Mountain and sea lantern

Chapter 650 Decapitation meal

Before the spatial rift disappeared, Dao Zhen, who had tilted his head, also came out and followed behind the Demon Queen.

The group did not go far before flying directly over the magnificent palaces and landed outside a hall where singing and dancing were taking place inside.

Dressed less formally than usual and appearing more casual, Queen Xin of Dongsheng, with her hair disheveled, was playing the zither in the palace. There were musicians on both sides, and male and female dancers were also dancing to the music. In short, everything was to follow the rhythm of Queen Xin's zither playing and to express the mood she wanted.

This places high demands on the dancers and other musicians, yet there was no chaos on set, demonstrating that it wasn't something that could be achieved overnight through practice.

When guests arrived, Queen Xin suddenly pressed down on the strings of her zither, and the accompaniment and dancers stopped instantly.

Queen Xin rose from her seat, and immediately women in palace attire came and carried away the musical instruments. The musicians and dancers quickly moved their things away, and the hall was instantly emptied and deserted.

Queen Xin, dressed in blue and white, and the Demon Queen, dressed in black, met face to face. If the former did not dress up, her appearance would be similar to that of an ordinary person, and in terms of beauty, she was indeed far inferior to the Demon Queen.

Queen Xin smiled and said, "What brings you here, young lady? You're not here to plead for someone in the public executions, are you? The Extreme Fire Sect?"

The Demon Queen's lips curled into a disdainful smile. "Those are none of my business. It's none of my concern if you kill them all. I'm here to have a private talk with my sister. I've already said some things, so don't make things difficult for me. Regardless of whether the treasure can be repaired, I'll release those people from Dongsheng after a few days. I'll also talk to your husband and tell him to stop this endless communication."

Queen Xin laughed, "You don't even know who you've trapped. Naturally, they'll complain to him, and he can't just ignore them. Now that you've made things clear, he'll understand. But the Heavenly Court, I'm afraid, won't be so easy to talk to."

The Demon Queen said indifferently, "The other families are all easy to talk to. The Heavenly Court won't cause any trouble, so naturally they'll wait and see. Alright, let's not talk about that. Since we're already here, we can't pretend we didn't see anything. What exactly happened that made you so angry? Feng Xi's side is also unclear. Has the Demonic Path really gotten to your side?"

Queen Xin casually dismissed the matter with a single sentence, "Heaven knows what those demonic cultivators are really up to."

No sooner had these words been spoken than a palace maid hurried in from outside, reporting, "Your Majesty, Yin Luo, the chieftain of the Qingqiu Fox Clan, requests an audience."

The Empress Dowager's eyes shifted slightly.

Queen Xin looked slightly puzzled, clearly pondering the other party's intentions, and her gaze unconsciously drifted towards the Demon Queen.

Upon seeing this, the Demon Queen interrupted, "Don't look at me. It was just a coincidence. I didn't discuss anything with her."

Queen Xin thought about it and agreed; these two probably couldn't agree on anything, so she immediately nodded.

The palace maid understood and left.

The Demon Queen did offer a reminder, "They just caused trouble in Xiniu not long ago, are they going to come here and cause trouble again?"

Queen Xin snorted coldly and didn't reply.

Daozhen, with his head tilted to the side, remained silent from beginning to end, his hands clasped in front of his abdomen, watching and listening quietly.

Before long, Yin Luo arrived, followed by a disheveled and limping Yin Xu.

Yin Luo was visibly surprised to see the Demon Queen there as well.

The two noble ladies in the hall turned their gazes to Yin Xu. They had never seen him before and did not know him. They wondered what he meant by bringing such a dirty and messy thing. It didn't look like anything good. The Empress had a slight guess.

Upon seeing the two distinguished guests, Yin Luo did not perform a formal bow, but merely nodded slightly in greeting.

Queen Xin saw no need for formalities with her, and slightly raised her chin towards Yin Xu, asking, "What do you mean?"

