Chapter 705: The Ziwei Imperial Star

Ji Chengjue looked at the Crown Prince.

The Crown Prince looked back at Ji Chengjue.

It had truly been a very, very long time since the two brothers had faced one another this calmly.

People were vessels of contradiction.

Ji Chengjue remembered that the bastard surnamed Zheng was extremely skilled at drawing. When Zheng Fan stayed at his residence during his trip to the capital last year, he had drawn a portrait of Ji Chengjue's son with charcoal. It was nothing like an ink painting. The child in the drawing looked almost exactly like the child in real life.

After finishing, Zheng Fan had smugly explained to him what points were, what planes were, what shadows were, what three-dimensionality meant...

Yes.

A person was not merely a flat face.

Very few men wore only one mask throughout an entire life.

His Second Brother was a perfect example.

To a certain extent, this Second Brother of his resembled Third Brother more than Third Brother himself had.

Third Brother's refined scholarly manner had been cultivated because he wished to look like a scholar.

Second Brother... was genuinely a scholar.

He hated Imperial Father.

But that had not stopped him from digging a pit for Ji Chengjue during the grand court audience.

He still had to do something.

He was the Crown Prince.

He had to protect his position.

During his regency, he had handled affairs seriously too. He had not deliberately made mistakes.

Of course, perhaps back then he had not known just what method Ji Chengjue would use when finally forced to "leap over the wall like a cornered dog," and so he had not chosen to join in.

At the same time... one could also interpret matters another way.

At the end of the grand court audience, the Crown Prince had lost and won at once.

But as a son of Imperial Father, perhaps he had finally understood again that he was not the one Imperial Father had chosen.

So he had simply taken advantage of this moment to make a show of letting go.

He had deliberately brought the troops over to Ji Chengjue, hoping to secure a good ending for himself.

But... that possibility was very small.

The cost-benefit ratio was simply too poor.

If he did not come, if he did nothing, it was not as though he lacked any ability to hold his ground.

At minimum, there was no need to throw down his weapons and surrender merely because of some vague suspicion.

A struggle for the succession was not children playing house.

You could not simply say you were done and be done.

They were all Imperial Father's sons.

They had all lived through certain similar experiences.

At least... at this moment...

Ji Chengjue believed that the most likely reason the Crown Prince had chosen to appear here... was hatred for Imperial Father.

Brothers together could fight a tiger.

The tiger... just happened to be their own father.

As for all the other possibilities, Ji Chengjue no longer wanted to think about them.

Nor did he want to keep analyzing them.

Even though Ji Old Sixth was very good at calculating people... today...

Ji Chengjue did not want to use his brain.

His father was inside.

Their father was inside.

Today... he did not want to consider too much.

Nor was he willing to consider too much.

He simply wanted, for once, to follow his own heart and impulse... and enjoy himself thoroughly.

He had been suppressed for far too long.

Ever since that day when, as a child, he curled up in a corner hugging his knees and cried... he had been suppressing himself.

All the way... until now.

Ji Chengjue smiled and began walking forward.

The Crown Prince followed behind.

Not because he deliberately wished to lag one step back to signal defeat.

But because... the Crown Prince was afraid.

"Sixth Brother, I'm frightened."

The Crown Prince did not feel ashamed to say what was in his heart.

A son fearing his father was only natural.

Especially when that son was one of the Ji family's pups.

"Brother, so am I."

Ji Chengjue answered him.

"You have more guts than your elder brother."

Here, "more accomplished" had nothing to do with anything else.

It referred only to courage.

"Maybe."

At this moment, Ji Old Sixth could not be bothered with modesty.

"Sixth Brother, tell me. This time, did you calculate Imperial Father into your trap? Or has Imperial Father finally admitted defeat?"

"Imperial Father will not lose. Imperial Father will not suddenly discover a conscience either. Imperial Father will not lose to anyone. The only thing he cannot defeat... is Heaven. If Imperial Father's body could still hold on, if he could remain upright for several more years, then the two of us would continue being placed where he wants us and manipulated for several more years. If he lived long enough, he would grind us down until we were exhausted. He could even have a few more sons and raise them from the beginning. The only thing capable of defeating him... the only thing capable of forcing him to lower his head... is Heaven itself. Because... he is the Emperor. And also the Son of Heaven."

...

"Your Majesty, the two Highnesses are coming."

Wei Zhonghe had already heard the footsteps approaching.

The Emperor of Yan braced both hands against the steps and, with Lu Bing supporting him, slowly rose.

"Find a cleaner room. We will wait for them there."

"This minister obeys."

...

The Emperor was at the Lu Residence.

The Crown Prince had taken the Eastern Palace Guard to the Lu Residence.

