Chapter 216

Half an hour passed, and Huang Jin's vision was already pitch black; his eyes were half-open and half-closed, his mouth unable to open, and a trickle of saliva flowed out.

After being injured by the Jianwen Emperor outside the palace earlier, he had lost quite a bit of blood, and those two attendants had only roughly treated him without a full recovery. Now he had been disemboweled, and blood was flowing endlessly.

If another cup of tea's time passed, he feared he would truly die from excessive blood loss.

Just as he was gradually falling into despair, suddenly, Attendant Jiang spoke.

"Your Majesty, I found it."

Huang Jin opened his eyes abruptly but dared not make a sound, only casting a pleading look at Attendant Jiang. Attendant Jiang understood, reached out to press on Huang Jin's abdomen, and activated his healing technique to close the flesh, while saying.

"Your Majesty, the Jianwen Emperor indeed buried a strand of alien true energy in Eunuch Huang's dantian."

Huang Jin then understood why the Emperor had suddenly cast his gaze toward his abdomen the moment he saw him, and then called Attendant Jiang to disembowel him.

It turned out that after breaking free from the Jianwen Emperor's illusion, the hunger that had always lingered in his abdomen was not an illusion.

"Oh?"

The Emperor opened his eyes and raised a hand.

"Attendant Jiang, you come."

Attendant Jiang stepped forward to take the Emperor's hand.

"You have the Jiezi Realm and have read through the martial arts of a hundred schools in the palace; you have an understanding of the nature of true energy from various schools."

"You feel it; is there any connection between my true energy and the alien true energy the Jianwen Emperor left in Eunuch Huang's body?"

The Emperor said slowly.

Immediately, a strand of true energy flowed from the Emperor's hand slowly into Attendant Jiang's hand meridians.

"!!!"

Attendant Jiang's expression changed abruptly.

At first, the Emperor's strand of true energy felt extremely pure, showing no unusual characteristics. But when he slowly passed his own true energy over, trying to dismantle this strand of true energy—

The true energy seemed to be awakened, suddenly pouncing up like a hungry wolf, fiercely tearing a piece off his true energy!

Step, step, step, step—

Attendant Jiang retreated abruptly, his face pale; he could no longer care about impropriety before the Emperor, sitting cross-legged on the ground, focusing all his attention on suppressing the true energy that was biting wildly in his meridians.

After a while, he opened his eyes with suspicion and looked at the Emperor.

The Emperor's realm was not low; everyone knew this.

Emperors of past dynasties, even if their aptitude was mediocre, would be piled into top-tier experts by various heavenly treasures and divine martial arts. At the very least, when facing various assassinations, they would not appear too fragile.

But, the Emperor's strand of true energy right now truly shocked Attendant Jiang.

Not to mention the purity of this true energy, it was at least not inferior to Attendant Jiang, who had already cultivated "Sumeru." What truly shocked him was the bizarre performance of this true energy!

"Your Majesty..."

He opened his mouth cautiously.

"The nature of your true energy is something I have truly never heard of. But, I pondered carefully, and your true energy and the Jianwen Emperor's true energy seem to be of the same origin to some extent..."

"They should both be related to the 'Wedding Dress Divine Art,' but since I have never practiced the original version of this divine art, I can only make some rough guesses."

"I know."

The Emperor waved his hand.

"Eunuch Huang has already been punished; let tonight's matter end here. You take him down to treat his wounds."

"Yes."

Attendant Jiang picked up Huang Jin and lowered his head to leave.

The Emperor sat on the couch, thinking with his eyes closed.

There were two cultivation methods in the Jianwen Emperor's hands that year.

One was created by the Taizu Emperor, derived from the Wedding Dress Divine Art, a cultivation method only targeting ordinary Heaven-Man Realm experts.

The other was the cultivation method that caused the Jianwen Emperor to launch the cutting of the feudal lords and hunt down the imperial clan members on a large scale that year, finally leading to the Chengzu Emperor's Jingnan and final success. It was also the cultivation method that could not only absorb Heaven-Man Realm experts but also absorb his own clan members.

No one knew where the Jianwen Emperor's cultivation method came from.

