New and dark light years

Chapter 440 The Minister Must Cleanse the Emperor's Side

Zhu Jing stood on the city wall, watching the 'farce' in front of the Meridian Gate, his face expressionless.

Beside him were Consort Rong, his chief attendant, and a troop of armored imperial guards.

The more silent the emperor became, the more frightened the people around him became, and they didn't even dare to breathe loudly.

Only Consort Rong appeared relaxed and at ease.

She was used to Zhu Jing's aura, and of course... there was also her confidence stemming from being spoiled and arrogant.

She even managed to wander around the Cold Palace unscathed, so she's really not afraid of anything else.

In fact, Consort Rong did not want to come because, in her opinion, these fighting and killings were meaningless, and she was not comfortable with the sight of blood flying everywhere.

She only showed great interest after the paper doll army entered the palace.

"The paper figures moving around are really interesting." Consort Yourong laughed. "Your Majesty, if I had dozens or even hundreds of these paper figures to protect me, I think I could sleep peacefully!"

“Who in the palace would dare to harm you!” Zhu Jing said slowly.

Consort Yourong smiled and said, "I also occasionally leave the palace to visit my family."

"They are escorted by the Imperial Guards."

"The Imperial Guards are men too. There might be some in the Imperial Guards who want to harm the Emperor and then take their anger out on me."

Zhu Jing looked at Consort Yourong and asked, "Such a thing is impossible."

“If the Crown Prince can mobilize the Imperial Guards, others might be able to as well,” Consort Yourong said cautiously.

Zhu Jing laughed, a chilling smile that sent shivers down one's spine: "Without my permission, how could the Crown Prince mobilize the Imperial Guards?"

Consort You Rong looked up at the sky, pondered for a moment, then said "oh" and fell silent.

She is a little slow and has a slow reaction time, but she is not really stupid.

The battle below was quickly decided. When Consort You Rong saw Gu Weijing cut in two, she covered her mouth and her face turned pale.

After all, she had met this young man, Gu Weijing, before.

Every time she returned to the Yang family home to visit her relatives, Gu Weijing would personally come to present her with generous gifts, which was also at the behest of the Gu family.

She felt a strange thrill watching someone she knew die.

Zhu Jing chuckled softly, "This Li Lin is decisive and ruthless; he truly is a man forged in battle."

"He's also very handsome," Consort Yourong said with a smile.

"Does my beloved concubine like him like this?"

Consort You Rong nodded: "If I hadn't entered the palace and hadn't met the Emperor, I would have liked to marry someone like him."

Zhu Jing smiled and didn't seem to care.

He knew very well that Consort Yourong was always blunt and lacked tact.

But the more it was like this, the more he liked it.

Being too tactful makes it hard to know the person's true feelings.

For example, Empress Mu Wan'er.

At this moment, the paper doll army had already surrounded the Crown Prince, and Li Lin even slapped Zhao Pingzhangshi's old face in front of everyone around.

It slapped Zhao Pingzhang's face so hard it was swollen.

Zhu Jing sighed, "This is a fierce tiger; it's going to be difficult."

The attendant beside him said, "Your Majesty, why don't we send the Imperial Guards to kill them?"

"Can you win?" Zhu Jing asked.

"The Imperial Guards still have about six thousand men. They should be able to take it down."

Zhu Jing smiled and said, "I have read the resume of this garrison commander. He dared to use 10,000 against 100,000 Southern Barbarian soldiers, and he dared to use 30,000 to 40,000 garrison soldiers against 200,000 Tang family border troops... Now it is only 1,000 against 6,000. Do you think the Imperial Guards are more difficult to deal with than the Southern Barbarians and the Tang family army?"

"This!" Da Ban was speechless.

Zhu Jing continued, "As you just saw, more than a thousand paper figures were slaughtered like killing chickens, while more than a thousand imperial guards were killed."

"It was my fault for being so talkative." The maid bowed and stepped aside.

Then, Zhu Jing asked, "My beloved consort, how do you think this garrison commander will treat my crown prince?"

"I can't guess. You Rong is too stupid to understand your men's tricks."

Zhu Jing burst into laughter: "If I were Li Lin, I would have killed the Crown Prince."

These words shocked everyone around.

Especially Daban, whose eyes widened in surprise.

Zhu Jing sneered, "My crown prince is no simple man. Do you all think my great-grandmother ran away on her own?"

Upon hearing this, Otomo immediately took a step back instinctively.

There are some things he shouldn't hear.

Consort You Rong didn't seem to care, but she asked in surprise, "Could it be the Crown Prince?"

"Who else could it be but him!" Zhu Jing said coldly. "He dares to kill my alchemists. He dares to lay a hand on my imperial guards. Does he really think I'm just busy refining pills in the harem and know nothing? If he has the chance, he'll even kill me."

Consort You Rong stared with her beautiful big eyes: "The Crown Prince wouldn't do that, would he?"

“The last time he entered the palace, he wanted to make a move, but unfortunately… I didn’t give him the chance.”

As Zhu Jing spoke, Li Lin had already escorted the Crown Prince to the Meridian Gate.

The walls of the Meridian Gate were very high, about ten zhang (approximately 33 meters). At this distance, both Li Lin and the people on the walls could clearly see each other's faces and expressions.

At this moment, Zhu Jing looked at Li Lin and was about to speak when he suddenly exclaimed "Eh!" with a serious expression.

Li Lin was also taken aback.

Because they both discovered that the other person actually possessed 'spiritual energy'.

