When the fireworks burst open in the air, Deng Yi was just walking out of the Emperor’s bedchamber.

He had intended to remain in the bedchamber, but the Emperor drove him away.

“Though I’ve been poisoned, I won’t die for a while yet,” the Emperor said, reclining with his bloodstained face full of smiles. “I will definitely wait until my good brother dies first.”

He pointed at Deng Yi.

“Right now, I only need you to do this one thing. Accomplish this, and you will be my best Grand Tutor.”

Deng Yi bowed cleanly and efficiently, then took his leave and departed.

This time as he walked out, the eunuchs were even more respectful and fearful. One eunuch also stepped forward with concern to curry favor.

“Grand Tutor,” he said softly. “Is this really good?”

The Emperor was poisoned and didn’t have long to live. The Crown Prince was dead. The Third Prince was destined to become a废person or a dead person. The heir of Prince Zhongshan becoming Crown Prince and ascending as Emperor was already a foregone conclusion.

That would be the Emperor! Even if Deng Yi didn’t curry favor with him, there was no need to kill his father, right?

This was the enmity of patricide—irreconcilable until death.

This was no longer a question of whether Deng Yi wanted to continue as Grand Tutor. This was a question of whether Deng Yi wanted to live at all.

Deng Yi walked at a leisurely pace. Eunuchs carried lanterns, imperial guards held torches, illuminating his location as bright as day.

“What I want to be is Grand Tutor of Great Xia,” he said. “Not Xiao Xun’s Grand Tutor.”

He glanced at this eunuch.

“Moreover, it’s not that I have the enmity of killing his father against him—he brought it on himself.”

Whether it was the Emperor or his father the Prince—that was the heir of Prince Zhongshan’s own choice. What right did he have to blame others?

Just then, fireworks exploded in the night sky.

Everyone looked up. The imperial guards and eunuchs wore guarded expressions. They certainly wouldn’t think this was for entertainment. At a time like this, it must be some faction transmitting secret messages.

Deng Yi said, “If not the Third Prince’s people, then the Crown Prince’s people. Oh, now we should say the Xie clan, and also Prince Zhongshan’s people.”

What were they planning to do?

Were they going to attack the city?

Were they going to commit regicide?

The eunuchs and imperial guards wore tense expressions. Deng Yi’s expression remained calm, and he even watched the fireworks with interest.

They were made quite beautifully.

No matter how beautiful the fireworks, if anyone dared come to the imperial city, he would make them look ugly before all the people under heaven.

……

……

After Deng Yi left, the Emperor closed his eyes. Though the bedchamber was filled with imperial physicians, eunuchs, and imperial guards, it was as if not a single living person was present—deathly silent.

Suddenly the Emperor opened his eyes, his gaze somewhat confused as he looked toward the window.

“Your Majesty?” The people standing around also came to life. Eunuchs and imperial physicians all hurried forward.

The Emperor raised his hand to wave them away, pointing at the window. “Something outside has brightened.”

Brightened?

The eunuchs and imperial physicians looked over. Throughout this night, outside had been very bright. The entire capital was burning. Of course, all that clamor and firelight was blocked by high walls and the deep palace.

Deep night was about to pass. Indeed, it was somewhat brighter than before.

Was His Majesty hoping for dawn to come quickly, for all this troubling mess to pass?

“Yes, Your Majesty, dawn is coming soon,” they said hastily.

But the Emperor was not consoled. Instead, he got up. Weak and powerless, he nearly fell from the dragon bed. The eunuchs hurried to support him, urging His Majesty to lie down. The Emperor wouldn’t listen and threw a tantrum, insisting on going outside. The eunuchs didn’t dare disobey and helped the Emperor to the doorway.

The Emperor no longer had the strength to step over the threshold. Propped up by the eunuchs, he barely managed to stand, looking toward the night sky.

The eunuchs and imperial physicians also saw it. In the distant night sky were fireworks. At this moment, the sparks were already dissipating. The dying embers were like blinking stars, vaguely forming an outline.

What was it?

“Flames,” the Emperor said.

His voice was weak. The eunuchs didn’t hear clearly at first.

“Your Majesty, what do you want?” they asked hastily.

The Emperor looked at the sky and suddenly smiled. He raised his voice, “Flames!”

Flames? The eunuchs were puzzled. What did that mean? Did His Majesty want to light fires? To make the surroundings brighter?

……

……

“Flames!”

Xie Yanlai stood on the city gate wall, looking up at the distant night sky, and let out a mocking laugh.

“Who knows who’s putting on this ridiculous show.”

“Isn’t it just killing people, setting fires, and colluding in wickedness?”

The imperial guards standing on the city wall looked at the dissipating fireworks, feeling neither beauty nor ridicule. They only felt their hearts pounding with alarm.

