Chapter 521: The Elder Brother Is Like A Father

The emperor was momentarily speechless. It was only after a good while did he roll his eyes and said, "This is what father decided back then. Go look for him if you have something to say!"

Marquis Yun sprung up in a fit of rage and slapped the table, hollering, "Yu Peize! Do you not feel any sense of guilt for saying this? How many years has that old man been dead? Where do I start looking for him? If I really did go look for him, can I still make it back into this realm?"

Both brothers glared at each other like fighting roosters.

After a very long time, the emperor snorted and said with a chuckle, "Okay, okay, I'm not arguing with you anymore. Only you would dare to argue like this with me anyway and you're my blood brother; otherwise, I would have asked that your head be separated from your body for at least a dozen times!"

Marquis Yun was still disgruntled. "Don't you talk about it like it's right, do you think I like to argue with you? Do you feel something lacking if you don't anger me after some time? I am guessing that you would feel that something was amiss if I didn't chide you every now and then!"

His Majesty sighed, "Yes, yes. Let us leave this aside first. Help me think about the issue of the future throne. This is an emergency, it has to be resolved as soon as possible."

"There is one more thing. The Immortal Dahuang today..." The emperor said, "On the topic of heaven's will, I really do remember something being recorded about it... Help me look for it. We can chat and discuss along the way."

"You can ask anyone to do this, why must you make me work for you? You know that you'll have to suffer as well..." Marquis Yun said indignantly.

His Majesty replied, "It would be best if this matter were to remain between the both of us. I don't trust the others."

He sighed and continued, "Brother, we aren't young any longer. You can forget about what father said the last time... find a woman if you want to. I'm the emperor now, I can remove that restraint for you."

Marquis Yun was stunned and was quiet for a moment before he said bitterly, "You can just forget about that too... There have been plenty of women who treated me well all these years, but I've rejected them all... Now, they're either already married, dead, or lost... Your grant is ten years too late. You could have just said something earlier..."

He raised his head and looked at the nightfall outside the window. Various forms of bitter memories and glum emotions seemed to flash across his eyes, leaving behind only a soft sigh.

His Majesty looked at the sprinkle of silver on Marquis Yun's sideburns and sighed as well with some measure of guilt.

"These years... you've suffered..." sighed the emperor softly.

"Well, there's no point talking about this now." Marquis Yun's smile was devoid of humor and he waved his hand dismissively, "My greatest mistake was to have been reincarnated in the wrong life... Forget it, this is fate."

"Fate, indeed."

Both men sighed in unison.

...

The emperor and Marquis Yun, who had stayed up the entire night, were worn out, their backs ached and their joints were sore. Even when they felt like they were utterly drained, they did not let anyone help.

After all, what they were doing now was a confidential secret that could not be made known to any other people. If they had not spoken and argued as they went through the old books to look for clues, the night would have been longer and wearier.

Not only was the target they were after important, their conversation could not be known by a third party either. Other than random bits and pieces that they talked about, they had also spoken about grudges and favors, meetings and separations, all sorts of wronged woes and complaints throughout the years...

Both of them had their respective points of resentment and grudges, both of them felt that fatigue had taken them on a trip! What was the most remarkable and bewildering still, was that both of them felt that their father had been unfair? It was a cruel thing to have asked so much of them.

When this topic erupted, it was Marquis Yun who shot up in anger first and exploded in rage. Both of them had a big quarrel. Even when the emperor was enraged and roaring, Marquis Yun did not back down. It was a sight to behold.

After the heated quarrel, both of them went back to their work, huffing before beginning to discuss among themselves once more when one of them started to talk. They then began poking fun at each other, began to find old faults, and thus began another fight.

At a later stage, His Majesty no longer addressed himself royally, calling himself your father or anything of the sort. There was nothing left of grace and class.

Marquis Yun naturally refused to be subjected to such speech. He would normally use only a few vulgarities here and there, but upon hearing that the emperor of Yutang no longer cared for his royal manners, he acted accordingly as well, retorting with 'your father' in their argument without any hint of falling behind.

Yet the younger man had fallen into His Majesty's trap at once!

Poor Marquis Yun, the man who roamed the martial world all year long. His cultivation base was amazing, unsurpassable throughout Yutang, but a strong cultivation base was not equivalent to cunning. Putting martial strength aside, how could his slyness be an opponent to the old fox of an emperor who had been trained in the imperial court all his life?

After a series of 'your father's, His Majesty's face suddenly sunk.

"What did you say? Say it again!" The emperor's gaze was icy.

