitian seized the moment and the Qilin Guards came forth: "Protect our lands and our people!"
The emperor's security detail came back to life: "I am present!!"
Fu Xiang's expression changed instantly: This bitch Shen Yiren is a sly bitch. She deliberately provoked the orange prince into insulting her, knowing that the elder ministers wouldn't turn a blind eye. So all the steps she took was to create this opportunity to turn the tables!
As expected, the pale-faced warriors all fought the pain in their dantian that was like sabres cutting into them to rise up. One of them loudly shouted: "Liu Shan Men's Zha Pi has heard your orders!!!"
The others then went along.
"His highness's security detail's Shen Fala has heard your orders!"
"His highness's security detail's Luo Limo has heard your orders!"
"Qilin Guard Wei Lanmao has heard your orders!"
"Qilin Guard Wei Sutong has heard your orders!"
The group that rose up and responded to the call suddenly transformed into fierce beasts and started to fight with the imperial guards while fighting the pain from the poison. The poison hemlock had begun to cure their Thorn-tears effects. Though they were still suffering some of its effects, they had recovered their strength. Some were even able to use fifty-percent of the strength now.
But more importantly, they had gained morale.
Fu Xiang clenched his teeth and exclaimed: "You bitch, Shen Yiren! I underestimated you! We six can't kill these hundreds of warriors, but killing you won't be an issue. I'll grant you your death-wish!! He then raised his palm and struck with all his might like an elephant stomping with the intent of crushing.
Long Zaitian wanted to protect her. However, a member of the Black Winds Thirteen Wings kept him occupied.
Shen Yiren had overextended and was exhausted. She had trouble keep her eyes open. She trembled as she said: "I wasn't… talking about them."
"Then who else?!"
"Me."
Screams of pain loudly rung through the air to him from behind. Two members of the Black Winds Thirteen Wings then went flying through the air before dropping onto the ground with a thud. Their necks were covered in wounds inflicted by a sword and they had succumbed to their wounds.
Like a fire-dragon soaring through the sky, a burning-hot qi seeped into the air. A purple silhouette appeared from the sky from the rear like he emerged from a burning Earth.
When his palm collided with Fu Xiang's, both of them retreated a step.
The titan and the fire vanished, revealing his opponent.
Fu Xiang looked at his opponent. A faint white-smoke was being emitted from him like an intense fire had been put out.
A tall and handsome young man dressed in purple with a cold expression held the sword Shen Yiren sent flying to him early. He faintly said: "Liu Shan Men's Tang Ye has heard your order."
l
