The Truth Comes to Light, Chen Du Denounces the Old Emperor
The old emperor was suddenly stunned, and in the next instant, his face turned deathly pale, and his expression changed drastically.
Qingfeng Temple, Li Xuan.
These three words struck him like a thunderclap, exploding deep within his heart.
He stared intently at the handsome profile of the young Daoist priest before him, his gaze unwavering. The more he looked, the more alarmed he became, and the colder his heart grew.
His eyebrows, eyes, bone structure, and overall appearance bore a striking resemblance to his eldest son, who died young and whom he had never held or treated well!
That was a regret buried deep within the royal family, a regret that even history books dared not record, a hidden pain that he carried in his heart for a lifetime.
The old emperor's pupils trembled violently, his breathing became erratic, his lips quivered uncontrollably, and even his voice completely changed:
"You... you are..."
A wave of immense fear and lingering dread washed over him. He suddenly panicked, completely disregarding his imperial dignity. He instinctively pushed Chen Du's back gently with both hands, urging him in a low, urgent voice, almost pleading:
"Get out of here! You must get involved in this!"
His eyes were filled with panic, as if he feared someone would discover his deception at any moment. His voice was extremely low and rapid:
"You have no idea what's going on! The reason Yuen Long took the risk of starting a rebellion was because the Xuanwu Divine Hall forced him to!"
"They secretly manipulated the court, pressing forward step by step, deliberately forcing the princes to rebel, using the thirteenth prince to create chaos in the Capital and overthrow the court, taking advantage of the chaos to purge all the officials and nobles who refused to submit to them."
"Zhao Yuan Lang has been nothing more than a pawn in their game from beginning to end! If you stay here, you'll also be used as a pawn to be killed!"
The old emperor's eyes were filled with helplessness and despair; the once mighty ruler of a nation was now nothing but a profound pallor.
"I can't protect you... I can't protect anyone... You must leave now!"
Faced with the old emperor's almost frantic shoving and urgent dissuasion, Chen Du stood firmly in place from beginning to end, without moving an inch.
He slightly turned his head and glanced indifferently at the panicked and disoriented old emperor beside him.
A very faint, almost imperceptible smile played at the corners of her lips.
That smile was faint and distant, devoid of warmth or affection, carrying a hint of indifference, a detachment that saw through all the vain farces.
He gently shook his head, his voice calm and clear, each word distinct, piercing the deathly silence before the hall:
You've got it wrong.
"I'm not here to rescue you."
That short sentence instantly froze all the old emperor's panic and anxiety.
Looking at his stunned and frozen expression, Chen Du calmly added a deeply hurtful remark:
"What a fool you are."
Boom--
The old emperor froze completely on the spot.
His mouth was wide open, his pupils were vacant, his mind was blank, and his throat was dry and congested, unable to utter a single word.
Just now, he was extremely anxious and desperately tried to protect the face that resembled his eldest son, filled with fear, guilt, and lingering dread.
But Chen Du's indifferent push away was like a bucket of ice, poured over his head, completely extinguishing all his self-indulgent sentimentality and wishful thinking.
The emperor's disheveled state, guilt, and urgency seemed utterly ridiculous at this moment.
Chen Du stopped looking at him, withdrew his gaze, turned around again, and faced the thirteenth prince in front of the hall, as well as the group of guards kneeling stiffly on the ground, trembling.
He grasped at the air.
Buzz--!
A deep, silent sword hum echoed throughout the hall as a divine sword, entirely black and covered with layers of ancient runes, appeared out of thin air and landed steadily in his palm.
The sword blade was sharp and cold, its dark golden edge swirling with a chilling light. The supreme Dao Resonance of the Thirteenth Tier was restrained and deeply concealed, yet it possessed a terrifying pressure that could suppress all things.
Chen Du raised his hand, slightly raising the divine sword, its tip pointing towards the thirteenth prince in front of him.
At the tip of the sword, a faint, dark golden Calamity Light slowly condensed.
The halo appeared small and gentle, without any violent explosive force, yet it contained a primal power capable of overturning palaces and crushing all things.
In an instant,
The once bustling and fiercely competitive imperial city fell into utter silence.
The wind cannot blow in, and no sound can be heard; the entire Taiji Hall is so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
The air froze, and heaven and earth held their breath.
The faces of all the Barbarian Kingdom behind the thirteenth prince turned ashen instantly, their legs went weak, and several of them collapsed to their knees, their bodies trembling violently, not even having the courage to look up at the tip of the sword.
The thirteenth prince himself was completely stiff, his blood almost frozen, and his body felt as if it had been suppressed by Ancient God.
His pupils contracted sharply, his lips trembled violently, and he wanted to beg for mercy, to question, to give orders, but his throat was tightly blocked, and he couldn't utter a sound.
