荔枝影院

Edited by: Michyrr

Gallop!

The galloping of horses suddenly resounded through the air, rapidly approaching the crowd. Banners snapped in the wind, and beneath these banners were countless mounted riders of the City Guard.

“The Imperial Court has banned any gatherings at this place. The City Guard has arrived! Everyone, disperse now!” a thunderous voice bellowed.

“Pass on my order! If anyone is still gathered here within fifteen minutes, they are to be arrested for disrupting the order of the capital and handed over to the capital magistrate!”

Boom!

The City Guard was a force under the capital city’s government and possessed the authority to maintain order. The sight of the City Guard’s banners and the sound of that voice immediately silenced the crowd. They quickly scattered in all directions.

“Chong-er, I came late!”

A general wearing the armor of the City Guard charged out and stopped in front of the Wang Family Residence’s gate. This general dismounted and removed their helmet, revealing the worried and anxious face of Wang Chong’s uncle-in-law, Li Lin. As he looked at Wang Chong, Li Lin spoke in an apologetic tone.

“There was an incident. Someone from the Imperial Court specifically transferred away the soldiers of the City Guard. I also received the order and went to carry it out. I didn’t expect that such a major incident would occur during the short time I was away!”

Li Lin was in charge of the City Guard soldiers around the Wang Family Residence, and there had been no problems before. For so many people to appear at this time clearly indicated that someone had been directing all this from behind the scenes. But Li Lin cared little about investigating this, as he found Wang Chong’s current condition far more worrisome.

His face was pale and it seemed like his soul had left his body. There was definitely something wrong here.

“Hurry and help him inside!”

With no time to think, Li Lin had Xu Keyi, Su Shixuan, Xue Qianjun, Zhang Que and the others gather around Wang Chong and take him into the Wang Family Residence.

Bang!

Before they were able to get very far, however, a figure collapsed to the ground like a toppling pillar.

“Milord!”

“Chong-er!”

Everyone paled in fright at this sight. Wang Chong had fallen to the ground, his face pale, his jaw and fists clenched, his body motionless. He had fallen unconscious, and his breathing was weak.

“Hurry! Call the doctor!” Li Lin roared, his face suffused with panic. Grabbing Wang Chong off the ground, he rushed into the room.

......

“Hahaha! Wang Chong, how is the taste of having all the people of the world as your enemy?”

Brash laughter came out of the darkness. Here was an immense and grandiose mountain, surrounded by corpses and watered by tens of thousands of rivulets of blood. Lightning streaked across the sky, and in those flashes of electricity, Wang Chong could clearly make out a slightly plump figure holding a crimson spear and wearing black and red armor. This man stood atop the mountain, his mouth wide open in a sneering laugh.

“Want to save the world? Want to be a hero? Are the people of the world willing to let you save them? Even though you’ve done your best, haven’t the Nine Provinces still fallen into my hand?

“Wang Chong, you’ve lost!”

An Yaluoshan’s wicked laughter resounded through the world.

Blood instantly surged into Wang Chong’s eyes as he charged up toward that chubby figure with clenched fists.

“I still haven’t lost! An Yaluoshan, hand over your life!”

But before Wang Chong could charge up, kaboom! The world darkened and that vast mountain vanished along with the corpses and blood, leaving behind only the dark void.

“Kiiill!”

A moment later, war cries and thunderous hooves shook the world. What was only a small noise at first quickly turned into a vast cry that could be heard over one hundred li, an earthquake that shook the foundations of the world. Countless armored warriors roared and howled as they raised up their swords and sabers and surged past Wang Chong in the tens of thousands.

“Milord, we’ll follow you forever!”

“For the Great Tang!”

“Kiiill!”

So loud were these cries that they caused one’s blood to boil, and soldiers were visible as far as the eye could see.

In the blink of an eye, Wang Chong had returned back to the time when he was leading his army across the Nine Provinces in a campaign to resist the otherworldly invaders.

“Kill!”

Wang Chong felt his own blood boil as well, and with a clang, he unsheathed his sword. But before Wang Chong could charge forward, a blood-covered hand emerged from the ground and latched onto Wang Chong’s right foot.

“Milord! No one understands us! Everyone has given up. Is there really any meaning in our resisting like this?”

Wang Chong lowered his head and only then realized that the ground was covered in corpses of those soldiers who had followed him on this campaign. At his feet was a blood-stained general who had been his subordinate, his armor in tatters and his pale face looking up at him, revealing two exhausted and despairing eyes.

“Milord, does what we’re doing really have any meaning?”

“No one understands us, no one understands us...”

Countless voices began to pour in, and Wang Chong could only stare in a daze at the despairing faces around him. The world suddenly began to spin as cold sweat oozed out of Wang Chong’s every pore.

“You are the source of all the chaos in this realm?”

One voice resounded in his ear, and then tens of thousands of them.

Rumble!

