Heaven Dou Imperial Palace, Taihe Hall.
The morning court had not yet ended when a guard stumbled and crawled into the hall, his face covered in soot. Facing the assembled officials and Xue Ye on the throne, he shouted:
"Your, Your Majesty! This is bad! The three major military districts outside the city were attacked simultaneously! The camps were bombed, and the troops... the troops have barely survived!"
"What?!"
The entire court erupted in uproar.
Xue Ye sat upon the dragon throne, and the little color remaining in his already pale face vanished instantly.
He abruptly pushed himself up, pointing outside the hall with trembling lips.
"Wh-who dares attack Heaven Dou's army?"
"I don't know, Your Majesty!"
The guard cried out:
"We've never seen the weapons they used before! Mere beams of light could flatten entire camps. It was terrifying!"
Xue Ye felt the world spinning. A sharp pain struck his chest, and he suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood before falling stiffly backward.
"Your Majesty!"
"Summon the imperial physicians!"
The hall immediately descended into chaos.
Within the Crown Prince's Mansion, Qian Renxue was reading a secret report when earth-shaking explosions suddenly rang out from beyond the window.
She sprang to her feet, her crimson pupils contracting sharply.
After a spy stumbled inside and explained the situation, she clenched her fists so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
"Shen Lian... so it really was you!"
She finally understood Shen Lian's objective—not the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect, but the entire Heaven Dou Empire!
The explosions continued. Looking at the flames soaring into the sky outside, Qian Renxue felt troubled for the first time.
At that moment, Qian Renxue also understood what Shen Lian had wanted Heaven Dou Empire's deployment map for back then.
Thus, Qian Renxue knew that Heaven