“What’s this about now?” “Who is it?” “The Third Prince’s forces have increased again, right?” “Yanlai, are they going to attack the city?”

Behind Xie Yanlai’s back was a long blade, in his hand he gripped a crossbow. Under the torchlight, his expression was mocking.

“Attack the city—they should have attacked the city long ago,” he said. “The first thing to do should have been attacking the city. To catch the bandits, first catch the king. If you’re going to be a traitorous beast, why kill your brother? Just finish off the old man and be done with it.”

At this point, he let out a cold laugh.

“A bunch of废物.”

“Only thinking about surrounding the city to keep people from entering. None have the guts to kill their way in and cut down the Emperor.”

The imperial guards listened in stunned silence.

What was Xie Yanlai saying! How frightening.

“Yanlai, never mind whether they’re废物 or not,” they shouted. “If people attack, we’ll be废了.”

As soon as the words fell, the arrow tower ahead became clamorous, like a peacefully burning bonfire having a bucket of oil poured on it, blazing fiercely upward.

The sounds of fighting, of weapons, of screams—all merged into one piece, sweeping over like a gale, suffocating.

The surviving imperial guards all rushed out, standing on the city wall watching, listening to the fierce battle there, alarmed and uncertain.

Why didn’t it seem like forces were massing to rush over, but rather like confused melee fighting?

One imperial guard said, “Could it be the Crown Prince’s people killing their way over?”

Hearing this, everyone looked at Xie Yanlai with excited expressions.

“Yanlai—”

Could they go to meet the attack? Coordinate from inside and outside to eliminate the Third Prince’s forces—

Xie Yanlai still stood on the battlement, his expression cold. “No matter who comes, without summons, in deep night, leading troops, carrying weapons, forcing their way to the imperial city—they are traitorous rebels and should be killed.”

One imperial guard was stunned.

“Yanlai,” he reminded in a low voice. “The ones coming might be your family.”

The Crown Prince’s greatest and most reliable forces were the Xie clan!

Had Xie Yanlai forgotten what his surname was?

Xie Yanlai smiled. “So what? We are His Majesty’s imperial guards. As long as those who come are not His Majesty, they are traitorous rebels—”

His voice rose higher, drawn out, drifting away in the gale.

The imperial guards looked up at the youth standing on the battlement, watching the youth smile and reveal snow-white teeth. In this instant, he was like a—wolf.

What did Xie Yanlai mean? He meant that never mind the Xie clan’s forces—even if Xie Yanfang personally came, he would shoot his crossbow at him.

Kill this elder brother.

Had Xie Yanlai gone mad!

No matter who it was, tonight as long as anyone approached, he would kill them, kill them all.

The youth’s phoenix eyes flashed with crazed light. His nose inhaled the scent of blood—both his own and others’.

All die!

Die together!

The storm ahead finally tore open a breach. The arrow tower’s great gates opened. Forces came galloping, drawing nearer and nearer.

The clip-clop of hoofbeats struck like drumbeats on the hearts of the imperial guards at the city gate.

“Meet the enemy—” Xie Yanlai let out a hoarse roar.

The originally unsettled imperial guards, like wooden figures, all returned to their guard positions, aiming their crossbows at the area below the city gate.

“Those approaching, halt! Otherwise, death without mercy!” Xie Yanlai still stood on the battlement, sending his voice high and far.

……

……

The galloping Chu Zhao pulled off her cloak and wrapped the child in front of her even more tightly.

“Young Your Highness,” she said. “Hold on to me tight. Don’t be afraid.”

Though they had the Dragon Authority Army’s protection, when charging the city, it would still be very dangerous. She needed both hands free to ride the horse, raise her shield, and swing her blade.

The young Your Highness could only rely on himself to hold tightly to Chu Zhao, lest he be thrown from the horse.

Hearing Chu Zhao’s words, the child voluntarily used the cloak to bind himself to Chu Zhao. This girl was actually also very small and thin. He wrapped around several full times—

Even in death, they wouldn’t be separated.

He pressed against the girl’s front, looking up at her face. He saw under the firelight the girl’s small chin. On the chin was a streak of red—he didn’t know if it was someone else’s blood splattered there, or if she had been cut and bled her own blood.

He couldn’t help wanting to raise his hand to wipe it, but just as he lifted his hand, the galloping girl reined in her horse. She raised her head, and the chin also disappeared from the child’s view.

Chu Zhao raised her head, looking toward the city gate ahead. On the city gate battlement stood a solitary figure. In the darkness, she couldn’t see his face clearly, but that voice just now—

“A’Jiu—” She couldn’t help but call out loudly.

……

……

The violence in Xie Yanlai’s eyes solidified. What the hell, he thought.