Chapter 279 – Has the Royal Palace Been Taken Over?

Gu Lingzhi’s words were exactly what Xie Jianyuan did not want to hear.

When he had ascended to the throne, he had thought of the future. He was ambitious and wanted the Fengyang Kingdom to be stronger under his reign. However, his efforts had not been fruitful. On the other hand, when Xie Jianyu had gotten the Fengyang Badge that made him the leader of the military, he eradicated many high-ranking Martial Artists that were creating trouble in the Fengyang Kingdom, which gained him the respect of many people. Only the heavens knew how much Xie Jianyuan hoped that Xie Jianyu would not return every time he stood at the city gates to welcome him back.

If Xie Jianyuan was the one who had the Fengyang Badge, he swore that he would have done a much better job than Xie Jianyu. This was the main reason why he started to hate Xie Jianyu, and the hatred eventually turned to a desire to kill.

“Alright, stop pointing out your younger brother’s flaws. Pass the throne to your younger brother, follow me back to the Earth Palace to cultivate and train,” Xie Yuan waved his hand and single-handedly decided Xie Jianyuan’s future.

Xie Jianyuan opened his mouth to protest but when he saw Xie Yuan’s cold stare, he swallowed his words. Even though training at the Earth Palace was boring, it was much better than being killed than his younger brother.

“I… Alright.”

“Okay, come to the Earth Palace once you’re done settling matters regarding the throne,” Xie Yuan said flippantly, before looking at Gu Lingzhi and the rest.

“Grandfather, it really has nothing to do with them, I…” Xie Jianyu immediately spoke up for them when he saw that Xie Yuan looked at them. However, he immediately shut his mouth when he saw that Xie Yuan was glaring at him.

“I am talking to them, not you.” Even though Xie Yuan’s tone was calm, there was clearly anger underneath.

Rong Yuan blinked for a moment before he held Gu Lingzhi’s hand in his to reassure her so that she would not be nervous. With an easygoing smile, he said gently, “Elder Xie Yuan, we are here as Prince Yi’s friend to help him and not because we have any motives, please do not worry. Furthermore… even if I was not friends with Prince Yi, I would not want to see the Fengyang Kingdom swear allegiance to the North Qiu Kingdom and destroy itself in the process.”

Rong Yuan’s words made him sound magnanimous, as if he was not the one who had reminded Xie Jianyu that he was indebted to himself just half an hour ago. Only people who truly knew him well, like Yuan Zheng, knew that there were no truths in what he had told Xie Yuan.

However, it seemed that Xie Yuan was unaware and thought that Rong Yuan’s words made great sense. He looked at Rong Yuan for a few moments, trying to figure out if Rong Yuan was lying, but Rong Yuan held his stare calmly.

Rong Yuan was not wrong, though, that if the Fengyang Kingdom had continued to be under Xie Jianyuan’s reign and had sworn allegiance to the North Qiu Kingdom, the elders that shut themselves in the Earth Palace would have no choice but to help the North Qiu Kingdom with their agenda to take over the entire Tianyuan Continent. It seemed that Xie Jianyuan had thought about this a long time ago, which was why he would secretly collude with the North Qiu Kingdom instead of discussing this with the elders.

Now that Xie Yuan thought about it, he was thankful that he had received insider information from that anonymous and mysterious person. Otherwise, he would have stayed in the Earth Palace for the rest of his life and would never know that he had been sold over to the North Qiu Kingdom.

When he thought about this, his eyes twinkled with realization.

He had received the news two days ago and he had only managed to confirm its authenticity today. Whilst harboring anger in his heart, he arrived at the Yonghe Palace only to come face-to-face with Xie Jianyu and Xie Jianyuan fighting against each other. Was this…a coincidence or part of someone’s scheme?

Instantly, he looked at Rong Yuan warily.

“Elder Xie Yuan, don’t you believe me?” Rong Yuan asked, disappointed.

Xie Yuan continued to ponder on the situation wordlessly. For a moment, Gu Lingzhi thought that he was going to unleash his power on Rong Yuan. However, at that exact moment, Xie Yuan finally spoke up, “I do…”

Xie Yuan trusted the mysterious person that was assisting Rong Yuan.

If he were to be honest, he was furious when he first saw Rong Yuan. Fratricide was not something to be proud of, yet an outsider had been interfering in their internal matters. Furthermore, it was a Prince from another Kingdom, which greatly embarrassed him.

However, when he thought of the mysterious person that had tipped him and how this person could be under Rong Yuan’s orders, he had no choice but to take Rong Yuan more seriously.

The mysterious person was able to trespass through the Royal Palace and deep into the Earth Palace to leave a note on Xie Yuan’s desk undetected. It meant that this person had a cultivation level that was either equivalent to or higher than his own.

Regardless of whether Rong Yuan was related to this mysterious person, Xie Yuan was not in a position to do anything to him based on today’s events alone. As such, his strict expression immediately became much gentler, which put Xie Jianyu’s heart at ease.

“Your Highness is a visitor here and we’ve not done well in welcoming you. Since the Third Prince is your friend, I’ll leave the task of hosting him to you. I’m going into seclusion now so I will not stay any longer.”

Then, Xie Yuan left.

“Phew… that scared me,” Gu Lingzhi gripped her chest for a moment, finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. She was so sure that Xie Yuan was going to do something to Rong Yuan earlier.

