Chapter 18: Has the Court of Judicial Review Gone Mad Too?

“Your Highness does not remember?”

Li Lianying chuckled.

“In those early years of war and chaos, you saved a little girl in passing. Back then, His Majesty and the Miao King drank too much and made a verbal betrothal for the two of you.”

Xu Tian froze.

Countless fragments flashed through his mind, yet he could not piece that face together no matter how hard he tried.

Back when the realm was in ruins, he had saved far too many people. Who could remember who was who?

“His Majesty said that later, you became the Crown Prince, your status grew exalted, and… you were grievously wounded as well, so His Majesty did not mention it again. But the Miao King’s side has always kept it in mind.”

Li Lianying secretly glanced at Xu Tian, then forced himself to continue:

“His Majesty says that now you have laid down your position as Crown Prince, and your health has greatly improved. His Majesty feels that this marriage…”

“Stop!”

Xu Tian’s face instantly darkened like the bottom of a pot.

He shot to his feet and began pacing restlessly around the study.

“No wonder the old man was so quick to depose me. So this was what he’d been waiting for?!”

“The Heavenly Heart Lotus was a pretext. Forcing a marriage was the real goal, wasn’t it?!”

He could not help suspecting that the old man had wrapped dumplings just for the sake of that little saucer of vinegar!

“While the world remains unsettled and the realm lies broken, how can one speak of home?”

The more Xu Tian thought about it, the angrier he became. Grinding his teeth, he lectured:

“Tell him to cultivate in peace and stop wasting his thoughts on childish matters of love! He is the ruler of a nation. How can his vision be so narrow!”

He drew a deep breath and picked up the brush once more.

Vast Righteous Qi surged within his chest.

The brush danced like dragons and snakes, and faint flashes of golden light appeared.

One “Suppress” character drove straight through the paper.

One “Slaughter” character blazed with murderous intent.

It seemed that he had improved yet again.

His mood also calmed at once.

“Uncle Li, I still need you to take these calligraphy sheets to the frontier.”

“Su Can will stay in the capital and serve as a diversion.”

Xu Tian looked at the ink on the paper, still not yet dry, and cold light flickered in his eyes.

“Tell Second Brother… the two prefectures of Guanshan have come due for their return.”

“Our lost homeland must return. There is no need for any scruples… Whoever dares stand in the way, kill them!”

……

The next morning, in Kunning Palace.

Chu Hao stepped into the great hall with great caution.

Chu Lan had summoned him here.

Otherwise, he would never have chosen a time like this to provoke his elder sister’s temper.

But when he reached the entrance, he found that her expression was surprisingly calm. She was trimming a pot of rare orchids.

“Elder Sister… you are not angry?”

Chu Hao asked tentatively.

“Angry?”

The Empress clipped away a withered leaf, her voice indifferent.

“Angry at what? Angry at Xu Tian, that madman?”

She set down the shears and took the handkerchief offered by a palace maid to wipe her hands.

“I saw it long ago. Those Confucian scholars have gone mad. Once people become mad, anything they do is normal.”

“As for that fool from the Shan Kingdom, he was encouraging people to betray the nation. The fact that he was not cut down on the spot truly exceeded my expectations.”

She turned around and fixed Chu Hao with a sharp stare.

“Remember this well. We are here to seize power, not to rebel.”

A trace of disdain flashed through Chu Lan’s eyes as she sneered:

“Our Arcane Dao is the orthodox path. It is completely different from the evil crooked ways of the Shan Kingdom. If we become tainted by that, then there will be no place left in Great Xia for us to stand.”

Chu Hao shrank his neck and nodded rapidly like a chick pecking rice.

“I understand, Elder Sister. Do not worry. I despise those disgusting things as well.”

“Then what should we do next…”

“Wait.”

The Empress sat back down in her chair and lifted her teacup, her face once again composed with noble elegance.

“Sit upon the mountain and watch the tigers fight… This time, we have suffered severe losses. It is the perfect chance to rest and recover.”

“The Shan Kingdom’s Second Prince is about to arrive. They will never swallow this insult, so they will certainly clash with Xu Tian. We need only sit back and watch the show.”

