Chapter 1123
The brilliant moonlight cast its glow over the desolate gorge, while the air vibrated with a sweet yet sinister fragrance.
This place, much like Black Cloud Valley, was another opium field under the Empress Dowager's control.
However, unlike Black Cloud Valley, there were no watchtowers surveilling the perimeter, nor any armed forces in sight.
Princess Hui-jeong, having stepped down from her palanquin, sat motionless atop her horse as she surveyed the opium fields.
By her side stood the elite of the Golden Dragon Guards—no more than fifty in number.
To any observer, they would appear as nothing more than a princess on a covert mission and her modest escort.
But the Golden Dragon Guards were no ordinary warriors.
They exuded the aura of battle-hardened veterans who had roamed the Martial World for decades.
In truth, they were not only masters who had mastered one of the martial arts from the Imperial Palace Secret Repository,
but also individuals who had honed their skills while operating incognito in the Martial World.
Even as they stood motionless, they resembled the very embodiment of a blade sharp enough to cleave through anything.
"......They've come."
Princess Hui-jeong murmured softly.
At her words, Cheol-yeong, the leader of the Golden Dragon Guards, bowed his head.
"We will prepare."
Whoosh—!
With a sound sharp enough to tear through the silence, a rain of black arrows poured down from the cliffs on either side of the gorge.
It was a flawless ambush, designed to deny the Golden Dragon Guards even the space to deploy their defensive formation—simultaneously cutting off both their retreat and advance.
"Prepare the Golden Scale Heavenly Wall!"
At Cheol-yeong's command, the Golden Dragon Guards moved in perfect unison.
Clink—
The golden dragon armor they wore shimmered before shifting like living scales.
Hiss—
As if merging into a single golden dragon, they formed a massive circle,
Clang-clang-clang!
and the incoming arrows were deflected with metallic pings against their golden scales.
When the arrowstorm finally ceased, hundreds of shadowy figures poured out from the darkness of the cliffs and forests like phantoms.
Clad in black masks, they moved with soundless movement techniques.
They were the Black Shadow Group—the Empress Dowager's personal secret assassination unit.
"So now you've revealed one of your hidden organizations."
Princess Hui-jeong stepped down from her palanquin with a sneer.
In her hand now gleamed Bingpo (Frost Soul), a treasured sword radiating an icy light.
"You've made one critical mistake."
The playful demeanor of a mischievous princess had vanished entirely, replaced by the solemnity of an empress commanding the battlefield.
"I am not the bait—I am the blade."
Crack!
Princess Hui-jeong unleashed a devastating sword technique toward the swarming Black Shadow Group.
This was not the Phoenix Sword Dance, but the Celestial Emperor's Sword Decree—one of the supreme sword arts from the Celestial Emperor Limitless Scripture, one of the Ten Great Imperial Martial Classics.
"Protect Her Highness!"
With Princess Hui-jeong taking the lead, the Golden Dragon Guards maneuvered the Golden Scale Heavenly Wall freely, orbiting around her like a shield.
It was as if a colossal golden dragon had coiled itself around the princess, guarding her.
BOOM—! CRASH—!
Princess Hui-jeong unleashed the Celestial Emperor's Sword Decree, an attack said to be impossible to block head-on,
while the Golden Dragon Guards intercepted all incoming assaults with their Golden Scale Heavenly Wall.
It was a flawless harmony of offense and defense.
"Ugh—!"
"Gah—!"
The Black Shadow Group, said to be capable of wiping out small martial sects in an instant, were falling helplessly one after another.
The relentless clashing of weapons and flashes of sword light spread rapidly, transforming the gorge into a blood-soaked battleground in mere moments.
Though the Black Shadow Group numbered over three hundred, they were no match for the fifty Golden Dragon Guards.
"Even if you mobilize thousands—no, tens of thousands of troops, it will be futile."
Tch.
Yet, the leader of the Black Shadow Group, watching his subordinates being slaughtered, curled his lips into a cold smile.