The Sixth Prince's carriage had also gone to the Lu Residence.

For a time, the Lu Residence in Yanjing became the focus of every gaze in the capital.

What surprised many people was that the Zhenbei Army troops transferred into the city earlier showed not the slightest movement.

Marquis Zheng sat on his Pixiu holding the Son of Heaven's sword.

It was not that he had suppressed the troops and prevented them from moving.

Rather... they appeared to have received orders long ago not to move.

Once again, the sensation of everything having been arranged in advance became painfully clear.

The Zhenbei Army inside the city remained still.

Every other faction therefore dared move even less.

Otherwise, one careless step might immediately invite a charge from Zhenbei iron cavalry.

The Emperor had once ridden out from the palace behind cavalry and begun the trampling of the great aristocratic clans, crushing every existence that dared defy his will.

That lingering might... remained.

And remained very clear.

Zheng Fan disliked this feeling.

The sensation that another person had arranged every last detail for him made his entire body uncomfortable.

Fortunately... the supreme existence radiating this feeling probably did not have much longer to live.

No matter whether Ji Old Sixth succeeded in the end... no matter whether the man sitting on the Dragon Throne afterward was Ji Chengjue or the Crown Prince... neither would ever be able to give Zheng Fan this same sensation again.

The Iron Triangle was the Iron Triangle.

Their age... was about to end.

Beneath the setting sun...

Zheng Fan sat on his Pixiu without any of that adolescent excitement about "his own era" finally arriving.

Instead... he felt the relief of shackles beginning to fall from his body.

The old firmament was about to be peeled away.

Under a new heaven and earth... he would possess far greater freedom.

He had crawled, stumbled, fought, and bled all the way here together with seven Demon Kings.

At last... he could reach out and touch one true corner of freedom.

As for this age... this empire... this Great Yan... and where it would go in the coming era...

Marquis Zheng did not care all that much.

He turned his head.

Looked toward the Black Dragon Banner hanging nearby.

Probably... he would not care very much.

Probably.

...

Inside the imperial palace...

Chancellor Zhao Jiulang walked out of the Grand Secretariat.

He stopped beside a railing.

From here, one could look toward a few fragments of scenery outside the palace.

To call it scenery was generous.

There were mostly rooftops and a faint glimpse of one street.

And that street itself lay inside the inner city, so it was not particularly lively.

Yet whenever the eunuchs, palace maids, or even some imperial consorts passed this place, they would deliberately lift their heads and look in that direction.

No matter how hurried their steps... they still made that motion.

It was not scenery.

But to them... it carried the scent of the world beyond the palace.

Always fresh.

Always fascinating.

Always... something to yearn for.

Zhao Jiulang still remembered.

Not long after His Majesty first ascended the throne... he had once brought Zhao Jiulang here.

His Majesty had stood here for a very long time.

At the time, Zhao Jiulang had not understood what His Majesty was looking at.

Now... he understood somewhat.

Because now... he too was looking.

The newly enthroned Emperor had stood here watching an old age come to an end... while the age belonging to him was about to begin.

And Zhao Jiulang now... was watching the age led by His Majesty... slowly lower its curtain.

Zhao Jiulang, whom people jokingly called the Clay Idol Chancellor... truly looked like a clay idol as he stood there.

How he wished... that time could turn back.

That when he turned around and looked behind him... he would see His Majesty young again.

He would kneel.

Kowtow.

Cry ten thousand years.

And he would gladly remain that Clay Idol Chancellor once more... supporting this sovereign... fighting the world for another thirty years!

In the princely residence.

In the Eastern Palace.

In the Imperial Study.

He had accompanied this brilliantly capable sovereign while they discussed one vision after another for Great Yan's future.

Not all those visions had come true.

But the hardest scrolls to paint... had already been completed.

Thirty years.

To the mortal world, no more than a white colt flashing through a crack.

Compared with Qi Refiners who measured their cultivation in sixty-year cycles... thirty years hardly seemed worth mentioning.

Yet this sovereign... had used those thirty years... to exchange half the human world for another.

When the sovereign was weak, ministers became strong.

When the sovereign was strong, ministers became weak.

A Chancellor ought to lead the hundred officials, guide his sovereign toward wisdom, restrain the sovereign's indulgence, and remonstrate over his virtue.

But this Emperor... had he ever needed someone to remonstrate with him?

All Zhao Jiulang had really done... was eat one extra bowl of rice for him during those years.

It had been a little filling.

But it could hardly be called torment.

Certainly not torture.

Zhao Jiulang suddenly turned around.

He still turned around.

Behind him... there was nothing.

He closed his eyes.

And sighed.