After the Chengzu Emperor sealed the Jianwen Emperor in the tomb, he only left the cultivation method created by the Taizu Emperor to Yin Ruihua and destroyed the Jianwen Emperor's cultivation method.

It was precisely because of this that the Zhu family's clan members gradually flourished after the Chengzu Emperor and gradually recovered their vitality.

The Chengzu Emperor had considered the threat of this cultivation method to the clan members from the beginning. If it came to flourishing, no family in the world could compare with the Zhu family, and no one was more suitable to practice this evil art than the Zhu family members.

And if the world was turbulent, the clan members would have no good outcome; Yin Ruihua complying with the agreement to release the Jianwen Emperor and reshaping the Great Dashuo with the clan members as the price also met the Chengzu Emperor's wishes.

It was just that he ultimately failed to anticipate today's events.

If Yin Ruihua had not rebelled, if Li Miao had not restrained the attendants, if Ji Tianrui had not been able to break into the Imperial Mausoleum, if the Emperor had not ordered the Xiaolingwei not to support...

If any of these points were missing, the Jianwen Emperor would not have broken free.

The Emperor laughed softly.

"Chengzu, oh Chengzu, you truly planned for your descendants for the long term. It's just a pity that even Zhuge Wuhou could not calculate the events after his own death, let alone you."

"Jianwen Emperor..."

The Jianwen Emperor's intention in leaving alien true energy on Huang Jin was obvious.

He wanted to tell the Emperor—the cultivation method is here with me.

Want it?

Come and get it yourself!

Just at this moment, a young eunuch walked in quickly and said softly.

"Your Majesty, Attendant Zhu Yuexin requests an audience."

"Oh?"

The Emperor opened his eyes.

This was one of the eight attendants who went to hunt down the Jianwen Emperor.

"Proclaim him."

"Yes."

The young eunuch left quickly, and a moment later, a person walked in, ragged and covered in blood.

"Your Majesty! The Xiaolingwei colluded with the Jianwen Emperor and set a trap to ambush us! Attendant Zhang and Attendant Liu are dead!"

"We fought to the death and killed three Xiaolingwei Heaven-Man Realm experts, rushing out all the way, and only then were we able to return to report to Your Majesty!"

"Oh?"

The Emperor opened his eyes.

"Since when did the Xiaolingwei become so formidable? Eight attendants, and two were left behind?"

That attendant raised his head abruptly.

"Your Majesty, if it were only the Xiaolingwei, we would not have ended up like this!"

"It was just that while fighting the Xiaolingwei, two people were sneak-attacking in the dark! They injured two attendants with poisoned daggers; the poison was extremely fierce, and the two attendants could not resist, which is why they lost their lives!"

"In my opinion, these two must be Ming Sect rebels! Only the Gu poison of the Miao border could make it difficult for two attendants to resolve!"

The Emperor laughed softly.

"If so."

"Did you see Zhu Shoujing?"

That attendant was stunned, hesitated for a moment, and shook his head.

"No, there are still some oddities about this matter..."

"Speak."

He recounted his experience after entering the Imperial Mausoleum, and the Emperor sneered immediately.

"You have jumped into the Ming Sect's calculations."

The Emperor said lightly.

"No matter how stupid the Xiaolingwei are, they don't have the courage to take the initiative against the imperial court's attendants. It was you who took the initiative to attack after being suspicious and sneak-attacked, right?"

"The person who attacked first was a Ming Sect person."

That attendant reacted abruptly, his face pale.

"Forget it, go down and accept your punishment yourself."

That attendant retreated tremblingly.

The Emperor stood up, got off the couch, and walked toward the front hall.

"Fine, since the Xiaolingwei have done this, they shouldn't be kept."

"The Jianwen Emperor, the Ming Sect, and the Xiaolingwei are all at the Imperial Mausoleum now; it's just right to sweep them all away together."

The Emperor walked into the front hall, scanned the clan members who stood up to salute in unison, and smiled slightly.

"I have ascended the throne for twenty-three years; the day after tomorrow will be twenty-four."

"Twenty-four, Earth-Thunder Return. Yang energy is born, circulating back and forth."

"It just happens to suit my wishes."

(End of chapter)