Chapter 534: A Blazing Heart, the Red Emperor's Inscription!

Emperor Ji Zichang looked at this imperial edict, let out a slow breath, and planned to abdicate the position of emperor, passing it to Qin Wang Li Guanyi; if so, afterward he could naturally take his wife and children and leave this place.

Leave Central Province, leave this turbulent center of the world.

Go to the four corners and see the many splendid sights.

His shoulders relaxed; there was a kind of dazed, quiet feeling, a feeling that after a lifetime of toil, he could finally ease up a little.

But what happened immediately after caught Emperor Ji Zichang somewhat off guard—

He did not gain trust and support.

Both Yan Taibao and Prince Ji Yanzhong showed a trace of an odd expression on their faces.

That expression was bewilderment, disbelief, and the rebuttal that followed right after.

Although they did not speak, the emotion of that rebuttal was so intensely surging.

Such emotion should not have appeared on these two loyal old ministers; Prince Ji Yanzhong was somewhat at a loss, not knowing what to do—he had personally seen the contents of the edict Emperor Ji Zichang had written, and had glimpsed certain things.

He wanted to obey Emperor Ji Zichang's command as in days past, but this time, his feet, no matter what, could not move again—he had been born young into the Red Emperor's lineage, bathed in the glory of the Red Emperor in his youth.

So that even now, nearly a hundred years later, his life, his experience, his principles and his way of seeing the world had all grown up revolving around that one ancient, majestic, glorious, rotting Red Emperor lineage.

He could help Li Guanyi.

He could regard Li Guanyi as the pillar of Central Province; his experience and background also let him see that the world would surely be at peace in the future, and that the Red Emperor's line would lose its identity as the common lord of all under heaven.

But the two words "abdication" were still so glaring.

Almost from the depths of his heart and on the level of instinct, he felt resistance.

Yan Taibao's reaction was even more aggressive and direct; he stepped forward half a pace, seized Emperor Ji Zichang's sleeve, and said urgently: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, what are you doing?! Abdicating the throne to Li Guanyi?!"

The old man was grief-stricken to the extreme, and said loudly:

"How could you do such a treasonous thing!"

Emperor Ji Zichang looked at him, feeling his thoughts stall for an instant.

Like when walking steadily downhill, one foot stepped into empty air—that sudden weightlessness almost made him dizzy; this caused Emperor Ji Zichang's face to show no expression or change, as he said: "... Teacher, what do you mean?"

Yan Taibao snatched the edict from Prince Ji Yanzhong's hands.

The old imperial clansman at the peak of the Seventh Heaven did not struggle, did not resist.

He simply let a scholar whose Wu Gong realm was far beneath his own take the edict away.

Yan Taibao retreated several steps, knelt on the ground, held the edict in both hands, and said in a stern voice:

"Your Majesty, do you intend to hand over the ancestral realm and the world to an outsider?!"

"What are you doing?!"

"Our great Red Emperor lineage is merely slightly ailing; Your Majesty already possesses the magnanimity of a sovereign. You need only exert yourself in governance, employ worthy ministers and good generals, and one day you can restore the dynasty; when the time comes and the world is unified, is that not within reach?!"

"Why must you, in such a posture, hand over the dignity of the Red Emperor lineage to Qin Wang?!"

"Is Your Majesty intending to cast Qin Wang into a position of disloyalty and unrighteousness?!"

Emperor Ji Zichang said slowly: "Qin Wang, too, is disloyal and unrighteous?!"

Yan Taibao said decisively: "If he is to take the throne of the Red Emperor lineage, then Qin Wang and the Ying Emperor are no different—both—"

"Disloyal and unrighteous!"

In that instant, Emperor Ji Zichang felt a hollowness, felt an alienation as if all the blood in his body had been drained clean.

He had struggled to the very end.

But it was precisely because he had fought to the very end that he realized.

It turned out there had never truly been companions or support beside him; they were all 'of one bunch,' after all.

Yan Taibao stepped forward:

"Qin Wang is loyal and good; in the end, he can support the Red Emperor lineage's rule over the world."

Emperor Ji Zichang looked at this true loyal minister and good chancellor, this mentor and friend, and at the silent, guilty, gentle elder Prince Ji Yanzhong; in that instant, the world's deviation revealed itself before him.