The earth suddenly crumbled away, and then countless waves began to surge. Wang Chong felt like he had become a piece of wood bobbing up and down in the boundless ocean as the sea water pushed him here and there. He felt cold, heavy, choked. Whoosh! A wave came out of the darkness, and then a second, a third... One heavy and massive wave after another came, beating Wang Chong again and again into the depths of the ocean.

Darkness, cold despair... all kinds of feelings rushed into his mind, making Wang Chong feel an unprecedented sense of loneliness.

“Doctor, what’s happened to our lord?”

Wang Chong heard a faint and worried voice in the darkness, and then he heard a sigh.

“Haaa! His Highness has a fire burning within while his mind is suffering from depression!

“And if my judgment is correct, His Highness has suffered from a similar affliction before. His qi and blood are in disarray! The situation bodes ill!”

......

Boom!

The images before him vanished.

Wang Chong was thrown into a constantly shifting scene. At one moment, he would be within a world engulfed in fire, and then it would become extremely frigid ice. Wang Chong’s mind was constantly tossed back and forth between ice and fire.

King Qi, King Song, the First Prince, the Fifth Prince, Li Junxian... countless figures appeared and disappeared before his eyes. Finally, Wang Chong fell completely unconscious.

At this moment, the Wang Family Residence was drowning in dark clouds of sorrow and depression.

King Song, Zhangchou Jianqiong, Wang Gen, Elder Ye, and Elder Zhao had all gathered in Wang Chong’s room. By his bed, Wang Chong’s mother was silently wiping at her tears. On the edges of the room, various maids gazed at the motionless form of Wang Chong, his face as pale as a sheet of paper, and silently wept.

Everyone felt grief upon seeing this scene. They had all rushed over as soon as they had heard the news, and when they saw Wang Chong with his tightly clenched jaw, they all felt deep remorse.

The Great Tang was everyone’s Great Tang, not just Wang Chong’s. But on this matter, Wang Chong had unquestionably been fighting alone, vigorously struggling again and again to salvage his defeat and change the hearts of the people. Whether it was King Song, Zhangchou Jianqiong, or anyone else, no one had provided him very much help. In this aspect, each of them found it hard not to blame themselves.

“This child has been unconscious for several days. It appears that this matter has truly dealt him a severe blow.”

“We can’t let this continue. We have to do something. We can’t place everything on this child’s shoulders. Don’t forget, he’s only eighteen!”

“But there’s nothing we can do! Master Zhu is the leader of all the Confucians and holds the most powerful voice in the world. Even the former Emperor regarded him with utmost respect. Right now, the majority of people support the Confucians!”

The mood was dour as everyone helplessly glanced at each other. A mental illness needed to be treated with mental cures, but ingrained habits were hard to overcome. Even if all of them did as much as possible, they could not change the people’s longing for peace. Most worrisome of all was still Wang Chong’s condition. As they all gazed at that young face on the bed, their brows creased in worry.

Wang Chong’s big uncle, Wang Gen, turned to the imperial physician who was putting away his medicines and asked, “Doctor, it’s already been three days. Is there really no way to cure Chong-er’s wounds?”

The imperial physician King Song had requested to come over shook his head and sighed. “Haaaa... There’s nothing to be done. I have no idea what sort of techniques His Highness cultivates, but there are several dozen different kinds of qi in his body. This along with his mental ills have caused him to remain in this coma. Mental problems must be treated with mental cures, so His Highness can only rely on himself if he wants to recover.”

The room fell quiet as the mood became even heavier.

Tap!

At this moment, a white-clothed woman suddenly moved from her position in the corner. Xu Qiqin, her eyes still stained with tears, slowly walked up to Wang Chong’s bed.

“Lady Xu.”

Grief appeared in the eyes of the others as they watched Xu Qiqin. The relationship between Xu Qiqin and Wang Chong was already no secret, and everyone knew that they loved each other. While the others would only come once a day, Xu Qiqin would visit three times.

“Lady Xu, you must pay attention to your health. If Chong-er saw you like this, he would definitely be very worried,” Wang Gen entreated. This child had clearly gotten much thinner ever since Wang Chong had fallen into a coma, and her entire body appeared to be lacking in energy.

Xu Qiqin appeared to hear nothing, tears silently rolling down her pale face. This was already the second time she had seen Wang Chong fall unconscious. For the Great Tang, Wang Chong had exhausted almost all his strength. He was like a solitary warrior, constantly howling and struggling against the world. At times, this would make him seem like a fool, but this was precisely what she found so attractive about him.

“Wang Chong.”

Xu Qiqin lowered her body and softly kissed Wang Chong’s forehead.

“I believe that you won’t lose. No matter what, you will never concede.”

A forlorn smile appeared on Xu Qiqin’s lips.

Buzz!

Suddenly, Wang Chong’s chaotic aura appeared to stabilize, as if he had heard Xu Qiqin’s words.

Everyone was struck dumb by this sight.