Chapter 21: Not Finding Peace Even in Death
“You… do you want to rebel?”
The old Emperor glared furiously at this group of people. “We are the Emperor! You—mmph!”
Yun Wuxiang slapped the side of the Emperor’s face with the flat of his sword. After physically silencing him, he said to the guard leader, “Go find someone who can take charge.”
Guard Leader: “This subordinate obeys!”
As soon as he left, the armed guards behind him followed, one after another, quiet as chickens, moving swiftly.
The old Emperor covered his face, as if returning to that night many years ago when he was beaten without the power to fight back, vaguely seeing his great-great-grandmother waving at him. “Are you human or ghost?”
The person standing in the hall with a sword seemed not to hear his question at all, not even casting a glance, completely ignoring his existence.
The old Emperor remembered this look. Years ago, when this person nearly beat him to death, he had the same look.
The day after the beating, he wanted to issue a wanted order to kill this person. But there wasn’t a single wound on his body, and everyone he asked said he hadn’t left his room the previous night. The only proof that he wasn’t dreaming was an altered edict.
The anger and arrogance filling his heart were finally suppressed by the fear rooted deep within him years ago. The old Emperor’s arrogant posture vanished. After shutting up and ceasing his shouting, the faint murmurs of grief and breakdown became clear.
Following the sound, the old Emperor turned his head and saw the two Immortals, upon whom he had placed high hopes, paralyzed on the ground clutching their bleeding abdomens, faces ashen.
Bai Lingdang stared blankly at her Dantian: “Gone…”
“My cultivation…” Zhao Sihai felt the Zhenqi constantly draining from his body and screamed despairingly at Yun Wuxiang: “Who exactly are you? Why can you use magic power in the Mortal Realm without receiving Heavenly Punishment? Is the Heavenly Dao blind?”
“I am your Heavenly Punishment.”
Yun Wuxiang swept a glance over the two on the ground. After their Dantians shattered, the spiritual resonance on the two cultivators was slowly dissipating. Before long, they would completely become mortals.
“Those who enter the Mortal Realm privately, harbor malicious intent, and plot wrongdoing shall be executed.”
Zhao Sihai was on the verge of breakdown, shouting with twisted features: “You might as well just kill me!”
“Zhao Sihai.” Bai Lingdang called his name, her voice eerily calm compared to his. “I’ll help you one last time.”
With that, Bai Lingdang unhesitatingly drew her sword and slit her throat, splattering blood all over Zhao Sihai’s face.
After Bai Lingdang died, a fluctuation came from her body, and a stream of light sped away.
[Host, this is the Shadow Transmission Art. It transmits images from a period before the deceased’s death to a designated location. Should we intercept?] 3339 reminded in a timely manner.
[Intercepting requires consuming a certain amount of energy.]
[Don’t intercept.]
[Okay, Host.]
The stream of light vanished from sight in an instant. Yun Wuxiang asked Zhao Sihai, “Do you think anyone will come to save you?”
Zhao Sihai pulled a bleak and sorrowful smile, uglier than crying. “Ha… how would the sect risk coming to the Mortal Realm to save a useless person?”
Yun Wuxiang understood in his heart. It seemed the atmosphere in some sects of the Immortal Realm wasn’t united or friendly either.
Finding stowaways wasn’t difficult for Yun Wuxiang. The biggest hidden danger in his heart was only Song Yilou. It was that cunning Gu who had strung these people together, laying a large net in the capital, attempting to trap him with it.
And Yun Wuxiang was also looking for an opportunity to completely eliminate this hidden danger. As for the others, they were just incidental.
Enemies in the open were far less threatening than venomous insects hiding in the dark.
Hurried footsteps came from outside the Qiankun Hall, which now had a skylight. The guard leader arrived with an old imperial clansman Prince. He was a middle-aged man with sparse white hair but generally spirited, sporting a nondescript thick slanted bang on the left side of his forehead.
Seeing that unique bang, Yun Wuxiang recognized this old Prince, the only surviving brother of the old Emperor.
The original novel mentioned him a few times. He was a relatively reliable person, at least more reliable than the old Emperor.
Yun Wuxiang said, “The Emperor is dead. You succeed the throne.”
Having heard the guard leader’s description, the old Prince who had braved the situation to come over: ???
The guard leader immediately knelt on one knee: “Congratulating His Majesty on ascending the throne!”
The guards far away from the two also knelt, shouting in unison: “Congratulating His Majesty!”
The old Prince looked at everyone somewhat helplessly, his gaze uncontrollably sliding to the old Emperor standing aside, who was equally shocked—shock mixed with anger.
This didn’t look like a dead person no matter how you looked at it, right?
Yun Wuxiang flicked the talisman paper in his hand, hitting the old Emperor’s forehead. Then came a burst of vigorous flames. The old Emperor didn’t even let out a wail before dissolving in the fire, turning into a patch of scorched earth.
The old Prince instantly broke out in a cold sweat. Then he heard Yun Wuxiang say, “Be a good Emperor.”
“This Prince will definitely do his utmost, devoting himself entirely to Great Yu, creating a peaceful and prosperous age!” the old Prince said with sonorous force and firm tone.
Yun Wuxiang nodded, taking the despondent Zhao Sihai and Bai Lingdang’s corpse away.
[Host, is it really okay to kill the Emperor like this?] 3339 was equally shocked by Yun Wuxiang’s clean and decisive fire, not even having time to offer a word of persuasion.
