The burning of the city was the cruelest. In addition, it was the Royal City with a prosperous business and a large population. If Sima Ray was determined to have a life-or-death struggle, the people of Qi would suffer.
The emperor of Qi looked at his unfilial son in front of him, feeling so furious. He pointed at Leng Changxi and said, “Get me the head of my rebellious son. I will spill his blood in front of the ancestor temple. I’ll let all the ancestors see that there is such a rebel in our Sima Family.”
Sima Ray raised his head and his eyebrows slightly, looking so indifferent. It seemed that a bad reputation didn’t matter to him at all, “I don’t care at all. Besides, you never regarded me as a member of the Sima Family when I was growing up, right? You’ve always been ashamed of my mother. You felt it a shame to rape a maid and make her pregnant when you were young, so you never treated me kindly. I am just dispensable to you.”
“What nonsense are you talking about?” The emperor of Qi looked so angry. Although he looked down on this humble son before, after he discovered his talent, he cultivated him as a diamond in the rough.
“Nothing.” Sima Ray’s eyes became bloodshot. “I just want to speak for my poor mother. You let the empress to raise me, but did you know that she treated me like a beast? She looked kind superficially, but she was quite different behind the scenes. I don’t want to talk about it anymore. With things as such, there is no need to talk about it then. You want to catch me? Wishful thinking.”
After Sima Ray finished speaking, he turned around, performed light skills, and flew away toward the Royal Palace ignoring the people around him. Zhuge Qingtian intended to catch up with him, but then he realized that his light skills could not be compared with Sima Ray’s at all. Sima Ray’s light skills had obviously improved greatly than before. It seemed that he had really absorbed a lot of people’s energy and internal skills during this period.
“What does he want to do?” Zhuge Qingtian was puzzled, turning his head to ask Leng Changxi.
Watching Sima Ray jumping dexterously among the red tiles and white walls, Qin Yunuan looked into the distance following his figure. She said slowly, “The Royal City is surrounded by a large number of troops. Although there are only 200,000 soldiers in the Royal City, it won’t make him fear like this, unless there is something more important in the Royal Palace, or something more beneficial to him.”
“What do you think it is?” Leng Changxi looked at Qin Yunuan quietly, waiting for her to come up with an idea seemingly. He regarded Qin Yunuan as his adviser obviously.
“Remember the secret tunnel in the Royal Palace?” Qin Yunuan raised her eyebrows and suddenly mentioned the secret tunnel where the Great General of Qi, Meng Hua, had been imprisoned before. That tunnel was a big project, and it was really amazing for its elaborate design. Nobody knew how Sima Ray secretly built this secret tunnel in ten years. It seemed that it had other uses according to Qin Yunuan.
“A foxy person has more than one hideout. I remember that the tunnel was straight without forks. But Sima Ray was so suspicious and scheming. So how could he spend so many resources on such a straight secret tunnel? Wasn’t it too unworthy?” Qin Yunuan looked back at Leng Changxi, whose eyes were full of approval. It seemed that his opinion was the same as Qin Yunuan.
“Great.” Prince Ning said decisively, “Go to the Royal Palace.”
As soon as Prince Ning gave the order, everyone rushed to obey it naturally. The emperor of Qi was carefully taken care of by his attendants. Leng Changxi glanced at him, and the emperor looked at Leng Changxi with a hesitant expression, as if he wanted to say something that was hard to say.
Leng Changxi walked indifferently by the emperor of Qi. In the past, he always respected and obeyed this old man. But after he knew what he had done behind the scenes, he felt that maybe it was the best for his mother to stay in West Xia. Therefore, he never reported to the emperor of Qi that the Elder Princess had been found.
“She is dead.” Leng Changxi suddenly turned his head just when he was about to walk by, saying to the emperor of Qi leisurely, “Jing Donghua built a grand tomb for her. It’s very beautiful.”
The emperor closed his eyes silently after hearing it and ordered the guard around him to send him back. In front of him, Leng Changxi led the way with outstanding light skills. Even though Sima Ray had great light skills, he could not compare with Leng Changxi, who ranked first in Qi in light skills. What was more, Leng Changxi was familiar with the internal structure of the Royal Palace as Sima Ray, so he came to a palace with a simple appearance but a rather elaborate structure quickly.
This palace looked so familiar. Leng Changxi squinted his eyes and glanced at the plaque on the big red palace gate which was not very new nor old. He was unavoidably surprised. Looking at the words “Weiyang Palace” on the dark red plaque, Leng Changxi didn’t know why Sima Ray came here at such a life-and-death moment.
It didn’t take long before Qin Yunuan arrived. She looked at Leng Changxi who was standing at the door, feeling he was a little strange. When she stepped forward, she realized that Sima Ray was standing in the middle of Weiyang Palace without fear. Behind him was the room where the Elder Princess lived before she got married.
