Chapter 2976

These three words struck the ground with a resonant sound.

He glared angrily at Ye Zhao, the Du Yun Envoy opposite him, even pointing a finger:

"It is the Heavenly Palace!"

The entire court fell into dead silence; the officials were stunned.

How dare he!

Having spoken these words, Wang Qun became even more unscrupulous, speaking in rapid succession like a string of cannon fire:

"The Crown Prince should be aware of the domestic situation over the past three years. The Heavenly God's 'Heart-Wrenching' secret medicine can no longer control the various vassal demon kings, and the conflict with the Wang Ting is deepening day by day. The Crown Prince may not know, but the Emperor has been living in seclusion on Tianxin Island these past few years, even rushing back and forth for the Ascending Dragon Grand Ceremony, merely to guard against the Heavenly God striking down suddenly! Who would have thought the Heavenly Palace was so treacherous? This time, we still could not escape!"

Wang Qun is not foolish; in the past, he would not have dared to confront the Heavenly God's power head-on in court—that would be pure effort without reward. The way of governance in Beijia has always emphasized two words: one is 'yielding', the other is 'smooth'.

But now the situation in Beijia has deteriorated to this extent, and the Crown Prince is innocent and naive. If no one steps forward to remind him, Beijia will soon be usurped by the Heavenly God! He could not bear it, and he would not bear it.

The officials in court had only one thought in their hearts:

He is so brave!

Wu Huan Jiao's eyes widened, and he was momentarily startled.

The relationship between Lingxu City and the Heavenly Palace has become increasingly tense over the past three years. Although he has been busy with cultivation and does not concern himself with state affairs, he still vaguely feels it. Especially when he sees his father, he often frowns with worry, sighs deeply and briefly, and occasionally mentions his troubles—not only involving Cangyan, but also the Heavenly God and Heavenly Palace.

But, but, does the Heavenly Palace really dare to kill the father king?

In his impression, the descendants of the Dragon God are supreme and unchallenged, the undisputed highest leader of Beijia, ruling over Lingxu City and the thirteen vassal demon kingdoms. What does the Heavenly Palace have? It doesn't even have a proper army—on what basis does it contend with the Emperor?

To say the Heavenly Palace dares to kill the father king—his intuition says it's impossible.

"Nonsense!" Ye Zhao coldly laughed, pointing at Wang Qun: "What occasion is this? You, a mere city guard, dare to speak up?"

Two golden lights shot out from behind him, straight for Wang Qun.

These are the Ever-Bright Lantern Spirits of the Lamp-Keeping Envoy, moving with astonishing speed.

"How dare you!" The National Preceptor of Xia Palace moved even faster, stepping forward to block Wang Qun, and sent the two lantern spirits flying back.

"Envoy Ye, this Lingxu Wang Ting is not a place where you may kill!"

The ministers exchanged glances, their faces grim. The Emperor has just died, and the Heavenly Palace's arrogance has suddenly surged—so much that they dare to slay a senior minister openly in court!

General Gu Zhongzhong stepped forward and said in a deep voice:

"City Guard Wang speaks nonsense! If Lingxu City truly has an irreconcilable conflict with the Heavenly Palace, why did the Emperor not long ago lead us to break with the Heavenly Palace?" General Qingwu Hong Chenglüe and others listening all frowned—who among those qualified to stand here today does not know the answer? Gu Zhongzhong's words can only deceive the young Crown Prince.

This man has long since defected to the Heavenly Palace, and he clearly understands that the young flood dragon's logic is simple: whoever provokes him, he turns against—why endure? Why should he endure?

Before, when a Heavenly Palace envoy offended him, he simply struck them down on the spot—no problem at all.

He does not endure—why should the father king endure?

Gu Zhongzhong continued: "The late Emperor's demise is a major matter; we must speak of solid, tangible evidence. Wang City Guard dares to say the Heavenly Palace is suspicious—but what evidence does he hold?"

In this matter, the Heavenly God and Heavenly Palace appear even more 'clean' than Cangyan. At least soldiers in the north of the city have sighted the 'Earth Mother Plain' appearing, but to this day, no one has reported any connection whatsoever between the Heavenly Palace and the late Emperor's death.

