Chapter 1896: The transformed Wu Zhao, no longer escaping

She was like being in an abyss, surrounded by thick darkness, looking up at the sky, but unable to see the end at all.

Then, a beam of light appeared.

Gao Yang tore down her edict seeking talent, and with three strategies for governing the country, he turned his hands to clouds and covered them with rain, calming the grain prices in Linjiang City with the force of thunder.

His appearance was like a gale rolling away fallen leaves, like thunder driving away dark clouds, sweeping across the entire Da Qian.

Prince Rong was not a match for a single blow!

The crisis of Da Qian's destruction, with 100,000 Great Chu iron cavalry at the city gates—it was him! Like a god, he stood with his sword and horse, turning the tide!

Subsequently, he proposed strengthening the country through science, washing away filth with soap, shattering powerful enemies with gunpowder, breaking the monopoly of noble families with bamboo paper, and making the Xiongnu tremble with fear with blitzkrieg...

He was like a giant axe that opened up the world, splitting open the chaos, despair, and constraints before her eyes in the most barbaric and dazzling way!

It was light!

Light... shone in.

That was... blinding and scorching light!

This ray of light suddenly pierced through the endless darkness in the depths of her soul!

She was finally relaxed.

From then on, no matter how difficult the world's affairs were, they were nothing more than minor matters.

Her tightly furrowed brows were finally able to relax, and her hand holding the dragon throne's armrest felt relaxed for the first time. The corners of her mouth even began to carry a trace of long-lost peace that she hadn't even noticed herself.

Inside the ancestral shrine.

Wu Zhao's mouth curled up, and her usually cold, stunning face revealed a trace of an imperceptible smile.

Her voice echoed in the ancestral shrine, "It was him... who shared this heavy burden; it was him... who gave this cold dragon throne... the breath of a living person for the first time, a trace of warmth."

"I cannot be without him!"

These six words, like an oath, hit the silent ancestral shrine heavily.

Wu Zhao's phoenix eyes were firm, her fists clenching bit by bit.

"Xiao Yuan is right. The body of an emperor should not be an excuse or reason for escape. I am also flesh and blood; I will also die. I will feel pain when injured, laugh when happy, and cry when sad."

"I... should not escape!"

"He is Wan'er's sweetheart. I will not snatch him, nor do I disdain to use means, because I am the emperor of Da Qian, and I have my own pride!"

"But I should not hide my feelings either. I can be a pair of monarch and subject with him that will be unique for all time, even if a hundred or a thousand years pass, still praised by later generations!"

"Merit overshadowing the master, power overwhelming the court, calling a chicken a phoenix—I don't care, because I trust him! He once bled for me, and I said I would never fail him! This heart, heaven and earth can testify!"

When Wu Zhao said this, she smiled broadly. She stood up slowly, her plain white sleeves fluttering without wind.

On that stunning face, all the haze, hesitation, and fragility were swept away, leaving only a determination and brightness that was ready to burn the boats and never regret even in death! Wu Zhao seemed to have unloaded the shackles she had carried all her life, and her whole person radiated amazing brilliance!

"Father, Zhao'er... has figured it out."

"Thank you, Father, for your guidance."

Wu Zhao bowed deeply to the spirit tablets of the ancestors.

After the ceremony, there was no more hesitation. She turned decisively and pushed open the heavy doors of the ancestral shrine.

At this moment.

The sky broke at dawn.

Dazzling golden-red light broke through the firmament, tearing through the dense night sky at the very top, spilling ten thousand rays of light onto the majestic Da Qian Imperial Palace, and also illuminating Wu Zhao's glowing face.

She stood at the entrance of the ancestral shrine, looking up and bathing in the rising morning sun, the corners of her mouth raised in a smile that was almost brilliant, full of vitality and expectation.

The eunuchs and palace maids waiting outside, catching a glimpse of this scene, were all shocked, as if they had seen a ghost!

His Majesty... is actually smiling?

And smiling so... brightly, ostentatiously, and full of life?

As if overnight, that majestic, solemn, and unfathomable female emperor had a fresh soul replaced in her body!

Xiao Yuan was even more struck by lightning, staring blankly at the figure standing in the morning light, almost unable to believe her eyes.

The emperor who had stepped into the ancestral shrine last night with furrowed brows and heavy thoughts was now like a reborn person, radiating a kind of... desperate, scorching light all over her body?