Volume 12 Chapter 52: Emperor Assassination

While Lin Xi was stunned over that streak of white light released from Brother Ming's body, under Central Continent City's midsummer radiance, a large yellow cicada landed on a parasol tree.

After sucking out its favorite parasol tree syrup, this big yellow cicada began to excitedly sing at the top of its voice, completely oblivious to the fact that even though this parasol tree was only a thousand meters of distance from its place of birth, this parasol tree's surroundings was exceptionally quiet, its high-pitched noise the only sound here.

A yellow bamboo pole suddenly passed through the leaves, stabbing through this large yellow cicada with great precision. This large yellow cicada frantically tried to fly away, but it was tightly bound by the spider webs on the bamboo pole, unable to struggle free at all.

A maid below the tree reached out her hands, gently retrieving the bamboo pole, removing the large yellow cicada, and then throwing it into the water bucket at her side.

Yunqin Imperial Palace under True Dragon Mountain was extremely large, but with these maids taking down all of these cicadas, the entire Imperial Palace didn't have much cicada noises.

Without the cicada noises, the esteemed people in the palace wouldn't feel as annoyed, but it also made the entire Imperial Palace seem even colder, even more lacking in liveliness.

Imperial concubine Yun Fei was currently drawing in the Fragrance Palace.

The Fragrance Palace was the most cozy palace in the entire Yunqin Imperial Palace. There was a lotus lake in front and behind this palace, and most of the buildings were made with agarwood. A stream that originated from True Dragon Mountain pushed two water wheels, scattering the water above several pavilions, and then flowing down along their roofs' grooves. Even during a hot summer day, it was extremely cool and refreshing, the smell fragrant, rarely did mosquitoes appear.

Yun Fei's appearance wasn't all that special, unable to compare to the imperial princess' beautiful character, even more so unlike Qin Xiyue's[1] beauty that was just right, a bit more would be too strong, a bit less too weak, but she had a type of peaceful nature. As such, this made her appearance worth continuing looking at the longer one looked at her, and the longer one looked at her, the more one would feel relaxed.

Zither, chess, studying, drawing, she wasn't good at a single one of these. However, she loved reading books, full of knowledge about various literature, which made it so that she could discuss various subjects with scholars.

Moreover, she had something that most men needed the most; she was good at understanding others.

When others needed her words, she would speak. When she needed to remain quiet, she would just quietly steep tea.

If you needed her to be happy, she would be happy together with you, she definitely wouldn't be dispirited.

If you are interested in discussing a certain matter, you will discover that she understands this matter quite well, and it will make you want to discuss this matter more.

That was why even before she gave birth to the crown prince, Yun Fei was already the imperial concubine Yunqin's emperor was most fond of.

...

The dragon robed Yunqin Emperor's figure appeared in this courtyard. After casually making a gesture towards the palace maids, stopping them from reporting his arrival, Yunqin's emperor quietly made his way through the white corridor bridge, entering the pavilion Yun Fei was in.

While breathing the fragrant air of this pavilion, looking at that woman who was currently drawing while facing the lake surface, looking at the lotus flowers on the lake, Yunqin Emperor's overcast expression eased a bit, the space between his brows also becoming a bit gentler.

Towards outsiders, the emperor was the son of heaven, but in the end, he was naturally only human.

This was especially when he served as the Emperor of this world's most massive and most powerful empire. However, compared to some dynasties of this world in the past, and even some empires, he was simultaneously a pitiful emperor.

From the moment he sat on the dragon throne, all of his decisions and intentions were forcefully suppressed by nine elders, making him feel as if even breathing in this Imperial City wasn't free.

While serving as an emperor, he was also a father. Changsun Wujiang was someone he watched grow up, and some of Changsun Wujiang's nature and qualities were things he was extremely fond of. While pouring out fatherly love towards Changsun Wujiang, he also hoped that Changsun Wujiang could become an extremely important helping hand for him in the future, helping him shatter the current situation.

However, for him, this world's most important person, his son that he doted on the most, instead died in Jadefall City.

He naturally had to shoulder a portion of the responsibility for Changsun Wujiang's death, because he indeed carried thoughts of using Wenren Cangyue to shave off some of Green Luan Academy's strength, wishing to let Green Luan Academy face Wenren Cangyue as much as possible. However, Green Luan Academy also understood his bottom line clearly... his bottom line was that Changsun Wujiang remained safe and sound. Regardless of how Green Luan Academy and he fought, Green Luan Academy should have respected this bottom line of his.

