95: The Bad Commander's seal is in Li Chengqian's hands

What's going on?

Li Taixu's smile froze on his face. He blinked blankly, looking at his colleagues beside him.

The others were also stunned, whispering and conferring.

"Why aren't they firing the arrows yet?"

"Where are the Bad People? Are they asleep?"

"What... what exactly is happening?"

Amidst the clamor of discussion, an ominous premonition quietly crept into everyone's hearts.

Li Shimin's heart sank sharply.

For the first time, genuine panic appeared in his majestic eyes.

He suddenly turned, looking down at the city wall, at the forces he trusted most, the trump card he had personally built, capable of making even gods and demons tremble—the Great Tang Bad People.

However, what he saw made him feel as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

The Bad People, stationed at various strongholds throughout Chang'an City, still maintained their posture of drawing bows and waiting to fire. The arrows of the Demon-Slaying Crossbows, gleaming with a cold, blue light, were still firmly locked onto the sword formation in the sky.

But they did not move.

Not a single person pulled the trigger.

They turned a deaf ear to the emperor's thunderous rage.

Why?!

Why do they not obey My commands?!

An unprecedented fear, mixed with the anger of betrayal, instantly overwhelmed Li Shimin's reason.

He rushed to the edge of the battlements, his body trembling slightly with agitation, pointing at his silent subordinates below. His voice, sharpened by shock and fury, became piercing and even took on a pleading tremor.

"Fire the arrows! Do you... do you not even listen to My words anymore?!"

The wind on the city tower seemed even colder.

The biting chill seeped through the gaps in Li Shimin's Dragon Robe, making him shiver all over.

His roar still echoed in the air, but all it received in return was an even more deathly silence.

Below, those shadows he had personally created, the sharpest hidden blade of the Great Tang, the Bad People, remained silent.

Each of their faces was hidden behind their iconic masks, their expressions unclear, but that collective, stubborn silence was itself the loudest form of defiance.

This was not hesitation, nor was it fear.

This was a refusal.

A complete, unquestionable refusal.

"Scoundrels! Are you... are you all rebelling?!"

Li Shimin's voice was completely out of control, his majesty shattered, leaving only a furious, exasperated roar.

He even wanted to rush down the city tower, personally seize a crossbow, and personally shoot that rebellious son dead on the spot.

But he could not.

He was the Emperor.

The ground beneath his feet trembled, not from thousands of soldiers and horses, but because the authority he relied on was collapsing at a visible speed.

Li Taixu and the other Officials from the Five Surnames and Seven Clans now looked worse than if they were crying.

They all drew in their necks, cold sweat the size of beans seeping from their foreheads.

Their earlier euphoria had long vanished, replaced by a suffocating feeling like drowning.

They looked in horror at the scene below the city tower, occasionally stealing glances at Li Chengqian in the sky.

That Crown Prince, who should have been pierced by ten thousand arrows and turned into a puddle of flesh, now appeared so composed.

He stood suspended before the Three Thousand Sword Immortals, his white robes like snow, his dark hair flowing.

He simply watched the chaotic monarch and ministers on the city tower, watching his enraged father.

There was no provocation, no triumph in his eyes, only a calm that bordered on pity.

As if he were watching a farce whose ending was already predetermined.

Finally, in this suffocating silence, Li Chengqian spoke.

His voice was not loud, but it instantly pierced the frozen air above Xuanwu Gate, clearly reaching everyone's ears.

"Imperial Father, have you forgotten something?"

This plain question brought Li Shimin's roar to an abrupt halt.

He sharply turned his head, his bloodshot eyes glaring fiercely at Li Chengqian, his teeth grinding audibly.

"You... you rebellious son, you still dare to speak to Me!"

Li Chengqian seemed not to hear his angry curses, only slowly and deliberately stated a fact in a matter-of-fact tone: "Just now, you personally drove Commander of Bad Boys Yuan Tiangang out of Taiji Palace."

Yuan Tiangang?

This name cleaved through Li Shimin's confused thoughts.

He remembered.

Just a short while ago, in a fit of rage, to force Yuan Tiangang to hand over the Bad People, he had indeed dismissed that eccentric old Daoist priest.

But so what?

He was the Emperor!

He was the Son of Heaven!

Who dared disobey his command?!

"I am the Emperor!"

Li Shimin roared, "The Bad People are Mine! If I tell them to fire arrows, they must fire arrows!"

"Is that so?"

Li Chengqian extended a finger, pointing distantly at the silent army below. His voice suddenly rose several octaves, each word resonating, striking everyone's heart.

"The Bad People obey the Buliang Jiang."

Before his words faded, he uttered the next sentence, his voice growing even louder, echoing through the clouds.

"The Buliang Jiang obeys the Commander of Bad Boys!"

Boom!

These two sentences struck Li Shimin and the members of the Five Surnames and Seven Clans like a hammer on their heads.

Li Taixu and the others felt their vision darken, their legs weakened, almost unable to stand steadily.

They were not fools; on the contrary, they were the most intelligent people of this era.

They instantly understood the chilling logical chain behind these two sentences.

Li Shimin's face, at this moment, turned deathly pale.

His lips trembled, and he pointed at Li Chengqian, but not a single word could escape him.

Fear, an unprecedented fear, gripped his throat.

He watched as Li Chengqian slowly raised his right hand.

In his hand, an ancient bronze token, inscribed with profound runes, lay quietly.

The token emitted a cold, faint light, and on it was a seal script character: "Shuai."

The Shuai Seal!

It was the Shuai Seal of the Bad People!

"Without the Shuai Seal,"

Li Chengqian's voice became cold and resolute, "one cannot command the Bad People!"

Rumble—!

This time, it was no longer a metaphor.

In everyone's minds, it was as if real thunder exploded.

Li Taixu collapsed to the ground with a thud, his face ashen, muttering to himself, "It's over... it's all over..."

The other Officials were no better, each one pale and trembling, like quails battered by a storm.

In their eyes, looking at Li Shimin, there was no longer the flattery and reliance from before, only endless despair and resentment.

They had staked all their bets on the Emperor.

But now, the Emperor's trump card had actually become the opponent's ace!

Li Shimin stared blankly at the Shuai Seal, his body swayed, and he stumbled back a step, timely supported by Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui behind him.

He felt his world peeling away, fragmenting, piece by piece.

He finally understood.

From the very beginning, this was a trap.

A grand deception, aimed at him, aimed at the entire old order of the Great Tang!

Yuan Tiangang's "betrayal," the Bad People's "loss of control," everything was within this rebellious son's calculations!

He thought he was the chess master, high above, controlling everything.

Little did he know, he himself was the most tragically calculated chess piece!