The bright moonlight shone on the dreary canyon, and a sweet yet bewitching scent vibrated in the air.
This place, like Black Cloud Valley, was another opium field managed by the Empress Dowager.
However, unlike Black Cloud Valley, there were no watchtowers to monitor the surroundings, and no armed forces were visible.
Princess Hwijeong, who had stepped down from her palanquin, looked at the opium field without moving an inch while on horseback.
The elites of the Golden Dragon Guard who protected her side numbered roughly fifty.
To anyone's eyes, it looked like a princess on a secret outing and a small force escorting her.
However, the guards of the Golden Dragon Guard were different from ordinary martial officials.
They exuded the aura of veteran warriors who had rolled in the martial world for a long time.
In reality, they were not only masters who had learned a martial art from the Imperial Palace Secret Vault, but also men who had hidden their identities and honed their skills out in the martial world.
Even though they were just standing still, they looked like sharp swords capable of cutting everything.
"……They're here."
Princess Hwijeong muttered softly.
At her words, Cheol-yeong, the leader of the Golden Dragon Guard, bowed his head.
"We will prepare."
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!
Along with the sharp sound of tearing the air, a rain of black arrows poured down from the cliffs on both sides of the canyon.
As if not even giving the Golden Dragon Guard room to deploy a defensive formation, it was a perfect enveloping attack that cut off their retreat and their front simultaneously.
"Prepare the Golden Scale Heavenly Wall."
Simultaneously with Cheol-yeong's shout, the Golden Dragon Guard moved in perfect order.
Clatter, clatter, clatter.
The Golden Dragon Treasure Armor they wore sparkled and began to move as if they were living scales.
Swooooosh.
As they gathered together and drew a large circle as if they had become a single golden dragon, Clang, clang, clang, clang.
The flying arrows struck their golden scales with metallic sounds and bounced off.
Soon, when the rain of arrows stopped, hundreds of figures poured out from the darkness of the cliffs and the forest like ghosts.
Wearing black masks, they were using soundless movement techniques.
They were the Empress Dowager's direct secret assassination organization, the Black Shadow Unit.
"So you're finally revealing one of your hidden organizations."
Princess Hwijeong stepped down from her palanquin with a sneer.
In her hand was already the treasured sword, Ice Soul, which emitted an icy cold light.
"There is something you have misunderstood."
The appearance of the tomboyish princess had completely vanished, and the solemnity of an empress dominating the battlefield lingered around her.
"This Princess is not bait, but a blade."
Paat!
Princess Hwijeong deployed a destructive sword art towards the swarming Black Shadow Unit.
It was not the Phoenix Sword Dance, but the Heavenly Emperor Sword Art from the Heavenly Emperor Limitless Classic, one of the ten great martial classics of the imperial palace.
"Protect Her Highness the Princess!"
As Princess Hwijeong stood at the forefront, the Golden Dragon Guard freely moved the Golden Scale Heavenly Wall and hovered around the princess.
That appearance was just like a giant golden dragon coiling around the princess to escort her.
Rumble! Paaaaaa!
Princess Hwijeong deployed the Heavenly Emperor Sword Art, which could absolutely never be blocked head-on.
And the attacks pouring in from all directions were blocked by the Golden Dragon Guard's Golden Scale Heavenly Wall.
When a truly perfect tactic harmonizing offense and defense was deployed, "Ugh."
"Keuak."
The Black Shadow Unit, said to be able to sweep away a small martial world sect in a single breath, was falling helplessly.
The sounds of clashing weapons and flashing sword lights constantly spread out, and the interior of the canyon transformed into a bloody scene of carnage in an instant.
The Black Shadow Unit's forces numbered over three hundred, but they could not match fifty of the Golden Dragon Guard.
"It's useless even if you mobilize thousands or tens of thousands of troops."
Smirk.
But the leader of the Black Shadow Unit looked at his subordinates being massacred and formed a cold smile.
