522 The School of Kismet State (1/2)
His Majesty sucked in a deep breath and said grimly, ”Quickly, try to find a fragment of the record among the books. I thought this episode was triggered by the Four Seasons Tower and the ultimate goal was to force the survivor of the Nine Supremes out to attack him, but… it looks like my judgment was unsound. The target this time may not be the Nine Supremes at all, but Yutang itself!”
Marquis Yun was a smart man; he could connect the dots immediately. With this shared realization, both of them sped up the process of finding the historical record.
”That Yun Yang… are you sure he's not Supreme Cloud?!” The emperor asked again out of the blue.
The Emperor of Yutang was not at all assured about this subject. The topic had passed, but he still wished to revisit it.
”I'm sure he is not. He truly isn't.” Marquis Yun said seriously, ”This time, I guarantee it with our father's name. I have inspected the matter and will confirm again that he really isn't Supreme Cloud!”
His Majesty was disappointed, saying, ”If so, then things will be even more complicated… It wasn't easy to come up with a probable suspect…”
The topic halted there.
”When Supreme Cloud brings my grandson over, the child will be placed under your care first.” His Majesty said righteously, ”My initial plan was to place him at Old Marshal Qiu's, but now that Old Qiu is in a coma and we don't know when he'll regain consciousness. The initial plan isn't feasible. So, he'll be left with you first. Your residence is safe and secure enough anyway, especially suitable for a child to build up his foundation.”
Marquis Yun's mouth was agape. He then said, ”I am agreeable to let him stay with me, but… how will you announce his identity to the outside world?”
His Majesty looked at him oddly and replied, ”Why, as the eldest grandson of the imperial family! The son of the eldest prince, the bloodline of the direct royal descendant. Could this enormous fact be concealed for long?”
Marquis Yun immediately jumped up in anger as he cried out in anguish, ”Yu Peize, how wicked you are! You're not placing a child with me, you're placing a volcano that can erupt at any moment! I'm not opposed to the idea that you want him to formally return to the family, but why put him with me after letting him take the family name? Won't those few sons of yours take my residence as their battlefield?”
”That is exactly the result I wish to see.” His Majesty's gaze was cold.
Marquis Yun was baffled by his magnificent rage. ”Was it also father's idea before his death that I would be manipulated like this?”
The emperor looked at him meaningfully and said, ”You say it like you can do away with the blood in your body…”
Marquis Yun finally flew off the handle, so anguished that he wanted to die. ”I'm the younger one, I should be taken care of! Why am I always cleaning up after you? How can there be such a theory in this world? Is this what you meant when you said the elder brother is like a father?”
The emperor straightened up and replied him earnestly, ”Yes, this is what I am doing. You are the younger brother; shouldn't you be as filial to your elder brother as you are to your father? This is the nature of family relations!”
Marquis Yun's eyes bulged in incredulity; he had nothing more to say. ”Big brother… so an elder brother is like a father, and this is how the nature of family relations can be explained?”
His Majesty chortled before becoming serious once again and said, ”Xiaoyao, this matter relates to the heritage of our bloodlines and the empire. It even concerns… generations of Yu Family's wish… Brother, you must help me…”
”I'm worried if the child were to be placed anywhere else… I will only be reassured if he were to stay with you. You have so many experts in your residence, it's safe and sound. Like you said, no one in the whole of Yutang can stop you from doing anything you wished…” His Majesty sighed.
”Other than at your residence, there is no safer place in the whole of Yutang. Even if I receive the child into the palace and place him by my side, I wouldn't be at ease. If that were the case, the child might just meet an untimely end within three days. Will you be able to live with that? That child is my biological grandson, your grandnephew…”
Marquis Yun quieted down.
He had to admit that the emperor was speaking the truth, a truth that he had to acknowledge himself. Even if he was the emperor who triumphed over the world and held the power to decide one's life and death, he could not protect the child, even when they were in his palace!
Both the brothers fell into a worried silence.
In the room filled with stillness, both of them could feel the beginnings of a bloody strife. As for the inevitable bloodbath, at least an eighth of the blood that would flow… would be from the aristocrats themselves.
…
”Found it… let's see if it's this one.”
Marquis Yun grabbed a torn mystical leather book. Just by the looks of it, it must have been something that existed for many untold years.
The emperor popped his head over and took a good look at it.
”The School of Kismet State!”
”Legend has it that there was a mysterious school in the Tianxuan Continent. The school predominates the rise and fall of the world. At the turn of every millennium, its successor will emerge and roam the martial world. After hundreds of thousands of years of experience, a map of kismet state will be produced. It would bless the world and give its people peace and happiness. Tianxuan will be united and prosper.”