Chapter 891: The Late Emperor Was Wise

No one present believed Hai Wuji's words.

Forget the outsiders. Even Empress Dowager Shang Youlan was only half convinced.

Could the late Emperor truly have given that old eunuch Zhuge Chi authority that even she herself did not possess?

Mi Man asked suspiciously, "For a secret this important, the late Emperor truly let an old eunuch and you each hold half the authority to open it?"

Hai Wuji replied, "I found it strange as well."

"I also wanted to know why, but the late Emperor gave no explanation. That was simply how he arranged it."

"Whether it is true or false, bring the man here and you'll know."

"I'm here, already in your hands. I can't run anywhere."

That was true enough.

There was no harm in trying.

Jiang Wanlou turned, about to order a disciple to go summon Old Zhuge.

But before he could speak, a Luoxia Villa disciple had already hurried over to report to Zuo Chengfeng.

"Sect Leader, Chief Steward of the Inner Palace Zhuge Chi is asking to see you at the entrance to the secret passage."

"He says he holds the other half of the key needed to open the treasury."

"He says the treasury cannot be opened without him."

That matched Hai Wuji's story exactly.

Everyone exchanged looks.

"Bring him in," Zuo Chengfeng said with a slight turn of his head.

"Yes!"

The disciple accepted the order and quickly left.

Before long, Zhuge Chi was brought over.

Two blind eunuchs came with him.

The underground passage inside the palace was dark.

Zhuge Chi carried a lantern in one hand, though perhaps because the disciple leading them had released a Moon Butterfly for light, the lantern remained unlit.

An old eunuch who looked half buried already, carrying a lantern and followed by two blind eunuchs.

The scene was strange enough to make people uneasy.

The outsiders did not know who the two blind eunuchs were.

Shang Youlan and Hai Wuji, however, had seen them before.

They knew the pair were servants from Zhuge Chi's courtyard who specifically attended to him and rarely showed themselves in public.

Mother and son had no idea why Zhuge Chi had brought them here.

With his back hunched and his steps unsteady, Zhuge Chi slowly descended the underground palace stairs under everyone's gaze.

His murky old eyes moved from one person to another.

At last, he came before Shang Youlan and Hai Wuji and bowed.

"Empress Dowager. Your Majesty. Are you unharmed?"

Shang Youlan shook her head.

Hai Wuji stared at him.

"I still remember the late Emperor's words before he died."

"I never understood why he arranged things this way."

"I asked you before, but you refused to explain."

"Now that matters have reached this point, shouldn't you finally tell me the truth?"

Zhuge Chi said, "The late Emperor left an order."

"If anyone wishes to take the state-protecting divine artifact, this old slave must be present."

Hai Wuji asked, "Why?"

Zhuge Chi did not answer.

Instead, he turned toward the two blind eunuchs standing at the entrance to the underground palace.

"Ah Da. Ah Er. Close the door."

The two blind eunuchs obeyed without a word.

Each turned to one side, reached out, and pressed against the heavy bronze doors of the underground palace.

The doors began closing with a deep, muffled groan.

Zuo Chengfeng grew somewhat alert.

"Why close the door?"

Zhuge Chi slowly turned his head toward him.

"To open the treasury, the underground palace doors must first be shut."

"Otherwise, the treasury cannot be opened."

Since he put it that way, the people from the three great sects said nothing more.

With their strength, they were not afraid that these two or three men could play any tricks.

Boom...

The underground palace doors closed.

Zhuge Chi spoke again.

"Ah Da. Ah Er. Come over and help."

The two blind eunuchs who had shut the doors walked down the steps.

The people of the three great sects watched them closely.

Something about the pair felt unusual.

Their eyes were plainly blind, yet they descended the stairs without the slightest hesitation or misstep, as though they could see perfectly well.

The two reached Zhuge Chi's side.

Zhuge Chi said, "Protect the Empress Dowager and His Majesty."

At once, both men stepped forward.

One stood beside Shang Youlan.

The other stood beside Hai Wuji.

Mother and son were baffled.

Protect them?

Something about those words felt wrong.

Jiang Wanlou's voice turned heavy.

"Old thing, we told you to open the treasury. Why are you dragging this out?"

Zhuge Chi slowly turned to face them.