[Has the mission changed? Or has the World Consciousness objected to me doing this?] Yun Wuxiang asked.
[Neither.]
[Then it’s fine. In the original novel, the Emperor appeared twice: once to grant a marriage to Prince Li, and once to die. Even his name didn’t appear. It’s the same whoever is Emperor.]
3339 suddenly felt that made a lot of sense. Just a background character; switching him out was fine since the World Consciousness didn’t say no.
The cold, rigid mechanical voice rang in Yun Wuxiang’s mind: [Spring Banquet plot completed. Current plot completion 18%.]
Yun Wuxiang’s eyelashes fluttered slightly: [Completed?]
The Spring Banquet collapsed like that, yet the script could still be completed?
Is the World Consciousness’s self-repair ability that strong?
3339 said: [Yes, Host. We completed a plot point. Adding the previous temporary mission, the energy to open the time tunnel has accumulated to 25.72%!]
[Although there are many problems with the script now, we aren’t completely without hope!]
[Mhm, I’ll go check on the protagonists.] Yun Wuxiang quickly returned to the Princess’s Manor.
The damn plot was completed, which meant his disciple and Prince Li slept together!
He had told Mo Yang to watch them before leaving. How did these two end up rolling in the sheets?!
Upon arriving at Princess Huiqing’s Manor, the scene he saw wasn’t any of the scenarios Yun Wuxiang had imagined.
Mo Yang was holding a basin of water, pouring it onto Prince Li. Shen Lanqing, meanwhile, was tied to a round table, basking under the sun.
3339 watched in confusion: [What is this situation?]
Yun Wuxiang also wanted to ask this question.
Seeing him, Mo Yang’s eyes instantly lit up, as if seeing a savior.
“Senior, you’re back! Come look at Prince Li quickly. He started going crazy after drinking a few cups of wine and bit Brother Shen until he bled. I couldn’t wake him up, so I knocked him unconscious, but then his body started heating up. I wanted to see if pouring cold water could bring the temperature down.”
Yun Wuxiang looked at his disciple on the table: “Did Shen Lanqing go crazy too?”
Mo Yang said solemnly, “That didn’t happen, but the Yin energy on him is too heavy. I suspect he’s possessed by a malicious ghost. My cultivation is suppressed right now; if his mind is confused by the malicious ghost and he fights me, he’s very likely to get hurt. It’s safer to knock him out and wait for the Guanzhu to return.”
After speaking, he added a very serious self-judgment: “I think Prince Li’s sudden madness was influenced by the Yin energy on him.”
Yun Wuxiang: “…”
No, Prince Li was just following the original script, having drunk wine spiked with aphrodisiacs.
Wait…
Yun Wuxiang asked, “After Prince Li bit Shen Lanqing, his mind didn’t clear up even a bit?”
Mo Yang shook his head. “No. After biting, he became even crazier, like a berserk demonic beast.”
[How could this happen! How could the basic settings change?]
[I’ll go ask the World Consciousness!] 3339 left a hurried sentence and went silent.
Yun Wuxiang held Shen Lanqing’s wrist, roughly examining his physical condition.
[Host, I’m back. Shen Lanqing has excess Yin energy in his body. Expel the Yin energy for him, have him eat more Yang-replenishing foods, and get some sun for a while, and he’ll be fine.]
Yun Wuxiang responded with a hum. The System’s reply was not much different from his judgment.
The Five-Color Cloud Mushroom grew by absorbing various energies between heaven and earth. Previously, the most abundant was life energy, capable of healing bodies and dispelling illness.
But after Shen Lanqing absorbed too much Yin energy, the blood in his body also transformed into Yin attribute. For Prince Li, not only did it lack suppressive effects, but it also catalyzed the poison in his body to flare up more intensely.
Yun Wuxiang glanced at Shen Lanqing, who had a tooth mark on his neck but whose clothes were intact.
The criteria for plot completion seemed much looser than he had previously thought.
[Host, one more thing. Prince Xuan has been infected with a Love Gu.]
[Love Gu?] The image of Prince Xuan hugging the mirror with eyes full of love to the point of madness flashed before Yun Wuxiang’s eyes.
He had wondered why Prince Xuan would fall deeply in love with the Mirror Demon to the point of willing to die with her in less than a month. This didn’t fit Prince Xuan’s character setting in the original novel of dismissing romance.
Not to mention, the Mirror Demon was a demon. Non-humans must have different hearts. A month probably wasn’t enough for Prince Xuan to drop his guard against demons.
So, he was under a Love Gu.
Love Gu…
[Yes. We now have another temporary mission. Help Prince Xuan remove the Love Gu, and we can get 300 energy points.]
[Although it’s not much, even mosquito legs are meat. This plot already has many problems; who knows when it might collapse a bit more. Accumulating the energy needed to open the space tunnel earlier will give us peace of mind.]
The events that had occurred so far made even 3339 feel that the hope of completing all plot tasks was slim.
Yun Wuxiang suddenly asked: [System, who do you think planted this Love Gu?]
[Uh… Song Yilou?]
Yun Wuxiang: [All his Gu were killed by lightning. The Gu on Prince Xuan is still alive.]
[Not him?]
Yun Wuxiang said with absolute certainty: [No, it’s him.]
Not being his Gu didn’t mean it had nothing to do with him.
Some people truly don’t find peace even in death.
Recommended Reads
![[ABO] After Accidental Marking, I Became Everyone’s Darling](https://beereads.space/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ABO-225x300.jpeg)
