"What nonsense is this? What kind of monsters exist in this world? How can a mere mortal woman withstand crossbow bolts? Are you telling me a joke?"
"Has the Imperial Guard become so incompetent that they resort to invoking ghosts and spirits to cover up their own powerlessness?"
"Immense strength, impervious to blades and arrows?"
...
The nobles and the Empress Dowager, who had not witnessed the events in the imperial court earlier, or had only heard a brief account, mostly disbelieved, some even becoming enraged.
They thought the Imperial Guard was full of incompetents.
They believed they were making excuses for their inability.
Only those who had been trapped beneath the rubble of the Hall of Supreme Harmony and miraculously survived, after carefully recalling the earlier events, felt that the Imperial Guard who had returned for reinforcements were likely telling the truth.
As for being impervious to blades and arrows, that was hard to say for certain, but immense strength was definitely true. Otherwise, how could someone easily carry the emperor around and reduce the Hall of Supreme Harmony to ruins in a flash? Coupled with the immense strength, invulnerability didn't seem so hard to accept.
Besides, they knew the capabilities of the Imperial Guard. If not for being impervious to weapons, why would they need to request reinforcements? Even with inaccurate aim, a barrage of crossbow bolts and arrows could turn a normal person into a sieve.
Since that hadn't happened,
It was certainly due to an unpredictable accident.
Therefore, those ministers quickly offered explanations and, after a brief consultation, decided to mobilize as many soldiers as possible. They also decided to bring in the so-called Buddhist and Taoist experts from the capital.
Since the opponent was suspected to be a monster,
They naturally had to use the appropriate remedies.
And try to resolve it through metaphysical means.
Just as they were mobilizing all the soldiers in the capital to surround Ding Yun, Ding Yun had already very smoothly consumed most of the gold bars and ingots in the national treasury. The remaining small amount was also packed up, ready to be taken.
With most of the matters handled, there was no need to stay and wait to be surrounded. So, she quickly, carrying gold and jewels and wielding the bronze pillar as her weapon,
Swiftly departed the treasury, destroying everything in her path.
Mainly, she smashed any palace structures she encountered.
As she walked, Ding Yun found herself back near the Hall of Supreme Harmony, where she saw a large group of nobles, officials, princes, and concubines.
What a coincidence!
Going to find each of them individually would be too troublesome, and she was even too lazy to deal with them. But since they were all gathered together, it would be a waste of opportunity not to take them all in one go.
Therefore, in the next second, Ding Yun accelerated her pace.
She rushed forward and began to sweep through them.
She rampaged like a human T-Rex.
And so, those ministers who had barely escaped a fatal encounter, and those who had previously doubted Princess Anping's immense strength and invulnerability, finally witnessed her imperviousness to the numerous crossbow bolts fired by the surrounding Imperial Guard, and how she wielded a bronze pillar weighing over a thousand pounds with incredible strength, crushing them to death.
However, in the end, Ding Yun did not completely eradicate everyone.
She specifically spared the Fourth Prince and Du Kui.
After all, they were acquaintances. With a foolish person like the Fourth Prince left to inherit the throne, the Wei Kingdom would surely not fare well.
Du Kui didn't need her to act personally.
The fact that he had brought such an invincible calamity back was enough for the Wei people to curse him to death.
As for the Fourth Prince's mother, the Imperial Noble Consort, Ding Yun didn't know her, so she had no idea who it was. She could only apologize.
After completing this task,
Ding Yun discarded the bronze pillar.
And quickly fled, leaving the imperial palace.
She planned to find a secluded mountain forest to hide in for a few days, plan her future, and then take action.
...
During the time Ding Yun was in hiding, the events in the Wei Kingdom could not be concealed. Not only did they quickly spread throughout the country, but they also spread to the entire world at an astonishing speed.
Although many people found it unbelievable,
Many countries also found it hard to believe.
However, the death of the Wei Emperor, the near-annihilation of the Wei royal family in the capital, the death of almost all the civil and military officials and nobles, and even the death of the Empress Dowager and other consorts, was a fact.
In such a situation, let alone a struggle for succession among princes,
It was more tragic than the fall of an empire.
Furthermore, each country had its own spies stationed in Wei. They might not believe the news spread by Wei itself, but they couldn't disbelieve their own informants. The information sent back by these spies was largely consistent with the news circulating within Wei.
So, no matter how unwilling they were to believe it, they had to.
This caused an uproar across the globe.
The most discussed topic was whether Princess Anping was still human, and whether she was a secret weapon secretly cultivated by the Zhao Kingdom, or if something else had happened.
It was at this time that the guards and maids who had previously served Ding Yun, whose words had been dismissed by everyone no matter how they were spoken, finally found believers.
And their accounts helped spread the news.
As the stories spread, Ding Yun became a demon.
The content primarily spread by the guards and maids was that Princess Anping seemed never to be full, and in the short eight or nine days they served her, she consumed nearly a hundred thousand taels of food, and she ate anything, whether raw or cooked.
In addition, Princess Anping ate wood, ate other things, and even threatened to eat people. Yes, they spread that she threatened to eat people, but in reality, she didn't.
However, as the stories spread, the content changed.
From threatening to eat people, it became eating people daily, consuming seven or eight guards a day, and still never being full.
Combined with the news from Wei,
That Princess Anping had emptied their national treasury.
A demonic image of someone who ate everything, and might even regard people as snacks, emerged vividly.
However, most of the common people merely chatted about it and did not seem overly worried, as they had no way of encountering her. Those who were truly worried were mainly the royal families of various countries.
Since she could so easily annihilate almost the entire Wei royal family, she could undoubtedly annihilate them just as easily. In that case, those pampered royal families who lacked for neither power nor wealth,
How could they not be afraid?
Some immediately began to strengthen the defenses of their palaces and enhance their personal security. Others immediately dispatched officials to Zhao to condemn them, demanding that Zhao control their Princess Anping, who was suspected of being a demon.
Of course, the level of fear among these people was moderate. After all, they had not witnessed it firsthand and did not feel they had any enmity with Princess Anping. The one who was truly most terrified was Zhao Jun, the Emperor of Zhao.
He knew without thinking that if Princess Anping was still Princess Anping and had not truly been possessed by a demon, then he would be the one she hated the most.
After all, her mother's downfall was his doing.
And it was his decree that she be sent for a political marriage.
Therefore, Zhao Jun's main concern now was to pray that Princess Anping was indeed no longer Princess Anping, but a pure demon. Only then could he feel at ease.
He believed that the demon would not seek revenge for Anping.
This way, he could preserve his life and ensure his safety.