Chaoyang, capable of serving as regent, was no innocent flower. In this situation, how could she not guess what was happening? Her phoenix eyes, similar to the Empress’s, briefly flashed with turmoil before quickly calming. She shouted angrily, “Lai Luozhi, are you also trying to rebel?”
“Why not?” Lai Luozhi replied calmly, unperturbed.
Choked, Chaoyang stared at Lai Luozhi. “If it weren’t for the Empress back then, you’d have died on the streets with no one to bury you. Others might have reasons to rebel, but what gives you the right?”
“What gives me the right?” Lai Luozhi countered. “When Her Majesty dies one day, I’ll die too. Since that’s the case, I might as well take the throne. That way, I won’t have to die.”
Who could have imagined Lai Luozhi would stoop so low?
Yong’an thought she had misheard. “Lai Luozhi, how dare you! You agreed to help me ascend the throne. It turns out you wanted it for yourself.”
Realizing she had said too much, she rushed over to confront Lai Luozhi but was pushed away by him.
“I fear it’s not just that,” the Empress spoke slowly, her spirit much diminished. “Your Fire Moth Party has been laying the groundwork for fourteen years, spread throughout Great Zhou. You’ve long wanted to take over, haven’t you?”
Lai Luozhi was briefly stunned, then understood. “I knew I couldn’t hide it from Your Majesty. Was it Shen Du who told you? Your Majesty never truly trusted me.”
“Trust you? When have I not trusted you? You sent those Fire Moth Party members everywhere to stir up trouble and incite chaos. You were my dog, yet you dared to dream of becoming the master. Lai Luozhi, you’ve overstepped.”
“Enough nonsense,” Lai Luozhi said impatiently, shouting towards the door, “Why haven’t you come in if you’ve dealt with everything?”
Only then did those in the imperial study realize that Zhou Xian and Zhou Changqing, father and son, had been killed, yet there was no commotion outside. Either everyone had been killed or had surrendered.
Sure enough, as soon as Lai Luozhi finished speaking, the door of the imperial study was broken open from outside with a halberd. A tall, elegant figure stood in the doorway, wrapped in the howling cold wind from outside.
In the soft lamplight and pale moonlight, one could see the person wearing a mask, with eyes like deep pools, staring intently at those inside.
Behind him, a sea of people dressed in uniforms bearing the Fire Moth emblem surrounded the imperial study. At the masked man’s command, they swiftly spread out, encircling the room. Now, even a winged bird would find it hard to escape.
Yong’an’s first reaction was to hide behind the screen behind the imperial desk. Chaoyang ran to the Empress’s side, joining Zhang Baohuan in protecting her.
“Audacious traitor, killing your sovereign to usurp the throne, you won’t come to a good end,” Zhang Baohuan cried out in anguish. “Your Majesty, it’s this servant’s fault for not being strong enough to protect you.”
The Empress shook her head, but Chaoyang said, “Lai Luozhi, let’s talk this through. Aren’t you afraid of having your ancestors’ graves dug up for committing such an infamously treasonous act?”
“Dig up my ancestors’ graves?” Lai Luozhi laughed. “My parents died early, and my sister left me long ago. What ancestral graves do I have to dig up? My parents and sister are now in the Lai residence. If you want to dig up graves, go ahead.”
Lai Luozhi laughed wildly. The Empress narrowed her eyes. “Your previous claim about Lai Luoshu’s resurrection was false. Was your goal all along to seize the throne?”
“Of course not. How could I, Lai Luozhi, have such limited ambitions?” Lai Luozhi laughed to tears. “You foolish humans, what you need is a new order. I, Lai Luozhi, will create a new world.”
The Empress found these words strangely familiar and couldn’t help but turn her gaze to the masked man standing at the door.
The cold wind kept blowing in, making everyone shiver. The Empress’s fingers were stiff with cold. She threw down the imperial brush disdainfully, saying, “Since you’ve started this rebellion, why bother with me writing an abdication edict?”
This reminded Lai Luozhi. “Your Majesty speaks sensibly. Once you’re dead, I can write whatever edict I want.”
