In the northernmost part of the North Land, Myriad Dao Academy and the Royal Heavenly Capital worked together to destroy Tu Feng’s plot, winning this round.
Tu Feng didn’t make any moves for a while. Taking advantage of this counterattack, many of Tu Feng’s spies were captured and escorted to the Royal Heavenly Capital for centralized interrogation.
Lin Xuanzhi and Yan Tianhen also took this opportunity to go back to the Royal Heavenly Capital to see the situation. The Purple Emperor’s Heavenly Capital was completely controlled by King Ye’s forces now. Nobody knew King Zhang’s thoughts on the matter — they didn’t know whether his lack of resistance to this was because he lost the decisive opportunity or whether he no longer wanted to compete with King Ye for power. Thus, he didn’t spend any further effort on the fight for the throne and easily acquiesced to King Ye’s rule.
When Yan Tianhen came to the palace, all the servants knelt on the ground and expressed their obedience as soon as they saw him. Soon, he saw Yan Zhonghua and You Ming next to the pool.
You Ming was clearly very excited when he saw Yan Tianhen. He rushed over and pinched and hugged him, and even rolled his eyes several times at Lin Xuanzhi in passing.
Lin Xuanzhi: “…”
You Ming said, “You actually remembered to come back. You really scared your dad to death.”
Yan Tianhen also said, “I was almost scared to death too. I thought I was going to be poisoned to death and would never see Daddy again.”
Father and son hugged together and complained to each other again.
Lin Xuanzhi asked Yan Zhonghua, “What’s the emperor’s current situation?”
Although the earlier news said that he was dying, it turned out that he was still barely hanging on. Yan Tianhen wondered what his current situation was now.
Yan Zhonghua shook his head. “He already died yesterday. Thousands of evil gu were found in his body. After his death, those gu still wanted to do evil and drill into other people’s bodies. I ordered them to be burned.”
Lin Xuanzhi lamented, “It’s really a pity.”
You Ming was finally willing to let go of the ravaged Yan Tianhen. He said disdainfully, “What’s so pitiful about that? This is the so-called dying underneath the peony flower. If the emperor didn’t take a fancy to Jing Shui and insist on bringing her into the palace, then Jing Shui wouldn’t necessarily have treated him like this.”
“Is there a story behind this?” Yan Tianhen seemed to have smelled gossip.
“When Jing Shui escaped, Yuqing didn’t leave with her. Only later did Yuqing tell me that the reason Madam Jing Shui hated the emperor so much was because she had already rejected the emperor’s request to bring her back to the Royal Heavenly Capital’s palace.”
You Ming couldn’t help sighing with emotion, “Madam Jing Shui already had a sweetheart at home. They even agreed on a wedding date and were just waiting to get married. However, the Emperor intervened. Not only did he take Madam Jing Shui away, but also slaughtered her fiance’s entire family. After Madam Jing Shui found out, I’m afraid she probably went crazy.”
Yan Tianhen’s scalp felt numb, and he thought that the emperor really was vicious and cruel. He also felt that the emperor overestimated himself too much, to actually dare to allow such a woman to sleep beside him. Madam Jing Shui was also a pitiful person.
She walked to the palace step by step. Although her pace was slow, it also seemed relaxed.
Yan Tianhen suddenly felt some unspeakable suffocation and discomfort when he saw Madam Jing Shui. However, he was also a little relieved.
Madam Jing Shui said, “I’m here to see my younger sister.”
Yan Tianhen said, “I’ve already sent someone to invite Princess Yuqing.”
Madam Jing Shui and Yan Tianhen quietly looked at each other. After a moment, she curled her lips into a smile. “I still hate your Yan family.”
Yan Tianhen felt very wronged. “Actually, I’m not a bad person. Although I’ve never done anything like robbing the rich to help the poor, I was never someone who bullied the weak and feared the strong. Many people like me very much.”
Madam Jing Shui was amused by Yan Tianhen’s words. “Yeah, Ah Qing likes you very much.
Yan Tianhen: “…”
A beauty’s favor is the hardest to accept ah.
Yan Tianhen smiled awkwardly, “It shows that she has a good eye. Unfortunately, I already have someone else I like.”
“Sister!” Princess Yuqing ran over quickly. As soon as she saw Madam Jing Shui, she burst into tears and flung herself into Madam Jing Shui’s arms, crying, “Sister, where were you? I missed you so much. I’m afraid something happened to you. I… Wahhh!”
Madam Jing Shui stroked Princess Yuqing’s head. “I left to send Mingde away and hide him.”
Yan Tianhen was stunned. “Send him away? In the end, he’s still part of the Yan family. No matter what, we’ll never harm an innocent baby.”
Madam Jing Shui said calmly, “This child’s birth was unnecessary to begin with; he is not blessed. My enemy has already died, and now I have no other lingering attachments. What’s more, I don’t want my pitiful child to grow up inside a palace full of politics. I’d rather he was born in an ordinary family and live an ordinary and peaceful life.”
This was probably the last of Madam Jing Shui’s tenderness and kindness.
Now that the emperor had already died, in fact, Madam Jing Shui didn’t really care whose hands the Nine Lands might fall into. When she was escaping, she suddenly felt very tired and empty, and she also felt that there was no need to keep on running.
Her true love had already died, and her most hated enemy had turned into a corpse. In the end, was there still any need for her to keep living in this world?
