145: Chapter 145 Gathering in the Capital, The Final Frenzy

The night was as deep as ink, as if even the starlight had been swallowed by this oppressive atmosphere.

The capital, this majestic city that had carried the Luck of the Great Xia Dynasty for a thousand years, was now being slowly shrouded by a layer of invisible blood-colored light, like a cage about to be sacrificed.

The commoners in the city had long since shut their doors under the "persuasion" of the imperial guards, but that heart-palpitating heat and madness rising from the depths of the earth pierced through the thick walls, casting a shadow of "fear" over everyone's hearts.

At the peak of the Imperial City, the Star-Gazing Tower of the Imperial Observatory, once a symbol of imperial power and destiny, had long since turned into ruins.

In its place stood a ninety-nine-zhang-tall evil altar, piled entirely from ghastly white bones and countless twisted vengeful Souls.

Every bone on the altar was inscribed with vicious runes from the Nine Heavens abyssal depths, and strands of black Qi overflowed from them, converging into a blood-colored beam of light that reached the heavens and pierced the firmament.

At the top of the altar, Emperor Xia stood with his hands behind his back, wearing a pitch-black dragon robe embroidered with nine blood-colored demonic Dragons.

The strong wind blew his empty sleeves, but it could not disperse the rich, indelible scent of blood and madness on him.

That face, once majestic, was now twisted with extreme excitement, and flames capable of burning the heavens and earth burned in his eyes, reflecting the nine equally thick blood-colored beams of light rising from various parts of the Imperial City below.

These nine beams of light were the array eyes of the "Nine Heavens Blood Sacrifice Array," like poisonous needles inserted into the heart of the capital.

They were crazily draining the Dragon vein Luck of this thousand-year-old ancient capital and the life essence of millions of living beings, continuously transporting it to the main altar beneath Emperor Xia's feet.

"Soon... it will be soon..."

Emperor Xia opened his arms as if embracing the whole world, his voice hoarse and fanatical.

"Once the array is complete and the Heavenly Demon descends, I can borrow its supreme power to shatter the Heavenly Gate in one blow and achieve a hegemony unprecedented in history! By then, what is immortality, what are immortals, gods, Buddhas, or demons? They will all crawl at my feet and lick the soles of my boots!"

He was no longer satisfied with the deal with the Heavenly Demon.

He wanted to become the Heavenly Demon himself and drag the entire world into his abyss of crazy desire!

Outside the Imperial City, the murderous aura had condensed into reality, turning into torrents of cold iron armor.

The headquarters of the Demon Suppression Division, once a symbol of the Great Xia Dynasty's protective power, was now empty.

Commander-in-Chief Wei Zheng, the old minister who had endured for decades in the court and was known as the "Dinghai Divine Needle," finally tore off all his disguises today, revealing his sharpest and deadliest fangs.

He wore a set of black heavy armor engraved with the ancient Divine Beast "Xiezhi" and held a three-foot-long sharp blade. On the blade, four ancient seal characters were clearly engraved: "Serve Heaven and Pacify the Troubles."

Behind him were tens of thousands of elites from the Demon Suppression Division and the capital's imperial guards, whom he had long since incited with power, profit, and "righteousness."

They formed grim military formations, like a black net slowly tightening, surrounding the entire Imperial City completely.

"Soldiers!"

Commander-in-Chief Wei Zheng stood in front of the formation on his horse, his voice booming like a bell, resounding across the wilderness. "Behind you are your parents, wives, and children! And inside the Imperial City, that Xia Yuan who usurped the throne is no longer the king of our Great Xia! For his own selfish desires, he did not hesitate to collude with the Heavenly Demon and set up such an inhumane, blood-sacrificing, evil array, intending to slaughter the capital and sacrifice the common people!"

His voice was full of grief and righteous indignation, highly inflammatory.

