You get Lu Bu as your starting character.

Chapter 267 The Mountain King is Attacked

Northern Xinjiang.

Zhenbeicheng.

Inside the council hall of the General of the North's Mansion.

Lu Bu frowned slightly as he looked at the imperial decree that had just arrived from the court.

Sitting below were Cao Xing, Hao Meng, and several other generals.

Seeing that Lü Bu's brows were slightly furrowed, Wei Xu asked, "General, what did the imperial decree say?"

Lu Bu glanced at Wei Xu and the other generals; "The imperial decree concerns the affairs of Beidu Prefecture. His Majesty has ordered me to personally go to Beidu Prefecture."

What happened in Beidu Prefecture?

Upon hearing this, Cao Xing, Wei Xu, and the other generals all showed a hint of surprise on their faces.

They had received a message from Gao Shun that the prefect of Beidu Prefecture had been killed and something had happened.

They have gathered at the General's Mansion to discuss this matter and decide who to send to Beidu Prefecture to support Gao Shun.

Unexpectedly, even an imperial decree has now arrived.

It seems that things in Beidu Prefecture are not as simple as they imagined.

Lu Bu put down the imperial edict in his hand and said to Cao Xing and the other generals, "Those two madmen who attacked and killed the prefect of Beidu Prefecture are not ordinary people. They are worldly people from 'Tianshan'."

"This is an explanation from the Eastern Depot regarding those who engage in worldly affairs. You should all take a look!"

Lu Bu handed the explanation sent by the Eastern Depot regarding those who had entered the world to Cao Xing and the others.

Originally, Lü Bu thought the matter in Beidu Prefecture was just an ordinary matter, and he planned to send one of Cao Xing and his men to Beidu Prefecture.

But unexpectedly, the matter in Beidu Prefecture was not so simple, and actually involved people outside the secular world.

This was the first time Lü Bu had ever heard of anything beyond the mortal world.

However, regardless of whether it's outside the secular world or something else, if they dare to assassinate the prefect of Beidu Prefecture, Lü Bu will not let them go.

The imperial court has issued an edict, so Lü Bu must personally go to the northern capital to meet these people outside the secular world.

After reading the Eastern Depot's explanation to those who had entered the world, Cao Xing and the others all looked rather solemn.

They never imagined that within the Great Zhou Dynasty, there could be a place beyond the mundane world.

This is quite unexpected.

After seeing that Cao Xing and the others had finished reading the explanations sent by the Eastern Depot regarding those who were involved in worldly affairs, Lü Bu looked at them and said, "You have all read the explanations regarding those who are involved in worldly affairs."

"Those two madmen in Beidu Prefecture are probably those so-called worldly people. I will go to Beidu Prefecture myself."

"You will all stay in the northern frontier and guard against those worldly people, lest we be attacked by them like the Northern Capital was."

Lu Bu gave instructions to Cao Xing and the others.

"Yes, General."

Cao Xing and the others all bowed and accepted the order.

……

Luoyang.

On the official road thirty miles away.

Prince Zhou Zhan, along with a contingent of his private troops, is returning to Luoyang.

Prince Zhou Zhan, following imperial orders, collected the private armies of powerful and wealthy families across the land. After several months, he finally completed the emperor's decree and collected all the private armies of these families.

Most of the private soldiers recruited have already been properly arranged by the Ministry of War.

This is the last batch of private soldiers.

Zhou Zhan rode on horseback, heading towards Luoyang along the official road.

The private army that followed stretched out in a long line.

At this moment, a burly general rode up from behind.

"Your Highness, something seems amiss in our surroundings."

Pan Feng spoke in a low voice to Zhou Zhan, the Prince of Kao Shan.

That's right.

This burly general was none other than Pan Feng.

King Zhou Zhan of Kao Shan was ordered to collect the private armies of powerful families across the land. In addition to the assistance of the Eastern Depot, he also had a number of people dispatched by the Ministry of War. Pan Feng was one of those people dispatched by the Ministry of War to follow King Zhou Zhan in collecting private armies.

Uh?
Something's wrong?
King Zhou Zhan paused for a moment, then glanced around.

There were groves of trees on both sides of the official road, and at this moment the groves were unusually quiet, without even a bird chirping.

Something is definitely not right.

If Pan Feng hadn't reminded him, Zhou Zhan, the Prince of Kao Shan, wouldn't have noticed.

"not good."

"Murderous."

Zhou Zhan, as the Prince of Kao Shan, spent his entire life in the military.

Therefore, King Zhou Zhan of Kao Shan was exceptionally sensitive to killing intent.

Just a moment ago, the murderous aura emanating from the trees on both sides, though very faint, was still sensed by King Zhou Zhan.

King Zhou Zhan's expression changed, but he hadn't had time to order a precaution.

brush brush...

Arrows shot out from the woods on both sides of the official road.

