Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen: Assassination

Fireworks? Who on earth ordered those? She had no memory of any such arrangement. Stabilizing herself, Liu Ling'er frowned in suspicion. Could it have been arranged by the Wise King? But it was not even night yet, and setting off fireworks seemed almost wasteful.

Sighing, she knew it was no solution to keep drifting on the surface of the water. Not only was she squandering her inner strength for nothing, she was also being put on display before the gathered crowd. Why did it feel as though she had become some kind of monkey? Better to get ashore first and ask Baili Xian about it; such things would become clear at a word.

Yet what came next made Liu Ling'er realize just how far off she had been. That was no firework for merriment at all, but a death warrant. She was only one step away from the bank when the chief eunuch beside Baili Hai, Liu Degui, cried out in a piercing voice, "Someone come quickly! There are assassins here!"

The eunuch's peculiarly shrill, rooster-like voice rang out, sharp and loud, echoing through Phoenix Rest Palace until it seemed the whole imperial palace could hear it. To Liu Ling'er, however, it was unbearable in another way, as though someone had seized her ear and bellowed straight into it, nearly leaving her deaf.

In a flash of insight, Liu Ling'er instantly understood what the firework had been for. It was plainly the signal for the assassins' attack. As for who their target was, that still remained unclear. And from the place where the firework had been launched, it was evidently within the imperial palace itself, which pointed to a very serious problem: there was a traitor in the palace.

An inside accomplice working with outsiders. It seemed the situation had become grim indeed. Everyone was thrown into panic by Liu Degui's cry of "assassins," and no one noticed Baili Hai exchanging a hidden glance with Prime Minister Li Danqing. Their eyes met for the briefest instant; Baili Hai gave a slight nod, and everything was understood without a word.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

From the rockery and garden that had seemed perfectly ordinary a moment before, black shadows suddenly emerged from among the flowers, plants, and trees. Even from the lake where Liu Ling'er stood, several black-clad assassins surfaced. Though drenched through, the savage aura around them was enough to make one's blood run cold.

Cold sweat broke out across Liu Ling'er's back. If those assassins had sprung on her just now while she was practicing her sword, then even if she had been the greatest expert in the world, she was afraid she would already be fish food.

There were about a hundred assassins, each dressed in black and wearing black cloth over the face, with the words "First Month" embroidered along every sleeve.

Once again, Liu Ling'er learned their origins. They were all members of the First Month organization. She became even more certain that if no one in the palace had colluded with them, there was no way these people could have infiltrated Phoenix Rest Palace.

Things were looking bad. There were guards here too, but compared with these assassins, they were utterly outclassed.

The instant the assassins appeared, the clash of blades rang out over Phoenix Rest Palace, and the grand birthday banquet was utterly wrecked by this band of killers.

Civil officials had no strength to resist; facing these fierce assassins, they could only flee in all directions. Liu Ling'er saw that as soon as the assassins appeared, several ministers were wounded, and one particularly unlucky scholar-official had his heart pierced on the spot, staring with bulging eyes as he went to keep company with the former emperor.

The generals fared a little better, though not by much. When entering the palace, who would dare bring weapons? Without arms in hand, the military officials were like tigers stripped of their fangs, able to play only a very limited role against assassins wielding long swords.

Fortunately, the envoys from the tribute delegations had not been forbidden from carrying weapons. Many of their guards drew their blades and fought the assassins in a dense melee, greatly easing the pressure on the scene.

Baili Xian and Tie Wula were not idle either. They joined the chaos at once, each engaging three or four of the First Month experts. Liu Degui shielded the empress dowager and the emperor, blocking the assassins' attacks.

Though they were at a disadvantage for the moment, everyone present knew that once the imperial guards arrived, these assassins would amount to nothing more than a joke.

With conviction in their hearts, they fought back all the more fiercely. At some point Su Yunyun had sidled over to Liu Ling'er's side. He remained rather composed, after all; these assassins were not targeting the foreign envoys, but directing all their force against the royal house of the Eastern Chu.

To put it bluntly, Su Yunyun and the others had arrived at the worst possible time. They had come to offer birthday congratulations, only to be swept into such a maelstrom.

Amid the flashes of blades and swords, blood spattered across the ground, and many arms and legs lay scattered there as well. The scene was grotesquely bloody.

How could the consorts and palace maids of the inner court ever have seen such a sight? Those with stronger constitutions went pale as if struck by grave illness; those with weaker nerves crouched on the ground and vomited miserably, even bringing up last night's meal.

Not only women, but even useless eunuchs and the members of the envoy groups who had never witnessed such a scene could not bear it, each revealing one ugly display after another.

The deadlock had lasted less than a minute when a heavy thudding sound arose. The people of Eastern Chu on the scene were instantly lifted in spirit: their reinforcements had arrived. It seemed that in an instant, strength returned to their bodies, and their resistance became even sharper.

By now Liu Ling'er still could not make out exactly whom these assassins were meant to kill. It was impossible that they had come merely to massacre the Eastern Chu royal family on such a broad scale; there had to be a key target. But looking at the everywhere-flowering chaos, had she misjudged it all?

Just as she was about to give up on untangling the matter, a sharp whistle sounded outside Phoenix Rest Palace, and a black shadow leaped up from beyond the palace wall.