197: Chapter 66: Old Blade, New Knife 197: Chapter 66: Old Blade, New Knife “I…
killed Emperor Chu?”
Xie Xuanyi stood in place, dazed.
His Sea of Consciousness was a blank.
The memories before his plunge into the North Sea seemed as if they had been slashed by a sharp sword, unable to be pieced together no matter how he tried.
Zhao Chunyang looked at his disciple’s bewildered expression, his eyes filled with sympathy, pity, and more so, helplessness.
He sighed softly and extended his palm.
Innumerable primordial energies converged, forming a blurry image in the center of his hand.
“This is an image captured by the Hun Yuan Apparatus of the Great Chu Imperial City…”
In the image.
In the Great Chu Imperial Palace, snow swirling about, a gate of starfire slowly opened amidst the blizzard.
The casually dressed Emperor Chu, sitting with the black-robed Xie Xuanyi in the pavilion, both chatting merrily with a warm atmosphere.
Moments later, Emperor Chu stood up, approached the gate of starfire, and gestured for Xie Xuanyi to join him…
Then, both of them stepped through the gate.
“What is this?”
Xie Xuanyi could not remember this scene at all.
“This is the ‘Moon Hidden Realm,’ a Grotto Heaven of the Da Chu Royal Family’s dragon vein, to which Emperor Chu invited you to enjoy the scenery,” Zhao Chunyang softly explained.
“This scene was captured by the Hun Yuan Apparatus…
after you both entered the Grotto Heaven, Emperor Chu’s soul lamp suddenly went out, then it was you, alone with a sword, bursting out of the Grotto Heaven, slaughtering your way through the Imperial City, and fleeing.”
What happened afterward.
No need to say further.
The emperor met his demise, the Da Chu Royal Family, with the country’s full effort, issued a decree to hunt down Xie Xuanyi.
Finally, in the North Sea, they killed him!
“I…”
Xie Xuanyi muttered, staring disbelievingly at his own hands.
The former Emperor Chu had treated him well, as a generous elder brother would.
On the very day he topped the Sword Dao Leader, it was Emperor Chu who personally rewarded him, and thereafter, Xie Xuanyi often went to the Imperial City to drink with His Majesty.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something.
But those words were ultimately swallowed back down.
“If it were only this scene…
it actually wouldn’t suffice to prove that you killed Emperor Chu.”
Zhao Chunyang shook his head and said, “Who could deem you guilty based on just this one image?
However, in the days leading up to and after your visit to the Moon Hidden Realm, there was no third party present, and the sword wounds on Emperor Chu exactly matched ‘Chen Ke.’ Furthermore, after you fled the Imperial City, there were no attempts at defense, only killing and running.
Hence, the Da Chu Royal Family issued the decree, and as things stand now, your act of regicide is seen as conclusive.”
Xie Xuanyi raised his head, looking at his master, puzzled.
He had wanted to say, “I didn’t…”
But when he spoke, it came out as, “Why?”
Why would he kill Emperor Chu?
This question, in fact, was quite illogical.
Because Xie Xuanyi was the “perpetrator.”
But Zhao Chunyang understood what Xie Xuanyi meant…
All these years, he never believed Xie Xuanyi was truly the main culprit behind Emperor Chu’s demise.
“Many people can’t understand why,” Zhao Chunyang said softly.
“Your junior sister has always believed in your innocence…
Everyone has been unable to understand why you would assassinate Emperor Chu, your relationship with him was good, he always treated you well, there’s no logical reason for this assassination.”
“But ‘why’ is not important.”
Zhao Chunyang said calmly, “The assassination indeed took place, and the mud was indeed thrown onto you, that’s what matters most…”
The former Emperor Chu was a wise ruler, striving hard in governance, allowing the Dachu Dynasty to regroup after the Battle of Drinking Poison, welcoming a great era of destiny, harboring ambitions as vast as the heavens, yet fate was too thin, meeting his fall at his peak.
Had it not been so.
The You Hai King would not miss this brother so deeply.