In the deathly silence, Chen Du's voice was calm and even, neither loud nor soft, yet it overwhelmed all the killing in the world:
"You colluded with foreign barbarians, let wolves into the house, besieged the capital, forced the emperor to abdicate, and plunged the world into chaos."
I will neither save you nor kill you.
"I have come here today to do only one thing."
He slightly lowered his wrist, and the jet-black divine sword was gently held horizontally before the hall, its Calamity Light gleaming and its power overwhelming.
His gaze pierced through the trembling thirteenth prince, reaching straight into the darkness lurking behind him.
He spoke slowly and deliberately, his voice clear and cold:
Where are the people from the Xuanwu Divine Hall?
Upon hearing this, the thirteenth prince stood frozen in place, his body trembling slightly uncontrollably.
His lips trembled uncontrollably, and his breath caught in his throat several times. "Who are you? Why are you here?"
His gaze was fixed on Chen Du's handsome and indifferent face. The more he looked, the more alarmed he became. The contours of his eyebrows and eyes were so familiar that they were etched into his very being, as if they were shadows engraved deep in the bloodline of royalty.
An extremely absurd yet undeniably real thought suddenly shattered all the shackles of his cognition.
The moment that thought exploded in his head, the thirteenth prince felt a chill run down his spine, as if he had been doused with ice water. He staggered back two steps, his pupils contracting sharply. "You... you look just like Father..."
At the palace gate, the disheveled and dejected old emperor looked at the helpless and mentally unstable thirteenth prince and exhaled a long, murky breath of death.
In a short moment, he seemed to have exhausted all his remaining energy and spirit, and suddenly aged more than ten years.
His disheveled white hair fluttered slightly in the wind, his wrinkled dragon robe was tattered and worn, and his eyes, which had ruled the world for decades, had completely lost their imperial majesty, leaving only endless weariness, bitterness and dejection.
His voice was dry and hoarse, filled with utter exhaustion, as he slowly spoke:
Yuen Long.
"This is your elder brother. The true heir apparent of the Ling Dynasty, the true crown prince."
Boom!
These words struck the thirteenth prince's mind like a thunderbolt from the heavens.
He was struck dumb, frozen in place, his mind blank, and his limbs and bones ice-cold.
His mouth was wide open, unable to close for a long time, and his face was filled with intense emotions.
Extreme shock, utter bewilderment, and unbelievable absurdity intertwined, ultimately transforming into a profound sense of complexity and sorrow.
"I see..."
He muttered to himself in a low voice, trembling and weak, filled with self-mockery and sudden realization:
"So that's how it is... I finally understand. No wonder my elder brother was so ruthless and vicious, ruthlessly killing all his brothers... It turns out that from beginning to end, I've been living in your shadow."
"Shut up."
The old emperor suddenly raised his voice, wanting to reprimand, but as soon as he started to speak, all his strength vanished.
His body was slightly hunched, his eyes filled with a lifetime of guilt and helplessness, each word heavy with sorrow:
Do you think I favor the Crown Prince and allow him to suppress his brothers? Do you think I willingly watch my sons kill each other?
"I have never been in control of my own destiny!"
"Back then, the Xuanwu Divine Hall wielded immense power, with their spies and henchmen throughout the court and the country. They could not tolerate a legitimate crown prince, nor a true dragon heir of pure blood. I had no choice but to secretly send your elder brother out of the palace, abandon his title as crown prince, and erase all traces of his royal lineage!"
"I naively thought that as long as he stayed away from the royal infighting, far from the center of power, and became a hermit Daoist priest or an ordinary commoner, he could avoid the pursuit of the Divine Hall, live a peaceful life, and escape this cannibalistic hell of the court."
He looked up at Chen Du, who stood calmly before him, his eyes surging with guilt, bitterness, and a futile helplessness.
"I exhausted all my efforts to protect your safety, but in the end... it was all for nothing. You ultimately stepped into this deadly trap."
Upon hearing this, Chen Du curled his lips into a cold snort.
He lowered his gaze to the old emperor, whose face was etched with age and whose heart was filled with remorse. His voice was calm and even, yet every word was like a sharp, icy blade, piercing the old emperor's heart with a chilling, soul-crushing pain.
"You overestimate yourself and underestimate the ruthlessness and cruelty of the Xuanwu Divine Hall."
"Assassination attempts against me have never stopped over the years."
"From sneak attacks by assassins at the Tenth Realm to ambushes by powerful cultivators at the Twelfth Realm, the encirclements by martial arts sects and the covert machinations of the imperial court have been relentless, wave after wave."
"You think sending me out of the palace is protecting me?"
