"The three of them returned seven days ago, but as soon as they came back, Ling Qingqing and Xia Hongxiu were placed under house arrest by the Ninth Prince. I don't know where Li Chengfeng went!"
The commander answered honestly.
"Good, very good! Xia Yunran is really very brave. Do you know where Ling Qingqing and Xia Hongxiu are imprisoned?"
There was a cold light in Ling Xiao's eyes, and he spoke slowly.
"I am just a gatekeeper, how could I possibly know! But..."
The commander smiled bitterly, a hesitant look on his face.
Ling Xiao said impatiently: "But what? If you have something to say, just say it!"
"I heard that something happened in the Demon Suppression Palace!"
The commander shrank his head and looked at Ling Xiao with some fear.
"Something happened in the Demon Suppression Palace?"
There was a flash of murderous intent in Ling Xiao's eyes, and a bad premonition suddenly emerged in his heart.
"Some elite members of the Imperial Guards and the Tiger Guards defected to Meng Ao and took up residence in the Demon Suppression Palace. Even the Ninth Prince was helpless! However, I heard that Commander Meng Ao, City Lord Liu Xiongfei, Master Jiao Mu, Tianjian Li Ling, and a large number of members of the Ling family were assassinated, with heavy casualties!"
The commander gritted his teeth and told it all.
"Assassination?"
A cold murderous intent emanated from Ling Xiao's body, instantly causing the commander to tremble all over and his face turned extremely pale.
Meng Ao and Liu Xiongfei are loyal to Ling Zhen and take good care of Ling Xiao. In Ling Xiao's eyes, they are already relatives like uncles. Master Jiao Mu is Ling Xiao's registered disciple. Although he became his disciple in order to learn alchemy, he is also very hardworking and dedicated to Ling Xiao. Together with Li Ling who has become an elder of the Changsheng Sect, these people are considered the closest people to Ling Xiao in the royal capital.
How could they be assassinated? Could it be that they were implicated by Ling Xiao? Was it the Ninth Prince or the Myriad Beast Sect who did it
Ling Xiao's eyes were cold, and he immediately thought of the Ninth Prince and the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect.
However, the commander did not know about this news.
"Go tell Xia Yunran that I, Ling Xiao, am back! Tell him to take good care of Ling Qingqing and Xia Hongxiu. If they lose even a hair, I will take his head!"
Ling Xiao glanced at the commander and said in a cold voice, then leaped up and flew quickly towards the direction of the Demon Suppression Palace.
The commander looked at Ling Xiao carefully and found that Ling Xiao had gone far away. Then he turned around quickly and rushed towards the imperial city from another road.
The Demon-Suppressing Palace.
The atmosphere in the majestic and solemn palace was very tense at the moment. The royal guards wearing black armor, holding bows, swords, spears and other weapons, stood in the palace with cold eyes, confronting a group of soldiers outside.
At this moment, the Demon-Suppressing Palace has been surrounded by tens of thousands of Green Dragon Army. The soldiers of the Green Dragon Army have powerful auras and are filled with murderous intent. They stare coldly at the Royal Guards in the Demon-Suppressing Palace without saying a word.
In front of the Qingjiao Army, stood a group of powerful figures, old and young, all of them looking at the Demon Suppression Palace with a sneer on their face.
The two people in the lead were a majestic old man wearing a black robe, and his cultivation had reached the ninth level of the Grandmaster Realm.
Standing next to the old man was a young man in brocade clothes. He had a handsome face and a haughty look, looking coldly at the Demon-Suppressing Palace.
"Ling family members, I will give you one more chance. If you are willing to join me, open the gate immediately! Otherwise, when the Demon Suppression King's Mansion is broken into, no one will be left alive!"
The majestic old man sneered, and his voice spread throughout the Demon-Suppressing Palace.
If Ling Xiao were here, he would be able to recognize that this majestic old man is the former great elder of the Ling family, Ling Yunxiang!
“Ling Yunxiang, you still have the nerve to come to the Demon King’s Mansion? I didn’t expect that you would actually surrender to the Ten Thousand Beast Sect and be willing to be a dog of the Ten Thousand Beast Sect. How dare such a thing call yourself a member of the Ling family? The young prince has already removed you from the Ling family’s genealogy! Get out, or I will kill you!”