He heard himself ask: "... If the world is like this, what should be done?"

Yan Taibao wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, and said in a thundering voice like Lei Ting: "The Red Emperor lineage's dynasty endures long; its grand, majestic momentum has already been branded into the hearts of all under heaven—how could it be erased by a mere decade or so of valor and campaigning by one generation?!"

"The throne need not be passed on; you can rely on Qin Wang's loyalty, rely on the world's men of virtue and ambition, and walk shoulder to shoulder. Your Majesty should keep the flattering villains at a distance and draw near the worthy and loyal, exert yourself in governance, and you can turn the peril of the realm into safety."

Emperor Ji Zichang said slowly:

"But now, the world has already changed; Jiang Wanxiang masses his troops before us."

"Where is there any possibility of exerting oneself in governance?!"

Yan Taibao suddenly said: "There is still the Princess!"

Emperor Ji Zichang was startled: "What?!"

Yan Taibao said: "The Princess is also Your Majesty's child, also of the Red Emperor's bloodline, possessing the bloodline and inheritance of the 【Eight Hundred Year Red Emperor】; if she marries, the child she bears can also bear the Red Emperor's name and authority."

"Change the surname to Ji, return to the old capital, overturn the name of Qin, and it will still be the Red Emperor."

"Yes, bloodline, and inheritance, that is power."

"It is endless renewal!"

"The Red Emperor can still be reborn!"

"Eight hundred years unbroken, a thousand years unceasing—as long as the orthodox line of the Red Emperor still exists, as long as the Red Emperor's blood flows on like the ancient Crimson Dragon, stretching unbroken into later generations—even a thousand, two thousand years from now, this orthodoxy will still be here!"

"Still the Red Emperor lineage!"

"Still the seat of the great righteousness, our Red Emperor lineage."

"Still unbroken."

"Still—undying!!!"

"Undying!"

Yan Taibao looked at Emperor Ji Zichang with the utmost sincerity; Prince Ji Yanzhong also looked at him. The candle flame on the table suddenly wavered, its light and shadow falling around them; on Yan Taibao and Prince Ji Yanzhong, it was as if a layer of shadow draped over them, the shadow hanging down like threads, merging with the world.

Emperor Ji Zichang turned his head, looking toward the great hall's doors.

When he stood at the high place looking down, he saw carriages and horses like a dragon, lanterns bright as day, set against the night, which instead gave off a dim, gloomy feeling, and within that gloom, those flattering ministers, those traitorous rebels.

The loyal ministers, the worthy generals before his eyes.

On their bodies, as if there appeared one by one golden-red threads, the threads swaying in the fire, the threads spreading upward, finally as if hidden within the shadows, the twisted fate of the 【Eight Hundred Year Scarlet Emperor】 dynasty was grasped in its claws.

In a daze.

Loyal ministers and worthy generals, treacherous ministers and traitorous rebels, were no different, all like wearing those great-play masks painted red and white, prostrating themselves before, before the dragon throne, before the imperial seat, flames flowing, shadows swaying, lifting their eyes to look, in wordless silence, as if ten thousand people cried out in unison.

The line of the Scarlet Emperor, unbroken, unextinguished, undying!

Even in death, still to be reborn from the fire!

So-called loyalty and goodness.

Two sides of one body.

In truth all clung to that twisted, enormous thing, filled with bloodline and the righteousness of legitimacy, the Eight Hundred Year Scarlet Emperor's realm, and when you wished to escape from within this twisted shadow, both loyal ministers and traitorous ministers bound you with their ropes.

Using years as chains, using bloodline as rope, binding the hands, tightening around the throat, then dragging you back with all their might, dragging you back to that golden audience hall, walking to the highest place, the sovereign sitting in the high place, beneath the imperial robe, wrapped in golden chains.

It was not goodness.

It was not loyalty or treachery.

In the end, all were nothing more than Chancellor Chen Fu beneath hierarchy.

The ministers of the old era, whether loyal or traitorous, still clung to dreams of enjoying rotting flesh atop great righteousness; what they upheld was the interest of the entire class position.

To wish to betray this position, even the sovereign himself would be bound.

