Along the way, both Ziqing and Jun Beiyue remained largely silent, as the two columns of archers escorted their carriage toward the capital!

Jun Beiyue wasn’t foolish enough to flee and thereby implicitly admit to the accusation, nor would he mobilize troops and turn this into a larger conflict. Ziqing merely thought Prince Baxian had gone to excessive lengths.

Yet, when the couple walked hand in hand through the gates of the Ministry of Justice, they were both utterly stunned by the scene that greeted them in the main hall!

There, seated high on the main throne, was Emperor Tianhui himself. Below to the right sat Consort Yi, the Second Prince, the Tenth Prince, and others. To the left sat the ambassadors of Xichu, Xijing, and Nanzhao!

These envoys, permanently stationed in the capital of Great Zhou, served as the channel through which the ruler of Great Zhou communicated with the rulers of other nations. In a sense, within the capital, they represented the various kingdoms themselves!

Jun Beiyue immediately turned a bloodthirsty, terrifying gaze on Prince Baxian.

What a masterstroke from Prince Baxian—to go so far as to invite envoys from other nations to witness this trial! In other words, if his true parentage were exposed in this very courtroom today, confirmed as not being a true son of the Jun clan, Emperor Tianhui would immediately have these envoys spread the news!

The other nations were desperate for Jun Beiyue to fall from power—with this happening, who would ever acknowledge him again?

By doing this, Prince Baxian was clearly leaving him no way to retreat!

He was leveraging the power of the other nations to restrain him!

Because Prince Baxian knew that if Jun Beiyue’s true parentage were exposed and confirmed, he would surely stage a coup, seize the throne, and overthrow the dynasty entirely!

Seen this way, the authority Ziqing had handed to Prince Baxian, along with the troops stationed around the capital, were now likely all being used to guard against the two of them!

Jun Beiyue and Ziqing had been away from the capital for so long that even the Thirteen Cavaliers of Youyun were now under Prince Baxian’s command. Even if Ouyang Chi and the others remained loyal, what could they do—perhaps they didn’t even know yet that their prince had returned to the Ministry of Justice!

Prince Baxian did not avoid Jun Beiyue’s gaze at all. How he wished this whole matter would prove to be a false accusation, utterly baseless! Without Jun Beiyue, Great Zhou would face at least two or three decades of turmoil—he wasn’t even certain he could hold things together himself, let alone know whether he could cultivate a suitable successor!

And yet, despite all this, he absolutely could not afford to be careless about this matter. He couldn’t bear to see the hard-won empire, built through the painstaking efforts of the Jun ancestors, fall into the hands of someone of a different bloodline!

Jun Beiyue held Ziqing’s hand and walked slowly to the center of the hall. The room, already silent, now fell into an even more terrifying stillness.

With Prince Baxian’s presence commanding the room, Emperor Tianhui and Consort Yi both felt considerably more confident.

“Beiyue, it’s been a long time. Just a few days ago, this emperor and Consort Yi visited the Prince Yao’s estate and saw you unconscious. Yet not long after, we heard you had gone to the Isle of Immortal Retreat and learned an entire set of internal energy techniques from the Gu clan. Is this true?” Emperor Tianhui said with a cold laugh as he spoke. He had considered many ways to bring down this son of his, but never had he imagined it would come to this!

Jun Beiyue—not his own flesh and blood after all, but a bastard child!

And to think he had even posthumously elevated Consort Wan to Noble Consort. Once this matter was fully investigated, the first thing he would do would be to dig up Consort Wan’s grave. A woman who dared to cuckold him—even in death, he would show her no mercy!

But despite Emperor Tianhui’s icy expression, Jun Beiyue barely spared him a glance. Without wasting words, he went straight to the point, saying coldly, “Prince Baxian, where is this witness testimony and physical evidence you speak of?”

Feeling sidelined on his own throne, Emperor Tianhui was instantly embarrassed, and Consort Yi hastily scolded, “Jun Beiyue, Han Ziqing, you haven’t even bowed to the Emperor upon seeing him—aren’t you being far too presumptuous? Do you truly believe this realm of Great Zhou already belongs to the two of you?”

