Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“That’s more appropriate. This is the kind of tone and expression that people should have,” Meng Fuyao raised her hands and clapped slowly. “I had to destroy the Imperial Jade Seal, or else I would still have to face that nauseatingly fake smile of yours while speaking with you. That would really be worse than dying.”
“I feel that talking to you is still a waste of time,” Feng Jingfan replied coldly. “You can get lost now.”
“How nice, I was just about to say the same to you. But I have something more to say/” Meng Fuyao smiled. “You can get lost and die now.”
“Oh?” Feng Jingfan chuckled. “Why?”
“Do you not have eyes? Or do you think that the so-called hostage that is currently in your hands is able to exchange for your life? Sorry, but I’m not interested.” Meng Fuyao waved a hand. “Please kill him, please kill him quickly.”
“Even your 3,000 guards, all of your Dahan and Wuji forces that are gathered in Dan City, are not enough?”
Meng Fuyao closed her eyes. “Mn?”
“Do you think that Tang Yi Zhong’s army of 10,000 soldiers is loyal? That they will obediently follow your command?” Feng Jingfan continued massaging Feng Xuan unhurriedly, her tone coy. “What a pity that there will be an uprising tonight from within that army, and they simply won’t be able to offer you any support. Your 3,000 guards have already entered the palace grounds and are exactly sandwiched between the 30,000-strong Imperial Army and the 50,000-strong Changye Army, which is rushing over as we speak. I’d like to find out whether 3,000 of the fabled Black Wind Calvary are able to stand their ground against 80,000 equally equipped and trained soldiers.”
She giggled and blew at a fingernail, then added, “Oh, I almost forgot to tell you that 50,000-strong army of Third Brother’s is actually mine, Third Brother has been loyal to me for a very long time.”
Meng Fuyao fell silent for a moment. Thereafter, they heard the sound of a commotion from outside the palace doors, drifting faintly towards them. Feng Jingfan’s eyes shone brightly as she beamed, “Hear that? It has already started.”
She turned to face Zhangsun Wuji and smiled again. “Your Highness, ever consider being my husband?”
Remaining seated on his horse, Zhangsun Wuji smiled and replied, “If you were Fuyao’s dowry and helped us lay the bed and fold the blankets every night, I could consider you, except I’m afraid that Fuyao wouldn’t be too happy about it… Besides, I’m afraid that I’ll end up vomiting.”
Lord Yuan Bao suddenly appeared from within his robes and made a vomiting expression.
Meng Fuyao’s face had initially darkened due to a certain person’s insensitivity, yet when she saw the expression on Feng Jingfan’s face, she felt like laughing. When Zhangsun Wuji was being shameless, he could be truly unscrupulous.
“Then there’s nothing else to discuss,” Feng Jingfan said frostily, her pale face flushing in anger. “Get out! Leave Xuanji! Swear never to bother with Xuanji ever again! Or else, even if I am unable to lay a hand on you two, it’s simple enough to annihilate 3,000-plus of your men!”
“It’s easy enough for you to talk big as well.” Meng Fuyao remained seated as she continued, “No matter how much rubbish you spout, it has already been decided by the Heavens. We’ve already let you ascend the throne. We won’t let you continue any further.”
“Not letting me?” Feng Jingfan laughed coldly. “Aren’t you, Meng Fuyao, supposed to be chivalrous and courageous? Didn’t you always refuse to let your subordinates sacrifice themselves so easily? Aren’t you the sort of person that refuses to implicate the innocent? Yet you’re willing to sacrifice 3,000 of your loyal guards to kill me? It’s fine if you hang around here, you can look forward to carrying the weight of 3,000 lives on your shoulders then. If you want to save them, I still have 18 highly skilled masters here. Even if they can’t kill you, they can still delay you long enough to let 80,000 men finish off your 3,000.”
“You understand me pretty well.” Meng Fuyao smiled coldly. “Then, why don’t we try it out?”
Feng Jingfan stopped replying, green veins appearing on her white neck. Her gaze had also dropped several degrees in temperature, and under the dim glow of the pale purple palace lamp, she looked like a wax figure that had yet to be painted.
After a while, she suddenly muttered to someone, “Go, take the proof to the Crown Prince and King Meng, let them see it clearly, the consequences of disobedience!”
The sound of robes swishing in the wind could be heard fading into the distance from the roof.
The three of them all stopped talking.
The atmosphere was extremely quiet. Only the sound of the candle wax occasionally dripping, and the deep breathing of an old man filled the air. The palace lamp cast shadows everywhere. Feng Jingfan turned to stare at the lamp, her pale face expressionless as her fingers clenched and unclenched themselves repeatedly.
The events of today were already the worst step that she had taken to date; her mother and Uncle Epsilon were both dead, her largest support no longer wielded any power, and if she wasn’t able to defeat Zhangsun Wuji and Meng Fuyao today, she would no longer be able to suppress their power. Her only hope was for Meng Fuyao to have a moment of compassion and leave the palace, enabling her to ascend the throne and amass all the forces in the nation to kill off the two of them.
As for the consequences of killing them, she no longer cared about it; so what if the nation was annihilated? At least she had been the Emperor of Xuanji, at least she had sought the biggest revenge of her life!
