Sliding down the dry well and turning a corner, they found themselves in a spacious hidden armory.
"Quick, the false emperor has reached the Qian Residence!" Cao Yiyan slid into the hidden armory and urgently commanded, "Hurry, hurry, hurry! Form ranks!"
"Yes!"
Everyone nervously sought their positions. In little more than a dozen breaths, a dark mass of men had lined up in perfect formation.
"Most of the false emperor's guards are still drawn outside. Now, everyone, immediately take the marching pills."
Their movements were perfectly uniform. Without hesitation, they swallowed the pills with water. After waiting a moment, painful groans rose one after another.
They endured the changes in their bodies, yet none of them moved. They waited only for the military order.
These six hundred elites were the true trump card.
Cao Yiyan surveyed them all and waved a hand. "Move out."
Someone stepped forward and gave a hard pull. Preparations had long been made; an underground passage led directly to a residence.
"Not the Qian Residence, but the residence next door to it."
With a forceful shove, the wall collapsed, exposing a foundation beneath that had been almost entirely hollowed out.
"Prepare yourselves. Blast open the Qian Residence's wall and charge in!"
"Execute the false emperor and restore Great Wei!"
"Execute the false emperor and restore Great Wei!" Everyone shouted soundlessly, drew their blades, and climbed up.
Only minutes after they had slid down through the dry well, at the tavern—
Boom! The door was kicked open. A group of people arrived, panting hard, their shoulders heaving and their bodies soaked through.
The leader wore the official robes of an Imperial City Office Hundred-Household Officer.
"Where are they? Search, now!"
Rain streamed down their faces, but they had no time to mind it. Every one of them