Firmament Sword

Under normal circumstances, it would have certainly drawn attention. Not just any cat had the nerve to stroll through bustling traffic.

But today, every pedestrian on the street was rushing, and not a single person paid any attention to Master Mao.

The atmosphere in the city was somewhat tense, and it looked rather desolate. Many shops were even closed.

Although Miaomiao wasn’t human, its understanding of them was by no means small. It immediately felt that this was highly unusual.

Then, Miaomiao overheard some people discussing something in deliberately hushed voices. After hearing them clearly, a look of profound schadenfreude appeared on Master Mao’s feline face. ’Finally! Someone in this world is even more unlucky than Master Mao! They actually dared to provoke Xu Luo and even captured his father! HAHAHA! Just you wait for the Great Demon King’s fury to burn you all to cinders!’

Miaomiao didn’t linger. Joking around was one thing, but something like this had to be reported to Xu Luo at the first opportunity.

”Something’s happened in the Imperial Capital. It seems... your family... is in trouble too.”

Miaomiao had originally thought Xu Luo would fly into a rage upon hearing the news. To its surprise, Xu Luo merely frowned slightly when he first heard of the great upheaval in the Imperial Capital, then fell silent.

”Hey, Master Luo... are you okay?” Miaomiao leaped back and forth in front of Xu Luo, making faces, trying to get his attention. Xu Luo’s reaction left it feeling very uncertain.

As his partner, Miaomiao naturally didn’t want to see Xu Luo so dejected.

”I’m fine. Let’s go. We’ll enter the city and properly investigate what exactly happened,” Xu Luo said in a low voice, taking the lead and heading toward the ancient city.

Originally, Xu Luo’s return journey had avoided cities, mostly taking shortcuts. For him, the difference between having a road and not having one was negligible; mountains and rivers couldn’t block his path.

But now, he had to enter a city. He first needed to find out... what exactly had happened in the Imperial Capital!

’A coup... Who started it? And what happened to my family?’

Miaomiao said, ”Aren’t you in a hurry to go back and see?”

”By the time the news reached here, several days must have already passed. What good would it do even if I rushed back right now? It’s better to first get a clear picture of what happened,” Xu Luo replied.

After entering the city, the desolate air and tense atmosphere were indeed palpable. Many shops were closed, and even the ones that were open had no business. The streets were deserted, with very few people around.

Xu Luo found a large tavern and walked in. It should have been dinnertime, but there weren’t many customers inside, only a few tables of people eating. They were all speaking in low voices.

Xu Luo casually sat in a corner, ordered a few dishes, then unfurled his Divine Sense to listen in.

As long as he wished, he could hear every sound not just in the tavern, but within a radius of several hundred meters.

”The heavens have truly changed this time. It’s a shame, I was originally planning to open a branch in the Imperial Capital. Looks like I should forget about it now.”

”I heard the Sixth Prince colluded with a group of Military Generals, poisoned the Emperor and Empress, and then personally killed the Crown Prince... his own brother. But in the end, it was a case of the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. The National Guardian General King, Xu Ji, had planned it all along. The moment the Sixth Prince succeeded, he struck and killed the Sixth Prince.”

”Serves him right! A maniacal prince like that, committing patricide and matricide, not even sparing his own brother—he deserved to be killed!”

”What do you know? Didn’t you hear me say ’the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind’? I heard the Grand General King had it all planned, wanting to put the Eldest Prince on the throne... You know the Eldest Prince, right? He and Xu Ji’s second son, Xu Luo, are sworn brothers!”

”How is that possible? The Grand General King is our Cangqiong Military God! How could he do something like that? I don’t believe it!”

”Exactly! The Grand General King was the one who conquered the Wu Kingdom. If he truly wanted to do something, he would have done it long ago. Why would he choose a time like this?”

”You just don’t get it, do you? If the Sixth Prince hadn’t launched a palace coup, the Grand General King might not have killed him. But the Sixth Prince was foolish enough to actually stage a coup, so how could the Grand General King let him off?”

”How could such a secret matter possibly get out?” someone asked doubtfully.

”Heh, it’s quite a coincidence. The son of the Prince of Ying City, who has Royal Family blood—Young Master Huangfu Haoyue—was in the Imperial Capital at the time. Did you know? This Young Master Haoyue has ties to a sect...”

Xu Luo sat there, listening without a change in expression. But when he heard the news that Xu Zhongtian and Sui Wanli had been killed on the spot, his hand trembled slightly, and a pang of pain shot through his heart.

Then, he heard that his father had been captured, and his mother had fled the Imperial Capital with a large group of people, heading north to find the Eldest Prince.

In his heart, though Xu Luo still couldn’t fully grasp what had happened, he could at least determine that the Sixth Prince had been set up by Huangfu Haoyue!

Xu Luo’s perspective was naturally different from that of an ordinary person. He knew very well that the biggest beneficiary in this affair was Huangfu Haoyue. He would never believe that Huangfu Haoyue hadn’t orchestrated the whole thing.

’I never expected that bastard’s schemes to run so deep. Back when I was in the Imperial Capital, I dealt with him so harshly, yet he never brought out the power of the sect behind him to oppose me. It seems... he started laying his plans a long, long time ago.’

