Chapter 935: The Emperor’s Surgery!
At the grand palace banquet, the Emperor of Yan announced before the full court of civil and military officials that Prince Pingxi would be invested as Regent Prince of Great Yan. The Crown Prince of Yan personally knelt before him and addressed him as “Uncle Regent Prince.”
Then the Emperor invited the Regent Prince to share the dragon throne with him, almost as though two sovereigns had appeared in court together.
For a truly powerful minister, a regency generally came only after an old Emperor died and a young sovereign inherited the throne. Only then could he gather control of the government step by step until he finally climbed to such a position and obtained such an honor.
Only this time, in Great Yan, the Emperor himself had paved the road, built the bridge, and arranged every last thing properly.
The news spread out from the imperial palace and swept through the entire capital almost immediately.
Next, it would travel to every corner of Great Yan, then onward through the entire world. All Xia would be shaken by it.
After all, the three-state war had ended with Prince Pingxi leading an army to break Shangjing. Great Yan now towered over the north of All Xia, eyeing the whole realm like a tiger. It was no exaggeration to say that any movement inside this colossal power was enough to stir the winds and clouds of all Xia.
Compared with the complicated emotions of Yan’s own people, the news would probably weigh even more heavily upon the courts of Qian, Chu, and the other states.
Whether Great Yan eventually carried the surname Ji or Zheng made little difference to them.
What they saw was that the master of Prince Pingxi Residence in eastern Jin—the man who should have been Yan’s greatest source of instability—had entered the capital and become Regent over the whole state.
That meant the unstable factor had vanished.
Through this method, Yan had effectively completed an internal “unification.”
Add the fact that Prince Zhenbei Residence had already been dismantled and was now effectively under the court’s control... and this war beast, while licking its wounds and recovering its strength, had already cleaned every loose scrap from its own body.
Once it accumulated enough strength again, black-armored iron cavalry would pour down from the north like a tide, roaring southward like thunder.
As for whether the Crown Prince would clash with the Regent Prince over power once he came of age and assumed personal rule; whether the Regent Prince intended to remain a pure loyal minister and preserve an immaculate name through the ages; or whether he would imitate Qian’s Founding Emperor, have the yellow robe draped over his shoulders while facing an orphan and widow, and usurp the Ji family’s realm... those were matters for later.
The Crown Prince could not grow up overnight. Since the Son of Heaven had openly made this arrangement himself, the forces inside Yan that opposed it would, at least for the next few years, choose to accept the new order by default.
That long window was enough for the Regent Prince to accomplish a great many things.
If he wanted to usurp the throne, he would first need to earn even greater achievements.
If he did not want to usurp the throne and instead wished to remain a pure loyal minister, he would still have to assist the new sovereign and inherit the “late Emperor’s” unfinished will.
Either way...
Great Yan would most likely march south.
...
Outside, storms gathered and hearts were uneasy.
Inside the Rear Garden beyond the capital, however, everything remained remarkably harmonious.
The Emperor moved into the Rear Garden to recuperate.
Prince Pingxi moved in with him.
No.
He was the Regent Prince now.
“Have to admit, those robes actually look pretty good.”
The Emperor sat beside the table and watched Zheng Fan approach in his newly changed robes.
Ji Chengjue had clearly been preparing all of this for a long time. Nothing else needed to be said—the ceremonial robes of a Regent Prince alone could not possibly have been stitched together at the last minute.
Unlike an ordinary python robe, the design blurred the distinction between python and dragon. It was also embroidered with a great deal of gold trim normally reserved for the imperial clan.
Zheng Fan was the Crown Prince’s uncle. That formal address of “Uncle Regent Prince” had not been empty words. In ritual terms, it was enough to break through the restrictions placed upon a Prince of a Different Surname and allow him to use imperial ceremonial trappings.
Unfortunately, Zheng Fan was not especially satisfied with the clothes.
His verdict was simple.
“Gaudy.”
With that, he took them off again.
As far as Zheng Fan was concerned, a python robe suited him better.
Especially with Siniang’s taste and needlework behind them, the sets of python robes she made fit both his appearance and his comfort far more closely.
Most importantly... the image of Tian Wujing standing alone in a python robe had long since been branded into Zheng Fan’s mind.
At that moment, dishes began arriving.
Eunuch Wei personally brought them in.
Zheng Fan and the Emperor sat opposite one another. Tian Tian and the Crown Prince occupied the other two sides.
One hot dish after another was set upon the table.
Looking at the extravagant spread, Zheng Fan could not help shaking his head.
