565: Chapter 565

Urgent reports flew in like snowflakes, one after another, into the imperial capital of the Great Xia Holy Dynasty.

The Demon Court's full-scale offensive was half a step faster than the Holy Dynasty's worst-case estimate.

"Urgent report! The northern defense line has been torn open, and the main force of the Yao Race has bypassed Tianyang City!"

"Xiguan has fallen! Three major strongholds were razed to the ground in half a day!"

News of consecutive defeats on the front lines threw the imperial court of the Holy Dynasty into complete chaos.

The generals of the war faction were red-eyed, roaring to mobilize the last of the Imperial Guards to fight to the death on the front lines. The civil officials of the defense faction, however, believed they should consolidate their forces and defend the capital to the death. Some even proposed the desperate strategy of relocating the capital.

The factions argued endlessly.

Outside the capital, the common people were panic-stricken, and a wave of refugees began to surge into the city.

Above the imperial city, the phantom of the golden Dragon, which represented the nation's destiny, dimmed visibly and let out a low, mournful cry.

The Great Xia Holy Dynasty was no longer just facing danger.

It had already begun to collapse.

The Holy Emperor sat upon the Dragon throne, his expression grim.

He had initially wanted to hold out, unwilling to easily use the demon suppressing tower, fearing that such an action would completely shake the foundation of the nation.

But with several cities lost on the border, even the protective Formation around the outskirts of the imperial city began to verge on collapse under the impact of the Demonic Qi.

To drag it out any longer would be waiting for death.

A white-haired old minister knelt on the ground, his voice hoarse.

"Your Majesty, please bring out the demon suppressing tower!"

"Only the demon suppressing tower can suppress the Yao Race tide and stabilize the final national destiny of our Great Xia!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the First Prince immediately stood up, his voice filled with dissatisfaction.

"Father, I have long said that the priority is to utilize our dynasty's heritage, rather than pinning our hopes on an outsider with an unknown background like Qin Yun!"

"Now that the situation has deteriorated to this point, it is time for our imperial family to personally control the demon suppressing tower and set things right!"

Xia Qingyue stood to the side, her delicate brows tightly knitted.

She felt a faint sense of unease; the state of the demon suppressing tower was no longer what it once was, and using it forcibly now carried far too great a risk.

But her words were easily drowned out amidst the panic of the imperial court and the First Prince's rhetoric.

The Holy Emperor looked at the chaotic officials below, then at the demonic clouds outside the imperial city that were almost pressing down onto the city walls, and finally stood up with a slam of his hand on the table.

"Summon the tower!"

...

Qin Yun was sitting in meditation at his residence.

At the very moment the Holy Emperor gave the order, the main azure pagoda in his Sea of Consciousness suddenly shuddered.

An extremely unstable aura came from the direction of the imperial palace's Forbidden Ground.

Qin Yun immediately circulated the "Ten Thousand Daos Return to One Scripture", and his Divine Thought followed the fluctuation to probe.

He "saw" it.

That azure pagoda branch was already too deeply bound to the Great Xia's national destiny Dragon vein. The tower's Origin was incomplete, and having been forcibly used by the Holy Dynasty as a Divine Artifact to suppress the nation all these years, it was already on the verge of being overdrawn.

He stood up immediately, wanting to go into the palace to stop it.

However, just as he stepped out of his courtyard gate, several figures blocked his path.

They were experts sent by the imperial family to secretly monitor him.

"Marquis Zhenyun, His Majesty has ordered that you must wait quietly in your residence and are not permitted to go out."

Qin Yun suppressed the impatience in his heart and did not lash out on the spot; instead, his figure flickered, bypassing the few men directly, and he rushed toward the direction of the Forbidden Ground.

...

In the imperial palace's Forbidden Ground, the ceremony began.

The Holy Emperor arrived in person, and all the princes, princesses, imperial retainers, and high-ranking civil and military officials were present.

As the Holy Emperor chanted the ancient incantations, the entire earth began to tremble.

An ancient and simple azure pagoda shadow slowly rose from the core of the Dragon vein.

The moment the tower shadow appeared, an invisible pressure spread out, and the arrogant Demonic Qi outside the city was actually pushed back a distance.

Several reports of "enemy momentum slowing down" were even sent back from the border.

The court officials were extremely excited, thinking that the situation had truly been stabilized.

However, a strange change occurred immediately after.

The azure light on the tower's body began to flicker; while suppressing the Yao Race tide, it actually began to frantically extract the power of the Holy Dynasty's Dragon vein in reverse.

Boom!

The ley lines of the capital cracked inch by inch, and the protective Formation of the imperial city shook violently, nearly losing its balance.