Then she changed the subject:

“Although all ties with the Zhao Family have been severed, one place has still been found. In the western outskirts of the capital, the people of the Shan Kingdom are skulking about there, up to Heaven knows what. Do not go anywhere near it.”

The western outskirts?

Chu Hao agreed on the surface, but his heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Inside the ring, that ancient voice was echoing through his mind:

“Boy, there is an aura of a supreme treasure there. If you get the chance, take it. With me here, nothing will happen…”

A supreme treasure!

Great wealth was to be sought amid danger.

Since his elder sister would not let him use the family’s manpower, then he would simply think of a way himself.

As long as he was careful and did not get discovered, it would be fine.

Just then, a young eunuch came running in, frantic with panic, and dropped to his knees with a thud.

“Your Majesty! Terrible news! Something has happened at the Court of Judicial Review… at the Court of Judicial Review!”

Chu Lan frowned.

“What could possibly happen at the Court of Judicial Review?”

“It is… it is the Court of Judicial Review…”

The little eunuch stammered:

“The Court of Judicial Review is going to summon His Highness the Prince of Qin for questioning!”

“What?”

Chu Lan shot to her feet, disbelief written all over her face.

“Who? Who has such outrageous audacity? Even I do not dare interrogate him openly. Which madman did this?”

Now that the Confucian scholars had gone mad, was it the Court of Judicial Review’s turn next?

What in the world had happened to Great Xia?

The little eunuch answered in a trembling voice:

“It was… it was Liu Sangui, the Assistant Director of the Court of Judicial Review. He accepted the Shan Kingdom envoy’s formal complaint…”

Chu Lan stood there stunned for a long while, then laughed in fury.

“Good, very good! Liu Sangui, was it?”

“The Liu Sangui we arranged to be placed there, yes?”

Bang!

Her face instantly turned cold, and she slammed the table as she roared:

“Is he sick in the head? He even dares accept this?”

“Does he have any idea how much effort I spent to secure that post?”

“So it is not that the Court of Judicial Review has gone mad. It is that certain people of the Arcane Dao have gone mad!”

Watching his elder sister on the verge of losing control, Chu Hao hunched in on himself and tried as hard as possible not to make a sound.

Yet he still could not escape the furious voice ringing in his ears:

“What are you still standing there for? Go! Hurry and see what is happening!”

The Empress pointed at Chu Hao, her finger trembling.

“Do not let that fool drag us into it as well!”

“If he wants to die, if the Five Aggregates Sect wants to be destroyed, then let them die on their own!”

……

Before the Court of Judicial Review.

On ordinary days, the yamen stood deserted enough that sparrows might build nests at its gates.

But today it was packed with people from every direction.

The threshold of the Court of Judicial Review had nearly been trampled flat, and even the roadside trees were filled with commoners hanging from the branches to watch the spectacle.

“Did you hear? The Court of Judicial Review is going to try His Highness the Prince of Qin!”

“Bah! Those dog officials must have eaten the hearts of bears and the gall of leopards, right? His Highness the Prince of Qin killed those evil fiends of the Zhao Family for the sake of the people. How has that turned into a crime?”

“Exactly! That envoy from the Shan Kingdom still has the nerve to file a complaint? If not for His Highness, who knows how many people might have died that day!”

“This Court of Judicial Review must be blind. It even dares accept a complaint like that? That is no different from being a traitor selling out the nation!”

The common people’s discussions were like water thrown into boiling oil. The whole place exploded.

Every single one of them was seething with indignation. Their spittle seemed ready to drown the plaque of the Court of Judicial Review itself.

Within the main hall, Minister Wang of the Court of Judicial Review sat in the seat of honor, his face as black as the bottom of a pot.

He held the judge’s block in his hand, and even that hand was trembling.

He had never imagined that in this lifetime, he would ever have the chance to judge a prince.

And not just any prince, but the Prince of Qin, whose prestige now blazed like the noonday sun!

If this case were mishandled, then forget his official hat—whether he could even walk out of these doors alive would be another matter entirely.

He had heard that his youngest son, who studied at the academy, had specially sharpened a kitchen cleaver before leaving the house this morning.

He had said that if his old father dared to declare the Prince of Qin guilty, then he would uphold righteousness and wipe out his own kin.