Then, from his robes, he drew a horn and blew into it with all his might.
Hiss—!
In response, hundreds of shadows surged forth.
They did not run—instead, they seemed to fold space itself, closing the distance at an inhuman speed.
Clad in black night-robes that absorbed all light, reflecting not even a single glimmer,
they wore grotesque masks that concealed their faces.
What was most peculiar were the weapons strapped to their backs.
Each of them carried a spear with a shaft carved from beast bones and a forked blade resembling a serpent's tongue.
"The Thousand Kill Forbidden Cavalry?"
Princess Hui-jeong's lips parted in shock.
No matter how formidable the organizations the Empress Dowager commanded,
she had been confident that as long as she had the Golden Dragon Guards—
who could deploy the impenetrable Golden Scale Heavenly Wall—
she could handle any force that came her way.
But the Thousand Kill Forbidden Cavalry was different.
Because they were a direct military unit answerable only to the Emperor—one that had honed specialized methods to dismantle Imperial Court Martial Arts.
"To dare lay hands on forces that only His Majesty the Emperor should command!"
Princess Hui-jeong's voice rang out, thick with fury.
The Thousand Kill Forbidden Cavalry were warriors cultivated through the highest secrets of the Imperial Palace, utilizing every ounce of its Spirit Medicines and Secret Arts. Only the Emperor could create them.
Yet the Empress Dowager had forged her own?
"Then she must have prepared them long ago."
In the past, the Empress Dowager had ruled as regent in place of the young Emperor. During that time, she must have opened the Imperial Palace Secret Repository—accessible only to the Emperor—and secretly trained the Thousand Kill Forbidden Cavalry, absorbing them into her covert organization.
Clank.
The Thousand Kill Forbidden Cavalry assembled their spear shafts.
Rumble—
They surged forward in a swarm, shattering the Golden Dragon Guards' Golden Scale Heavenly Wall.
The Golden Scale Heavenly Wall, manifested through the mystical meteor-forged armor of the Golden Dragon Guards, was the most flawless defensive formation in the history of the Imperial Palace.
But against the Thousand Kill Forbidden Cavalry—who had mastered the Grand Perfection of all Imperial Palace Secret Arts—it was nothing more than fragile, glittering paper.
Crack— CRASH!
Finally, the Golden Scale Heavenly Wall was breached, and the Golden Dragon Guards were skewered like kebabs on the lances of the Thousand Kill Forbidden Cavalry.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Even after the Golden Dragon Guards had drawn their last breaths, the cavalry swarmed over them, ruthlessly mutilating their corpses with their spear tips.
Generals trained in the Imperial Palace Secret Arts each concealed a final, desperate technique—one that could unleash devastating power even after death.
The Thousand Kill Forbidden Cavalry knew this well.
And so, they didn't just cut off the Golden Dragon Guards' breath—they crushed their very flesh into ruin.
A mountain of corpses, a sea of blood.
Before long, the bodies of the Golden Dragon Guards piled like hills, and beneath them, crimson streams formed rivers.
"Your Highness."
Whoosh—
At that moment, the ranks of the cavalry parted, and Jong Dae-myeong, the Vice Commander leading this unit of the Thousand Kill Forbidden Cavalry, stepped forward with slow, deliberate strides.
"If you come quietly, we will preserve your dignity."
His eerily gleaming eyes raked over Princess Hui-jeong's body from head to toe.
"But if you resist... you will suffer things you need not endure."
Even if Princess Hui-jeong's martial prowess was exceptional, she stood no chance against the Thousand Kill Forbidden Cavalry.
Tap.
At last, she let her hands drop limply to her sides.
Seeing this, Jong Dae-myeong's lips curled in satisfaction.
"A wise choice."
He stepped forward, intending to seal her acupoints.
But in that instant—
Whoosh!
A violet bolt of lightning suddenly streaked down from the distant sky, landing right where Princess Hui-jeong stood.
