Perhaps because the empress was involved, even the founding monarch, who had weathered countless storms, grew impatient, giving no consideration whatsoever to the fact that Chen Qing was a mortal.
His presence bore down like mountains toppling and seas overturning. Had Liu Yu not stood in front of him, Chen Qing felt this beast, its ferocity blazing to the heavens, would have devoured him in an instant without leaving so much as a scrap!
Liu Yu silently stood in front of him. Having followed this man for years, he understood his feelings very well...
Though Empress Luo was a mortal, she had accompanied His Majesty through his hardest years. They had three sons and two daughters together, yet now only their youngest son remained alive. Together, they had endured countless sorrows and finally climbed hand in hand to the highest throne, establishing the peace of today.
It was no exaggeration to call her the person His Majesty treasured most, yet Chen Qing had now raised the cruelest possibility!
"Explain yourself!" Golden flames burned in the emperor's eyes, and his oppressive presence showed no sign of diminishing. Clearly, he could not calm himself at all. "Do you know what your conjecture means?"
Chen Qing felt utterly aggrieved. He did not know how important the empress was to this sovereign. All he knew was that a nobody like him could be casually slapped to death even when risking his life to save someone.
It really was not a pleasant feeling...
"This student understands perfectly!" Having come this far, he would only die more horribly if he shrank back now. Chen Qing struggled to raise his head and looked into those eyes burning with golden flames. "Her Majesty the Empress has very likely already met with misfortune!"
Liu Yu's face twitched. Was this fellow acting out of spite?
Could he not choose gentler words when he could see this old fellow was about to go mad?
The emperor shuddered, but the flames in his eyes instantly died. At the same time, the towering flames behind him also went out, and his mountain-crushing presence vanished without a trace.
Chen Qing collapsed to the ground and closed his eyes. A searing pain made tears stream from them. Their gazes had met for only a few seconds, yet his eyes had nearly been burned blind.
Liu Yu watched the stunned emperor without speaking. Though the emperor's oppressive presence was gone, he knew very well that His Majesty was at his angriest now.
This icy silence had appeared only once before, when his first child died.
He knew why this had happened. His Majesty had deliberately caused such a commotion outside, his questioning voice booming like thunder. Had the empress truly been unharmed, she would have spoken up to stop him already.
Since she still had not stopped him, there was only one possibility.
Even though this was the possibility Liu Yu least wanted to see...
"Let's go..."
The emperor's voice was utterly desolate. For once, this always unyielding man showed a trace of age...
Liu Yu followed silently behind him. With a backward beckon, he lifted Chen Qing with a buoyant force, leaving him floating along behind them as well. Chen Qing was speechless. He had already done everything he needed to do. Why make him come along?
So this old fellow could vent his anger on him when he could not accept it?
Inside the Palace of Earthly Tranquility, countless palace maids trembled beneath the lingering effect of the emperor's earlier presence, kneeling around the palace without daring to raise their heads. The emperor did not look at them, instead walking step by step toward the main hall.
Under Liu Yu's orders, the guards who had rushed over upon hearing the commotion sealed off the palace, surrounding it as tightly as an iron barrel.
The hall doors opened, and the emperor finally saw the very scene he least wanted to see!
A corpse hung at the entrance to the main hall, its death utterly gruesome. Its clothes had been stripped away, leaving not an inch of fabric to cover it. Its organs had been hollowed out, and its blood had clearly long since drained dry. The once-beautiful face was twisted with agony. The founding empress of a dynasty had died in such an undignified manner...
Liu Yu hurriedly knelt and lowered his head. Chen Qing, having anticipated this long ago, had pretended to faint before even entering the hall.
The emperor approached step by step. Golden wings spread behind him, and he floated up, carefully took the empress into his arms, and descended to the ground. Removing his imperial robe, he wrapped her with the utmost care, then carried her into the hall.
"Minister Liu..."
"Your subject is here!"
"Have I... truly grown old?"
Liu Yu kept his head lowered without speaking, not knowing how to console him for a moment. He had once slaughtered his way across the land in an age when demons ran rampant, yet after securing the realm, he could not protect the wife he had married in his youth.
"The King of Qin's ideals were wrong!" The emperor's voice was icy. "Demons... every last one deserves to die!"
Liu Yu still dared not answer. After all, even now, some matters within the depths of the imperial palace depended on demons...
