The Young Empress

With a single imperial "I," the speaker declared her identity.

"There really was someone in the secret chamber."

When Qi Lin had first entered the classroom, the little beast on his sword hilt had warned him that there was a secret chamber behind it, where the presence of True Essence surged, profound and mysterious.

He had guessed that someone important was listening in, but he had never imagined that person would refer to herself as "I" in the imperial manner.

"Before I entered the Divine Strategy Manor, Uncle Tang said there was a special person there. I never expected it to be the reigning sovereign of Great Cang!"

To Qi Lin, she was undoubtedly an exalted figure above the clouds, the ruler of a kingdom and the person of the highest status he could imagine.

Thus, though he had just killed someone in the classroom, a chill still crept into his mind at that moment.

"Greetings, Your Majesty!"

Qin Zheng and Master Fu hurriedly dropped to their knees, their expressions in turmoil.

Still reeling from shock, many of the Three Stars Pavilion students followed suit.

Qi Lin felt a searing heat at his back. He could not tell whether it came from her gaze or the burning True Essence of the newcomer.

He spun around in an instant, lowering his eyes as he swept a glance over her!

A fiery red figure entered his sight.

She was a little girl of perhaps twelve or thirteen. Her still-slender frame was wrapped in a dark red imperial robe embroidered with golden phoenixes. The jade beads hanging from her nine-stranded ceremonial crown were as red as blood, but they could not conceal her delicate features, fine as an ink painting. She was at an age when she should have been sweet and innocent, yet her eyes were as serene as the depths of a cold pool, without a ripple.

She was the sovereign of the Great Cang Kingdom.

Known as "Empress Huangxi"!

Qi Lin remembered hearing that she had been exactly ten when she ascended the throne three years ago.

"Though we're the same age, her cultivation seems to have reached the Earth Yang Realm. She's far stronger than me."

Qi Lin could not help feeling a solemn respect.

And that was to say nothing of how Empress Huangxi held the fate of a kingdom in her hands at such a young age!

The young empress merely stood there, yet she seemed to be surrounded by an invisible domain. Behind that small figure, one could almost sense the grand destiny and fortune of the mighty Great Cang Kingdom coiled in wait.

Though she was clearly still young, her face gave one the impression of a beauty fit to grace a kingdom, fragrant as the flowers of heaven.

"Compared to her, Xiao Ling'er is like a little sparrow before a phoenix."

As Qi Lin was still thinking, Master Fu grew a little anxious and hurriedly reminded him in a low voice, "Student Qi Lin, hurry and pay your respects."

"I have come to the Divine Strategy Manor as a student as well. We can dispense with formalities for now."

Only after the young empress spoke those words did the atmosphere ease a little.

How could the ruler of a kingdom be there as a student, even if she had come to the Divine Strategy Manor to study? And why was she listening in from a secret chamber?

Qi Lin did not understand.

But he could only keep the questions to himself for now. After all, it was not his place to ask.

All he knew was that demons were dancing in a frenzy throughout the Great Cang Kingdom these days, and strange things... were plentiful!

"She has two attendants as well?"

As Qin Zheng, Master Fu and the others rose after being excused from the formalities, Qi Lin quietly noticed two slender adult women standing behind the young empress.

They wore loose black and white robes, somewhat like mourning clothes, with strips of hemp cloth wrapped around them. They even wore hemp caps, leaving only the lower halves of their deathly pale faces exposed. Yet those faces were shrouded in drifting mist and could not be seen clearly. They were rather unsettling.

Qi Lin found it even stranger. "Why do this young empress's attendants look like two corpses, or perhaps corpse puppets?"

At the very least, it was hardly auspicious for the ruler of a kingdom.

As his thoughts turned, Qi Lin did not forget that Empress Huangxi's first words had been to ask whether she could intervene.

At that thought, Qi Lin said, "Your Majesty, please see that this commoner receives justice."

Naturally, someone's face went pale at those words.

It was Yan Dinghao.

Her Majesty the empress had been listening in?

Then she must have known everything that had happened in the classroom.

"Your Majesty..."

Yan Dinghao was eager to speak up in his defense.

"Those who give false testimony deserve death," Empress Huangxi suddenly said.

"Your Majesty, please hear my explanation!"

Yan Dinghao's pupils abruptly widened. He looked at her in utter terror, only to see the young empress extend a delicate finger, a tiny golden-red phoenix appearing at its tip.

Hum!

The little phoenix of light and shadow pounced on Yan Dinghao's belly in an instant.

"Forbidding art..."

Yan Dinghao let out a wretched scream as his body began to burn from the abdomen outward. In the blink of an eye, he was reduced to a skeleton.

