“Princess, actually Suo Lun is not suited to be a kingdom’s ruler, is he?” Priest Yanping said lightly, “He is too impulsive, too driven by emotion. The moment he rose to power, he couldn’t wait to act against Count Fu’e. It gives one the impression of a newly rich upstart.”
Yanping was mocking Suo Lun as a political parvenu.
Princess Zhiyan lowered her beautiful eyes and said, “You speak of abandoning Suo Lun. How exactly would that work?”
Yanping said, “That depends on the princess’s will. Such things have happened many times throughout history.”
Zhiyan said, “Then wouldn’t my Zhi family truly become the sort who discard the bow once the birds are gone, who cook the hounds once the hares are caught?”
Yanping said, “If one does not discard the bow once the birds are gone, is that still a king?”
Princess Zhiyan said, “Between the Divine Dragon Temple and Suo Lun, must I truly only choose one?”
“Yes, you can only choose one.” Yanping said, “This is also the will of Holy Priest Ge Li and Grand Inquisitor Luo Ge.”
Princess Zhiyan stood up and said, “Very well, I understand. Lord Yanping, please see yourself out.”
Yanping was taken aback and said, “Has the princess already made her choice? That is for the best. I shall go and report to Lord Ge Li at once.”
Princess Zhiyan gazed at Yanping and said word by word, “To have a Sky Priest perform my coronation would naturally be supreme glory. However, all glory is merely a matter of face. Losing face only makes one look bad. At least one will not die! My husband Suo Lun is my greatest support. Without him, what do I have to govern the kingdom? You want me to destroy my own Great Wall for the sake of a Sky Priest’s coronation. In your eyes, am I, Zhiyan, such a foolish and worthless woman?”
Yanping’s face changed and he said, “Princess, do you truly intend to make an enemy of my Divine Dragon Temple?”
Princess Zhiyan’s face remained calm and she said, “Of course not. I have no intention of making an enemy of the Divine Dragon Temple. My husband has no such intention either. I certainly wish to gain the Divine Dragon Temple’s support. But to make me abandon my husband Suo Lun as the price, that is absolutely impossible.”
Yanping said coldly, “Without my Divine Dragon Temple’s support, does Princess Zhiyan believe you can sit firmly upon this throne? Moreover, you are a woman.”
Princess Zhiyan said lightly, “The successive monarchs of the Eastern Departure Kingdom have never had the Divine Dragon Temple’s coronation, yet they are still doing quite well.”
The moment these words were spoken, Yanping’s face changed drastically. He suddenly stood up, his face ashen, and said, “Your words, I will relay them in full to the Holy Priest!”
Then, Priest Yanping directly turned and left.
His every movement expressed the Divine Dragon Temple’s fury.
But the moment he stepped out of the door, he immediately sensed a pair of eyes, a pair of incomparably beautiful eyes, cold as frost.
He looked up…
Indeed, it was those eyes like a pool of seawater, so beautiful they were unfathomable.
A Shi Liren’s stunningly beautiful face was just over a dozen metres ahead.
She was still so beautiful, even more beautiful than before. Yet this most beautiful woman in the world no longer belonged to him.
Or rather, she had never truly belonged to him.
Over ten years ago, although A Shi Liren had been his wife in name, he had barely even touched her hand.
Now, this woman was intimately close with Suo Lun. Whenever he thought of this, Yanping’s heart ached as if being twisted, and he wished he could tear Suo Lun into ten thousand pieces.
If Yanping had not once displayed such an ugly scene, at this moment he could have approached with graceful bearing to offer his regards.
But now, he could only nod and leave from before the woman he loved most.
“Yanping!” A Shi Liren suddenly called out to him!
Yanping seemed to have been struck by a paralysis spell. His body trembled and he stood frozen in place. This woman still held infinite magic over him.
A Shi Liren said, “You remember this. I will definitely kill you.”
A chill ran through Yanping’s entire body and he said, “Then I shall wait.”
Then, he directly left.
…
Zhili was now in a state where he cared nothing for life or death!
If they let him live, he would live in a daze. In any case, he could find no purpose.
If they let him die, so be it. Especially if his death could bring safety to his wife and daughter.
Therefore, he put all his strength into this chopstick, intending to pierce straight through his entire skull.
Although demon blood could heal any wound and neutralise any poison, it was not because it was itself so miraculous. It all came at the cost of depleting one’s life force.
Therefore, if you directly chopped off your head, directly pierced through your brain.
You would still die all the same.
“Pfft…” After the sharp chopstick pierced half an inch, Zhili’s entire body was suddenly immobilised, completely unable to move.
“Boom…” Then, a massive surge of spiritual energy violently exploded within his brain.
Instantly, Zhili directly lost consciousness.
Immediately after, a figure plummeted from the air, appearing at the tower’s entrance.
The great door was opened, and an incomparably beautiful snowy-white figure slowly entered.
