Chapter 6: The Empress: The Third Prince Was Too Eager for Quick Success—He’s As Good as Dead!

“Yes!”

The members of the Embroidered Uniform Guard answered in unison and charged into the pit like wolves and tigers.

Blade-light flashed, and heads rolled.

“No! Don’t kill me! I am… I am…”

When Zhao Sansi saw the Embroidered Uniform Guard rushing toward him, fright nearly drove his soul from his body.

He had just tried to shout out his identity when a flash of snow-bright steel had already swept across his throat.

The one who struck was Zhao Wuji, his face utterly cold.

Clutching at his neck, Zhao Sansi’s resentment swiftly faded from his eyes, and he died on the spot.

In no more than a few moments, not a single living soul remained at the bottom of the pit.

The heavy stench of blood spread through the air.

Zhao Wuji returned to Xu Yong’s horse. Looking at the hellish scene before him, he found that his back had already been drenched in cold sweat.

Too strong.

Was the Crown Prince… no… the Prince of Qin’s aptitude in the Confucian Dao truly this terrifying?

Stepping into the Third Rank in a single stride had already shaken the world.

And now, he had actually mastered such a powerful Confucian Dao secret art.

Come to think of it, was it really all right to let the Prince of Qin walk the path of the Confucian Dao?

“You there… Zhao Wuji, was it?”

Xu Yong’s voice suddenly rang out above his head.

Zhao Wuji shuddered all over and hurriedly bent low.

“This subordinate is here! Your Highness’s divine might is unmatched beneath Heaven. This subordinate admires you from the bottom of his heart! Tonight’s extermination of these bandits was entirely due to Your Highness—”

“You provided the information on this stronghold, and just now…”

Xu Yong cut off his flattery, leaning forward slightly as a grim smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

“If this prince did not see incorrectly, you were making hand signals to those traitors?”

Zhao Wuji’s mind exploded with a buzz, as though he had been struck by lightning.

He saw it?

How could he possibly have seen it?

At that time, was not everyone’s attention focused on the grand formation?

Luckily, he had already moved to eliminate the only loose end.

“Y-Your Highness misunderstands! This subordinate was merely…”

Zhao Wuji’s face turned deathly pale as he rushed to explain.

“This subordinate was directing—”

Slash!

Before he could finish speaking, his fine head had already shot into the air.

Blood splashed across that dark crimson Flying Fish Robe, making Xu Yong in the darkness seem all the more bloodthirsty.

The Zhao Family was a newly risen aristocratic clan in the capital, one of the Empress’s supporters.

And Zhao Wuji, the Zhao Family’s second son, did indeed possess a bit of status.

Others might have hesitated.

The Xu Yong of the past might have as well.

But now, things were different.

Click!

Xu Yong sheathed his blade, his tone calm.

“Directing?”

He looked at Zhao Wuji’s corpse lying on the ground, still unable to rest in death.

“You had every chance to remain a man, yet you insisted on becoming a dog. And I do not like speaking to dogs.”

He jerked on the reins and turned his horse around.

“Withdraw.”

……

Within Kunning Palace.

“What? Xu Yong killed them all?”

Empress Chu Lan shot to her feet, her chest heaving violently, her eyes filled with disbelief.

“A madman! Xu Yong, that madman!”

“Without written authorization from the Ministry of Justice, without review from the Court of Judicial Review, and without even a proper charge to his name, he dared slaughter Drunken Immortal Tower?!”

“That was dozens of lives! Quite a few among them were ranked arcane practitioners, and Zhao Wuji was from the Zhao Family of the capital…!”

Chu Lan’s voice was sharp, and there was even a trace of bewilderment in her eyes.

“Killing members of the sects would have been one thing, but he even dared kill people from the aristocratic clans?”

“How does he dare? Does he not care about his reputation anymore? Does he not want to become Crown Prince?”

She had expected the Third Prince to retaliate. She had expected him to arrest people, perhaps even torture them for a confession.

But she had never imagined that the madman would simply flip the whole table over—and act so decisively.

He had not even spared the son of an aristocratic clan…

Had Xu Yong gone mad?

If Xu Tian were still there, Xu Yong would never have dared behave so arrogantly.

The thought surfaced in her mind, only to be crushed at once.

No matter what, Xu Tian had to be removed. That much was beyond question!

“Your Majesty, please calm yourself.”

Elder Mo, the gray-robed old man who had remained silent the whole while, now set down his teacup. There was even the faintest trace of a smile hanging at the corner of his mouth.

“The fact that Xu Yong refused to act by the rules proves that Great Xia truly has descended into chaos. That is a good thing!”

“A good thing?”

Chu Lan whirled around.

“All the people we planted inside the Embroidered Uniform Guard are gone! Even if Great Xia grows more chaotic, what use is that if it brings us no benefit?”

“If one stronghold is gone, another can be built. If one batch of people dies, another can be planted.”

