Rise of The Demon General

Chapter 674: Chapter 674. Divine Punishment

While Amon’s army was on the march to Oredolia, there was preparation in Golden Stone City’s palace for a festivity. The festivity was to celebrate the queen’s birthday. Ever since Yang Li was crowned a queen, Huang San had always celebrated her birthday by inviting all his family members. This was his attempt to make his family accept Yang Li as one of their own, despite her not being a noble. Now, when Huang San was away, Yang Li resumed the tradition.

She invited all of Huang San’s brothers, sisters, and other close relatives, except Huang Er, Huang Zen, and Huang Ti, who joined the campaign to Oredolia.

The party would take place tomorrow. Yang Li oversaw the procedure. The first time her birthday was celebrated, Huang San left the task to palace retainers. In the second year, Yang Li insisted she oversaw the preparation. She argued that, since the festivity was for her, she wanted to be directly involved. Huang San let her do it every year after.

”Your Majesty, you can just leave the preparation to us,” one of the palace retainers told Yang Li. They were in an open-air courtyard. Workers were assembling a stage and preparing decorations. Yang Li opted to hold the party outdoors.

”It is not comfortable for Huang Bei to be out here,” the retainer added.

Yang Li looked at her son, whom she held in her arms. ”Huang Bei will not be a prince protected from the outside world. I will make sure he spends most of his time outside.”

The retainer wasn’t sure what to say to that, so he remained quiet.

”How about the guest list? Anyone who can’t attend?” Yang Li asked the retainer.

”Aside from the sixteenth princess, everyone else has announced that they will attend.”

”What is the princess’ excuse?” Yang Li asked.

”Um, she said she is not feeling well,” the retainer answered.

”Not feeling well? So, she is in her mansion? Or resting inside the palace?”

”She is in her mansion.”

Yang Li nodded. ”That will be all. Proceed with the preparation.”

*

The next day, the celebration began in the afternoon. The party was smaller than the previous year. Yang Li reasoned that the celebration should be scaled down because Huang San was absent. Only the Huang Clan’s direct members were invited, along with the most influential nobles.

Everything proceeded as planned. The guests enjoyed the servings and the entertainment. Many came over to play with Huang Bei because this was the first time they met him. Yang Li was cold as usual, but she let them play with her baby.

When the sun set, Yang Li called for everyone’s attention. Everyone gathered at the main table, where goblets of wine had been prepared for them.

”This smell... It’s the Heavenly Bliss Wine. Sister-in-law does know how to celebrate,” the Twelfth Prince praised.

”Did you not drink this wine every day?” Asked The Eleventh Princess, who sat beside him.

”I don’t mind drinking more.”

The Eleventh Princess turned to Yang Li and asked, ”Sister-in-law, is it fine for you to drink wine? You are breastfeeding Huang Bei, are you not?”

”Thank you for your concern, mine contains tea,” Yang Li replied.

”That’s better. We wouldn’t want little Huang Bei to become drunk now, would we?”

The Eleventh Princess made a playful gesture at Huang Bei, who responded with a laugh.

”So cute,” the Eleventh Princess said. ”Sister-in-law, you don’t mind if I visit you often so I can play with my nephew, do you?”

Yang Li responded with a friendly smile. ”I don’t mind that.”

Yang Li lifted her goblet and proposed a toast, ”For our king, who is on a war campaign. May the Gods protect him. We drink for his health and his safe return.”

”His safe return,” the others echoed. They then drank the wine.

”It is a great wine,” the Fifth Prince remarked.

”It is, but I felt like something was different about the wine,” the Twelfth Prince said.

”Maybe it’s because you have drunk too much of this wine?” The Eleventh Prince asked.

The twelfth Prince shrugged. ”Perhaps,” he said. ”Maybe my supplier used the Heavenly Grapes from a different region. That may be why it is slightly different. I might want to... want to...”

His speech faltered. He touched his chest. He had difficulty breathing.

”I’m not feeling so good...,” the Fifth Prince said.

”Me too,” another said.

Almost everyone started expressing discomfort. The servants and guards looked at the people gathered at the main table with concern. Their concern turned into alarm when one of the princes shouted with a choked voice, ”I... I can’t breathe...!!”

