I Only Want to Lie Flat But Am Forced to Cultivate Immortality-Chapter 914 - 440: The General’s Strategy, Victory in a Single Battle

Chapter 914: Chapter 440: The General’s Strategy, Victory in a Single Battle

Inside and outside the Imperial City, gunpowder smoke and the omnipresent cold weapons stirred into a chaotic mixture.

Xu Qing saw foreigners blatantly boasting that the warship cannons had arrived at Jinggu Harbor, heralding the era of firearms leadership.

However, in the next moment, the foreigner grasped his own throat, as countless insects flew out from his mouth, and upon contact with sunlight, instantly turned into ashes...

This is Xu Qing’s God Corrosion technique learned from the Pope. This technique doesn’t create things from thin air but summons larvae that exist on the edge of ’hell,’ using turbid air and dark malice as their breeding ground.

These insects live by relying on turbid air and dark malice, and they can also perceive similar auras produced by the evil thoughts of living beings.

When sensing such an aura, the God Corrosion insects will select a host to parasitize, constantly magnifying the host’s malicious roots to serve as their living soil.

But this aura is only similar, not truly turbid air and dark malice. When the God Corrosion insects find that human hostility is inedible, they go completely berserk, devouring the host’s flesh, transforming into adult insects, and continuing to search for suitable soil to live.

This western secret art resembles a branch of occult left-hand paths, referred to by foreigners as black witchcraft or necromancy. In the Middle Kingdom, it’s considered the most despised of unorthodox paths, a sinister method.

Xu Qing ignored the soldiers blocking his path, striding straight towards the palace where the descendants of the Zhu Family resided.

Whenever rebel soldiers obstructed the way, whether knife-wielding soldiers or foreigners with muskets and cannons, before they could approach, they would become desiccated corpses lying on the ground.

Outside the hall, the bloody scent generated by the burnings of the insects soared to the heavens. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

In a short period, the entire Imperial City was enveloped in a blood-red hue.

When no one dared to step forward any further, Xu Qing arrived at the palace where the Zhu Family descendants were.

At this moment, a severely injured Chief Eunuch was standing in front of the hall, behind whom were the deceased Empress, who had taken poison, and the crying Prince and Princess clutching a cup.

"General Duan, I see you are rebelling!"

In front of the hall, the fully armored general sheathed his sword, his gaze passing over the eunuch before landing on the Prince hiding behind.

"Li Gonggong, Your Majesty has passed away. I am here to protect the Crown Prince. As for rebellion... Li Gonggong, forcing royal heirs to poison themselves—isn’t that rebellion too?"

Li Gonggong’s eyes were bloodshot, trembling as he said, "This is His Majesty’s decree. If we can’t escort the Crown Prince out of the Capital City, we must end it—never let the Crown Prince fall into the hands of barbarians and rebels."

The general with the surname Duan frowned and said, "Great Yan hasn’t fallen yet. Li Gonggong, why be so dejected? How about you hand over the Prince and Princess to this general, and after I quell the rebellion, I will support the Crown Prince in ascending the throne and continuing the legacy of Great Yan."

As Li Gonggong was hesitating, a young man suddenly swaggered into the hall.

"Who are you?"

Xu Qing looked at the tense atmosphere in the hall, glancing around and said, "I am entrusted by the Emperor to escort the Zhu Family bloodline out of the Capital City."

Upon seeing the Prince and Princess behind Li Gonggong, Xu Qing’s expression immediately relaxed, relieved to have arrived in time.

"You claim it’s the Emperor’s decree, but is it truly the Emperor’s decree? It appears you might be colluding with the foreign rebels!"

Xu Qing ignored the general’s words, directly approaching Li Gonggong. Soldiers of Great Yan attempted to stop him but found their bodies completely unresponsive.

"Gonggong, are these children all descendants of the Zhu Family?"

Li Gonggong, uncertain but constrained by the other’s Divine Techniques, could only trust the young man before him was an expert invited by His Majesty.

"Replying, Sir, this one here is the current Crown Prince, and this one is Princess Yan Ning..."

Xu Qing nodded, then looked at the woman who had taken poison in front of Princess Yan Ning.

"The Emperor’s after affairs will be handled by me. The Empress’s body deserves a proper burial, interred with the Emperor."

Saying so, Xu Qing proceeded to prepare the woman’s funeral attire in front of everyone. Once her visage was no longer hideously contorted, the paperman for the ceremony emerged to carry the coffin.

"Sir, are you truly a friend of Father Emperor?"

Outside the Capital City, the former Crown Prince Zhu Yi could not help but ask.

Xu Qing smiled and said, "I’m not a friend of your father but of your great-great-grandfather."

"Great-great-grandfather?"

Zhu Yi’s eyes widened in disbelief.

"Sir knows Great-great-grandfather, doesn’t that mean you’ve lived almost two hundred years?"

Xu Qing chuckled, offering no answer.

Beside them, the elderly eunuch following Zhu Yi out of the palace suddenly asked, "Sir possesses such divine techniques, surely you can easily quell the chaos under Heaven..."

Xu Qing curbed his smile, saying, "Since the Yong dynasty, the Zhu Family shouldn’t have governed these lands. The Zhu Family altered fate against Heaven’s will, sitting a dynasty of five generations, reaching the extreme of their fortune."

"You grew up in the imperial family, surely aware that ever since your great-great-grandfather, the Zhu Family descendants do not live long nor die peacefully."

"..."

Zhu Yi and his siblings were left speechless.

Since their great-great-grandfather, the Zhu Family truly had no long-lived members, even the later generations were few and far between.

By the fifth generation, the Zhu Family bloodline struggled to continue.

Zhu Yi was the sole descendant saved through Zhu Jian’s multiple pilgrimages to the Purple Cloud Mountain of the Jin Sect.

The lack of succession within the Zhu Family genuinely contributed to instability in the court and a significant cause of turmoil.

"Those who practice and alter fate against Heaven often suffer five weaknesses and three deficiencies. Back then, when I forcibly changed fate for the Zhu Family ancestors, I too had to endure some karmic misfortunes."

"Though those misfortunes couldn’t affect me, the retribution was entirely imposed upon the Zhu lineage."

"I promised your ancestor to protect one branch of the Zhu bloodline to ensure its continuation. Now is the time for me to fulfill my promise."