Elder Mo rose and walked to the center of the hall.

“Xu Yong’s move was indeed ruthless, and indeed swift. But he also truly broke the rules.”

“Tonight, he disregarded the law, slaughtered the innocent, and did not even go through the process of interrogation…”

Elder Mo’s voice gradually rose, and excitement seeped into his tone.

“Once this matter spreads, do you think those Confucian old fossils, who care most about rules and propriety, will let him off?”

“He may have cast off his restraints, but he has also lost the great mountain that once sheltered him from wind and rain.”

“This time, we lost some manpower, but we have also seized his weakness!”

The woman in white at the side also came to her senses and added with a soft laugh, “Elder Mo is right. At tomorrow’s morning court, we can join forces with the Confucian Dao and pressure him together. Even if we cannot strip Xu Yong of his position as Commander, we can still place more people inside the Embroidered Uniform Guard to keep him in check.”

“That would be far faster than planting our people in secret.”

By then, Chu Lan had also calmed down. Her eyes narrowed slightly.

“Indeed! But whoever is to balance Xu Yong must carry enough weight.”

She drew in a deep breath, sat back down upon the Phoenix Throne, and said in a low voice, “Summon the State Uncle to the palace. At once!”

……

State Uncle Manor.

The listless Chu Hao sat in the courtyard, his eyes vacant.

From time to time, he lifted his right hand and looked at the ring on his finger.

Even now, he still found it hard to believe that his Heaven and Earth Mountain and River Cauldron was simply gone.

That had been the greatest fortuitous opportunity of his life.

According to the Old Grandpa within the ring, that thing was incomparably precious, the only one of its kind beneath Heaven.

For years, he had hidden it with the utmost care, terrified of so much as scratching or bumping it, waiting only for the day he broke into the Third Rank and activated the treasure.

And yet it had been lost just like that?

At that moment, a streak of red light flashed from the ring and shot straight into his mind.

An ancient, weathered voice suddenly sounded within his head.

“So, your elder sister has made her move after all!”

Chu Hao’s expression changed, but instead of panicking, he became wildly overjoyed.

“Elder Qi, why did you awaken ahead of time?”

“Ah, I feared that if I did not wake now, you might end up losing even me.”

Deep within Chu Hao’s Sea of Consciousness, a white-robed old man smiled helplessly.

“It was not easy for me to find a fated one. I do not wish to sleep for another few hundred years.”

“Elder Qi, I…”

Thinking of the lost Mountain and River Cauldron, Chu Hao’s eyes filled with unwillingness.

“I was already being so careful. I never imagined that my elder sister would…”

“It matters not!”

The old man’s phantom smiled with great ease. Stroking his beard, he wore an unfathomable expression.

“If he took it away, then you need only take it back.”

“That’s right!”

Chu Hao’s eyes lit up, and he gritted his teeth.

“That thing was mine to begin with. I would only be taking back what already belongs to me. But…”

He fell silent for a moment, then still let out a sigh.

“Xu Tian may have ruined his martial path, but he is still a third-rank Confucian cultivator. The Prince of Qin Manor will certainly be guarded even more tightly than before…”

“True. But mobilizing manpower also takes time, does it not?”

The old man shook his head and explained with a smile,

“Tonight, the guards of Prince of Qin Manor will certainly not have had time to rotate out. This opportunity will vanish in the blink of an eye…”

“Indeed, the opportunity is rare!”

Chu Hao’s eyes grew brighter and brighter, and his breathing grew increasingly heavy.

“My elder sister assigned me a third-rank guard. He excels at stealth, and he also possesses a treasure suited to concealment.”

Chu Hao’s expression shifted uncertainly.

After struggling for a while, he suddenly clenched his teeth.

“That’s right. I am only going to retrieve something that already belongs to me. Even if I am discovered, it will be fine.”

He rose to his feet and called toward the door in a low voice,

“Shadow Ghost!”

A plume of black smoke appeared out of nowhere in the corner of the study, gathering into a figure wrapped entirely in black.

Dropping to one knee, the figure spoke in a hoarse voice.

“This subordinate awaits your command.”

Looking at the expert before him, Chu Hao’s eyes flashed with a strange light.

“You are to slip into Prince of Qin Manor amid the chaos. You must bring that little cauldron back for me.”

“If you encounter anyone trying to stop you…”

Still uneasy, Chu Hao added his warning.

“Then run. Under no circumstances are you to reveal your identity, nor are you to hurt anyone. Xu Tian is extremely protective of his own people. I do not want him keeping me in mind.”

Shadow Ghost raised his head, revealing a pair of utterly emotionless eyes, and said coldly,

“As you command.”

The moment he finished speaking, the black figure dissolved into smoke once more and vanished.

Chu Hao collapsed back into his chair. Looking at the full moon in the sky, he felt deeply uneasy.

Then the Empress’s edict also reached his ears.

“By decree, State Uncle Chu Hao is summoned to the palace…”