“Master…”
Xie Xuanyi murmured, “I…
can’t remember…”
His Sea of Consciousness had been severed.
The segment of assassinating Emperor Chu had been stripped away.
“Even if you remember clearly, what then?
Would speaking in your own defense be of any use?” Zhao Chunyang looked at Xie Xuanyi and said softly, “Staying silent might still leave some who believe in you.
But once you speak…
then even the last of those who believed in you would vanish.
The moment this strategy was launched, you lost any chance of proving your innocence.
It was just that the person who set it up was resolute enough not to leave you any opportunity to defend yourself.”
“The setup…”
Xie Xuanyi stared intently at the image reflected from the Hun Yuan Apparatus.
If Emperor Chu’s death was indeed a setup.
Then he was a carefully chosen chess piece, with countless people wishing for his demise, this chess piece was then selected, pushed forward, and eventually buried…
It became the most logical and natural event.
“Holy Empress?”
A moment later, Xie Xuanyi slowly uttered these two words.
“I do not know the true details of that year, but I know a simple truth…”
“Whoever benefits the most, is most likely the schemer.”
Zhao Chunyang said with a mocking smile, “After Emperor Chu’s demise, the Dachu Dynasty’s destiny collapsed, initially vulnerable from all sides, but eventually ‘Holy Empress’ stepped forward, stabilized the chaos in the Imperial City, using the mandate of Heaven to govern again, and her newly chosen ‘chess piece’ was more obedient, more sensible than the previous Emperor Chu…”
The current heir in the Imperial City is an “idiot”
Idiotic, simple-minded, insane.
This resulted from Emperor Chu once favoring a palace maid, inadvertently siring this dragon seed.
After suffering an accident, this unborn dragon seed later came into the world, and while still in swaddling clothes, was confusedly placed on the throne…
With the Holy Empress legitimately taking her place behind the imperial curtain, this child she “carefully tended” grew day by day, eventually, under the watchful eyes of many.
He became an idiot.
Now,
who is the emperor in the Dachu Dynasty?
This question would cause countless Chu people to fall silent, embarrassed.
“The Chao Emperor of that year wasn’t fundamentally different from the current ‘fool’.”
Zhao Chunyang squinted and said, “The Battle of Poisoned Wine a 60-year cycle ago severely injured the primordial energy of the Dachu Dynasty, and the Holy Empress suffered heavy damages.
During her recovery, to gain support, she deliberately propped up the Chao Emperor, hoping he would obediently listen and be a qualified pawn…
Unfortunately, this son of hers was too intelligent and even more powerful than she had anticipated.
Upon ascending the throne, he gathered strength, biding his time to strike decisively.
Aside from the Taoist sect and the Sword Palace, the former Chao Emperor nearly unified the power of the entire Dachu Dynasty’s noble families, cultivating a new generation of loyal insiders.”
“…You Hai King?”
Xie Xuanyi’s expression became solemn as he suddenly remembered the recent chaos in Qing State.
“You Hai King is just one of them.”
“To truly become the emperor of Dachu, one needs to hold enough power.”
Zhao Chunyang spoke indifferently, “His friendship with you, putting aside personal relations, naturally also has an element of ‘opportunism.’ With your qualifications, you are destined to succeed as the Sword Palace Master…
Should the Da Sui Sword Palace decide to stand behind the Chao Emperor, even the Holy Empress would have to tread cautiously.”
“But…”
“To contend against the Holy Empress, are the youths alone sufficient?
The former Chao Emperor befriended you and appointed Chu Lin as a king of a different surname, all as part of planning for the ‘future’…
Sadly, he never lived to see this so-called future.
The Holy Empress was more heartless than he had imagined.”
Zhao Chunyang looked at his disciple and asked, “What is the greatest change in the Dachu Dynasty over these ten years?”
Xie Xuanyi was stunned.
If one were to talk about the greatest change…
It would be that those in charge of guarding the Northern Border Great Wall, all the garrison commanders, had been called back to the Imperial City.
