Chapter 366: The Incense-Worshipping Sect Has Rebelled

Seeing this, everyone was stunned.

No one could quite believe that something like this would happen.

Xu Xianchun was actually going to kill himself?

For a moment, everyone was too slow to react.

Seeing that no one was pulling him back, Xu Xianchun was also taken aback, then felt somewhat embarrassed, and more than that, humiliated into rage.

"Do you people just want to watch me die? What kind of subordinates are these?"

"When I get back, I'll deal with all of you."

But he couldn't just slit his own throat like that either.

So Xu Xianchun shouted loudly again: "Your Majesty, your servant takes his leave!"

This loud shout finally jolted the surrounding subordinates awake.

Everyone hurriedly rushed over, reached out to grab Xu Xianchun, and shouted loudly: "Milord, milord, don't do it!"

"Milord, milord, you can't!"

One man quickly stepped forward, reached out and grabbed Xu Xianchun's blade, speaking rapidly: "Milord, although we failed to protect the Duke Yansheng, the fact that people are rebelling here is something we must report back to His Majesty. You must understand, this is a major matter — when someone rises up in rebellion, we of the Embroidered Uniform Guard bear responsibility. How can Milord, for personal reasons, disregard the great affairs of the court and the safety of His Majesty?"

"What Milord should do now is return immediately to deliver the message, so that His Majesty can make preparations early and muster troops to suppress the rebellion as soon as possible. As for the crimes Milord has committed, let His Majesty personally pass judgment. Whether it's military exile or any other punishment, we subordinates are willing to share it with Milord."

Hearing this man's words, everyone around hurriedly bowed and said: "We will share it with Milord."

Looking at his surrounding subordinates, Xu Xianchun's gaze fell upon the man who had spoken.

Staring at him for a long while, Xu Xianchun slowly nodded and said: "What you said makes sense. What is your name?"

"Reporting to Milord, this subordinate is Tian Ergeng." The man hurriedly bowed and said.

"Very good, what you said makes sense. We will return now, and we must report this news to His Majesty." Xu Xianchun nodded, then mounted his horse.

The group quickly left the area, heading toward the city of Jining.

Tian Ergeng watched Xu Xianchun's departing back, then quickly followed after him.

He knew that his opportunity had come this time. If he could become Xu Xianchun's trusted confidant, then his future prospects would certainly be enormous — meteoric rise was within reach. At that point, with great power in his hands, just thinking about it was wonderful.

As for whether Xu Xianchun could make a comeback, Tian Ergeng was not worried in the slightest.

Although Xu Xianchun had said nothing to them along the way, there were always clever men in the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and Tian Ergeng was one of them. He had long since seen that there was something wrong here; he even suspected that Xu Xianchun might kill Kong Yinzhi halfway through the journey. If such a thing had actually happened, Tian Ergeng would not have been surprised in the least.

Although no assassination had occurred, anyone could see from what had just happened that Xu Xianchun had deliberately thrown the Kong family to those rebels.

If there wasn't something going on here, Tian Ergeng would have found it strange. This was doing dirty work for the Emperor — those who could do such things were invariably the Emperor's trusted confidants.

So in Tian Ergeng's view, Xu Xianchun's comeback was merely a matter of time. After all, being able to gain His Majesty's favor already surpassed everything else for men of their Embroidered Uniform Guard background.

One could lack anything, but one absolutely could not lack His Majesty's favor.

Under such circumstances, as long as he gained Xu Xianchun's goodwill, he could take another step up and become his trusted confidant.

Tian Ergeng was also very confident in himself. So he hurried to catch up and took up a protective position at Xu Xianchun's side.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard men had fled, but the Kong family members were left behind.

Kong Yinzhi looked at the men rushing toward him, his expression extremely complicated, while hatred burned in his heart.

Along the way, he had known that Xu Xianchun bore him ill intent, and he had been playing along with Xu Xianchun all the while. After all, for him, preserving his life was the most important thing.

But judging from the situation before him, things seemed to have taken a turn for the worse.

Seeing a young man walking toward him with a smile, and seeing that the surrounding men were not harming his family in the slightest, Kong Yinzhi's mood grew even worse.

"Duke Yansheng." The newcomer smiled and clasped his hands toward Kong Yinzhi.

Kong Yinzhi looked at the newcomer and asked slowly: "Who are you people?"

"It doesn't matter if Duke Yansheng doesn't recognize us, but we are already acquainted." The young man said with a smile: "This humble one is Wang Haoxian, also a man of letters, who has long admired Duke Yansheng. To meet you today is a great fortune of three lifetimes. But this is not a place for conversation — let us go somewhere else."

Kong Yinzhi looked at Wang Haoxian, gently shook his head, and said with a stern expression: "I want to return to Qufu. I will not go with you."

Upon hearing this, Wang Haoxian's face darkened, and then he said: "Duke Yansheng, your title has already been stripped by the court, and Xu Xianchun even wanted to kill you. Can you truly accept this so willingly?"