Saintess Ji Xiuning’s face was filled with boundless fury, boundless disappointment!
She had only just entered Zhidu Temple on her griffin when she immediately used her spirit to lock onto Zhili’s location.
Then, she effortlessly sensed the powerful fluctuations of Zhili’s spiritual force field, that resolve before death.
She immediately knew Zhili was about to commit suicide!
So she directly leapt from her griffin, approached Zhili at the fastest speed, then from several hundred metres away, through several layers of walls, used her Spirit Solidification Technique to immobilise Zhili’s body!
No one witnessed this scene, otherwise they would have been utterly shocked!
Completely unbelievable, Ji Xiuning at merely twenty-something years old was actually so powerful.
The compassionate Saintess Ji Xiuning, her face was always serene, her gaze always filled with pity.
Although she was the lofty Saintess, the lofty eldest princess of the Flame Empire.
Yet she always gave one a feeling of warmth and inclusiveness.
But at this moment, her stunningly beautiful face was unprecedentedly cold, her originally gentle eyes unprecedentedly furious.
These Temple Warriors had all been personally selected by her from the Flame Capital Temple. In just two or three days, they had been completely bought off.
She had originally thought that Zhidu Temple was rotten to the core, but the Flame Capital Temple should still be clean. She had not expected the Flame Capital Temple to be corrupt as well.
Sensing Ji Xiuning’s fury, the Temple Warriors in the secret chamber immediately all knelt down.
“I will definitely pursue this to the very end.” Ji Xiuning said coldly, “I want to see just how murky the waters of Zhidu Temple truly are.”
Ji Xiuning walked before Zhili and saw the chopstick stuck in his forehead, as if he had grown a horn.
She pulled out this chopstick. Blood gushed forth, but in merely a moment, this half-inch-deep wound completely healed, restored to its original state.
With a gentle sweep of her jade hand, Zhili woke up and saw the incomparably beautiful Ji Xiuning.
“Why seek death?” Ji Xiuning asked.
Zhili said, “If I do not die, my wife and daughter will die.”
Ji Xiuning said, “I assure you, they will not die.”
Zhili said, “Although the Saintess is incomparably powerful and righteous, you cannot guarantee this.”
Ji Xiuning said, “Suo Lun has dispatched A Shi Liren and Zhiyan to protect your wife and daughter. I believe that unless Lord Jiang Shang personally comes, no one can kill them.”
Zhili was startled and said, “Truly?”
Ji Xiuning said, “Previously Zhiyan had been inseparable from Suo Lun, but now Zhiyan has remained at the princess’s residence. Gao Yin and Zhuang Zhixuan have taken her place to protect Suo Lun closely.”
Zhili revealed a strange smile and said, “I never expected that the lives of my wife and daughter would need to be protected by my greatest enemy. This world truly is absurd.”
Ji Xiuning said, “Come, follow me to the Flame Capital! Even for the sake of your wife and daughter, at the final juncture, do not persist in your delusions!”
…
Ji Xiuning personally led Zhili out of the tower’s underground secret chamber, arriving at the ground level.
At this moment, twenty griffins floated in the air. These were what Ji Xiuning had brought from the Flame Empire, specifically to escort Zhili.
Holy Priest Ge Li and Grand Inquisitor Luo Ge, who had not shown their faces until now, finally appeared. The two of them saw that Zhili was actually still alive, and their expressions were extremely unpleasant.
Their interests were deeply entangled with Zhili’s, but not to the extent of being implicated.
The ones who had made Zhili commit suicide this time were naturally the forces of the Hidden Continent, while Ge Li and Luo Ge had merely cooperated.
However, they had not expected that Zhili would not die!
Luo Ge and Ge Li vaguely sensed that they were somewhat in trouble.
Of course, Zhidu Temple had some unspeakable transactions with Zhili, even involving money, women, and so on.
But as the saying went, at Luo Ge and Ge Li’s level, it was absolutely impossible for them to fall because of money and women.
Only two things could cause them to fall, political struggle and faith in the Divine Dragon.
Ge Li and Luo Ge were truly worried that in her fury, Ji Xiuning would implicate them in the charge of anti-Divine Dragon faith due to Zhili’s possession of demon blood.
Indeed, Ji Xiuning asked, “Zhili, did Zhidu Temple know that you possessed demon blood?”
The gazes of Ge Li and Luo Ge instantly filled with powerful warning as they looked towards Zhili.
Zhili hesitated for a moment. The matter of his possession of demon blood was unknown to Zhidu Temple.
And if he falsely implicated Zhidu Temple, it would be equivalent to doing Suo Lun and Zhiyan a great favour. His wife and daughter could no longer count on anyone else now. They could only rely on Suo Lun and Zhiyan’s protection.
Ji Xiuning asked again, “Zhili, did Zhidu Temple know the fact that you possessed demon blood?”
