The Chen Hour was drawing to a close.
Mist still lingered over the Ninefold Palace.
Across the magnificent Court Assembly Square, a dense sea of officials stood silently with their ceremonial tablets. By rights, the court assembly should have ended long ago, and the edict stripping him of authority should have been proclaimed throughout the realm.
Why, then, was there no movement inside the Golden Throne Hall?
Inside the Court Hall.
The civil and military officials turned their gazes toward the man in the kirin-patterned official robe who headed both the Southern Office and the Experiences Office.
He was Jia Huan's foremost follower. Once Jia Huan fell, Ouyang Jin's turn would come today.
It seemed he intended to struggle on death's doorstep!
He had actually seized on the difference between the "Hour of the Snake" and the "Chen Hour."
After failing to stir so much as a ripple for an entire month, did he expect to devise an escape route in half an hour?
But the reigning Nine-Five Supreme was now incomparably forceful, his draconic majesty overbearing. He had utterly suppressed the Retired Emperor, and no one could defy him!
Under every watching eye, Ouyang Jin remained perfectly composed. Rather than answer the Retired Emperor directly, he spoke, each word ringing like a pearl:
"Your Majesty, Jia Commanding Commissioner has been fighting an arduous battle in Jiangnan, purging rebels for the State and Altars."
"Yet the Empress, the mother of the realm, condescended to visit Rongguo Mansion and actually proposed a ghost marriage to Lord Jia's family. It is set for tonight!"
"Suppressive curses, witchcraft, and ghost marriages have always been regarded by the state as evil arts. For the exalted Empress to mislead others and stray from righteousness is surely not the Heavenly Emperor's will. It is the conduct