The Chancellor of Great Yan murmured:

"We cannot go back. We can never go back."

Then he raised his head again.

Looked toward the setting sun.

"Even the fiercest blazing sun... must one day sink beneath the horizon."

He only hoped... the next sun to rise... would continue shining.

Would continue leading Great Yan forward.

...

At the First Prince's residence... the First Prince, already dressed in armor, walked out from the courtyard belonging to Prince Zhenbei Residence.

Qingshuang stood beside him.

"Actually, there is something I'm very curious about," Qingshuang said.

"What?"

"Has Your Highness ever regretted it?"

The First Prince answered almost without thinking.

"Yes."

He was an imperial prince.

To say he had never imagined sitting in that position... would obviously be impossible.

"And now?"

The First Prince shook his head.

"It's still easier to lead troops and fight outside."

As he spoke... the First Prince smiled.

Qingshuang smiled too.

The First Prince pointed toward the armor he wore.

"This military-service Marquis title of mine contains so much water that even I feel embarrassed. Compared with Marquis Pingxi, the difference is far too great. For the rest of my life, Wujiang only hopes to squeeze every last drop of water out of this military-service Marquis title."

...

Imperial palace.

A solitary hall.

Before a pill furnace whose fire had gone cold many years ago... the Little Eunuch in Red Robes sat cross-legged.

Before him lay a painting of a Pixiu.

And beneath the pill furnace... one could faintly sense tremors.

Beneath Great Yan's imperial palace lived a Pixiu of extreme antiquity.

That was hardly a secret.

And now... that Pixiu had begun showing signs of instability.

When the Prince of Jingnan broke Ying Capital, he had battled the Fire Phoenix spirit.

In the end, the struggle had caused Ying Capital's flames to run utterly out of control.

If even spirits could react like that... what of a living Pixiu?

It might be ancient.

Its blood and qi might have long since withered.

But after all... it had not truly died.

The Little Eunuch in Red Robes picked up the painting.

And threw it into the pill furnace.

Then... he extended one hand.

Pressed his palm against the furnace.

And closed his eyes.

In an instant... searing heat surged toward him.

It scorched the skin of his palm.

Yet behind his closed eyelids... a mass of blazing red appeared.

"ROAR!"

From deep within that scarlet glow... the Pixiu roared.

The Little Eunuch in Red Robes pulled back his hand.

Opened his eyes.

First, he lowered his head and looked at his completely uninjured palm.

Then... somewhat blankly... he looked around.

"Are you angry?"

The Little Eunuch in Red Robes asked.

There was no response.

A long time passed.

Then... the Little Eunuch in Red Robes asked softly:

"Or... are you grieving?"

...

Great Chu.

Ying Capital.

Strictly speaking, Ying City itself had never been called Ying Capital.

Rather... every capital city of Great Chu was called Ying.

The new capital had been built south of the old one.

By now, it had already begun taking shape.

The imperial palace, by contrast, had been constructed with deliberate simplicity.

The Regent of Chu was in no hurry to build himself new palaces, halls, and towers.

The Chu imperial palace that the Princess of Chu had once described as ten times more magnificent than Great Yan's palace... would not be seen again for many years.

Two Shaman Rectors were conducting their routine divination.

The moment the result appeared... the two looked at one another.

Immediately... one began recalculating the heavenly signs.

The other took out a ritual artifact left behind by the previous Shaman Rector and began sensing with it.

The Prince of Jingnan had once said that heavenly secrets, prophecies, and signs of fate existed if you believed in them and did not if you refused.

But one thing could not be denied.

Sometimes... they truly did seem capable of sensing things hidden in the unseen.

If they were completely useless... the Prince of Jingnan himself would never have "known a little" about them.

Before long... the two Shaman Rectors rushed almost ecstatically toward the Regent's sleeping chambers.

"Your Highness, the heavenly signs to the northwest are collapsing! The oracle bones have cracked outward and downward. This means the sovereign's seat in the northwest is about to become vacant. The surging signs are chaotic, showing a road of calamity!"

"Your Highness, Yan lies northwest. This... this is..."

Before the Shaman Rector could finish, blood overflowed from the corner of his mouth.

Then blood began seeping from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth as well.

Peering into the heavenly secrets and probing national fortune came at enormous cost.

He did not care in the slightest.

He wiped the blood away carelessly with his clothes and continued:

"That man... that man really is about to die this time!"

The Regent of Chu drew in a deep breath.

He never placed blind faith in the heavenly signs calculated by the Shaman Rectors.

But Phoenix Nest agents had also sent back certain reports recently.

One could compare the two.

The Emperor of Great Yan... truly seemed to be reaching his end this time.

He had endured for a very long time.