It was Bu Eun-seol.
Princess Hui-jeong wasn't particularly surprised.
She had expected Bu Eun-seol to come.
"What took you so long?"
Her brows furrowed in irritation as she snapped at him.
"Hurry up and deal with them."
Bu Eun-seol was speechless at her attitude.
Even after watching her Golden Dragon Guards—her own flesh and blood subordinates—be annihilated, she could still wear such a calm, unhurried expression.
'Not my business.'
All he had to do was escort her safely back to the Imperial Palace.
Whatever temperament she had was none of his concern.
"Another escort, I see."
Jong Dae-myeong's expression flickered briefly with surprise at Bu Eun-seol's sudden appearance, but soon settled back into composure.
The surprise came from failing to detect Bu Eun-seol's presence until now.
But his calm remained unshaken—
Because he had prepared a trap from which even the most formidable Master could never return alive.
Not even the one currently hailed as the strongest under heaven—the Demonic Heavenly Emperor—could escape it.
"State your identity."
"No need."
With those words, Bu Eun-seol grabbed Princess Hui-jeong's hand and unleashed the Qi-Piercing Ascent.
BOOM!
With a thunderous roar, his figure vanished into the distant sky in an instant.
"Pathetic fool. He's still within the Buddha's palm."
This entire area was already enveloped in a perfect encirclement.
Moreover, Bu Eun-seol wasn't the only one capable of the Land-Flying Technique.
Whoooosh!
Jong Dae-myeong and five other Thousand-Household Officers shot into the sky.
Not only had they mastered the foremost techniques of the Imperial Palace Secret Repository—
They had also been bestowed Spirit Medicines, elevating their Internal Energy to the level of six cycles, enabling them to perform the Land-Flying Technique.
Whoooosh—!
They pursued Bu Eun-seol and Princess Hui-jeong relentlessly as the pair soared higher into the heavens.
And when they reached a distance of about two hundred zhang, Jong Dae-myeong's lips curled in a cold smile.
Even with the Land-Flying Technique, one couldn't fly endlessly—the limit was half a ke (~7.5 minutes).
"Now he should start descending slowly—"
"What the—"
Jong Dae-myeong's eyes nearly bulged out of his skull in shock.
By all rights, they should have begun falling by now.
Yet that bastard was still ascending endlessly into the sky, still carrying the princess in his arms.
"Is that man an immortal?"
The limitation of the Land-Flying Technique—that it couldn't be sustained for more than one ke (~15 minutes)—was as immutable as the laws of martial arts themselves.
But this bastard was soaring upward without end, like a bird with wings.
"You! I will capture you!"
Jong Dae-myeong let out a shriek-like roar before gradually descending back to the ground.
Whoooosh—
Meanwhile, Bu Eun-seol—who had been ascending into the heavens while holding Princess Hui-jeong aloft with Void Object Retrieval, never once touching her body—had already reached the cloud layer.
"Incredible."
Princess Hui-jeong's lips parted in awe.
Not only had he lifted her into the air without physical contact, but he was also maintaining a spherical barrier of energy around them?
Just how could a human possibly accumulate this level of Internal Energy?
"I'll take you directly to the Imperial Palace now."
The princess's eyes nearly popped out in shock.
Naturally, she had assumed he wouldn't be able to speak while channeling his full Internal Energy like this—yet here he was, talking to her with perfect ease.
"Just what are you?"
Her voice trembled with disbelief.
"I may be part of the imperial family, and I pride myself on knowing more than the average martial world practitioner—but I've never even heard of someone like you existing."
"It's nothing special. However—"
Bu Eun-seol deftly shifted the topic.
"—since all the Golden Dragon Guards are dead, this mission has failed. You should return as you are."
The princess pointed toward the distant sky.
"You're seriously telling me you can keep going all the way to the Imperial Palace like this?"
"Of course. Though it will require some strain."
