The sound of his voice reached his ears.

Shu Jian finally awakened from the scene that had shocked him almost to the point of losing his soul just moments before.

He only knew that his third imperial uncle possessed the ability to pacify the realm with his pen. He also knew how he had eliminated the likes of Prince Gao and Prince Cheng. The impression he gave Shu Jian was of deeply concealed brilliance. Shu Jian had never imagined that he would end all the scheming and conspiracies in such a manner at today’s court session—donning armor and wielding a blade.

Just as he witnessed before his eyes: under bright light, not even dust could hide.

Indeed, in his presence, he had never had any secrets. Perhaps even the darkest things in the deepest recesses of his heart—things he deliberately refused to contemplate-had—had long ago been completely perceived by him.

Shu Jian gazed across the light at those eyes opposite him. At this moment, an overwhelming sense of shame welled up in his heart, to the point of having nowhere to hide his face. Yet simultaneously, he was seized by another emotion.

His hands had been desperately gripping the edges of the throne beneath him ever since the moment Shu Shenhui had beheaded Gao He before the hundred officials and himself.

This throne had edges crafted from gold, yet its feel was extremely uncomfortable. At this moment, he sat rigidly upon it, the golden edges already covered with cold sweat from his palms. His fingers were almost slipping, unable to maintain their grip.

He replied: “I admit it—I did station men outside the hall. Now, how will you deal with me?”

When he finally spoke these words, he suddenly felt relieved. The bonds seemed to fall away from him all at once.

No more self-deception.

He had originally blamed everything on others, as if today’s situation had nothing to do with him. He was merely being pushed by those forces behind him, forced to reach this point against his will.

But at this moment, he understood.

Initially, it was Lan Rong who came before him with slander and malicious accusations. Then on New Year’s Eve night, he learned that such an edict actually existed in this world. After that, his third imperial uncle faced him directly, asking what was going on.

There had been countless opportunities—if he had truly trusted the person before him without reservation, he should have told him the truth long ago.

But he hadn’t.

This seat beneath him, perhaps, truly possessed infinite power to seduce human hearts. If he had never sat upon it, then the person before him would forever remain that relative who held an even higher position in his heart than the late emperor. But he had sat upon it, and more unfortunately, he had witnessed the vast and boundless rivers and mountains, learned what it meant to have supreme glory, absolute power to rule over everything, and even the opportunity to achieve immortal merit, create cosmic achievements, and seek the welfare of countless subjects—all these aspirations belonged to whoever sat in this position.

When the imperial palace was no longer a cage for him, he discovered that beside him there had always been another person who could easily cast him down and take his place. Could he truly remain without any grudge, unchanged in his original intentions?

He could no longer do it.

Even the deepest trust would become so fragile in the face of the fear of losing all this.

Perhaps the first time, when Lan Rong came before him, pointing out this possibility, beneath his angry exterior, the seed of fear had already been planted in his heart. In his hesitant silence, he allowed the world’s slander of this man to grow from a few weak voices into a storm, yet he pushed all blame onto others.

He was merely deceiving himself. As if this could lighten the sense of guilt in his heart.

Shu Jian suddenly left his seat and stood up, his eyes red, looking at the person opposite him, saying again: “Third Imperial Uncle, dare you say you have never had the slightest selfish thought, never had the slightest desire to be emperor?”

“Now! What do you want to do?”

He repeated his earlier words, his entire body beginning to tremble uncontrollably. He stood with difficulty, watching as the person opposite suddenly began walking toward him. When he passed through that band of light separating the two of them, his figure seemed like a sword cleaving through water—after he passed, the water quickly merged back together. He began ascending the crimson steps.

As he drew closer and closer, the pressure emanating from his body seemed to grow greater and greater. Shu Jian trembled even more violently, staring at his lapel. It was stained with filthy blood—the next moment, Shu Shenhui stopped before him, reaching out his hand, raising his arm, placing his palm on his still somewhat thin shoulder, pressing down gently.