Initially, she had been worried about the statuses of the two and was afraid that her actions might cause Wuji and Dahan to declare war on Xuanji. Hence, she had allowed Uncle Epsilon to use his own means to sow discord and let them kill each other. She also held a faint trace of hope deep within her heart—after they’d fallen apart, she could propose marriage once again, using her softness, which man on earth could resist? By then, perhaps, Zhangsun Wuji might change his mind?
Hence, she had held on to this shred of hope and did not land the killing blow.
She should have killed them long ago!
Feng Jingfan’s expression darkened as she glared at the old man lying on the bed. Feng Xuan was still in that half-dead state, unable to even open his eyes as he breathed with difficulty, his fingers twitching…’Damn it, what exactly had Mother been feeding Father? Why did she turn him into such a state? It’s fine if his mental state was weakened and he became easy to control, but now that the Imperial Jade Seal was destroyed and the Imperial Decree was only half-written, the name of the new Empress was still blank!’
From afar, the sound of hurried footsteps thundered through the palace halls, shattering the silence. Feng Jingfan’s eyes lit up, and a hint of a smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.
Suddenly, the door swung open as someone strode into the hall, throwing several bloody heads at Meng Fuyao and Zhangsun Wuji’s feet.
Both of them looked down, their expressions changing instantly.
“Reporting to the Fourteenth Princess, the betrayer Changyong General’s head is here!”
“Good!” Feng Jingfan smiled as she ordered, “Do it!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
From afar, the sound of shouting and killing could be heard as the smell of blood permeated through the air. Delighted, Feng Jingfan glanced at the two and said mockingly, “The Changyong Army is now under my command. The leftover 3,000 men of yours must be minced meat by now, how would you two like to die?”
She waved a hand, and from all four corners of the hall, eighteen figures appeared, surrounding Meng Fuyao and Zhangsun Wuji completely.
“Even if you die, delay them!” Feng Jingfan screamed. “Let them hear the dying cries of their subordinates!”
The eighteen men raised their swords, their blades shining brightly in the dim palace hall as they formed a light web.
“This is the ultimate array technique that my Master, Epsilon, left behind. I’ve taught this to these eighteen men, and they’ve been training nothing but this technique their whole lives. Even if both of you have the power of the Top Ten, this must stop you!” Feng Jingfan’s smile grew even wider as she turned around to pick up the Imperial Decree on the table. Glancing at Feng Xuan, she said, “Father, let us focus on finishing the decree.”
She actually turned her back on the two of them.
“Cha!”
Eighteen longswords struck the air simultaneously as the elegant swords cast the array.
Meng Fuyao stood there, straining her ears to listen to the cries outside. Suddenly, she said, “I think… we really have to leave now.”
Zhangsun Wuji chuckled and said, “Wherever you go, I’ll go.”
When Feng Jingfan heard his words, her face darkened, yet at the same time, there was also a hint of delight.
Retreating is good, retreating one step would mean retreating even more steps, and in the end, she would have a chance to finish them off.
“Reporting to Fourteenth Princess!”
Feng Jingfan turned around suspiciously and said, “Why haven’t you left yet?”
“I’ve brought several more heads from the Dahan Army!” The man shouted, “To let King Meng of Dahan see clearly how her men had died! And so that she can also die earlier!”
“How considerate!” Feng Jingfan clapped her hands gleefully. “Offer them up!”
The man raised his hands and tossed several round objects towards them, shining bloodily as they sailed through the air.
Upon seeing the heads sailing through the air, Meng Fuyao and Zhangsun Wuji exchanged glances and suddenly retreated sideways, jumping onto the highest beam of the palace hall.
Kacha—
Several “heads” suddenly exploded in midair, some instantly exploding above eighteen people’s heads, some shooting out numerous flying needles, some bouncing in midair and unleashing metal “teeth” and grazing heads as they rolled past.
And one more was directly headed for Feng Jingfan, its shiny, black “hair” suddenly releasing three golden knives!
Feng Jingfan let out an enraged scream and flipped over the bed frame, but the golden knives continued to home in, following her as she tumbled and dodged from the back of the bed frame to the front, knocking over lamps and running up and down the palace hall. By this point, the bed frame was already utterly destroyed, and bits of wood and candlewax littered her torn dress. She looked truly a sorry sight.
And as for the eighteen men who were focused on setting the array, they did not expect the head to explode on the spot and were instantly killed before they could even scream.
Pa pa pa—
Meng Fuyao stood on the palace roof, clapping in mock-admiration. “Your Majesty, is this the good show you wanted us to watch? It’s truly spectacular!”
“You—” Feng Jingfan suddenly twisted around, “How could this… how could this happen!”
“Why wouldn’t it happen?” The person who replied to her was someone else who had just entered the palace, smiling as he asked, “Your Highness, when you were trying to create problems in my Changyong Army, did you think about whether the Tang Family was an easy pushover?”
The pretty, child-faced Young Master pointed at Zhangsun Wuji. “Are you trying to wreak havoc in front of him? Did you think about the reputation that the Crown Prince of Wuji wields?”
