Chapter 191: Emperor Ling’s End
In the fourth year of the Tian You Calendar, autumn, Yao Capital. In the newly repaired Central Palace, Xian Daoren, who had changed his appearance, was serving as Da Yao Sitian Cheng, looking proudly toward the southwest direction.
After the palace fall incident five years ago, due to Emperor Ling’s muddleheadedness, Su Wang controlled the Imperial Court, and the court system was in chaos; Xian Daoren thus infiltrated the official staffing quota of Da Yao.
Although Xian Daoren had “ill intentions,” his technical skills were flawless.
While his other colleagues were still helpless about when the next disaster would occur, he had already calculated the latest anomaly on the Evil Moon!
“Immortal Root descending?” Xian Daoren muttered to himself about this situation, but just as he wanted to follow that train of thought, the blue flame on his body flickered once, and then the golden power negated it.
Suddenly, Xian Daoren forgot what he had been thinking.
It had been a long, long time since Xian Daoren last experienced this kind of situation where his thoughts fragmented on their own while speaking. He couldn’t help but scratch his ears and cheeks. Immediately after, the blue flame flickered again, and the golden power deleted it once more.
Xian Daoren had always been dedicated to connecting the Evil Moon and Xi Ren Realm, and the Evil Moon operation process was as follows:
First step: The Evil Moon selects an agent, such as Wu Hanluan, and grants a “Blessing Sacred Object” (Golden Dou).
Second step: Allow the blessing (Corruption) to spread across the surface of Xi Ren Realm; once Corruption reaches a certain level, the mental endurance of those affected reaches its limit, producing massive amounts of Despair information.
Third step: Once negative information such as Despair, indulgence, deceitful intent, and destructive urges accumulates to a certain extent, the Evil Moon’s power can interfere with Reality; it will then condense into a “Teleportation Gate” directly to the Evil Moon, which can also be called a “Heavenly Ladder.”
In other words, for normal people to enter the Evil Moon, they must pass through a Corruption zone and be influenced by the fanatics in the corrupted area. The more people gather in the Corruption area, the more dangerous it becomes.
But now, with a Lotus Seed planted in the Evil Moon, the Lotus Seed will generate some pure information on the Evil Moon and invest it into the Human Realm—this is the descending Immortal Root. The Immortal Root will reach the ground, creating a safe Domain; this means that military strength in Xi Ren Realm can follow the Immortal Root, bypassing the Evil Moon’s selection, and enter the Evil Moon on a large scale to conquer it.
What the golden System forcibly fragmented in Xian Daoren’s mind was: the military strength assembled in the safe zone produced by the descending Immortal Root posed a risk to the Evil Moon.
And now, which troop was most likely to enter the Evil Moon for conquest? If Xian Daoren followed that line of thinking, he could easily deduce it was Wu Fei.
This was because the Wu Clan, which had stolen Dragon Qi, was locked by Auspicious Qi, and the will of Xi Ren Realm would inevitably arrange a mission for Wu Yuanchang.
However, Xian Daoren’s train of thought had just reached this point when it was uprooted entirely.
The fragmented him suddenly didn’t know what he was doing, only vaguely feeling that he must take action.
…System: Target has been incorporated into stable plot…
In the harem, Emperor Ling grew increasingly depraved and tyrannical; even amid Great Chaos Under Heaven, he still issued decrees to fill the harem. On a high platform in the palace, he consumed medicinal powders, drank strong liquor, his body burning hot, frolicking with beauties.
Emperor Ling hid on the tower platform, dodging and avoiding the ministers who came to admonish him, and these ministers who had finally risked everything to provide information to Emperor Ling were intercepted by men sent by Su Wang as soon as they left the Palace.
The next day after admonishing, one minister looked at the swallows and sparrows that had all left his home, knowing great disaster was coming, and mocked the nearby concealed exterminators: “You vermin, feast on my bones today; when the building collapses tomorrow, where will you escape the rubble?”