However, Changsun Wujiang died.

He was also a person, yet at the same time this world's most powerful emperor. That was why many court counselors believed that he lost his rationality under his violent rage, but for him, able to even retain a bit of rationality was already not easy. For him, the death of Changsun Wujiang only made him completely set the resolution to do some things.

Why couldn't he do these things?

As Yunqin's emperor, regardless of what he did, he was the one with the greatest authority, so he had a high chance of succeeding at the things he set out to do.

The greater one's authority, the greater one's desires would become. When some emotions don't obtain a path to flow out from, it makes it easier for one's mood to lose control, the easier it is for one's nature to become ruthless.

Every single time a morning imperial court session was held, when he looked at those densely packed subjects, at those loathful expressions, an ordinary bigwig might at most produce thoughts of dealing with some people, but as an emperor, many times, he would produce the ruthless thoughts of just completely killing all of these people.

Yunqin's emperor understood extremely clearly that after anyone sat on the dragon throne, they might produce this type of urge from time to time.

In a situation where he naturally couldn't truly carry this out, all he could do was to control his own mood as much as possible, prevent himself from completely going crazy.

Being able to think about needing to control himself, for an emperor like him, was already not easy at all.

He always felt like the aura Yun Fei gave off, the presence of this type of place, could dilute a bit of his gloominess and irrational urges.

This was especially after Jiang Family's events happened, the amount of times he came to Yun Fei became more and more frequent. I was to the extent where his mental state became more and more reliant on this woman who was good at understanding others.

...

When she heard the footsteps coming from behind her, the peacefully drawing woman turned around. When she saw that it was the emperor who came, she wasn't shocked either, revealing a smile. She lowered her brush, and only then did she show a bow of respect. When she saw the bit of gloominess between the emperor's brows that still hadn't disappeared, she didn't feel too much misgivings either. As if they were just chatting like normal, she said with a soft voice, "Many days have already passed since those events, but they are still annoying your majesty so?"

"Annoying things will only increase, not decrease." Yunqin Emperor released a cold laugh. He waved his hand, having Yun Fei sit down. He himself also sat down at her side, a bit angry as he said, "Even now, there are still officials who are being assassinated. I need to fill in the holes, but I still have to worry about the people who are filling these positions, making sure they aren't from Jiang Family or other people who wish to act unfavorably against me."

Yun Fei looked at him gently and said, "All of Yunqin is your majesty's. Even if this type of thing has happened, it is only some domestic affairs. After stirring about, in the end, this entire Yunqin is still your majesty's. If your majesty looks at things a bit more patiently, in a bit more of a relaxed manner, then there won't be a need for such vexed feelings. Matters that can be dealt with aren't really big matters."

"Only, there are some people who I fear do not believe Yunqin belongs to me." Yunqin Emperor released a heavy cold snort, but the expression on his face already became much better.

Yun Fei revealed a smile. "Then your majesty doesn't need to bicker with those foolish people, your majesty just needs to slowly do what must be done."

Yunqin Emperor looked at her peaceful and warm smile, looked at her belly that was bulging, inwardly suddenly becoming much softer. The cold corners of his eyes also began to carry a bit of a smile.

He grasped her hands in a somewhat absent-minded manner, bathing in the cool and refreshing winds.

Yun Fei didn't speak again. She knew that this was when Yunqin Emperor would calmly think through some important things, that the best thing to do right now that would earn Yunqin Emperor's satisfaction was to remain silent, remain quiet and smiling as she waited for Yunqin Emperor's attention to return to her body. Only, unlike normally, this time, when she looked at this arrogant and powerful emperor, she instead also felt like this emperor was extremely pitiful.

It was because his final bit of reliance, would also be ruthlessly shattered today.

Emperors, because of their status and position being high up above, were people forced to walk down a solitary path. Meanwhile, this emperor really would be more solitary than any other emperors.

One generation of paranoid and hypocritical, one generation wise and magnanimous, could this be the characteristics of the Changsun Clan? Only, it was a pity that the wise and magnanimous Changsun Wujiang died, this emperor who was full of paranoia and fakeness, lacking any true people or friends he could trust in these years, after today, in this Imperial Palace, he might only have loneliness and ruthlessness left to accompany him, right?