When Lotus Peak awakened, Deng Baiyi told him this news, Xie Xuanyi felt from his heart that the world had undergone an earth-shattering change.
He could hardly believe it.
The Imperial City dared to withdraw all the garrison commanders.
“Dismissing the garrison commanders without any reason, why is that?”
Zhao Chunyang said meaningfully, “Is the Holy Empress foolish enough to risk the Northern County’s border being invaded by the Demon Country…
and still recall all the hard-working garrison commanders back to the Imperial City?”
There was only one possibility.
“The sharpest sword in the hands of the late Chao Emperor was the ‘Northern County.'”
“Those garrison commanders who had participated in the Battle of Poisoned Wine, those noble generals from the Iron Blood era who guarded the Northern County.”
“They were the sharpest swords in the hands of the Chao Emperor.”
Over these years.
The Northern County had been depleted of its vitality; after the garrison commanders were pulled out, the land drenched in countless blood was covered in snow, becoming dead and bleak.
Bones littered the ground, with widespread desolation.
“These so-called garrison commanders will one day return to the Northern County.”
“But those who will return to the Northern County this time…
are likely not the old guard who once resisted the Demon Country.”
The old blades had dulled.
New swords were unsheathed.
The sword of the Northern County had changed hands.
Xie Xuanyi sat silently in the courtyard, his master’s few words made him feel the cruel turbulence that followed the bloody storm…
It turns out his death at the North Sea was just the beginning.
The entire Dachu Dynasty had changed dynasties overnight.
Thus said.
Sealing the mountain at the Da Sui Sword Palace was indeed a very wise decision.
The same was true for the Taoist door.
Staying hidden from the world, not contending with the Royal Family, this was indeed the best “strategy for survival.”
“People like Jiang Lie, Xu Qi are very few.”
Zhao Chunyang spoke with some emotion, “Most of the old people who threw their heads and shed their blood in the Battle of Poisoned Wine didn’t have the fortune to return to their homeland…
The reason the Jiang Family person could return to Qing State and enjoy his twilight years is simply because he had a good son willing to stay in the Imperial City and take the suffering for his father.
The Xu Family is the same, with the elder brother Xu Nianning living under someone else’s roof in the Imperial City; if the eldest son in the Imperial City exhausts himself in service, then letting off a few ‘old men’ is no big deal.”
“Great storms require many people to stir, especially many young people.”
Speaking of this.
Zhao Chunyang shook his head.
“Cultivation spans tens of thousands of miles and billions of years.”
“Loose cultivators are cultivating, successors of noble families are cultivating, and major sect disciples are also cultivating.”
“Some covet immortality, some are obsessed with power positions, some indulge in the company of women.
Human beings have seven emotions and six desires…
To cultivate and prove the Dao and become a Saint, one needs ‘to be heartless and ruthless,’ casting everything aside.”
“But…
casting everything aside, how easy is that?”
The Sect Leader murmured to himself, and then laughed cursing, “Everyone says the old ancestor of the Qin Family is a Heavenly Person, but that’s bullshit, having guarded the ‘Martial Dao Destiny’ of the Dachu Royal Family for so many years.
If he really is a Heavenly Person, why not go enjoy freedom; could guarding those broken mountains really be that delightful?”
“…”
This statement was indeed a straightforward curse.
Xie Xuanyi curiously asked, “What about you, master?”
“…Me?”
Zhao Chunyang was taken aback by this question.
He sighed deeply, shifted to a comfortable position on the wooden chair, and did not answer Xie Xuanyi’s question, but instead looked towards the distant mountains with a complex expression.
The old ancestor of the Qin Family was not a true Heavenly Person.
So, what about himself?
The lanterns in the small courtyard swayed in the wind.
Fireflies flitted by.
Within ten miles, a hundred miles.
Lotus Peak, Jade Screen Peak, the entire territory of the Da Sui Sword Palace.
Was there any place he could truly let go and abandon?
…
…
(There will be another update tonight.
I’ll try to make it before 1 a.m.)