lcionline Chapter 268 Rivals Meet, Eyes Filled with Hatred
Chapter 268 Rivals Meet, Eyes Filled with Hatred
As the saying goes, rivals in love are bound to be extremely hostile.
Looking at Chu Qingyin's face, which, though somewhat haggard, still retained its stunning beauty, Empress Wang wished she could draw her sword and slash that annoying face.
"Someone, remove the cloth from her mouth," Empress Wang ordered lazily.
"Yes." Lin Qing quickly stepped forward.
Now that her mouth was free to speak, Chu Qingyin immediately looked at the elegantly dressed woman sitting high on the phoenix throne, her beautiful eyes filled with disgust and wariness. "What do you want to do?"
"What do you think I want to do?"
Empress Wang smiled slightly, her resentful gaze sweeping over Chu Qingyin's face. "I didn't expect you to be such a femme fatale. Now His Majesty and Lu Zhiheng are fighting fiercely outside the city because of you. I'm curious, are you more worried about His Majesty right now, or about your lover?"
Chu Qingyin was startled; she knew that Empress Wang was definitely going to use her against her.
She tilted her head back, her eyes fixed on the person above her. "Empress, are you really not afraid that His Majesty will come after you when he returns to the palace?"
Empress Wang's eyes darkened.
Looking at Chu Qingyin again, her expression grew even colder: "You treacherous wretch, what right do you have to mention His Majesty?"
"Besides, even if His Majesty comes back to the palace to settle accounts with me, you probably won't be able to see it."
Chu Qingyin was taken aback by his words. "What do you mean by that?"
Empress Wang seemed to thoroughly enjoy her astonished expression, leisurely smoothing the peony and phoenix hairpin at her temple, and said with a sweet laugh, "Tell me, if His Majesty and Lu Zhiheng were to choose between the empire and a beautiful woman, what would they choose?"
After he finished speaking, the Phoenix Palace seemed to fall silent for a moment.
Before she could even process what she meant, Chu Qingyin struggled, gritting her teeth as she said, "Wang Yujun, you heartless madwoman, you won't succeed!"
Empress Wang ignored her and turned to Lin Qing beside her, saying, "Come on, take our Consort Liang to the city wall and let everyone see what this femme fatale who has caused unrest in the country looks like."
***
On the battlefield, the two armies clashed fiercely, locked in a fierce and evenly matched battle, with deafening cries of battle echoing through the air.
Just as both sides suffered heavy casualties and no one was willing to retreat, a group of well-dressed figures appeared on the majestic city wall.
At that time, Pei Yuanling and Lu Zhiheng were both fighting fiercely, and their armor was already stained with blood.
There are enemies, and there are our own.
Just as the two were locked in fierce combat on horseback, a sudden and disorderly drumbeat came from the city wall.
Not to mention the soldiers on the battlefield, even Pei Yuanling and Lu Zhiheng were startled and subconsciously looked up.
Upon seeing this, both men's expressions changed.
Behind the city wall stood two familiar figures.
The stunningly beautiful woman, dressed in an elegant light purple robe, with disheveled black hair and bound hand and foot, was none other than Chu Qingyin, who was struggling relentlessly.
Beside her, Empress Wang, dressed in a silver-red phoenix robe, smiled and held a sharp dagger against Chu Qingyin's throat.
"Your Majesty, Lu Zhiheng, listen carefully!"
Empress Wang stepped forward and shouted loudly towards the outside of the city, "Now this calamity is in my hands. You two, one is the emperor, and the other is the orphan of the former crown prince, make a choice today: do you want this vast empire, or this beauty?"
The empress's voice echoed across the battlefield, instantly causing a stir.
The soldiers stopped what they were doing and looked at the figures on the city wall.
Pei Yuanling and Lu Zhiheng also heard Empress Wang's threat, and their expressions instantly turned extremely ugly.
Lu Zhiheng gripped his long sword, looking at Chu Qingyin, whose face had become noticeably thinner, and felt a pang of pain in his heart.
Seeing the smug Empress again, her eyes almost spitting fire, she shouted angrily, "Wang, this matter has nothing to do with her, release her at once!"
Pei Yuanling also gripped the precious sword tightly in his hand, his face so gloomy it seemed as if ink could drip from it—
"Empress, if you dare to harm her in the slightest, I will make sure you die a horrible death!"
Faced with the threats from the two men, Empress Wang remained unmoved, only sneering, "Your Majesty, Lu Zhiheng, don't force me, otherwise, I can't guarantee this wretch's safety."
Chu Qingyin could sense the madness of the person behind her.
The empress has probably really gone mad.