Yin Luo asked, "I heard that Your Majesty has captured a man named Shi Chun?"

The empress, whose face remained expressionless, twitched one eyebrow slightly, her eyes holding a profound meaning.

Queen Xin: "There is such a person, who is about to be executed. Are you going to plead for his life?"

Yin Luo said indifferently, "It's not worth it. I'm just here to confirm whether this Shi Chun is the Wang Ping she mentioned." She turned her head and gestured to the pitiful Yin Xu. "If he is, then I'm here to oversee the execution. If he's executed, fine. If not, then I don't mind killing him with my own hands. No one can plead for him. He must die!"

The tone was resolute and left no room for doubt.

Upon hearing this, the Empress Dowager's eyes flashed with surprise, her reaction clearly one of great unexpectedness.

Queen Xin gave an "oh," then looked at Yin Xu, who was standing on one dirty leg, and asked, "What's wrong? Is there something you're saying?"

Yin Luo glanced at Yin Xu and scolded, "Damn idiot, you explain to the Queen yourself."

Upon seeing the big shot in front of him, Yin Xu, who was initially very nervous, immediately forgot his nervousness when he heard that he was going to talk about Shi Chun, and his face instantly turned ferocious.

Her face was contorted with a mixture of rage and grief as she recounted her ordeal to the public. It was nothing more than the story of Shi Chun posing as a friend of the Qingqiu Ancestor, deceiving her and causing her to suffer such a fate after trying so hard to help him.

There weren't any specific details; a simple statement sufficed.

She truly hated him, hated him so much her teeth itched, hated him so much her eyes almost spit fire, and she trembled with hatred as she spoke of it. Everyone present could feel the deep-seated hatred in her heart.

She only learned after being captured and taken to Qingqiu that Shi Chun was not a friend of any ancestor at all, because the ancestor did not recognize him. Her belief that Shi Chun possessed the ancestor's aura was also a misjudgment. Qingqiu presented her with a genuine ancestor's aura for her to re-identify.

The result was predictable. She was so badly hurt; I really wanted to tear Shi Chun apart.

Upon hearing this and learning of Yin Xu's identity, Queen Xin and the Demon Queen exchanged bewildered glances. They knew that Yin Xu had impersonated the Qingqiu Ancestor's maid, but they hadn't expected Shi Chun to be even more audacious, daring to impersonate the Qingqiu Ancestor's friend. Given the vast differences between them, could they possibly become friends?
Queen Xin responded, "Shi Chun must be that Wang Ping."

Yin Luo: "It's best to verify their identity to prevent anyone from tampering with it."

Queen Xin said nothing more and waved to the palace maid beside her to take people to the prison for verification.

When the palace maids took Yin Luo and the other two away, the Demon Queen also turned her head to signal Dao Zhen, who was standing to the side, to go and see. Queen Xin cast a questioning look at her, but did not stop her.

After everyone left, the Demon Queen explained, "The Qingqiu clan chief came in person, I'm afraid he'll say one thing and do another."

"A prison break is unlikely. Yin Luo doesn't have the ability to easily take someone out of the prison. In Qingqiu, everyone regards that fox spirit as their god. It's understandable that Yin Luo would personally make a trip regarding her. After all, this isn't a place where just anyone can come and go as they please." After expressing her opinion, Queen Xin couldn't help but scoff, "That Shi Chun is incredibly audacious. He's really courting death."

Speaking of boldness, the Demon Queen recalled the scene of Shi Chun making advances towards her as soon as they met, and a slight smile appeared on her lips, but she didn't respond to that thought...

In the dimly lit prison, Shi Chun lay in the corner with his legs crossed and his arms behind his head, swinging his toes quite leisurely. He looked so carefree that he was almost humming a tune.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps. He turned his head and saw several royal guards standing outside the cage. One of them picked up a food box, and another opened it, bringing out an exquisite platter of food. They opened the small gate for serving the food and sent it in, along with a pot of fine wine.