"Such a tyrant is hated by both men and gods, and intolerable by heaven and earth! Today, I, Wei Zheng, will follow the will of heaven and the people to carry out the righteous act of cleansing the court and slaying the demon emperor! For Great Xia, for the common people, and for the thousands of lights behind us, let us fight for a bright future!"

"Cleanse the court! Slay the demon emperor!"

"Cleanse the court! Slay the demon emperor!"

The tens of thousands of troops were completely ignited by their Battle Intent. They roared in unison, shaking the clouds. The iron-blooded Evil Qi gathered together even temporarily diluted the ominous aura brought by the "Nine Heavens Blood Sacrifice Array."

For a time, inside and outside the capital, the two forces representing the highest power of the Great Xia Dynasty were at daggers drawn.

A bloody civil war capable of overturning the entire Dynasty and causing countless heads to fall was on the verge of breaking out.

However, neither the fanatical Emperor Xia, immersed in the fantasy of Immortal Ascension, nor Commander-in-Chief Wei Zheng, who considered himself the embodiment of justice, noticed.

On the roof of an inconspicuous teahouse less than ten miles away from the Imperial City, an Incarnation in green robes was sitting leisurely beside a sandalwood table, holding a cup of steaming Longjing tea.

In front of him, an ancient bronze mirror floated, clearly reflecting the panoramic view of the confrontation between Emperor Xia and the forces of Commander-in-Chief Wei Zheng inside and outside the Imperial City.

He was the Incarnation of good thoughts of Sword Demon Zhang Cheng, a chess player more brilliant and dangerous than Emperor Xia and Commander-in-Chief Wei Zheng.

"What a wonderful drama."

The corners of Sword Demon Zhang Cheng's mouth curled into a calm smile of being in control, as if he were enjoying a shadow play for which he had already written the script.

"Emperor Xia, Commander-in-Chief Wei Zheng, fight on, the more miserable the fight, the better."

He took a sip of tea, his eyes flashing with cold calculation.

"When you both suffer losses, the vast territory of the Great Xia, along with the nine dragon-suppressing stones that suppress my main body, will all be mine."

He seemed to have already seen the beautiful future where his main body escaped, holding the dragon-suppressing stone, shattering the Heavenly Gate, ruling the Upper Realm, and achieving the supreme Sword Dao.

Three forces, three crews, all thought they were the only protagonist of this grand play, all thought they firmly controlled the direction of the script, and all were waiting for the best moment to give their opponents a fatal blow.

The sky over the capital was terribly gloomy, as if it could be completely torn apart by these three terrifying forces at any time.

And just at this moment.

A terrifying murderous intent, indescribable in words, pure to the extreme, as if it wanted to split this sky, this earth, and everything in this world with one slash, rose booming from the bottom of everyone's hearts without warning!

That murderous intent was so cold, so domineering, and so unmasked!

It ignored the layers of defensive Restrictions of the Imperial City's national defense array, ignored the military formation barrier gathered by the iron-blooded Evil Qi of the tens of thousands of troops of Commander-in-Chief Wei Zheng, and ignored Emperor Xia's evil and strange Nine Heavens Blood Sacrifice Array...

It was like a sword slashed down from the Nine Heavens, and like the cold gaze of an ancient god of death, precisely and ruthlessly, landing in the depths of everyone's Soul!

At the peak of the Imperial City, the fanatical smile on Emperor Xia's face instantly froze, as if someone had poured a basin of cold water from the Nine Nether Ice Spring over his head.

In front of the rebel army, the righteous expression on the face of Commander-in-Chief Wei Zheng turned into horror. The warhorse under his crotch let out a whimper, actually scared to the point of collapsing to the ground by this murderous intent.

On the roof of the teahouse, the calm and self-possessed smile on the face of Sword Demon Zhang Cheng vanished, and the teacup in his hand was unconsciously crushed into powder with a "pop."

The three self-righteous "protagonists," at the same time, their faces changed drastically, and they looked up abruptly at the gloomy sky completely shrouded in endless murderous intent.