"Now, Eunuch, you shamelessly block my way to assassinate the emperor with your urine-smelling body, making me very displeased. This is a new grudge."
"Eunuch, do you remember me now?"
Feng Dehai, the Chief Eunuch, suddenly changed his expression. He pointed his little finger at Xu Qing and said harshly, "So it's you, you little bastard! I've been searching for you all these years, never expected you'd come to me yourself!"
"Still have the guts to laugh? Since you're here today, don't think about leaving!"
Xu Qing grinned, forming magical seals with his hands while saying, "You, with your spraying urine and fox smell, I don't want to fight you hand-to-hand. So, I'll just cast a spell to save you the effort."
With that, Xu Qing pulled a yellow talisman out of his sleeve, reciting Feng Dehai's birth date and time, along with his childhood name and the age he was castrated, all very clear.
Feng Dehai sensed something was wrong. He shook his whisk, stomped his foot, intending to interrupt the young man and take his life. But the next moment, he felt a chill throughout his body, as if he had instantly turned into a corpse.
At the same time, the yellow talisman in Xu Qing's hand burned out; the Life and Death Curse had taken effect!
"You!"
Feng Dehai's eyes widened and he fell to the ground with a thud.
For a master like him, to have been defeated by such a bizarre means without even making a move!
Xu Qing stepped forward, glancing at Feng Dehai, whose eyes remained open in death.
"Lucky you."
After casually performing a ritual for him, Xu Qing pulled out the long sword given by Zuo Zixiong and severed Feng Dehai's head.
The Jinmen people value customs; he came to see the Emperor, how could he come empty-handed?
...
Yangxin Hall, the warm pavilion in the rear.
Emperor Jingxing had sat on the dragon throne for fourteen winters and summers, already seventy, yet refused to step down.
In this scene, only those elderly with both talent and virtue were considered treasures.
Those without virtue and talent, yet cling to power and refuse to step down for the young, are morally problematic.
Emperor Jingxing obviously did not understand this.
"I have governed the country diligently, so much that my hair turned gray, yet why do people like you, these chaotic ministers and treacherous rebels, always come to harm me?"
The old emperor looked at the young man, holding a head in one hand and a sword in the other, standing in front of the hall, his tone heavy.
"Enough! Doesn't the hair of seventy-year-olds in your family turn white? If it weren't for that Taoist at Baiyun Temple extending your life, you, who leeches off the young and exploits the people, should've been dead long ago, who are you to still distort black and white here!"
"Insolent commoner, how can you understand my intentions!" Emperor Jingxing's face suddenly darkened, and he shouted fiercely: "The ruler governs the country and nurtures the people, while the people protect the country and repay the ruler. This is the ultimate principle of heaven and earth, how am I at fault?"
Xu Qing sneered, "People all over the land lack food and clothing, yet you talk about governing the country and nurturing the people? So, should the populace just suffer, should they be exploited by you?"
The old emperor remained indifferent: "Why don't the hungry eat meat, why don't they cover themselves with cotton quilts? It's not my fault they don't till the fields and raise livestock, making sheep and pigs fat!"
Emperor Jingxing had been in power so long that even with an assassin's blade at his head, he still thought of himself as the true dragon emperor, speaking as if it were only natural.
Xu Qing gritted his teeth upon hearing this, almost unable to resist cleaving the man mercilessly on several occasions.
"Ha! You're blaming others now, as if when you murdered your siblings, it was because their skin was too thin to withstand being killed?"
Xu Qing had no interest in arguing with the tyrant further, he tossed the head of the chief eunuch, once sent on imperial orders to seek immortals' medicine, onto the imperial desk.
"Don't talk to me about this and that. I'm not interested in your empire! I'm here today to settle our personal vendetta. Your grievances with your siblings and the people, you take them to the Underworld and sort them out yourself!"
Emperor Jingxing ignored Xu Qing's mockery, frowning, "A personal vendetta? You are but a commoner, you don't even have the qualification to see me ordinarily, what grudge could you have?"
Xu Qing, seeing Emperor Jingxing's lofty demeanor, narrowed his eyes, and immediately raised his bloodstained Treasure Sword.
"Wait! Tell me what grievance you have, if I am truly in the wrong, I'll apologize to you. Even if you seek an official position through this, it's not impossible for me to grant it..."
Apologize? Xu Qing decisively swung the longsword, slicing Emperor Jingxing's crown and scalp onto the floor in the next moment!
Emperor Jingxing cried out in pain, raising his hand to call out:
"I am the emperor; how dare you treat me like this? This is a crime that will bring destruction upon your entire clan!"
"Destruction of my entire clan?" Xu Qing chuckled, "See this Chief Eunuch? The last one to say that is right here in front of your eyes now!"
As he spoke, Xu Qing used the sword to pick up the head of Feng Dehai, whose eyes still stared into space, and threw it into Emperor Jingxing's arms.
The old emperor, collapsing to the ground, reflexively caught it, and upon seeing the bloody object in his arms, was nearly scared to death.
Oh dear mother! This really is a killer!
The old emperor, as if a giant snake landed on him, quickly tossed the head of the Chief Eunuch away, then crawled to Xu Qing, nose full of tears, pleading: "I am old, I only wish for a peaceful end; else I'll let you govern behind the curtain, this kingdom shall be yours; I'll just be a puppet. If you want the land, once I depart, without deploying a single soldier, it will all be yours! My three palaces and six courtyards, everything of mine could be yours!"
Xu Qing sneered, "You old thing, how are you different from Feng Dehai? What use is a harem to you? Don't trouble me with all this nonsense, I'm here to settle scores!"
Xu Qing kicked Emperor Jingxing over, and in the next moment, a dagger slipped crisply from the old emperor's wide sleeve.