Chapter 857: The Gradually Expanding Soybean Dynasty

As Shi Lei and his cohorts yielded to their own contrition under Lu Yang’s silent influence, a succession of long-buried misdeeds came to light, each a calculated stratagem by the Fifth Prince to court favor and bind loyalties.

The Ministry of Justice was plunged into a sudden vortex of activity, a frantic bustle that eclipsed even the dark days of the Fourth Prince’s aborted insurrection.

While that rebellion had been a matter of grave import, it remained a single, isolated knot to untangle, presenting little more than a violent nuisance during the initial apprehensions.

The machinations of the Fifth Prince, however, were entirely different—a sprawling web of transgressions, vast in scope, ensnaring a multitude of high-ranking officials within the imperial court.

Through the night, the Ministry conducted relentless interrogations of Shi Lei and his men, finding unexpected solace in their docile demeanor; they answered every query without deceit, and having long served as the Prince’s clandestine instruments, they possessed a wealth of evidence that spared the magistrates boundless labor.

The First Prince, Jiang Qun, felt a creeping pang of regret for having donned his imperial father's guise to occupy the throne, beset as he was by an unending deluge of memorials, bitter decoctions rumored to eke out one's mortal span, and the exhausting diplomacy required to placate the imperial harem and his elder kin.

“Fortunate it is that the Right and Left Chancellors have not entered secluded meditation, and can yet shoulder a portion of this crushing weight.”

Thus, many of the lesser memorials were diverted to the two Chancellors, granting the weary First Prince a fleeting moment to catch his breath.

Though the mastery of these state documents posed no true challenge to his intellect, it was an existence devoid of flavor, and bound as he was to his father’s identity, his hands were shackled against any true freedom.

“How much grander it would be to wander the realm in humble disguise; I wonder, indeed, how far Royal Father has progressed in his own journey.”

Jiang Qun unfurled a fresh scroll sent by the Governor of Yuzhou, which detailed the newly discovered movements of the remnants of the fallen Great Yu Dynasty, hinting at the presence of a cultivator of the Tribulation Transmutation Stage; the Governor had already mobilized the local garrisons to join the hunt, yet, wary of the enemy's enigmatic strength, he petitioned the court for martial reinforcement.

“If that is the way of it, let the Luoshui Guard depart for Yuzhou at once.”

Just as Jiang Qun prepared to turn his hand to the next scroll, Eunuch Li came forward to announce a visitor.

“Sire, Hsu Xin, the Minister of Justice, requests an audience.”

“Bid him enter.”

With measured, ceremonial strides, Hsu Xin crossed the threshold of the great hall, prostrating himself before Jiang Qun: “Hsu Xin pays his humblest respects to Your Majesty.”

“Rise, Minister Hsu.”

“My thanks, Sire.”

“What brings you to our presence in such haste, Minister Hsu?”

Hsu Xin produced a slender booklet, which Eunuch Li received and presented reverently to Jiang Qun.

Taking the document, Jiang Qun frowned slightly in faint bewilderment: “What is the meaning of this?”

“Your Majesty, within lie the transgressions perpetrated by the Fifth Prince.”

“Whom did you say?” Jiang Qun murmured, half-believing his own hearing had played him false.

“The crimes of the Fifth Prince, Jiang Tang.”

Alarmed, Jiang Qun swept his divine sense through the pages, his eyelid twitching involuntarily as he beheld the stark catalog of his brother's sins, which shed a sudden, glaring light upon many of the empire's unresolved mysteries from years past.

“Time was pressing, and fearing we might startle the quarry, my subordinates have only secured absolute proof for a fraction of these deeds.”

Yet even this mere fraction was a staggering weight; should the full truth be laid bare, the Fifth Prince’s fate would scarce be more merciful than that of the Fourth.

The sole mercy lay in the fact that the Fifth Prince’s crimes did not demand the eradication of nine generations of his kin, sparing Jiang Qun the absurdity of granting himself a formal imperial pardon.

…No, the dust from the Fourth’s treason had barely settled, so why must the Fifth now leap into the fray?

I have worn this temporary crown for a mere three days, and already two of my own brothers have fallen into my hands.

When Royal Father sat upon this throne, why did he never have to dispose of a single soul, only for this deluge to break the moment he departed?

History was replete with princes acting as regents for the state, yet never had a prince used his regency to systematically dismantle his imperial brothers.

To ruin one might be dismissed as circumstance, but to ruin two—what would the chroniclers of posterity think when they looked upon this era?

“How was this evidence brought to light?” Jiang Qun inquired, well aware that Hsu Xin was a man of meticulous precision who would never dare fabricate such falsehoods.

Even if one possessed the audacity to forge a lie, no sane man would conjure a fiction of this magnitude.