At dusk, the orange sunlight seemed to shed a layer of soft satin on the majestic palace from the outermost wall to the beautiful cornices of the palace. Sima Ray was dressed in dark blue casual clothes without armor. He looked dignified and elegant at this time, not like a murderous demon at all.
“Changxi?” Qin Yunuan was puzzled, wondering why they were deadlocked.
But Sima Ray looked at Qin Yunuan with a scornful smile and pointed to his left. Qin Yunuan’s eyes followed his figure, and then she was stunned. The left side of the open space was filled with so many buckets of saltpeter and sulfur, which were the highest explosives of this era. The explosives were stacked as high as a man on the whole wall, which were able to blow up Weiyang Palace and the surrounding small palaces into pieces. What did Sima Ray want to do on earth?
“Ten years ago, I set a fire in Weiyang Palace.” Sima Ray talked indifferently about his first murdering experience ten years ago. “At that time, I was eager to find a backer, and the empress asked me to kill someone to show my loyalty. In fact, I knew that she still looked down on me. If I had killed a random person, she would have found other reasons to reject me. Therefore, I intended to kill someone she hated so much. That was the Elder Princess. But what I never expected was that when I actually sneaked in to kill her, she confided to me that she was not the real Elder Princess but just a substitute. As the real Elder Princess wanted to stay at West Xia, she and Prince Ning arranged that then.”
“But she was too naive. Since I had given myself away, how could I let her go? But to keep the empress from finding out that the person I killed was not the real Elder Princess, I then burned the Weiyang Palace. When the body turned to coke, nobody could tell the truth then. And since then, I discovered a secret. That is, you, Leng Changxi, is not the natural son of Prince Ning, but the B*st*rd of the Elder Princess and the emperor of West Xia.”
Leng Changxi smiled slightly, “If I were a B*st*rd, wouldn’t you be inferior to a B*st*rd?”
“Yes.” Sima Ray laughed with self-mockery. “Your bloodline is too noble. I have been jealous of you since then. Why? Why you can get favoritism from both Prince Ning and the emperor of Qi and the internal skills of Tongming Gate of the royal family of West Xia at the same time? You are just an illegitimate child, but you’ve got the right to inherit the throne of Qi and West Xia at the same time. Is that fair?”
“So, since I was a child, you’ve been sending assassins to assassinate me?”
“Right.” Sima Ray smiled bitterly. “But it was really a pity that you were always saved by others.” Sima Ray said as he turned his eyes to Qin Yunuan, “Do I really like you so much? No. Since I cringed before the empress, I had no feelings then. I just hate that Leng Changxi owns so many beautiful things, including you.”
“Even if Changxi is a beggar, you will also be jealous of him since you are so narrow-minded.” Qin Yunuan knew what Sima Ray was thinking about, “And, once the explosives are ignited, do you think you can survive?”
“Survive?” Sima Ray’s voice began to become hoarse and trembling. “Since things have come to such a pass, I don’t mean to survive at all. Your tricks are really sinister. Although I have 200,000 soldiers guarding the Royal Palace in my name, some of them have surrendered to you, some don’t trust me anymore because of you, and some have fled.”
Sima Ray said, and then he suddenly took out an ignited fire-scroll from his waist. He held the fuse in one hand and the kindling in the other, smiling coldly at Leng Changxi, “Actually, I don’t want much. If I had to go to hell, you must be with me. Then I will be satisfied.”
“You…” Leng Changxi tried to stop him, but Sima Ray took actions so fast, and the fire began to spread. Zhuge Qingtian who came later only saw Leng Changxi and Qin Yunuan who were standing at the gate were swept away by the heat wave. The fiery flames immediately rushed to the roof, accompanied by a huge explosion, as if the skies fell and the earth opened up. Zhuge Qingtian slumped on the root of the wall. Even if he was far away from there, he could still feel the crazy and hot fire which was like a tornado.
The entire palace was burning up, just like the fire ten years ago. And this fire was still talked about by people in the Royal City even a month later. Some people even exaggerated that the fire could be seen even in Linglong Tower in Qingzhou which was 15 kilometers from the palace. The prince’s rebellion also went down in history with the fire this time. Although the parties concerned were reconciled finally, they all paid a lot.
Three years later, the storytellers in the regions south of the River talked about the result of the rebellion like this.
“In the end, in order to stop the rebellious prince, the Cool Face General of Qi risked his life and sneaked into the palace. They two fought for three hundred rounds from the sky to the ground both day and night. Finally, the rebellious prince secretly ignited the explosives that filled the palace. No matter how invulnerable the general was, he could not withstand the explosives. The general died a hero’s death, and his wife was so sorrowful, and then she died for love. They are really a loving and heroic couple who dedicated themselves to Qi.”
“You’re talking nonsense!” The voice of a little kid suddenly sounded abruptly among the people who were listening to the storyteller.
