Chapter 241: Each Takes What They Need

Chapter 241: Each Takes What They Need

"Treacherous ministers are carrion, rebel traitors are rotten bone; both are the empire's great scourge, to be executed by any who encounter them."

Seated high upon the throne, Zhu Youhong flicked his sleeve and pointed forward, his voice resonant and loud, carrying a majestic, overbearing heavenly authority.

"I am the Prince Qin of the Great Ming Empire—should I not kill you? Am I not capable of killing you?"

*Clap clap clap clap!*

Ding Huan hooked his cane over his arm and vigorously clapped his hands.

"Worthy of one who wears shoes—your words are truly overbearing. Of course you should kill me; if it were me, anyone who dared covet my family's assets, even if he were the Jade Emperor himself, I would trade my life for his."

"It is a pity that now that I have come, you cannot kill me."

A look of unrestrained delight spread across Ding Huan's face. "Instead, it is I, this barefoot, unruly commoner, who today very much wishes to try and see if I can flay the dragon-skin from your body."

Zhu Youhong let out a cold laugh, suddenly asking a seemingly disconnected question.

"You are Zongheng Five, Xishou?"

"Not yet." Ding Huan answered honestly. "But once I kill you, Your Highness, I will be."

"Since you are not, on what grounds do you believe you can kill this King?"

Zhu Youhong's words were like swords; as he burst through the hall doors, invisible ripples surged forth from the void.

Only after expressing his loyalty and quietly retreating to the side did Qi Huai suddenly realize with a shock that the great hall was actually shrouded in layer upon layer of barriers.

"It seems Prince Qin has mistaken the cage that imprisons him for a shelter."

Ding Huan couldn't help but sneer. "Fortunately, when the Longwu Emperor was on the verge of death, he did not transmit his consciousness into the Royal Mausoleum; otherwise, seeing his descendants in such a state, one wonders if he would be angered back to life."

Inside the hall, Prince Qin Zhu Youhong clenched his fists tight, fingers digging into his palms.

Yet that heart-piercing agony still could not conceal the towering hatred in his heart.

If he had not been imprisoned on Hongya Mountain by the New Donglin Party, with not a single soldier left under his command!

If the "Civil Governance and Military Merit" required for his Sequence advancement ritual had not been completely blocked off!

If the empire's popular sentiment had not withered, if the Great Ming's laws had not weakened!

How could he possibly have uttered such blustering, hollow, disgraceful words?

"Life is unsatisfactory in eight or nine cases out of ten."

Ding Huan seemed able to see straight into Zhu Youhong's thoughts. "If everything truly went as wished, today I would not be a Honghu, and you would not be a caged bird."

"I should merely be an honest, law-abiding laborer in Annam, living a steady nine-to-five life, supporting my family with a fixed monthly salary. Occasionally, if I had spare change, I would buy the cheapest Yellow Millet Dream Realm, secretly satisfying a few extravagant desires."

"When the day came that I could work no more, my son would take over my post, inherit and promote my craft, continuing to shine and generate heat within some Sequence corporation."

"I would also not choose to upload my consciousness to any mainframe—dust to dust, earth to earth. Lest one day unfilial descendants sell me to the Buddhist sect as karmic computing power; then I would still be working for others even in death, who knows how miserable that would be."

Ding Huan shook his head with a bitter smile. "Yet even a wish as tiny as a sesame seed or mung bean cannot be granted—how much less those grand ambitions in your heart?"

Zhu Youhong spoke solemnly: "This King does these things precisely so that all the empire's people may have everything go as they wish!"

"If you were Zhu Pingyuan, I might believe that sentence. Unfortunately, you are merely a Zhu Youhong who cannot even kill me—how could you possibly be a match for them?"

Ding Huan looked on with disdain, pulling a token from his suit jacket pocket and tossing it onto the ground.

"Open your eyes wide and look carefully."

*Click!*

The instant the token hit the ground, the mechanical cicada cries and wingbeats emanating from the great trees planted at the four corners of the Golden Tower ceased simultaneously.

The barrier enveloping the entire hall vanished without a trace.

