Chapter 220: 220 Trees Fall, The Monkeys Scatter
He had just discovered that the street outside the Heavenly Master Mansion had unexpectedly been blocked by barricades and lined with a row of crossbow carts.
Hundreds of fully armed soldiers were currently surrounding the Heavenly Master Mansion!
These soldiers, donned in iron armor and wielding shields, spears, battleaxes, and other weapons, gleamed under the sunlight.
Not only that, atop the rooftops of the nearest east and west buildings to the Heavenly Master Mansion, numerous archers were crouched.
Even through the Mandarin Duck Mirror, Wang Chen could feel the tense atmosphere outside!
He couldn\'t help but frown.
Those soldiers besieging the Heavenly Master Mansion were clearly the elite of the Nan Shao City Guard Army.
The problem was, since Wang Chen had taken office as the Guarding Heavenly Master and had sent several dozen heads to Ruan Zhaoming, he had since kept his interactions with the Prefectural Government strictly in their respective lanes.
Where did this Prefectural Governor get the confidence to confront him, a Cloud Sun sect cultivator, in such a way?
After some thought, he immediately left the secret chamber and returned to the Star Observation Pavilion to summon Wan for questioning.
"Immortal Master!"
Upon seeing Wang Chen, Wan was overjoyed, "You\'ve finally come out of seclusion!"
Her expression was somewhat haggard, showing the great pressure she was under during this time.
Wang Chen asked in a deep voice, "What has happened?"
It turned out that five days ago, the Nan Shao City Guard Army suddenly mobilized in force, sealing off all the streets around the Heavenly Master Mansion.
They set up heavy troops and prepared for battle, no longer allowing anyone to approach the Guarding Heavenly Master Mansion.
Wan had no idea what was going on, and since Wang Chen was still in closed-off cultivation, she couldn\'t make decisions on her own and thus, could only keep the doors firmly closed and be on strict guard.
What Wan hadn\'t anticipated was that three days ago, Commander Yu Feihong from the Imperial Guard Bureau suddenly sent a messenger with orders summoning all the Imperial Guards back to Qian Capital.
One couldn\'t defy an imperial command, and all ten of the elite Imperial Guards stationed at the Heavenly Master Mansion left in compliance with the order.
At that point, Wan realized that the situation was dire and decisively sent away the few servants in the Heavenly Master Mansion.
She feared there were spies among these servants.
If the City Guard Army were to launch a strong attack on the Heavenly Master Mansion and there was collusion from within, then the situation would be extremely bad.
After hearing all this, Wang Chen was quite surprised, "Now there\'s only you left in the mansion?"
Wan nodded, "Yes."
When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter!
While Wang Chen found the situation absurd, he also realized that the days under Great Qian\'s sky were likely changing.
Otherwise, not to mention a mere Prefectural Governor, even the Emperor of Great Qian would never dare to be so disrespectful to a Guarding Heavenly Master!
"This is a letter from the Commander for you."
Wan presented a letter sealed with a wax stamp.
Wang Chen took it, opened it, and quickly read the contents.
In the letter, Yu Feihong explained that he had received an imperial decree and had no choice but to recall the Imperial Guards temporarily transferred to Wang Chen.
Besides these Imperial Guards, all the members of the Exorcism Hall in Nan Shao along with their families had also retreated to the capital.
Therefore, the power of the Imperial Guard Bureau would no longer exist in Nan Shao!
At the end of the letter, Yu Feihong hinted that the Cloud Sun sect might have undergone a change and reminded Wang Chen to prepare early.
It almost seemed like he was hinting for him to make a quick escape!
After reading the letter, Wang Chen fell into deep thought.
Trouble in the Cloud Sun sect had been within Wang Chen\'s expectations, otherwise, he wouldn\'t have sought refuge in Great Qian.
But who would have thought that he hadn\'t yet gotten comfortable in his position as the Guarding Heavenly Master,
And the ripples from the world of Immortal Cultivation had so quickly affected Great Qian.
To the point where this nation, which had been subservient to the Cloud Sun sect for generations, dared to turn against him!
Then the question arose, who had given Great Qian such courage?
Even if the Cloud Sun sect was in decline, Wang Chen was still a genuine Qi Cultivation cultivator.
It seems his low profile and amiable nature had been underestimated!
Wang Chen\'s eyes flashed with a sharp gleam.
With his palms together, he turned the letter into a handful of flying ashes and asked, "Why didn\'t you leave?"
Without hesitation, Wan knelt down and bowed, "Wan has received great kindness from the Immortal Master and is willing to serve the Immortal Master unto death!"
She was different from the other Imperial Guards. Previously, she had been gifted to Wang Chen by Yu Feihong to serve as a maid, so Wang Chen was her master, and she was no longer within the system of the Imperial Guard Bureau.
Yu Feihong had no authority to recall her either.
Although Wan hadn\'t been following Wang Chen for long, he had never treated her like a servant and had even awarded her three Innate Pills, helping her to break through to the Innate Realm in one go.
Wan felt immense gratitude in her heart and truly wished to live and die alongside Wang Chen!
"Your willingness is enough," he said.
Wang Chen extended his hand to help her up and said, "Come, let\'s go outside and have a look."
Although he spoke lightly, Wan could hear a hint of thunderous wrath in his voice, sensing that something significant was about to happen.
Thinking of those heavily armed, elite soldiers of the City Guard Army besieging the Heavenly Master\'s residence, her palms began to sweat.
She felt an inexplicable excitement and thrill!
Led by Wan, Wang Chen arrived at the front gates of the Heavenly Master\'s residence.
He commanded, "Open the gate."
"Yes!"
The next moment, the heavy vermilion gates of the Guarding Heavenly Master\'s residence swung open with a thunderous boom.
Wang Chen stepped out with his head held high.
At this moment, countless gazes converged upon him.
Especially those fully armed soldiers, who gripped their weapons tightly, each looking extremely tense.
For a thousand years, the reputation of the Cloud Sun sect\'s Immortal Masters in Great Qian was akin to the midday sun, too dazzling to look at directly.
Ordinary citizens would have to kneel and kowtow upon seeing the Guarding Heavenly Master!
Even though these elite soldiers were unparalleled in strength and will compared to average people,
they received their salaries from the Prefectural Mansion.
Yet when they truly faced Wang Chen, these elite troops still felt an uncontrollable fear rising within them.
"You have fifteen minutes\' time," Wang Chen declared from the tall steps, his voice grave. "Flee as far as you can, otherwise..."
"Consider yourselves warned!"
His voice wasn\'t loud, but it clearly reached the ears of everyone within a thousand steps.
Everyone who heard it turned pale with fright!
Bang!
Before the echo of Wang Chen\'s words had faded, his figure had already disappeared, and the gates of the Heavenly Master\'s residence slammed shut behind him.
A group of elite City Guard soldiers looked at each other in bewilderment, unsure of what to do.
Many shrank back, swallowing nervously.
"What\'s there to fear?" bellowed a burly man with curled mustache dressed in the official uniform of the Head of the Hundred Households. "A plucked phoenix is inferior to a chicken. With so many of us here, and the assistance of an Innate Master, are we still afraid we can\'t win..."
Crack!
Before he could finish his sentence, a bolt of blue-violet lightning suddenly descended from the sky.
It struck the Head of the Hundred Households\' head mercilessly.
He didn\'t even have time to scream before his entire body was reduced to a charred corpse!
"Run!"
Someone shouted, and the surrounding soldiers immediately threw down their weapons and fled in all directions.
They sprinted as fast as they could, cursing their legs for not being longer!
They left behind nothing but chaos.
---------
The first update is delivered.