Princess Hui-jeong's mouth fell open in disbelief.
"This is practically the Internal Power of an immortal."
But then she shook her head firmly.
"No. I can't go back like this. Now that we know the Empress Dowager has mobilized the Thousand Kill Forbidden Cavalry, we must eliminate them."
"Can't you just report it to the Emperor?"
"Do you think she'll admit it? Even if I return to the palace and inform His Majesty, all evidence will have been thoroughly erased by then."
"Then—"
"I've already acted as bait. I have to endure to the end—until we wipe them all out."
The Thousand Kill Forbidden Cavalry wielded the Imperial Palace Secret Arts and power at the Grand Perfection level.
Unless they were completely annihilated, they could bare their fangs at the Emperor again at any time.
"Let's head to Guangdong instead."
Princess Hui-jeong's eyes flashed.
"The Heavenly Might Golden Unit and the Flawless Squad are stationed there."
She had prepared a trump card beyond just the Golden Dragon Guards.
"Pointless."
Bu Eun-seol shook his head.
"If you planned for this, the Empress Dowager already knows about it too."
"That may be true."
The princess's eyes narrowed to slits.
"But we have no other choice."
She had staked her life to oust the Empress Dowager.
Now that they'd finally uncovered the shadowy outline of this secret organization—the Thousand Kill Forbidden Cavalry—she couldn't possibly retreat.
"Understood."
Bu Eun-seol, still maintaining the Land-Flying Technique, swiftly changed course toward the Guangdong Governor's Office.
"You're heading for the Viceroy's Office?"
The Viceroy of Liangguang governed both Guangdong and Guangxi provinces under the Emperor's decree, overseeing all military and administrative affairs.
Guangdong in particular was prone to pirate invasions and ethnic minority rebellions—so the Viceroy held real military authority, capable of mobilizing large-scale forces.
"The goal of this battle is to uproot each other's secret organizations. What would we gain by dragging proper imperial troops into this?"
Before long, Bu Eun-seol and Princess Hui-jeong arrived at the Governor's Office.
She immediately headed toward the Golden Bell Escort Agency, located a short distance from Chengdu.
"You're saying the escort agency has troops?"
"Of course."
She spoke with pride.
"On the surface, they operate as a legitimate transport business to fund the organization while training in martial arts. But they also gather intelligence on the Empress Dowager's faction and external threats."
A massive banner fluttered in the wind, its bold calligraphy spelling out "Golden Bell".
Outwardly, it looked no different from any other escort agency.
Inside the gates, sweat-drenched escorts hauled heavy cargo crates.
From the stables came the rough snorts of horses and the occasional clang of iron shoes being sharpened.
The atmosphere was lively and utterly ordinary—yet—
'Martial officers. Highly trained ones.'
Bu Eun-seol detected it.
Beneath the escorts' unremarkable exterior lay a razor-sharp, meticulously honed brilliance.
The shoulders of the laborers carrying the cargo were too rugged for common workers.
The gleam in the old man sweeping the courtyard was deep, as if scanning for human weaknesses rather than dust.
And in the eyes of every escort, there lingered the aura of battle-hardened veterans.
Creak.
The moment Princess Hui-jeong stepped through the open gate, the lively clamor of the escort agency quieted—just the slightest bit.
None of them spared her a glance, yet it was as if the entire agency had become one massive sensory organ, scrutinizing her every move.
"I've come to entrust something."
She withdrew an utterly ordinary-looking token from her sleeve.
But the fingers holding it curled and unfurled in a specific pattern.
A token could be lost at any time—
Which was why the Flawless Squad had devised hand signals only they would recognize.
The instant she did so, a middle-aged man rose from his seat inside.
A long scar ran down his face, but his gaze was as deep and still as an abyss.
This was Han Seong, the chief escort of the Golden Bell Escort Agency.
A strange light flickered in his pupils—
The True Eye of Discernment, a secret art from the Imperial Palace Secret Repository, capable of detecting disguises.