“Can we finish all this?”
“Oh, now that’s new. A man like you, who insists that food must be refined and slicing must be fine, suddenly understands thrift?”
“Refinement and extravagance aren’t the same thing,” Zheng Fan replied.
“For all I know, this could be my last meal. Is it really too much to ask that I taste all my favorite dishes one more time?”
Zheng Fan had no answer to that.
At the end of the day, Ji Old Sixth was afraid.
Craniotomy, in this age, was practically a miracle.
Yes, this world had Qi Refiners, swordsmen, Martial Artists, magic and battle qi in the West, and even demon beasts roaming the Tianduan Mountains.
But surgery inside the human brain remained completely unexplored territory.
From that perspective, Ji Old Sixth’s willingness to accept this operation represented an extraordinary degree of trust.
If anyone else had said, “Your Majesty, there’s something wrong inside your head. How about we open your skull?”
To the Emperor, it would probably have sounded no different from:
“Your Majesty, I have an elixir of immortality here. Would you care to try it?”
In other words... the words of a charlatan.
Eunuch Wei brought over a dish of carp with crisp noodles and set it down with the fish’s head facing the Emperor.
The Emperor picked up his chopsticks, then casually turned the plate until the fish’s head pointed between himself and Zheng Fan.
“Surnamed Zheng, think it over again. Is there anything we missed? We still have time to patch things up now.”
“Close enough.” Zheng Fan picked up some food. “If we missed some little corner, it won’t matter much. If your luck really is rotten enough that you still die, then just go in peace.”
“Heh. Listen to yourself. Are those words fit for a human being?”
“This is for your own good. I’m reverse-FLAGging it.”
“Heh.”
Tian Tian stood and took Zheng Fan’s bowl to fill it with rice.
The Crown Prince stood as well and reached for his Imperial Father’s bowl.
The Emperor immediately tapped the back of his hand with his chopsticks.
The Crown Prince had no choice but to walk to the other side, take another bowl, and serve the Regent Prince a bowl of soup instead.
Everyone continued eating.
Halfway through the meal, the Emperor spoke.
“Crown Prince. Kneel and listen.”
Ji Chuanye immediately set down his chopsticks, backed away several steps, and knelt before the table.
“Your Imperial Father has contracted a grave illness. If I leave it untreated, I may have only a few years left to live. If it is cured, then I can live like an ordinary man. At the very least, I should live long enough to see you grow into adulthood and perhaps give me an imperial grandson. This illness was discovered by your Uncle Regent Prince. Do you think your Uncle Regent Prince is deceiving your Imperial Father?”
Zheng Fan cut in.
“When nobody else is around, you can call me Elder Uncle Regent Prince.”
“Surnamed Zheng, stop interrupting!”
“Heh.”
Zheng Fan picked up a large prawn and placed it on Tian Tian’s plate.
Tian Tian peeled it, carefully pulled out the vein, dipped the meat in vinegar, then placed it back into Zheng Fan’s bowl.
“Replying to Imperial Father, Chuanye does not believe Godfather would deceive Imperial Father.”
“Why?”
“Because Godfather has always dealt openly and honorably with both Chuanye and Imperial Father.”
“People change,” the Emperor said with emotion.
Panic flashed across the Crown Prince’s face.
“Godfather is open and honorable. How could...”
“I’m not talking about your godfather. I’m talking about you.”
“Your son?”
“You will change in the future. If your Imperial Father fails to be cured this time and simply dies, then perhaps at first you will still think the way you do now. But as time passes, ministers around you and people close to you—Wei Zhonghe, Companion Zhang, men like that—may begin whispering about this matter in your ear...”
Eunuch Wei and Eunuch Zhang immediately knelt.
“And then you’ll begin wondering whether your Imperial Father’s death all those years ago was actually some scheme by the Regent Prince.”
“Your son... your son...”
“As a ruler, when you judge matters and make decisions, you must never allow yourself to be driven by emotion. Emotion is the least reliable thing in the world. Understand?”
“Your son... understands.”
“What you must remember is this: your godfather has more than a hundred thousand iron cavalry in eastern Jin who are personally loyal to him and can be mobilized at any time. Most of the Jin armies across the Three Jins, together with the old Jingnan Army, incline toward your godfather as well. Your godfather is also Great Yan’s God of War. Within the armies of Great Yan, no one rivals his prestige. So if your godfather wanted to rebel, if he wanted this realm, he could simply take it openly. Even if your Imperial Father remained alive, I could at best fight him to a stalemate. If he wished to take the Jin lands and found a state there, then even your Imperial Father would probably be powerless to stop him. So your godfather has no need to deceive your Imperial Father. Understand?”