Long enough for the Yan people to force open Chu's northern gate through a full national war... and occupy Zhennan Pass.

But... in the end... he could endure no longer.

The Regent set down the memorial in his hand.

Gently straightened his sleeves.

We... have finally... outlived you.

...

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"

Inside the warm chamber... the Emperor of Qian, dressed in Daoist robes, leaned sideways while staring at a Go position in deep thought.

Baili Xianglan entered and reported:

"Your Majesty, the Director and Deputy Director of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau request audience together."

"Look at how happy those two are. They have no decorum left at all. Sigh. Admit them."

The two directors knelt.

Smiles covered their faces.

They nearly fought over who would report first.

"Your Majesty, we report good news! To the true north, the Ziwei Imperial Star suddenly dimmed. This is the sign of an Emperor declining!"

"Your Majesty, that Emperor of Yan... he probably doesn't have long left!"

The Emperor of Qian froze where he was.

Qian possessed the Back Mountain.

And people from the Back Mountain often filled the Imperial Astronomical Bureau.

Because of that, among all the states, Qian's Imperial Astronomical Bureau possessed the deepest strength.

The two directors looked up at their own sovereign in confusion.

Then suddenly... the Emperor of Qian burst into loud laughter.

Just as the two men prepared to laugh along with him... the Emperor abruptly roared in fury.

He overturned the Go board before him.

Black and white stones scattered all across the floor.

The Emperor of Qian... began to cry.

...

The desert.

Royal Court.

The Young Barbarian Prince entered the royal tent where his father lay.

The old Barbarian King was curled inside a woolen blanket.

He was so thin he resembled a piece of bone.

"Father Khan, the priests have just sensed the will of the Barbarian God."

The old Barbarian King slowly opened his eyes and looked toward this son.

The Young Barbarian Prince smiled.

"The priests say that within the Barbarian God's will, they clearly sensed that the Emperor of Yan in the east... is about to die!"

The cavalry trampling the great aristocratic clans.

The campaign against Qian.

Swallowing Jin.

Driving back the Savages.

Invading Chu.

As Great Yan's national momentum surged ever higher... the aura of the Emperor of Yan himself had long since fused with the aura of Great Yan.

Not filling one another.

Rather... illuminating one another.

Vaguely... he had already begun resembling the Son of Heaven of Great Xia from ages past.

And because of that... when the Emperor of Yan's body... when the Emperor of Yan's fate... was finally about to reach the point he himself had arranged... the change in that aura was nearly impossible to conceal.

Not every sovereign... received such treatment.

Only a true Emperor... only the death and ending of a true sovereign... was worthy of the words:

The Emperor has collapsed.

Two sharp lights suddenly appeared in the old Barbarian King's exhausted eyes.

That terrifying neighbor... their Emperor... would leave this world before he did?

He... was actually leaving first.

That Emperor who had brought him such enormous pressure and fear.

That Emperor who dared fight another country while sending him an edict, scolding and warning him as though rebuking a subordinate.

That true sovereign of the Yan people... was going to leave his people?

Leave his country?

Leave his iron cavalry?

Barbarian God above.

The Barbarian God protects us.

The Barbarian God... still shelters his loyal children!

The old Barbarian King looked at his son.

He forced himself to speak.

"Our opportunity... the opportunity of the Barbarian people... has come."

...

As for all this talk of auras and heavenly signs... there were people in Yan who watched such things.

Certainly.

But not many believed them.

Because their Emperor did not believe.

Because the strongest Qi Refiner from Qian had once come to Yanjing and, according to rumor, personally severed Great Yan's dragon vein.

Yet Great Yan's momentum of swallowing the realm... had not been stopped in the slightest.

And right now... inside this secluded courtyard in the rear residence of the Lu household... the people gathered there had even less interest in any of that.

Creak...

The door opened.

Inside the room sat one man.

Dressed entirely in white.

His eyes calmly watched the doorway.

One of the Crown Prince's legs crossed the threshold.

When he tried to lift the other... it trembled slightly.

Only after his entire body entered the room... did the Crown Prince slowly kneel.

He feared the Emperor of Yan.

Feared him down to the marrow.

And so... even though he had come here to rebel... he still knelt.

"Imperial... Father..."

The Emperor of Yan's gaze did not remain on the Crown Prince for long.

Instead, he looked toward the second man entering through the doorway.

That man... walked in.

Wind seemed to follow his steps.

A smile covered his face.

There was something almost festive about him.

Perhaps he had hesitated slightly before entering.

But once he crossed the threshold... he completely let himself go.

Only easy freedom remained.

Most importantly... he too wore white.

He called out:

"Father. Your son has come... to see you off."

[End of Chapter 705]