"The Kong family are descendants of Confucius the Sage. Since the Zhu family does not appreciate you, our Wang family appreciates you. As long as Duke Yansheng comes back with us, not only will your family's status not decline, it will rise even higher — we will enfeoff you as a king. Think about it — from Duke Yansheng to Sage King, what glory and honor that would be! You will become the foremost figure of the Kong family!"

Upon hearing these words, Kong Yinzhi's face instantly turned extremely ugly.

He was no fool — these people were clearly intent on rebellion. Under such circumstances, if he went with them, he would certainly be used by them, dragged into rebellion alongside his family, and used to incite the scholars of the realm.

His Majesty was already displeased with his family, and their title was already gone. If they got mixed up in this matter, he feared his entire family would be destroyed.

As for the talk about the Zhu family not appreciating them — did such a thing even matter?

Kong Yinzhi certainly harbored resentment and dissatisfaction, and wanted to switch allegiance. But there was only one realm under heaven — where could one switch allegiance to?

Wang Haoxian and his ilk before him were nothing but a pack of rustic country folk, a bunch of fools. Relying on them to rebel was simply impossible. Moreover, even if it were possible, he could not throw in his lot with them under such circumstances.

With the realm undecided and the future uncertain, who would muddle-headedly switch allegiance?

"Our Kong family is unwaveringly loyal and will absolutely never do such a thing." Kong Yinzhi shook his head and said: "Thunder and rain, dew and frost — all are the Emperor's grace. Do not waste your efforts. Let us return to Qufu."

Upon hearing this, the smile on Wang Haoxian's face vanished completely.

He looked coldly at Kong Yinzhi and said: "Duke Yansheng, it seems you still don't fully understand your own situation. As for talk of unwavering loyalty — that is the greatest joke under heaven. Who among your Kong family has not surrendered? Do you not pledge loyalty to whoever sits on the throne? Now we are going to restore order and overthrow the Zhu family's rule. Coming back with us suits you perfectly."

Without waiting for Kong Yinzhi to say anything more, Wang Haoxian directly ordered: "Men, take him away."

As his words fell, more than a dozen men rushed up and directly escorted Kong Yinzhi away.

As for the surrounding Kong family members, they naturally could not escape the same fate — all were taken away.

Soon, these people disappeared down the road without a trace.

Xu Xianchun's group, meanwhile, galloped at full speed toward the city of Jining.

In truth, by all logic, they should have gone to the nearest city or military garrison, mustered troops to suppress the rebellion, and then searched for Kong Yinzhi and his party.

But Xu Xianchun showed not the slightest intention of doing so, only spurring his horse faster toward Jining.

Tian Ergeng, following at Xu Xianchun's side, became even more certain at this point that there was definitely something fishy going on — Xu Xianchun's actions were highly abnormal.

This also further strengthened his resolve to stay close to Xu Xianchun.

The group quickly ran back to Jining city and immediately entered Zhu Youxiao's residence.

"Your Highness, something terrible has happened!"

Chen Hong ran in from outside. He was moving extremely fast.

After reaching Zhu Youxiao's side, Chen Hong fell to his knees with a thud and said, "Someone has rebelled, Your Highness!"

"What?"

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao abruptly stood up and said loudly, "How could such a thing happen?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, Xu Xianchun has returned. The Duke Yansheng and his party were seized by rebels." Chen Hong hastily said, "These people are truly audacious and reckless, attempting rebellion against heaven — their crimes are utterly heinous!"

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao was somewhat stunned.

Seized by someone?

This isn't right — the script wasn't supposed to go like this!

According to the script, Kong Yinzhi should already be dead by now, and the ones who did it should have been the Wenxiang sect.

But now Kong Yinzhi had actually been seized by someone — this wasn't right!

Zhu Youxiao's face darkened, and he said directly, "Have Xu Xianchun come in."

If this matter were botched again, Zhu Youxiao was prepared to be done with Xu Xianchun.

The only thing Xu Xianchun had that Zhu Youxiao valued was his ability — if even his ability failed, then this blade was truly useless. A useless blade could only be tossed aside.

"Yes, Your Highness." Chen Hong acknowledged, then hastily scrambled up from the ground, turned around, and ran outside.

Before long, Xu Xianchun walked in from outside.

Upon seeing Zhu Youxiao, Xu Xianchun fell to his knees with a thud, his face covered in tears, and said weeping, "Your Majesty, your servant is guilty! Your servant has failed Your Majesty's trust!"

As he spoke, Xu Xianchun kowtowed repeatedly, tears streaming down his face.

"Enough." Zhu Youxiao said with some impatience, "What exactly happened? Explain the matter clearly. If you can't explain it clearly, then don't blame me for not remembering old ties."

These words were very clear — telling Xu Xianchun, explain this matter to me clearly, and if you can't explain it clearly, you're finished.

Xu Xianchun hastily said, "Your Majesty, the Duke Yansheng was taken away by someone — the Wenxiang sect is planning to rebel!"