"Hmm?"
Jian Shang waved Zhang Liang to his feet, then looked toward the hall doors with his thick brows slightly furrowed.
Dozens of Huan-Clad Guards arrived swiftly and stopped outside the Golden Hall. Then a gold-robed guard entered, carrying a blood-drenched, grievously wounded man with disheveled hair. His aura seethed, and the stench of blood was overpowering; he had clearly just been through a savage slaughter.
Gold robes marked a grand commander of the Great Huan Office's Huan-Clad Guard, a position of considerable power and standing that entitled its holder to an audience with the emperor without prior notice.
Crack...
The gold-robed guard entered and casually flung the man he carried onto the floor. Amid the dull impact, the sound of breaking bones rang out distinctly. Bright blood spread across the hall as the guard dropped to one knee and reported:
"Your Majesty! The enemy general Peng Yue has been brought before you!"
The atmosphere in the vast hall abruptly froze...
What sort of place was the Golden Hall? How could such insolence be tolerated here? Judging by the gold-robed guard's conduct, there was good reason to suspect he had done it deliberately.
Everyone looked again at the wretched, dying man. His hair hung loose, and blood mingled with mud all over him. Even his armor was shattered and caked with dirt, as though he had been dragged out of a mire. Several clear footprints were visible on him as well. He had plainly been deliberately abused.
Who was this enemy general, Peng Yue?!
Peng Yue, the Han Kingdom's Marquis of Jian, had once been the mighty leader of a rebel army who dominated an entire region. Now a Mid-Stage Loose Immortal with the valor to hold off ten thousand men, he had actually been reduced to this?!
Zhang Liang