In the Demon-Suppressing Palace, Meng Ao stood on the observation tower. He looked very pale, but his eyes were full of rage and murderous intent.
Originally, Ling Yunxiang and Ling Tianci had both died in the Demon-Suppressing King's Mansion, and were killed by people from the underworld, but now they appeared here alive.
Even Meng Ao couldn't figure this out, but Ling Yunxiang did appear here, which could only mean one thing: the person who died before was not Ling Yunxiang.
The strategy of using Li as a substitute for Tao Jiang!
Thinking of this, Meng Ao felt a little chilled. The fact that Ling Yunxiang faked his death and escaped showed that there was an unfathomable and powerful force behind him.
"Meng Ao, that little bastard Ling Xiao is dead! The entire capital has been ruled by the Ninth Prince, who will soon ascend the throne. If you continue to resist, you will surely die without a burial place! Ling family members, do you want to join him in confiscating your property and exterminating your clan?"
Ling Yunxiang sneered and his eyes fell on the people of the Ling family around Meng Ao.
The members of the Ling family who stayed in the Demon-Suppressing Palace were all selected by Ling Xiao. They had not committed any serious crimes and were willing to draw a clear line with Ling Yunxiang.
However, the news of Ling Xiao's death in the Eight Desolate Secret Realm has spread throughout the entire royal capital in the past few days. The Demon-Suppressing Palace has been besieged by the Green Dragon Army for so long that all members of the Ling family are in a state of panic.
Hearing Ling Yunxiang say this, the members of the Ling family suddenly became agitated, with struggling looks in their eyes.
Ling Xiao did not spread the news of Ling Yunxiang and Ling Tianci's death, so most of the Ling family members did not know that Ling Yunxiang and Ling Tianci were dead, and they thought that the two had escaped.
"Don't listen to Ling Yunxiang's nonsense. The young prince will not die. He will be back soon! That will be the day Ling Yunxiang dies. Moreover, Xia Yunran is guilty of treason, which is a serious crime. When the king comes out of confinement, he will die!"
Meng Ao glanced at everyone in the Ling family with a cold gaze and spoke loudly.
Now, the Imperial Guards who are loyal to Meng Ao and the three hundred Tiger Guards have less than a thousand people in total, while the Qingjiao Army outside has more than ten thousand people.
There are also thousands of members of the Ling family in the Demon-Suppressing Palace, including many powerful people with profound cultivation. If these people were to rebel by Ling Yunxiang, the consequences would be unimaginable.
“Hahaha… Meng Ao, you are about to die, and you still dare to speak so arrogantly? You are nothing but a waste now. If you dare to come out, I will kill you! People of the Ling family, I advise you to think clearly. I will give the order to attack in a while. If you don’t make the right choice, don’t blame me for being ruthless!”
Ling Yunxiang sneered.
Behind him stood dozens of Ling family members, all of whom were cleared out of the Demon Suppression Palace by Ling Xiao at that time. Now they all defected to Ling Yunxiang.
After hearing Ling Yunxiang's words, they all began to shout to the Ling family members in the Demon-Suppressing Palace.
"Quickly surrender! If you follow the Great Elder, you will definitely not be treated unfairly!"
"The Ninth Prince has already promised that once he ascends the throne, the Great Elder will be the Demon Suppressing King. By then, you will all enjoy wealth and glory!"
"The Demon-Suppressing Palace is the home of our Ling family. Since when did Meng Ao become the master? Ling Xiao is dead, and now the Great Elder is the head of the Ling family. Do you want to rebel against the Ling family?"
"Come out! As long as you come out, the Great Elder will forgive you for what happened!"
"… "
Behind Ling Yunxiang, the members of the Ling family began to shout loudly.
Inside the Demon-Suppressing Palace, the Ling family members were becoming more and more agitated, with each of them revealing a look of struggle and excitement in their eyes.
PS: You can just delete the duplicate chapters. There is no charge for them. It was Mu Yu who sent them by mistake. Sorry.
(End of this chapter)