Consort Yi’s words smoothed over Emperor Tianhui’s embarrassment. Emperor Tianhui glanced sideways at Prince Baxian—with such an opportunity presented, why not seize the moment to display his authority?

“Prince Baxian, shouldn’t they both be given thirty strokes each before we even begin questioning them?” Emperor Tianhui roared furiously, putting on quite the display of imperial dominance.

He felt utterly confident that Jun Beiyue would be confirmed as a bastard child, and in front of the envoys of other nations, he was determined to reclaim his imperial dignity!

Prince Baxian surely understood the stakes—once Jun Beiyue fell, Emperor Tianhui would need to hold his position firmly, if only to avoid being looked down upon by the foreign envoys!

Prince Baxian certainly understood these implications too. A flicker of impatience crossed his eyes, and he was just about to speak when Jun Beiyue suddenly kicked out fiercely, a blade of wind slamming into the large table before Emperor Tianhui and flipping it over entirely. Emperor Tianhui, startled, hastily rose and stumbled backward. “Rebellion! Jun Beiyue is staging a rebellion!”

The envoys nearby were all shocked, especially those from Xijing and Nanzhao, who stared in open astonishment. How could this be happening!

So the rumors of discord between father and son, between ruler and subject, were true after all!

Could it really be that Prince Yao wasn’t of the Jun bloodline after all? Wouldn’t this throw all of Great Zhou into chaos?

“Jun Beiyue, mind yourself!” Prince Baxian immediately shouted in anger!

“Present the witness and evidence, or don’t blame this king for showing no further courtesy,” Jun Beiyue said coldly. With Prince Baxian having gone this far, was there any face left worth preserving for anyone?

Today, if the witness and evidence failed to prove his identity, he would drag Emperor Tianhui down from the throne without hesitation!

And if the witness and evidence did prove his identity, then Prince Baxian’s fears would be confirmed—he would indeed seize the throne!

If a heart devoted wholly and sincerely to Great Zhou couldn’t outweigh the blood running through his veins, then he wouldn’t mind becoming history’s villain, a wicked usurper. Right and wrong could be left for later generations to judge.

Seeing Jun Beiyue’s fury, even Prince Baxian, composed as he normally was, couldn’t help but feel a chill. Paying no more mind to the thoroughly frightened Emperor Tianhui, he immediately gave the order, “Bring forth the witness!”

A witness? Could it be that the midwife who had delivered Consort Wan’s child was still alive after all these years?

Otherwise, what witness could there possibly be for such a matter?

But when the witness was finally brought forward, both Ziqing and Jun Beiyue couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath of cold air!

It was her!

Gu Suying!

The wounds on Gu Suying’s face hadn’t even fully healed yet. The moment she caught sight of Ziqing and Jun Beiyue, she broke into a chillingly cold smile.

Prince Baxian took a deep breath and asked seriously, “Beiyue, do you recognize this woman?”

“The Second Miss of the Gu clan, Gu Suying!” Before Jun Beiyue could even open his mouth, Ziqing spoke up first, her voice as cold as ice water.

“Very well, Second Miss Gu, do you recognize these two people?” Prince Baxian asked further.

Gu Suying immediately gave a cold laugh, glancing around at everyone present before saying, “Of course I recognize them. One is my half-brother by a different mother, the other his wife. Even if they were both burned to ash, I would still recognize them!”

At these words, an uproar immediately broke out. Several of the envoys began whispering among themselves, while the imperial family members all wore expressions of shock. The Tenth Prince had been wiping sweat from his brow nonstop ever since this began—he had no idea things would escalate to this degree. He had only been unable to withstand the Seventh Prince’s persistent pleading and had passed along a memorial on his behalf, introducing Gu Suying. He’d had no idea it would come to all this!

Jun Beiyue was on the verge of fury when Ziqing, who had been protected behind him this whole time, stepped forward and spoke first. “Second Miss Gu, claiming kinship all the way up to the imperial family of Great Zhou—aren’t you flattering yourself a bit too much!”

What nerve this Gu Suying had. If Ziqing didn’t utterly destroy this girl once and for all this time, she’d turn her own name, Han Ziqing, upside down in shame!

…