The Goddess of the Luo River Palace had no twists or turns. They walked a short way and reached the end of this stretch of dream. Divine Beauty and tranquility; Goddess of the Luo River Wood Peach blossoms crowded together here, flowing everywhere like water poured from the center.
Amid the flowing water, Silk Ribbons, and petals, a swing hung from flowering vines over the water.
Behind her, Pei Ye instantly forgot what they had just been discussing. Some inexplicable feeling stirred in him, choking his throat for a moment, but in the end he only stood there, dazed.
Hooves hammered like iron against streets still wet with rain.
Torchlight formed a torrent, roaring through the streets and alleys, leaving dazzling flashes in the standing water. Every window was shut tight. The shrill whistle of arrows and savage cries of slaughter echoed through the streets, and blood flowed through gaps beneath doors into the homes of ordinary people.
Since the Great General's rebellion twenty years ago, this city, though dilapidated, had never again suffered such a scourge of soldiers.
The Jin, Chun, Kai, and Tong Gates fell at once. Two racing torrents smashed through every obstacle and converged before the Vermilion Bird Gate, leaving countless corpses of Jinwu Soldiers along their paths. There was no chance to cast off armor and surrender, only death or flight.
Those who entered the city massed their troops before the Imperial City's three gates, while the routed soldiers, terrified of the reckoning to come, would slaughter and plunder that night before fleeing the capital before dawn.
Two other converging streams of iron cut between the Imperial City and the Palace City. These were less ferocious, but thin and long, their steps steady and orderly. They surrounded all Nine Gates of the Palace