All strength seemed to have left Shu Jian’s body. Under the pressure, he sat back down at once.

“Your Majesty, you want to take power and be a true emperor. All your concerns are reasonable. Human hearts are unpredictable, and emperors are solitary—these are all things this subject taught you before. You have done nothing wrong.”

He spoke slowly.

Shu Jian was astonished, hardly daring to believe his ears. He slowly raised his face and heard him say: “After the New Year, all matters emerged at once, not to mention Your Majesty still had the late emperor’s dying command hanging over you. Under such heavy pressure, it was truly not easy. Moreover, this subject is very grateful to Your Majesty—at the New Year’s grand court, Your Majesty not only didn’t act according to the late emperor’s command but continued to let this subject occupy the position of regent. Yet this subject committed the crime of disobedience, failing to consider Your Majesty first and insisting on war. If the military campaign had been delayed that day, perhaps we wouldn’t have reached this point today.”

“As I said before, Your Majesty has done nothing wrong—the fault lies with this subject.”

He looked at Shu Jian and said this again at the end.

“As for today—”

He paused, turning his face to glance at the large pool of shocking blood on the hall floor below. “Today’s events are an even greater capital crime committed by this subject. Earlier, this subject told the court ministers that afterward, this subject would give Your Majesty an explanation. These are the subject’s heartfelt words, but not now. This subject requests that Your Majesty give this subject a little more time. This subject can swear to heaven that when Changning finishes this battle and recovers Youyan, when this subject completes the Sacred Martial Emperor’s dying wish on his behalf, on that day, this subject will certainly give Your Majesty a satisfactory explanation.”

His tone was calm, just like his expression at this moment, but the words he spoke were delivered word by word, with resounding force.

Shu Jian’s heartbeat suddenly accelerated.

“Your Majesty,” that person’s face remained calm as he continued.

“The Jiang family’s loyalty to Great Wei, Changning’s sincerity toward Your Majesty—Your Majesty surely understands this clearly. As for this subject making her princess consort, the causes and effects, as well as this subject’s original intentions, Your Majesty should understand better than anyone. She was merely forced to submit and marry this subject as his wife. Between this subject and her, there is not the slightest conjugal affection to speak of. This subject might as well speak—in her heart, there is someone else to whom she belongs.”

“When this subject originally asked the Worthy Prince to take betrothal gifts to Yanmen to propose marriage, the betrothal gift was a waist saber that the Sacred Martial Emperor had bestowed upon this subject in earlier years—Your Majesty should also know of this. It had accompanied the Sacred Martial Emperor through campaigns north and south, but unfortunately, before it could drink barbarian blood, the Sacred Martial Emperor departed this world. This subject used this blade as the betrothal gift with this very purpose—to let the Jiang father and daughter know they were fulfilling the Sacred Martial Emperor’s dying command on his behalf. Not only that, before the Worthy Prince departed to propose marriage on this subject’s behalf, this subject had long ago placed a divorce document inside the blade’s handle.”

“Though Changning is nominally this subject’s wife, from beginning to end, she has merely been someone this subject used. Once the purpose is achieved, this subject and she, or she and this subject, are completely unrelated to each other.”

Shu Jian was utterly astonished.

“Your Majesty, a centipede dies hard—how much more so something as powerful as the Beidi. Even if we succeed in recovering Youyan this time, it is merely the beginning of our Great Wei securing the northern gateway. In the future, she will again expel enemy invaders for Your Majesty, breaking through ten thousand li to the north. Given time, Your Majesty will surely realize your aspirations, create immortal achievements, and become an even more accomplished emperor than Your Majesty’s imperial grandfather, opening an unprecedented era of peace and prosperity for our Great Wei, making all four directions—east, west, south, and north—come to pay tribute!”

“This subject believes Your Majesty can certainly achieve this.”

Finally, he looked at Shu Jian on the throne and spoke thus.

By this point, Shu Jian was completely stunned.

He sat motionless, having lost all reaction.

