[Imperial Palace · Hall of Supreme Harmony · Dawn]
Prince Huai's private soldiers were in full retreat.
Though Yin Wuwang's three hundred personal guards were fewer in number, each was a battle-hardened veteran, worth ten ordinary soldiers. They had fought beside Yin Wuwang through countless campaigns, knew his tactics like their own heartbeats, and would die before they let an enemy through.
Xie Qingyan's three thousand shadow guards had surged in from outside the hall, scattering Prince Huai's forces like leaves in a storm. These were the Regent's elite—men trained in the shadows, loyal unto death, striking with precision and vanishing like ghosts.
Between these two forces, Prince Huai's hastily assembled soldiers didn't stand a chance.
"Kill! Kill your way out!" Prince Huai screamed hoarsely. "As long as we break through to the outside, there are still five thousand men beyond the city—"
"Your Highness." Xie Qingyan's voice drifted over, cool and unhurried. "I'm afraid your five thousand men won't be coming."
Prince Huai's expression shifted: "What do you mean?"
"I mean—" Xie Qingyan walked closer, step by measured step, "three days ago, this prince sent people outside the city. Your Highness's five thousand soldiers in ambush should already be disarmed by now."
"Impossible!" Prince Huai shouted. "You were already dead then! How could you possibly—"
"Which is precisely why," Xie Qingyan smiled slightly, "Your Highness was too hasty."
Prince Huai's face turned completely ashen.
"You... you deceived me..."
"This prince simply didn't tell you the truth." Xie Qingyan said mildly. "Your Highness jumped into the pit yourself. Who else is there to blame?"
The sounds of battle gradually died down.
Prince Huai's private soldiers—those who weren't dead had surrendered. The remaining men, seeing that all was lost, threw down their weapons and dropped to their knees, begging for mercy.
"Spare us! Spare us!"
"We were only following orders!"
"Prince Huai forced us!"
Prince Huai watched this scene, his eyes filled with despair.
It's over.
It's all over.
Ten years of careful scheming and planning, destroyed in a single morning.
"Take Prince Huai into custody." Xie Qingyan's voice was cold, devoid of any emotion.
Several shadow guards stepped forward and pressed Prince Huai to the ground.
"Release me!" Prince Huai struggled. "I am a member of the imperial clan! You cannot treat me this way!"
"A member of the imperial clan?" Xie Qingyan looked down at him, his gaze icy. "A member of the imperial clan who plotted treason and usurpation—and you still have the face to mention your status?"
Prince Huai was struck speechless.
His gaze swept across the hall, finally landing on Yin Wuwang.
Yin Wuwang stood at Xie Qingyan's side, blood still dripping from the wound on his arm, staining half his sleeve crimson. Yet his expression was indifferent, as though the wound belonged to someone else entirely.
"Yin Lie!" Prince Huai suddenly screamed.
Yin Wuwang glanced at him.
"Have you gone mad?!" Prince Huai's voice was trembling. "He stripped you of your military tally! He humiliated you utterly! And yet you save him?!"
He pointed at the wound on Yin Wuwang's arm: "You took that blade for him! Did you think I didn't see?!"
The entire hall fell deathly silent.
Every eye turned to Yin Wuwang.
Yin Wuwang's face remained expressionless.
Little Deer Assistant 9527's voice sounded in his mind: "Suggestion: Deny it. Say it was to protect the Emperor, not the Regent."
Protect the Emperor? I was protecting Fuguang—what does the Emperor have to do with it? Yin Wuwang sneered internally. This broken system's excuses are pathetically flimsy.
He didn't deny it.
He simply looked at Prince Huai coldly, his voice as indifferent as if discussing something utterly trivial:
"I felt like it."
Three words. Just three words.
But they landed like thunder in the silent hall.
Prince Huai's pupils contracted sharply.
"You—"
"I felt like saving him." Yin Wuwang's tone held not a single ripple. "What's it to you?"
The hall was silent as death.