He shouted towards the door, “Why haven’t you acted yet?”
The masked man stepped forward, his armor clashing with a metallic sound. He walked straight to Chaoyang and Zhang Baohuan, stopped, drew his sword, and pointed it at their faces.
Lai Luozhi couldn’t hide his pride. “Very good, Shen Du. You’ll be the first meritorious official of my new world. Now, kill them.”
Chaoyang, who had noticed the masked man’s strange, stiff gait earlier, changed her expression. “You… you’ve hypnotized him?”
The man before them moved his limbs very stiffly, walking and drawing his sword mechanically. His eyes were cold and fixed straight ahead. A careful observer would notice that his pupils didn’t move at all, behavior completely unnatural for a normal person.
Lai Luozhi didn’t bother hiding it. “You could say that,” he added, “Though not entirely satisfactorily. His will is too strong. The first few attempts weren’t very successful. It took quite a bit of effort, but now he seems usable enough.”
Chaoyang suddenly realized, recalling Lai Luozhi’s constant claims of cultivation. “You’ve been practicing evil arts.”
In Taoist circles, some found ascetic cultivation too bitter and difficult, always seeking shortcuts through unorthodox methods.
“Hehe, evil arts?” Lai Luozhi retorted. “The true Fire Moth deity has granted me power. What you believe in are the real evil arts.”
Having said this, he didn’t bother with more talk and directly ordered the hypnotized Shen Du: “Kill the Empress. Kill everyone.”
“Yes, master.”
Shen Du, without blinking, twirled his sword in an impressive display. The Empress slowly closed her eyes and pushed away Zhang Baohuan, who was trying to protect her. Zhang Baohuan, frustrated and anxious, shouted and rushed toward Shen Du’s sword:
“Your Majesty, Baohuan will go ahead first.”
He intended to sacrifice himself to the sword.
Lai Luozhi sneered disdainfully. “A mere favorite shows some integrity.”
In a flash, Shen Du flipped his sword behind his back, his body following the motion to avoid Zhang Baohuan. He arrived in front of Lai Luozhi, his sword pointing directly at Lai Luozhi’s neck.
Zhang Baohuan missed his target and couldn’t stop his momentum. He tumbled out the door, breaking through a gap in the supposedly impenetrable encirclement outside. He fell face-first into the snow outside the door, his head buried in the snow, unable to lift it for a moment, sprawled in a comical position.
At Jing Lin’s call, the soldiers instantly removed their Fire Moth-marked uniforms, revealing their true identities underneath.
They were the Imperial Guard, bearing the distinctive Vermilion Bird emblem that represented the Empress. The Imperial Guard existed for the Empress alone.
The change happened too quickly for Lai Luozhi to react. He stood there in shock. “You…”
“Hmph,” Shen Du removed his mask, his eyes cold. “Lord Lai, you’re far too confident in your hypnotic abilities.”
“This,” Lai Luozhi shook his head, his face even paler than before, “This is impossible. I confirmed it myself.”
Shen Du’s lips curved. “Lai Luozhi, you haven’t tasted defeat in so many years, you’ve forgotten what it feels like.”
“Was it Daisy who gave you such confidence?”
At the mention of Daisy, Lai Luozhi’s grey eyes flickered.
“You forcibly hypnotized her, implanting another person’s memories in her mind, turning her into your killing tool. But since those memories were forcibly inserted, they were fake. In the end, Daisy still triumphed, killing the consciousness of Lai Luoshu that you had hypnotically created.”
“Without Daisy as a mirror image, all your subsequent Lai Luoshu substitutes crumble on their own.”
These words struck at Lai Luozhi’s weakness. He roared, “I am the chosen one of the true Fire Moth deity. I don’t need her to succeed.”
Shen Du gave him a pitying look, then swiftly moved to bind Lai Luozhi and hand him over to Jing Lin and others waiting outside. He turned and knelt before the imperial desk:
“Your subject was late in coming to Your Majesty’s rescue. Please forgive me.”
Zhang Baohuan now helped to his feet, limped to the Empress’s side and stood, rubbing his shoulder in confusion:
“What exactly happened?”