Chapter 294 - 238: Mysterious Poisoning, Superior Firearms

Chapter 294: Chapter 238: Mysterious Poisoning, Superior Firearms

Yan Hao jolted in alarm and looked up. There, on a distant rooftop, stood a man with a bow and arrow.

It was Wu Liangchen!

Yan Hao never dreamed Wu Liangchen would be the one to save him. He froze for a moment, stunned.

But his reaction was incredibly fast. He snapped out of it in an instant and leaped directly toward the distant group of masked men.

However, the flow of his Qi and Blood, which was usually as effortless as moving a limb, was now stuttering and erratic. As a result, his speed had dropped considerably.

Yan Hao was horrified.

’What’s happening? Could I be poisoned?’

’No wonder Dong Zhenlei died so fast. The poison must have blocked his Qi and Blood, slowing his reactions.’

’But after reaching the rank of Grandmaster... while not completely immune to all poisons, ordinary toxins shouldn’t be able to harm me.’

’Besides, Dong Zhenlei and I have always been cautious. All our food and drink are strictly inspected. We never consume anything until we’re certain it’s safe.’

So Yan Hao couldn’t figure out how they had been poisoned.

But this was no time to dwell on it. With a surge of desperation, he recklessly forced his Qi and Blood to circulate.

The obstructed Qi and Blood churned wildly, and in an instant, blood began to trickle from his mouth and nose.

But his speed also increased considerably as a result.

Meanwhile, Wu Liangchen, paying them no mind from his rooftop perch, drew his bow. SWISH! SWISH! SWISH! He loosed several arrows in quick succession at the masked men, felling a few of them. But in doing so, he drew a massive amount of firepower.

Tongues of fire spat toward him.

The fiery blasts were fast, but the men behind them needed time to react.

By the time they had turned their guns, Wu Liangchen had already vanished, reappearing atop a palace in a different direction.

Just then, Jiang Minghai landed beside Wu Liangchen, his face grim. "Something’s wrong!" he said. "Dong Zhenlei is dead, and it looks like Yan Hao’s strength has taken a huge hit."

Wu Liangchen had noticed that as well.

Given the strength of Yan Hao and Dong Zhenlei, even facing such ferocious gunfire, they shouldn’t have ended up with one dead and the other wounded.

There was definitely more to it.

"Where’s Xu Kai?" Wu Liangchen asked in a low voice, his gaze sweeping over the ruins of the completely collapsed Jiaotai Hall.

"I don’t know, but I doubt his situation is good!"

As he spoke, Jiang Minghai’s hair and beard seemed to bristle with rage, his eyes practically shooting flames.

Though he was often displeased with his son-in-law, Xu Kai was the man his daughter depended on for life. If anything happened to him, how could he possibly face his daughter?

"Where did these bastards come from? And what’s the deal with these firearms?"

Great Yan, and the world at large, did have firearms. But they were limited by the quality of gunpowder and the mechanics of their construction. Their accuracy and power were mediocre at best. Add to that the inconvenience of carrying them, the trouble of reloading, and the significant risk of a barrel explosion, and it was no surprise they had never become widespread.

But the firearms these masked men were using were both astonishingly powerful and highly accurate.

It was why Yan Hao and the others had been put in such a desperate situation.

"If I’m not mistaken, they’re from the East Sea," Wu Liangchen said grimly.

Jiang Minghai was taken aback. "The East Sea?"

"That’s right."

Wu Liangchen was so certain because he caught a familiar scent on the masked men.

It was the same scent he had smelled on the Wangyue Xinyi brothers, Miyagi Yoshiaki, and their kind.

Hearing this, Jiang Minghai’s rage intensified.

"Damn it! Those runts from the Little East Sea dare to cause trouble in Great Yan? Then they can’t blame me for unleashing a massacre!"

With that, without another word, he charged directly into the crowd below.

Wu Liangchen, however, didn’t move.

He had saved Yan Hao with his arrow only because he didn’t want to see a Martial Arts Grandmaster die in a hail of gunfire as part of some conspiracy. That, and his pure disgust for the people of the East Sea.

Beyond that, he felt nothing for the high-ranking nobles and court officials of Great Yan who had died. In fact, he felt that too few had perished; it would be better if even more met their end.

The only one he might regret was Xu Kai.

Although Wu Liangchen had initially controlled him with the threat of poison, after spending time with him, he’d found the man to be decent enough. He’d spent most of his life wallowing in officialdom and inevitably picked up a smarmy air, but his character wasn’t fundamentally bad. There was still a chance for him to change.

’To think he would die so senselessly in the imperial palace today.’

Just then, he saw Jiang Minghai dodging the tongues of fire with incredible speed. He plunged into the crowd like a tiger into a flock of sheep, slaughtering the masked men and scattering them in disarray.

The old man might always be smiling, but when he fought, he was exceptionally vicious and showed no mercy.

He’d also spent the better part of his life navigating the martial world, so his combat experience was immense. With a wounded Yan Hao assisting him, Wu Liangchen could tell with a single glance that the situation was under control. He turned and made his way to the ruins of the collapsed Jiaotai Hall.

Broken bricks, shattered tiles, and splintered wooden beams buried everything.

The thick smell of gunpowder still hung in the air.

Wu Liangchen climbed to the highest point of the rubble, kicked away a fractured beam, and saw Yan Jun below.

This prince, who had schemed endlessly and resorted to any means necessary to ascend the throne, had finally gotten his wish today. He had put on the imperial robes he had so coveted.

But as it turned out, fate had played a cruel joke on him.

He had just put on the imperial robes, not even formally enthroned, when a cannonball had brought it all to an end.