Chapter 706: The New Sovereign!

The Emperor of Yan sat there.

His gaze rested on the figure in white standing at the doorway.

For an instant... it was as though he were looking at the shadow of his own younger self.

He still remembered those years.

He had knelt beside the previous Emperor's sickbed.

Both hands held a tray bearing medicinal pills.

His eyes were red as he watched the previous Emperor reach out and take one of the pills himself.

"We have to eat it. We refuse to become some damned Retired Emperor. The central authority of our Ji imperial house has already weakened this far. We relied on the strength of Marquis Zhenbei Residence to seize the throne. After that, the Li family may never again truly submit to the center. So the Ji family's share is already small enough. We family members shouldn't split it among ourselves any further. We sought gods and worshiped Buddhas. Searched for immortals and medicines. We have been an absurd Emperor. For an absurd Emperor to die from swallowing medicinal pills... that is perfectly proper. The man of the Li family once shared a bond of old favor with Us. He is gone now. You and the Li family's boy also grew up together. We know your relationship with him is excellent. But that Li boy was the Young Marquis when he was the Young Marquis. Now that he has become the Marquis, he is the Marquis. If you are still merely the Crown Prince, your positions will no longer be equal. Once your positions are unequal... the flavor of that friendship changes. So We need to hurry and die. Let you rise. Sometimes We look back as well. Back then, We were forced out of the imperial palace and had to rely on Marquis Zhenbei Residence to fight Our way back to the throne. Was that choice... right or wrong? Hao'er. If you cannot suppress Marquis Zhenbei Residence... if you cannot fill in the hole your father dug... then your father will truly become the eternal sinner of our Ji family. Only after becoming Emperor did We discover that the scenery before one's eyes... the taste of it... becomes different. Back then, We and Our brothers slaughtered one another so viciously. Fought for the succession so fiercely. Looking back now... if taking one step back truly opened up the boundless sea and sky... perhaps We really would have chosen to step back. We believe those uncles of yours... perhaps they would think the same. Great Yan... is still too poor. We fight among ourselves again and again. Over this little bit of family property. What meaning is there in fighting over it?"

"Imperial Father..."

The previous Emperor looked at Ji Runhao from his sickbed.

A strange flush had spread across his face.

His neck, by contrast, was covered in conspicuous black spots.

"We were not a good Emperor. Fortunately... We have a good son. Hao'er. Once We go below, the ancestors will certainly curse Us. But We can endure that. We will endure it. We'll wait below. Wait for the next Emperor of Great Yan whom We personally selected... to make his achievements. Father will wait. Wait for you to go down there one day... and earn Father some face before our ancestors! Father wants our ancestors to think that even if Father accomplished nothing in this life and did nothing but absurd things... so long as Father gave birth to you... so long as Father chose you... then Father's life was still wise. Still worth it. Hahahaha..."

"Father has little to teach you. From the moment you opened your princely residence, Father stopped concerning himself with government. Father cared only about enjoyment. Wine. Women. Hounds. Horses. Let those aristocratic clans think the Ji family amounted to no more than that. Let that old brother of Marquis Zhenbei Residence feel reassured. Let him feel secure. In the princely residence. In the Eastern Palace. In truth, you were already handling state affairs. Father is not worried about your ability. But a father who is about to leave should still say a few words to his son. Otherwise... it feels as though something is missing. First. Father spent the first half of this life fighting one brother after another. So when Father chose you, Father committed to you. Of course, even without Father's protection, you would still be able to suppress those brothers of yours until they couldn't stir a single wave. But Father still has to warn you. When you grow old... when you begin feeling that your own days are running short... arrange the succession properly. Do not allow the chaos from Father's time to happen again. Second. The Barbarians. The Barbarians. The Barbarians. No matter when... the Barbarian people will always be a cavalry saber hanging over the heads of the Yan people. Do not be fooled because they look weak now. One of your eyes... must remain fixed on the desert at all times. The ancestral injunction of the Ji family: The state may fall. The family may perish. But the Barbarians... must never advance eastward! Third. Child... do not exhaust yourself too much."

...

"Father, how can you lose yourself in thought at a time like this?"

Ji Chengjue's voice pulled the Emperor of Yan back into the present.

Father and son faced one another.

One wore no dragon robe.

The other wore no python robe.

The only person present wearing a four-clawed dragon robe was the Crown Prince.

He had arrived with heroic bearing.

He had spoken with perfect composure.

Then... with effortless ease... he had knelt.

As for the son now facing the Emperor... he behaved almost like a man already drunk.

