Their party quickly withdrew from the battlefield. As they entered the nearby forest, all of their pursuers disappeared.

There was a collective sigh of relief. Zu An was still confused, and questioned Sang Hong. “Can’t the Imperial Envoy act in the emperor’s stead? Why don’t they summon the imperial edict? Why go through all this nonsense, and end up fleeing for their lives like this?”

The sight of the imperial edict hovering over Brightmoon City was still fresh in his memory. There were three thousand Red Cloak Army elites there! In terms of combat strength, they weren’t much weaker than the rebel army.

Sang Hong replied, “The Embroidered Envoy rarely takes matters into their own hands, let alone repeatedly. I’m guessing that using the imperial edict is not that convenient. A huge price surely has to be paid each time they do so.

“Besides, the Embroidered Envoy exists to help the emperor. If the emperor needs to interfere personally every time, wouldn’t there be little point in their existence? That’s probably why they won’t casually use the imperial edict unless they have to.”

His analysis was enough for Zu An to form a rough understanding. The imperial edict was like a nuclear weapon. It was used more for intimidation, and couldn’t be used repeatedly.

Huang Huihong said with a snort, “Lord Sang, I advise you not to make random guesses—”

Several longswords suddenly thrust out from below. They pierced through the bellies of horses and penetrated even further upwards, threatening the embroidered envoys that rode them.

These attackers had impeccable timing. They had waited for the embroidered envoys to be distracted by Sang Hong’s words, and launched their attack at the perfect time.

Despite being unprepared, the embroidered envoys were well trained, and they all leapt off their horses to evade the attack. Even so, two of the embroidered envoys moved too late, and were impaled together with their horses.

Zu An gasped when he saw this, and subconsciously covered his rear. That’s gotta sting…

However, those embroidered envoys who had leapt clear of their horses were not spared either. Several glimmering black streaks flew through the air towards them.

Zu An’s eyes narrowed. He couldn’t be more familiar with these glimmering black streaks! He had almost been killed by one of these things in North Order City.

Was it the rebel army who wanted me dead?

The embroidered envoys began to brandish their Soul-reaping Chains in midair to deflect the incoming arrows. Unfortunately, dark elves only made their move when they knew their attacks were guaranteed to succeed.

They had drawn their bows in preparation and waited patiently, seizing the opportunity to strike just as the embroidered envoys leapt into the air to avoid the underground ambush.

In that one moment, most of the Embroidered Envoy was helpless and unable to dodge.

Wretched screams echoed through the air. The chests of two more embroidered envoys erupted in fountains of blood, and they instantly lost their lives to these black arrows.

The rest somehow managed to avoid killing blows, but all of them were injured.

Huang Huihong quickly gathered his comrades around him and surrounded the carriages. His expression was extremely awful.

Only ten Embroidered Envoy members had set out on this mission. Two of them had died mysteriously during the attack at the inn, and four more had lost their lives in this ambush. Including himself, there were only four Embroidered Envoy members left.

The enemy slowly revealed themselves. Several Dark Elves leapt out from underground, while a few hopped down from some distant trees, all closing in on the prison carriage.

Zu An gave them a rough count. There were eight dark elves, five men and three women. They were all dressed entirely in black, and their faces were veiled. Their eyes were different from those of humans, being entirely red in color.

With a sigh, Sang Hong said, “It seems that the legends are true—dark elves truly excel in the art of assassination. They wiped out close to half of the Embroidered Envoy in a single ambush. We’re in quite a bit of trouble today.”

Even though Huang Huihong’s expression was overcast, he did not seem worried. He looked coldly at the incoming dark elves. “Who incited all of you to do this? Are all of you unaware that targeting captured criminals is an offense punishable by execution up to the ninth generation?”

“The ninth generation?” One of the dark elves snorted coldly. “Even our homeland was destroyed by you humans. How could we still have nine generations?”

