Emperor Xia Jianshen's expression was extremely ugly.

Not only had Yan Bugui protected the imperial compound for several decades, he had also ensured the safety of the imperial family. Thus, their friendship was extremely important.

Furthermore, he was the only remaining grade-9 guest elder of the imperial family.

This meant that he was the imperial family's last trump card!

With Yan Bugui around, even if his strength was no longer of much use, he was still a threat that many rascals did not dare to meddle with, causing them to abandon their evil intentions.

If Yan Bugui stepped in today and was killed by Bo Ri, this would mean that the imperial family would lose their trump card!

Then, from now on, there might be many troubles in the imperial palace.

Thus, Xia Jianshen did not want Yan Bugui to take up this challenge.

"Your Majesty, let me satisfy this envoy!"

A middle-aged man who had a goatee and wore black clothes stepped out from behind the Emperor and actively asked to battle.

This person was one of the black-clothed people who had stood beside Xia Jianshen to protect him.

This group of people were also the guest elders of the imperial family, and their cultivation bases were at least of the grade-7 realm.

Meanwhile, the middle-aged man with a goatee that had asked for a battle was one of the outstanding figures of this group. He had a grade-8 cultivation base and was one of their leaders.

He was very clear of Yan Bugui's current state and strength, and knew that Yan Bugui definitely could not fight with the barbarian experts here. Thus, he had offered himself out of his own initiative.

Upon seeing this, even the emotionless Emperor could not help but feel a tinge of pain in his heart.

These guest elders of the imperial family were the final trump cards of the Grand Xia imperial family! They were also the most loyal people who willingly devoted their lives to him.

In comparison, the 100,000 eunuchs from the 24 government offices, the Four Great Generals, and the civil officers all had their own selfish motives! They would not devote themselves to the Grand Xia Imperial Dynasty until the very end!

But it was a pity.

Ever since that cult leader appeared out of the blue 100 years ago, not only did he dominate the Jianghu, he also wanted to govern the country and rule the nation. He wanted to replace the Grand Xia Emperor!

Thus, the cult leader led the cult army to the capital, and they seemed invincible.

Back then, there were many experts among the imperial family's guest elders, with even 11 grade-9 masters. They had thus planned to work together and kill the cult leader.

In the end…

All 11 grade-9 masters died at the hands of the cult master!

None of them were spared!

Eventually, the cult leader was neutralized by the joint effort of the Buddhist Eminent Monk and the Taoist Heavenly Venerable, but it was unknown whether he was still alive and where he was. In the end, the Grand Xia imperial family was preserved.

However, from that battle, the imperial family's guest elders had suffered great injuries in their powers of heaven and earth. Furthermore, the imperial family was unable to find any replacements.

Even after 100 years, the imperial family's guest elders had not been able to recover.

Yan Bugui was now the only grade-9 among them.

When Emperor Xia Jianshen thought about this, he was in even greater distress.

Even though there were many reasons why the Grand Xia Dynasty had declined to their current state and faced many domestic and external problems, the most important reason was not the rise of the northern barbarians in the past few decades. Instead, it was because of that cult master 100 years ago!

If the cult leader had not wanted to rule the country and completely slaughtered all the experts of the imperial family back then, they would not have allowed the mere barbarians to send experts to the imperial compound and make a show of their strength!

A tragedy had occurred, but they could not stop it!

Xia Jianshen endured the pain in his heart and nodded his head, signaling this grade-8 guest elder to step up and accept the challenge.

The middle-aged man with a goatee leaped and landed in the arena. Then, he said, "Leader Yan Bugui is currently cultivating in seclusion, and it is not convenient for him to accept this challenge. Today, allow me to exchange some moves with you."

Upon seeing this, Bo Ri shook his head and said, "You? One attack from me and you might die! Just ask Yan Bugui to come out."

"How arrogant!"

The goateed guest elder snorted coldly. Then, he shouted loudly, "Give me a sword!"

A black-clothed guest elder immediately tossed the long sword in his hands into the arena, which was caught by the goateed guest elder.

He unsheathed the long sword, and a cold glow suddenly flashed past.

Then, a majestic and swift wave of sword aura charged towards Bo Ri. A deep cut even appeared in the solid arena as a result of the sword aura.

The might of this attack was not ordinary and had reached the limits of the grade-8 realm.

Even Black and White Impermanence, who had died in the hands of Lin Ping, would probably not be as impressive as this goateed guest elder if they did not work together and were alone!

"This sword seems rather decent. However, are you worthy of saying 'give me a sword' in front of my Senior Brother?"

Bo Ri did not dodge. Instead, his internal energy sunk into his dantian, and he suddenly shouted. Then, he leaped like a roc and stretched out his palm into the sky, annihilating all the sharp sword aura.

At the same time, a second palm rapidly descended on the goateed guest elder. Even though he went all out to desperately dodge and defend himself…

…it was of no use.

The terrifying palm energy caused blood to flow from his seven apertures, and he widened his eyes. Then, he died with his eyes open!

"Next!"

Bo Ri shouted to everyone else as if he was ordering them to number off.

"Old Wang!"

"Leader Wang!"

When the black-clothed guest elders behind saw the goateed guest elder die with his eyes open, their own eyes were about to burst out from anger. They were boiling with rage, and some people immediately tried to step forth and take revenge.

However, upon seeing this, the Emperor waved his hand and stopped the group of guest elders.

These guest elders all had grade-7 or grade-8 cultivation bases and might be considered peak experts elsewhere. However, when faced with grade-9 masters, they were simply appetizers!

The imperial family's guest elders were already a far cry from their past strength. Now, for every person they lost, they would lose a portion of their power.

They were the trump cards of the imperial family, and he could not allow their sacrifices to be in vain.