His words and gestures carried an unmistakable frivolity.

His body was still just as heavy.

But he was no longer steady.

...

"Hao'er. We are leaving. We have lost nothing. We have been Emperor. Enjoyed fortune. Done absurd things. We truly have not lost anything. It is time for Us to leave. Time to make room for Our son. Time to make room for Great Yan. Time to make room for all the Xia lands. Eight hundred years of Great Yan's state and altars. The foundation preserved by the severed heads and spilled blood of our ancestors. The glory guarded generation after generation by old Yan men. We... give it to you!"

"Imperial Father!"

"My son must not cry. Smile. The Emperor of Great Yan may be absurd. May be tyrannical. May act without restraint. But he absolutely must not... shed a single tear!"

"Father!"

...

"Your son greets Father. Father, may you enjoy blessings and health."

Ji Chengjue lowered himself onto one knee.

It was an extremely simple salute.

The Emperor of Yan seated above did not become angry at such an irreverent posture.

Instead... a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Before the Emperor could even tell him to rise...

Ji Chengjue had already stood by himself.

"Our son has finally grown up," the Emperor said.

"Your son actually grew up long ago." Ji Chengjue looked at the Emperor. "It was you, Imperial Father, who kept pressing me down."

"Then tell Us. Did We manage to suppress you?"

"You did. Crops are born with the seasons, grow with the seasons, and are harvested with the seasons. No man can defy the timing of Heaven. But you... you managed it."

"Is that so?"

"Unfortunately, you could suppress your son. But you could not suppress... your own allotted fate."

A smile appeared at the corner of Ji Chengjue's mouth too.

Father and son... wore remarkably similar smiles.

"Your son is grateful to Heaven. At last... it's finally coming to take you away. Your son truly cannot keep living like this much longer."

Ji Chengjue turned his head and looked toward the Crown Prince kneeling behind him.

"Second Brother can't keep living like this either."

"We knew long ago. You. All of you. All these sons of Ours. Before Us, you cry 'long live ten thousand years' again and again. But deep in your hearts... you cannot wait for Us to collapse sooner. So We can make room for all of you. Isn't that right?"

"Father, do you believe me? There was a stretch of time when your son truly thought: Fine. I'll spend this life as an absurd Prince. Forget what should be forgotten. Settle what ought to be settled. Spend my whole life drunk and dreaming. Spend my whole life enjoying pleasure. Wouldn't that be wonderful? But... you never gave your son that chance. When your son lived happily... you became unhappy. You believed you had to handle ten thousand affairs every day, exhaust your heart for Great Yan, and burn yourself dry for affairs of state. And the one thing you could not bear to hear... was your son's laughter."

"Chengjue. You underestimate Us."

"No. Your son does not. The day after I turned ten... the day after you held your son in your arms and praised him as the child who resembled you most... your son understood what you meant."

"You understood?"

"I understood."

"That early?"

"That early."

"And so?"

"Father, what 'and so' are you waiting for? So your son should be overwhelmed with gratitude toward you? So your son should burst into tears over all your painstaking effort? So your son should throw himself around your legs right now and sob: 'Your son misunderstood you! 'Father, you are so great! 'Father, you suffered so much! 'Father, your son will live properly from now on and inherit your ambitions!'"

Ji Chengjue blinked.

Then... raised one hand.

Pointed directly at the Emperor of Yan.

"Ji Runhao..."

A son.

A subject.

And yet... he directly called his sovereign-father by name.

"Dream on!"

The Emperor of Yan rested both hands on the arms of his chair and simply watched his son commit one act of grave disrespect after another.

Today... not the slightest anger appeared on his face.

"Do as you like. Today... We will not become angry."

The Crown Prince, still kneeling there, slowly raised his head.

That movement drew the Emperor's attention.

Just as the Crown Prince looked over... he met the Emperor's gaze turning toward him.

Then... the Crown Prince lowered his head again.

Ji Chengjue dragged over a chair from nearby.

And sat directly opposite his father.

"Ji Runhao. Young Master here must have accumulated bloody bad luck across eight lifetimes to be reincarnated as your son!"

"When you were young, you had wet nurses. You did not freeze to death by the roadside. You were not kidnapped and sold. You did not develop frostbite. You did not become crippled. And even now... if you were not Our son... what qualification would you possess... to appear here... before Us... and lose your temper?"

The smile at the corner of the Emperor's mouth deepened.

