Chapter 266: Killing The Emperor! (1/2)
Chapter 266: Killing The Emperor!
Translator: NinetalesEditor: DarkGem
As they got closer and closer to the capital city, the scouts on the way also gradually increased in number. Even though there was a natural disaster outside, the places closer to the capital were still celebrating peace with songs and dance. Numerous trees were tied with red silk and there were many envoys from numerous countries hurrying to the capital.
The ascension of a new emperor was naturally no small matter. It was especially so when the new emperor had shown himself to be different from the previous ruler before he even ascended the throne. He was kind to foreign countries and was willing to form alliances with them.
During the previous dynasty, Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor liked to mobilize his army to swallow surrounding countries. He would press the other big countries against the ground to beat them and seize their territories. Either that or he would force the other side to submit to him and offer tribute; he was truly rampant.
Before Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor had mobilized his army to enter Great Ruins, that was when Eternal Peace Empire had been at its strongest. It could battle against five big countries at the same time, but after Imperial Preceptor got injured by assassins, the momentum of Eternal Peace Empire expansion started to slow down.
The new emperor, however, was cultured and refined, very polite and treated all sects of Eternal Peace kindly. He was also courteous to the envoys of the foreign countries. Not only did he return the lands that the fiendish Imperial Preceptor had conquered back to their respective owners, but even promised to pay reparations and was willing to repair the relations with those countries.
The rule of foreign countries having to submit to Eternal Peace was also abolished by the new emperor, so they were all very happy and praised him endlessly. They said that the new emperor Ling Yuxia was a wise ruler that was rare to see in the past one thousand and five hundred years.
Other than that, the new emperor that had yet to ascend the throne invited members of various sects to attend the ascension ceremony. There were rumors saying that the new emperor planned to write down a decree of his crimes and would take on the wrath of Heaven for the past years of reform. He would seek forgiveness from Heaven and pray it would punish him and let off the people of Eternal Peace Empire.
”This move is the most ruthless.” Qin Mu was exclaiming endlessly in admiration. He told Imperial Preceptor and the emperor, ”You guys tried to painstakingly reform for two hundred years in order to change the profane notions, to push paths, skills, and divine arts to develop. You guys brought upon yourselves countless black names and spent endless blood and sweat. In your days, many people bled for the cause and finally formed Eternal Peace Empire to what it is today. Yet the new emperor pleading guilty will just wipe away all those two hundred years of your hard work, those two hundred years of soldiers sacrificing their lives again and again. This move is ruthless, truly ruthless!”
Emperor Yanfeng gave a dull grunt and a tearing pain seared his chest. He wanted to cry, but there were no tears as he said astringently, ”Yuxia, my good son, consider this a knife stabbed in my heart…”
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor remained expressionless when he said, ”After entering the capital, I can contact our old troops. Most of the ministers of the imperial court will also support Your Majesty. With the Dragon Guards Forbidden Army hidden in the nine dragon veins, we can attack the capital city anytime! The only problem is that Great Thunderclap Monastery and Dao Sect had left so many monks and Daoists in the houses of kings, dukes, and ministers to supervise them under the cover of begging. Cult Master Qin, I will have to use the power of Heavenly Devil Cult to send us into the city to meet them.”
Qin Mu shook his head and said, ”There's no need for so much trouble.”
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor was slightly stunned.
”The forces of Great Thunderclap Monastery and Dao Sect are too spread apart. They want to control the entire situation, but this leaves flaws everywhere.”
Qin Mu stopped. They were currently in Marquis Town, just a few hundred miles away from the capital and in front of a fried pancake stall. Qin Mu went to buy breakfast while he said, ”It's like this fried pancake, once it's too spread out, it will collapse at the first blow. The bigger their pancake is, the thinner it will get. When the crown prince ascends to the throne, there won't be enough power to guard him. The monks and Daoists that were left in the houses of kings, dukes, and ministers will then be controlled by those kings, dukes and minister instead. Those people won't be able to go to the Imperial City to provide support.”
The fried pancake was done, and the stall owner used oil paper to roll it up. Qin Mu took it from him and gave it to Imperial Preceptor's wife first.
She took a bite and looked around with bright eyes. She asked in a low voice, ”Aren't you afraid that walls have ears? There were quite a lot of scouts of the crown prince on the way here!”
”I'm not.” Qin Mu smiled lightly.
Suddenly, the passers-by, merchants, vegetable sellers and buyers, butchers, and hawkers in the market all quietened down and turned their heads over in unison. Their gazes all landed on the group.
”Cult master!” those people said in unison.
Qin Mu waved his hand and smiled. ”Continue doing what you were doing, don't disturb us.”
Imperial Preceptor's wife jumped in shock and Emperor Yanfeng sighed. ”Strict enforcement of rules and prohibitions leads to the rise of a king. Cult Master Qin, you have scared me, your Heavenly Saint Cult has scared me.”
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor said, ”Strict enforcement of rules and prohibitions, to move as one, this is the scene of the rise of a king, an emperor. Your Majesty should really worry. However, ever since Heavenly Saint Cult was founded twenty thousand years ago, there had never been a cult master who referred to themselves as an emperor. Your Majesty can be at ease.”