Clatter, clatter, clatter!

His bones scattered across the floor.

"Let's see if your belly still hurts now."

The corners of the young empress's lips curved up slightly, a trace of playfulness showing through her cold, stern bearing...

Hum!

The little phoenix of light and shadow flew out again. In an instant, those who had just accused Qi Lin of indiscriminate killing were all burned to death on the spot.

Huangxi lightly plucked the little phoenix of light and shadow from the air, taking it back into her palm.

Whoosh!

When she turned around again, her imperial presence swept out, accompanied by a cold killing intent that immediately scared even more people out of their wits.

"Your Majesty!"

Qin Zheng fell to his knees with a thud, his face deathly pale and his head drenched in sweat. "This subordinate did not know these students had joined forces to frame Student Qi Lin. I was almost taken in by them. Fortunately, Your Majesty saw the truth!"

"No." Huangxi shook her head. "You knew they were making false accusations. You simply bullied the weak and feared the strong. You simply sought favor with those in power."

"Your Majesty, I've been wronged! This subordinate truly did not know!"

Qin Zheng, whose face had been so cold and grim moments ago, now had tears and snot streaming down his face. Trembling with terror, he hurriedly grabbed Master Fu's leg. "Fu Yun, bear witness for me. Tell Her Majesty plainly..."

"Stop putting on an act." Huangxi lifted her chin slightly, flames burning in her eyes. "Those who think themselves clever and give false testimony to harm others shall die. Those who know the truth but disregard the laws of the kingdom, fawn on the strong and oppress the weak shall also die. Only then can the laws of the kingdom be called fair."

Qin Zheng's body jolted violently at her words, his eyes seeming to split apart.

He and Master Fu exchanged one final look!

The aspirations he had held while studying decades ago flashed through his mind.

Qin Zheng had been clever at every step, while Fu Yun had been dull at every step. Now their stations were as far apart as heaven and earth.

But... after trading his nods and bows for a veneer of respectability, had Qin Zheng really won?

Bang!

Qin Zheng sprang to his feet and attacked Empress Huangxi.

"If you're going to force me to die, then you, a puppet who has surrendered the nation's sovereignty and brought it shame, will die with me!"

Qin Zheng sneered viciously.

The might of his Earth Yang Realm Fifth Level Golden Crow burst forth as he moved, blotting out the sky like a blazing sun and instantly crushing all the Three Stars Pavilion disciples nearby to the ground!

Boom!

But in that instant, the black-robed woman behind Huangxi on her left thrust out a palm, striking Qin Zheng's abdomen from a distance.

With an explosive bang, Qin Zheng crashed to the ground. A bloody hole burst open in his lower back, and Earth Yang True Essence escaped in a violent torrent, sending Spiritual Qi into turmoil!

"Little girl Huangxi, how many days did you cry after the late emperor was cut into eighteen pieces?"

Qin Zheng was crippled, but he laughed wildly and viciously.

Boom!

The other woman, dressed in white, struck out with her palm. Qin Zheng was instantly reduced to a mass of bloody powder, which spread across the ground for a considerable distance.

Every sound came to an abrupt halt.

The deathly silence lasted a long time.

Master Fu, the other Three Stars Pavilion students, and the Two Moons Pavilion's promising youths, including Xiao Chiyan, all lowered their heads. Their faces were deathly still, and none of them made a sound.

Yet Qin Zheng's last two sentences were still gnawing at everyone's eardrums like ants.

Qi Lin truly had not expected the killing in the classroom to unfold in this direction.

As for what Qin Zheng had said, he vaguely remembered something...

"Your name is Qi Lin?"

Suddenly, the young empress in the dark red imperial robe embroidered with golden phoenixes stood before him, her eyes glowing faintly.

"There is a 'demon-slaying public lesson' tomorrow morning. Come with me."

Qi Lin was taken aback!

He did not quite understand why someone so exalted would help him.

If it was because he was handsome, that was complete nonsense.

"This commoner accepts your command."

Though Qi Lin was puzzled, he agreed quickly.

"It is not a command, only an invitation. You may refuse," the young empress said.

Qi Lin thought, That didn't sound like an invitation, Your Majesty!

Though that was what he thought, he still said solemnly, "I am willing to go."

At his answer, a trace of a smile finally appeared on the young empress's cold, solemn face.

It was faint.

But radiant.

And far more genuine than Xiao Ling'er's!

"You were right. A kingdom has its laws. Breaking them is a crime, and refusing to admit guilt while trampling on those laws is treason." The young empress looked at him. "If there were more young people like you in the Great Cang Kingdom, the common people would not suffer so much."

Only when she said that did Qi Lin understand why she had been willing to help him...