He was merely consumed by curiosity.

“It was freely confessed by Shi Lei and the other retainers of the Fifth Prince.”

“Shi Lei proved so compliant?” Jiang Qun’s brow furrowed deeper.

“According to their testimony, they were swayed by the counsel of Lu Yang, and came to the Ministry of Justice to surrender of their own volition.”

Jiang Qun could not help but press a hand to his brow; the Fourth Prince’s undoing had been born of Lu Yang’s denunciation, and now the Fifth Prince’s ruin was inextricably bound to the same youth—Lu Yang, do you intend to send every last one of my brothers to the dungeons simply to clear my path to the throne?

“Did Lu Yang persuade them entirely on his own?”

“That remains unverified, though Shi Lei and his companions noted that when Lu Yang spoke his piece, there was another cultivator present, a man going by the name of Xia Tian.”

Jiang Qun fell into a profound silence.

Was Xia Tian not the very pseudonym his imperial father utilized when wandering the mortal coil?

I knew this business could not be so simple; as expected, it is the hidden hand of Royal Father at work!

Deep within the Luotian Forest, the Immortal Fairy was presiding over a council, gathered in a circle with Ao Ling, Jiang Lianyi, Jin Caiwei, and the Emperor of Xia.

“It is a rare joy for us to gather thus, and our assembly today has but a single purpose: I intend to forge a magnificent, entirely new dynasty, and I have already chosen its title—it shall be known as the Great Soya Dynasty.”

At these words, the spines of Ao Ling and her three companions stiffened slightly, each struck with varying degrees of astonishment by the Fairy’s proclamation.

Some gasped at the sheer audacity of raising a new empire, while others were simply dumbfounded by the name she had bestowed upon it.

“The sages of old declared that the sovereign rule of the world belongs only to those of supreme virtue; as one naturally endowed with such peerless virtue, it is only fitting that I assume the mantle of Emperor.”

Ao Ling and Jiang Lianyi began to applaud with fervor, their eyes shining with an intense light as they gazed upon the Immortal Fairy; had Sister Immortal finally kindled the ambition to contend for dominion over the mortal realm?

A radiant smile graced the Immortal Fairy's features, and she lowered her hands in a gentle gesture to signify that such adulation from Little Ling and Lianyi was unnecessary, before continuing her address:

“As I survey the long river of history, every changing of dynasties has been steeped in blood and fire, leaving the populace destitute and the world in bitter sorrow; such desolation runs entirely counter to my benevolent desires.”

The text of the Fairy’s speech had been penned entirely by Lu Yang within the spiritual domain, and as she recited his words, she did not hesitate to embellish them with her own spontaneous flair.

“I hold that the founding of a new dynasty need not be forged through the crucible of war, but may instead be achieved through peaceful avenues.”

“Consider how I previously entered into an alliance with the Fourth Prince, only to denounce his treason, using the law of ancestral extermination to cause the Jiang clan to collapse from within without striking a blow.”

“Yet I did not foresee that the ancestors of the Jiang line possessed some measure of foresight, establishing an imperial pardon beforehand to thwart my grand design—truly, they are a foe not easily undone!”

“But no matter, for what grand venture ever sailed upon perfectly smooth waters? The path of creation is ever fraught with hardship, and I remain confident that so long as we stand united, there is no obstacle we cannot overcome!”

Leaping onto the table, the Immortal Fairy threw her arms wide and cried out with a ringing voice: “My friends, are you willing to journey by my side to build this new empire?”

“I am willing!”

Ao Ling and Jiang Lianyi required no further persuasion; whatever the Immortal Fairy set her mind to, they would offer their unconditional devotion.

“Excellent! Then I appoint the two of you as my Grand Generals.”

With a triumphant shout, the Fairy hopped down from the table with a light step, turning her gaze toward Jin Caiwei: “Little Tiger, what say you?”

Jin Caiwei harbored no particular desire to found empires, yet seeing both Ao Ling and Jiang Lianyi offer their fierce allegiance, she felt that to demur would be to show weakness, a prospect she could not endure.

“I am willing as well!”

“Then you, too, shall be a Grand General.”

The four women turned their collective gaze upon the Emperor of Xia, their silent stares conveying a singular, pressing question: and what of you?

The Emperor felt a cold prickle of unease beneath their unblinking scrutiny; with all of them in perfect accord, would he not be cast out as an eccentric should he dare voice dissent?

Left with no alternative, the Emperor of Xia slowly raised his hand: “I, too, concur.”

“Then I appoint you as my Prime Minister.”

The Tribulation Transcendence cultivator who secretly guarded the Emperor of Xia witnessed this spectacle and marveled at the sight, for in all his thousands of years of life, he had never once beheld such a wonder.