“Seize her immediately! Execute at once!”

“Who dares approach!” Qing Xia suddenly turned and stood up, shouting loudly: “Whoever dares take one step forward, I’ll kill his entire family! Even if I die here today, someone will definitely come to seek revenge on you later! Within ten days, I guarantee your families will be destroyed and you’ll all perish!”

“Princess Minrui, the execution time has arrived. You should step down,” Chief Justice Huang of the Supreme Court said in a deep voice. This gentleman was now over eighty years old, a veteran of three dynasties with great prestige in the court. He had never belonged to any faction, which allowed him to survive this turmoil.

Qing Xia turned around and suddenly said loudly: “Minister Huang, as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, you fail to handle matters fairly and wrongly accuse good people. You have failed the people’s trust, failed His Majesty’s great kindness, and failed your own conscience!”

“Audacious shrew! If you dare spout more nonsense here, we’ll arrest you and charge you together!”

Qing Xia’s eyes turned cold as she shouted harshly: “Xu Changling, you barbarian lapdog, spending your days wagging your tail and begging behind savages like livestock. I warn you—if you dare utter another sound today, tomorrow I’ll slice your entire family into jerky, leaving none alive!”

Xu Changling’s face turned iron-blue. Just as he was about to speak, Liao Kai said in a deep voice: “Princess Minrui keeps saying we’re not handling matters fairly, but the cause and effect of this case couldn’t be clearer. The Princess shouldn’t be deceived by treacherous people, speaking recklessly without distinguishing right from wrong.”

“Couldn’t be clearer?” Qing Xia laughed angrily and shouted harshly: “The Three Judicial Commissioners held no proper trial, the Supreme Court conducted no public hearing—just based on you few people’s empty words and random accusations, that’s enough to determine guilt? Traitorous rebels, your hearts deserve death!”

Minister Huang said in a deep voice: “If the Princess has grievances, she can appeal to the Supreme Court. Don’t disturb the order of the execution ground here.”

“Right! I will indeed file charges, but not at the Supreme Court. Today, right here, before the tens of thousands of citizens of Xianyang, before the ancestral spirits of all dynasties of the Great Qin Dynasty, before Heaven and Earth, I will speak clearly about the rights and wrongs of this world, the black and white, the straight and crooked!”

Qing Xia stood on the high platform in her black robe billowing in the wind, her sharp gaze sweeping across the entire scene as she angrily declared: “I first charge the Xianyang Prefectural Office with losing sovereignty and defeating the nation, colluding with barbarians, forming cliques for personal gain, and deceiving their master with treachery!”

Xu Changling raged: “You!”

“I second charge Three Judicial Commissioner Liao Kai with failing to fulfill his duties while in office, pandering to superiors’ wishes, and plotting against the current Prince!” Qing Xia interrupted Xu Changling’s voice and continued harshly: “I third charge the Supreme Court’s eighty-plus legal officers, high and low, with failing to distinguish right from wrong, not discerning truth from falsehood, and inverting justice. I fourth charge Prince Xiang Qin Zhiye with fratricide and patricide, framing others with false accusations, plotting to usurp the throne, colluding with foreign tribes, and betraying ancestors while forgetting his roots!”

“How—how dare you, you shrew—”

Xu Changling was so angry he couldn’t speak. Liao Kai frowned deeply and said sternly to the soldiers: “Seize her quickly!”

Countless black-clothed guards rushed forward. Qing Xia sneered coldly, pointing at the group of soldiers charging toward her, her lips curling mockingly as she said: “I fifth charge you bunch of ungrateful, revenge-for-kindness, pig-brained bastards! I charge you soldiers of the nation with failing to think of serving country and people, knowing right from wrong, knowing the inner workings, yet willingly submitting to tyrannical oppression, willingly serving as tools for traitors, willingly selling your lives to thieves, having no distinction between loyalty and treachery, good and evil, no concept of truth and falsehood, right and wrong—you’re all a bunch of heartless beasts!”

The footsteps stopped abruptly in place. The black-robed, dark-haired woman stood with a pale face and eyes sharp as ice and snow, raising her head to glare angrily at the sky, saying sorrowfully: “I sixth charge this blind Heaven—why must good people suffer while evil people hold power? Heaven doesn’t protect good people but blesses those treacherous ministers—what kind of logic is this?”

“Injustice!” A cry suddenly rang out from behind. Thousands of convicted officials’ family members almost simultaneously wailed loudly, cries of injustice endless.

“Someone is crying injustice!” People in the crowd shouted loudly: “Sirs, someone is crying injustice—by law this should be sent back for retrial!”

“Injustice!” “There should be a retrial—the judgment is unfair, you’re unworthy of being parent-officials!”

The people were stirred up, shouting loudly one after another. Seeing hope for survival, those thousands of officials’ family members cried out even louder.

Xu Changling flew into a rage, his eyes bloodshot. He grabbed all the command tokens from the table and threw them all to the ground with a bang, shouting loudly: “Execute! Execute immediately! What are you all standing around for?”

“Disregarding public opinion! Deceiving the people of the world—how do you deserve to be Xianyang’s parent-official?” Qing Xia gripped the long spear and suddenly hurled it toward Xu Changling. The spear whistled through the air, and with a whoosh, it immediately pierced through Xu Changling’s forehead. A huge bloody hole burst open as Xu Changling’s eyes widened, instantly pinned firmly to the pillar!

