Chapter 404: Standoff: Xue Qinghe and Nan Feihuang

"Feihuang, come out!"

Xue Qinghe's voice echoed through the inner palace, calling for Feihuang to come out and meet her.

At this moment, the person more agitated than Nan Feihuang was the Great Emperor Xue Ye. "Rebellious son, it is that rebellious son. I must go and ask him, why on earth did he betray the Heaven Dou Empire, betray me? What did I ever do to wrong him?"

Xue Ye's heartache came from the bottom of his heart. Years ago, his sons had slaughtered each other to seize the throne; although on the surface, the second and third sons had died in accidents.

But the Great Emperor Xue Ye saw it clearly; he knew very well that their deaths were inevitably linked to Xue Qinghe.

The mere fact that he was the greatest beneficiary was enough to make him the prime suspect.

Yet the Great Emperor Xue Ye did not hold it against him. For one, such things were normal in the struggle for the throne; he himself had killed more than one brother to ascend to the throne back then. For another, Xue Qinghe was indeed outstanding, handling government affairs with ease, possessing the bearing of an enlightened monarch.

Xue Ye had truly been grooming Xue Qinghe as his successor, even though he had secretly advised him later that too much of a good thing could be harmful, telling him to take good care of his only younger brother, Xue Beng, and his younger sister, Xue Ke.

Xue Qinghe had clearly understood his intent, not only ceasing to make attempts on Xue Beng's life but also taking great care of Xue Ke.

Could it be that because of this, he harbored resentment? That he lacked a sense of security, fearing there might still be variables regarding his position as Crown Prince? So he couldn't wait even this little while, needing to kill his own father and then immediately ascend the throne?

But the purpose of his own actions back then was merely to hope that Xue Qinghe would maintain a good image among the people; slaughtering all his brothers and sisters was definitely not a good thing.

Like himself, hadn't he left behind a Xue Xing Prince?

The Great Emperor Xue Ye only felt that all his fatherly love had been fed to the dogs. At this moment, the person most impatient to go out was him.

"Father, slow down, I will support you!" Xue Ke helped her father; she could understand the doubt and anger in her father's heart, and in truth, she felt the same.

At this moment, she could not help but feel suspicious in her heart: had the eldest brother she had revered like a god for so many years truly been deceiving her all along?

She also wanted to find her eldest brother and ask him clearly.

The group walked out of the bedchamber together and saw two people standing on the plaza outside: one was Xue Qinghe, and the other was a chubby man—this person was Citun Douluo.

Originally, there should have been two guards by Qian Renxue's side, but now that Snake Spear had been captured by her, naturally only Ci Xue remained.

However, logically speaking, the Spirit Hall could not possibly have let only such a relatively weak Title Douluo guard Qian Renxue; with Snake Spear absent, they would inevitably have sent others.

Perhaps that person was just hiding in the shadows now.

Feihuang's spiritual perception was astonishing; he truly felt that in the shadows, there existed someone who posed a threat even to him. "Eldest Brother!" Seeing Xue Qinghe after such a long time, Xue Ke was so excited she wanted to run over, but Nan Feihuang grabbed her wrist in time.

"Rebellious son, how do you still have the face to appear before me? Get over here and kneel!" Xue Ye roared.

But the current Xue Qinghe could not be bothered to pay attention to this former younger sister and father; her gaze was entirely focused on Nan Feihuang alone.

"Brother Xue, long time no see. I really didn't expect that you would appear together with Citun Douluo. It seems you really have collaborated with the Spirit Hall." Feihuang asked with a complex gaze, "Brother, may I ask why? You have always been the person I admire most. If you wanted to be Emperor, with your current status and power, if you just followed the steps, no one could compete with you. Why use such radical means?"

"Sigh, Feihuang, there are many things in this world that cannot be explained clearly." Xue Qinghe sighed, "Aren't you the same? Although you haven't collaborated with the Spirit Hall, you love the Saintess of the Offering Hall in the Spirit Hall, Qian Renxue. From this perspective, even if I have collaborated with the Spirit Hall, we might not necessarily be enemies. Feihuang, listen to a word of advice from your brother: take your people and Ke'er and leave this place, and just pretend you don't know about this. That way, we will still be brothers in the future."

"Yes, I love Xue Jie, I have loved her since the first time I saw her." Nan Feihuang revealed a pained expression, "But, it is already impossible between Xue Jie and me. She wants to kill me, she sent so many people to kill me!!!"

The final words were a roar. Qian Renxue could clearly hear his anger and despair in Feihuang's roar.

Feihuang's acting skills were getting stronger and stronger; this was all thanks to Xue Ke. Having listened to so many of Xue Ke's performances that blended emotion into music, Feihuang had also learned to express his emotions through words.

Xue Ke and Xue Ye were shocked upon hearing this; they had not expected that Nan Feihuang had also loved someone from the Spirit Hall.

Xue Ke also remembered that when they were at the academy, Feihuang had once suffered from a strange illness called "Keyword Invasion of the Heart Meridian" because of a woman with the surname Qian. So that "Qian" was the Qian of the Spirit Hall's Qian Family.

But it sounded like he had been deceived in love; that woman did not love him, but instead used his feelings and even wanted to kill him.

Was Feihuang's path of love also this bumpy?

"So, Brother Xue, if you are going to collaborate with the Spirit Hall now, then we will become enemies in the future." Nan Feihuang continued.

"No, it's not like that, Feihuang. In my heart—no, I mean, that Qian Renxue, she has you in her heart too. She would never send anyone to kill you; there must be some misunderstanding in this." Xue Qinghe anxiously tried to explain; if this point wasn't cleared up, then it would truly be impossible between her and Nan Feihuang.

At this moment, she really wanted to kill that bitch Lingyuan. If it weren't for her babbling nonsense in front of Feihuang just to disturb his mind, such a huge misunderstanding could never have been caused.

"Brother Xue, no need to say more. These words were spoken by the Spirit Hall Elder who tried to assassinate me, and the letter that invited me out was indeed her own handwriting. How could it be fake? She has been deceiving me all along, just using the feelings I had for her." Feihuang kept Xun Yu's "Green Tea Man" manual in mind, constantly placing himself in the position of being the "pitiful one."

Sure enough, seeing such a desperate Feihuang, Qian Renxue felt nothing but heartache. "It's not like that... it really isn't like that..."

"Shut your mouth, you rebellious son! Even now, are you still obsessed and unrepentant?" Xue Ye interrupted his muttering, "Do you still not understand? Collaborating with the Spirit Hall is like asking a tiger for its hide. They first wiped out the Upper Three Sects, then deceived Feihuang's feelings, and after using him up, they assassinated him. Now they are even using you to strike at my Heaven Dou Imperial Family. It is very clear that their goal is the entire continent. Even if you gained the throne through their power, so what? You wouldn't be able to sit on it for long before they dragged you off the throne!"

Xue Ye had actually not completely given up on Xue Qinghe; after all, he only thought Xue Qinghe was being used by the Spirit Hall and never imagined that the Xue Qinghe before him was not his real son at all.

(End of chapter)