The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 615 Retreat

The Imperial Palace stands in the west of Kyoto, but it has become increasingly dilapidated over the decades due to the struggles between daimyo. Last night's fire made it appear even more desolate.

The wildfire had not yet been extinguished, and the ground was covered in black ash.

Because of the heat of the wildfire, even the birds and beasts that came to peck at the corpses were nowhere to be seen, and there was not a single human figure in sight. So at the end of Suzaku Avenue, only the fierce wind howled past, turning the charcoal dust on the ground into a gray curtain.

Suddenly, a noise came from a distance.

"Death, death, death!"

"Shut up! Shut up!"

"Have they caught up yet? Anyone want to take a look?!"

"Don't look back! You'll die if you're even a fraction slower!"

As four shouts of cursing rapidly approached, the dust from the galloping cavalry billowed along Zhuque Avenue.

A few breaths later, the roof of the magnificent sedan chair was revealed, beneath which were four Sword Saints who were using all their strength to carry the chair at breakneck speed toward the Emperor's Palace.

All four were covered in blood. With each step they took, their blood-soaked shoes sprayed out droplets of blood. After a few steps, their shoes were half-dry, and then soaked through with the blood flowing from their bodies.

"no……"

The Sword Saint spoke from the left front.

"I can't hold on much longer..."

The Sword Saint on the right front was running wildly while shouting.

"Hold on!"

"We're only a hundred feet away from the Imperial Palace!"

"As long as we get there... as long as we get Princess Nanako there! Show some backbone and get through this hundred-zhang stretch!"

"if only--"

boom! ! !
The road ahead exploded with a deafening roar!

The loud noise cut his words off in an instant, shattering the composure that the four sword saints had managed to maintain.

The swordsman gritted his teeth, handed the palanquin pole to his left hand, and kept walking. Sometimes he would draw his sword and unleash a burst of sword light, cutting through the dust and revealing a figure in the center.

【Heavenly Hand Power God】.

They recognized the figure at a glance.

With his hair and beard bristling, his face like that of a wild beast, his body ancient and robust, and the muscles of his exposed forearms like twisted boulders—he was none other than Amaterasu, one of the seven Shinto deities who had come to intercept him!

Unlike when he first appeared, he was now covered in blood, with broken and stuck skin and flesh all over his neck and calves. His left arm was twisted and hanging from his shoulder, and his chest was a scarlet mess with four claw marks across it.

Without a doubt, it is Li Miao's masterpiece.

By now, the sword saints had no doubt about Li Miao's martial prowess whatsoever.

The seven great gods and demons who came to intercept them could easily kill them, but Li Miao blasted four of the demons away in a single exchange, and then punched through the abdomen of "Takeminakata-shin". His protective true energy swept all the gods into the battle, allowing them to break through the encirclement.

But... how come one was missed!
In the blink of an eye, the god of heavenly power in front of him looked up, revealing half of his pale right face with the skin torn off, and his left eye, which was full of bloodshot veins and murderous intent!

Bang!
Smoke and dust suddenly rose!

In an instant, the God of Heavenly Power suddenly leaped up, his still intact right hand outstretched, appearing infinitely larger in the eyes of the Sword Saints.

"I come!"

The swordsman on the left front roared and was about to rush forward to temporarily block the way and buy time for his companions to escape.

"do not want!"

The Sword Saint on the right front also let out a furious roar!
"Forget everything else! Just charge forward!"

"Lord Li said we don't need to worry about anything else. Close your eyes and charge forward!"

The swordsman on the left suddenly turned his head and glanced at him, only to see that he had indeed closed his eyes tightly and was using all his strength to accelerate forward again.

"Tsk!"

The group consisted of veterans who had been infiltrating Shintoism for many years and trusted each other implicitly. Seeing that their companion had made his choice, they no longer hesitated.

"Ughhhh!" The four of them roared in unison, closed their eyes, and charged forward.

The wind howled as it approached.

They could even smell the blood on the body of the god of heavenly power.

Even after making their choice, they still had doubts: "What if Li Miao is already dead? What if he's been held back by other powerful figures? Wouldn't we all die here in vain? And Princess Nanako along with him?"

Yes, isn't it too frivolous to place all our hopes on a person from the Central Plains?

The seven great gods... The sword saints who had been lurking in Shintoism for decades knew very well that each great god required dozens or even hundreds of swordsmen who practiced visualization techniques to sacrifice their lives in order to create a deity with an extremely small probability.

This is Shintoism's trump card, a method used to deliver the final blow. Shintoism has accumulated over thousands of years, but it would not have more than ten deities... and each of these deities is capable of massacring a city and destroying a country!
Is that man really still alive?
Was the choice I made the right one?
Bang!
Even a severely injured god cannot be withstood by a mere physical body. The swordsman facing the god of heavenly power to the left instantly turned into a bloody firework, exploding at close range, with blood splashing onto the faces of the other three swordsmen.

Woo!
The wind sounded again.

After a successful strike, the God of Heavenly Power threw another punch at the Sword Saint to his right rear.

"Uh ah ah!"

The swordsman on the right rear suddenly opened his eyes, his pupils shrinking to pinpoints with fear. He abruptly let go and turned to flee!

"idiot!"

The swordsman on the right front didn't open his eyes, but he could still deduce everything from the sounds he heard, and immediately let out an angry roar.

Is there any point in running away?

Can one escape an attack from the gods?
Bang!
Sure enough, the next moment, a muffled thud exploded!

Blood splattered all over my body and face again.

"rush!"

The swordsman on the right front grabbed the palanquin pole, roared, and charged forward. The swordsman on the left rear did the same, gritting his teeth and closing his eyes as he charged.

Now, they have no other choice.

We can only pin our hopes on that man!
Hurry up and get here!

"Roar!"

The roar of the gods exploded again, followed by the howling of the wind and the stench of blood. In an instant, they were ahead, blocking the way.

"It's over!"

The Sword Saint felt a chill run down his spine.

The next instant, the powerful gust of wind from the god's attack reached him, capable of shattering his skull in a single blow.

But just as the Sword Saint was falling into despair.

Wow.

The sound of the sedan curtain being lifted came from behind.

A slender, fair hand reached out from the sedan chair, over his shoulder, and pointed at the beast-like, powerful god.

"Go back."

Woo!
Before the Sword Saint could react, a whooshing sound suddenly came from in front of him, and the attack that was about to shatter his head was forcibly withdrawn.

The sedan curtain closed.

He opened his eyes, and a shadow suddenly appeared above his head.

"Get over here!"

The protective true energy swirled down from mid-air, sweeping away the Heavenly Hand Power God, while Li Miao's voice came from above.

"run!"

The Sword Saint in front suddenly realized that Li Miao had broken through the gods' blockade and come to the rescue!
He carried the sedan chair and rushed forward.

At the same time, a hint of doubt flashed in his eyes.

There was no movement from the sedan chair behind him, as if the calm "step back" he had just heard was merely a hallucination in his dying moments.

(End of this chapter)