“Yes. Your son understands.”
“Besides, your Imperial Father is not an idiot. If I believe it, then it is real—unless you, as my son, think your father is some fool who can be duped by others.”
“Your son would not dare.”
“And one more thing. Believe that your godfather is someone worth relying upon. Your Imperial Father believes it. You must believe it too.”
“Your son has always believed it.”
“You must believe one thing more. Even if one day you stop believing, you must still pretend properly that you have always believed.”
“Imperial Father, please instruct me.”
“You must remember forever: no matter how old you grow, no matter how many people around you claim to be loyal to you, so long as your Uncle Regent Prince remains alive for even one more day...”
“Wish me a little better than that,” Zheng Fan interjected. “I know how to take care of my health better than you do.”
The Emperor glanced at Zheng Fan, then continued:
“...you must understand that you will never outplay your Uncle Regent Prince.”
“Yes, Imperial Father.”
“So now I’m the great villain in the story?” Zheng Fan asked as he placed another prawn into Tian Tian’s bowl.
“Do you think this is easy for me?” the Emperor shot back. “I can only do everything humanly possible, then leave the rest to Heaven.”
“Enough. Enough. We can start now. You’re full, right?”
The Emperor nodded and called:
“Summon Lu Bing.”
Lu Bing entered quickly and knelt.
“Lu Bing. Wei Zhonghe. Companion Zhang. From this moment onward, seal the Rear Garden. Ten days from now, if We walk out under Our own power, then everything is fine. If instead Our funeral procession leaves this place, follow the arrangements We laid down earlier.”
“This minister obeys.”
“This slave obeys.”
“Chuanye. Return to the palace.”
“Your son obeys.”
Everything was settled.
The Emperor followed Prince Pingxi into a courtyard inside the Rear Garden.
When the Demon Kings first entered the capital, they had already prepared an “operating room” here.
A chair stood inside the pavilion.
Zheng Fan gestured for the Emperor to sit, then took a strip of white cloth and wrapped it around his neck.
“This quickly? You’re already wrapping my corpse?”
The Emperor stared at him in alarm.
“I’m shaving your head,” Zheng Fan said.
“Oh.”
The Emperor sat properly.
Zheng Fan first took a basin of water and washed the Emperor’s hair.
“I can bend forward, you know. Now my clothes are soaked.” The Emperor sounded dissatisfied.
“You still need to bathe later. Doesn’t matter.”
“Then why am I wearing this white cloth at all?”
“For the ritual atmosphere.”
“I...”
“Stop talking so much nonsense. Be grateful I’m personally preparing the surgical site for you. If we were opening the other head below, there’s no way in hell I’d shave it for you.”
“Disgusting.”
“You understood that? Degenerate Emperor.”
“Heh-heh.”
Once the hair was wet, Zheng Fan took out a lump of milky-white paste, added water, worked it into a lather between his hands, then spread it evenly through the Emperor’s hair.
“Smells pretty good,” the Emperor commented. “I don’t think eastern Jin sells this?”
“How many people shave every day?”
The body, hair, and skin were gifts from one’s parents.
Commoners who did not care about that principle could not afford this product.
Those who could afford it would never use it.
The Emperor’s hair was long and thick. Once Zheng Fan had spread the lather evenly through it, he took out a razor.
“Keep your hand steady,” the Emperor warned.
“I’m a Fourth Grade Martial Artist who trains with blades. What the hell are you panicking for?”
“The blade you trained with was meant to cut off heads. Tell me why the hell I shouldn’t panic!”
“Fair. Then don’t move.”
Scrape...
Scrape...
Scrape...
Scrape...
Sheets of black hair drifted down before the Emperor’s eyes.
“If I survive this and end up bald, it’ll do terrible damage to my image as a sagely sovereign.”
“Relax. We already prepared a wig for you. No one will be able to tell.”
“Heh. Now this service is starting to feel like Quande Restaurant.”
Before long, the shaving was finished.
Zheng Fan patted the Emperor, then removed the white cloth.
“Come on. Time to get you cleaned up.”
“Together? If you come too, I won’t be afraid.”
And so...
Zheng Fan and Ji Chengjue once again stripped naked and soaked together in the bathing pool.
The Emperor turned sideways and gripped the edge with both hands.
“Surnamed Zheng. Come on. Scrub my back.”
