"You're saying... the Emperor is dead?"
When Su Chen heard the news, he was reading in the courtyard. He was quite shocked at the time.
Of course, he was still just as shocked now.
After all, it was the first day of the fifth month in the Twenty-fourth Year of Tianwu. This Seventh Prince had only been on the throne for a total of four months—he hadn't even established a reign title for his new dynasty.
The common people in the more remote territories probably hadn't even heard that the Old Emperor, Tianwu Emperor, had passed away.
"Yes."
"The Emperor is dead."
Xu Xiaohan's eyes were filled with terror, and his words came out in a stutter.
This immediately made Su Chen realize something.
'For Xu Xiaohan to be this terrified, this matter clearly isn't so simple.'
"Does this have to do with Zhang Gui?"
Su Chen asked tentatively.
In an instant, Xu Xiaohan's knees gave out. His body collapsed to the ground like a pile of mud. He quickly crawled over, clinging to Su Chen's leg as he recounted the events in terror.
"The New Emperor secretly tried to win me over. He wanted me to secretly gather evidence of my godfather's crimes for him."
"My godfather has so many crimes, what's there to even gather?"
"I reported this to my godfather at the time, and he told me to feign compliance with the New Emperor. But then, when I went to report to the New Emperor, I was hiding in a wooden cabinet... and I personally saw my godfather kill the Emperor..."
'Zhang Gui committed regicide?'
'How could he dare?'
Even Su Chen felt his heart leap into his throat.
With his legs turned to jelly, Xu Xiaohan was of no use. Su Chen had no choice but to leave the Library Pavilion once more, heading for the Imperial Study as if he knew the way by heart.
With a pass for the Martial Arts Bureau personally approved by Zhang Gui, none of the eunuchs or even the Palace's Forbidden Guards dared to obstruct Su Chen in the slightest. In fact, they scrambled to get out of his way in a panic.
Apparently, the fact that Eunuch Su of the Library Pavilion was a sworn brother to Zhang Gui was common knowledge in the Palace.
"It is only right and proper for Your Majesty to ascend to the great throne."
Before he even got close to the Imperial Study, Su Chen heard a hearty yet humble laugh.
It was unmistakably Zhang Gui.
The next moment,
the door to the Imperial Study was opened from the inside.
Zhang Gui humbly pushed the door open. Behind him stood a young man in a white robe embroidered with dragons. He had slightly dark skin and cold eyes. The man looked vaguely familiar.
"I'm going to see my mother, the Noble Consort."
the White-clothed Prince said coldly.
Then Su Chen remembered.
On the first day of the first month in the Twenty-fourth Year of Tianwu, during the battle late at night, there were two princes. One was handsome and poised, with bright eyes and an extraordinary bearing—the Second Prince, older brother to the Seventh Prince.
The other was pale and plump, his small eyes glinting with cunning. That was the Fifth Prince, son of Noble Consort Zhang.
'The Fifth Prince is still alive?'
Su Chen was stunned.
If not for the princes' rebellion that night, the Old Emperor would probably still be alive, and Zhang Gui would be just one of many followers under the Fifth Prince's command. He would never have amassed his current, overwhelming power.
Although he was much darker and far more gaunt, you could still vaguely recognize the features of the Fifth Prince.
Besides, with the succession of the throne at stake, Zhang Gui would certainly not make a mistake in identifying him.
'What is the opinion of the Purple-robed First Supervisor, this Supreme Emperor of the Palace...'
The thought had just crossed his mind when Su Chen got his answer.
BOOM!
Above the Imperial Palace, the winds surged. Two figures in Purple Robes—one ancient and stooped, the other with white hair but the face of a youth—clashed in mid-air like flashes of startled light, as fast as lightning.
'Two Purple-robed First Supervisors?'
Su Chen understood.
The Old Emperor had once dismissed the Purple-robed First Supervisor of his era, suspecting him of disloyalty. He then used a Human Blood Life-extending Pill as a bargaining chip to summon a second Purple-robed First Supervisor out of the Tianwu Tower...
It was obvious now: the Fifth Prince, who had not been killed after all, had gained the approval of the former First Supervisor, who had been missing.
"I'll give you that..."
The white-haired Purple-robed First Supervisor, looking like a beaten dog, coughed up blood continuously as he fled back to the deepest part of the Imperial Palace—into the Tianwu Tower, which was perpetually shrouded in mist.
"Your old servant, Song Yu, pays his respects to the New Emperor! Long live Your Majesty!"
The Purple-robed First Supervisor with the face of a white-haired youth knelt heavily, and with a display of extraordinary humility, escorted the Fifth Prince before him onto the throne.
In that year, the dynasty changed.
The True New Dynasty was established!
The New Dynasty became the Jianwu Dynasty!
"I am Emperor Jianwu of Great Liang!"