"Enemy attack."

"alert."

King Zhou Zhan and Pan Feng reacted simultaneously, immediately shouting and drawing their weapons to block the incoming arrows.

The private soldiers behind them didn't even have time to react before they were shot to death by volleys of arrows.

These private soldiers came from different aristocratic families and had not undergone systematic reorganization.

Now, suddenly attacked, chaos ensued.

Only the thousand-plus Divine Martial Guards following King Zhou Zhan of Kaoshan stood in orderly fashion, blocking the arrows without the slightest panic.

However, the main targets of these incoming arrows were Prince Zhou Zhan and Pan Feng, as well as the thousands of Divine Martial Guards following behind them.

As for the private soldiers behind them, they were not the primary targets of the arrows.

After several volleys of arrows, groups of masked men in black emerged from the woods on both sides of the official road.

"kill……"

These masked men in black charged straight at King Zhou Zhan and the thousands of Divine Martial Guards following behind him, ignoring the private soldiers who were already in chaos behind them.

obviously.

These masked men in black were targeting Prince Zhou Zhan and his thousands of Divine Guards.

Ghost-Faced Assassin?
Upon seeing the attire of these men in black who charged out, King Zhou Zhan's expression changed.

King Zhou Zhan had dealt with these masked assassins before.

Unexpectedly, these rats that had been hiding in XZ have reappeared.

"You rats who have been hiding in XZ dare to show your faces again, you're asking for death."

"Today, I will exterminate all of you rats."

With a leap, King Zhou Zhan of Kao Shan killed two masked assassins in one fell swoop.

"King Kao Shan, you certainly have a big mouth."

"Your court has always wanted to wipe us out, but aren't we still alive and well?"

"It's still uncertain who will defeat whom today!"

Four ghostly figures soared into the air and charged directly at King Zhou Zhan.

King Zhou Zhan of Kao Shan possesses the strength of a peak Grandmaster of the First Rank. As long as no Half-Step Celestial Being emerges, King Zhou Zhan of Kao Shan will be among the top people in the world.

However, the aura emanating from the four masked figures was not much weaker than that of King Zhou Zhan.

In particular, the strange attack techniques of the four ghostly figures were simply impossible to defend against.

The five figures instantly engaged in a fierce battle.

Pan Feng, standing beside him, swung his large axe at the same time that King Zhou Zhan leaped into the air, slashing at the black-clad, masked men charging towards them.

With a few swings of his axe, Pan Feng instantly killed more than a dozen masked men in black.

Seeing that King Zhou Zhan was being besieged by four black-clad, masked experts, Pan Feng was about to leap over to help.

Unfortunately, just as Pan Feng leaped into the air, he was stopped by three masked men in black. Meanwhile, the thousand or so Divine Martial Guards were engaged in a fierce battle with the masked men.

These masked men in black were all highly trained assassins, and they were in no way inferior to the elite forces of the Divine Martial Guard.

For a time, the two sides fought fiercely.

Whether it was the Divine Martial Guards or the masked men in black, corpses kept falling to the ground.

The official road was a scene of constant fighting.

……

On a high slope some distance from the official road where King Zhou Zhan and the masked man in black were fighting, several figures stood looking down and watching the battle between King Zhou Zhan and the masked assassin in black.

"This King of the Mountain is practically half-buried, yet he still maintains such fighting strength. That's quite impressive."

"It's not bad. There aren't many people in this mortal world who are qualified to fight us, but the King of Kao Shan is one of them."

“That Pan Feng is quite talented. He’s so young, yet he has such combat power. If possible, we could recruit him.”

"I'm telling you guys, what's so interesting about these mundane battles? Why make it so complicated? Why not just slap these government officials to death? Why go through all this trouble by using people from the secular world?"

"Hehe, let these worldly people test the waters first. It's not time for us to step in yet."

"I wonder if the emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty will be so angry that his forehead will bleed when he learns that this Prince Kao Shan was killed thirty miles outside Luoyang."

These figures watched the battle between King Zhou Zhan and the masked man in black below while chatting idly.

……

on the official road.

King Zhou Zhan and the four masked men in black were engaged in a fierce battle.

Facing the combined attack of four masked men in black, King Zhou Zhan of Kao Shan held his own against all odds.

Zhou Zhan, as the Prince of Kao Shan, was able to become one of the two pillars of the Great Zhou Dynasty, not only because he had served three dynasties and was highly experienced.

Furthermore, King Zhou Zhan of Kaoshan was very strong, ranking among the top experts in the entire Great Zhou Dynasty.

Therefore, even when facing the combined attack of four masked men in black, King Zhou Zhan of Kao Shan was still able to handle the situation with ease.

The five figures clashed fiercely, exchanging dozens of blows.

Judging from the current situation, it seems that the outcome will not be clear for the time being.

brush brush...

Sudden.

at this time.