Then he took a horn out from his bosom and blew it with all his might.
Sashashasha.
Then hundreds of shadows were rushing in.
They weren't just running; they were closing the distance at ultra-high speed, as if they were folding space itself.
They were wearing black night clothes that sucked in the surrounding darkness without reflecting a single speck of light.
And they were wearing bizarre masks covering their faces.
What was wondrous was the weapons crossed on their backs.
They all wielded spearheads split at the ends like a snake's tongue, attached to spear shafts carved from beast bones.
"The Heaven-Killer Golden Cavalry?"
Princess Hwijeong opened her mouth.
No matter how great an organization the Empress Dowager operated, she had been confident that as long as she had the Golden Dragon Guard, who could deploy the Golden Scale Heavenly Wall to block all attacks, she could handle whatever forces swarmed them.
But the Heaven-Killer Golden Cavalry were different. They had trained in specialized methods to break imperial martial arts, and they were a direct military unit that only the Emperor could command.
"How dare you lay hands on a force that only the Imperial Father can possess!"
Princess Hwijeong shouted, filled with rage.
The Heaven-Killer Golden Cavalry had been forged by mobilizing every spiritual medicine and secret art of the imperial palace. Since only the supreme esoteric traditions could train such warriors, only the Emperor could create them.
Yet the Empress Dowager had created the Heaven-Killer Golden Cavalry?
'If so, she must have prepared them a long time ago.'
In the past, the Empress Dowager had served as regent on behalf of the young Emperor.
It was certain that at that time, she had opened the Imperial Palace Secret Vault that only the Emperor could open, secretly trained the Heaven-Killer Golden Cavalry, and incorporated them into her secret organization.
Clack.
The Heaven-Killer Golden Cavalry, having combined their spear shafts.
Rumble, rumble, rumble.
Swarmed in groups and began to smash the Golden Dragon Guard's Golden Scale Heavenly Wall.
The Golden Scale Heavenly Wall of the Golden Dragon Guard, deployed with the Golden Dragon Treasure Armor made from mysterious meteorites, was the most perfect defensive formation in imperial history.
But to the Heaven-Killer Golden Cavalry, who had mastered martial arts at the extreme of every imperial secret art, it was merely sparkling paper, easily broken.
Crack. Smash!
Eventually, the Golden Scale Heavenly Wall was pierced, and the Golden Dragon Guards began to be skewered like meat on skewers by the spears wielded by the Heaven-Killer Golden Cavalry.
Puk, puk, puk!
They even swarmed the dead Golden Dragon Guards once more and cruelly mutilated their corpses with their spearheads.
The military commanders who had learned imperial secret arts each hid a secret trump card that could unleash formidable power even after their lives were severed.
Knowing this well, the Heaven-Killer Golden Cavalry did not merely sever the Golden Dragon Guard's breath; they destroyed their bodies, mashing them to pulp.
A mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
Before they knew it, the corpses of the Golden Dragon Guards were piled up like a mountain, and red blood formed a stream beneath them.
"Your Highness."
Step.
At that time, the ranks of the cavalry opened up, and the Vice Commander leading the Heaven-Killer Golden Cavalry here, Jong Daemyeong, slowly walked out.
"If you follow us obediently, we will preserve your dignity."
He scanned Princess Hwijeong's body from bottom to top with his bizarrely gleaming eyes.
"But if you resist…… you will experience things you do not necessarily have to go through."
Even if Princess Hwijeong's martial arts were outstanding, she could never match the Heaven-Killer Golden Cavalry.
Thud.
In the end, she let her hands drop.
Seeing this, Jong Daemyeong formed a satisfied expression.
"A wise choice."
Then he approached and tried to subdue her acupoints.
But at that moment, Swoosh.
Suddenly, purple lightning struck from the distant sky, and descended to where Princess Hwijeong was in an instant.
It was Bu Eunseol.
Princess Hwijeong wasn't particularly surprised.
Because she had expected Bu Eunseol to come.