Yun Fei smiled calmly, full of cold ridicule as she welcomed the most important moment of her and many people's lives.

...

The curtains moved slightly. A palace maid brought in a bowl of chilled sweet olive lily soup into Yun Fei's hands.

Just like before, Yun Fei handed it to Yunqin Emperor who was still pondering over some issues.

Yunqin Emperor subconsciously brought the chilled sweet olive lily soup to his lips, taking a sip.

The sweet olive was extremely fragrant, the lily soft and exquisite, just that the syrup was a bit sweet and viscous... moreover a bit overly so.

Yunqin Emperor suddenly raised his head.

In his perception, this excessive sweetness and viscousness in his lips already instantly became a vicious beast that engulfed his body's life force!

Pu!

A mouthful of sweet soup that he still hadn't swallowed sprayed out from his mouth. The instant it sprayed out from his mouth, this blast of sweet soup became a streak of golden lightning, directly striking that thirty-something year old delicate and pretty palace maid!

Even here, any meals that were brought here would already undergo taste tests. The only one who could have done anything was precisely the maid who last came into contact with it.

The delicate and pretty maid's figure flew out.

When Yunqin Emperor suddenly raised his head, the tray in her hands already flew towards Yunqin Emperor. A wave of boundless power already quickly pushed her body backwards.

The golden electricity that carried thunder rumbling noises couldn't make contact with her body at all. It missed, exploding in midair like several golden pillars, suddenly forking out into many branches.

The delicate and pretty palace maid's body released the aura of a great master. Her figure directly smashed through the wall behind her. Before she landed, she already pulled out the hairpin binding her hair together, gently throwing it towards an imperial bodyguard below.

This inner court bodyguard dressed in silver clothes suddenly felt as if he was rammed into by a carriage. A blast of bloody mist erupted in front of his chest, his entire body flying outwards in reverse, falling fiercely towards the lake behind him.

In a breath of time, Yunqin Emperor's expression became pitch-black like ink.

Wisps of golden lightning began to pour out from beneath his skin, making his entire body look even more strange and malevolent.

However, when facing the quickly fleeing delicate and pretty maid, he instead didn't pursue her.

It was because after all, this was the inner court, inside Yunqin Imperial Palace. Even if she was someone with strength at the peak of State Master level, there was no way she could escape.

When this emperor whose expression was vicious to the extreme, black aura starting to fade stood in front of the large hole where this delicate and pretty palace maid smashed out of, a streak of golden arrow radiance descended from who knew where in Yunqin Imperial Palace, fiercely descending towards that delicate and pretty palace maid who turned into a streak of afterimages.

The delicate and pretty palace maid's sleeves rolled out, sweeping through this streak of golden arrow radiance.

A great explosion noise sounded. The delicate and pretty maid's sleeves were blasted to pieces, her figure stopping for a moment, landing on the ground.

Several different figures rushed into the lotus lake and this corridor bridge extremely quickly, starting to face this delicate and pretty palace maid in a manner ordinary people couldn't make out at all.

That delicate and pretty palace maid's figure began to continuously back up.

When she was forced to the point where she was less than sixty steps from the pavilion where the emperor was, her figure already had six injuries.

Her figure rushed out, wishing to enter the lake beside her.

However, right at this time, a hand landed against the side of her abdomen. When it struck towards her, it was a palm, but the instant it made contact, it turned into a fist, continually exerting force. With a boom noise, this delicate and pretty palace maid's body flew out. It didn't enter the lakewater, but was instead directly pushed out fifty or something steps, landing beneath the pavilion, right in front of the emperor.

The people who surrounded the delicate and pretty palace maid were either dressed in palace maid uniforms, inner court purple official robes, or in silver armor.

The instant the delicate and pretty palace maid fell, these cultivators who knew that this delicate and pretty palace maid definitely didn't have any strength to stand back up all bowed, preparing to apologize humbly. However, right at this time, the instant one of the silver-armored young high ranking officers saw Yun Fei behind Yunqin Emperor, his entire figure instead instantly went rigid.

1. Green Luan Academy student Zhang Ping is in love with.