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

At midnight, Chang'an City was plunged into the deepest darkness.

The moon was obscured by thick, dark clouds, not even a sliver of starlight darting down. The pitch-black night became the perfect natural barrier for slaughter.

The Eastern Palace, the Crown Prince's residence which is heavily guarded during the day, is unusually quiet at this moment. The guards who usually stand guard every three or five steps on the high palace walls are pitifully sparse tonight, and even the patrol teams seem to be drunk, their steps unsteady and yawning incessantly.

"Whoosh—whoosh—"

Dozens of dark figures, like ghosts, silently leaped over the high wall, their agile movements not even disturbing a single fallen leaf on the wall.

They are the last trump card of the aristocratic families.

It is a joint assassination group composed of the infamous assassin "Ghost's Sorrow" and the assassins trained by the Cui and Lu families for decades.

Five hundred people.

Each one of them is a master fighter capable of taking on ten opponents.

The leader, "Ghost's Sorrow," was a thin man wearing a bronze mask. He lay on the roof like a venomous snake hunting its prey, his cold gaze sweeping over the sparsely lit East Palace.

"Something's not right."

A leader of the Cui family's elite guards beside him lowered his voice, "How could the Crown Prince's palace be so lax in its defenses? Could it be a trap?"

"Is this a trap?"

Gui Jianchou sneered, his voice hoarse as if two pieces of scrap iron were rubbing together, "What tricks could an eight-year-old child possibly have? No matter how powerful his Imperial Guards are, aren't they still human? After swaggering around the city all day, they naturally need to sleep at night."

"Besides, so what if there's an ambush?"

A bloodthirsty glint flashed in Gui Jianchou's eyes. "We five hundred men are an army! Tonight, we have only one goal: regardless of the cost, storm into Lizheng Palace and cut off that little beast's head!"

"Once he's dead, we'll be the heroes of the aristocratic family! Money, beautiful women, status—we'll have everything!"

"kill!"

A low shout.

Five hundred assassins surged like a flood bursting its banks, rushing from all directions toward the center of the East Palace—Lizheng Hall.

Their goal is clear.

They didn't kill the emperor because even if they killed Li Shimin, there would still be Li Chengqian and Li Tai, and the Tang Dynasty wouldn't fall into chaos.

But as long as Li Chengqian, this monster, is killed, the Tang Dynasty's economy will collapse, the army's morale will waver, and their aristocratic families will have a chance to fish in troubled waters and make a comeback!

……

Inside the Lizheng Hall, it was warm and cozy, like springtime.

Li Chengqian was sitting cross-legged on a soft couch, with a chessboard in front of him.

The black and white pieces are locked in a fierce battle on the chessboard.

Across from him, the chubby Li Tai was scratching his head, sweating profusely, holding a white piece in his hand, hesitant to make a move.

"Big brother, you...you wait a minute, let me think about it some more." Li Tai's face turned red with anxiety.

"A true man never regrets his moves."

Li Chengqian yawned and casually placed another black piece on the chessboard, directly cutting the large white group in half.

"Five in a row, you've lost again, Blue Sparrow."

Looking at the completely lost game, Li Tai pouted, almost crying, "Big brother, you cheated! What kind of lousy game is this? It's not fun at all! You win every time!"

That's because you're stupid.

Li Chengqian bluntly retorted, "If you can't even play a simple game of Gomoku, how are you going to be a salted fish prince in the future?"

"Is there some noise outside?"

Li Tai suddenly pricked up his ears; he vaguely heard a faint sound of clothes rustling through the air coming from the courtyard.

"Is there?"

Li Chengcheng didn't even look up, slowly tidying up the chess pieces. "Maybe the wind was too strong and blew the leaves down."

"Oh." Li Tai nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite.

Li Chengqian put the last chess piece back into the chess box, then raised his eyelids, glanced at the dark night outside the window, and a playful smile appeared on his lips.

"You're here?"

He seemed to be talking to himself, or perhaps asking someone.

"It's a quarter of an hour later than I expected."

"Looks like these so-called top assassins aren't that good at running."

……

Meanwhile, outside Lizheng Hall.

"Ghost's Sorrow" has successfully broken through several outer defenses with his one hundred most elite assassins.

The process went so smoothly that he could hardly believe it himself.

Those patrolling Imperial Guards were practically made of paper. Before the guards even got close, they all ran away in a panic. Some even threw away their lanterns in their haste.

"Hahaha! I thought they were so great, but they're just a bunch of useless trash!"

Gui Jianchou felt much more at ease. Looking at the brightly lit Lizheng Palace so close at hand, his greed was almost overflowing.

That's where his wealth and glory lie!

"Brothers! Charge with me!"

He let out a low growl and was the first to leap from the roof, swooping down like a hunting eagle toward the half-open palace door.

"Little prince, your grandfather has come to take your dog's life!"

However, just as his feet were about to touch the ground...

He suddenly felt something was wrong.

It was too quiet in the courtyard.

It was so quiet that not even a single insect chirping could be heard.

An overwhelming, pungent smell of blood, mixed with a sense of impending death, made the hairs on his body stand on end.

He looked up sharply.

In the center of the empty courtyard, a person was already standing.

The man was dressed in a dark green official robe he had never seen before, with a long, narrow sword hanging at his waist and a white silk handkerchief in his hand, slowly wiping the dust off the scabbard.

The moonlight shone through the gaps in the dark clouds, illuminating his young yet stern face.

He raised his head and gave a bright smile to the "Devil's Bane" that had descended from the sky, his white teeth looking particularly chilling in the night.

"Friend, why aren't you sleeping in the middle of the night? Are you rushing to be reincarnated at the Eastern Palace?"

"Shen Lian, Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard."

"We've been waiting here for a long time."