With a sharp crack, Emperor Qiwen’s throne, carved with golden dragons, was split clean in half by a single palm strike!

“Your Highness, please calm your fury! Your Majesty… Your Majesty, please calm down!”

The ministers who had been discussing affairs of state with Emperor Qiwen, now interrupted, were all in a state of panic, unsure of whom to try to placate first.

“A’Jiu, you grow more and more out of line!” Emperor Qiwen’s chest heaved up and down — he truly was furious, angry enough that smoke might as well have been rising from the top of his head.

Throughout all the dynasties in history, just ask — what emperor’s throne had ever been smashed apart so brazenly?

If the Ninth Prince had meant to rebel, that would be one thing — after all, once you’ve decided to rebel, naturally you wouldn’t show the emperor any respect.

But the Ninth Prince wasn’t trying to rebel right now! He was simply throwing a tantrum!

A prince, simply because he’d lost his temper, had actually smashed the Emperor’s very throne to pieces — this… this was simply too much!

Such blatant disrespect — was he truly not afraid that His Majesty might hold him accountable, that the crime might warrant execution?

“How has your brother been out of line? Or is it not Your Majesty’s own Empress who’s been out of line?” Zhan Qingcheng snorted coldly, and with another palm strike, even Emperor Qiwen’s favorite jade folding screen was shattered to pieces, almost reduced entirely to powder!

The Ninth Prince’s martial cultivation was simply terrifying — utterly formidable.

Several ministers exchanged terrified glances, not daring to so much as breathe heavily.

“The Empress has been gravely injured and is still recovering in her chambers. She… she’s already been punished, A’Jiu…”

“Was it Your Majesty who ordered her injured, or was it an injury she brought upon herself by courting death?”

“That—” Emperor Qiwen had no answer. He naturally understood exactly what A’Jiu meant. As for how spineless an emperor he himself had become, did he not already know it himself?

But what could he do? Did he have any better option?

He was incompetent, yes, but who could think it through on his behalf? What was he supposed to do?

The blaze of anger inside Emperor Qiwen instantly turned into helplessness, and into sorrow as well.

In this world, where was anyone who truly understood him, who showed him any consideration?

“A’Jiu, the Empress causes Us trouble, and now you too cause Us trouble. Has either of you ever once considered Our feelings?”

“How has your brother caused Your Majesty trouble? All your brother has destroyed are lifeless objects. What Your Majesty destroyed was a living, innocent person.”

The Ninth Prince truly was furious this time, more so than usual — otherwise, even he himself might not have known he was capable of such a towering rage.

Over all these years, whenever the Ninth Prince grew angry, he would usually simply refuse to attend court for months at a stretch; even when the Emperor personally went to invite him back, it depended entirely on his mood.

But today, he had actually resorted to force directly — no one had ever seen him this furious before.

“A’Jiu… you!”

With a thunderous boom, even the jade chairs that several ministers had just been sitting in were shattered.

Several ministers were scared out of their wits, scrambling every which way; fragments flying off the shattered chairs and tables still struck some of them, the pain nearly bringing tears to their eyes.

But in front of both the Ninth Prince and the Emperor, who would dare actually shed tears? Did they wish to throw their lives away?

“Y-Your Highness, please calm your anger. His Majesty… His Majesty truly had no other choice…”

“Does having no other choice excuse trampling on a human life so carelessly?” Zhan Qingcheng narrowed his eyes and snorted coldly. “If this prince should one day find himself with no other choice, would that mean I too could overturn the very order of this court?”

“Your Highness!” The ministers panicked; two of them even lost their footing and dropped to their knees with a thud.

Such words from the prince… such words… were outright treasonous! How could he say such a thing?

But then, was there anything the prince couldn’t do? If he said he’d overturn the order, then the entire Beimu Kingdom might truly crumble to ash because of him alone!

