Nine dragons fight for the throne, I don't want to sit on this throne

In front of the Tower of Gratitude, Li Junxian, wearing black armor and holding his sword, stood in the middle of the steps like a sculpture.

His eyes kept scanning the surroundings, not missing any movement.

"General, the tower has been checked five times."

The deputy general walked over quickly, beads of sweat on his forehead. "We have deployed our men on every floor. Even the drainage pipes have been checked."

Li Junxian nodded slightly, but still worried: "Check again, focusing on the observation decks on the third and seventh floors. Those are the easiest places to start."

"Yes, sir!" The deputy general clasped his fists and was about to leave, but was stopped again.

"and many more."

Li Junxian frowned. "Send a team to secretly monitor the nearby restaurants and teahouses, especially those that can see the top of the tower."

The deputy general looked puzzled: "The general is worried..."

"Archers." Li Junxian said coldly, "If anyone wants to assassinate someone, that's the best position."

As he was speaking, the sound of orderly horse hooves came from afar.

Li Junxian looked up and saw a gilded carriage slowly approaching under the protection of the imperial guards.

He took a deep breath, adjusted his armor, and strode forward.

The night wind suddenly became cold, blowing up the fallen leaves on the ground.

The lanterns on the Baoen Pagoda shook violently, and the light and shadows they cast were like ghosts with bared fangs and claws.

Li Junxian felt an inexplicable palpitation in his heart. He subconsciously tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword, his eyes scanning the surrounding darkness like an eagle.

Something seemed to be stirring there.

Under the Tower of Gratitude, the imperial guards were lined up and torches were like a forest.

Chu Ning was holding Wu Xiuning's hand and was about to step onto the stairs when suddenly his ears moved slightly - an unusual sharp sound came from the wind.

"Get down!"

He roared and pushed Wu Xiuning towards Zhao Yu beside him, while the long sword at his waist was unsheathed.

"Whoosh whoosh—"

Dozens of crossbow arrows flew through the air, as black as a swarm of locusts.

Chu Ning's sword flashed like lightning, and in an instant it formed a silver light curtain in front of him. The arrow hit the sword edge, splashing out dazzling sparks.

Zhao Yu reacted extremely quickly, his iron tower-like body blocking in front of Wu Xiuning, and sweeping the spear in his hand, chopping down all the arrows.

"Escort!"

Li Junxian shouted loudly, and the imperial guards instantly contracted their formation, raised their shields, and surrounded Wu Zhao and others.

However, screams have already been heard!

In a flash, something unexpected happened!

The two imperial guards who were originally guarding Cui Gaoyi suddenly jumped up, one of them grabbed Cui Gaoyi's shoulder with his backhand, and a cold light flashed in the sleeve of the other.

"Pfft!"

A short blade accurately pierced Cui Gaoyi's back, and the blade came out of his chest, bringing out a puff of blood.

Cui Gaoyi lowered his head in disbelief, looking at the tip of the knife dripping with blood on his chest, and a hoarse sound came from his throat.

The imperial guard had an expressionless face. He twisted his wrist and the blade stirred fiercely at Cui Gaoyi's heart. His eyes widened and he died on the spot!

"Mr. Cui!"

Li Chong was shocked and angry, and instinctively drew his sword, but saw three imperial guards on the left attack at the same time!

One swung his sword at his sword-wielding arm, another kicked him in the knee, and the last one...

"Whoosh!"

A hidden arrow shot out from the imperial guard's wrist guard and went straight for Li Chong's throat!

Li Chong barely turned his head, and the arrow grazed his neck, leaving a trail of blood.

But the real killer move was behind the scenes - an assassin disguised as a servant suddenly jumped up, and the thin sword in his hand pierced Li Chong's jaw from bottom to top like a poisonous snake, and the tip of the sword pierced through the top of his head!

"Pfft!"

Li Chong's body fell to the ground with a thud, and blood mixed with brain matter slowly spread across the bluestone slabs.