Chen Du's gaze was icy, piercing through all his self-satisfied wishful thinking:
You're nothing but a self-deceiving coward.
"You cannot protect your own child, you cannot control the wicked in the court, and you cannot firmly sit on the dragon throne. So-called imperial power and so-called protective heart for one's child are worthless in the face of absolute dark forces. You are not worthy of being a ruler, nor are you worthy of being a father."
Every word was forceful and every sentence was true.
The old emperor's lips moved, as if he wanted to explain and refute, but a thousand words stuck in his throat, leaving only a deathly silence.
My attempts to console myself were shattered by these cold words, leaving me utterly devastated.
The thirteenth prince, standing to the side, turned pale and then flushed, his mind completely collapsing.
Just now, he was full of resentment and bitterness, thinking that he was a pitiful person who had been forced into a corner and had nowhere to go. He was a victim of imperial power and suppression by his elder brother, which is why he took the risk of colluding with foreign enemies and rebelling.
But now, after hearing the whole truth, he only felt that he was ridiculously stupid.
His so-called desperate situation, his so-called resistance, and his so-called fight to the death were nothing more than a farce orchestrated by the Xuanwu Divine Hall.
He was such an insignificant figure, like an ant, from beginning to end merely a pawn to be discarded and crushed at will by others.
Just as the atmosphere in the hall reached its most deathly still and tense moment—
Suddenly, a soft, slow clapping sound rang out from the void above.
"Slap, slap, slap..."
The sound was extremely faint, yet it eerily pierced through the deathly silence of the imperial city, clearly reaching everyone's ears.
Chen Du suddenly raised his eyes, his gaze fixed on the dome of the Taiji Hall.
Unbeknownst to anyone, ten dark figures had silently appeared atop the glazed tile roof of the palace.
The leader was completely enveloped in thick, pitch-black mist, not an inch of skin or face was visible. His figure was blurred and distorted, and his whole body was surrounded by a dark Dao Resonance of decay, annihilation, and coldness, making him sinister and terrifying.
Behind him stood nine tall, dark figures, each exuding an aura as deep and unfathomable as a bottomless abyss. In the instant they stood still, the bricks and tiles of the entire roof seemed to sink slightly, bearing an extremely terrifying pressure.
The leader of the Xuanwu Divine Hall was none other than Heaven Slayer!
Within the black mist, Heaven Slayer's hoarse, mocking, and playful voice slowly echoed:
"Very well, what a fine example of someone unfit to be a ruler, what a true crown prince."
"What a splendid father-son drama! I was just waiting to see how things would turn out, but you showed up on your own initiative, saving us a lot of trouble."
His tone was languid, carrying an air of superior condescension and indifference:
"Originally, if you had stayed Lie Dormant in Qingfeng Mountain, avoiding conflict and disrupting the overall situation, we wouldn't have bothered to target you. But you've been constantly making small moves, ruining the overall plan of our Divine Hall."
"That expert from your Qingfeng Temple killed my Divine Hall's spy Zhao Heng, intercepted and killed my outlying cultivators, and traced the Heavenly Dao Mark back to kill my hall's elites, disrupting our plans time and time again."
"Under the protection of that powerful figure, you have repeatedly provoked us and disrupted our plans. If we turn a blind eye, how can we gain the support of the people? How can we enslave the Ling Dynasty?"
Heaven Slayer's tone suddenly turned cold, carrying an unyielding killing intent:
"Therefore, this place today will be your burial ground. Perfect, ruler and subjects, father and son, traitors—all wiped out in one fell swoop, finally ending this messy situation in the Ling Dynasty."
As soon as he finished speaking, he slowly raised his arm, shrouded in black mist, and gently swung it forward.
"Step forward."
Nine dark figures behind him simultaneously took a step forward!
Boom--!
Nine streams of terrifying, top-tier cultivation belonging to the Stellar Ninth Transformation erupted instantly and without reservation!
Nine terrifying pressures, as imposing as mountains and as deep as abysses, simultaneously pressed down, like nine Ancient God crashing down, fiercely suppressing the entire Taiji Hall!
A violent and terrifying shockwave instantly swept in all directions, causing glazed tiles on the roof to shatter and fly into the air, with debris swirling wildly everywhere.
The load-bearing beams and pillars inside the hall trembled violently, groaning under the strain, and the entire magnificent hall swayed precariously, as if it would collapse completely at any moment.
The old emperor and the thirteenth prince were completely powerless to resist; their bodies were instantly forced to their knees by the terrifying pressure.
Their backs felt as heavy as if a giant boulder was pressing down on them, their heads pressed firmly against the cold blue bricks, not even having the right to look up. Their bones ached all over, and they struggled to breathe.
The entire world was filled with only extreme darkness and coldness, and the deadly intent locked onto Chen Du.