Not long after Yang Hong went to sleep, Yang Zhong, along with seven Grandmaster eunuchs and a thousand Xiantian Grandmaster guards from the Great Sui Imperial Palace, rushed over in a flurry.
This was because the Imperial Guards protecting the seed base had lit a signal flare!
Knowing Yang Hong was here and fearing for his safety, Yang Zhong did not wait for Yang Jian to lead the Feathered Forest Guards. He, along with the Masters and Grandmasters, used their Qinggong to hasten their arrival.
"Good grandson, good grandson~"
Yang Zhong did not look at the Imperial Guards or the good seed warehouse. He went straight into Yang Hong's room.
"Hey~ Old man, what time is it? Why are you shouting so loudly?"
Yang Hong questioned Yang Zhong with the grogginess of just waking up.
"Hahaha~ Good grandson, you're not dead, haha~ It's good that you're alright, it's good that you're alright."
Yang Zhong hugged Yang Hong, his voice choked with emotion.
He had thought he was going to lose Yang Hong this time.
He wasn't too worried about whether Yang Hong lived or died, but he feared that if Yang Hong died, the hope of him recovering to Grandmaster that he had just seen would be shattered.
"Alright, Little Six, you rest here for now. I'll go handle things outside."
"Oh~ Did something happen outside?"
Yang Hong asked with a puzzled look, as if he truly knew nothing of what was happening.
"Hehe~ Some petty thieves came to steal things, and they were killed by the guards."
"Oh~ Then it's fine. I'll sleep some more. I'm exhausted these past couple of days."
"Good, good, good grandson, rest well."
"Mm~"
Yang Hong pulled the thin quilt over himself and went back to sleep. The matters outside had nothing to do with him.
Seeing Yang Zhong arrive, Yang Hong truly felt at ease and went back to sleep.
However,
The seed base was in an uproar!
And the capital of Daxing was also in an uproar!
"Investigate! Investigate immediately! Who dares to be so audacious as to attack the seed base of my Great Sui!"
"Yes!"
Out of the seven Grandmaster eunuchs, two stayed to protect Yang Hong, while the other five, each leading a team, dispersed immediately.
Yang Zhong rushed to the assembled Imperial Guards.
Looking at Yu Quanlai, the commander of the guards, who was covered in blood and whose armor was tattered, Yang Zhong asked in a deep voice.
"Yu Quanlai, what exactly happened?"
Yu Quanlai knelt on one knee, bowed, and said with a trembling voice.
"Reporting to... Reporting to His Imperial Grandfather, around the hour of the rat and ox, enemies took advantage of the darkness to infiltrate outside the seed base. They first took down our hidden and visible sentries, then launched a sudden attack on our guard posts, causing us losses..."
"Fool! Fool! You guards, the weakest among you are all Xiantian Grandmasters, yet you were still ambushed? Are you pigs? And you, the commander at Xiantian peak, you're even more of a foolish pig!"
Hearing that the guard posts were ambushed, Yang Zhong became furious.
Yu Quanlai was someone from Yang Zhong's reign as emperor, and one of the generals he trusted.
Yang Zhong had already been preparing resources for Yu Quanlai to break through to Grandmaster.
But Yu Quanlai's performance had deeply disappointed him.
"Yu Quanlai, you will be relieved of your command tomorrow and sent to the frontier for training."
Yang Zhong's anger suddenly subsided, and he said with a dejected tone, disappointed in Yu Quanlai.
To make such a low-level mistake in such an important place...
He was not suited for important tasks.
"Yes! Your humble servant obeys. However, Your Imperial Grandfather, I still need to report on tonight's events."
"Hmph~ Speak."
Yang Zhong was still somewhat angry.
"The enemies who came this time were powerful. There were a total of 47 Grandmasters and 2000 Xiantian Grandmasters. Among them were the dynasty's most wanted criminal, Dong Kou Wang Ye Feng, the assassin ranking second, Gui Sha Jiu Ying, the third wanted criminal of Wuzhou, Gu Zi Lian, the Great Song's..."
"Wait~ You said Ye Feng and Gui Sha Jiu Ying both came? How could you still be alive!"
Yang Zhong interrupted, somewhat angrily.
He himself had been at the peak of Grandmaster and knew the vast difference between a Grandmaster and a Xiantian peak.