Looking down at the city, amidst the chaos of war, Pei Yuanling and Lu Zhiheng on horseback were covered in blood, and her heart felt as if it were being tightly gripped by an invisible hand.
Helplessness, sorrow, and an indescribable sense of self-reproach.
"Wang Yujun, I know you hate me, but do you think Pei Yuanling will love you if you kill me?"
Chu Qingyin said coldly, "He doesn't know how to love, nor does he know how to love. I, Wei Qiuyi, and so many other women in the harem lost our lives fighting for his love. Do you also want to follow in our footsteps and seek your own death for the so-called love of an emperor?"
At first, Empress Wang thought she was just being clever and trying to fool her into releasing the person.
But soon she realized something was wrong with those words.
"What do you mean by 'all lost their lives'?"
Empress Wang frowned, and suddenly, as if realizing something, she turned to look at the woman in front of her: "You...who exactly are you?"
Chu Qingyin turned her head slightly: "What do you think, Your Majesty?"
She called out "Your Majesty the Empress" with a tone that was both light and arrogant.
But in that instant, another face seemed to appear before Empress Wang's eyes—
Without the cinnabar mole between her eyebrows, her beauty was even more radiant and haughty, like the domineering face of a peony.
"The...Imperial Consort?"
Her hand gripping the dagger trembled slightly as Empress Wang cried out in disbelief, "No, no, she's long dead. I saw her corpse with my own eyes. How could she still be alive..."
She remembered clearly that when the palace servants reported the death of the Imperial Concubine, she personally led people to the Cold Palace to collect the remains.
Chu Qingyin was clearly dead; her face was bluish-purple and ashen.
"Don't try to play tricks on me, I don't believe in any of that!"
Empress Wang quickly regained her composure, taking it as a trick by Chu Qingyin to deceive her, and sneered, "Consort Liang, don't waste your energy. Today, you are the most important pawn in my hands."
On the smoke-filled battlefield, Pei Yuanling and Lu Zhiheng were also locked in a stalemate.
"Your Majesty, you cannot agree to the Empress's request!"
Holding a spear, Gu Li anxiously advised Pei Yuanling: "This is a conspiracy between the Wang family and the Empress. If you give up the throne for Consort Liang, the world will surely fall into chaos!"
"Yes, Your Majesty, you must not act rashly!" the other generals echoed.
Pei Yuanling was in great pain, looking at Chu Qingyin on the city wall, his eyes filled with struggle.
"Yinyin, what should I do..."
Meanwhile, Shen Ran also advised Lu Zhiheng, "Master, you must not be fooled! This is all a trap set by Pei Yuanling and the Wang family. If we give up the attack for Miss Qiao, all our years of preparation will be in vain."
Lu Zhiheng gritted his teeth, looking at Chu Qingyin, who was being held at knifepoint on the city wall, and his heart sank heavily.
Just as the two men were locked in a stalemate, the situation on the battlefield took a subtle turn.
Because of the Empress's actions, the morale of the imperial army was affected to some extent. Shen Ran gritted his teeth and secretly made a gesture to the army, signaling them to continue the attack.
"Kill them!"
In an instant, Zhang Xian's former subordinates shouted slogans and charged forward.
Pei Yuanling's army gradually lost its resistance and began to show signs of collapse.
Upon seeing this, Pei Yuanling's heart sank.
He knew that if things continued like this, the imperial army would be completely annihilated.
No, he absolutely cannot let these traitors succeed.
Taking a deep breath, he gripped his longsword and charged at the enemy once more.
Seeing the emperor regain his strength, the morale of the imperial army was greatly boosted, and they once again engaged in a fierce battle with Zhang Xian's former troops.
Hearing the sounds of battle, Empress Wang on the city wall felt a little anxious.
She thought her move would deter Pei Yuanling and Lu Zhiheng, but she didn't expect them to be so resolute.
"Your Majesty, Lu Zhiheng, have you made your choice yet?"
Empress Wang shouted again towards the outside of the city, "If you don't make a choice soon, I'll have to take action!"
As she spoke, she tightened her grip on the dagger slightly, and a bloodstain immediately appeared on Chu Qingyin's fair and slender neck.
Chu Qingyin grunted, but showed no fear: "See? I told you, threatening them with me won't work."
Empress Wang said, "Since that's the case, then I have no need to keep you here any longer."
As she spoke, she suddenly pulled the rope, and Chu Qingyin's body instantly lost its balance, tilting towards the outside of the city wall.
Upon seeing this, the two men fighting on the battlefield widened their eyes and cried out in hoarse voices, "No—"