"Why are you so late."
She glared and expressed her annoyance to Bu Eunseol.
"Quickly deal with them."
Bu Eunseol was dumbfounded by the Princess's attitude.
To think she would put on such a calm and relaxed expression even after the Golden Dragon Guard, subordinates like her own flesh and blood, had been annihilated.
'It's none of my business.'
Once he safely returned her to the imperial palace, it would be over.
There was no need to involve himself in whatever kind of nature Princess Hwijeong possessed.
"So there's another escort."
Upon seeing Bu Eunseol appear suddenly, Jong Daemyeong was flustered but soon put on a calm expression.
The reason he was flustered was that he hadn't noticed the presence of Bu Eunseol who had suddenly appeared.
And the reason he was relaxed despite that was that he had prepared a trap from which no master, however mighty, could ever return alive. Not even the one called the current Supreme One of the Martial World, the Heavenly Demon Emperor.
"Reveal your identity."
"There is no need for you to know."
Leaving behind that single phrase, Bu Eunseol grabbed Princess Hwijeong's hand and soared into the sky.
Rumble.
Along with the sound of thunder, his body disappeared into the distant sky in an instant.
"What a ridiculous bastard. Even so, you are in the palm of Buddha."
This entire area had already been perfectly laid with a heavy enveloping net.
Besides, he wasn't the only one capable of executing the sky-treading flight art.
Paaaa!
Six Chiliarchs, including Jong Daemyeong, soared into the sky.
Not only had they all learned the foremost mental method of the Imperial Palace Secret Vault, but they had received spiritual medicines, reaching six gapja of internal energy, which let them execute the sky-treading flight art.
Paaaaaa!
They too chased closely after Bu Eunseol and Princess Hwijeong, who were endlessly ascending into the sky.
And when they reached the vicinity of two hundred jang, Jong Daemyeong harbored a murderous smile.
Even if one executed the sky-treading flight art, they couldn't fly endlessly, and it could only be maintained for half a gak.
Now that bastard would slowly begin to descend……
"What?"
Jong Daemyeong was so surprised his eyes nearly popped out.
It was time for him to fall.
Wasn't that person continuing to go up endlessly into the sky while holding the princess?
"Is that bastard an immortal?"
Being unable to sustain the sky-treading flight art for more than one gak was like a truth fixed by the limits of martial arts.
Yet wasn't that bastard ascending endlessly upwards, like a bird with wings?
"You bastard! I will definitely catch you!"
Jong Daemyeong let out a sound like a scream and then slowly descended to the ground.
Swoooooosh.
Meanwhile, Bu Eunseol, who was ascending into the sky lifting Princess Hwijeong with void telekinesis without even touching her body, Had reached the place where the clouds were before they knew it.
"Amazing."
Princess Hwijeong opened her mouth.
It was astonishing enough that he had floated her into the air without even touching her body, but to think he was even deploying a spherical astral energy?
How on earth could a person build up internal energy like this?
"I will take you directly to the imperial palace like this."
In an instant, Princess Hwijeong was so surprised her eyes nearly popped out.
She had thought he naturally wouldn't be able to speak since he was pulling up his internal energy with all his might.
But to talk to her with a relaxed expression?
"Just what is your identity?"
She opened her mouth as if she couldn't believe it.
"Although I am a figure of the imperial family, I pride myself on having seen and heard more than any ordinary martial artist. But I have never heard of a martial artist like you."
"It's nothing special. However."
Bu Eunseol changed the subject.
"Since even the Golden Dragon Guard are all dead, this operation of yours has failed. Just return as is."
He pointed to the distant sky and spoke to Princess Hwijeong.
"Can you really keep going to the imperial palace like this?"
"Of course. Though I'll have to overexert myself a little."
Princess Hwijeong opened her mouth as if in disbelief.
"It is truly a level of internal energy akin to an immortal."
She soon shook her head.