"This way, please."
Having confirmed that neither of them was disguised, he extended a hand, guiding the princess and Bu Eun-seol deeper inside.
Once they entered the reception hall, Han Seong gently stroked a porcelain vase.
Rumble.
A section of the wall slid open, revealing a hidden passage.
As they stepped inside, Chief Escort Han Seong dropped to one knee and bowed his head.
"Han Seong, leader of the Flawless Squad, greets Her Highness."
"Chief Han."
"What happened? We heard all contact was abruptly cut off near Yunnan."
When Han Seong asked, his voice laced with confusion, Princess Hui-jeong shook her head.
"The Empress Dowager created the Thousand Kill Forbidden Cavalry and wiped out the Golden Dragon Guards in an instant."
She let out a deep sigh before gesturing to Bu Eun-seol.
"Fortunately, thanks to the escort sent by the Grand Scholar, we escaped the crisis and came here immediately."
"From Yunnan... to here?"
Han Seong's expression turned peculiar.
Even for a master who had mastered extraordinary Lightness Art, traveling from Yunnan to Jogyeongbu would require half a month of nonstop exertion.
Yet they had arrived in barely half a day?
"I see."
Though filled with questions, Han Seong did not press further.
"If the Empress Dowager organized the Thousand Kill Forbidden Cavalry, she must have prepared them long ago—back when she ruled as regent in His Majesty's stead."
Then, with a grave expression, he continued.
"To wipe them all out... the Flawless Squad alone won't be enough. We'll need to mobilize the Heavenly Might Golden Unit."
"That was my thought as well."
At that moment, Bu Eun-seol, who had been silently leaning against the wall, spoke in a low voice.
"Ambush."
"What?"
Han Seong blinked.
"What do you mean?"
Bu Eun-seol exhaled slowly.
"Roughly a thousand soldiers have surrounded the area. Their movements are swift, and their Movement Technique is formidable—likely those so-called Thousand Kill troops."
Han Seong frowned, unable to comprehend.
"How in the world—"
After a long moment of focusing his Extrasensory Perception, his eyes suddenly widened.
Only now did he finally sense the faint presence closing in.
And it was only because Bu Eun-seol had warned him first—had he remained unaware, he might not have noticed until it was too late.
"Your Highness."
Han Seong spoke with deadly seriousness.
"The squad will hold them off. You must escape at once."
"Too late."
Bu Eun-seol cut in again.
"A peculiar battle formation has already been set up within thirty zhang of the agency. The speed at which it was deployed suggests either an Imperial Palace Secret Art... or a Supernatural Power."
"Forgive my rudeness."
As Han Seong stepped out of the hidden chamber, the sky had turned murky, and the Sound of Breaking Air echoed in all directions.
It's true.
He swallowed dryly.
The formation spreading across the sky was none other than the Chaotic Heaven Forbidden Gate Sky Chain Formation—one of the supreme formations from the Imperial Palace Secret Repository.
Even if it's just Her Highness, we must get her out.
"All forces, prepare for battle!"
The instant Han Seong's voice rang out, every person in the agency moved in perfect unison.
The burly stablehand tending the horses shoved aside a haystack—revealing a massive demon-cleaving saber as large as a grown man.
The chatty cook in the kitchen slammed his cleaver into the chopping block.
Beneath the bandages wrapped around his wrist flashed the faint outline of a scorpion tattoo—one only worn by imperial assassins.
The roof workers repairing tiles swiftly drew bows, aiming over the agency's walls.
The scholar reviewing the ledger set down his brush, twisted open his ink case, and withdrew a poison needle.
The escorts carrying cargo, the old man sweeping the yard, even the gatekeeper guarding the banner—
Every seemingly ordinary figure in the agency shed their roles at once.
They were all martial artists of the Flawless Squad, operating under the emperor's secret decree.
Their true purpose—
To protect the princess.