Chapter 293 - 237: Enthronement Ceremony, A Loud Bang

Chapter 293: Chapter 237: Enthronement Ceremony, A Loud Bang

Yan Jun trembled with excitement. To reach this moment, he had endured countless hardships and strived for so many years, finally achieving his goal today.

He fought to suppress the excitement nearly bursting out of him, his face flushed and beaming as he waved his hand.

"My dear ministers..."

He hadn’t even uttered the words "you may rise" when a deafening, earth-shattering BOOM suddenly rang out. A massive fireball, trailing a long tail of flame, tore through the roof and came crashing down on Yan Jun and the others...

The Xu Residence.

Dressed only in thin robes, Wu Liangchen was practicing his saber in the snow.

After days of honing his skills, the saber felt increasingly natural in his hands. It was as if it had become a part of him, an extension of his very own arm.

His mastery of the saber, which had long been stagnant, was finally showing signs of a breakthrough.

As a result, Wu Liangchen had been completely immersed in the world of his saber arts for the past few days, finding it hard to pull himself away.

Today was no exception. He dashed across the backyard at incredible speed, then suddenly spun around and slashed.

A flash of light from his saber shot out. The icicles hanging from a large tree instantly webbed with cracks, then shattered into nothingness.

Yet the branches and leaves beneath them were completely untouched. Even a few tender green buds remained utterly unharmed.

Wu Liangchen landed in the snow, quite satisfied with his strike.

The strike had seemed simple, but in reality, he had unleashed multiple slashes in a fraction of a second, stripping away the outer shell of ice without harming the branches within.

This was proof that Wu Liangchen’s control over his saber had reached an unbelievable level.

But just as Wu Liangchen was about to walk over to the tree for a closer look, a tremendous explosion suddenly echoed from the distance.

The sound was so powerful it shook the trees throughout the courtyard, causing them to tremble and sending snow cascading from their branches.

’Something’s happened!’

’It’s coming from the Imperial Palace!’

The two thoughts flashed through his mind. In a single leap, he was on the roof, gazing into the distance.

Just as he’d thought.

In the northern sky, a massive column of smoke and dust was billowing toward the heavens.

Wu Liangchen’s expression turned grave.

’Both the sound and the plume of smoke remind me of a certain kind of weapon from my past life.’

「Meanwhile, the entire Imperial Capital had been shaken by the blast.」

The common folk didn’t know what had happened; they simply thought it was a clap of thunder.

But some Martial Artists keenly sensed that something was wrong. They all rose to their feet and looked to the north.

The Jiang Residence.

Jiang Minghai had just picked up a freshly made flatbread and opened a jar of stinky tofu. He was about to fish out a piece to enjoy the "rare" delicacy.

But just then, the massive boom echoed, rattling the windows in their frames.

A moment later, Jiang Minghai was no longer in his chair.

He was standing on the roof. His once-stooped figure was now as straight and sharp as a sword. His old, cloudy eyes had become incredibly sharp, fixed on the massive plume of smoke in the northern sky. His expression was utterly grave.

Hearing the commotion, Jiang Feng leaped onto the roof as well. "Father, what’s happening?" he asked, his expression panicked.

"I don’t know, but something terrible has definitely happened at the Imperial Palace!"

The words had barely left his mouth when a figure approached at incredible speed and landed beside Jiang Minghai.

"Senior, what’s the situation?"

The newcomer was none other than Wu Liangchen.

Jiang Minghai took a deep breath. "I’m not sure, but I doubt it’s anything good!"

"It sounded a bit like firearms, but they shouldn’t be this powerful," Jiang Feng muttered.

Wu Liangchen and Jiang Minghai exchanged a glance, then shot off in unison, heading straight for the Imperial Palace.

"Wait, Father, you..." Jiang Feng cried out in alarm.

"Go to your brother-in-law’s place and protect your sister! Brother Wu and I will be right back!"