It was not just a difference of 9999 jin versus 10,000 jin; it was a world of difference.
Grandmasters not only possessed immense strength but had also developed their spiritual power, allowing them to sense danger and predict enemy attacks.
Ten peak Xiantian Grandmasters were no match for an early-stage Grandmaster.
Unless they had specific military formations, they could only hold them off.
It was basically impossible for a Xiantian Grandmaster to defeat a Grandmaster without the encirclement of twenty people.
This was assuming the Grandmaster didn't flee.
If a Grandmaster wanted to escape, a Xiantian Grandmaster wouldn't even see their back.
If the number of Grandmasters increased and they cooperated, the difficulty of the battle would increase exponentially.
Gui Sha Jiu Ying were nine people who coordinated perfectly, and there were a full 47 Grandmasters.
Although there were a thousand Xiantian Grandmaster guards here, these thousand masters were dispersed throughout the base.
Facing 2000 Xiantian Grandmasters led by 47 Grandmasters, it would surely be a situation of certain death.
But...
"Bastard, you're trying to lie to me again."
"Your Majesty, please let me finish."
Yu Quanlai interrupted Yang Zhong's roar with some helplessness.
"Hmph~"
Yang Zhong snorted coldly, waiting for Yu Quanlai to continue.
"Your Majesty, of the 47 Grandmasters, 35 were notorious bandits and assassins. The remaining 12, upon our initial inspection, appeared to be hidden experts from the Great Sui's influential families, clans, and noble houses. The 2000 Xiantian Grandmasters, based on our judgment, were likely the loyal retainers of these families."
Yang Zhong listened and snorted, "Hmph, some people can't sit still anymore, can they?"
"Mm~ It seems so. Your Majesty, what I wanted to say was that all these invaders were killed by a mysterious master. All 2047 of them died, without a single survivor. Except for 12 people who were reduced to pulp by terrifying palm strikes, the other 2035 were killed by pebbles piercing their vital points!"
"All dead! They didn't escape? How many of you died?"
Yang Zhong exclaimed again. The night had brought too many unexpected events.
"Your Majesty, 469 Imperial Guards died, and the rest were wounded. Among them, 211 sustained serious injuries that would prevent recovery."
Yu Quanlai's voice choked a little at this point. These fallen and wounded soldiers were his comrades, brothers who had truly experienced life and death together.
"Who was that master? Did you recognize them?"
Although Yu Quanlai's report was somewhat disorganized, Yang Zhong had a general understanding: a supreme master had secretly saved his Imperial Guards, his seed base, and his good grandson.
"Please forgive me, Your Majesty. We didn't even know how the attacker moved, nor did we see the mysterious person."
"Quick, take me to see the bodies of those assassins."
Yang Zhong wanted to examine the corpses to understand the attacker's methods and infer their identity.
But his plan was destined to be in vain.
The bodies of Gui Sha Jiu Ying and the others were practically reduced to paste. If their heads hadn't been intact, their identities would have been unrecognizable.
The bodies of the other assassins were even more straightforward. They were almost all killed with a single strike to vital points like the head or heart by penetrating pebbles, leaving no clue as to the origin of their martial arts.
After a night of busy work, aside from confirming the identities of the dead assassins, there was no other gain.
There was not a single clue about Yang Hong, the mysterious master.
The only conclusion was that the mysterious person was a martial artist at least at the Heavenly Human realm.
Yang Hong was unaware of all this, and if he had known, he would have been too lazy to care.
When Yang Zhong told Yang Hong about what happened last night, besides feigning the expected fear, he only had one thing to say.
"Oh, someone died here last night."
Then, he requested to return to the Imperial Palace.
However, before leaving, he made one request.
"Imperial Grandfather, the farming master who came here to teach the farmers how to cultivate was assassinated last night. You and Father are furious and are currently searching the entire city for the escaped assassins."
"Mm~ I understand. Wait a moment, I'll have Geng Zhong disguise himself and take you back first."
"Imperial Grandfather, the farmers here are good people, very, very good people. Don't kill a single one of them, okay?"
"Hehe~ It seems you're quite clever too. You don't need to say it, Imperial Grandfather knows what to do."
Yang Zhong immediately understood Yang Hong's suggestion, and even had further thoughts.