"Chengjue. You cannot escape it. You cannot break free. You could go back now, take soap, and wash yourself a hundred times. A thousand times. Even if you scrubbed the skin from your own body... you still could not change the fact... that you are a Prince of the Ji family. That you are Our son. Without Us... there would be no you. We know. You have always been angry with Us because of what happened to your mother..."

The Emperor tilted his chin slightly.

Looked at the son sitting before him.

And continued:

"Your mother chose Us first. Only afterward did you exist. She did not choose Us... for your sake."

"Tch..."

Ji Chengjue shook his head in contempt.

"Tsk, tsk. Father... the shamelessness in you really does resemble your son."

"Heh-heh."

"We never expected you to forgive Us. We owe Wujing. We also owe Liangting. But We have never owed any of you little beasts."

"We're little beasts? Fine. Then what are you?"

"We... fell below even a beast long ago."

"Hiss..."

Ji Chengjue stood.

He looked around as though searching for something to throw.

In the end... he tore the snuff bottle from his waist.

And smashed it onto the floor.

The father... failed to receive forgiveness from his son.

The son... failed to receive repentance from his father.

Even now... this father and son remained locked in stubborn resentment.

Neither side... was willing to soften first.

...

Outside...

Wei Zhonghe and Lu Bing stood side by side.

"My men cannot be mobilized this time," Lu Bing said. "From the moment Sixth Highness entered my residence, they understood one thing. If Sixth Highness does not ascend the throne... then no matter which other imperial prince succeeds... they will be purged together with me, Lu Bing."

In other words... aside from the Eastern Palace Guard outside the Lu Residence... the masked elite agents inside the Lu Residence had also shifted toward Sixth Highness.

This was not their fault.

They had no choice.

"The Secret Intelligence Department's people were not arranged inside," Wei Zhonghe said.

"That was your oversight," Lu Bing replied.

Wei Zhonghe glared at Lu Bing irritably.

"Who could have imagined Lord Lu would actually choose a side?"

"The same to you."

The two greatest intelligence chiefs in Great Yan... stood outside the room... exchanging utterly meaningless nonsense.

More helplessly still... apart from talking nonsense like this... the two of them had absolutely nothing else to do.

...

The Emperor of Yan extended one hand.

Pointed toward three imperial edicts resting on the tea table beside him.

"One... deposes the Crown Prince. One... establishes Our Sixth Imperial Son. One... establishes Our Seventh Imperial Son."

Ji Chengjue's gaze instinctively fell upon the tea table.

Those three edicts represented three different endings.

The first paired with the second... meant the Sixth Imperial Son ascended the throne.

The first paired with the third... meant the Seventh Imperial Son ascended the throne.

If not one of the three was brought out... then the Crown Prince ascended.

"We wrote them with Our own hand. They have already been sealed with the imperial seal."

The Emperor of Yan looked at his son.

"We do not believe that at this point you will suddenly tell Us you no longer want this realm. That you do not care about all beneath Heaven. That you disdain the Dragon Throne."

Ji Chengjue shook his head.

"Why wouldn't I want it? It should've been mine in the first place."

"In this world... there has never been anything that simply 'should' belong to someone."

"What are the conditions?" Ji Chengjue asked. "Call Chuanye over? Have father and son play filial son and virtuous grandson together, cry over you once, and send you off properly?"

"We have already arranged everything. We require only that you promise Us one thing right now. Then you can smoothly sit upon the Dragon Throne... and rule Great Yan. Outside... Wei Zhonghe. Lu Bing. We have already instructed them. Their loyalty to Us means that with those two men present... your succession will proceed smoothly. The Crown Prince... is kneeling right there. The edict deposing the Crown Prince... you can even have him personally read it before the hundred officials. The edict enthroning the new sovereign... you may have Wei Zhonghe read it. Or perhaps... have Zhao Jiulang read it for you. We... can leave you perfectly clean in the histories. No one will find a single handle to grasp. You did not suppress your elder brother and force your father aside to seize the throne. You are the new sovereign chosen because Great Yan established the worthy! You can sit steadily on that throne... cleanly... without enduring any accusation. Inside Yanjing... the three camps of Zhenbei troops, fifteen thousand cavalry in total, will be loyal to you. Even if a few clowns leap out afterward... they will have no effect whatsoever. We... will hand Great Yan to you. Hand this court to you. Not one piece missing. Not one patch of light covered. From ancient times until now, transitions of imperial authority that were this stable and properly arranged... have been vanishingly rare. Every Emperor wishes to remain Emperor until death. How many can willingly arrange the aftermath for their descendants? How many can truly bear to let go of supreme power? We... can. And one more thing. When you ascend the throne... Wujing and Liangting should already have reached Beifeng Commandery. The Zhenbei Army's iron cavalry will drive straight toward the heart... and destroy the Barbarian Royal Court. That enormous achievement... is what We are leaving to you. The instant you ascend the throne... you will receive this heaven-shaking accomplishment. With an achievement like that beneath your feet... you will be able to rule comfortably from the very beginning. What matters most for an Emperor? Not schemes and techniques. To govern a country through technique alone is the lesser Dao. The Son of Heaven... must use imperial awe to tower above the realm. Must use the greater momentum to accord with Heaven's will. Cough, cough, cough..."