That is truly a complete lack of even a shred of evidence.

Ye Zhao coldly laughed.

"You want to talk about evidence? Come, produce it."

Nie Xiaolou glanced at Wang Qun, took a deep breath:

"Your Highness does not know: the Heavenly Palace advances step by step, while Lingxu City endures in silence—because the Emperor's Ascending Dragon is imminent!"

Ascending Dragon!

The officials were moved; the young flood dragon leapt up on the spot, his tail tightening the chair with a creak:

"What are you saying? Is the father king to become a true dragon?"

"Exactly!" Nie Xiaolou knew full well that uttering these few words meant he and Wang Qun had completely broken with the Heavenly Palace, and in the future, Beijia would inevitably face tumultuous waves.

Yet now that it has come to this, he cannot help but act. As a trusted minister of the late Emperor, how could he allow Beijia to be dragged by the Heavenly Palace into a bottomless abyss? "This is what I heard the late Emperor say with my own ears: Ascend the Dragon before the Wangri Festival! Alas..." Alas, the Emperor's efforts fell short, defeated by half a son of the Heavenly Demon! "And I received this news just before entering the palace: today, two righteous gods of the Heavenly Realm have fallen—Poxian Tian and Yanshan Tian!"

He stared at Ye Zhao, the hatred in his eyes no longer concealable:

"Under heaven, where could there be such a coincidence?"

Poxian Tian and Yanshan Tian are both great heavenly gods of the Lingxu multitude, and coincidentally fell on the same day as the Beijia Emperor—could this be possible?

And who killed those two?

The entire court fell silent; even Wu Huan held his breath.

This is not evidence, not even indirect evidence—but even Wu Huan could sense a connection between these two major events!

"You..."

Ye Zhao had just opened his mouth when Nie Xiaolou interrupted: "Envoy Ye dares to say these two righteous gods did not fall? The statues of the gods on Mount Xushan suddenly all shattered—what else could this be?"

Seeing the doubt in Wu Huan's eyes growing fiercer, Gu Zhongzhong knew the situation was unfavorable and immediately smoothed things over:

"For now, this is all baseless speculation, not to be taken as fact! I believe we should continue following the clues to investigate the culprit—that is most important."

Wang Qun immediately followed up: "Exactly! Before the true culprit is confirmed, we should not lightly provoke hostilities against Cangyan and its forces."

Shen Guo was of course counted among Cangyan's forces.

If it were a tiny country, fighting it would be just fighting it—we might as well let the new emperor vent his anger.

But now its target of attack is precisely Cangyan!

Cangyan itself is a colossal entity, with strong national strength, and the Nine Abysses Great Emperor and the Red General, wielding the might of having slain a great heavenly god, have garnered countless followers in the mortal realm. How much effort would Beijia need to truly overthrow it?

Not to mention, beside Cangyan stand Mou Guo and Lingshan—neither is anything less than a colossus, neither is anything less than Beijia's old rival. Over the past two hundred years, even at Beijia's peak strength, it has failed to destroy them—can it do so now?

Just at this moment, a palace attendant outside cried out loudly: "The National Preceptor Shuangye has arrived!"

After a few breaths, Shuangye Guoshi strode in from outside, dusty and weary.

All eyes instantly focused on him.

Shuangye Guoshi first apologized to Wu Huan for his late arrival, then directly turned to the subject: "Outside the hall, I heard that the Emperor wishes to take revenge on Cangyan?" Of course, he heard more than Wu Huan's desire for revenge—he also heard the mutual accusations between Wang Qun, Nie Xiaolou, and Ye Zhao. This already means the conflict between Lingxu Wang Ting and the Heavenly Palace has fully erupted, irreconcilable.

Both sides no longer bother with pretense; tearing off the surface of hollow accommodation, they go straight to battle.

The Wuhuan said nothing.

Before, it had indeed been shouting about wanting to take revenge on Cangyan, but after this farce in front of the palace, Chi wasn't sure anymore who the enemy was.

Is it really Cangyan?

If not, what's the point of sending troops to attack Shen State, to attack Cangyan? The enemy is inside!