Martial Cultivator

The Ministry of Works officials had left, but soon returned with a group of craftsmen to begin measuring the damaged areas. Many events would be happening tonight, but they had little to do with these officials.

All they could focus on was how, once the storm had passed, they wondered how many of their acquaintances in the Ministry of Revenue would still remain. The Ministry of Revenue was notorious for its stinginess, and they worried about how smoothly it would go this time to secure funding.

Thinking of this, the few Ministry of Works officials could not help but sigh.

In contrast, the palace servants in the Imperial City simply brought buckets to wash away the bloodstains. This story belonged to those prominent figures, the servants just had to do their job.

Other matters should not be for them to worry about, nor were they qualified to be concerned.

Li Heng was carrying a lantern, watching as the palace servants cleaned the bloodstains, listening to the sighs of the Ministry of Works officials gathered together, and faintly hearing sounds from outside the Imperial City.

After a moment, Li Heng carried the lantern and headed toward the White Dew Garden, but found no sign of His Majesty. He thought the Emperor's emotions tonight must be complicated, and imagined he would not want anyone disturbing him. But Li Heng felt that, at this moment, he should be by His Majesty's side.

After all, in this vast Imperial City, he was the only old servant who could accompany the Emperor and speak a few words to him.

Hence, Li Heng carried his lantern and began wandering through the Imperial City. From afar, he looked like a tiny moving light.

……

……

Perhaps because others had been doing all the talking tonight, Chen Chao had a lot to say before he drew his saber to kill. But once he finished saying what he needed to, it was time to kill.

The Second Prince took a deep breath, and in the courtyard, the winds suddenly surged, clouds swirling in response.

The clear water in the pond seemed to be stirred by an unseen hand, gradually beginning to seethe.

As the son of the most invincible martial artist in the world, the Second Prince had chosen not to pursue the martial path but rather to walk the path of a cultivator. This choice reflected his own disdain for martial artists and perhaps was the very reason why the Great Liang Emperor had never liked him.

Seeing this scene, Chen Chao remained silent, gripping his saber and taking a single step forward. His heavy footfall crashed onto the ground, and instantly, the powerful surge of qi tore through the earth, sending countless cracks toward the Second Prince.

The Second Prince’s expression shifted slightly as he swung his sleeve. The water in the pond surged, breaking free and shooting skyward with an imposing momentum.

The Great Liang Dynasty had established itself on martial prowess, but it was by no means lacking in profound cultivation methods. As a prince, he had received instruction from famous teachers since childhood, his foundations unshakably solid. If he had not been so preoccupied with guessing the Emperor's favor all these years, few young people in Great Liang would have been able to rival him.

The waters from the pond coiled like a dragon, rushing toward Chen Chao. The Second Prince sneered, “Even if I must die, I'll take you with me.”

Chen Chao remained indifferent, watching the water dragon pounce toward him without making a move. He allowed the dragon's head to crash against him, and in an instant, it shattered. The entire dragon dissolved back into clear water, splashing to the ground.

Chen Chao, dressed entirely in black, was soaked by the clear water. But he had no other injuries as he continued walking forward. He looked at the Second Prince before him and said calmly, “What's wrong? Do you really think you can kill me?"

The Second Prince’s expression turned ugly, somewhat in disbelief.

In an instant, Chen Chao had arrived in front of the Second Prince. He did not swing his saber and just threw a punch at him.

The Second Prince had his hands crossed over his chest but was still knocked flying by the punch. He slammed into the artificial hill behind him, sinking deeply into it.

Chen Chao arrived at the front of the artificial hill, reached out, pulled the Second Prince out, and slammed him heavily to the ground.

The Second Prince spat out a large mouthful of fresh blood, feeling as though his entire body was about to fall apart.

Chen Chao lowered his head to look at the Second Prince and smiled.

The smile was somewhat contemptuous.

The Second Prince looked up at Chen Chao, and gritted his teeth as he said, “Bastard son!”

Chen Chao heard these two words, furrowed his brows, and asked curiously, “What's the connection?”

Earlier, the Deposed Emperor had used this to taunt Chen Chao, but Chen Chao never felt it had any significance.

Just as he himself had said, he never thought this world would be passed to him, and he had never wanted this world either.

Since that was the case, what importance did status hold?

“If status truly mattered, then the one lying here should be me, and not you.”

Chen Chao sighed, shaking his he as he said, “I knew that this day would definitely come ever since we split ways that day after making everything clear.”

Chen Chao placed the tip of Cloud Mud against the Second Prince's chest, looking at his cousin with little emotion in his eyes.

The Second Prince just glared venomously at Chen Chao.

Chen Chao waited a long time, then finally shook his head.

“I thought after all these words, you'd end it yourself. But in the end, I still have to do it.”

“Do you really dare to kill me?!”

The Second Prince suddenly laughed, revealing a mouthful of blood-stained teeth.

