Chapter 146: Changes in Yongquan Palace

Early morning of November 1444, 11 in the Imperial Calendar.

Long song city.

On the walls of the palace, a long dragon of torches almost illuminated this small world.

The sparse shadows of the trees were cast on the withered grass in the firelight, and the lush evergreen hedge wall was stained with a few drops of bright red blood.

In the garden square in front of Yongquan Palace, the fragrance of golden thread chrysanthemum can no longer be smelled, only the strong smell of blood.

This is the first time that this magnificent palace has been soaked in blood since the Ran Dong coup a hundred years ago.

Ever since the Goldfinch sadly fell from the Crown of Libra, the Jackdaw from the Mist Castle in Thornfield has safely inherited the crown three times.

This seems to be the curse of Yongquan Palace, blood will come out every four days.

Her long hair was tangled with sweat and scattered over her shoulders. Two of the three tassels on Imbra's helmet had been broken.

His lance had been broken long ago, and there were only a dozen or so Norn guard knights left around him. On the walls surrounding him, nearly a hundred elite longbowmen were aiming their arrows at them.

The shiny arrows reflected the nearly one hundred extraordinary knights and two hundred axemen and halberdmen in front of Imbra. Behind those extraordinary knights were seven or eight exorcist-level monks.

Farther ahead, on the snow-jade staircase that made Yongquan Palace famous, his younger brother Jinigis, accompanied by a hereditary priest, looked at this side coldly.

Half of their faces were hidden in the thick darkness, while the other half were reflected in the firelight.

"You have violated the sacred oath!" Imbra's roar shook the torches. "How dare you monks get involved in the royal government!"

After the church healed the Great Schism between the North and the South, it signed a sacred covenant with the three kingdoms, which still stands at the door of the Papal Palace.

The marble obelisk is engraved with the blood and tears of the predecessors.

But now, four hundred years have passed, wind and rain have gradually worn away the words on the marble obelisk, and people may have long forgotten what an unforgettable lesson it was.

"...Under the watchful eyes of the Holy Father, we all agree that any extraordinary power from the church should not interfere in the succession to the throne..."

"…If you break this oath, may our souls sink into the abyss forever, our bodies turn into nothingness, and our descendants suffer the pain of eternal damnation for generations to come!"

Jinigis stood expressionless and calmly behind the guards, looking at his brother who was summoned by his "father" late at night.

"This is not a battle for the succession to the throne." An eloquent courtier stepped forward, "This is a battle to suppress the rebellious prince!"

"I'm here at the call!"

"If you were summoned, why would you ride a warhorse and wear a helmet? Could it be that there are some terrible bandits on this short road from your manor to the palace?"

"Ha, why did I come here in armor? Doesn't Jinigis know?" Imbra glared at the knights of the Imperial Order standing by the wall with eyes as big as cowbells. "Traitors, you will go to hell!"

When his gaze caught their eyes, some of the Imperial Knights lowered their heads in shame, while others met his gaze without fear.

The fifty royal guards he brought with him into the palace were to protect him from the clutches of Genegis, but now it seemed that they had become evidence of his guilt.

"My brother, my Imbra, you are too reckless." With the help of breathing techniques, Jinigis' voice penetrated the air and came to Imbra. "As long as you plead guilty, you are still my brother, and you can still get the title of earl or even duke."

"What about father? Is this what father meant?"

"Papa is sleeping peacefully." Jinigis is only about 20 years old this year, but his voice is extremely calm. "For Myrcella's sake, you have already broken his heart. Don't disturb his sleep anymore."

"Jinigis! You lied! You deserve to die!" Impala's furious roar was like a storm. The voice of a ninth-level breathing knight was far beyond the limit of what an ordinary person could reach.

"If you say so, then so be it. No more quibbling." Jinigis remained calm.

It was as if he was facing a dead man.

The night wind rustled the leaves, the sound of the taut bowstring was so clear, and the warhorse pawed its hooves restlessly.

Looking around, under the brilliant starry night, there was only the thousand-pound palace gate behind him, and in front of him was an army of nearly three hundred people.

Among them there are a hundred Imperial Knights who are no less capable than him.

Impala laughed at himself, all his Leia knights had betrayed him.

In the end, only these foreign Norn knights from his mother race were still loyally guarding him.

"Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam. [Nornish: This is an auspicious day to die.]"

Letting out a final battle cry in the Norn language, Imbra raised the knight's sword in his hand, formed the tip of a sharp arrow formation, and rushed towards the hundreds of extraordinary knights.

"no'Daj ghompu'meH jaghmaj yIngeH! [Send our enemies to their ancestors!]"

Amid the sound of horse hooves, the Norn knights followed with the roar of the storm and charged towards Jinigis on the steps.

In an instant, the sound of bowstrings snapping rang out, and hundreds of feather arrows covered the knights' heads. The arrows hit the white crystal steel plate armor and made crisp clinking sounds.

Most of the time these arrows would bounce off, leaving at most a white spot on the armor.

Even if an arrow accidentally penetrated the gap of the armor, it would be stuck in the silk lining and the armor.

More than ten knights were shot like hedgehogs, but this did not affect their movements at all, and even their speed did not slow down at all.

The firelight flowed and jumped on their armor, and the sound of horses' hooves on the ground was like rapid drumbeats.

Under the leadership of Imbra, dozens of extraordinary knights charged into the ranks of axemen and halberdmen.

In the crowded infantry formation, the first few axemen were knocked out of the crowd, knocking down several people, and then slid on the ground for a while before convulsing and dying.

The long sword shattered the halberd that was thrust forward, and Imbra's roar was enough to shatter the eardrums of three or four people in front of him. He leaped forward with his horse's hooves and crushed the soldiers' heads.

But just as these soldiers were using their lives to slow down the pace of Impala and others, the chanting sounded quietly.

"We are the Lord of all creation in heaven, Hallowed is His name..."

"Your power is in the sky, and your will is in the earth..."

Amid the chanting, the seven or eight exorcist monks split into two groups and recited different prayers. They lowered their heads and the shadows of their hoods obscured their faces.

Their hands were crossed and clasped in fists, and translucent flames rose from the surface of their bodies, spreading forward like mist.

The flames climbed up the knights' armor and penetrated into their bodies. The heavy armor became light, and the horses panted heavily, and their muscles even swelled a little.

If you look closely, you can see the horses' hooves slowly rising in the flames, an inch above the ground. Pits and stones can no longer block their progress.

When Imbra rushed out of the crowd, there were only ten knights left by his side.

Those who were not there were basically squire knights or banner knights, who had been pulled off their horses by their halberds and were now fighting on foot with the soldiers.

"Ginigis, you deserve to die!"

Looking at Jinigis behind the lance, Imbra roared and urged his horse to rush forward again.

His opponents are the blessed extraordinary knights with flaming lights.

In front of the blessed knights who were emitting a white glow, the dusty Imbra looked so lonely.

Nearly a hundred Blessed Edict Knights collided with eleven Extraordinary Knights, and the blood instantly turned into blood mist and exploded in the air.

No matter how bravely Imbra swung his knight's sword, he could not stop the number of knights around him from decreasing and his horse's speed from getting slower and slower.

In the end, his helmet fell to the ground, and the last long feather of the helmet tassel had been broken.

"Alas." Jinigis sighed softly, "Let's go. I can't bear to see the blood of my relatives."

(End of this chapter)