The four masked men in black simultaneously unleashed hidden weapons, casually shooting them at Zhou Zhan, the Prince of Kao Shan.

Zhou Zhan reacted quickly, swinging the Golden Stream sword in his hand several times.

bang bang bang...

A series of soft knocking sounds were heard as tiny silver needles were knocked to the ground by King Zhou Zhan.

"Puch..."

Although King Zhou Zhan of Kaoshan knocked down many silver needles, three of them still pierced through his defenses and struck his body.

"mean."

"They actually used a hidden weapon to launch a sneak attack."

After the silver needles were inserted into his body, King Zhou Zhan immediately felt something was wrong with his body.

King Zhou Zhan, his face contorted with rage, continued his fight with the four masked men in black.

"Heh, we're assassins. As long as we can kill people, whether it's despicable or not doesn't matter."

The four masked men in black sneered as they launched a frenzied attack on King Zhou Zhan.

"If you want to kill me, then I'll take a few of you down with me."

"die."

Without regard for the consequences, the Mountain King unleashed a golden slash at one of the black-clad, masked men.

"puff."

A mouthful of blood spurted out.

The masked man in black was sent flying, collapsing to the ground and remaining motionless.

King Zhou Zhan, with a backhand strike, unleashed another golden slash at yet another masked man in black.

"boom……"

Another masked man in black had his head smashed by King Yijinjian.

After killing two masked men in black, King Zhou Zhan of Kao Shan became sluggish in his reactions.

"boom……"

The remaining two masked men in black struck Zhou Zhan, the Prince of Kao Shan, from both sides.

"puff."

Like a kite with a broken string, King Zhou Zhan of Kao Shan fell backwards to the ground, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

"Your Majesty..."

Pan Feng's expression changed upon seeing this scene.

Pan Feng killed one of the black-clad masked men with a single axe blow, repelled the other two black-clad masked men who were entangled with him, and was about to rush towards King Zhou Zhan.

Pan Feng had already seen that Prince Kao Shan, Zhou Zhan, was seriously injured, and the two masked men in black who had seriously injured Prince Kao Shan, Zhou Zhan, were now rushing towards him again.

However, just as Pan Feng leaped into the air, the two black-clad, masked men who had been repelled by Pan Feng rushed up again and blocked Pan Feng's path.

As the two masked men in black were about to reach King Zhou Zhan, Pan Feng's eyes turned red with anger.

Pan Feng could tell that Zhou Zhan, the Prince of Kao Shan, was in extremely poor condition and could not withstand the attack of the two masked men in black at all.

If the Prince of Kaoshan were killed, who could bear the blame if the emperor were to punish him?

Unfortunately, no matter how anxious she was, Pan Feng could only watch helplessly, unable to provide timely assistance.

The chilling sword light was about to pierce through Zhou Zhan, the Prince of Kao Shan...

At this critical moment.

A powerful aura rushed in from afar.

The soft, feminine voice made everyone's ears go numb.

"presumptuous."

“Those petty villains dared to assassinate the Prince of Kao Shan of my Great Zhou in my Luoyang Sili region. They are courting death.”

The soft, feminine voice drifted from afar.

A strange beam of light shot out, directly attacking the two black-clad, masked men who had already reached King Zhou Zhan.

"boom."

The two masked men in black were about to kill King Zhou Zhan, but before they could succeed, they exploded, turning into a rain of blood.

This scene caused all the masked men in black to change their expressions.

It should be noted that the four masked men in black who dealt with King Zhou Zhan were not weaklings; they were the four strongest among them, all of whom possessed the strength of Grandmasters.

Even a Grandmaster of such strength was instantly killed from afar, leaving no trace of his body.

This had a significant impact on the masked men in black.

Even though they were all assassins walking on the edge of life and death, they couldn't help but feel a chill run down their spines when they saw the two black-clad, masked men explode.

Followed by.

A figure came flying through the air from afar.

In an instant, it appeared before everyone.

Eunuch Cao?
Upon seeing the newcomers, both Pan Feng and Zhou Zhan, the Prince of Kao Shan, were delighted and breathed a sigh of relief.

That's right.

The visitor was none other than Cao Zhengchun, the head of the Eastern Depot.

Cao Zhengchun coldly surveyed the black-clad, masked men, his face extremely grim.

These people actually dared to assassinate the Prince of Kao Shan right under the nose of his Eastern Depot. They were incredibly audacious and didn't take his Eastern Depot seriously at all.

If he hadn't arrived in time, and the Prince of Kao Shan had been assassinated, the Eastern Depot would have been incurs the Emperor's wrath.

After all, this was within the jurisdiction of Luoyang, only thirty li away from Luoyang, right under the nose of his Eastern Depot.

If something happens to the Prince of Kao Shan, the Eastern Depot will be the first to suffer the consequences.

(End of this chapter)