Emperor Yanfeng said angrily, ”You are all part of Heavenly Saint Cult, even you husband and wife are also part of Heavenly Saint Cult, a heavenly king and an incense master. Only I'm the outsider here; don't try to mislead me!”
Qin Mu immediately asked, ”Does Your Majesty want to join our cult?”
…
”How do we enter the capital?”
When they came close to the city, Emperor Yanfeng looked at the city gates and saw that they were heavily guarded. There were thorough inspections, so it was going to be as difficult as to climb up to the sky for them to get in. Today was the ascension of the crown prince, the day he would become the new emperor. Today, the new emperor would seek punishment from Heaven at the Temple of Heaven. All the envoys, cult masters, sect masters, heads of influential families, as well as civil and military officials would have to go forward to attend the ceremony, so there was a tight security.
Qin Mu shook his head and said, ”No problem, let's just go in directly.”
Emperor Yanfeng was slightly stunned. Qin Mu brought them to the city gates, and the soldiers there treated them like air and let them walk into the city.
”They are also part of Heavenly Saint Cult?” Imperial Preceptor's wife was slightly stunned and said to Qin Mu in a low voice, ”The emperor is around, so don't be too flamboyant; otherwise, you will cause His Majesty to be suspicious and jealous. The emperor wants to create a country that's above the sects and not a sect that's above the countries, be cautious Cult Master.”
Qin Mu looked at Emperor Yanfeng, and he was indeed looking worried. This was very normal. If all the imperial guards guarding the city gates of the capital were people of Heavenly Devil Cult, how could he be at ease?
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor said, ”Now that we have entered the city, what should we do?”
Qin Mu took out two medicinal pills and handed them to Emperor Yanfeng and Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor respectively. He said, ”We'll go to Imperial City and the Temple of Heaven to see the ascension of the crown prince.”
In the Imperial City's throne room, a greeting could be heard.
”Long live Your Majesty!
Eternal Peace Crown Prince Ling Yuxia sat on the Dragon Throne while donning the dragon robe. On one side of him stood a monk while on his other side, there was a Daoist. Below him were the civil and military officials that were paying their respects to the new emperor, which created a powerful and dynamic scene. There was an extremely huge number of civil and military officials, so the entire imperial hall was filled with officials kneeling down. There were also others who were kneeling outside the hall, and some even at the steps.
In the hall, envoys from dozens of countries carried military banners from their countries to attend the ceremony. Near them, there were sect masters and cult masters from dozens of sects.
The ceremonial rites for the ascension of a new emperor were rather complicated, so when the ceremony ended, it was already close to the afternoon.
The sun of spring wasn't warm as Ling Yuxia walked in the front and led the civil and military officials out of the hall. The ceremonial weapon carriers followed him closely, and most of the people in the ceremonial weaponry were monks and Daoists who chanted buddhist and Daoist scriptures with resonating voices. Behind them was the crown prince's concubine leading a crowd of palace maids with the envoys following behind them. All the heads of the influential families and sects also followed them to Temple of Heaven, the scale of the crowd becoming greater and greater.
Behind Ling Yuxia were his Grand Protector, Grand Preceptor, and the rest of the first ranking high officials. They were the retainers of the imperial family, the arms of the crown prince, and had extremely high positions. Now that the emperor had 'died', Ling Yuxia naturally became the one to assume the throne. Since he knew that his foundation in the imperial court was still not stable, he had invited numerous monks and Daoists from Great Thunderclap Monastery and Dao Sect, making them officials while demoting those that weren't willing to heed his words.
Almost half of the civil and military officials of the imperial court were monks and Daoists, so the sight was rather peculiar as they chanted scriptures while heading to Temple of Heaven.
As for Duke Wei, King of Mount Tai, Pillars of State, General of Heavenly Strategies, and the rest, Ling Yuxia had permitted them to retire because of their 'old age'. They would be staying in the capital city for the moment and return to their hometowns after the ceremony.
In the imperial court, almost half of the officials had to return home due to old age even though some of them were still very young. It was quite a strange incident.
Ling Yuxia didn't feel certain about these officials that were told to retire, so he didn't dare to let them out of the capital in fear of them rebelling. Because of that, they were all held captive in their respective manors, with monks and Daoists guarding them. Meanwhile, King of Mount Tai, General of Heavenly Strategies. and the rest were locked up in the prison.
They reached Temple of Heaven and the officials flooded out. The monks and Daoists stood on the left and right sides of the steps respectively, while Ling Yuxia dragged his dragon robe and climbed up the steps by himself, acting reverent and respectful. Meanwhile, his concubine and those alongside her knelt down at the bottom of the stairs.
The stairs were very long, with nine hundred and ninety-nine stone steps. When Ling Yuxia reached the top of the Temple of Heaven and wanted to kneel down respectfully, a solemn voice suddenly rang out. ”Buddha Rulai of Great Thunderclap Monastery has passed down his decree, may Your Majesty receive the decree.”
A monk walked out with a solemn expression, and the buddha rays behind him formed a wheel. In his hand was Rulai's decree.
Ling Yuxia immediately knelt down to receive the decree and said respectfully, ”This guilty subject will receive the decree of Revered One of the World.”