With a thunderous sound, everyone fell into chaos. Massive screams rang out simultaneously. Liao Kai and others were splattered with blood all over their heads and faces, and eighty-year-old Minister Huang immediately fainted.

“What are you standing around for? Storm the execution ground!” Qing Xia slashed through Qin Zhiyan’s chains with one blow and stood beside him.

Over two thousand soldiers from the Yan Division had all been hiding among the people. In an instant, they rushed onto the platform and engaged with the confused guards.

Qing Xia pulled Qin Zhiyan and they leaped into the air together, jumping onto the pure black war horse. She slashed down a soldier’s neck with one blade.

Just then, suddenly banners could be seen waving in the distance as countless black-clothed, black-armored guards rushed forward—it was clearly Fourth Prince Qin Zhiye.

“Go!” Qin Zhiyan grasped the reins and spurred toward the western part of the city.

“Zhiyan,” Qing Xia, held in his arms, called urgently: “Go east—I’ve opened the city gates!”

Qin Zhiyan paid no attention, holding Qing Xia tightly as he rode toward the west.

Qin Zhiye followed closely behind, laughing coldly: “I knew someone would come to rescue you. Men, capture this group of rebel traitors in one net. The rest, follow me in pursuit!”

In the distance, the Qin ancestral temple stood tall under the sunlight. Before the magnificent golden palace, there wasn’t a single guard. Qing Xia frowned, about to say something when Qin Zhiyan suddenly reined in his horse and pulled Qing Xia as they rushed inside.

In the massive hall filled with spirit tablets of successive Qin emperors and empresses, before Qing Xia and Qin Zhiyan could reach the inner chamber, Qin Zhiye’s voice suddenly rang out behind them.

“Where does Third Brother still think he can escape to?”

Qin Zhiyan slowly turned around, looking coldly at Qin Zhiye and saying in a deep voice: “Standing before the spirit tablets of our ancestors, do you still not repent?”

“Haha!” Qin Zhiye laughed loudly and said: “I originally considered you the only opponent in the Qin clan, but I didn’t expect your thinking to be so naive. What, even now you want to run here and beg for ancestral protection?”

Qin Zhiyan said in a deep voice: “I can honestly say I’ve never wronged you. Why do you frame me like this?”

Qin Zhiye sneered coldly and waved his hand. Everyone behind him retreated, leaving only over twenty highly skilled personal confidants. Qing Xia saw an opportunity and was about to secretly move forward to kill him, but Qin Zhiyan secretly grasped the corner of her robe from below, preventing her from making any movement.

“Your very existence is a mistake,” Qin Zhiye suddenly said coldly. “I’ve been looked down upon since childhood. In the Qin Palace, no one treated me as human. Even those northern barbarians only regarded me as a weapon that could gain them benefits. I endured humiliation, living worse than pigs and dogs for over ten years before finally achieving today’s position. Which of those wastrel young masters could compare to me? But as long as you exist, my brilliance can never be displayed. When I defeated three thousand river bandits in the southeast, you annihilated thirty thousand Xiongnu in the northern frontier. When I collected ten thousand dan of grain in the southeast, you recaptured one hundred thousand cattle and horses in Xichuan. All court officials and military generals only recognize your command token—I am nothing. Do you know how I’ve endured all these years?”

“But it was also good—having you as a shield in front, the eldest and second brothers would never target me. I’ve been secretly preparing for this day for three years. That stinking woman Lu Huayang was usually very guarded against me. If I hadn’t bribed her messenger and made her think something happened to you, she would never have handed military power to me even unto death. Without the help of your mother Concubine Yao and that group of foolish women, Qin Zhixiang wouldn’t have believed you were imprisoned by Prince Yan and rushed back to Xianyang with northern frontier generals to rescue you. If you hadn’t devoted all your attention to this woman, being confused by a wedding, you wouldn’t have given me an opening. You can only blame yourself for being too indecisive, dragging around a half-dead body while remaining loyally devoted to that incompetent old fool. Otherwise, these vast lands of Great Qin would have been yours long ago.”

Qin Zhiyan frowned deeply and asked in a deep voice: “So you seized the opportunity to kill the Crown Prince, severely wound Father and Mother, frame me, and want to establish yourself as king?”

Qin Zhiye sneered coldly and said disdainfully: “What is Qin Zicheng? Now all court officials believe you killed the Crown Prince. When I kill you, I’ll go back and give him a quick death. Then you father and sons can keep each other company on the road to the underworld, traveling together merrily. With great power in my hands and popular support, why shouldn’t I rule the world?”

“Beast!” An angry shout suddenly rang out. Qing Xia and Qin Zhiye were both startled and looked in amazement to see the Qin King in black brocade robes with dragon crown and magnificent dress, his brow furrowed, emerging angrily from behind the high spirit platform. Behind him followed officials of Northern Qin, large and small, and powerful generals from various regions, all with iron-blue faces, looking coldly at Qin Zhiye with gazes cold as ice.

Qin Zhiye immediately turned pale with shock. The Qin King said angrily: “You beast worse than pigs and dogs—I should have killed you the moment you were born!”

Chief Justice Huang of the Supreme Court shook his head and sighed: “Prince Xuan indeed has keen insight. This old man nearly made a grave error.”

Qin Zhiyan smiled slightly and said: “Minister Huang need not feel guilty. If you hadn’t believed in me and acted in this play with me today, how could the truth have come to light? Minister Huang cleared my name—you are my benefactor.”