He sighed.

"Since the great tide is already gone, you should have sought another road early."

"Why come running back to the palace to make things difficult for us?"

"The things here no longer belong to you."

"Why be so greedy?"

"An ordinary man is innocent; possessing jade is his crime."

"Are you not afraid of inviting disaster upon yourselves?"

Jiang Wanlou said coldly, "Old thing, I told you to open the treasury."

"Don't refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit."

"Hand over the things, and we guarantee we'll let all of you live."

Zhuge Chi replied slowly, "I already said it."

"The great tide is gone."

"Do your guarantees still mean anything?"

"The rebels will reach the capital soon."

"If we give the things to you, then when the rebels come demanding them and we cannot hand them over, will they leave us a road to survival?"

Jiang Wanlou said, "What the rebels do afterward is none of our concern."

"I'll say it one more time."

"Open the treasury immediately."

"Otherwise, none of you will live long enough for the rebels to decide your fates."

"Hai Wuji, my patience is limited!"

Hai Wuji's cheeks tightened.

"Zhuge Chi. Open it. Give them what they want."

Zhuge Chi shook his head.

"The late Emperor gave an order."

"His decree came first."

"Your Majesty's decree came later."

"This old slave must obey the late Emperor's order first."

"You..."

Hai Wuji was furious.

"Old bastard, you truly refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit."

"Looks like unless I make you suffer a little, you won't know fear."

Jiang Wanlou sneered.

His figure flashed.

He reached out and seized Zhuge Chi by the shoulder, intending to crush the old man's shoulder bone.

Shang Youlan turned her face away, unable to bear watching.

Yet after a soft sound, nothing else followed.

She slowly turned back to look.

What she saw made her beautiful eyes widen in disbelief.

The hand Jiang Wanlou had placed on Zhuge Chi's shoulder was twitching.

One of Zhuge Chi's hands rested against Jiang Wanlou's chest.

More precisely, it had gone through Jiang Wanlou's chest.

The blood-covered hand protruded from his back.

Five blood-soaked fingers held a still-beating heart.

Hai Wuji stared, dumbfounded.

Everything had happened so quickly that he had barely seen what took place.

Zuo Chengfeng and the others thought they had seen wrongly as well.

They blinked hard.

Then Zhuge Chi's five fingers tightened.

Pop!

The heart burst in his hand.

Jiang Wanlou's eyes bulged as he stared at the decrepit old Zhuge Chi, his face filled with shock and disbelief.

A slow gurgling sound rose from his throat.

Whoosh!

Zhuge Chi withdrew his hand from Jiang Wanlou's chest.

Jiang Wanlou's legs went weak.

He collapsed on the spot.

"Sect Leader!"

Guiyuan Sect disciples cried out and flashed toward him.

"Old bastard!"

Zuo Chengfeng and Mi Man were shocked and enraged.

Both moved to attack.

Zhuge Chi bent one finger.

A drop of blood on his hand shot outward.

Several Moon Butterflies fluttering through the underground palace were struck one after another and fell to the floor.

Their glowing wings did not go dark immediately.

The light faded slowly.

In that final remnant of Moon Butterfly radiance, Shang Youlan and Hai Wuji saw Zhuge Chi move.

His figure became ghostlike.

He was so fast that all they could see was a chain of afterimages.

When one of those afterimages solidified—

Crack!

Before mother and son's own eyes, Zhuge Chi floated in the air, holding the lantern in one hand while the claws of his other hand crushed Zuo Chengfeng's skull.

Wherever the ghostlike figure passed, not one disciple of the three great sects had time to react.

They fell one after another.

The shock in Shang Youlan and Hai Wuji's hearts was impossible to describe.

Even having seen it with their own eyes, they could scarcely believe that this flashing specter was the same old Zhuge Chi who normally looked too feeble even to walk steadily.

Seeing Zuo Chengfeng killed in a single move, Mi Man was horrified.

He swept one sleeve aside and shook out a Heavenly Sword Talisman.

Yet Zhuge Chi's figure appeared before him almost at the same instant.

In the last trace of fading Moon Butterfly light, Zhuge Chi seized Mi Man by the wrist.

Crack!

He twisted the wrist apart directly.

After that, Shang Youlan and Hai Wuji could see nothing more.