Every official, every guard, every servant—all of them stood frozen, unable to believe what they had just heard. The Duke of Zhenguo, infamous for his hatred of the Regent, had just admitted to taking a blade for him. And his only explanation was "I felt like it."
Prince Huai opened and closed his mouth, unable to speak for a long moment.
He wanted to say "you two are mortal enemies," wanted to say "this doesn't make sense," wanted to say "this isn't how the script goes"—but he couldn't say any of it.
Because Yin Wuwang's attitude was too matter-of-fact.
So matter-of-fact that it left no room for argument. As if saving the Regent—his supposed sworn enemy—was the most natural thing in the world. As if anyone who questioned it was the strange one.
No... this isn't right... Prince Huai's mind was in chaos. These two are clearly mortal enemies... everyone in the realm knows they're mortal enemies... how could...
Suddenly, something occurred to him, and his expression grew even uglier.
The currency reform. The black market investigation. The examination scandal. The military tally crisis...
Every single time, the Duke of Zhenguo and the Regent were "at each other's throats."
Every single time, they "argued until they were red in the face."
But every single time... the outcome benefited them both.
The currency reform—the Prime Minister's protégés fell, and they emerged unscathed.
The examination scandal—scholars rioted, but the investigation led back to the Prime Minister, and they came out with enhanced reputations.
The military tally crisis—I thought it was internal conflict, but... but it was all an act for my benefit?
From the very beginning... it was all a play?
I sat there like a fool, watching them "fight," thinking I had an opportunity...
Prince Huai's eyes filled with resentment and humiliation. I schemed for ten years, and these two played me from start to finish?
Every argument, every confrontation, every public spat—all of it was theater. And I was the only one in the audience who didn't know the script.
His fists clenched until the knuckles turned white. He wanted to scream, to rage, to tear something apart. But all he could do was kneel there on the cold marble floor, surrounded by enemies, and accept that he had lost.
Not just lost—he had been utterly, completely, devastatingly outplayed.
And the worst part? He still didn't fully understand how.
________________________________________
Xie Qingyan heard Yin Wuwang's "I felt like it," and the corner of his mouth curved slightly.
I felt like it... He thought to himself. When this person says things like that, could he at least change his expression? Saying "I felt like it" with that frozen face—who would believe him?
And yet... something warm stirred in his chest. An unfamiliar sensation, like sunlight breaking through clouds.
He took a blade for me. And his only explanation is "I felt like it."
As if my life was something he would naturally protect. As if there was no need for justification.
Yin Wuwang... what exactly are you?
But he said nothing.
He only glanced at Yin Wuwang, his gaze lingering for a moment on that still-bleeding wound. The crimson had spread across the entire sleeve now, dripping onto the pristine marble floor. Each drop was a testament to what Yin Wuwang had done.
Not a light injury. He frowned inwardly. I'll need to have someone treat that later. Immediately, in fact. Before this fool bleeds out while pretending nothing is wrong.
Yin Wuwang noticed Xie Qingyan's gaze, and his heart skipped.
Fuguang is looking at me? What is he looking at? The wound? Or...
Their gazes met in the air.
Xie Qingyan withdrew his gaze and turned toward Prince Huai.
But Yin Wuwang's heart was still racing.
Did Fuguang just... smile a little?
What was he smiling at? Smiling at my "I felt like it"? Or smiling at my foolishness?
Damn it, did I say something wrong?!
Prime Minister Zhou Yanling was brought forward by the shadow guards.
His face was ashen, his lips trembling, all his former composure gone. The man who had once commanded the respect of the entire court, who had believed himself the puppet master pulling strings from the shadows, now looked like nothing more than a frightened old man.
How the mighty had fallen.
"Regent..." He said shakily. "This old minister... this old minister was coerced by Prince Huai..."
"Coerced?" Xie Qingyan looked at him, his gaze icy. "Prime Minister Zhou has cultivated his network in the court for thirty years. Your protégés and former subordinates are everywhere. Who could possibly coerce you?"
Zhou Yanling couldn't respond.