Emperor Ji Zichang suddenly understood.

He suddenly truly understood everything…

What exactly was the shadow shrouding his fate.

It was not the noble families, not the treacherous ministers, not the rebel faction.

It was the Eight Hundred Year Scarlet Emperor's glory.

It was that brilliant, glorious past and the realm itself.

It was the radiance and splendor that he himself enjoyed.

Emperor Ji Zichang's lips trembled, realizing that he absolutely could not step out of this shadow either; Yan Taibao knelt on the ground, both hands holding up the imperial edict, the white-haired loyal minister, the great minister, had lived from birth beneath the shroud of the Eight Hundred Year Scarlet Emperor.

He truly felt from the heart that it could not be done this way, to abdicate, and choked back sobs as he kowtowed.

He raised the imperial edict in his hands.

"Please Your Majesty, withdraw this command!"

Emperor Ji Zichang looked at Prince Ji Yanzhong; this kind, benevolent old man turned his head away, not daring to meet his sovereign's gaze; after a long, long time, having truly faced the helpless, despairing side of this realm, seeing the surging Emperor Ji Zichang fall silent, he said:

"Very well, bring the edict here…"

He took the edict he himself had written.

At this moment, Emperor Ji Zichang, bound by good and evil loyal ministers, suddenly understood the pity in Jiang Wanxiang's eyes, and the weight of that phrase about letting Your Majesty find release; he looked at the edict, at his own dream, his own longing, his own ideal.

In the end, he exerted force with both arms.

He tore the edict into pieces.

The Emperor was merely a rope of the 【Eight Hundred Year Scarlet Emperor】 dynasty's realm.

Beneath the shadow of this 【Eight Hundred Year Scarlet Emperor】, it seemed countless indistinct faces watched Emperor Ji Zichang, watched him tear the edict, watched this generation's Scarlet Emperor tear the unreachable dream of the individual named 【Emperor Ji Zichang】 into fragments.

The jade shaft of the edict fell to the ground, emitting a crisp sound.

That dream drifted down, like the promised snowflakes of the Northern Domain.

The realm and fate are truly cruel, Apothecary.

He always pushes people toward being each other's enemies, onto roads where they cannot walk together, nor wish to walk.

Thus the Scarlet Emperor said: "What the two beloved ministers have said is most fitting."

The Scarlet Emperor closed his eyes for a moment, picked up the brush, and wrote a new edict; this time, it was only a few large characters written in one flowing stroke, utterly simple; Yan Taibao kneeling on the ground, and Prince Ji Yanzhong with lowered head, saw this edict that most likely contained only a few characters.

The Scarlet Emperor folded the edict shut, and took back the Scarlet Emperor's Great Seal.

"Then, this seal shall not be given to him."

"For Imperial Uncle to deliver this edict to him is what I have to say to him."

Thus the loyal minister was overjoyed, and only then withdrew.

Prince Ji Yanzhong held this edict, his lips moved, unable to speak; he was a very good man, of gentle temperament, who would not implicate the innocent, but he too was someone who had grown up from childhood beneath the Scarlet Emperor's radiance.

He said decisively: "…This matter being thus, additionally."

The Scarlet Emperor was silent for a moment, then said: "Ning'er is still young, just a little over two years old; no matter what, she should not remain here, to be placed under house arrest together with me; let Imperial Uncle take her away, and send her to her foster father."

Prince Ji Yanzhong felt guilty in his heart, and without the slightest hesitation agreed.

"That child is very good; even if this old man must fight with all his might, spend this entire life of his, he will absolutely protect her safely!"

The Scarlet Emperor nodded and said: "Thank you for your trouble…"

"Jiang Wanxiang of the State of Ying, and there are also famous generals Yuwen Lie, He Ruo Qinhu; although Imperial Uncle's Wu Gong is strong, to wish to leave the Central Province carrying the edict and Ning'er through such an encirclement is no simple matter."

"I will think of a way to help you buy time."

"To create an opportunity."

Prince Ji Yanzhong said: "Yes."

Prince Ji Yanzhong departed; afterward, the Scarlet Emperor left the imperial palace, strolling forward; General Yuwen Lie, holding his long spear, opened his eyes; beneath the moonlight, the famous general's bearing was lofty and proudly aloof, like a fierce tiger; he merely nodded slightly and said: "Scarlet Emperor, Your Majesty."

