Tang Dynasty Puppet Doctor

Chapter 97: Red Line's Betrayal, Final Showdown

Helan Minzhi's questioning one after another was like thunder exploding in everyone's ears.

The empress's silence made everyone in the hall feel terrified.

"A ruler should treat his subjects with courtesy, and subjects should serve their ruler with loyalty. If the ruler wishes for his subjects to die, they must die. This has been the Confucian doctrine since ancient times. Helan Minzhi, you were guilty of corruption and bribery first, and then you defiled countless women in Chang'an. The sage has exiled you, and this is the retribution and punishment you deserve!"
"You are unwilling to accept this, yet you inflict everything you've endured on others, taking pleasure in their pain and venting your hatred by torturing these women. Your actions are already heinous, how can you claim to be innocent?"

In the hall, even General Li Duozuo accused with righteous indignation.

"Saint, I beg you to execute this man on the spot!"

At this moment, the anger hidden in the empress's eyes seemed to have reached its peak.

"General Li, capture him!" she finally gave the order.

However, Helan Minzhi flicked his sleeves, grabbed Wu Chengsi's neck, and quickly retreated to the side. At that moment, a strong gust of wind seemed to pass through the hall, causing everyone to shudder with fear. At this moment, his sinister laughter rang out in the hall:

"Hahahaha... You guys are the ones who want to kill me?"

The sudden change caught Wu Chengsi off guard. He never expected that this man would point the finger at his own people at the last moment.

"Helan Minzhi, what are you doing?" he shouted in horror.

"What are you doing? King Wei, you are too cowardly. If it weren't for your indecision, we would have succeeded long ago. But you were so reluctant to kill this woman that you gave them the opportunity to take advantage of you!"

As he spoke, he glanced at everyone and then turned to Xiao Muchen:

"You only know about the shady business going on in the underground bank of the White Horse Temple, but you know I've already buried gunpowder down there. Very good, since so many of you have come today, then you can be buried with me. It will make the Yellow Springs Road quite lively. What do you think?"

When the word "gunpowder" was heard, the hall was once again filled with fear. Several people, including the Qianniu Guards brought by Wu Chengsi and the monks from the White Horse Temple, rushed out of the hall in a hurry.

Wu Chengsi was even more frightened and panicked, shouting:
"Helan Minzhi, you are crazy!"

Wuling Yue also looked at his father worriedly.

At this moment, no one cares who is right or wrong. Faced with life and death, everyone is making their first choice.

That's escape!

"See, this is human nature! So, Xiao Muchen, is your evidence any good? What if you've uncovered everything that's going on in the underground bank at the White Horse Temple?"

"You want justice for these innocent women, even for the victims who starved to death and the soldiers who died in battle. You've painstakingly laid out your plan, but what have you achieved in return?"

"When it comes to life and death, no one cares about what you say. People only have one thought, and that is to survive! To survive, loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, righteousness, and emotions can all be abandoned!"

"Who cares about you? Who cares about what you do?"

He kept on mocking and ridiculing people one after another, and after he finished speaking, he looked at the group of people in the hall who were silent and stunned as if he was very happy.

He suddenly pointed his finger at the empress:
"If any of you can kill this woman Wu Zhao, maybe I will change my mind and let him give birth!"

This sentence caused the people in the hall to become restless again, and a strange and tense atmosphere spread in everyone's hearts.

Some people seem to have begun to consider making a choice.

Wu Chengsi shouted, "You are really crazy! Let me go! Let me go!" and tried to escape from the Heavenly King Palace.

Helan Minzhi seemed to have seen through his thoughts and sneered, "There's no point in escaping this palace. You should know that beneath this White Horse Temple is the underground bank we created together. It's the largest paradise in Luoyang City. As soon as the gunpowder is ignited, the entire White Horse Temple will disappear with it."

"Father, what on earth did you do with this madman?"

At this time, Wuling Yue could no longer help but scream out in pain.

Everyone was in desperate panic, but Helan Minzhi found that Xiao Muchen's expression had not changed at all, he was still so calm, as if everything was under his control.