Atop the Jinluan Hall, the Fifth Prince, full of vigor, officially proclaimed himself Emperor, and the announcement spread throughout the land for all to know.
No wonder Zhang Gui had dared to assassinate the Seventh Prince, that false emperor.
A prince in a white, dragon-embroidered robe was equivalent to a Crown Prince, someone who had entered the Tianwu Tower and received true recognition.
Not even a contemporary First Grade expert would dare to act presumptuously before such a person.
This time, Zhang Gui had truly rendered the service of putting a dragon on the throne. He was the true mastermind who had orchestrated everything, from finding the amnesiac Fifth Prince to bringing back the former First Supervisor, Song Yu.
Zhang Gui's power reached its zenith.
The Martial Arts Bureau was officially renamed in the New Dynasty. It became the Eastern Depot! It wielded the supreme authority to monitor all officials and hunt down martial artists across the land.
Zhang Gui became the Chief Eunuch of the Eastern Depot.
Compared to this new title, his old one, Chief Steward of the Imperial Palace, seemed somewhat lacking in weight.
'Monitor all officials and hunt down martial artists across the land...'
'The realm is about to descend into chaos!'
'Great Liang is finished.'
Sighing, Su Chen returned to the Library Pavilion and didn't take a single step outside again, letting the world outside rage on in a river of blood.
The Old Emperor not dying at Zhang Gui's hands was a colossal mistake.
At this moment, Zhang Gui, a Double Peak Third Grade expert, was unleashing all his pent-up hatred upon the Great Liang Dynasty. He wanted to see Great Liang torn asunder, its lands littered with corpses...
Su Chen's prediction was not wrong.
On the night of the second day after Emperor Jianwu enfeoffed Zhang Gui, a palace coup erupted in the Imperial Palace.
"Jianwu, you little brat! You are a fatuous and virtueless ruler, taking a castrated dog as a confidant! The nation is on the brink of ruin!"
"Kill the castrated dog and uphold the laws of the nation!"
"The castrated dog Zhang Gui! His crimes are unforgivable!"
The voices were like thunder, roaring through heaven and earth, clearly audible throughout the entire Thousand-mile Imperial City.
That night, another contemporary First Grade expert charged into the Imperial Palace.
No!
It wasn't just one contemporary First Grade expert. A massive force of elite Border Army soldiers, who had somehow infiltrated the Imperial City, was now storming the Imperial Palace, intending to assassinate the Emperor and crown themselves king.
The Prince Northern Garrison had rebelled.
'They've rebelled, so what?'
'If you want to kill Zhang Gui, then kill Zhang Gui. What are you doing coming after me...?'
Night.
The air grew cool.
Su Chen, his eyes heavy with sleep, threw on an outer robe and looked outside the Library Pavilion. A troop of men in elite Border Army armor, their eyes glinting fiercely, had surrounded his courtyard. He was silent for a moment.
"You're the castrated dog's brother, so you're also part of the Eunuch Faction!"
"In that case, you deserve to die too! Kill him!"
The leading general's Violent Qi surged. The bones and sinews throughout his body rang in unison. He was surprisingly a Peak Fourth Grade expert in both Body and Qi Dual Cultivation. Judging by his profound True Qi and deep well of vital energy, he was even a Martial Arts Prodigy Level figure.
However, even with his Violent Qi fully unleashed, he looked to be only in his early thirties, placing him in the weakest tier among Martial Arts Prodigies.
The rest of the armored soldiers all had a Fifth-Grade Cultivation.
They raised their long spears, their gazes savage. Following their general, they charged forward. Their battle formation was already set, and the momentum of their assault was unstoppable.
Even a weaker Third Grade expert would likely have their spirit overwhelmed, seized by the panicked urge to turn and flee.
'Back when I was at Mid-Fifth Grade, my vital energy was three times that of a Martial Arts Prodigy at Fifth Grade Perfection. I killed a Fourth Grade Violent Qi Realm expert then. Now, I am at Fifth Grade Perfection, my vital energy burns like a flame, and it's ten times that of a prodigy. It's time to test its quality.'
That night, a pillar of blood-red flame erupted from the Library Pavilion, sweeping in all directions.
That night, deep within the Imperial Palace, the First Red Robe Chief Steward—once a First Grade expert of his generation—woke from his dreams with a start, staring in disbelief at the fiery silhouette illuminating the night sky on the horizon.
"The legendary Blood Flame Invincible Realm, hidden beyond Fifth Grade Perfection, actually exists... This is something only the most exceptional Grandmasters have a slight chance of achieving..."
That night, in the Library Pavilion, a Peak Double Fourth Grade expert fell, and over ten armored soldiers were annihilated alongside him.
That night, in the Library Pavilion, Su Chen, dressed in a cyan robe, ascended to the top of the nine-story Library Pavilion. Once again, he sat and watched the shifting tides in the Imperial Palace, the life-and-death struggle between the First Grade experts of the era.