"The Imperial Clan Court?!"

Zhu Youhong sprang to his feet, the words shock, fear, and rage forced out one by one from between his teeth.

"It seems you haven't thought this through from beginning to end. Zhu Youhong, you are even more foolish than I imagined."

Ding Huan suddenly seemed to lose interest. "You don't truly think that I, a rebel wanted by the empire, could so easily return to the imperial heartland and swagger into Chongqing Prefecture, do you?"

Zhu Youhong was struck as if by lightning, his figure swaying unsteadily; only after a long moment did he steady himself. "Was establishing a branch in Chongqing Prefecture not a development strategy decided internally by you Honghu?"

Ding Huan's expression was strange. "A beautiful vision, that's all. Who would be fool enough to move their ancestral home under the enemy's eyelids?"

Zhu Youhong smiled miserably. "So all of this is but a trap set jointly by the New Donglin Party and you."

"It hardly counts as joining forces—each takes what they need. After all, if we rebels don't stir up some decent commotion, how can they sit securely in the court? How can they justifiably re-intervene in Chongqing Prefecture and snatch food from the mouths of the Daoist Sequences?"

"So, this King is still that caged bird after all."

Zhu Youhong sighed to the heavens, yet the end of his gaze met only the cliff-tower dome above his head.

"Since it is each taking what they need, then what you want is this King's head."

This was not a question, but a calm statement.

Ding Huan nodded. "Who asked for our two Sequences to be two sides of the same coin? Since you of the Kingly Way cannot accomplish it, then let us of the Zongheng do it."

"Then, very good."

Zhu Youhong fell silent for a moment, all complex expressions fading from his face, replaced by a tranquil smile.

Seeing the composure he now displayed, Ding Huan was instead slightly taken aback, then silently praised him in his heart.

Regardless, at least at this moment, Zhu Youhong, with no road left but death, had not fallen into hysteria, had not lost the face of the imperial clan.

"Qi Huai, you go see Prince Qin on his way."

"Yes."

Qi Huai hesitated not at all, his figure darting out swiftly.

And that deep-blue mian-robe had already slowly stepped out of the great hall, hands clasped behind his back, standing calmly beneath the flying eaves.

"Forgive the offense, My Lord!"

A fierce wind rushed the face, stinging the eyes.

Zhu Youhong stood unmoving, merely raising his head to gaze tranquilly at the dome above.

How many years has it been since I last looked upon the empire's night sky?

*Clang!*

A blade sang, a streak of cold light crashing into his vision, shattering the dead silence in this imperial prince's eyes.

Wang Xie drove back Qi Huai with a single slash; his back to Zhu Youhong, his face was a dense map of savagery.

At the same time, massive figures surged out from the breach the mechanical beasts had torn open.

Flying Fish robes billowing, Embroidered Spring Sabers gleaming with cold light.

The Chongqing Prefecture Jinyiwei had finally arrived!

Coincidentally, the upheaval continued.

The Yanren guards who had fainted earlier after Ding Huan provoked their residual body-consciousness now climbed up from the ground as well.

But they did not follow their preset instinct to protect Zhu Youhong; instead, eyes burning crimson, they lunged at the surrounding Jinyiwei.

A melee is on the verge of eruption!

Abruptly.

A figure burst forth from the palanquin shaft, and in a few flashing steps appeared above Ding Heng’s crown, the long saber in hand cleaving straight down at his skull!

*Thwack!*

The saber sank into the earth, rending a terrifying fissure.

"Yan Bahuang, you’ve finally arrived. This King has been waiting for you for a long time!"

Ding Huan’s figure drifted into view on the opposite side, gazing at Yan Bahuang—half his body drenched in blood, wielding his saber with a single arm—and laughed uproariously.

"First extinguish the Law, then slaughter the King. With you and Zhu Youhong, this King’s ascension ritual shall be complete!"

Inside the tower, battle rages at its height; outside, wind and rain rage in full force.

"Boss, you absolutely have to hold on!"

Amidst his mad dash, Li Jun lifted his eyes to gaze afar; that brilliantly lit Hongya Mountain stood towering right before him.