Shu Shenhui calmly descended the crimson steps. Finally, he bowed toward the young emperor on the throne, solemnly kowtowing, rose, stepped back a few paces, then turned and strode out of the great hall as usual.

After such earth-shaking changes occurred at the court session, how could the hundred officials simply leave? Most were still gathered in the plaza outside the great hall where they had waited for court to begin, anxiously waiting and wondering how things would end. The Worthy Prince was especially worried, gazing ahead, when he suddenly saw a figure emerge from within the hall. He hurried forward quickly, with the others following.

Shu Shenhui stopped and stood upon the crimson steps, addressing the crowd of ministers below who held their breath: “This prince has submitted evidence of Gao He’s crimes to His Majesty. His Majesty has graciously forgiven and not held this prince’s impulsive actions against him. Now that the treacherous ministers in court have been eliminated, this prince will lead all you ministers to continue serving His Majesty together. From now on, we shall be united in purpose.”

“There is nothing more here. All of you return to your offices to work.”

With these words, everyone’s minds became crystal clear.

Who could have anticipated that Gao He would be beheaded in such a manner? The shock created by that head rolling across the floor was incomparable.

At this point, even if the so-called edict from Emperor Ming that Consort Dunyi had ranted about was real, so what? With no one able to execute it, it was no different from a piece of waste paper.

Having lost his greatest support, the young emperor had been firmly controlled by the Regent Prince.

Today would be a turning point.

From now on, there would be no more dissenting voices in the court.

Everyone secretly glanced at the interior of the great hall behind him. In Chang’an’s late spring season, the sunlight had turned brilliant. But looking in from here, the interior was all deep shadows—nothing could be seen.

No one said another word. Trembling with fear and reverence, they all acknowledged and then turned to leave separately. At this time, Chen Lun also hurried in from outside the palace.

Shu Shenhui nodded slightly to him, indicating he should wait a moment, and looked toward the Worthy Prince.

The Worthy Prince’s mind was still in complete turmoil. He felt things couldn’t be as simple as he had just described. He glanced toward the great hall and asked in a low voice: “Your Highness, is everything truly all right?”

Shu Shenhui smiled: “What could be wrong? Imperial Uncle need not worry overmuch. Earlier, it was merely treacherous villains sowing discord. Now that the evil ringleader has been eliminated, His Majesty and I have resolved our misunderstanding and are of one heart as before. Rather, this morning’s events frightened Imperial Uncle—that is my fault. Please rest assured, Imperial Uncle, and simply await news of victory from the north.”

He spoke with gentle laughter, his expression no longer carrying murderous intent, having returned to his usual appearance.

The Worthy Prince also knew that there were some things he might not tell him everything about. He could only suppress the hidden worry in his heart and reluctantly depart.

The next day, the court issued an edict confirming all of Gao He’s crimes and ordering the execution of his entire family. After an overnight investigation by the relevant officials, about ten accomplices were found and, according to the law, either received the same punishment or were stripped of office and demoted, with no mercy shown, all immediately executed. Those remaining followers who had usually trailed behind were given opportunities to reform and were exempt from prosecution. These people had already been frightened out of their wits at that day’s court session. They had originally thought that with Gao He’s violent death and Consort Li’s collapse, though the young emperor still had Lan Rong as support, it was still like trying to clap with one hand. From then on, the Regent Prince would truly hold absolute power. People like themselves, having stood on the wrong side before, would certainly not escape death this time. They had all been gloomy and panicked, never expecting things to pass so easily. They all secretly rejoiced at their good fortune and from then on behaved themselves. Not only did they not dare speak ill openly, they didn’t even dare say half a bad word in private.

Moreover, an appointment decree was sent out that very day by eight-hundred-li express to Yanmen.

When Jiang Hanyuan rushed back to Yanmen from Xiguan, Jiang Zuwang was holding on with his last breath, waiting for her return.

He lay on a simple couch in the great tent, eyes slightly closed, as if asleep. When Jiang Hanyuan burst in from outside, she saw him open his eyes and look toward her.