The elite Tiger Barbarian cavalry behind him stirred into action, using their weapons to form a defensive battle array, blocking the road ahead, to prevent Emperor Ji Zichang from making any move that might cause some accident; every change happened in an instant.

The Scarlet Emperor's expression was indifferent: "What Jiang Wanxiang has spoken of is of great consequence; I cannot yet accept it; even if I accepted it, the officials and common people beneath this 【Eight Hundred Year Scarlet Emperor】 may not necessarily accept it; three days from now."

"At the great hall, I shall invite the assembled ministers and officials, the various masters and palace masters of the Academy, to discuss this matter together."

Yuwen Lie's eyes were piercing, sizing up the Red Emperor from head to toe, and said:

"Good… Since the Red Emperor has such resolve, that is naturally for the best."

"Regardless, Your Majesty's magnanimity is grand; it certainly will not harm Your Majesty."

The Red Emperor merely nodded faintly.

He walked alone through this ancient, grand, magnificent yet silent palace. The heavens were like an endless night, and in the distance, the carriages and lanterns of the assembled ministers and officials were bright and clamorous. In this wordless place, the worries of loyal ministers and good generals murmured within their hearts.

The Red Emperor's footsteps were quiet, one step at a time.

At last he walked across the imperial way, walked across the road where Qin Wang had executed the imperial clan, climbed step after step of jade stairs, and stood at a high place, his sleeves billowing. He saw a lantern ahead, and Consort Wen, her expression gentle, looked at him.

Among the countless worldly lanterns in this palace, one had been left for him.

His heart softened.

Everyone has their own thoughts, everyone has their own schemes, and also their own fears, their own obsessions.

This night was especially long. The Red Emperor summoned the bloodline members of the Red Emperor's clan—regardless of age or gender, anyone who carried the Red Emperor's blood came—and they drank together, discussing the affairs of the realm.

This continued unabated for three days. The clan members felt that this untamed, tradition-defying rebel had finally submitted, and so they rejoiced greatly, fantasizing about the future realm and its possibilities, fantasizing about the authority and wealth the Great Ying Kingdom would bestow.

On the final day, when the sky at the horizon had just begun to brighten and a sliver of fish-belly white rose, this ancient, magnificent Zhongzhou also gradually awakened. In their waking, people greeted one another.

Today His Majesty seemed to have an important matter to proclaim.

The Red Emperor opened the entire imperial palace. If the common people wished to observe the ceremony, they too could attend according to propriety. On this day, all the officials wore their finest robes, and the nobility brought out their ancestors' weapons, advancing slowly like ants beneath a great dragon's claws.

The Red Emperor stood before the innermost, most towering and solemn great hall. This building was as if the very existence of 【Eight Hundred Years of Red Emperor】 had taken corporeal form, looking down upon him.

Not all the officials had come; they were all stopped outside this special palace. This place was where the ancestral spirit tablets of the Red Emperor's eight-hundred-year dynasty were enshrined. The current Red Emperor, Wen Wan'er on his arm, gazed quietly at these spirit tablets one by one.

The lords of every generation, as if standing in shadow, expressionless, like ghostly faces painted on white paper—rigid and saintly—looked at the current Red Emperor. The current Red Emperor looked at these ancestral tablets, lit a stick of incense, and watched the pale smoke curl upward.

"The eight-hundred-year Red Emperor ancestors above…"

"A later-generation descendant, bringing his wife Wan'er, today must once more do something that violates propriety."

His body trembled slightly from fear.

But watching the curling smoke, his body gradually calmed.

Jiang Wanxiang, wearing the dynasty's ceremonial robes, stood outside and said: "Your Majesty, this old servant has come!"

Fate has arrived!

Behind Jiang Wanxiang, the assembled ministers and officials took their places in formation, towering, solemn, and cold. Gongyang Su Wang and Fire Qilin hid among the common people. And under the gaze of all the people of Zhongzhou, the Red Emperor raised his eyes, looked into the distance, and said unhurriedly:

"The people of Zhongzhou have come in great numbers."

"And that makes for perfect witnesses!"