"The Prime Minister wasn't coerced." Xie Qingyan said mildly. "The Prime Minister simply wanted to play both sides, hedging his bets, hoping to sit safely above the fray."
"Unfortunately." His voice grew even colder. "The Prime Minister bet wrong."
Zhou Yanling's expression crumbled completely.
He knew it was over.
Everything was over.
Thirty years of scheming, destroyed in a single morning.
He remembered how ambitious he had been in his youth, climbing step by step to the position of Prime Minister, believing he could control the court.
And what was the result?
He had been toyed with by a thirty-five-year-old Regent.
"Regent..." He tried to struggle. "This old minister has always been loyal to the late Emperor... to His Majesty..."
"Loyal?" Xie Qingyan cut him off. "The silver the Prime Minister embezzled from the Ministry of Revenue, the official positions sold during the examinations, the old currency traded on the black market—does the Prime Minister want this prince to list them all?"
Zhou Yanling's entire body trembled. He couldn't say another word.
All those years of careful scheming. All those bribes and alliances and betrayals. All of it, laid bare in a few sentences by a man half his age.
This is how it ends, he thought numbly. Not with a bang, but with a whimper.
Little Deer Assistant 9527's voice sounded again: "Suggestion: Kill them all. Leave no survivors. Eliminate the roots."
Yin Wuwang mentally rolled his eyes. Kill them all? What about the chain of evidence? What about the subsequent trials? Has this broken system never read a single law book?
Killing is easy. Cleaning up afterward is hard. These people must be dealt with according to the law, or the whole realm will be talking.
He ignored Little Deer.
He simply stood in place, watching Xie Qingyan press forward step by step, exposing every crime of Prince Huai and the Prime Minister.
This person, Fuguang... Yin Wuwang marveled inwardly. His command of imperial statecraft is as masterful as ever.
No—even more masterful than before.
In the cultivation world, Fuguang had been the Sword Deity—peerless in combat, untouchable in power. But here, in this mortal realm, stripped of his cultivation, he had become something equally formidable: a political genius who could dismantle his enemies with words alone.
So beautiful. So terrifyingly competent. So utterly captivating.
He watched the sunlight streaming through the hall doors, falling on Xie Qingyan's purple-gold python robe, outlining that cold, elegant silhouette. The morning light seemed to worship him, gathering around him like a halo.
Three thousand years, Yin Wuwang thought. I've watched him for three thousand years, and he still takes my breath away.
It makes one want to keep watching forever...
To stand beside him forever...
To protect him forever...
Xie Qingyan seemed to sense something and turned his head.
Their gazes met once more.
Yin Wuwang quickly looked away.
Damn it. Caught again.
Why do I keep staring at him? This habit has lasted for years—why can't I break it?
Xie Qingyan said nothing. He only glanced at Yin Wuwang, then turned back to continue interrogating Prince Huai.
But the corner of his mouth seemed to curve slightly again.
I felt like it, he thought, and for some reason, the words echoed in his mind. What a ridiculous answer. What an utterly ridiculous person.
And yet...
And yet I can't seem to stop thinking about it.
Yin Wuwang saw that hint of a smile, and his heart skipped a beat.
What exactly is Fuguang smiling at?
Forget it. Whatever he's smiling at... being able to see him smile is enough.
He looked down at his still-bleeding arm, and the corner of his own mouth curved slightly.
Three thousand years. For three thousand years, he had waited to stand beside Fuguang as an ally instead of an enemy. To protect instead of attack. To shield instead of strike.
And now, he had finally done it. He had taken a blade for Fuguang. He had proven, in the clearest possible way, that he would put Fuguang's life before his own.
Worth it.
A thousand wounds would be worth it, if it meant keeping Fuguang safe.
And if Fuguang smiled at me like that again... I'd gladly take a thousand more.
[End of Chapter 34]
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The young Emperor must pass judgment. Prince Huai awaits his fate. And for the first time, the seven-year-old boy on the dragon throne speaks with the authority of a true ruler.
Chapter 35: The Young Emperor Finally Acts Like an Emperor