Rong Yuan laughed, “What is there to be scared of? I knew he wouldn’t give us a hard time.”

Xie Jianyu was surprised and asked, “How could Your Highness be so sure?” Even he had thought that his grandfather was going to unleash his wrath, how could the Third Prince think otherwise?

“I believe that Elder Xie Yuan is a wise man who’s able to tell wrong from right,” Rong Yuan answered, albeit indirectly. He swept his eyes across the position where Xie Yuan had been standing previously.

Outside the Imperial Study Room, a transparent figure nodded his head in satisfaction before disappearing completely.

Rong Yuan only breathed a sigh of relief when he could no longer feel Xie Yuan’s Demigod powerful aura. He turned and looked at Gu Lingzhi lovingly.

Xie Yuan’s guess was right – the mysterious person was indeed related to Rong Yuan. However, the ‘mysterious person’ was not a particular power person. In fact, it was not even a person. It was the Duobao Spiritual Squirrel, Zi Zi, that had trespassed the Palace.

Rong Yuan had planned this move when he decided that he would make a trip to the Fengyang Kingdom personally. On the surface, it would seem that he wanted to assist Xie Jianyu in usurping the throne, but in reality, he was trying to figure out if the elders of the Fengyang Kingdom’s Royal Palace had the intentions of working with the North Qiu Kingdom. Fortunately for him, the elders were not as naïve as Xie Jianyuan thought. They had successfully achieved what they came for.

“Weren’t you afraid that the elders would be on the North Qiu Kingdom’s side?” Gu Lingzhi asked when they had finally returned back to the inn where they stayed.

“No,” Rong Yuan answered instantly, “They’re not fools.”

If the elders had really agreed with Xie Jianyuan, he would not have colluded with the North Qiu Kingdom secretly.

Furthermore, the information that Zi Zi had tipped to Xie Yuan had been meticulously prepared by Rong Yuan. There was no way Xie Yuan would have agreed with what Xie Jianyuan had been doing behind his back after knowing all that information.

Not used to seeing this meticulous side of Rong Yuan, Gu Lingzhi merely huffed in response, “Even if Xie Yuan was not willing to work with the North Qiu Kingdom, how would you know that he would not lose his temper when he knew about our identity?”

Rong Yuan laughed lightly, “Because he is a smart person.” Smart people thought of all the possible consequences of their actions.

Five days later, Gu Lingzhi and the rest headed back to Chiyang City.

This trip to the Fengyang Kingdom had been so successful that not many people knew that they had even left the city in the first place.

Gu Lingzhi’s cultivation level had finally reached the point where she was able to graduate from the Royal School and it was now the period for the final examinations, so Rong Yuan headed to the Royal School to apply for graduation instead. Her graduation exam was due to be a month later.

Gu Lingzhi had no objections at all. From the looks of it, she was not worried letting Rong Yuan take on the North Qiu Kingdom alone.

On the second morning, there were many people that had come to the Xia Kingdom’s Royal Palace. They belonged to the Empress’ family and looked furious, demanding an explanation.

“Rong Han, you scumbag, come out now! If you do not hand over my sister now, don’t blame me for rushing into the palace uninvited!”

The Empress’ brother, Wei Guoping’s voice rang out so loudly that people in the Ronghua Palace could definitely hear him. Gu Lingzhi tilted her head up from the pillow and looked at the door, “Has…has the Royal Palace…been taken over? Why is it so noisy?”

“It’s just a crazy dog barking, let’s not care about him and continue what we’re doing,” Rong Yuan panted as they continued to make love.

Under Rong Yuan’s embrace, Gu Lingzhi found that she did not bother to care as well. However, before they could finish what they were doing, they heard Yuan Zheng’s voice outside their sleeping quarters. “Your Highness, the Emperor wishes to see you.”

Only the heavens knew how nervous Yuan Zheng felt when he had to disrupt Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi’s love-making.

Ever since Gu Lingzhi had been married to Rong Yuan, they had made love everyday such that it had almost become a daily morning exercise for them. As for Yuan Zheng, he was well aware of what they were doing in the room. However, seeing the urgent look on the guard’s face that had passed the news to him, Yuan Zheng had no choice but to disrupt them. He hoped that Rong Yuan would forgive him once he realized the urgency of the situation.

On the second day of their marriage, Yuan Zheng had knocked on Rong Yuan’s door at six in the morning, just like he did so every day before Rong Yuan was married. What resulted afterwards was a punishment in having to clean the latrine pits for half a month. Yuan Zheng could not help but feel that his future was going to be bleak.

Just as Yuan Zheng had expected, Rong Yuan had appeared in front of him half a minute later, his face incredibly bitter and sour. The look on his face told Yuan Zheng that there was yet another punishment that awaited him. Nervously, he tried to stand up for himself, “Your Highness, it is the Emperor’s orders, I can’t possibly turn a blind eye to it.”

Rong Yuan scoffed in response, “Can’t you at least delay it for another half an hour?”

“What do you think?” Yuan Zheng cried.

Wei Guoping continued to shout with the spiritual power of a Martial Lord, such that half of the people in the Royal Palace could clearly hear him. There was no way this matter could be delayed any further.

“Why should I keep you by my side if you’re not on my side?” Rong Yuan teased as he flicked Yuan Zheng’s forehead and rushed towards the gates of the Royal Palace. “If you can’t solve such a simple problem, how can I trust you to lead the army in my stead?”

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