The Zhongzhou imperial clan was about to speak, but at this moment, the Zhongzhou clan members suddenly changed color. Before they could open their mouths, they suddenly vomited fresh blood, each mouthful tinged with black—clearly they had been poisoned. Several died on the spot.

In the blink of an eye, a whole swath of them had perished.

They suddenly froze, then looked at the Red Emperor within the curling smoke, and realized: "It's, it's poison!!!"

"It's…"

"Ji Zichang, how could you be so vicious!!!"

An old man clutched his grandson, coughing up fresh blood, and shouted: "You made all the core bloodline of the Red Emperor drink, and it was poison?!! You, what are you doing!"

Yan Taibao's mind reeled. He rose and stepped forward two paces, feeling dizzy, watching the entire Red Emperor bloodline collapse, vomiting fresh blood. Those clan members who had fought for profit and contended with the current Red Emperor for over twenty years—all coughed up blood and perished.

Regardless of age, regardless of gender.

The current Red Emperor's hand clenched tight, his sleeves billowing, and he said: "Jiang Wanxiang, do you know what true peace is?"

Jiang Wanxiang looked at this monarch he had judged to lack magnanimity. The current Red Emperor said softly: "As my teacher said, the Red Emperor bloodline has had eight hundred years of glory, with interruptions in between, and also revivals. If you wish to borrow the Red Emperor's name, then what of those who come after…"

"The Red Emperor bloodline still lives."

"Eight hundred years, a thousand years, two thousand years from now, the Red Emperor bloodline will still exist—undying, unextinguished, unbroken—like a monster, twisted and rotting, yet still alive, like the most useful banner for raising chaos in troubled times!"

"There will still be people, those with ambition in their hearts, who will wrap themselves in the Red Emperor's blood and continue to gallop across the realm, still stirring the hearts of the people, still claiming to be the orthodox line. But this is not your fault—eight hundred years of turmoil, eight hundred years of Red Emperor."

"That name has become like a brand, seared into the hearts of the people."

"Today you wrap yourself in the Son of Heaven, tomorrow he wraps himself in an imperial grandson. The orthodoxy of the eight-hundred-year Red Emperor bloodline—this shadow hanging over the realm—is a perfect excuse, a perfect reason, a perfect tradition. The Red Emperor bloodline has lingered on in its death throes more than once."

"I know…"

Gongyang Su Wang's expression froze. He watched the current Red Emperor extend his hand, the twelve-tasseled imperial crown hanging down. The Red Emperor looked at the common people ahead, and suddenly smiled. That fear, that fear rising from within, suddenly vanished, and he said calmly:

"Eight hundred years ago, the Red Emperor took up a three-foot sword and accomplished unprecedented merit, and thus this dynasty was founded."

"Eight hundred years later, through life and death many times."

"Is this not the Mandate of Heaven?!"

"How could it end in decline?!"

"If you want the realm, then seize it with blade and sword to your heart's content!"

He had already understood—whether by abdication or by usurpation, there was no difference.

The latter is beyond doubt: the usurper is a rebel. But the one who receives the abdication is equally a rebel. There will equally be loyal ministers, there will be ambitious men shrouded by the eight-hundred-year Red Emperor, who will rise again in the name of punishing the rebel.

Yes, you and I alike, we each have our own destiny.

You open an age of peace; I, pacify the troubled times.

The grass and trees of the grassland burn to ash, and the next year the earth returns to spring.

He saw once more, many years ago, the youth and the young man drinking wine beneath the great tree. He smiled, raised his head, watched the curling pale smoke, watched those spirit tablets as if they had transformed into strange beasts in the shadows, extending hands to entangle the loyal ministers and officials, reaching to seize him.

"I will not run, honored ancestral Red Emperors."

The current Red Emperor smiled.

"I have enjoyed your protection, enjoyed your glory—how could I run?"

The curling smoke suddenly belched forth a terrifying blaze. The flames surged, directly engulfing this nine-story tall hall entirely. The terrifying conflagration blazed skyward, illuminating the heavens and earth.

All the ancestral tablets of the Red Emperor bloodline were here, burning in the flames.

The Gongyang Su Wang's expression changed abruptly; Jiang Wanxiang looked up, stunned and dazed.