"Tell that brat behind you playing dead!" The emperor carried the empress into the hall, and the doors closed of their own accord without a breeze. Only his voice carried back from afar. "Find the Thousand-Faced Fox before dawn and avenge my empress, and I shall make him Earl of Loyalty and Valor and appoint him prefect of Liuzhou. If he fails to find it before dawn, exterminate his nine familial branches!!!"
"Liu Yu forced his way into the palace?"
The Drunken Immortal Tower was the tallest restaurant in the capital, and its Immortal-Gazing Terrace offered the finest view. Yet only the highest-ranking nobles in the capital could reserve this spot. Otherwise, even if one possessed wealth to rival a nation, one could forget about setting foot there.
It usually stood empty. After all, dukes did not come here to drink every day.
Today, however, five dukes had gathered!
The Duke of Qin sat in the seat of honor, his cold eyes surveying those below. "That means matters have become extremely serious. Do you truly have nothing you wish to tell me?"
"Tell you what?" The first to answer was none other than the bearded duke who had roundly cursed the Minister of Personnel at court two days earlier: Zhu Yong, the Duke of Ning!
"Big Brother, aren't you overthinking this? What's this got to do with us brothers? Maybe that fellow Xiao staged the whole thing himself to knock us into line!"
"Find a Thousand-Faced Fox to put on a show?" The Duke of Qin's gaze grew colder still. "Do you know..."
Before he finished, everyone suddenly turned toward the distant sky. Lu Ming, the Duke of Qin, looked over as well. Above the southern side of the imperial palace, golden flames surged to the heavens, lighting up the entire sky!
"Tsk, tsk..." Zhu Yong clicked his tongue. "The Xiao Household's golden crow bloodline is incomparably domineering. None of them has ever lived past fifty. Not only has this old fellow lived so long, but from the look of it, his power has grown even purer and more substantial!"
"Shut up!" Lu Ming snapped coldly. "Keep running your mouth like that, and don't blame me for showing no mercy."
"Heh..." Zhu Yong did hold the man before him in considerable respect. Ducking his head, he laughed it off. "Don't be angry, Big Brother. We're just talking in private among brothers. It won't reach his ears..."
Lu Ming could not be bothered with his grinning manner and looked gravely toward the sky. "It's been a long time since I saw His Majesty so furious. Something serious must really have happened!"
He turned back and swept a stern gaze over them again. "You truly weren't involved?"
There was undoubtedly some force backing this Thousand-Faced Fox incident. In all honesty, every one of these brothers of his was a suspect.
"What are you saying, Big Brother?" another tall man asked. "Why would we go looking for trouble like this for no reason?"
Lu Ming sneered. Why? To force him to rebel, of course!
These fellows had been dissatisfied for a long time. The Xiao Household's bloodline was thin. Now, only His Highness the Crown Prince could inherit the pure power of the Golden Crow. The eldest of the remaining concubine-born sons was nearly forty, yet none had managed to master their bloodline's power.
If anything happened to the crown prince, the foundations of the nation would surely be shaken!
On his side, by contrast, his bloodline from High Antiquity could stand shoulder to shoulder with the Xiao Household's. All three of his legitimate sons were alive, and every one of them had successfully inherited the bloodline's power. If anything happened to the crown prince, probably no one would believe him even if he said it had nothing to do with him...
"Have you truly never considered it, Big Brother?" one of the burly men asked evenly. "What exactly are you worried about? Just say the word, and we brothers are all willing to take a gamble for you. Of the eight dukes in the capital, aside from that old block of wood from the Hong Household, who would stand with the Xiao Household?"
"Even among those on the frontier, I can guarantee most would wait and see. In military prestige and influence, the Xiao Household never could compare with you. What exactly are you hesitating over?"
Expressionless, Lu Ming looked coldly at them all. He did not know whether they had anything to do with this, but he knew that if something really happened to the crown prince, these old brothers of his would probably be unable to restrain themselves.
After all, the Xiao Household had never fulfilled its original promise to grant them princely and noble fiefs. With these brothers trapped in the capital, it was only natural that they felt aggrieved.
But the world as it was now...
Lu Ming turned back toward the flames in the sky and thought, It truly cannot withstand any more upheaval...
"You don't understand... that saying about the Golden Crow destroying the world... isn't merely a legend!"
The first round of PK has already begun. This batch of new books has a very strong lineup, and Magic Cube is trembling. Dear readers who enjoy this book, please don't stockpile chapters. The chance of elimination is far too high.