According to Ding Yun's own estimation, it was highly likely that the officials or the royal family were uneasy, fearing that Emperor Qianyu would still insist on abdicating the throne to his daughter. Therefore, they decided to go all the way and ensure he had no heirs, thus eliminating any future trouble.
This way, there would be no need to worry about a female emperor.
A hen crowing at dawn.
As for whether Emperor Qianyu would be enraged and go mad, causing a bloodbath, a half-crippled emperor who had lost his heirs, if he still wanted to preserve a good posthumous reputation and a title above average, he absolutely would not dare to go too mad. Even if he truly became enraged, the culprits would have likely prepared scapegoats long ago. As long as the retaliation was not widespread and did not involve implicating distant relatives, they would probably not care.
They might even feel it was worth it.
Worth it to the point of being recorded in history even after death.
It was just that the original body died a bit unjustly. She had no intention of becoming empress. Her father, Emperor Qianyu, although he had a fleeting thought, had ultimately decided to give up.
Yet, some people were still uneasy.
And wanted her dead.
As she sorted through her memories, Ding Yun immediately understood that her current situation was very dangerous. The mastermind who wanted her dead would certainly continue to find ways to kill her if they discovered she was still alive, to eliminate future trouble.
At the very least, from now until Emperor Qianyu adopted an heir from a collateral branch of the family and appointed them crown prince, she would be in a very precarious state.
Even after the position of crown prince was decided, she, who was once considered for the role of crown princess,
would still be a thorn in someone's side.
The succession to the throne, even if the original body was merely considered, represented a risk and a threat. No new emperor, upon ascending the throne, would be willing to tolerate the survival of a royal lineage that had once vied for the throne, or even posed a threat to them. This applied even to a female.
Therefore, Ding Yun actually had no way out.
Her desire for a peaceful and smooth life in her later years was currently impossible. She could only go all the way and fight for the throne to completely control her own destiny.
With this thought, Ding Yun immediately used her spiritual power to block the Fortune Pill that was being digested within her body, halting its continued repair of her injuries. She also intentionally imitated the original injuries, re-injuring some of her already repaired internal organs. Since she had already decided to contend for the throne, she naturally needed support.
And Emperor Qianyu was undoubtedly the best backer.
He was also the one who could provide her with the most help.
This time, she would use her near-death injuries to make him recognize reality, to recognize the cruelty of the struggle for the throne. Because of his momentary whim, because of his thought of making her crown princess, she now had no retreat.
If she didn't fight, she would die.
His lineage, Emperor Qianyu's, would be completely extinguished.
And then, of course, she would immediately crush the protective jade talisman gifted to the original body by Emperor Qianyu, thereby notifying Emperor Qianyu that something had happened to her. At the same time, Ding Yun also took advantage of the time it would take for Emperor Qianyu to arrive.
She activated the randomly assigned golden finger for this mission.
The next second, an ancient book, entirely dark black, with the words "Book of Life and Death" written in purple-gold on its cover, appeared in Ding Yun's sea of consciousness. Upon closer inspection, below the words "Book of Life and Death," there were a few characters the size of rice grains: "Blank Copy."
So, her randomly assigned golden finger this time was—
The Blank Copy of the Book of Life and Death.
Its specific function was quite simple: it was a special artifact created by the laws of life and death that could manipulate life and death. The entire book was blank. As long as one wrote down the confirmed name of a certain person in the book, they could immediately know the year of their birth, their lifespan.
How much merit they had, how much karma they had accumulated, their life's good deeds, and their bad deeds, all would be meticulously recorded.
Furthermore, as long as the reversal of time was impossible,
all other information regarding lifespan could be modified, and even the cause of death could be customized. Of course, extending life and adding a hundred or eighty years to their lifespan was also very easy.
However, in practice, it was not as simple as the manual described, because there were simply too many people with the same name in the world. The best way to accurately identify a specific person was still to obtain a wisp of their aura.
Otherwise, one would have to describe them more clearly.
By specifying their appearance, physique, position, or place of residence, one could clearly correspond to a particular individual. Otherwise, if one casually wrote down the name "Zhang Wei," how could the Book of Life and Death know which of the hundreds of thousands of Zhang Weis was the one being sought?
Additionally, reducing someone's lifespan would increase one's own karma, while increasing lifespan would consume merit. And these were just the general rules, with many branching details below.
If the object whose lifespan was being reduced had immense karma, then the increased karma would be very little, and might not even increase karma, but instead increase merit, thus punishing evil and promoting good. But if the object whose lifespan was being reduced had deep merit, then the karma increased would be immense.
Deep fortune, or being protected by national destiny, etc.
Would also incur additional karma.
Similarly, if the object whose lifespan was being increased had immense karma, then the merit consumed would be very substantial, and might even increase karma while consuming merit. But if the person had deep merit, then only a small amount of merit would be consumed. Deep fortune or being protected by national destiny.
To increase lifespan would also incur additional merit consumption.
To overcome the protection of fortune and national destiny.
In short, it was quite troublesome. It wasn't as simple as wanting to reduce someone's lifespan or increase someone's lifespan. Punishing evil and promoting good was the core tenet.
Just as Ding Yun finished reading the details of the golden finger, the inner chamber door was forcefully opened by a surge of air. Emperor Qianyu, preceding the imperial guards, rushed in.
And Ding Yun, at the opportune moment, began to cough up blood.
Simultaneously, she released her control over her injuries, and in the next second, she fainted from the severity of her wounds.
It wasn't until someone fed her countless elixirs and potent medicines
that her internal injuries were basically stabilized.
Only then did she manage to weakly open her eyes.
"You're awake. Don't move, just lie down." Emperor Qianyu, who had already dealt with many guards and palace maids and dispatched people to investigate the matter, saw Ding Yun open her eyes and immediately said:
"It's my fault. Perhaps I shouldn't have revealed my intention to make you crown princess in the first place. If not for that, how could you have suffered such an assassination?
Yun'er, rest assured, I will find the mastermind.
I will not let your injuries be in vain."
Although Emperor Qianyu comforted Ding Yun verbally, his brows remained tightly furrowed because he knew very well that his daughter was only temporarily safe. In the future, she could still be assassinated at any time.
For a moment, he didn't know what method he could use to completely protect his daughter's life.
He pondered whether to find a way to marry his daughter off,
or to send her to a martial arts sect to become a disciple.
"Father Emperor, I've changed my mind. I want to be the Empress of Great Zhou, to be the first Empress in history!"
Since no one else was present, Ding Yun declared with unwavering resolve as soon as she spoke, abandoning her earlier pretense of not wanting to be empress.