After saying this deathbound statement, he burst into laughter and walked into the house. Soon after, the killers sent by Su Wang rushed in, blood splattering on the walls and windows. Immediately following, a great fire burned down the loyal minister’s home.
And this fire thoroughly incinerated the hearts of the loyal people in the Capital City who still held hope for Da Yao. Many among them began leaving Yao Capital to join local clans.
Emperor Ling had lost Heaven’s Mandate yet remained oblivious. Or perhaps, he had never truly understood the Concept of “Heaven’s Mandate.” Even without sufficient fusion of Heaven’s Mandate, he already loathed harsh words in the Imperial Court. —Emperor Shu had listened to advice under the boost of Heaven’s Mandate.
Emperor Ling simply smashed the jar outright.
In Emperor Ling’s eyes, the role of Heaven’s Mandate had become a mere veneer to “boost his favorability in the eyes of the citizens.”
This understanding was not entirely wrong. With Heaven’s Mandate’s boost, over ninety percent of Da Yao’s millions of citizens and ministers trusted the Son of Heaven without reason; even when the Imperial Court collapsed, they blamed the Corrupt Ministers.
It was just that those ministers at the Core of power operations in the court, who had deep contact with the Son of Heaven, had their Heaven’s Mandate favorability boost offset by the high-pressure atmosphere in the palace.
In the high-pressure environment around the Son of Heaven, Heaven’s Mandate became a warning to the Son of Heaven about contradictions Under Heaven.
The stronger the fusion of Heaven’s Mandate, the more suspicious the Son of Heaven became; because he could sense the harsh rebellion conditions even in ministers who appeared loyal on the surface.
Emperor Shu would preemptively eliminate the possibility of rebellion, suppressing those with ambitions so they could never meet the conditions to rebel in their lifetimes. The emperors before Emperor Shu did the same; in the Great Cauldron before the Nine Palaces, how many disloyal ones were boiled and killed, becoming food for the Tamed Beasts in the river.
The blue Evil Moon in Heaven clearly disliked this eternal reign, so it had plotted long ago, arranging it as early as when Emperor Shu ascended. Emperor Shu rose to power by first controlling the imperial guards. It was from then that a Flaw appeared in the Heaven’s Mandate transfer process Under Ritual and Law.
Starting from Emperor Shu, during the handover between old and new emperors, Heaven’s Mandate would decline; ultimately, this fruit fell on Emperor Shu himself.
And in this latest game, Xian Daoren had personally turned Su Wang—who ten years ago was most loyal to Prince Zhou and had the lowest rebellion potential—into what he was now.
…Blue essence is the destruction of oaths and agreements…
In the fourth year of the Tian You Calendar, winter, during the festival, Prince Ji began replacing Emperor Ling to preside over the grand ceremony.
As the citizens of Yao Capital began kneeling with Prince Ji to worship Heaven; the Zuo Meat was unknowingly swapped with dead rats.
At the same time, in the underground Tunnel of Yao Capital, Xian Daoren also conducted a Ritual, offering the stolen Zuo Meat to the flashing blue Pearl on the altar.
At this moment, this round-table-sized Pearl had just been in the Evil Moon, being pierced tearfully by the “Mirror” (System power); of course, upon seeing such an offering, it still managed a rare expression of gratification, with joy flowing in its tears.
Heaven’s Mandate began to shift.
And in the Heaven Worship Ceremony above Yao Capital, golden radiant light emerged from the canals and arched bridges in Yao Capital that symbolized the Mountains and Rivers Under Heaven, merging into Prince Ji’s body. The participating citizens knelt in worship upon seeing this, but the scholarly ministers noticed that when this light of Mountains and Rivers and State Altars entered Prince Ji, the sky above Emperor Ling’s Palace darkened.
Horror appeared on the faces of the Sitian Cheng on several important viewing platforms around the ceremony, because the astonishing result calculated from the current celestial signs showed that the Eastern Palace and Ziwei were diverging from each other.
