Ashes to Crown

Chapter 153: Chapter 107: Master Xie

The Imperial Guards were shocked to hear Xie Yanlai’s words, their faces growing even paler, but no one objected.

If not for Xie Yanlai, they would all be corpses by now.

It had all happened so suddenly. They had been changing shifts at the city gate. As the next group of Imperial Guards approached, they were about to step forward out of habit when Xie Yanlai suddenly stopped them.

”Who’s leading the shift today?” Xie Yanlai demanded.

The Imperial Guards on the other side were clearly taken aback before snapping, ”What’s with all the questions!”

Before their words had even faded, Xie Yanlai shouted, ”Die, traitors!”

As he spoke, his hand gripped the hilt of his longsword.

The Imperial Guards jumped in fright. ’What is Xie Yanlai doing?’

Quarrels and scuffles were a daily occurrence for him, especially over the past few days. Before, though they’d looked down on Xie Yanlai, they had remained polite on the surface, mindful that he was a son of the Xie family. But ever since he had been flogged by his family in the middle of the street, they had treated him with nothing but open contempt, some even sneering right to his face.

Xie Yanlai’s wounds hadn’t even healed, but he was as belligerent as ever, getting into shoving matches almost daily.

But drawing a blade was another matter entirely. That meant killing. A son of the Xie family could slaughter the villagers of Han County Mountain Village and walk away unscathed, but killing one of the Imperial City Guards was not an offense that a scolding from the family patriarch could resolve.

Though they didn’t particularly like Xie Yanlai, a death would mean trouble for everyone. The Imperial Guards rushed forward to restrain him, but before they could even reach him, the other guards drew their own blades with a cacophony of ringing steel—

The Imperial Guards froze. ’This is overkill, isn’t it? Why is everyone so aggressive tonight? Xie Yanlai hasn’t even drawn his sword, and they’ve already drawn theirs?’

’Are they trying to fight to the death, too?’

Xie Yanlai’s men froze, and the guards opposite them seemed to freeze as well. The atmosphere grew bizarre.

”You—” An Imperial Guard beside Xie Yanlai also sensed something was wrong. He held his ground and started to question them.

But he never finished. The guards opposite, knowing their cover was blown, dropped the act.

”Kill them,” their leader yelled.

And just like that, the fighting began.

The casualties were staggering. In what felt like the blink of an eye, half of the Imperial Guards had become their enemies.

Thanks to Xie Yanlai’s intervention and his bluff, the enemy had been forced to reveal themselves early. This gave his men the chance to fall back and sound the alarm, allowing them to successfully retreat into the gatehouse.

Standing atop the high gatehouse, they could see that the entire Capital City had descended into chaos, with fires raging everywhere.

’What was happening? How did everything suddenly fall apart like this?’

”Did something... really happen to the Crown Prince?” one of the Imperial Guards murmured.

During the battle, the enemy had shouted many terrible things: that the Crown Prince was dead, that the Yang and Xie families were staging a rebellion, that the Third Prince was purging villains to protect the Emperor, and that they should surrender immediately or be branded as rebels—

As men who had made their way in the Capital City, they knew to take the latter, chaotic claims with a grain of salt. The most crucial part was the first: the Crown Prince was dead.

Everyone knew about the turbulent undercurrents between the Crown Prince and the Third Prince, but no one had ever imagined the Third Prince would actually make a move, or that the Crown Prince could truly die.

The men’s expressions were dazed.

”I don’t know,” Xie Yanlai said, glancing at the men around him. ”Do you want to surrender now?”

If the Crown Prince was dead, only the Third Prince remained. In the future, the Third Prince would become—

The Imperial Guards looked conflicted.

”Killing me, a son of the Xie family, would even earn you some merit,” Xie Yanlai continued, his gaze sweeping over them.

Under the torchlight, the youth—drenched in blood and clutching his blade—radiated a terrifying killing intent. The men instinctively flinched away from his gaze.

It wasn’t that none of them had thought of it. A few had even tried it, attempting to sneak up on Xie Yanlai from behind while he was engaged in battle, but he had cut them down with a single backhanded strike.

After one, two, then three such attempts, no one dared try again.