Qin Yun, standing on the outskirts of the Forbidden Ground, saw this scene, and his heart sank.

The demon suppressing tower was about to lose control.

Just when everyone was pinning their hopes on the demon suppressing tower, the eyes of one of the court retainers, who had been silent all along, shifted slightly.

He took advantage of the moment when the Holy Emperor was concentrating all efforts on controlling the tower, when the Forbidden Ground's Formation was wide open due to the summoning of the tower, and when everyone's focus was on the front-line battle situation.

He made his move.

He did not attack the Holy Emperor directly but instead quietly detonated an inconspicuous Formation base next to the Dragon vein.

Boom!

This explosion created the illusion that "the imperial family had failed to control the tower themselves."

The connection between the demon suppressing tower and the Dragon vein was forcibly torn open.

The tower body shook violently and lost control completely!

The power of the Dragon vein backlashed frantically.

"Pfft—"

The Holy Emperor spat out a mouthful of blood on the spot, his aura instantly wilting.

Several nearby imperial retainers were blasted backward and severely injured.

The Holy Dynasty's final spiritual pillar was stabbed through from the inside by one of their own.

The traitor retainer's true goal was not to destroy the tower, but to seize it.

He crushed a pitch-black jade talisman in his hand, and a strange black light instantly wrapped around the out-of-control demon suppressing tower.

Because the branch tower was already incomplete and unbalanced, at this moment, it briefly showed signs of "mistaking its master" and was forcibly pulled by that black light.

Under the gaze of everyone.

The Great Xia Holy Dynasty's final trump card, that treasure that suppressed the nation, was not shattered.

Instead, it turned into a stream of light, was swept up by the traitor, and flew away outside the imperial city.

The Holy Emperor watched the receding tower shadow, spat out another mouthful of blood, and nearly toppled from the sacrificial altar.

The entire court of civil and military officials fell into silence.

Xia Qingyue was pale as a sheet, but she forced herself to support her tottering father, attempting to stabilize the situation.

Throughout the imperial city, the hope of "there is still the tower" instantly turned into the desperate situation of "the tower is gone."

The front line also completely collapsed at this moment, and the Yao Race tide pressed forward again.

Internal troubles and external threats exploded simultaneously.

The imperial family was in complete disarray.

The First Prince roared in a loss of composure, first pointing at several generals to shift the blame, then immediately turning his spearhead toward Qin Yun.

"It was all him! He must have colluded with the traitor!"

"Take him down! Bring him to justice!"

Beyond roaring in vain, he was fundamentally unable to control the current situation.

Xia Qingyue looked at the chaos before her and saw the reality clearly.

She suppressed all her emotions and walked to Qin Yun.

"Qingyue knows that Young Master Qin is not simple."

"If Young Master Qin truly has any way, please use it."

"The Great Xia Holy Dynasty would be eternally grateful."

Then she silently stepped aside, clearing the path to the core of the Forbidden Ground.

This was a silent action.

It meant that the Great Xia Holy Dynasty was placing its final hope into his hands.

Qin Yun did not immediately chase after the traitor.

He stepped into the center of the Forbidden Ground, ignoring all the gazes around him, and directly began to circulate the "Ten Thousand Daos Return to One Scripture".

Hum!

An aura far purer and more primal than when the Holy Emperor controlled the tower emanated from within him.

The out-of-control, shuddering Dragon vein was actually soothed by this aura and slowly calmed down.

The residual tower Qi within the Forbidden Ground no longer scattered but, as if guided, gathered toward Qin Yun.

The scattered azure light points above the imperial city were also recollected and circled around his body.

Only then did everyone realize that Qin Yun's previous claim that he could repair the demon suppressing tower was not empty boasting.

In fact, what he had said was even a conservative estimate.

The traitor had just escaped outside the imperial city with the demon suppressing tower, thinking that the situation was settled.

The next moment, the demon suppressing tower in his arms suddenly vibrated violently.

The connection he had forcibly established with the tower was crushed into dust from afar by an irresistible force.

Within the Forbidden Ground of the imperial city, Qin Yun stood upon the Dragon vein, forming seals with one hand.

The main azure pagoda in his Sea of Consciousness produced the strongest resonance of the same Origin with the far-fled branch tower.

A beam of azure light shot into the sky from his palm.

The entire Holy Dynasty saw it.

The demon suppressing tower that had just been carried away was actually forced to turn around in mid-air and fly back toward the imperial city.

The traitor's expression changed drastically; he grabbed onto the tower body tightly, only to find that he could not suppress it at all, nor could he hold onto it steadily.

Qin Yun looked up at the returning azure light, his voice calm, yet it spread throughout the entire capital.

"Tower, come back to me."