"Why aren't you afraid?" he asked.

"Why should I be afraid?"

At this moment, a flute sound suddenly rang out in the hall. The sound was clear, like the sound of a spring or a trickle of water, gradually soothing the fear in people's hearts.

A clear voice echoed in everyone's ears. "Don't be afraid, everyone. If there really was gunpowder, or if he really wanted to destroy the White Horse Temple and the underground bank, you wouldn't be alive today."

"He is trying to intimidate you and use you to kill the king!"

The word "regicide" suddenly startled everyone and made them shudder.

Helan Minzhi's face suddenly changed. He followed the voice and looked towards the girl who was walking towards him and standing side by side with Xiao Muchen.

Murong Huan!
It’s this bitch again!

"Do you still want to hypnotize me?" Helan Minzhi sneered, "When it comes to the art of hypnosis, I'm your uncle, so don't even think about trying to deceive me with these words!"

"I didn't bewitch her, nor did I deceive her. Look at who she is."

Under the guidance of Murong Huan's bare hands, Helan Minzhi saw a woman in red walking into the hall.

This woman had willow-shaped eyebrows and fine eyes, like a cunning and charming fox. Her eyes were full of affection, and sometimes showed a bit of pitifulness.

This woman is none other than his good disciple Hong Xian.

"Master, I'm sorry, I didn't listen to you this time. I let them sleep. All of them fell asleep under the hypnosis of my ringing!"

"I also let go of those women you bought!"

"Oh, and I even killed two of your most loyal dogs! Now you have almost no one willing to serve you."

After she said that, she looked at Helan Minzhi's face which became more and more confused and disbelieving, and she giggled with her hands covering her mouth as if she was extremely happy and proud.

"Master, is this game fun?"

As he listened to her laughter, Helan Minzhi seemed to see that all the assassins he had ambushed in the underground bank had fallen asleep, and the gunpowder that had been ambushed had also been removed.

At the same time, Lu Shiyilang also came to him with a group of people.

The person in Lu Shiyilang's hand was the subordinate who he ordered to ignite the gunpowder, and also the most loyal old servant of his Helan family.

The old servant immediately knelt on the ground when he saw him, and said with tears in his eyes: "My lord, I'm sorry, I failed! I didn't have time to ignite the gunpowder as you ordered. But my lord, you are the only one left in the Helan family. If you can survive..."

Hearing these words, Helan Minzhi's heart sank as if into an ice cellar, and he truly felt that the situation was hopeless.

He suddenly let go of Wu Chengsi and vented his anger on Hong Xian, striking her in the chest with a palm.

"Bitch, how dare you betray me?"

But Hong Xian did not dodge. She suddenly took out a short blade from her sleeve and when she met Helan Minzhi's palm, she stabbed Helan Minzhi's chest with the short blade at the same time.

This scene happened so fast, so quickly that many people didn't even have time to react before they saw Hong Xian and Helan Minzhi falling to the ground at the same time.

One had blood gushing out of his chest, and the other was spitting blood from his mouth.

Hong Xian struggled to get up, looked at the man who had finally been hit in the chest by her knife, and laughed:
"Hehehe... You've ruined everything I have. Do you still expect me to be loyal to you?"

As she smiled, tears welled up in her eyes as if she were relieved, and she murmured repeatedly as if relieved: "I have avenged you, I have finally avenged you!"

She is not a heartless and ungrateful person. She once had love and thoughts in her heart, but because of this man, all the goodness in her heart was taken away.

She hates it so much!

She hated him for making her hands bloody, and for forcing her to kill so many people she didn't want to kill.

……

At this moment, after seeing Helan Minzhi fall, everyone in the hall was ecstatic as if they had been reborn. The noise echoed through the hall again. Wu Chengsi didn't know whether to be happy or afraid. He immediately straightened his appearance and shouted, "Kill the traitor and save His Majesty!"

While shouting, he pulled out the sword from a Qianniu Guard beside him and was about to chop Helan Minzhi again, but Murong Huan suddenly dodged and deflected the sword.

"He can't die now. I still have something to ask!"

(End of this chapter)