“Dream on.”
“I’m about to be marched onto the execution ground. Can’t you satisfy one final wish?”
“We can postpone things a little. I’ll send someone to the palace and invite Her Majesty the Empress over.”
“Mm. Forget it. I’d rather go to the execution ground.”
“Pathetic.”
Zheng Fan did not scrub his back.
He tossed him a bar of soap instead.
“Do it yourself.”
“This service is terrible. If I’d known, I would’ve let Wei Zhonghe come in and attend me.”
“This scene is better left unseen by your subordinates.”
Letting servants watch their master’s skull be opened would shatter their entire worldview.
That applied even to Eunuch Wei.
More importantly, as Emperor, Ji Chengjue could not allow his ministers to witness him at his weakest.
“You seeing it is fine? Oh, right. You’ve never respected imperial authority from the start.”
“It’s not that I don’t respect imperial authority. I’m annoyed that the imperial authority isn’t mine.”
“Same difference. A great many people don’t even dare have that thought.”
“Plenty of people have it. Most only dare talk. Very few truly dare do it or genuinely want to.”
After the bath...
Zheng Fan brought the Emperor into the room next door.
A’Ming stood inside in a finely tailored black evening suit.
Before him sat a large bathing barrel.
“Another bath?” the Emperor asked.
“To disinfect you. Get in.”
The Emperor removed his clothes and sat inside.
At first, he felt nothing in particular.
But once his entire body sank beneath the liquid, the tingling sensation spreading through certain particular places almost made him lose control of himself.
When he climbed out, the Emperor looked dazed.
Only after wrapping himself in clothing did he recover slightly.
“What was I soaking in just now?”
“Something for disinfection.”
“What exactly are you disinfecting?”
“Tiny things. Too small to see or touch, but they can make wounds fester.”
“Like the Buddhist saying that a world exists within a single flower?”
“Close enough.”
“You still haven’t told me what that stuff was. I thought it might be something like a spirit-awakening dew.”
“How could your body possibly tolerate that?” Zheng Fan laughed. “If your ears ever get inflamed, you can dilute this and soak them in it. Feels pretty good.”
“Master. Your Majesty. We can begin.”
“Mm.”
A’Ming escorted the Emperor into the innermost room.
A bed stood there.
A dwarf approached carrying a bowl filled with green medicinal liquid.
“Your Majesty, this is Ma Fei anesthetic decoction.”
The Emperor held the bowl and looked around at the furnishings and people inside the room.
Then he smiled.
“So this is what Hell looks like.”
The Emperor drank Third Master’s version of Ma Fei decoction in one breath, then lay down on the operating table as instructed.
Everyone waited quietly.
Roughly half an hour passed.
The Emperor’s consciousness gradually blurred, and he sank into sleep.
The Blind Man spoke.
“Everyone to your positions.”
Xue San laid out all his surgical instruments and flexed all ten fingers.
The chief surgeon was, in fact, him.
A’Ming used one fingernail to slice open his own right palm, preventing the wound from healing. Then he opened a cut on the Emperor’s arm and pressed the two wounds together.
The Blind Man warned:
“A’Ming, be careful. Don’t accidentally give the Emperor an Embrace.”
During the previous half year, A’Ming had attempted an Embrace on a dying Chu soldier.
The result had been remarkable.
He successfully brought the dying man “back to life.”
Unfortunately, the period of clear consciousness lasted less than two days.
After that, the man became a beast driven mad by thirst for blood and ultimately had to be destroyed.
That result differed from what A’Ming had expected.
According to his calculations, at his current level he should already have been capable of granting an Embrace that preserved the recipient’s sanity.
In the end, it was the Blind Man who analyzed the cause.
A’Ming’s bloodline was probably simply too high-level.
His present strength was sufficient to grant the Embrace, but the “concentration” of his blood was too dense. The recipient’s mind would be crushed instantly.
Put more simply... it was too toxic.
Another vampire at A’Ming’s level could probably have done it.
But A’Ming’s bloodline was too high, turning that superiority into a side effect.
Unless A’Ming recovered all the way to his peak, anyone he Embraced would probably become a madman.
And where the Emperor was concerned... better for him to die violently than for Great Yan to end up with a mad Emperor.
“I know.”
A’Ming closed his eyes.
Through the blood connection between their wounds, he said:
“Blood pressure normal. All indicators... normal.”
Then...
A’Ming opened an ice-filled box beside him.
Inside were bags of blood.
Xue San glanced over.
“You prepared that much? We’re opening a skull, not delivering a baby.”