The underground palace fell into darkness.

Very soon, it became quiet.

The smell of blood spread through the air.

Then Zhuge Chi's voice sounded once more.

"Ah Da, open half the door."

"Go invite the Supreme Elders of the three great sects waiting at the entrance inside."

"Tell them the Sect Leaders request their presence."

A moment later came the deep sound of half the bronze door being pushed open.

Someone shot out.

Before long, footsteps sounded from the staircase outside.

The blind eunuch who had gone out returned first, flashing back to Shang Youlan's side.

In the darkness where others could not see, he seemed completely unhindered.

"Blood?"

Someone outside the underground palace asked suspiciously.

Then Moon Butterfly light appeared.

A Moon Butterfly flew inside.

Six Supreme Elders from the three great sects quickly followed.

The moment they entered, they saw corpses covering the floor.

Even the three Sect Leaders lay dead in pools of blood.

"What happened?"

One Supreme Elder shouted angrily.

Shang Youlan and Hai Wuji stared at Zhuge Chi as though they had truly seen a ghost.

"Someone attacked just now," Zhuge Chi replied slowly.

He held a white lantern in one hand.

Without any wind, the lantern suddenly moved.

A powerful gust swept through the underground palace.

Boom!

The bronze doors at the entrance slammed shut on their own.

The six Supreme Elders whipped around in alarm.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

Three Moon Butterflies burst apart in midair, as though some invisible force had torn them to pieces.

The underground palace instantly fell into darkness again.

Then came a chaotic series of sounds.

Objects struck the ground one after another.

Powerful astral winds churned through the underground palace.

Shang Youlan and Hai Wuji could feel the blind eunuchs beside them circulating spiritual power to protect them.

When the violent winds finally subsided—

Whoosh!

Light appeared.

The lantern in Zhuge Chi's hand had suddenly lit.

Its glow illuminated his old face.

Blood dripped from his fingertips.

The sight was enough to frighten anyone.

The blood on his hands was slowly dispersing.

It turned into a fine mist and drifted away.

Under the lantern light, those thin strands of red mist only made the scene more sinister and eerie.

Then they looked at the ground.

The Supreme Elders of the three great sects who had just entered were all lying in pools of blood.

Not one had survived.

Some had skulls burst open, brain matter spilled out.

Some had their throats torn wide.

Others had bloody holes through the place where their hearts should have been.

One man was still twitching.

"Only six."

"There are several more outside."

"If the Empress Dowager and His Majesty happen to encounter them afterward, say the men on the ground already obtained what they wanted and left first."

"This old slave will light the way and escort the Empress Dowager and His Majesty back."

"I will deal carefully with those remaining afterward."

Zhuge Chi gave his instructions, then turned and began leading the way with the lantern.

"Empress Dowager, Your Majesty, mind your steps."

"The ground is dirty."

"Do not step in the blood, or someone may notice and become suspicious."

Mother and son remained frozen where they stood.

Fear filled their faces.

Neither could make their feet move.

Holding the lantern, Zhuge Chi turned back toward them.

He sighed in his aged voice.

"Empress Dowager. Your Majesty."

"This is not a place to remain for long."

"Let's go."

Shang Youlan swallowed dryly.

"Old Zhuge... did you kill all these people?"

She already knew the answer, yet still could not help asking.

It was simply too difficult to believe.

Zhuge Chi said, "This old slave did not wish to kill anyone."

"They should not have come here."

"I had no other choice."

Hai Wuji said, "Before the late Emperor died, he told me to treat you well."

"He said you could protect me."

"He also gave you half the treasury key."

"You could protect me?"

"At the time, I didn't understand."

"Later, I asked you, but you refused to explain."

"Now... I think I finally understand."

Zhuge Chi seemed somewhat helpless.

"The late Emperor was wise."

"He knew that with Zhao's three great sects guarding this place, outsiders would find it very difficult to break into the palace so easily."

"If anyone ever coveted the state-protecting divine artifact, nine times out of ten it would be the three great sects themselves."

"That is why the late Emperor placed half the key in this old slave's hands."

"No matter who wished to open the treasury, they would inevitably have to alert me."

"The late Emperor ordered this old slave to protect Your Majesty."

[End of Chapter 891]