He instinctively blocked Yuwen Lie, who sought to extinguish the flames.

"It's the fire of destiny!"

Thus, the Red Emperor stood silently amid the flames.

Thus, Emperor Ji Zichang thought.

As long as the eight-hundred-year lineage of the Red Emperor had not been extinguished, true peace could never be attained; the dead of the past still bound the souls of the future, and only upon the ashes burned clean could a new path emerge.

Yet…

He looked at the woman who had always followed him; Lady Wen Imperial Consort gazed at him, reached out, and took Ji Zichang's hand; Ji Zichang gently embraced her and whispered:

"I truly wish to leave with you."

"Back then, we would have ruled the world together, left this cramped Zhongzhou, seen the waters of Jiangnan, the grasslands of the Northern Realms, watched the desert's smoke and sunset in the Western Frontier, beheld the most boundless starry river."

"When we finally stepped out, all these rivers and mountains, all the scenery under heaven—I'll walk with you to see it all, until we're old, then find a quiet place in this peaceful era, watching sunrise and sunset, watching all things grow."

"Leave the child to Guanyi."

"Watch him frown in despair from caring for the child, then watch the child grow up, our hair turn white, see our sixteen- or seventeen-year-old daughter chasing after her adopted father for lucky money, and we'll just sit there, laughing—only laughing…"

"Too bad…"

Lady Wen Wan'er's face was streaked with tears, yet she smiled:

"Wherever you go, I'll go with you."

Ji Zichang laughed. This king, who had not slept in days, who had struggled and feared ceaselessly, embraced his wife, turned his side, and gazed at the ministers and officials outside; the flames had already been ignited, exploding layer upon layer upward.

The eight-hundred-year lineage of the Red Emperor, the scrolls bearing the names of the imperial clan, the ancestral tablets of every past emperor—all perished in the flames; the nine-tiered treasure tower stood like a sword piercing the heavens.

The vast sky was entirely crimson.

This was—

Chixiao.

The true Chixiao.

Boom!!!

Flames surged wildly.

Thus, thus, the destiny-fire that destroyed a dynasty rose, transforming into a crimson divine dragon, coiling above the nine-story tower, lifting its head to roar.

Thus, all direct-line descendants of the Red Emperor died from Ji Zichang's poisoned wine; before the eyes of the people of Zhongzhou, the eight-hundred-year lineage of the Red Emperor bid farewell to the world in a grand and resolute manner, its curtain falling.

No abdication. No surrender.

The king burned himself, erasing the entire lineage.

Clean. Complete. Utterly satisfying!

That brilliant, magnificent, radiant yet rotten and unsustainable lineage of the Red Emperor began one afternoon with the dream of a mud-stained peasant, and ended eight hundred years later in the blazing fire of its final Red Emperor.

Thus, Ji Zichang finally looked down upon the world, gazed at his distant friend, and softly said: Master Yao, when this news reaches you, you may find everything has unfolded beyond your expectations.

I am not dying for my country. I am not being forced to abdicate.

Rather, the glory of the eight-hundred-year lineage of the Red Emperor must be ended by my own hand.

No matter. No matter.

The world still exists.

May you…

He suddenly recalled a wine feast years ago, when, after drinking, he had squinted as the wind blew past—what a true dream it had been.

May you—

Be at peace.

That peaceful world—you must watch it for me.

Ji Zichang looked at the ministers, calm and commanding: "I am weary."

"All of you… withdraw!"

His sleeves swept aside, then he embraced his wife, step by step, walking into the flames that nearly consumed all; within the fire, their lives seemed reflected—from this moment, to their youth, to their final childhood meeting.

At first, strangers; later, inseparable—only a smile in the fire.

"Your Majesty, are you afraid?"

The last Red Emperor smiled contentedly, eyes half-closed, whispering:

"I lived as myself…"

"It was enough."

His internal energy protected himself and his wife; finally, his inner qi shattered, and the unique destiny-fire consumed them both; the deep crimson dragon surged skyward, then finally dispersed.

The last Red Emperor, Ji Zichang, burned himself alive.

The eight-hundred-year lineage of the Red Emperor began with the slaying of a serpent, ended with Chixiao.

A beginning. An end.

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