The Emperor of Yan began coughing violently.

Yet his eyes remained fixed tightly upon Ji Chengjue.

"As for the rest... We do not wish to say much. We know Our son. He understands how an Emperor should rule. And We believe... he can do it no worse than We did. The sharp spirit of Chu. The courage of Qian. The vitality of the Barbarians. We... have already shattered all three for you. Right now... yes. The state is exhausted. The people are poor. But that does not matter. Among the edicts... We have already included Our Edict of Self-Reproach. It was We... who exhausted the people with endless warfare. It was We... who coveted achievements and caused campaigns to continue without rest. The natural disasters... were Heaven's warning to Us. We admit it. We accept it. All crime. All responsibility. After you ascend... you may continue placing it all upon Us. Then... you can let the people recuperate. You can begin anew with the people. You can gather the hearts of the people of Yan and Jin... and make them serve you, the new sovereign. When it comes to restoring national strength... you actually understand it better than We do. As for the rest... Zheng Fan. Wujiang. Those men... will be your problem to face. Yours to mediate with. Yours to pacify. We will make no arrangements for them. You are no longer that child who, after watching his mother die, knew only how to curl up in a corner and sob. No matter how clever such a child might be... he could never inherit Our chair! We are very gratified. You dared walk in here. You dared face Us directly. You dared tell Us... you had come to see Us off. That... is Our good son. After you sit in that chair... you will thank Us. It was We... who taught you early how to become accustomed to it."

Ji Chengjue shook his head.

"Father. Your son will not become like you. Your son will be a good father."

"You are the Emperor. First... you must be a good Emperor."

Ji Chengjue continued smiling and shaking his head.

"I want to be a good father first. I don't want Chuanye to look at me one day the way I'm looking at you now. Father and son... like mortal enemies."

"Chuanye... is ill."

"After I ascend, I will immediately establish him as Crown Prince. That position is something father and son fought for together. He paid a price. I'll give it to him."

"Do not lie to yourself, Chengjue. From the moment you sent that medicine to the Lu Residence... stop lying to yourself."

"I am not!"

Ji Chengjue roared at the Emperor of Yan.

"I will not become like you! I will not become like you, you old bastard! You think you're magnificent? You think every sacrifice becomes glorious merely because you made it for Great Yan? For some grand imperial ambition? You are not human! You are an old beast! A solitary tyrant who deserves to die horribly and deserved every bit of having no peaceful old age! I will not become like you! Absolutely... not!"

The Emperor of Yan did not argue.

He merely watched calmly as his son leapt up like a dragon whose reverse scale had been touched.

After a while...

Ji Chengjue drew in a deep breath.

Then said:

"What's the condition? You said you wanted me to promise you one thing. Is it an affair of state?"

"Affairs of state belong to the new sovereign. They have nothing to do with Us."

Ji Chengjue narrowed his eyes.

Looked at the Emperor.

Then asked:

"Then what do you want me to do?"

"We want you... here... to kill Us with your own hands. Not white silk. Not poisoned wine. Not several eunuchs holding a pillow over Our face. We... want to keep Our eyes open. We want to watch... watch Our son... the new sovereign We chose... kill Us... with his own hands."

The Crown Prince kneeling to the side raised his head in horror.

Ji Chengjue felt only absurdity.

He pointed toward the Emperor.

"Have you gone mad?"

"We have not gone mad. What We want... is for you to dream every night afterward... that you killed your own Imperial Father with your own hands. That nightmare... will follow you until you are old. Follow you until the day before your death. Yes. Correct. We will be dead. But We will continue to 'live.' We will accompany you. We will coil around you. We will warn you. We will make you live with guilt. Remembering at every moment. Never daring to relax in the slightest. So that you will become... an Emperor of Great Yan... no worse than Us!"

[End of Chapter 706]