Emperor Qiwen had never imagined his own younger brother would actually say such a thing. His breathing grew heavy — heavy and ragged — so furious he nearly coughed up blood.

But anger was, in truth, secondary right now. What he felt now was sheer fear.

Never in his wildest thoughts had he imagined that a mere Feng Jiu’er could actually drive A’Jiu to such madness!

The Ninth Prince might be arrogant and overbearing, but he had never been one to say things that shouldn’t be said — simply because he never cared enough to bother.

Yet now, words about overturning the very order of the court — he had actually spoken them in dead earnest.

Everyone might assume he was merely venting his temper, merely speaking in anger. But if you truly knew this Ninth Prince, you’d know he never liked joking around, nor did he like speaking out of mere anger!

If he himself had truly had Feng Jiu’er executed today, then before even tomorrow came, the order of the court might genuinely be overturned by this man.

Emperor Qiwen’s thoughts were in utter chaos, and a wave of weakness washed over him; he wanted to find somewhere to collapse and rest, but in the entire main hall of Yuxiao Hall, there wasn’t even a single intact chair left to sit on.

The Chief Eunuch wanted to step forward and support him, but under the Ninth Prince’s furious gaze, he found that he simply didn’t dare!

“A’Jiu, you… you’ve gone this far…”

“If your brother is guilty of any crime, then that woman in Your Majesty’s harem is guilty of far worse. If Your Majesty wishes to punish your brother, then why not punish her alongside me!”

At the end of it all, what the prince truly wanted was for the Emperor to punish the Empress, nothing more.

But the Emperor had always indulged the Empress — how was he supposed to punish her? If Empress Rong were punished, what would happen if the Nanmeng clan rose up in protest?

“A’Jiu…” Emperor Qiwen was utterly torn.

So all this towering rage today had been, in the end, simply to force him into punishing the Empress.

But he’d grown used to the Empress’s arrogant temper over so many years; to suddenly speak of punishing her now, he himself didn’t even know what grounds to cite.

“The Empress trampled on a human life — disregarding the imperial edict, she had an innocent woman put to execution ahead of schedule, framing the wronged. Now that the Crown Prince has awoken and personally vouched for Feng Jiu’er’s innocence, shouldn’t the Empress bear the consequences for what she’s done?”

As the mother of an entire nation, that she could so casually order punishments and casually take lives — what manner of decorum was that?

“Last night, the Empress sent people to sneak into the dungeon with the intent of humiliating Ninth Miss Feng. It happened that the Seventh Princess managed to stop them in time, but the Empress’s deliberate scheme to harm someone — shouldn’t that be punished as well?”

With another loud crack, even the two ancient, oversized white jade vases standing far off in the hall were shattered.

The ministers’ hearts were all in turmoil — by going directly after the Empress this time, the Ninth Prince was, in effect, taking on the entire Nanmeng clan as well. Was internal strife truly about to break out in earnest?

“A’Jiu…”

“Your brother only asks you this: should she be punished, or not?”

Before Emperor Qiwen’s answer could even leave his lips, there came a sudden boom — the wall not far from him was actually smashed clean through by a blast of palm force, leaving a gaping hole!

Emperor Qiwen jolted in fright — this… this was practically regicide! Had A’Jiu’s palm strike just now been off by even the slightest margin, it would be his own body left with a gaping hole right now!

The ministers, terrified, trembled one after another, dreading that the Ninth Prince might, in a single moment of carelessness, truly take the Emperor’s life.

Outside, the Ninth Prince’s Feilong Shi’er Qi stood guard, and not a single one of the palace guards dared force their way in.

All they could do was let the Ninth Prince vent his fury inside, destroying everything in the hall that could be destroyed, down to the very last piece.

By now, every vase, chair, table, and even folding screen in the hall had been destroyed; with nothing left to vent on, the Ninth Prince had even begun smashing the walls!

Would the next thing to be smashed be a person? Would it be one of them — or… or would it be the Emperor himself?