If not for his overly pale complexion, Jiang Hanyuan would have thought he was merely extremely tired and somewhat lacking in energy at the moment.

Meeting his daughter’s eyes, a faint smile appeared on his face as he said in a low voice: “Sisi, I waited until you returned.”

Jiang Hanyuan threw herself down, kneeling beside the couch and grasping her father’s hand.

Everyone who had been standing in the tent quietly filed out.

Jiang Zuwang gazed at his daughter.

“Father knows that all these years, you’ve been blaming me. Father has no face to ask for your forgiveness. And your mother—she probably won’t forgive me either and doesn’t want to see father’s face again…”

“Father had to wait for you to return because I hope you can agree to bury Father somewhere close to her in the future. That way, father can accompany her from afar. If she ever gets lonely and wants to talk to her father, it will be more convenient—”

Jiang Hanyuan could no longer hold back. Tears streamed down her face as she gripped her father’s hand tightly, shaking her head vigorously: “Father, you’ll get better! You’ll live to be a hundred!”

A faint smile appeared at the corners of Jiang Zuwang’s lips: “Silly girl, what would be the point of living so long? Father will certainly depart before you. After all these years, Father is also very tired. Now I can finally rest and have the chance to see your mother—father is quite happy…”

“Father’s only regret is not being able to see this battle won with my own eyes.” He paused to catch his breath. “But father isn’t worried. You are here, along with three hundred thousand Han warriors, and at court, the Regent Prince holds the position…”

Father must have been truly exhausted. After speaking, he slowly closed his eyes, and his breathing gradually grew calm.

Jiang Hanyuan continued to grip her father’s hand tightly, unwilling to let go. Just when she thought he had fallen asleep, she suddenly heard him murmur: “Sisi, that young man… though he is of royal blood, he is extremely good… Father likes him very much… Father sees that he is very devoted to you… Father will go find your mother first and tell her, so she can be at peace…”

Father’s face seemed to carry a trace of a smile as he closed his eyes and departed.

Jiang Hanyuan wept silently, quietly kneeling beside the couch. Late at night, she left the camp and rode her horse, coming once again to Iron Sword Cliff.

She stood high atop the cliff as the fierce wind dried the tear stains on her face. When dawn came, she heard a voice reach her ears from behind.

She turned and saw Yang Hu holding a scroll high with both hands: “General! The court’s appointment has arrived! Orders for the General to take over the Commander-in-Chief’s banner and lead the army north!”

Jiang Hanyuan unrolled it and, by the faint dawn light, immediately recognized the ink marks on the edict.

It was handwriting she knew intimately well. She had once practiced copying it stroke by stroke in secret.

Her eyes, which had finally dried after being blown by wind all night, suddenly grew hot again.

Before her eyes, the scene seemed to materialize of him sitting behind his desk, taking up his brush to personally write this edict appointing her as commander.

Just as father had said, he was her most trusted and intimate comrade-in-arms. He stood steadily behind her, leaving her with no worries about the rear.

All she needed to do was advance relentlessly and destroy the enemy!

Jiang Hanyuan closed her eyes, deeply hiding away the image of this man, forcing back the tears that welled up in her eyes again. She pressed down all the grief and hatred in her heart, slowly rolled up the edict, gripped it tightly in one hand, turned around, and strode down from Iron Sword Cliff.

The entire great camp was a sea of white. Every soldier shared a common hatred for the enemy, holding spears and forming battle arrays, ready to depart.

Jiang Hanyuan wore full battle dress with a white cloak over her shoulders and meteoric white feathers tucked at her waist. She mounted her horse and galloped like the wind, racing through the formations of countless armored soldiers. Suddenly she drew her sword, facing the wind, and shouted loudly: “By the court’s command, we march north immediately!”

Her orders were immediately transmitted layer by layer.

No matter how strong the enemy’s soldiers and horses ahead, here beneath the azure sky and purple frontier passes, the heavenly army reflected the snow, with cloud tigers and wind dragons—nothing could not be conquered!