"But I cannot return like this. Now that I know the Empress Dowager organized the Heaven-Killer Golden Cavalry, we must strike them down."
"Can't you just tell the Emperor."
"Would he obediently acknowledge it? Even if I return to the imperial palace and inform the Imperial Father, he will simply erase the evidence cleanly."
"If so……."
"Since I have become the bait, I must hold out to the end and wipe them out."
The Heaven-Killer Golden Cavalry possessed imperial secret arts and extreme power.
Unless they were annihilated, they could bare their fangs at the Emperor again at any time.
"Let's go to Guangdong like this."
Princess Hwijeong's eyes flashed.
"The Heavenly Majesty Golden Group and the Flawless Unit are there."
She had prepared a trump card besides the Golden Dragon Guard.
"It's useless."
Bu Eunseol shook his head.
"If you planned it, the Empress Dowager will also know about it."
"That could be."
Princess Hwijeong's eyes narrowed.
"But there is no other choice."
She had risked her life to become bait to drive out the Empress Dowager.
And she had finally grasped the outline of the secret organization known as the Heaven-Killer Golden Cavalry, so she could not retreat like this.
"Understood."
Executing the sky-treading flight art, Bu Eunseol headed to Zhaoqing Prefecture in Guangdong in a single breath.
"Are you going to the Governor-General's office where the Governor-General of Liangguang is?"
The Governor-General of Liangguang, receiving the Emperor's command, oversaw all military and administrative affairs of both Guangdong and Guangxi provinces.
Especially since Guangdong had frequent invasions by Japanese pirates and rebellions by ethnic minorities.
The actual military power capable of mobilizing large-scale forces was held in his hands.
"The purpose of this battle lies in rooting out each other's secret organizations. What would we gain by calling in the regular imperial army?"
Before long, Bu Eunseol and Princess Hwijeong arrived at Zhaoqing Prefecture.
She immediately headed for the Golden Gong Escort Agency, which was slightly away from the provincial capital.
"Are you saying there are forces in the escort agency?"
"Of course."
She spoke proudly.
"Normally, this place carries out actual transport work to earn operating funds for the organization, and they train their martial arts. They are also collecting movements of the Empress Dowager's organization and external intelligence."
The two characters "Golden Gong", written in vigorous brushstrokes on a massive flag, fluttered in the wind.
On the surface, it looked no different from any other escort agency.
Inside the main gate, sweating escort warriors were carrying heavy cargo boxes.
From the stables, the rough breathing of horses along with the sound of grinding iron shoes could occasionally be heard.
It was a truly lively and ordinary-looking atmosphere, but, 'They are martial officials. Highly trained ones.'
Amidst the ordinariness of the escort warriors, Bu Eunseol.
Discovered that an extraordinariness honed as sharply as a blade's edge was hidden.
The shoulders of the laborers carrying loads were too sturdy to be those of common workers.
The eyes of the old man sweeping the yard were deep, as if scanning for people's flaws instead of dust.
The eyes of the escort warriors uniformly exuded the aura of veteran warriors.
Creak.
The moment Princess Hwijeong entered through the open doors, the lively noise of the escort agency died down very subtly.
They didn't give her a single glance, but.
It was as if the entire escort agency had become a single massive sensory organ, scanning the princess.
"I have come because I have something to entrust."
She showed a very ordinary-looking plaque from her bosom.
But the fingers of the hand holding the plaque unfolded and folded in a specific shape.
Because a plaque could be lost at any time.
They had created hand signals that only the Flawless Unit could understand, just like now.
At that moment, a middle-aged man rose from his seat inside.
He had a long scar on his face, but his eyes were as deep as a serene abyss.
It was none other than the Chief Escort of the Golden Gong Escort Agency, Han Seong.
A strange light was flowing out from his eyes.
He had deployed the Penitent Heart True Eye, a secret art of the Imperial Palace Secret Vault capable of telling whether someone was wearing a disguise.
"Please come this way."
Confirming that the two had not used disguises, he reached out and guided the princess and Bu Eunseol inside.