Judging by the hatred burning in the other party’s eyes, Huang Huihong knew that there was no way to avoid conflict. He quietly weighed their fighting strength. The enemy had the advantage, in terms of both absolute numbers and average cultivation level.

He spoke again, his voice dark and threatening. “All of you should understand that we act in His Majesty’s stead. Once we summon the imperial edict, all of you will perish.”

He didn’t want to use the imperial edict unless absolutely necessary. Sang Hong’s analysis had been more or less accurate.

“Imperial edict?” The dark elves laughed in contempt. They didn’t seem to treat this as a big deal at all.

Huang Huihong was startled. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was amiss. Without any further hesitation, he knelt towards the east in prayer, his hands spread respectfully in front of him. “Enemies stand before this humble subject’s path. Your majesty, please bestow upon us…”

Zu An felt his excitement grow. He could finally witness the imperial edict's overwhelming power again. He really wanted to see this destructive weapon used on someone other than those he cared about.

Unexpectedly, an aged voice suddenly rang out.

“Rise!”

Huang Huihong, who was kneeling on the ground, stood up involuntarily when he heard this voice, interrupting the summoning ceremony of the imperial edict.

The other Embroidered Envoy members stared at him in confusion. They couldn’t understand why he would get up so suddenly.

Huang Huihong was confused as well. He turned his head to look.

An elder slowly walked out of the deep forest, a walking stick in his hand. He was so unsteady that it looked like he might fall over at any time.

However, after seeing Old Mi and Wei Dan in action, Zu An didn’t dare underestimate these frail-looking elders. They were all incredibly vicious. They probably faked their appearance to lower their enemies’ guard.

A pair of horns seemed to grow on the sides of the elder’s head, just above his ears. They bore little resemblance to the horns of any herbivores he knew, but they weren’t large. They looked just like ornaments, yet they possessed a form of mysterious power.

Huang Huihong’s expression grew worried. He knelt down on the ground to start the ceremony again. This time, however, he moved and spoke much more quickly.

There may have been some pretentiousness in his manner before, but his eyes were now filled with imminent panic.

The elder pointed the dragon-head staff in his hands at Huang Huihong. “Silence!”

Huang Huihong’s voice cut off immediately. His mouth was still open, but he couldn’t utter a sound no matter how he tried.

“Holy shit. What the heck is going on?” Zu An could not believe what he was seeing.

“That old man is probably a member of the elder dragon race,” Sang Hong explained.

“Dragon race?” Zu An looked again at that old man’s frail body. He doesn’t look like one at all! Do you think I don’t know what dragons look like?

The crimson dragon in Hidden Dragon Mountain was still very much in his mind.

As if sensing his doubt, Sang Hong replied, “A regular dragon needs to cultivate to an extremely high level before they can take human form. On top of that, they face a tremendous risk in doing so. However, that isn’t the case for members of the elder dragon race. Almost all of them can transform into human form.”

Zu An finally understood. Now he knew why those horns on that elder’s head looked so familiar.

Zheng Dan had a question of her own. “Why did Commander Huang fall silent, then?”

Sang Hong gave the old elder dragon a look. “That is one of the innate abilities of the elder dragon race—Soulspeak.”

“Soulspeak?” Zu An seemed to recall Shang Liuyu mentioning this during one of her classes in the academy. This secret technique of the dragon race—Soulspeak—was something envied by all of the other races.

With just simple words, they could turn what they spoke into reality. In a sense, when they spoke, magic would follow.

Zu An was also incredibly envious. Shouldn’t this ability to speak magic into existence belong to all keyboard warriors? Why don’t I have this ability?

Sang Hong gave Zu An a complicated look. “I didn’t expect the dragon race to become involved as well. It seems like you’re pretty popular.”

Zu An felt quite afraid as well. Didn’t everyone say that the emperor was the most powerful cultivator? Why were his subordinates getting beaten up one after the other?!