Chapter 1 Betrayal
It’s great to be young!
Li Yannian's cloudy eyes stared at the young man kneeling in front of him, and he was filled with emotion.
This is his 81st son, and he is also the crown prince of the East Palace who has just taken office.
The prince was strong and handsome, glowing with a vitality and ambition that he had long since lost.
It’s really enviable.
Li Yannian sighed quietly.
"Prince, come forward."
He called in a low voice,
The hoarse and harsh sound was like two pieces of rusty steel constantly rubbing together, with a hint of coldness and chill.
"promise!"
The prince hesitated for a moment, then crawled to Li Yannian's bed.
He lowered his head and did not dare to look directly at the tall figure in the layers of curtains.
That was not only his father, but also the supreme master who had ruled Great Xia for more than a hundred years. Even if he had become corrupt and old, no one had ever dared to look down upon this human emperor, the unparalleled Martial Saint.
"Let me take a good look at you."
Li Yannian stretched out his palm as big as a leaf fan and gently landed on the prince's head.
"Father?"
The prince looked horrified. Under the shadow, he found that he could not move.
Instantly, he broke out in large amounts of cold sweat.
"The Crown Princess is about to give birth?" Li Yannian asked.
"Yes, it is."
"I remember she is the daughter of the old Yu family."
"Yes, she is still the one designated by your father." The prince replied stiffly.
Lao Yu is Yu Hucheng, the second assistant in the current cabinet.
A little trace of reminiscence appeared on Li Yannian's old face.
That was the old brother who conquered the world with him, and he was also one of the few remaining founding achievements of the Great Xia Dynasty.
"His student Zhang Rui is the Black Bird Guard, right?"
"Yes, it is."
"Ah."
Amidst the unexplained ridicule, the prince's heart tugged hard.
Only then did he realize the seriousness of the matter.
As one of the five guards in Shendu, Xuandiao Guard is the main agency responsible for monitoring the flow of people in the Gyeonggi region.
Could it be that the emperor's father's inquiry hinted that there was some hidden danger in the Yu family?
"Don't you have anything to say?"
Li Yannian's withered palms rubbed the prince's head back and forth.
The jade hair crown turned into powder and fell rustlingly, mixed with the cold sweat on the prince's face, turning the originally heroic and handsome face into a big painted face.
The prince was about to open his mouth to defend himself.
Phew!
Suddenly there was a pain in his chest and he looked down.
A six-winged flying ant the size of a fist emerged from his heart and stabbed the figure in the curtain like lightning.
"Six-winged Gu?"
A strand of Li Yannian's white hair swept across, the flying ants exploded instantly, and an unpleasant smell filled the bed.
He released his big hands that were holding the prince's head and allowed the prince's body to collapse to the ground.
The strong and young body gradually became shriveled and withered as the heart was damaged, looking much older and decayed than himself.
"Ah!"
Li Yannian couldn't help but laugh at himself.
There was not much sadness in his heart, but instead he felt a little more relaxed.
He knew he was crazy, very seriously.
Over the years, he has become increasingly reluctant to see young people. He is jealous of their fitness and vitality, and at the same time suffers from his own aging and ugliness.
So the court was filled with all kinds of weird old people, even if they were young, they had to act old and ugly to please him and make him feel comfortable.
"Lao Yu, you are really capable. This is your son-in-law after all."
"Even the insect seeds in your daughter's belly have a share of his essence and blood."
Li Yannian said in a strange voice.
Suddenly, there were bursts of rustling sounds in the empty hall.
No, it’s not just the Great Ziming Palace, the entire imperial city is echoing with the terrifying sound of crawling reptiles.
Endless black ants emerged from the cracks in the ground, from between the grass and trees, and from the mud and water. They flew like black hurricanes and tightly surrounded the imperial city from all directions.
"Alert, alert!"
"Guard the Imperial City!"
"Bi Fangwei set up the formation, sky thunder cannons, Vulcan crossbows are ready, let go!"
Boom!
Boom!
Then a huge explosion echoed across the sky.
However, compared to the turmoil and bustle in the imperial city, the Da Ziming Palace is much quieter and weirder.
The Blue Bird Guards who were responsible for guarding were nowhere to be seen, and even the eunuchs and maidens waiting outside the palace did not respond at all.
"This is really terrible."
Li Yannian patted the golden drum beside him, but still didn't get any response.
It seems that at least three of the five guards in Shendu participated in the rebellion.
There are more and more densely packed black insects in Da Zi Ming Palace. They are covering all the corners in layers.
They twisted their tentacles and opened and closed their mouthparts, their scarlet eyes staring closely at the old man who slowly crawled out of the bed.
"It's been a while since I got up on my own."
Li Yannian gasped,
He stood about three meters tall. His whole body was as thin as a skeleton, with only a dozen strands of long white hair hanging down from his smooth head.
At this time, there was a sound of footsteps outside the hall.
"Your Majesty, because you are wrong."
"You get a lot of help when you are in good ways, but there is little help when you are unjust. They are too disappointed in you."
Yu Hucheng strode in.
Behind him were three young men, one man and two women.
"Miaojiang Saint, Taibai Sword Saint, oh, and the Crown Princess, is this your confidence?"
"good."
"You have controlled the Black Bird Guard, the Blue Bird Guard, and the Vermillion Bird Guard?" Li Yannian asked again.
"good."
Yu Hucheng nodded and answered,
"With General Shenwu here, they can't save you now."
General Shenwu Ji Shinian was also one of the founding fathers of Great Xia.
Li Yannian stopped talking and turned to look at the Crown Princess.
I saw that the other party looked numb and was wearing colorful gauze like a clay sculpture of a fairy concubine in a temple.
Only the huge belly was not covered by anything. The bloodshot belly was almost transparent, and a black ant queen could be vaguely seen rolling and squirming inside her belly.
"rise!"
The Crown Princess patted her belly and danced lightly.
Rustling, rustling,
Rustling, rustling,
The black ants started making noise,
They flapped their wings and flew towards Li Yannian like bullets.
Li Yannian stood still.
The white hair on his head suddenly turned red and stretched, dancing and spinning crazily, like a cocoon firmly protecting himself in the middle.
The black ants' fearless attacks were unable to break through Li Yannian's protection, and the ground was filled with broken insect carcasses torn apart by hair.
"As expected of the strongest martial saint in this world, I'll do it!"
"Kill you to pay homage to the millions of living beings in our Miao territory."
The Miaojiang Saint's face was gloomy.
She stretched out her white arms and threw forward the thin snake wrapped around her wrist.
"The snake swallows the sky."
The thin snake quickly grew in size, and instantly turned into a black python that was more than twenty meters long. It stood upright, and its huge shadow completely enveloped Li Yannian.
Ho!
The smelly snake opened its mouth and sprayed purple poisonous mist towards Li Yannian.
At the same time, Taibai Sword Master also moved. He drew his sword lightly, and the sharp sword energy accurately hit Li Yannian's dancing hair.
Hiss!
The hair suddenly broke, and then continued to dissolve and dissipate in the purple-black mist.
Li Yannian's figure was completely exposed to the swarm of insects.
"kill!"
Yu Hucheng clenched his hands and jumped up.