"Every day, I attend to a myriad affairs and keep the realm at peace. With such great merit, is that still not enough for me to attain the Dao and become immortal?"
"Monsters can live for centuries, and gods can endure even longer. With a single decree, I can enable monsters to attain the Dao and make gods fall. Yet when it comes to life and death, am I somehow inferior even to them?"
No matter how one looked at it, once someone occupied such a position and their body began to decay beyond recovery, it was hard for them, as an emperor, not to panic. It was hard to accept such a fate with equanimity.
Yet his inner turmoil was one matter; seeing everyone in the hall panic along with him irritated the emperor, and he snapped, "Enough! What are you panicking for?"
His rebuke was not loud, yet it instantly drowned out every sound in the hall.
Led by the chief eunuch on duty that day, the panicked eunuchs all stood frozen in place. Though they no longer scrambled about in confusion, an even deeper terror filled their eyes.
They all thought the emperor was having a final burst of vitality before death. After all, once he had coughed up that mouthful of blood, his whole person had visibly withered. Even now, his face was deathly pale, carrying an ashen cast. For him to suddenly regain his vigor under such circumstances—no matter how one looked at it, it was an ominous sign.
But the emperor had already made up his mind. Without looking at their frightened faces, he said, "Summon Huo Wuyong, Xue Ming, Liu Zhan, and Yu Qianzhi."
"Yes!" A eunuch immediately departed to carry out the decree.
Marquis Su was also pale with fright. When the