However, these Sitian Cheng did not dare speak out loud, each hearing a voice in their hearts advising them to go out and avoid it for a while. (The bloody scene when Emperor Ling ascended made these Sitian Cheng shudder.)
Su Wang looked at the many kneeling ministers, gripping Prince Ji’s hand as if clutching power tightly.
Su Wang: “The Ritual to steal Heaven’s Mandate is complete. Next, um, next we can rest easy.”
After the Heaven Worship Ceremony, Xian Daoren looked at the ambitious Su Wang and smiled: “Your role is fulfilled.”
Xian Daoren gazed toward Yu Prefecture’s loyalist army in the north outside the city, which had been blocked for several months: “It’s time for the next playmaker to take the stage.”
…Fun…
That very night, while Su Wang and his cronies were excitedly plotting, preparing to divide the fruits of power after Emperor Ling’s collapse.
Little did they know, several hundred outsiders entered the city disguised as performers, and that very night launched a surprise attack on the manor where Su Wang resided.
That night, Su Wang’s residence was shrouded in thick fog, with only the sound of bells and jade pendants ringing around the manor, followed by eerie voices.
Su Wang’s residence covered thirty mu of land and had multiple sentries; his large manor was guarded year-round by fifty elite fighters, and there were tunnels connecting to his partisans in the city, truly a case of the cunning rabbit’s three burrows; at least several hundred troops with equipment would be needed to bombard it to breach it.
However, in the thick fog, the deathsworn loyal to Su Wang turned into puppets. Under invisible strings, they danced comically like marionettes, then were burned to ashes by a pink flame from a sorcerer disguised as a juggler.
Su Wang ultimately died, dying inexplicably. In the tunnel, Su Wang seemed to have been strangled alive, yet there were no marks on his neck; before death, he seemed to have seen something unbelievable, his eyes wide open, unable to close in peace.
Right after Su Wang’s faction was defeated, a powerful minister in Yao Capital came to claim the merit, claiming it was he who brought deathsworn to assassinate him. His smug demeanor completely ignored the heavy penalties in Da Yao law for so-called “secretly raising deathsworn.”
Clearly, under Su Wang and others’ perverse actions, many rules had been broken, and now they were being vengefully disregarded even more.
Just as these ministers split into two groups—one heading to the palace to ask Emperor Ling to take charge, um, that is, to drag Emperor Ling out of his gentle township to give him a good lecture.
The perspective shifts to Yao Capital City’s gate, where the troops loyal to the king outside the city entered.
However, both groups encountered unexpected “changes.”
…The smarter, the more they harm themselves…
After “Ji Yan,” this new star minister in the court, entered the palace (Chapter 148), he prepared righteous and stern admonitions. But when he discovered Emperor Ling who had already died of sudden collapse, his expression was grim.
The palace maids in purple bellybands in front of Emperor Ling’s bed and the scattered medicinal powders on the floor foreshadowed the cause of death.
Emperor Ling’s demise was because the pharmacist originally from Su Wang’s faction fled immediately upon seeing the situation turn unfavorable.
Without his compounding pharmacist, Emperor Ling urgently took tiger-and-wolf drugs; as a result, his already weak body could not withstand the overly fierce drug effects, lacking moderating medicine, and he died after one burst of pleasure.
Originally, according to Su Wang’s plan, Emperor Ling was supposed to hold out for another year or two. But now, the thunder exploded directly.
The perspective shifts to the city gate, where Yu Prefecture troops entered Da Yao Capital City knowing nothing.
The ministers responsible for receiving them treated the leading military generals very courteously, but these military generals hoped to see Emperor Ling soon to confirm their status.
Due to the extreme urgency of the Yu Prefecture troops, the preparations for entering the city were actually insufficient.