As he thought, images of Huangfu Haoran and the Empress appeared in his mind, and he sighed inwardly. ’Qiqi still doesn’t know anything. Once she finds out about this, she’ll surely be heartbroken, won’t she?’

To think that such a major event would occur in the mortal world while he was away attending a sect assembly.

’With this great upheaval in the Cangqiong Empire, the Great Yan to the south and the Da Han to the north definitely won’t let such a golden opportunity slip by. When that time comes... it will be chaos all over again!’

Xu Luo sighed softly, then stood up, tossed a piece of silver on the table, and left.

This time, Xu Luo made no more stops, pushing his Shaking Light Step to its absolute limit.

Like a tireless gust of wind, he raced toward the Imperial Capital.

...

”Your Highness, a nation cannot be without a sovereign for even a day! We subjects beseech the Regent King to consider the greater good and ascend the throne soon!”

In the Cangqiong Imperial Capital, within the Imperial Palace’s Golden Hall.

Lord Wang Moxuan, the Minister of Revenue, knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly. His voice was sincere as he begged Huangfu Haoyue to ascend the throne as emperor.

”Lord Wang, although your heart is with the nation, this is a request I cannot accept! No matter what, the legitimate bloodline of the Cangqiong Royal Family still has the Eldest Prince, Huangfu Chongzhi. If I were to ascend the throne, wouldn’t I be condemned for all eternity?” Huangfu Haoyue said, sitting beside the Dragon Throne and gazing calmly at the ministers below.

”Although Huangfu Chongzhi holds the title of Eldest Prince, he was born to a Palace Maid. His status is low and insufficient to win over the masses. Secondly, he colluded with that traitor Xu Ji. While he wasn’t as deranged as the Sixth Prince, he has been eyeing the throne covetously and plotting for a long time. How can such an unvirtuous person ascend to the throne?” Wei Feng said from the side.

”Indeed! To hand the nation over to such a morally bankrupt individual would be the greatest misfortune for all the people of this country! We subjects absolutely cannot agree to it!” Leng Mengde shouted, not to be outdone.

The situation in all of Cangqiong was now crystal clear. With the intervention of a sect’s power, no one could possibly contend with Huangfu Haoyue.

It was only a matter of time before Huangfu Haoyue ascended the throne. At a time like this, anyone who opposed him was simply courting death.

Sun Yunpeng and Zhao Wenzhao, two high-ranking officials among the Nine Ministers, were unusually silent at this moment. They stood below in the Golden Hall without a word, as if they had fallen asleep.

However, just because they were silent didn’t mean everyone else was like them. There was never a shortage of sycophants.

Just then, Wei Feng suddenly spoke again, ”Xu Ji’s sins are grave. Even after being captured, he shows no remorse. A man like this, if not killed, will not be enough to quell the people’s anger! This old subject requests a public execution of Xu Ji!”

A faint glint flashed in Sun Yunpeng’s eyes as he sighed inwardly. ’So, it’s finally come to this? Wei Feng, oh, Wei Feng, aren’t you going too far? Even if you’ve been Xu Ji’s mortal enemy for all these years, it was never to this extent, was it? You’ve really sold yourself out completely!’

Little did they know, if he had a choice, Wei Feng would rather die than be the one to stick his neck out. While he certainly hated the Xu Family and wished for their ruin, he would never have been willing to be the executioner himself.

After Wei Feng finished speaking, the Civil Servants who followed him all fell to their knees one by one, petitioning for the execution of Xu Ji to appease the public’s anger.

In reality, which of the ministers standing in this Golden Hall didn’t understand that killing Xu Ji was purely for intimidation? Appease the public’s anger? Bullshit. Hadn’t they seen how the constant stream of rumors labeling Xu Ji a traitor these past few days had little to no effect?

The common people simply didn’t believe their Grand General King was that kind of person!

In other words, even if Xu Ji really had rebelled, more than half the country would probably still support him!

The Xu Family’s reputation had been built and solidified over hundreds of years. Its profound foundation was simply unimaginable to ordinary people.

And for this very reason, Xu Ji had to die!

He had to be killed!

Originally, Huangfu Haoyue had wanted to use Xu Ji as bait to lure out Xu Luo, but Xu Luo was nowhere to be found. It was an Elder by Huangfu Haoyue’s side who later reminded him that with the recent sect assembly, that brat had likely gone to broaden his horizons.

Only then did Huangfu Haoyue resentfully abandon the plan to use Xu Ji to bait Xu Luo, feeling that it was letting Xu Luo off too easily. It was a great pity that he couldn’t catch them all in one fell swoop.

”Since everyone detests Xu Ji so much, then I... have no choice but to bear this pain and issue the order. Alas, he was originally a meritorious servant of the nation. It was ambition... that blinded him. I hope this incident can serve as a warning to the world!” Huangfu Haoyue said with a sigh. ”After the execution, give him a lavish burial.”

”His Highness is benevolent!”

”His Highness is kind-hearted!”

”His Highness is magnanimous!”

In an instant, a tide of bootlicking praise surged through the Golden Hall.