Marquis Yun said angrily, "What did your father say? Your father will say it since you asked your father to do so... who do you think you are?"

His Majesty stood up and threw a kick in the general direction of the Marquis. "How dare you call yourself 'your father' in front of me? Whose father are you?"

Marquis Yun was shocked, covering his aching rear end. "You called yourself 'your father' just now too! Why aren't you speaking for yourself? I can't call myself 'your father', but you can now?"

His Majesty chuckled and said, "That's right. There isn't any issue at all for me to call myself 'your father'. Don't you know the saying that the elder brother is like a father? I'm your elder brother, your biological elder brother, so what if I call myself your father? But for you to call me your father? Who are you? Are you rebelling now? I can't stop you from doing anything, but try calling yourself my father again in front of me! Let's see if I dare punish you with the family rules, you insolent bastard!"

Marquis Yun was speechless at once. This was really unfair!

Unfortunately, he could not pinpoint anything that was wrong with the accusation, nor did he dare counter verbally or physically.

"Aren't you very capable? Aren't you skilled? Even if it's an ordinary citizen's home, an elder brother is like a father as well! Besides, not only am I your elder brother, I am the emperor, I'm..." The emperor, looking absolutely furious, dashed over and walloped his younger brother. He was overjoyed, finally seizing his chance to wallop this bastard who lived in such a care-free manner!

Normally, he would not have dared to beat him up; what if the younger man executed a counterattack? Furthermore, his cultivation base had improved tremendously and he had boasted about no one being able to stop anything he wanted to do. If the emperor did not take this opportunity today to gratify himself, there might be no other chance in the future.

Marquis Yun felt like he was being unfairly beaten up, and there was no way this grudge could be avenged.

Even as the blows were raining down on his head, Marquis Yun was hit by a sudden realization.

"You - you... you tricked me!"

He was an aristocrat after all. He was exposed to the art of an emperor ever since he was young and he was a clever man as well; even if he was not as sly as the emperor himself, he was a decent hand at covert schemes.

The emperor was relentless, barely slowing down his blows. "So, you fell into the trap just because there was one? Are you that dumb? I'm teaching you a lesson, I'm giving you martial world experience! You're the one who roams the martial world, say, how can you be without a cunning mind? Have you wasted all these years of living?"

His Majesty was utterly gratified after that satisfying session.

Marquis Yun was sullen, but the emperor had grabbed hold of his Achilles' heel and could order him around.

"That pile over there, check it."

"Move these, now that we've gone through them. Need I say more?"

"Faster! Did you not eat? This is so important, when will we find it if you look for it so slowly? What happened to your boasts that you can do anything? Were they just words?"

The thought of beating the man to death and ascend the throne himself rose temptingly countless of times in Marquis Yun's mind. He gritted his teeth, his face turning green from its normal white to blue from green, and finally to black; in the end, it was darker than the bottom of the wok.

The emperor crossed his legs and sipped on his tea while sitting in the armchair, ordering his brother around in a relaxed manner.

After some time, he finally got up to help. It was most probably because he had estimated that Marquis Yun's limit had been reached; if he coerced him even further, the latter would retaliate. The Emperor of Yutang was a wise man, a tough character who possessed foresight and sharp judgment; of course, he knew when to draw the line and drop the act when he needed to.

Therefore, both the men did not realize that they had begun to talk again.

"The Immortal Dahuang who popped out earlier... his background must be significant. I believe I have seen the sect he's come from before, and I am vaguely reminded of the objective of the sect. Or, at least, I have some impression of it... It was recorded in the royal documents, but I didn't pay much attention to it then. I've always felt that the records were rather ridiculous and left it alone after scanning through it."

The emperor frowned and continued, "Now that I think about it, there must have been some pressing concern for this Immortal Dahuang to appear at this delicate moment."

"For all that has been happening recently, none of the incidents have been ordinary." Marquis Yun said. "The incident of the four countries violating the letter of credence of peace and launching a simultaneous attack is already very odd. Do you think it's..."

Marquis Yun's words trailed off in uncertainty...

However, the emperor froze as he heard those words.

The letter of credence of peace was not a normal agreement between two countries; it was a vow witnessed by heaven.

Who would dare to violate it? Violating it meant defying heaven's vow and would result in a punishment by heaven itself! In spite of this severe repercussion, all four countries had breached this agreement witnessed by God that no one, no force, and no country had ever dared denied in unison.

Why?

The only reason was that they were probably unafraid of the consequences!

Why then were they unafraid? How could they be unafraid?

Could it be...