Note: The military strategist experience learned by Xuan Chong’s side theoretically has strict standards; when facing a city that surrenders voluntarily, the soldiers entering must undergo strict screening. The screened soldiers must be cautious and polite, not hot-tempered.
Because for such a surrendering city, most armaments have not been fully disarmed, so behavior must be measured to prevent rebellion.
The first priority is to firmly control the treasury, armory, and key personnel in the city; the entering soldiers must not be dazzled by the city’s wealth and women— the negative example is “Cao someone who ruined three worthies with one shot.”
The Yu Prefecture troops’ commander was now here to pick the peaches; after riding tall horses toward the imperial palace, facing obstruction from palace staff, he ordered the entering soldiers to shout loudly: “Have Your Majesty come to review the troops.”
This shout was heard by the whole city, so much so that peddlers in some teahouses inwardly complained: “Are these out-of-towners here to aid the king, or for military remonstrance?”
Advisors in the Yu Prefecture army sensed the discussions in the city and thus advised their own generals, but the Yu Prefecture loyalist generals bluntly announced: “No need to worry, we already have an agreement with the various palaces in the court.”
His speech completely disregarded Emperor Ling; over these years, Emperor Ling’s various rumors made this general from noble families think: “Emperor Ling is just a wine sack and rice bag; if I force him a bit, so what? Could Emperor Ling really die from being unable to bear the humiliation?”
…Hee hee hee…
Two hours later, in Yao Capital. The Yu Prefecture faction encountered an awkward situation: “His Majesty collapsed suddenly right after we entered the city.”
What is this?
And those ministers who invited the Yu Prefecture faction into the city also felt a chill. At this moment, even the stone turtles in the capital city’s canal collectively shrank their heads into the mud.
If Emperor Ling died before everyone established a new emperor, this crime could completely be pinned on Su Wang’s faction.
If Emperor Ling had an incident later, after the army entered and everyone forced him to issue a decree of self-blame, confirmed the succession, and the many ministers determined the new ruler, no one would care about Emperor Ling’s life or death.
Even if he collapsed afterward, the world would think it was Emperor Ling emptied by wine and women.
But now, Emperor Ling neither died early nor late, but suddenly collapsed precisely when they invited external forces into the city? If this got out, the world’s attitude would inevitably be that treacherous ministers and rebel thieves had murdered the sovereign.
The court ministers sealed off the news. But! The unexpected still happened.
Among the fleeing Su Wang faction, some diehards unwilling to accept it shouted throughout the city: “Treacherous ministers and rebel thieves murdered the sovereign, Yu Prefecture troops in rebellion!”
All of this was like reenacting “Mu Xingyu’s ending when falling from the palace.”
At that time, the capital defense forces restructured by Emperor Shu based on Eastern Market Army backbone, scattered at Su Wang’s single shout.
At that time, Mu Xingyu’s men gathered to obey him for “blood reward,” for glamorous rank promotions.
But after Su Wang pinned the huge crime of regicide, it equated to wiping out all upward possibilities for this army. When every soldier realized they could get no reward, what organizational meaning was left?
Back then, Mu Xingyu chose to die to prove his innocence, directly flipping the blame back on Prince Zhou’s faction in a mutual destruction with Prince Zhou’s line! So much so that after Prince Zhou ascended as emperor, he became a lame duck without capital military forces to mobilize.
And the Eastern Market Army disciples left to guard the capital also avoided the name of rebellion due to Mu Xingyu’s grace; after fleeing back to Bo Prefecture, they could still cleanly claim Bo Prefecture’s “blood reward.”
Although these Eastern Market disciples failed to get Da Yao forbidden guard positions in Yao Capital as originally expected, at least they could serve under a vassal lord.
But now, the Yu Prefecture troops lacked someone like Mu Xingyu with such responsibility.
After similarly having a huge black pot pinned on them, the Yu Prefecture general leading the army into the capital felt the surrounding rumors spreading extremely fast.
He immediately ordered suppression of the “rebellion.”
