Chapter 197

Song Xizhi was held by two eunuchs on her shoulders, unable to break free; she gazed at the crown prince's eyes and instantly felt uneasy.

"Crown Prince, don't......" She kept shaking her head, her eyes brimming with pleading.

Zhai Yu had turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the officials standing bowed below.

He first slightly curled his lips, revealing an extremely faint smile, but that smile gradually widened, growing more intense until the veins on his forehead bulged; the emotions surging in his eyes were indistinguishable between grief and fury or despair, making the people below feel creeped out.

Empress Wang stood behind him, unable to see the crown prince's current appearance.

She only waited for Zhai Yu to 'confess guilt' and abdicate, so as to make way for Prince Rui to take the crown prince's position, but she failed to notice the officials' faces suddenly changing below.

The senior officials stared at Zhai Yu's expression, momentarily unable to fathom why he was laughing; those who had been whispering privately instantly fell into silence.

The crown prince before them bore an appearance and demeanor extremely similar to Emperor Xuanwen, and his temperament was the one among the four princes most like the emperor—gentle to the point of near weakness; the senior officials mostly felt disappointed in him.

Now Empress Wang so urgently ordered the imperial guards to escort the crown prince out, her purpose obvious—depose the heir and clear the way for Prince Rui.

People could almost guess the crown prince's choice.

Only the senior tutor standing in the front row, closest, could see that unmistakable resolve in Zhai Yu's eyes; his heart tightened, he instinctively furrowed his brows, about to speak to dissuade him, but it was already too late.

"Listen up!" Zhai Yu suddenly shouted loudly at the officials below, his voice piercing the silence, filled with heart-rending grief and fury: "Father Emperor was not killed by me! It was that poisonous woman, the Empress, who forced him to death in her bid for power and usurpation! I did not commit regicide!"

Before his words faded, he abruptly turned and snatched the sidearm from the waist of the nearby imperial guard.

A cold flash, and the sidearm was already placed horizontally across his neck.

He glared at Empress Wang, his face slightly twisted by extreme fury, yet his voice was unusually firm: "I would rather die... than follow the traitor's will!"

"No!" Song Xizhi screamed.

But the crown prince hesitated not at all, his wrist sinking down sharply—

A spray of blood spattered onto the white jade steps.

The sidearm clanged to the ground, and Zhai Yu's body slowly collapsed. Song Xizhi strained to break free of the eunuchs and lunged toward him.

"Crown Prince, you cannot die, wuu wuu wuu wuu......"

Zhai Yu did not immediately close his eyes, nor did he look at her.

His unfocused gaze swept past the shocked officials below, over the overlapping glazed tiles outside the hall, as if looking toward a distant, unknown place.

A clear tear slid from the corner of his eye, and the corner of his mouth slowly curled into an extremely faint, nostalgic smile as he whispered softly: "Ah Yu... I have come to find you."

Then he slowly closed his eyes, completely breathless.

The imperial guard whose sidearm had been taken reacted, quickly kneeling and daring not to raise his head.

Who could have imagined the crown prince would draw his sword and kill himself? After all, during his house arrest he hadn't even dared to resist.

Empress Wang's cold, beautiful face now appeared unusually icy.

When Song Xizhi met her gaze, she was so frightened that even her sobs stopped; at that moment, only one thought remained in her mind: she must find a way to save her own life.

Perhaps in crisis people always have a flash of wit; a spark lit in her mind, and she suddenly recalled something.

She gathered her courage, crawled on her knees to the Empress's feet, lifted her face, and said: "I, your servant, know a secret; if the Empress spares my life, I will tell it!"

At the same time, twenty thousand elite troops detoured past Yuheng Mountain and quietly marched north, approaching Jingcheng.

As early as when the founding emperor Taizu established the state, the Xuan Iron Army already existed.

At that time they were the most trusted elite guard of the imperial house, loyal only to the Taizu lineage, possessing the strength to defeat a hundred with one.

But as time passed, the prestige of the commander in charge of the troops grew day by day, and his men came to know only the commander, not the imperial authority; then that commander was executed by the imperial house.

Thereafter, the Xuan Iron Army recognized only the tiger tally, not the person; whoever held it, whether royal or official, could mobilize this elite force.

The carriage moved forward slowly with the army.

Beside Shen Shuangning sat Su Wan wearing a veil.