Jiang Minghai’s voice drifted back from the air. Jiang Feng’s expression changed at his words, and he immediately turned and raced toward the Xu family’s residence.

As Wu Liangchen and Jiang Minghai raced toward the Imperial Palace, back at the half-collapsed Jiaotai Hall, several figures burst out from the smoldering ruins.

The first two to emerge were Yan Hao and Dong Zhenlei.

Both were covered in dust and grime. Dong Zhenlei, who had been at the forefront, was in a particularly wretched state, his clothes blown to tatters.

Although Yan Hao had been standing further back, the sheer scale and power of the explosion had still wounded him.

A shallow gash ran from the corner of his mouth to his temple, oozing beads of blood.

But they were the lucky ones. The man who burst out after them had half an arm blown off, and his once-charismatic face was now riddled with gashes.

Yan Hao spat. "What the hell is going on?" he demanded, a mixture of shock and fury in his voice.

Dong Zhenlei was still dazed from the blast, momentarily unsure of what had just occurred.

Compared to those on the high dais, the court ministers standing below were in much better shape.

Though a few unlucky ones suffered broken bones, and two elderly ministers at the very front were killed instantly, the majority were largely unharmed.

Even so, they were all in a state of shock.

The more fainthearted among them broke down completely, scrambling for the exit.

But as they reached the edge of the great hall, a few sharp BANGS rang out, and the upper bodies of the two officials in the lead were blown to pieces.

Their lower bodies, carried forward by momentum, took two more steps before crumpling to the ground.

Only then did everyone see that the attacks were coming from outside the hall.

Dong Zhenlei and Yan Hao exchanged a look, then shot off in opposite directions.

But they hadn’t gotten far before two more fireballs, just as devastating as the first, streaked toward them with long, fiery tails.

The two men dodged with blinding speed, attempting to evade the two-pronged attack.

But it was too late.

The two fireballs exploded in mid-air, shattering into a meteor shower of fire that rained down on everyone present.

PFFT! PFFT! PFFT!

The ministers at the front bore the brunt of the attack, their bodies riddled with holes by the fiery projectiles.

Dong Zhenlei let out a muffled grunt as one of the projectiles grazed his shoulder, instantly vaporizing the flesh and revealing the stark white bone beneath.

Yan Hao fared no better. Though he avoided a fatal blow, the projectiles left him with deep, gaping wounds, dripping with blood.

At that same moment, two more BANGS echoed. Dong Zhenlei let out a bloodcurdling scream as a streak of fire struck him in the face.

His head instantly exploded, and his lifeless body toppled to the ground.

Seeing this, the terrified Yan Hao scrambled for his life, running desperately for the outside.

He pushed his speed to its absolute limit, clearing the confines of Jiaotai Hall in the blink of an eye. Then he saw a horrifying sight.

The ground was littered with shattered corpses.

Beyond the grisly remains, scores of masked figures wielding firearms were mercilessly gunning down anyone who tried to escape.

Not only that, but several massive cannons were positioned in all four cardinal directions.

Their barrels were still smoking, clear evidence that they were the source of the earlier attacks.

The moment they saw Yan Hao emerge, countless gun muzzles and cannon barrels swiveled to aim at him without a word of command.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

With a sharp whistle, cannonballs shot straight toward him.

Yan Hao gritted his teeth and mustered all his strength to charge forward. He weaved and dodged at incredible speed, evading the tongues of fire spat from the weapons.

But just as he was about to break through the encirclement, a dull THUD rang out. A streak of fire, faster than all the rest, slammed into his back.

Yan Hao spat out a mouthful of blood, mixed with fragments of his internal organs. His aura instantly withered.

But even so, he continued his desperate charge outward.

But at that exact moment, another deafening BOOM erupted, and a fireball shot straight for him.

Yan Hao let out a desperate scream. He wanted to dodge, but he no longer could.

But just then, an arrow shot across the distance at incredible speed, intercepting the fireball.

BOOM!

The fireball shattered, and the arrow disintegrated into dust.