What “rebellion” was there? The soldiers could only define rebellion themselves. Squad leaders said to the gathered soldiers: “Anyone who displeases the Great General is a rebel.”
These armored soldiers brandished swords and charged into Yao Capital’s streets.
However, swords could not erase rumors; these Yu Prefecture troops had rushed hundreds of li in haste, already under high pressure, and facing rejection in the city plus shortage of supplies, they had to face a question: “What did we run all this way for?”
And when an army realizes it gets nothing but owes debts instead, the mutiny begins.
On the third day, the tavern in Yao Capital City was unwilling to serve these foreign troops. After a conflict arose, within a short few hours the conflict escalated, and the soldiers’ emotions spiraled out of control. The rioting troops began looting, which instead provoked further backlash from Yao Capital!
Clearly, the reputation of Yu Prefecture troops for rebellion could not be washed away, and those loyal ministers who had secretly plotted for years to eliminate Su Wang’s faction also donned the infamy of regicide.
Such a reversal meant that a certain imperial descendant, originally questioned by the court and without succession, gained the sympathy of the people under heaven.
Amid the chaotic army, Prince Ji escaped from Yao Capital and fled to Ning Prefecture. For the court ministers opposing Su Wang’s faction, they faced enormous trouble. After entering Da Yao Capital City this time, the two most valuable figures—the only ones who could explain the legal basis for this loyalist campaign—were both lost.
For the loyal ministers and loyalist military generals in Da Yao now, it was as if fate was mocking them; at the moment they were closest to success, everything was gone.
…Watching from the sidelines…
On the Star Gazing Platform in Zhenzhou, Xuan Chong was accompanying San Niang in observing the celestial phenomena.
Ten years ago, Xuan Chong had dismissed the induction with celestial beings.
But in recent months, Xuan Chong had used observation equipment provided by Chi You Soldiers, hoisted into the edge of the atmosphere via hydrogen balloons.
Xuan Chong discovered that the positions of some starlight outside the atmosphere differed from those observed within the atmosphere. With further observations, good grief, the starlight from beyond the sky was bent by “unknown factors” upon entering the atmosphere.
Having witnessed how the Evil Moon’s celestial body projection of “information” could distort matter and energy on Xi Huang Realm (the planet), Xuan Chong began to place special emphasis on celestial observation.
Xuan Chong stayed on the Star Gazing Platform, observing where the Evil Moon’s troublemaker was landing now.
San Niang: “Husband, Yao Capital is being favored by Qing Bao Dao Venerable.”
Xuan Chong glanced toward the east; indeed, there was a distorted trace crack in the sky falling in the direction of Yao Capital.
Xuan Chong set this aside. Yao Capital was the grand stage under heaven; going there would be useless, and anything he did would be thrown into chaos.
Xuan Chong looked toward the southern region again. Beyond Da Yao’s Southern Border, there was also a crack projection. Clearly, the Evil Moon was not solely illuminating Da Yao.
That was the direction his expeditionary troops had been preparing for half a year since summer and were about to head to; besides that, through celestial phenomena, Xuan Chong discovered a similar crack descending from the sky directly west.
Xuan Chong knew that the area around Da Yao’s capital would be very chaotic next, but he had no intention of taking any substantive action.
Xuan Chong feigned helplessness and said: “The evil omens are blooming in various places. I can’t get involved over in Yao Capital. Since I’m idle anyway, demonic raiders have now appeared outside Da Yao. Rather than waiting for these things to grow strong in the outer domains, I’ll go directly to them for a lesson. That way, in a dozen or so years, when new monsters refresh in the Southern Border, my group won’t be thrown into panic.”
San Niang revealed a smile; she knew Xuan Chong was finding an excuse to keep his forces away from the vortex at Da Yao’s core area.
San Niang’s pupils were pure gold, and she prayed: “The Heavenly Venerable has sent Senior Brother to transmit the Dao and eradicate the law; there will be no changes or interference.”
