A World-Shaking Blow

On a rainy night, several hundred dark figures clad in half-armor and pleated iron battle skirts raced wildly ahead behind Lin Qi and the others.

As Lin Qi ran, he kept glaring at Hu Xinzhu, sizing him up from head to toe. He said nothing, merely letting his blade-like gaze roam over Hu Xinzhu's entire body. At first, Hu Xinzhu yawned lazily, but in the end, Lin Qi's chilling stare made his whole body stiffen, and he could only let out a helpless sigh.

"All right, all right, stop looking at me like that. I'll explain it to you, okay?"

Hu Xinzhu muttered under his breath and explained to Lin Qi some of the schemes laid by his grandfather, father, and the others—at least, the parts he had managed to guess.

First, Hu Xinzhu was certain of one thing. Compared with his own petty antics, what Hu Tu, Hu Ye, and the others were plotting was far greater—so great that they used princes and imperial kinsmen as chess pieces, the entire imperial court as their board, smashing the court's major powers to pieces in pursuit of the greatest possible gain.

Hu Xinzhu was certain that, ever since Ying Zheng had broken through the eighteenth barrier several years ago and somehow failed to die when he should have, Hu Tu, Hu Ye, and the others had begun planning for the situation today. According to Blood Qin Empire's unspoken rules, Ying Zheng should have died when the Iron-Blood Emperor Art made his body explode! The old emperor would die, a new emperor would ascend the throne, and the Heavenly Temple would undergo another reshuffling of power. That was the familiar script.

To prepare for the old emperor's death and escort the new emperor to the throne, how many compromises had the major