Deposed? I couldn't be happier! I wouldn't even be a dog to the crown prince.

The Eastern Palace.

The stove in the study crackled as Wu Meiniang bent her head, carefully pruning several newly delivered red plum blossoms.

Li Chengqian pushed open the door and entered, bringing with him a chilling, murderous aura.

He casually tossed the fox fur coat onto the rocking chair, his languid expression vanishing without a trace.

"Your Highness, His Majesty... is he really going to personally lead the army?"

Wu Meiniang stopped scissors in her hand, a hint of worry showing in her exceptionally intelligent eyes.

"He's the kind of person who does whatever comes to mind."

Li Chengqian snorted coldly, plopped down, picked up the warm teacup, and took a sip.

"Those old guys, Cheng Yaojin and Yuchi Gong, drooled as soon as they heard there was going to be a battle."

"But those mountain fortresses of Goguryeo were bones, not fat meat."

"Using the Xuanjia Army to fill the mountain gullies is a waste of resources."

Li Chengqian put down his teacup and tapped his fingers on the table in a rhythmic manner.

"Since Yeon Gaesomun enjoys playing this inhumane killing game."

"Since he believes that in this age of cold weapons, brutality is the only truth."

"Then I'll invite an old ancestor back to personally teach him what true despair is."

Li Chengqian closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking into the depths of his mind.

The enormous golden system panel slowly unfolded in the void.

Since pacifying the Western Regions and Tibet, the prestige he has accumulated has become so immense that it is beyond description.

He passed by those brilliant and renowned generals.

It swept past those modern special forces soldiers who could sweep across Europe.

Finally, his gaze settled on the icon shrouded in blood-red mist.

[The Great Qin Elite Warriors: Three thousand Iron Eagle Warriors.]

Commander: Lord Wu'an, Bai Qi.

[Comment: A god of slaughter has descended upon the world, a butcher has reappeared; wherever he goes, nothing grows.]

A cruel smile curled at the corner of Li Chengqian's lips.

Weren't the mountain fortresses of Goguryeo supposed to be impregnable?

Aren't the dense forests of Liaodong full of traps?

Before Bai Qi, all of this was nothing more than an undeveloped mass grave.

"Old Xu."

Li Chengqian called out softly.

Xu Xiao, who had been waiting outside the door, pushed it open and entered. His usually calm face now revealed an uncontrollable fervor.

"This old servant is here."

"Is everything ready?"

"Your Highness, the Mo family has worked through the night to produce three thousand 'Meteorite Iron War Scythes,' each one of which has been tempered with the most potent 'Blood-Sealing' technique, as Your Highness requested."

Xu Xiao lowered his head, his voice hoarse.

"And His Highness also ordered... three thousand 'Iron-Faced Asura' masks."

Li Chengqian stood up and looked intently toward the direction of the back mountain of the East Palace.

There is a restricted area there that is shrouded in thick fog all year round.

Nominally the back garden of the Eastern Palace, it is actually an underground palace hollowed out from the mountain.

"Let's go and see that ancestor who terrified the six kingdoms."

Two figures walked one after the other, avoiding the sight of all the guards.

They walked through the dark bamboo forest and came to a heavy stone door covered with moss.

Above the stone gate, there are no decorations, only two large, powerful, blood-red characters carved in Qin clerical script:

[God of Slaughter].

Li Chengqian reached out and placed his hand on the very center of the cold stone door.

As the system issued the command, the formation that had been dormant for several months was suddenly activated.

"Click...click click..."

The dull thud of the mechanism echoed through the silent forest.

The stone gate slowly receded, revealing a staircase leading to the abyss below.

The moment the stone gate opened.

An intense, almost overwhelming stench of blood, mixed with a chilling killing intent that seemed to freeze the air, surged out of the passage!

That wasn't just ordinary killing intent.

That was the overwhelming resentment that buried 400,000 surrendered Zhao soldiers and had been suppressed for two thousand years.

"Ugh—!"

The sky above Chang'an, which had been clear, suddenly darkened without warning.

The mournful sound of the wind swirled through the streets and alleys, as if countless vengeful spirits were howling in low voices.

The horses on the street suddenly became frightened, neighing wildly and refusing to move forward no matter how much the coachman whipped them.

Li Shimin, who was practicing swordsmanship at Taiji Palace, suddenly stopped.

He turned his head and looked in the direction of the East Palace with surprise and uncertainty.

The aura that sent chills down his spine and even made his soul tremble actually made this General Tian Ce feel an urge to turn and run away.

"What's going on? This feeling..."

A fine layer of cold sweat appeared on Li Shimin's forehead, and he could hardly hold the long sword in his hand.

at the same time.

In the deepest part of that dark and damp underground palace.

Three thousand soldiers, clad in heavy black and red armor and wielding eerie scythes, stood silently in the darkness.

They wore iron masks, so their expressions were not visible.

But those eyes peeking out from behind the masks throbbed with an extreme thirst for blood.

And on that bronze-cast command platform.

A thin man wearing a dark red cloak slowly opened his eyes.

His eyes had no whites, only a deep, abyss-like darkness.

The moment he saw Li Chengqian, a sliver of clarity slowly returned to his dark eyes.

He leaped off the stage with the lightness of an old cat.

"Bai Qi greets Your Majesty."

The hoarse voice echoed in the hall, like pieces of iron rubbing against each other.

Li Chengqian walked up to him and looked down at this infamous butcher.

"The Goguryeo people built the Jingguan (a mound of skulls) of our Great Tang Dynasty."

Li Chengqian's voice sounded particularly cold in the empty hall.

"They believe that dead people can be used to flaunt their power."

Bai Qi's eye twitched slightly, and a flash of red light passed through the depths of his pupils.

"That's because they...don't know how to write the word 'death'."

Li Chengqian nodded in satisfaction.

He pulled a map of Liaodong's defenses from his pocket and threw it directly at Bai Qi's feet.

"The task I'm giving you is very simple."

"Go to Liaodong and tear down that mound of Jing (a type of human pyramid)."

"Then, use all the heads of Goguryeo to build me a new one."

"It has to be ten times better than theirs, understand?"

Bai Qi bent down to pick up the map and crumpled it into small pieces in his palm.

A sinister smile, enough to give any living person a nightmare, appeared on his pale face.

"A hundredfold repayment is my specialty."

Bai Qi suddenly turned around, his broad battle scythe drawing a blood-red arc in mid-air.

He let out a low roar that had been suppressed for two thousand years, directed at the three thousand Iron Eagle Warriors behind him who stood like stone sculptures.

"Iron Eagle, heed my command! Follow me... to harvest the wheat!"

"promise!!!"

The three thousand people shouted in unison, their voices not loud, yet they caused the entire Tang Protectorate to tremble slightly.

Li Chengqian stood with his hands behind his back at the exit of the underground palace.

He watched the black and red afterimages disappear into the depths of the jungle, a cold smile curling at the corner of his lips.

"Yeon Gaesomun, congratulations."

"You have successfully awakened the monster that should never have been awakened in this world."