“Better to be prepared.”
A’Ming did not care.
With his left hand, he picked up one of the blood bags, bit open the corner, and began drinking from it with loud gulps.
“You just wanted a snack.”
“All right. Everyone concentrate. I’m establishing the mental link.”
The Blind Man closed his eyes and placed both hands beside the Emperor’s face.
Once the mental link formed, the interior of the Emperor’s skull appeared in the minds of every Demon King present.
Demon Child floated upward and began radiating light, illuminating the field.
“Ready,” Xue San said.
“I’m ready too,” Siniang said.
Fan Li raised his axe.
“Same here!”
At that moment...
A’Ming, still drinking blood, said:
“Blind Man, if A’Li uses just a little too much force in a moment, the realm of Great Yan belongs to us.”
The Blind Man kept his eyes closed.
His reply was filled with disdain.
“That is precisely what I hate most about this Emperor. I spent so much effort laying plans, scheming, building power, preparing myself for the experience I expected... and then he decides to hand the whole thing to me voluntarily. It is an insult to my life plan.”
What the Blind Man enjoyed was the process of rebellion.
Rebellion itself.
He had never cared that much about the dragon throne.
“I’ve stopped expecting anything from Master. I’ll put my hopes on our godson instead. Slowly. No rush. Good soup is worth waiting for.”
“Keep comforting yourself,” Xue San mocked.
“Concentrate. A’Li, do it.”
“All right!”
Fan Li swung the axe.
Down!
...
The Emperor felt as though he had dreamed for an extraordinarily long time.
Inside the dream, he saw countless people and relived countless scenes from the past.
He moved through his own life like a passing guest.
At first, it felt fresh.
Nostalgic, even.
But gradually... pain set in.
Because those scenes and experiences began repeating themselves again and again without end.
It was... torment.
As though his entire being had been thrown into a bottomless Hell.
Before drinking that bowl of Ma Fei decoction... the Emperor had said:
So this is what Hell looks like.
And in the end... it truly was.
The Emperor regretted his cursed mouth.
At the same time... he felt a certain regret.
What a wonderful place.
What a carefree experience.
Imperial Father had died too early.
Otherwise, as his son, he really should have brought his old man here for a stroll.
He had no idea how long he remained trapped inside it.
Finally... absolute darkness swallowed everything.
...
“Master. The Emperor is awake.”
The Blind Man came to report.
Zheng Fan stood.
The Blind Man added:
“Master, if you want to become Emperor, this is the finest opportunity you will ever have. There is still time. Master can take over a Great Yan that remains almost perfectly intact. Cao Aman’s road has already been laid before Master.”
“Blind Man, do you really think there’s any meaning in asking me that now?”
“No. None. This Emperor has no respect for martial virtue.”
“Heh-heh.”
“I have never seen an Emperor like him. At least in this one respect, he has already done something countless wise sovereigns through the ages could never do.”
“That’s your judgment of him?”
“Yes.”
“Doesn’t matter. You still have Lin’er.”
That was the greatest comfort Zheng Fan could offer.
Drawing cakes for one’s subordinates was an essential skill for anyone in power.
The Blind Man smiled.
“Lin’er is extraordinarily gifted.”
“He is. Also asking to be beaten half the time.”
“Perhaps this subordinate can change the goal.”
“To what?”
“Something I never dared imagine before, because Master was you.”
“What’s wrong with me?”
“This subordinate misspoke.”
What he meant was simple.
Because Master was Zheng Fan, there had been certain things they never dared imagine.
But once Zheng Lin grew up... perhaps there were dreams all of them could attempt.
For example...
Why had they appeared in this world at all?
“I’m going to see the Emperor.”
Zheng Fan entered the inner room.
After the operation... the Emperor had remained unconscious for a full seven days.
Naturally, they had still been able to feed him liquids while he was unconscious.
Now, when Zheng Fan entered... the Emperor sat upright.
His eyes were open.
Zheng Fan walked over.
Crouched before him.
And looked into Ji Chengjue’s face.
Ji Chengjue looked completely lost.
“You’re awake?”
Zheng Fan asked softly while gently stroking Ji Chengjue’s face.
“You... who are you?”
The Emperor asked with obvious hesitation.
Zheng Fan nodded.
He glanced around.
Not one of the Demon Kings had followed him inside.
“Heh.”
Zheng Fan gave a dry laugh.
Then reached up and roughly wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes.
“I am your... old father.”
“Bastard!”
[End of Chapter 935]
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