Chapter 160 : Chapter 160

Chapter 160: By my imperial forefather above! Prince Qing’s Remnants were wiped out?!

In the Great Qian Capital, deep within Great Qian’s heartland, inside the resplendent court audience hall of the imperial palace, a group of ministers were arguing in court until their faces had gone red, nearly spraying spit in each other’s faces as they traded accusations.

“A dignified Jinyiwei Commandant, an Early Eighth Rank martial artist, was openly ambushed and slain on the road to his post. Where is Great Qian’s dignity in that?”

“The Jianghu may be powerful for the moment, but that is no reason for those wandering martial men to act with such arrogance!”

“We must ask a Grandmaster to step forward and call the Army-Breaking Sect to account, so that the dignity of Great Qian may be shown to be inviolable!”

A few decrepit old ministers gazed out in grief, looking as though they wanted nothing more than to dash themselves to death against the pillars of the hall.

They were all senior ministers of three reigns, men who governed the realm through civil administration rather than personal martial strength.

They were also regency ministers to whom the late emperor had once entrusted the orphaned sovereign.

Lacking personal strength to support them and relying entirely upon the status Great Qian had given them, their personal interests were already bound up with Great Qian itself, and their loyalty to it was absolute.

The Great Qian was weak; the Jianghu was strong.

For the sake of the greater picture, they could endure humiliation together with the Moderate Faction and swallow their anger.

But when something happened that injured Great Qian’s dignity to this degree, they had to stand up.

These men also represented Emperor Xiao Wuji’s own attitude.

The Jinyiwei Commandant who had been sent to Jiannan Circuit to call Cheng Yu to account and take over the campaign against Prince Qing’s Remnants had been intercepted and assassinated by a martial artist whose Internal Energy clearly bore the marks of a Qilin.

It could only have been the work of the Army-Breaking Sect, one of the Nine Great Sects!

Just like the last time Cheng Yu had exposed the monstrous crimes of Sword-Forging Manor, this was a naked blow against Great Qian’s dignity.

It was a direct challenge to Xiao Wuji’s bottom line!

They had to demand an explanation and recover their face!

Led by Elder Grand Secretary Qi Han, the ministers of the Moderate Faction—whose interests themselves leaned toward the Jianghu—naturally took a different stance.

“Although Commandant Wang’s death is indeed lamentable, Grandmasters not taking the field is the rule. How can Great Qian disregard its own safety and act on impulse?”

“The martial artists of the realm have already been displeased with the court for some time. If we provoke more unnecessary trouble now, it would truly be detrimental to the future of the state!”

“Would it not be better to first ask the Army-Breaking Sect whether some misunderstanding lies behind this?”

Elder Grand Secretary Qi Han argued his case with a grave expression and turned a sincere gaze toward Xiao Wuji.

Your Majesty, I am only thinking for your safety!

On the surface, his words sounded earnest and well-meaning, but the threat embedded within them was obvious enough.

Xiao Wuji suppressed the twitch in his angry brows and could only nod helplessly.

No matter which side spoke, he nodded.

But inwardly, he had begun to grow dissatisfied with the people of the Moderate Faction.

If one had grown used to lowering one’s head, and no one stepped on it, then that could still be called hiding one’s strength and biding one’s time.

But if others stomped on your head and you still did not react, then you had become a turtle!

What Great Qian feared was the uncontrollable strength of the Jianghu as a whole, not a mere Army-Breaking Sect!

Top Ninth Rank experts, and even Grandmasters who stood high above all others—the imperial house lacked neither!

So why should they lower their heads to others?

The old ministers whose interests were bound to Xiao Wuji once again cried out in grief and indignation, looking as though they wanted to throw away their very lives to make their position known.

“They assassinated one of Great Qian’s high ministers without the slightest explanation, and yet the court is supposed to be the one to take the initiative and ask whether there was some misunderstanding? Then tell me—who is the sovereign, and who are the subjects?!”

No matter how arrogant and unruly the Jianghu became, they still had to acknowledge that Xiao Wuji was Great Qian’s ruler!

That was the Great Qian Emperor’s bottom line.

If that line were broken, then all patience and restraint would lose their meaning. At worst, they would all perish together.

The moment those words were spoken, Qi Han and the others of the Moderate Faction all froze, caught in hesitation. They did not dare answer that point carelessly, and immediately began changing the subject and swapping concepts.

Inwardly, they were furious as well.

Why had one of their own, who had been so carefully sent to Jiannan Circuit to seize benefits, been ambushed and killed like that?

Those people from the Army-Breaking Sect were nothing but brainless lunatics.

They even killed members of the Moderate Faction.

Their eyes saw only bloodshed and the thrill of settling grudges. They understood nothing about interests!

For a time, neither side could force the issue to a result.