Su Wan's reason for wanting to return to the capital was that she had heard her maternal grandfather was gravely ill, and she wished to see him one last time, secretly, this elder who had doted on her since childhood.

Just then, Su Wan suddenly felt a sharp pain in her chest.

She instinctively covered her chest, her slender brows slightly furrowed, vaguely feeling uneasy.

Seeing this, Shen Shuangning hurriedly asked: "What's wrong?"

Su Wan shook her head: "I don't know either; I just suddenly felt awful inside..."

Her constitution was somewhat weaker than average, so Shen Shuangning, uneasy, immediately reached out to lift the carriage curtain and had someone summon Mu Yu.

Mu Yu quickly rode over, took Su Wan's pulse, and said: "It's nothing serious; a bit of palpitations is normal for your constitution—just rest well."

Su Wan lightly bit her lip: "I keep feeling something bad has happened; could it be... that my maternal grandfather has met with misfortune?" Saying this, her eyes reddened.

Shen Shuangning soothed her with a few words: "Perhaps you're just tired; don't overthink it."

Su Wan nodded and said nothing more.

Mu Yu also, in passing, took Shen Shuangning's pulse.

Xiao Jingyuan had found the netherworld flower; Mu Yu quickly prepared an antidote, so the toxin in Shen Shuangning's body had already been cleared back in Tongzhou, and now she only needs gradual recuperation.

Shen Shuangning also just learned from Mu Yu that her successful detoxification depended entirely on Xiao Jingyuan risking his life to obtain the netherworld flower.

It was precisely because he went to Black Stone Mountain that the toxin originally stable in his body was catalyzed.

Yet Xiao Jingyuan never revealed a word of these matters from beginning to end, as if to him they were merely trivial.

Xiao Jingyuan sometimes has a foul temper, a sharp tongue, and a touch of self-importance, but anyone who underwent his experiences would likely fare worse.

Shen Shuangning clenched her dress, feeling both moved and angry: "But you said the poison I took wouldn't harm my life; why then did he risk himself to do this?"

Mu Yu said: "It won't endanger life, but over time it will affect fertility. The crown prince knows you like children and doesn't want you to have regrets, so he did this."

Shen Shuangning blinked in surprise, never expecting that to be the reason.

She wanted to go find him right away to talk.

But now Xiao Jingyuan is busy deploying his revenge, needing to oppose Empress Wang and the Heavenly Saint Sect; this is the most critical juncture, and going to see him now would only distract him.

Mu Yu glanced covertly at Shen Shuangning. She feared hurting their feelings and dared not say that Xiao Jingyuan might have difficulty fathering children.

The news of the crown prince's suicide was brought back by carrier pigeon and landed in Xiao Jingyuan's hands.

His expression showed no ripple; his gaze fixed only on the news about the Holy Heaven Sect on the letter, a killing aura surrounded him, and only then did he pass the letter to someone else.

Pei Zhi sat on horseback, took the letter he had passed over, and glanced through it in three lines.

The crown prince committed suicide; the empress urgently wanted to enthrone Prince Rui that very day, and the leader of the Holy Heaven Sect, Ouyang Wenti, could not sit still—he had already appeared in Jingcheng.

Pei Zhi glanced at Xiao Jingyuan, saw the intense killing intent in his eyes, and kindly reminded him: "I understand your desire to flay Ouyang Wenti alive, but if you don't suppress your killing intent, you might end up wasting yourself even after avenging your great grudge."

Pei Zhi held the reins with one hand, glanced back, and curled his lips slightly: "I'm just waiting for my chance to rise to power."

Perhaps that last sentence took effect; Xiao Jingyuan's eyes instantly cleared, and he sneered: "Rest assured, even if I died, it wouldn't be your turn."

Having said that, he spurred his horse forward.

Pei Zhi gave a cold snort, ignored his mockery, but his gaze darkened a bit.

Because Jingcheng is currently in chaotic turmoil, with everyone in the court and countryside feeling insecure, no one is paying attention to the fighting at the northwestern frontier.

The Jurchen State went to war with Great Liang; Xie Lin had already returned to Great Liang, was taking command at the frontier to resist the enemy, and was confronting the Jurchen at Yanmen Pass.

With the foreign enemy at hand, Jingcheng cannot remain chaotic any longer; the Black Iron Army led by Xiao Jingyuan has become the key to breaking this deadlock.