Two of the heads of the eight great families fell dead instantly, and the remaining six looked pale and retreated hurriedly under the escort of their guards.

"boom!"

The second floor of a teahouse on the street suddenly exploded, and five black shadows broke out of the window, rushing towards Chu Ning like ghosts!

The leader held two swords, the blades of which were poisoned and emitted a cold blue light.

He slashed down in mid-air with his sword, but Chu Ning dodged sideways and raised the sword diagonally. With a "clang" sound, the sword was deflected and he stabbed the opponent's heart with his backhand.

The assassin twisted his body strangely, flipped over in mid-air, and slashed towards Chu Ning's neck with both swords!

"court death!"

Zhao Yu roared, and his spear swept across the assassin's waist and abdomen like an angry dragon emerging from the sea.

The assassin had to put away his knife to block, but was knocked back several feet by the huge force and stumbled to the ground.

The other four assassins were already approaching.

One of them used a chain gun, and the gun head was wrapped around Chu Ning's wrist like a poisonous snake. One of them held a short spear, focusing on attacking the lower body. The other two fired sleeve arrows continuously, aiming at Chu Ning's eyes!

Chu Ning sneered, and the sword's momentum suddenly changed, with a faint green light appearing on the sword's edge.

His figure was like a phantom, he dodged the sleeve arrow in an instant, and with a twist of his long sword, the chain gun broke into several pieces.

Before the assassin with the gun could react, a line of blood appeared on his throat!

"Not good, he's too strong!" The double-bladed assassin's pupils shrank suddenly: "Retreat!"

"Want to go now? It's too late!"

Zhao Yu's spear stirred up a gust of wind, sweeping an assassin away.

Another assassin had just jumped onto the roof when he suddenly felt a chill on his back - Chu Ning's sword had already pierced through his back!

The remaining two assassins looked at each other and suddenly pounced on the frightened family heads.

"Stop them!" Li Junxian drew his sword and led the imperial guards to intercept and kill them.

The assassin wielding two swords suddenly grinned, took out a black ball from his arms and smashed it to the ground.

"boom!"

A blinding white light exploded, and smoke instantly enveloped the entire venue.

Chu Ning closed his eyes and retreated quickly. He heard a "click" sound of a mechanism in his ears.

"careful!"

He pounced on Wu Zhao suddenly, and a three-edged armor-piercing arrow grazed his shoulder and penetrated deeply into the beam behind him.

The tail of the arrow vibrated hummingly, and the dark blue venom on the tip of the arrow was slowly dripping.

The smoke cleared and the assassin disappeared.

There were only five corpses on the ground and the blood of the two family heads, forming a glaring stream on the bluestone slabs.

Wu Xiuning was held in Zhao Yu's arms, her face pale.

Wu Zhao's eyes were frosty as she stared at the corpses of Cui Gaoyi and Li Chong.

Chu Ning picked up an arrow dropped by an assassin and stroked the mark on the arrow shaft with his fingertips - a phoenix with spread wings.

"This is something from the Zhou Dynasty palace, and only the most elite eunuchs under Wu Zhao have it." He whispered to himself, with murderous intent in his eyes.

Li Junxian knelt on one knee: "I have failed in my duty! Your Majesty, please forgive me!"

The Empress slowly shook her head, her voice as cold as ice:

"If they dare to attack now, they must have come prepared. Moreover, there are people colluding with them from both inside and outside!"

As he spoke, the protected Wu Zhao rushed over and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Chu Ning was fine.

"As long as you're okay!"

She was planning to announce the annexation of the Great Zhou Dynasty into the State of Chu tonight. If something happened to Chu Ning at this time, then this matter would have to be postponed.

Wu Xiuning also came up at this moment, her face wrinkled as she asked, "Father, who are these people, and why are they taking action now?"

Chu Ning narrowed his eyes and sneered, "I also want to know who they are, so I found this from them!"

He handed over the arrow.

When Wu Zhao saw the phoenix above, her face changed drastically: "This is impossible!"