He fell to the ground. One after another, those at the main table fell to the ground. They were clawing at their throats while their mouths were wide open, trying to breathe. The guards ran over, but they didn’t know what to do.

”It’s the wine!” They heard the queen shout. She was the only one at the main table who did not drop to the ground. ”The wine is poisoned!”

”Pill master! Pill master!” One of the guards called.

A pill master was always on standby at such an occasion. He ran over to the main table, but a guard stood in his path. This guard drove his sword into the pill master.

This took everybody aback. A loud yell added to everyone’s shock.

”For the Divinity! Death to the Huang Family! This is your divine punishment...!!”

Several guards, who approached the main table to check on the poisoned princes and princesses, suddenly lunged in Yang Li’s direction. Before they arrived, a light flashed over. The guards who had lunged at Yang Li fell to the ground with punctured throats.

A woman holding a slim longsword stood beside Yang Li. She asked, ”Your Majesty, are you alright?”

”I am fine, Xa Hou. Thank you for protecting me,” Yang Li said. Though she was stronger than those guards, she was holding Huang Bei. It would be difficult to fight those guards while protecting her son.

”How dare you defy the will of the divine!” The guard who had killed the pill master rushed at Yang Li.

Xa Hou stood between Yang Li and this incoming guard.

”Xa Hou, don’t kill him!” Yang Li exclaimed. ”Keep him alive so we can interrogate him!”

Xa Hou’s sword flashed. Her swordplay was so fast that it almost became invisible. Before the incoming guard noticed, his two legs had become stumps.

”Ahh...!!” He fell to the ground while yelling in pain.

Xa Hou placed her sword on the guard’s neck. ”Do not move, or you will join your friends.”

Despite being overwhelmed by pain and in an incapacitated situation, the guard didn’t show despair. He instead uttered defiantly, ”I will save you the trouble! For the divine...!!”

He bit something in his mouth and started convulsing. Xa Hou grabbed his jaw and forced him to open his mouth. Foam came out of it.

”He took poison to kill himself?” Xa Hou asked in disbelief.

The guard stopped moving soon. Xa Hou stood and turned to Yang Li. She said, ”He is gone.”

Yang Li looked at the princes and princesses on the ground. They had also stopped moving. The guards who were trying to administer first aid to them looked up at Yang Li with anxious faces.

”Your... Your Majesty,” One of them spoke. ”They... The princes and princesses have died...”

”Damn it! How can the wine get poisoned?!” Xa Hou asked. ”Gather all the servants and interrogate everyone who was involved with preparing this wine!”

”They must have expected me to drink the wine as well,” Yang Li said. ”Since I didn’t, they were forced to reveal their disguises to kill me directly.”

”Then we must thank the Gods for that,” Xa Hou said. ”I can protect you from these people, but not from poison. Who are they anyway? And how did they manage to disguise themselves as our guards?”

”Look, they wore something under the guard uniform,” Yang Li pointed at the guard who had killed himself using poison.

A white undershirt was visible under the guard uniform. Xa Hou’s sword turned into flashes that swarmed the dead guard. The flashes perfectly cut the guard’s uniform without ruining the undershirt. What was revealed was a white robe with a distinct symbol.

”This...,” Xa Hou had trouble saying what the symbol represented.

”It is the robe of a priest from the Temple of Divinity,” Yang Li said. ”This is their retaliation. This is their response to us sending troops to Oredolia.”

”Damn them! What divine teaching! They used poison like vile villains!” Xa Hou cursed.

A guard ran in with a panicked expression. He stopped and went pale when he saw the scene of carnage in the courtyard.

”What is it?” Yang Li asked the guard.

”Re... Reporting, Your Majesty,” the guard stammered. ”We just received grave news. The Sixteenth Princess has just been found dead inside her mansion. The report said that her throat was slit.”

”It must be the Temple of Divinity as well. Curse them!” Xa Hou spat.

Yang Li called a captain of the guard. ”Gather soldiers and apprehend all the members of the Temple of Divinity inside this capital. Kill anyone who resists! Send the same command to all Echos settlements!”