However, Li Lin's realm was higher, and he could clearly feel that the spiritual energy in the emperor's body was quite mixed, with other primordial energies, the yin energy of the spirit hunters, and other energies.

The spiritual energy within Li Lin's body was exceptionally pure and refined.

The two sides are not on the same level.

Furthermore... the emperor had not achieved Foundation Establishment; he merely possessed spiritual energy within his body, barely qualifying him as a novice Qi Refiner.

It seems that the emperor's hard work in collecting resources and refining elixirs day and night over the past ten years has finally yielded some results.

The emperor, whose face had been cold, softened his expression and shouted, "Minister Li, what is your intention in holding my crown prince hostage?"

Everyone looked over in surprise.

Because they discovered that the emperor didn't seem very angry.

"Your Majesty, I intend to purge the court of corrupt officials!" Li Lin shouted, clasping his hands in greeting.

These words caused an uproar among the crowd.

By this time, the court officials had approached. They realized that Li Lin was not a man of indiscriminate killing, so they became bolder.

An official stepped forward, pointed at Li Lin, and shouted, "Lord Li, are you trying to force the emperor to abdicate? No matter what, he is the Crown Prince. As a subject, how can you defy your superior?"

If Li Lin dares to kill the crown prince now, he will dare to do the same to these ministers in the future.

This matter absolutely cannot be allowed to be accomplished by Li Lin, otherwise the people in the Crown Prince's faction will have a hard time in the future.

With one person taking the lead, naturally more people began to stand up and criticize Li Lin.

At this moment, an official surnamed Yu stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, Commander Li is loyal to the country and is not an arrogant person. There must be a reason for his actions. Why not let him explain?"

Upon hearing this, the opposing ministers also cursed the official surnamed Yu.

At this moment, Privy Councilor Liu Song stepped forward and shouted, "I agree with Judge Yu's opinion. Why doesn't Your Majesty let Commander Li finish speaking?"

Then Jiang Yan and Zhu Huan also stepped forward.

"Wei Chen seconded the proposal."

With three high-ranking officials stepping forward to support Li Lin, the momentum of those officials who criticized Li Lin immediately weakened.

After listening for a while, Zhu Jing said, "Then please let Commander Li testify himself."

At this moment, the Crown Prince's face was extremely grim. He shouted angrily at the city wall, "Father!? Your Majesty... have I misheard? Your Majesty actually allowed a foreign official to brandish a weapon against your son, the Crown Prince? What... what is the reason for this? To purge the court of corrupt officials? What corrupt officials are you purging? My body is surrounded by loyal ministers and advisors who have helped me cultivate virtue and advance my studies! Your Majesty's actions are tantamount to cutting off your own limbs and chilling the hearts of loyal ministers throughout the land!"

Zhu Jing remained indifferent to the Crown Prince's questioning, simply saying, "Crown Prince, you are mistaken. Before me now, you are first and foremost the heir apparent, a subject, and only then my son. As ruler and subject, how can you speak of 'humiliation'? The actions of the Garrison Commander were not private punishment, but the law of the land. If you have nothing to hide and act with integrity, why fear the questioning of a military official? Your anger and your grievances, in my view, are precisely a loss of decorum and a disorder of the relationship between ruler and subject."

The crown prince looked terrified, filled with disbelief.

Zhu Jing said to Li Lin, "Commander Li, please continue. Why do you say you want to purge the court of corrupt officials?"

Li Lin turned around and said to the Crown Prince, "Crown Prince, please take off your clothes and let the world see your body."

"How dare you humiliate me!" The crown prince's eyes were bloodshot, and his gaze towards Li Lin was filled with murderous intent.

At this moment, the stench of insects emanating from him became even stronger.

“If you don’t take it off, I’ll have someone do it,” Li Lin said with a smile.

Upon hearing this, purple light suddenly appeared in the prince's eyes. He was about to draw the long sword from his waist when Li Lin was one step ahead.

Li Lin kicked out with his right foot, sending the prince's sword, which he had just drawn halfway out, back into its sheath.

He then reached out and snatched a large paper knife from the paper figure next to him, and then brandished it.

With a hissing sound of fabric, the prince appeared naked before the world in less than two breaths.

Then, the civil and military officials watching from all around erupted in a clamor of astonishment.

Because the prince's body was covered with many dark red insect shells, which were stuck to his skin and flesh.

"What's this!"

"Why would the Crown Prince have these things on him?"

“I remember now. Two or three months ago, Prefect Huang of Jin County sent a document saying that a kind of Gu person had been discovered. They live in symbiosis with insects and are neither human nor insect. This is exactly what the Crown Prince looks like.”

"How disgusting."

The crown prince looked at the armor plates on his body, then turned to see the strange looks from the crowd around him. He remained silent for a moment, then burst into laughter: "You people are foolish. I originally wanted to deal with you all in a gentler way, but why did you have to expose my identity? You all must die!"

After shouting angrily, the prince's face began to contort, his eyes bulging out and quickly turning into compound eyes.

Two pincer-like mouthparts grew out of its mouth.

Furthermore, it has two long red whiskers on its forehead, resembling a cockroach, and from a distance, it looks somewhat like a phoenix feather.

The prince's 'transformation' took only about a breath, but then a paper knife came slashing at him, and he instinctively raised his hands to block it.

His hands were covered with dark red insect shells, which should have been very hard.

But the paper knife cut it in half with ease.

The prince's two arms fell off.

Ah!
Screams echoed throughout the Meridian Gate Square.

(End of this chapter)