“But Jingli, I gave you countless chances. You carried on with Consort Zhao, and I even repeatedly chose to turn a blind eye. I even went so far as to confine Consort Zhao to the Cold Palace to conceal this scandal and preserve your reputation as Duke Yuguo. I thought you would behave yourself from then on, but who knew you harbored resentment in your heart and never let it go—you actually wanted me dead. Yet I still couldn’t bear it and didn’t want you to die with the crime of treason attached to your name, so I ordered the burning of Duke Yuguo’s manor and concealed your rebellion from the entire world.”

Emperor Qi Zhen had taken such pains—one scandal hidden for twenty-one years, one rebellion hidden for fifteen years!

Yet what he received in return now was Duke Yuguo’s cold laugh.

He said, “Imperial Brother, oh Imperial Brother, even now you speak these words with such righteousness. When all is said and done, you still destroyed my entire family for the sake of the throne.”

“If I had truly intended to kill you, I would have done so twenty-one years ago when Consort Zhao died.”

“Bullshit!” Duke Yuguo shouted. “What you think in your heart, you know clearly yourself—no need for me to expose it. Do you know that I could have killed you last night? But I didn’t want to do it that way. I wanted to watch your sons kill each other, watch your son personally kill you! But…” He looked at Jingxian. “You just couldn’t bear it and never could bring yourself to act—what a coward!”

Coward!

Learning the truth, Jingxian was like a popped balloon, all momentum gone.

He laughed bitterly, tears streaming from his eyes. “I was originally suspicious, wondering why you captured Wei Yi. Thinking left and right, my heart was uneasy. Before coming here, I ordered people to open your third wife’s tomb, and the result… there truly was nothing inside. This proves I indeed guessed correctly—Wei Yi… is the Young Master you sent away back then. But last night, I still chose to trust you, to believe that you, Imperial Uncle, truly wanted to help me. But… you wanted to kill even me!”

How he regretted it now, wishing he were dead!

Duke Yuguo laughed heartily, his heart seemingly gaining an unprecedented sense of satisfaction. “Even if you all died, it would be hard to quell the hatred in my heart. I want to chop your corpses into mincemeat and watch those jackals eat you clean, bit by bit! Now all of you are gathered here—perfect. Mount Ji… should be stained with blood. After today, no one will know what happened here. The throne of Great Lin will be mine, will be my Xi’er’s.”

What?

Those ministers who feared death looked at each other, instinctively huddling together!

Duke Yuguo pulled out a signal flare and said to Emperor Qi Zhen, “Imperial Brother, you’ve occupied what’s mine for over twenty years. It’s time to return it.”

With these words, he smiled sinisterly, gripped the string at one end of the signal flare, and pulled down forcefully.

“Whoosh!”

A beam of blue light trailing white smoke shot into the sky.

Normally, once the signal was released, those below the mountain would also release one in response.

But—

Below the mountain, there was complete silence!

Not even a single bird in the forest was startled.

Duke Yuguo’s face showed tension. That was the most important piece in his game—absolutely nothing could go wrong.

“How can this be?”

He panicked!

Jingrong told him, “Your one hundred thousand troops have all withdrawn from Mount Ji.”

“What did you say? Impossible! Without my command, they couldn’t possibly withdraw.”

“But don’t forget—when you sent Wei Yi away back then, you left him with a tiger tally that could mobilize your one hundred thousand troops.”

“What!” His face turned deathly pale!

Jingrong pressed on, “You are now a cornered beast—no need for a desperate struggle.”

Duke Yuguo still refused to accept this reality. Gritting his teeth, he said, “Jingrong, you should be on my side. Together we can avenge your mother consort and kill this dog of an emperor. Why do you still serve him? How can your mother consort rest peacefully in the netherworld?”

Sowing discord!

But—

Jingrong only said one sentence: “Loyalty and filial piety cannot both be fulfilled.”

“What fine words—’loyalty and filial piety cannot both be fulfilled’!” Duke Yuguo’s eyes gleamed with sinister ferocity. “Fine. Even if I die today, I’ll still gamble once more.”

He ordered, “Kill them all!”

The monks behind him pulled weapons from the large boxes they had brought and began fighting fiercely with Jingrong’s men. At the same time, Duke Yuguo quickly seized a guard, snatched the sword from his hand, and thrust it toward Emperor Qi Zhen. Fortunately, Jingrong was protecting him in front and deflected the sword.

He commanded Shi Ziran, “Protect the Emperor and Yunshu.”

Shi Ziran accepted the order, protecting Ji Yunshu and Emperor Qi Zhen as they slowly retreated. Although Lin Shu and Shang Zhuo were civil officials without the strength to truss a chicken, at this moment they also mustered an undaunted loyalty, joining with those ministers to protect the Emperor and Ji Yunshu in the middle as they retreated.

Duke Yuguo and Jingrong fought desperately. Unexpectedly, Duke Yuguo’s martial skills were formidable, not inferior to Jingrong’s. Neither could gain the upper hand.

The tomb became a “slaughterhouse.” In an instant, some died, some were wounded.

Those monks were killed one by one, blood flowing like rivers. The stench of blood mixed with the scent of incense candles around them, nauseating and foul.

Seeing all his men killed, the hatred in Duke Yuguo’s heart erupted like a volcano. He struck a palm at Jingrong with all his strength. Jingrong was knocked back repeatedly. Duke Yuguo was about to thrust the sword in his hand toward him, but suddenly changed direction, stabbing toward Emperor Qi Zhen who was being protected by guards behind him. His speed was extremely fast and his force very strong. The guards and Shi Ziran couldn’t even deflect his sword in time—the sharp blade was already thrusting toward Qi Zhen’s chest.

In the nick of time, at the last critical moment, Duke Yuguo suddenly stopped.

Frozen in place!

His brow furrowed tightly. He looked down at his own chest. A sharp sword had pierced through from his back to his front, the blade still carrying fresh blood.

The one holding the sword was Jingrong.

Duke Yuguo’s face was full of pain, his neck flushed red, veins bulging on his forehead. Fresh blood overflowed from him, dripping onto the ground, staining the white snow red.

Especially striking!

The moment the sword was pulled from Duke Yuguo’s body, his fingers spread wide, and the long sword in his own hand fell to the ground as well. He stared wide-eyed at Emperor Qi Zhen before him, his body slowly sinking down, kneeling on the ground. The moment both knees touched the ground, his eyes revealed an unprecedented despair.

Because he had lost—lost completely and utterly.

Emperor Qi Zhen looked at Duke Yuguo kneeling before him covered in blood, his eyes full of shock. He was stunned for a long while, unable to believe it, calling out, “Jingli…”

Duke Yuguo grinned with his blood-filled mouth and said one sentence: “You won.”

“I… never wanted to defeat you.”

“But only by winning… can one make others… lose.”

“Jingli.”

Duke Yuguo raised his head, looking at the snowflakes falling profusely, letting them continuously land on him—on his face, on his shoulders… The snowflakes seemed to melt into his eyes, turning to water, becoming tears that flowed out. The corners of his mouth spread into a smile, extremely bitter and self-mocking…

He finally had no strength left to support himself, his head slowly drooping.

In the end, he became nothing more than a cold corpse.