Chapter 11662 — What Happened Today
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
The whole hall erupted in uproar.
Granted, the situation had come this far and the outcome was plain for all to see—but strictly speaking, apart from the Eight Elite Guards, most of Prince Qi's Manor's remaining elite fighting strength had suffered no real damage.
It was mainly that the brutal slaughter of the Eight Elite Guards had been too terrifying a deterrent, the scene too one-sided; the surviving elite fighters had not even had time to be worn down before their spirit collapsed.
But they were still there, after all.
Had the gaunt old man raised his arm and called out at that moment, though the end might have been ghastly, it would not have been entirely without a chance to fight with their backs to the river.
Who could have imagined he would simply concede, and so decisively?
Had Wei Zhao frightened him numb in there?
For a moment the great lords of every faction let their imaginations run wild, and finally reached their conclusion: Wei Zhao was even more ungovernable than they had foreseen!
How else could Prince Qi's Manor have been cowed into such a state…
Then the gaunt old man's next sentence startled everyone all over again.
"As of today, Prince Qi's Manor is dissolved. Go and make your own way in the world."
The entire hall was dumbstruck.
The whole Inner Royal Court was in an uproar.
In the reckoning of the vast majority, even if Prince Qi's Manor lost this round, the worst that could happen was a change of master, or at most a tacit acceptance of a puppet installed by Wei Zhao—surely it would never come to outright dissolution on the spot?
Yet reality proved just that unexpected.
The gaunt old man glanced at Wei Zhao, then turned to Qi Zhuiyun: "Come with me."
With that, his figure flickered and vanished swiftly into the distance.
Qi Zhuiyun looked at Wei Zhao, his expression complicated: "Until we meet again."
Wei Zhao nodded: "Take care, Third Uncle Qi."
As the gaunt old man and Qi Zhuiyun departed one after the other, the rest of Prince Qi's Manor's finest looked at one another, wide-eyed and speechless, at a loss for how to react.
A second before, they had all been basking in the shade of a great tree; even if Prince Qi's Manor lost, they could still have gotten by.
At worst, a new leader.
But now Prince Qi's Manor was gone, and these pampered elite retainers of the manor had become in an instant a pack of poor wretches with no home to return to.
Every gaze turned as one to Wei Zhao.
Wei Zhao said offhandedly, "The Night's End Palace happens to be hiring. If any of you are interested, you can go sign up."
At once the eyes of everyone present lit up; they thanked him in unison and hurried off toward the Night's End Palace.
However the situation might develop hereafter, through today's battle they had at least recognized this much: Wei Zhao was unmistakably a thick tree to cling to.
So long as they kept close to Wei Zhao, they could at least have peace for a while.
With luck, they might even rise with him, as Wei Baizhan had—one dog ascending to heaven on the coattails of another.
What Li Qinghe and the others had been like before, they had no idea—but what Wei Baizhan's strength had been before, they all knew something of.
Leaping to this level in a single year—plainly it was Wei Zhao's doing.
Such was the power of example.
Watching the great tide of Prince Qi's Manor's elite pour toward the Night's End Palace, the great lords of every faction slapped their thighs in frustration, regretting they had not gone to watch the battle in person.
Otherwise, they could have staged a round of direct boss hiring right now.
Never mind anything else: these elite retainers of Prince Qi's Manor might not be the ace up the sleeve that the Eight Elite Guards were, might not tip the scales at the decisive moment, but without question they were premium fighting strength.
In ordinary times, luring even one of them over was no easy feat.
Now they were being bundled up and sold off wholesale.