Entering the guest parlor, Han Seong gently stroked a vase.
Rumble.
Then, one side of the wall opened, revealing a space leading into a secret room.
Upon entering, Chief Escort Han Seong knelt on one knee and bowed his head.
"The Commander of the Flawless Unit, Han Seong, greets Her Highness the Princess."
"Commander Han."
"What happened? I heard that news was suddenly cut off near Yunnan."
When Han Seong asked as if he couldn't understand, Princess Hwijeong shook her head.
"The Empress Dowager created the Heaven-Killer Golden Cavalry, and dealt with the Golden Dragon Guard in a single breath."
With a deep sigh, she pointed to Bu Eunseol.
"Fortunately, thanks to the escort sent by the Grand Secretary, I escaped the crisis and immediately came here."
"From Yunnan to here?"
Han Seong formed a strange expression.
No matter how great a master who had learned qinggong, to get from Yunnan to Zhaoqing Prefecture, they would have to execute qinggong without resting for half a month.
Yet to arrive here in just half a day?
"I see."
Though full of questions, Han Seong didn't ask in detail and said.
"If the Empress Dowager organized the Heaven-Killer Golden Cavalry, she must certainly have made them in advance when she was acting as regent on behalf of His Majesty."
He then continued with a serious expression.
"To sweep them all away, it seems the Flawless Unit won't be enough, and we will have to mobilize the Heavenly Majesty Golden Group."
"This Princess thinks the same."
At that time, Bu Eunseol, who had been silently leaning against the wall, spoke in a low voice.
"It's a surprise attack."
"What?"
Han Seong blinked.
"What do you mean."
Bu Eunseol let out a sigh and said.
"Roughly a thousand troops are surrounding the vicinity. Judging by their swift movements and considerable movement techniques, they seem to be those Heaven-Killer troops or whatever."
Han Seong furrowed his brow as if he couldn't understand.
"Just what on earth……."
After opening his super-senses and observing for a long while, he suddenly opened his eyes wide.
Only now did he sense the faint presences swarming in.
Even that was only because Bu Eunseol had spoken in advance; if he hadn't known at all……
He would have barely felt it much later.
"Your Highness."
Han Seong said with a serious expression.
"This unit will hold them back, so please flee the area at once."
"It's too late."
At that time, Bu Eunseol poured cold water on the situation again.
"A unique formation has already been laid out within a thirty-jang radius around the escort agency. Judging from the fact that it could be deployed as soon as they appeared, if it's not an imperial secret art, it seems like an anomalous power."
"Excuse me."
As Han Seong stepped outside the secret room, the sky had turned hazy, and sounds of tearing air were spreading in all directions.
'It's true.'
He swallowed dry saliva.
Wasn't the formation spreading across the sky the Primordial Heaven Forbidden Gate Heavenly Lock Formation, one of the supreme formations of the Imperial Palace Secret Vault?
'I must let at least Her Highness escape.'
"All hands, prepare for battle!"
The moment Han Seong's voice rang out, everyone in the escort agency moved in perfect order.
When the giant groom taking care of the horses in the stables swept away a pile of straw, a massive horse-chopping blade the size of an adult revealed itself from within.
The talkative chef chopping in the kitchen forcefully planted his kitchen knife into the cutting board.
Beneath the bandages wrapped around his wrist, a small scorpion tattoo, engraved only by imperial assassination organizations, briefly showed.
The laborers repairing tiles on the roof quickly brought out bows and aimed them outside the escort agency's walls.
The scholar reviewing the accounting ledgers put down his brush, twisted open his brush case, and took out a poisoned needle.
From the escort warriors carrying cargo, the old man sweeping the yard, to the gatekeeper guarding the flag.
The ordinary figures of the escort agency, who had been faithful to their respective roles, revealed their true colors all at once.
They were all warriors of the Flawless Unit, who had received the Emperor's secret order.
To protect the princess.
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