This is the first time I've ever seen prison food delivered since I was locked up here.

No, I've never seen that before, even when I was in jail.

Shi Chun scrambled to his feet and went over to check. Wow, he found that it was cooked with top-quality ingredients, and the aroma of the wine was also of excellent quality. He couldn't help but click his tongue and say, "This royal prison is really something else; even the prison food is of such a high standard."

The leader of the deliverymen shook his head slightly upon hearing this. "I've heard of your name, Shi Chun. Why don't you just enjoy your life instead of making a fuss? Sigh, I won't say anything unpleasant. Enjoy your food and drink, eat well so you can have a good journey."

What does this mean? The legendary last meal before execution?
Shi Chun was taken aback at first, but then he sat down cross-legged with ease, picked up the food and enjoyed it, and took a sip of the wine.

Trying to scare him won't work on him.

Yu Xuanbing has already sent word that his plan has been executed perfectly. He has distanced himself from the situation to such an extent that all obstacles have been cleared away. He has put in a lot of preliminary work. If Situ Gu and the others still can't get him out of trouble, then Situ Gu and his ilk have been wasting their time.

Then he couldn't possibly come and turn himself in.

After he was arrested, he was interrogated once. Is it true that he would be beheaded after just one interrogation? Are you kidding me?

So he knew very well that this was not his final destination.

As for these jailers, they know nothing; he couldn't be bothered to waste his breath on them.

One of the jailers chuckled, "Hey, he's quite the easygoing one, much better than the others. He's fine, eating and drinking as he pleases, and dying as he pleases."

Another jailer chuckled, "Having watched over this prison for so many years, I've seen all sorts of inmates, but this is the first time I've seen someone who remains unfazed even if the sky were to fall. Shi Chun, there aren't many people Zhao respects, but you're one of them. If you don't have enough to eat and drink, just say so. I'll make sure you die well-fed."

Shi Chun chuckled and raised his wine jug in a distant toast.

"atmosphere!"

One of the jailers gave a thumbs-up.

They had other things to do, so they told Shi Chun to eat first, and then they all left.

It must be said that the prison food was indeed not perfunctory, but delicious, and the wine was indeed a fine wine, which was not beneath the dignity of the royal court, so Shi Chun did not waste it.

However, halfway through her meal, Shi Chun, who was sitting by the bars shoveling food into her mouth, heard footsteps approaching. She peeked out while chewing, and saw Yin Luo and his group appear in her line of sight, moving unhurriedly.

Aside from the prison guards who accompanied him, he didn't recognize Yin Luo, nor did he recognize Dao Zhen, who had his head tilted to the side. At this moment, Yin Xu was disheveled and dirty, completely different from before. In addition, the lighting was not good, and his cultivation was restricted, so his eyesight was poor. Who would have thought that she was the bright and beautiful proprietress of Zhu Lang Pavilion?

He was chewing something, sitting on the ground staring at the group, trying to figure out what they were there for; they didn't seem to be there for interrogation.

After swallowing the food in his mouth, he opened his mouth again and rummaged around in it, too lazy to ask, confident that the other party would explain their purpose.

Something seemed off about the art style, so Daozhen tilted his head and couldn't help but ask, "What's going on here?"

Shi Chun picked up the wine jug, took a swig, and swallowed the food in his mouth. He yelped and tapped his chopsticks on the plate. "Isn't it obvious? This is the last meal, the last meal before death."

After saying that, he continued to eat happily without moving an inch. No matter who you are, don't try to trick me.

"..."

Yin Luo and Dao Zhen's group were all stunned. With their keen eyesight, they really couldn't tell that this was a pleasant meal before execution. Indeed, extraordinary people do extraordinary things. Today, they had really broadened their horizons.

Yin Xu, whose eyes were blazing with anger, suddenly calmed down and was stunned.

The group turned around one after another to look at the jailer, all with eyes that looked like they were asking for confirmation.

(End of this chapter)