Taking a deep breath, Zhili said calmly, “They should have known, because my demon blood was extracted with the help of High Priest Nalu. Nalu’s elder brother happens to work in the Divine Dragon Temple’s laboratory.”
“Zhili, don’t sling mud at others.” Luo Ge said sternly, “Your possession of demon blood has absolutely nothing to do with my Zhidu Temple. Do not bring ruin upon yourself.”
Ji Xiuning said coldly, “If it has absolutely nothing to do with Zhidu Temple, why were you in such a hurry to silence him by killing him?”
Luo Ge instinctively was about to say that the ones silencing him by killing him were the Hidden Continent.
But he immediately stopped himself. Ji Xiuning wanted to use Zhili to stir up a monstrous case, targeting Zhidu Temple and the Hidden Continent directly.
Therefore, the Hidden Continent and Zhidu Temple must firmly band together and not expose each other.
It’s just that in this matter, Zhidu Temple was truly wronged. They truly knew nothing about Zhili’s possession of demon blood.
But this matter occurred at Zhidu Temple, and Zhili had nearly been killed at Zhidu Temple. Therefore, there was no way they could wash themselves clean.
“What is true cannot be false, what is false cannot be true.” Ji Xiuning said coldly, “Take him away!”
Then, she brought Zhili onto a griffin, and under the protection of over twenty Griffin Warriors, they flew towards the north!
Luo Ge and Ge Li exchanged glances and sighed, “A storm is brewing!”
…
The Royal Palace Cabinet!
Today, Suo Lun was to complete his second cabinet purge target, that was Finance Minister Suo Fu, Zhili’s most direct confidant, whose relationship with the Hidden Origin Society was also extremely ambiguous and unclear.
According to the information Suo Lun had obtained, during Suo Fu’s six years as Finance Minister, the gold coins he had embezzled exceeded six hundred and thirty thousand.
What did this mean? It was equivalent to more than half of the Furious Wave Kingdom’s annual tax revenue!
Truly wealthy enough to rival a nation! Of course, this colossal corruption was still somewhat insignificant compared to Heshen of the Qing Dynasty.
However, Suo Fu’s status was not as high as Heshen’s either.
In the Furious Wave Kingdom’s court, Finance Minister Suo Fu could barely rank in the top ten.
Based on this alone, Suo Lun already had sufficient grounds to sentence him to death by tearing apart with chariots!
Today Suo Lun arrived at the cabinet very early. No cabinet ministers should be present.
However, unexpectedly, Finance Minister Suo Fu was already there, as if he had been specifically waiting for Suo Lun.
Upon seeing Suo Lun, he stepped forward and saluted, “Your subject pays respects to Duke Suo Lun.”
His tone was relatively flat, without much fawning.
Suo Lun said, “Why has Lord Suo Fu arrived so early?”
Suo Fu said, “I heard that Count Fu’e offended Your Grace, so he was thrown into the sky prison?”
Suo Lun was startled. This was truly interesting!
Today he was just about to make an example of this Finance Minister, but he had not expected that instead of worrying, Suo Fu would inquire about Count Fu’e’s affairs?
“Indeed.” Suo Lun smiled and said, “Does Lord Suo Fu wish to accompany him?”
Finance Minister Suo Fu smiled mysteriously and handed over a book.
Suo Lun took it and saw that every page of this book was actually a gold note, one thousand gold coins each, a thick stack in total.
And this book had nearly two hundred pages!
This Finance Minister Suo Fu had actually used two hundred thousand gold coins as a bribe!
Suo Lun understood. Suo Fu’s inquiry about Count Fu’e was false. His true desire was to make Suo Lun let him, Suo Fu, off.
He was using two hundred thousand gold coins to buy his own life, but he could not admit his guilt, so he could only use Count Fu’e as a pretext.
“This Finance Minister of mine will certainly follow Duke Suo Lun’s lead from now on.” Finance Minister Suo Fu said calmly, “By the way, there are some things you may not yet know. Apart from being the kingdom’s Finance Minister, I am also one of the ten great elders of the Hidden Origin Society organisation. Additionally, Lord Balong, the Grand Judge of Zhidu Temple, is my milk brother, who happens to be your mother’s direct superior!”
The so-called milk brother meant that Grand Judge Balong had been nursed by Suo Fu’s mother’s milk.
Suo Lun’s eyes narrowed!
The target he was about to purge before him was actually so fearless.
First he took out two hundred thousand gold coins to bribe him, then he brought out his backer!
One of the ten great elders of the Hidden Origin Society, and his milk brother was one of the four great giants of Zhidu Tribunal!
This backer was indeed very hard, seemingly even harder than Count Fu’e’s.
No wonder this Suo Fu faced him without being servile or arrogant, and even uttered threats.
Seeing Suo Lun’s expression, Finance Minister Suo Fu said calmly, “Lord Suo Lun, some things are better left muddled. Keeping one eye open and one eye closed is good for both you and me, is it not?”