Emperor Xia Jianshen pondered for a moment. Then, he suddenly looked at Empress Xie Feiyan, who was sitting beside him, with an extremely disgusted gaze. After that, he shifted his eyes towards General Who Stabilizes the North Xie Feihong, who was sitting at his left.

Then, he immediately gave orders. "General Xie, your master, Shi Chengtian, did not dare to appear today. As his pupil, go and fight on behalf of your master! Go and exchange blows with Envoy Bo Ri in the arena!"

Hua!

Upon hearing this, many people had different expressions. Among the civil officials, some were shocked, some were dissatisfied, while some were gloating over Xie Feihong's misfortune.

Even though Xie Feihong, the General Who Stabilizes the North, was a rare expert in the army who had a grade-8 cultivation base, when it came to strength, he was not even as impressive as the goateed guest elder who had just been killed.

If the goateed guest elder had been killed after two attacks from Bo Ri, then what use would it be if Xie Feihong went up against him? The results would definitely be the same!

Yesterday, they had heard that the two brothers, Bo Ri and Moragu, had defeated the two Grand Xia grade-9 masters. The people had simply been in shock and disbelief, and they did not have a concrete understanding of these two brothers' strength.

They only truly understood how terrifying they were after seeing Bo Ri attack today.

"General?"

Upon hearing this, Bo Ri looked in the direction of the Emperor, and his gaze fell on the General Who Stabilizes the North. Then, a smile immediately appeared on his face as he nodded and said, "Okay, you! Come and challenge me!"

Even though Bo Ri was a martial arts fanatic and had a rather simplistic mind, he was not actually foolish.

Today, his task was to kill many people, but he had a rationale behind killing people.

Even though killing ordinary Grand Xia experts was useful, it would not be as useful as killing experts from the army!

Killing an expert from the army would be of most help to the barbarian army!

"No way!"

Very quickly, someone opposed this in a loud voice.

However, the one who opposed this was not General Who Stabilizes the North Xie Feihong himself, but Empress Xie Feiyan who was sitting beside the Emperor.

At that moment, Xie Feiyan's face was ghastly pale, and the elegant and poised bearing that she typically possessed was completely gone. Instead, she was panic-stricken.

It was even worse than when she had been exposed a month ago by Chun Fei as the culprit behind Senior Concubine Li's death.

Xie Feiyan shook her head and spoke while trembling, "Your Majesty, you can't send my brother to his death!"

She was extremely panicky, not because of sibling affection, but because she knew that her brother, the General Who Stabilizes the North, was her greatest support and backing in the imperial compound!

After all, her brother had the authority to control the army. Thus, even if the Emperor hated her, he would not dare to do anything to her!

However, if her brother died today, then her happy life would also come to an end. Her fate might become even more tragic than Chun Fei's!

The Emperor was truly heartless!

Three days ago, he had still been speaking sweet words to her. He promised that he would never touch her position as the Empress and would forgive her if she took revenge.

She did what she said she would and invited her brother's master to come out of seclusion.

However, since Shi Chengtian had lost yesterday, the Emperor had turned against her and even added insult to injury!

"Empress, are you defying my order?" the Emperor asked in a low voice.

This pair of damned, unsuccessful siblings!

He had been extremely confident in Shi Chengtian and pinned all his hopes on him, hoping that he would be able to resist the barbarian envoys.

But what were the results?

He screwed up at the crucial moment. As a result, his dignified country had descended to this awkward situation!

Thus, even death would not expiate the crimes of these siblings!

Both of them deserved to die!

What about the high position and the great authority that the General Who Stabilizes the North had in the army? That was even better!

He would seize this opportunity. After the General died, he could send someone to take back his military power, allowing him to control the army once again!

"You can't do that! You definitely can't!"

The Empress was unable to deal with this and stood up as if she had gone insane. Then, she said to Bo Ri and Moragu in the arena, "Do you want to challenge an expert? Do you want to clash with a grade-9 master?

"I know one! There is still a mysterious and powerful grade-9 master in the imperial compound! This expert's cultivation base is unfathomable and even more impressive than my brother's!

"That person is hiding in Changmen Palace. He is the top expert in the imperial palace!

"Then go and find him! Go and kill everyone there!"

When Bo Ri heard this, as expected, he seemed very interested and asked, "Your Majesty, is this true? Is there such an impressive grade-9 master in the imperial compound?"

When the Emperor heard this, he furrowed his eyebrows slightly and looked at the Empress thoughtfully.

This woman truly had a vicious heart!

During times like this, she did not forget Chun Fei, her sworn enemy who had made charges against her.

Indeed, there was a mysterious grade-9 master in Changmen Palace. However, no matter how mysterious that master was, what use would it be when they encountered these two barbarian experts?

Even Shi Chengtian was unable to stand three attacks from Moragu and had fled!

The master at Changmen Palace might not even be a match for Dugu Xiong. Bo Ri might be able to kill him easily!

However, the Emperor could not help but admit that the Empress's move was very ingenious.

They would use the barbarians to get rid of that expert!

It could be said that they had found a way out of this impasse!

"Yes, there is a grade-9 master in Changmen Palace. This person is very mysterious and very strong. If you really want to find an expert to clash with, you can try going there."

In the end, the Emperor nodded and did not deny the Empress's words.

If they could use the barbarians to get rid of that expert, then so be it!

Either way, the one being killed was not his own people!

The Emperor could not tolerate Changmen Palace and Chun Fei either, and was earnestly wishing for their deaths.

Furthermore, when the two barbarian experts killed a grade-9 master, Xia Jianshen could use this as an excuse to end the martial arts exchange!

This was a win-win decision!

This was very good!

Let Chun Fei and the grade-9 master supporting her die!