Yet Zhao Yi, the man whose stance toward the Jianghu was the most extreme of all, merely stroked his beard and watched with a smile as the fence-sitters and soft-boned weaklings tore into one another.

The moment he remembered that he was the one who had arranged the assassination, and that both sides were now arguing endlessly over the wrong answer, he found it all so laughable that he could barely contain himself.

They had dared set their sights on his precious eldest grandson—this was the price!

That said, several days had already passed. There should have been news from his eldest grandson’s side by now, should there not?

Cheng Yu had managed to make an elder of the Sword Bearers bow his head and take him as master. With the sword missive Zhao Yi had sent along, he would certainly be able to invite a Grandmaster to step in and protect him.

If that happened, nothing should go wrong, and his safety would be assured.

But as the leader of a major power, the Sword Chief of the Sword Bearers would not personally exterminate Prince Qing’s descendants.

How beautifully the matter could be handled, and how great a shock it would send through both the Jianghu and the court, would depend on Cheng Yu himself.

“With Yu’er’s methods and strength, he will certainly be able to inflict severe damage upon Prince Qing’s Remnants and display his might before all Great Qian. Once that happens, it will be far easier for me to secure greater benefits for him.”

Zhao Yi trusted that Cheng Yu would handle the matter well. At the very least, he would cripple Prince Qing’s Remnants badly enough that they would not be able to rise again in the short term.

Once Cheng Yu had rendered great service, that would shut some mouths and make it easier to fight for him to receive more.

As for utterly exterminating Prince Qing’s Remnants—even Zhao Yi would not dare hope for that. No matter how monstrous Cheng Yu’s talent might be, he still needed time to accumulate strength.

Every generation of Prince Qing, backed by the inheritance of the Secret Realm, had been anything but easy to deal with.

Thus, as the regency ministers loyal to Great Qian and the Moderate Faction, each harboring their own schemes, continued their endless struggle, and Zhao Yi watched the spectacle in secret, hurried footsteps suddenly rang out from outside the hall.

While the ministers were still arguing, an urgent report was swiftly handed into Lu Zhi’s grasp beside Xiao Wuji.

Urgent Jinyiwei reports were first read by the Chief Commander, who would then judge whether they needed to be passed on to the emperor in the midst of court deliberations.

Lu Zhi had already grown bored listening to the debate, so he casually opened the urgent report and began reading.

He guessed to himself, “What now? Some official in some corner of the realm throwing another fit?”

The Jianghu was powerful and deeply entangled with itself, and Great Qian’s control was nowhere near as strong as it had been in its prime.

Things frequently cropped up that were not small, yet not something the court could really do much about either.

A great many urgent reports were not truly that urgent at all, and there was no need to disturb the emperor over them.

Lu Zhi took a single look—and instantly went rigid.

Prince Qing’s Remnants had been exterminated root and branch by the Jiannan Circuit Jinyiwei?!

Cheng Yu had displayed his divine might and slain the current Prince Qing, who had desperately unleashed power comparable to that of a Grandmaster?

Cheng Yu was suspected to be the son of Cheng Zhenjiang, the Sect Master of the River-Severing Sect, yet the two had turned red-eyed and fought each other to the death?

The Sword Chief of the Sword Bearers had destroyed the Internal Energy Avatar of the Cheng Family’s Old Ancestor...

And there had even been a Grandmaster battle?!

Were the affairs in Jiannan Circuit this explosive?!

Ever since Lu Zhi had inherited his father’s post and become Chief Commander of the Jinyiwei, when had he ever encountered news this earth-shattering?

And when he thought that the very center of all this was none other than the Jinyiwei under his command, his emotions suddenly became unstable, and the unimaginably cold aura around him began to stir.

Just as sinister ghostly howls were about to ring through the great hall, a supremely noble Dragon Intent suddenly descended and suppressed them.

ROAR!

The entire hall trembled. The ministers who had still been shouting at one another all instantly shut their mouths and stared.

Arguing was one thing, but had someone really been about to make a move?!

To provoke the emperor’s Dragon Intent into suppressing them—was he courting death?

Xiao Wuji frowned and looked toward Lu Zhi. What was his unruly Chief Commander doing now?

Could he not learn from his father and become as calm and dependable as the great figures of the older generation?

Great Qian’s dignity was lost in details like these too!

“Beloved Minister Lu, did something happen in that urgent report?”

Lu Zhi only widened his eyes and gave no answer, instead presenting the urgent report to Xiao Wuji.

“Your Majesty... I think you had better read it yourself...”

What great matter could it possibly be?

Xiao Wuji raised a brow and took the Jinyiwei report. A minister was a minister, after all—when it came to composure, he, the sovereign of an entire nation, was naturally still superior!

“Jiannan Circuit? What has happened there now... By my imperial forefather above! Prince Qing’s Remnants were wiped out?!”