They had always known this son of the Xie family was savage and violent, but only today did they witness the true extent of his ferocity.

”I’d advise against it,” Xie Yanlai said. ”For one, I don’t intend to die, so killing me won’t be easy. And for another, you won’t meet a good end if you do.”

’Not meet a good end?’ The Imperial Guards looked up again, exchanging puzzled glances.

The young man vaulted onto the crenelated wall, his back to the others. He gave his blade a twirl.

”Don’t forget who you are. You’re the Imperial Guard, sworn to protect the Imperial City and the Forbidden Palace for His Majesty. The Emperor hasn’t said a word. If you surrender to someone else and let them into the city, what kind of end do you think you’ll have?” he said, turning his head slightly to face them. In the torchlight, his sharp eyes held a cold sneer. ”The Emperor won’t spare you, and the future master will have no use for traitors like you.”

The men’s expressions shifted. As the guards closest to the throne, they knew the nature of rulers better than anyone.

”Yanlai’s right!” an Imperial Guard stepped forward and declared. ”We are the Imperial City Guards! Our duty is to defend the Imperial City! It doesn’t matter who it is—even if it’s the Crown Prince—if they dare attack with troops, they are rebels! Without a command from Your Majesty, we will defend the Imperial City to the death!”

At his cry, more Imperial Guards stepped forward, voicing their agreement.

”Yanlai’s right.” ”Stop thinking about killing Yanlai! Think about who’s trying to get *us* killed!”

In an instant, their morale surged, sweeping away their earlier confusion. All eyes turned to the young man with the blade, standing on the battlement.

”Yanlai, we’ll follow your lead.”

Xie Yanlai paid no mind to the clamor behind him. He gripped his sword, his eyes fixed on the world outside the walls. ”You don’t need to listen to me. It’s enough for everyone to do their duty. As for the outcome... do your best, and leave the rest to fate.”

The guard who had first spoken up waved a hand. ”Do your duty! Even if we die, our families won’t be implicated. Spread out and hold the walls!”

The Imperial Guards roared their assent and dispersed without hesitation.

Only that guard and a few others remained. They called out to Xie Yanlai again.

”Don’t worry, Yanlai. It’s come to this now. Everyone’s fighting for their lives. No one will be thinking of trading you for a reward.”

Another added fiercely, ”If anyone dares try it, I’ll kill them myself! Our lives were saved by you, Yanlai. If you hadn’t taken that blade for me, I’d be seeing the King of Hell right now.”

Xie Yanlai remained unmoved by these heartfelt declarations. ”We’ve fought this long,” he said blandly. ”Might as well see it through to the end.”

The men nodded. One of them spoke again, ”Yanlai, word just came that a group of people emerged from the Inner Palace.”

Xie Yanlai looked toward the Inner Palace. There seemed to be flickering torchlight, but it could have just been darkness. He couldn’t see anything clearly.

”Are they coming this way?” he asked.

The Imperial Guard shook his head. ”No. We don’t know what they’re doing.” He couldn’t help but take a step forward. ”Yanlai, should we go take a look? Ask what’s going on?”

Xie Yanlai scoffed. ”No need. If they don’t care, we don’t care. Let’s just wait.”

The Imperial Guards agreed.

Xie Yanlai said nothing more. ’Just wait,’ he thought. It wasn’t just the current events he didn’t care about; he didn’t care about the final outcome, either.

’Whatever the outcome, there was no good end in store for him.’

’If the Third Prince won, the Xie family would be finished, and so would he. If Xie Yanfang won, he would still just be a dog in the Xie family’s house.’

Xie Yanlai’s gaze shifted back to the city below. The chaotic fighting was still raging. ’How is that girl doing?’

’She’d wanted so badly to leave the Capital City, but her wish had never been granted. Now she was trapped in this chaos.’

’Is she hating me right now? Blaming me for not delivering her letter sooner, so her father could have come to get her?’

At this thought, Xie Yanlai couldn’t help but crack a smile, his lowered hand tightening its grip on his blade.

’Chu Zhao, you’d better stay alive. If I make it through this, I’ll deliver that letter for you right away.’

’If, that is, I’m still alive this time, too.’