After saying this, Chen Chao suddenly grinned, “You think I have too many misgivings about killing you. But it seems you've forgotten, you were the one who wanted to kill me first.”

"Marquis Huainan wanted to kill me, so I killed him. That elder brother of mine wanted to kill me even when he was young, so I killed him too. When I was warden in Tianqing County, many demons wanted to kill me, so I killed them. Later, those qi refiners also wanted to kill me. Many people wanted to kill me, and I killed them all."

Chen Chao looked calmly at the Second Prince before him. "Why should I let you go just because you want to kill me?"

"Just because your surname is Chen?"

"Just because we share the same grandfather?"

Chen Chao shook his head to himself. "No, there's no such reason under heaven. I'm not one to understand reason all that well. All I know is that if you want to kill me, then I'll kill you."

With that, Chen Chao gripped his saber's hilt and drove it in hard.

With a sputter.

It was the sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh.

Chen Chao watched the Second Prince's face contort in agony, saw the blood pouring from his mouth, the initial terror in his eyes shifting to disbelief, and then fading into emptiness.

The saber hilt slowly turned white.

Chen Chao slowly pulled out the saber, then turned away.

Blood dripped from the saber.

As he approached the gate, Chen Chao sheathed his saber, and the hilt returned to its pitch-black color.

Chen Chao stepped out of the Second Prince's residence, looked up at the sky, and murmured softly, “I'm sorry, but I've done nothing wrong.”

……

……

The Divine Capital was in turmoil, yet the Imperial City experienced a rare tranquility. The Great Liang Emperor walked slowly up the hill outside the city walls, where the person dearest to him was buried.

The guards watched as the Emperor approached, saying nothing, and just kept their silence.

The Emperor slowly came to a stop before the Empress' tombstone.

The tombstone was still spotless; someone cleaned the dust off it every day.

The Great Liang Emperor sat down slowly in front of the tombstone, then took out a flask of wine, pouring some onto the ground as he spoke softly, “Second has died. He's gone down to see you. No matter what, he'll scold Us as a father, saying We were harsh, and unfeeling, that We treated the nephew better than Our own sons. Even Yuan'er[the princess], that girl, might say that We were wrong. But We know... you'd understand Us.”

“Whether it was the eldest, the second, or even the third, they're all our sons. But you and Us both know, they've never been the same kind of people as us. Sometimes We wonder why, if we're not family, how did we still end up in the same family?”

“Is it all because of that chair?” “We admit, We were occupied with so many things over the years, and so We neglected to guide them... But, since We are in front of you, there's no need to hide it. We never truly had them in my heart. Even before We sat upon that chair, the eldest and the second were already more focused on the position of successor than on Us as their father. So, can Our disappointment in them afterward be considered understandable?"

“But, in the end, we're father and son. Not going to see them and letting them stray further down the wrong path over the years, that is Our fault."

The Great Liang Emperor smiled self-deprecatingly as he took a sip of wine and shook his head.

“Sometimes, We wonder, if We weren't the Emperor, if We didn't even bear the surname Chen, and there was no throne or successor position for them to fight over, perhaps our family could've lived peacefully together for a lifetime. But then, thinking again, even without those things, they'd still find something to fight over - inheritance, or anything else. There would always be something, and We still wouldn't like it. So now that things have come to this, We suppose We are not surprised.”

“The second had always been a schemer since young, and he was bold too. So he thinks a lot, and dares to do it as well. It's no surprise he ended up as he did. Yet the situation still happened, and here it lies before Us. What choice could We make?”

“One is the nephew you felt deep remorse toward, and whom We think very highly of. The other is my own son. Who could make a completely correct choice here?”

The Great Liang Emperor continued on his own, “So the second made his mistakes, but We didn't intervene to help the nephew. It can be considered compensation for owing him all these years, right? But this way, it feels like letting down the nephew. It's hard to be an emperor, it's even harder to be a family elder in times like this."

“Indeed, We have been barely adequate as an emperor these years, and even worse as an elder.”

“If only you were alive. You would surely have found an excellent solution to resolve all this.”

“Forget it. If you were still here, with your personality, you'd have found it even harder to choose. Stuck in the middle, why would I want to put you through such difficulty?”[1]

The Great Liang Emperor sighed and said, “Second wanted to kill him, so he killed the second. I don't see any fault in it. Don't blame him, if there's blame to be placed, blame me.”

Leaning against the gravestone, the Emperor murmured, talking on and on. These were words only meant for her, but she could no longer hear them.

“I'm so tired, really so tired. They all think being Emperor is fascinating and that the whole world is theirs. But what meaning does this world have without you?”

Resting against the gravestone, the Great Liang Emperor slowly drifted to sleep.

A gentle breeze stirred, stirring the hair at his temples that had already turned white.

A single moth emerged from the darkness and gently settled on the Emperor's shoulder.