Once a person accepted death, they would see the world as is — mountains would look like mountains, and rivers would look like rivers.
After Madam Jing Shui settled matters regarding her child, the one last attachment she still couldn’t let go of was her younger sister Yuqing, who hadn’t left her side ever since she was a child.
“Let’s make a deal.” Madam Jing Shui smiled. “I’ll tell you everything I know about Tu Feng, and you guys will ensure that Yuqing lives a safe and carefree life.”
Yan Tianhen looked at Madam Jing Shui. “We won’t make life difficult for Yuqing even if you didn’t say that.”
Madam Jing Shui shook her head. “I can only feel more at ease if I give something in exchange.”
In this way, if the Yan family wanted to harm Yuqing in the future, they would still have to consider the information she brought to them today.
Princess Yuqing realized something, so she tugged Madam Jing Shui’s hand. “Sister, what are you saying this for? Don’t tell me that you want to leave me?”
Madam Jing Shui just gently patted Yuqing’s head but didn’t answer her question. She only said to Yan Tianhen, “You might as well invite your father and Huarong Sword Venerable along as well.”
Speaking of which, Madam Jing Shui could be considered the enemy who killed Yan Zhonghua’s father, but they could still sit together and talk calmly.
Madam Jing Shui first took out a scroll and placed it on the table. “This contains the names of all the hidden spies that Tu Feng buried all over the Nine Lands. If you guys don’t believe me, you can find anyone on this list — you will surely find the evil gu that is controlling the person from inside their body.”
Yan Zhonghua opened the scroll and glanced at the names inside it. His expression changed slightly, and he put it away. Yan Tianhen took a glance and couldn’t help feeling alarmed — the names written in the very front were all people with rather high statuses in the Divine Clans or major sects.
Yan Zhonghua remarked lightly, “Tu Feng really trusts you.”
Madam Jing Shui replied with a smile, “After all, I control the Nine Lands’ supreme emperor. I do hold some importance in Tu Feng’s eyes.”
Yan Zhonghua asked, “Do you know Tu Feng’s current whereabouts?”
Madam Jing Shui answered, “Him ah. If my guess isn’t wrong, then he should be here in the Royal Heavenly Capital right now.”
Yan Tianhen was stunned. “Here?”
Madam Jing Shui explained, “He is a stubborn person. He will naturally want to stand back up in the same place where he fell before. He took the worst fall in the Royal Heavenly Capital, so if he wants to make a move, his first target will naturally be this place. You’d better be vigilant. Perhaps this place will become a hell on earth in a few days.”
Yan Tianhen asked, “He’s that powerful?”
After all, the Royal Heavenly Palace was currently defended by 30,000 soldiers whose sole purpose was to guard against Tu Feng coming to destroy the capital. In any case, the Royal Heavenly Capital was the backbone of the Nine Lands. Once it collapsed, other parts of the Nine Lands would likely panic and fall into disarray.
Madam Jing Shui said, “You’ll know whether he’s powerful or not when you meet him for yourselves. Moreover, the most important thing is that I’m afraid you’ve completely enraged him now.”
“What will happen if we completely enrage him?”Yan Tianhen asked.
“Tu Feng’s original plan was to kill only a few key figures so that he could control the rightful ruler of the Nine Lands from behind the scenes without much bloodshed, then slowly win over the Divine Clans and major sects.” Madam Jing Shui explained calmly, “But now, his plan has been completely overturned, and he even suffered heavy losses. His many years of effort has gone up in smoke, so he probably can’t wait to completely destroy the Nine Lands right now.”
Yan Tianhen rubbed his nose. “This isn’t our fault either ah. It’s not like we could just let him succeed.”
“I know, I didn’t say you guys did anything wrong.” Madam Jing Shui’s smile held deep meaning. “I’m just reminding you that people may not be rational when they’re furious. It’s hard to predict what he’ll do.”
Yan Tianhen expressed his agreement.
Madam Jing Shui then asked, “Have you seen the mass of evil Qi circling around the scorching sun in the North Land?”
Yan Tianhen said, “Of course, but not even I know what it’s purpose is. It’s a little strange.” Although Yan Tianhen had a good understanding of the evil Qi cultivators and evil spirits in his last life, he still had many blank areas — for example, how to cultivate one’s body with evil Qi, and the weaknesses of such evil Qi cultivators. He also didn’t know the purpose behind the evil Qi dragon that circled around the sun and refused to leave.
“That’s an array.” Madam Jing Shui’s words were like thunder. “It can constantly absorb the spiritual Qi inside sparrow spirits and convert it into evil Qi, which can then be directly absorbed into Tu Feng’s body. Moreover, that evil Qi dragon is only the first. Tu Feng personally told me that in a short three years, all the spiritual Qi in the North Land will be absorbed by the evil Qi dragon. At that time, the North Land will become a barren wasteland, and the concentration of spiritual Qi there will be even thinner than that of mortal worlds.”
Yan Tianhen and the others exchanged gazes. For a moment, no one spoke because the news was too shocking.
Author’s Notes: Jinghua and Feng Jiushao are characters who appeared in 《Return of the Empress》
Ea: Full name is something like 《Interstellar: Return of the Empress》(rough translation since I don’t think it’s been translated yet). Haven’t read it either so I don’t know much about it.
Comments