Chen Zhaoli didn’t say anything. He shook his head, his eyes filled with an expression of pain, disappointment and frustration. The wrinkles on his face suddenly seemed to have increased.

“You’ve gone mad.” Hu Chenfu looked at the emperor, slowly saying this.

“I was forced to go mad by you all.” The emperor laughed. Right now, there was no blood on his teeth, so they looked exceptionally white, exceptionally cold.

Hu Chenfu also smiled, his smiling expression became extremely complicated. “They didn’t rebel, they were forced to rebel by you.”

The emperor said with cold mockery, “If you all truly carry the hearts of subjects, there is completely no need for me to say these following words. This Yunqin is this emperor’s, the lives of everyone in Yunqin also belong to this emperor.”

“You are mistaken.” Hu Chenfu said with a smile of ridicule. “This Yunqin was established by the combined effort of both the late emperor, and ourselves. Establishing an empire is easy, carrying on the good work of one’s predecessors difficult. We cannot bear to see this Central Continent City become chaotic, but this Central Continent City, this Yunqin is still going to become chaotic.”

“What follows great destruction is great creation.” The emperor laughed, starting to smile sincerely. “Regardless of whether you all believe me or not, every single breath this emperor has taken is fresh. Only now, in this Imperial Palace, does this emperor feel like I am truly alive. This emperor truly feels refreshed and free, it is about time.”

“You are still mistaken.” Hu Chenfu said with a cold smile of even greater mockery, “You felt that after accumulating for so many years, you’ve finally waited until there was an internal dispute within Green Luan Academy, that you finally exhausted Green Luan Academy’s tremendous strength… Meanwhile, those belonging to the factions that stand against Green Luan Academy who survived, you believe that they have nowhere else to go, that they can only rely on you, so your strength instead increased greatly… However, have you ever thought just how difficult the late emperor’s situation was? The opponents he faced were far more powerful than the ones you are facing now. The strength he had might have been less than a tenth of yours, yet why did he ultimately obtain everything under the sky?”

“It wasn’t because of your Changsun Clan’s might.”

Hu Chenfu didn’t seem to mind speaking some unfilial and rebellious words at all, saying with mockery, “It is because he had many people helping him, he had many brothers who he would go from the cradle to the grave with. He viewed others as his very own arms and legs, which was why others served him with their arms and legs. You view your subjects like weeds, so how will your subjects view you then?”

Yunqin Emperor laughed.

He didn’t show a single shred of alarm, instead also saying with a laugh of mockery, “So what? At the very least, I’m not the first.”

“No one can do whatever they please, do anything they want, not even the late emperor, not even Principal Zhang.” Hu Chenfu’s expression became incomparably cold. He gave Yunqin Emperor a look and said, “You do not even understand this type of thing, just doing those willful and troublesome things you want to do, and yet you already feel like you weren’t living? Being so lacking in wisdom, how could you possibly exceed the late emperor in contributions? It is because a brat like you is so unruly, treating this Yunqin and all the common people under the sky as toys to play with that who knows how much territory you are about to lose. At that time, even when you die, I want to see just what kind of face you have to meet the late emperor in the nine springs of hell.”

“The scope of people are different. What can a momentary loss count as?” Yunqin Emperor’s face lacked the slightest trace of anger, calmly saying, “How can you say for certain that after this emperor sweeps away all obstructions, that the government decrees won’t be sensible, that after the initial decline of the change, Yunqin won’t become even more powerful?”

“You all are steeds who pull Yunqin, this massive carriage. It is just that your forces aren’t in one place, so this emperor wants to have all of these steeds pull the carriage at the very front. When Yunqin was first established, it needed all of you to oversee it, but now, why is there a need to attach such importance to this old system?” After a slight pause, Yunqin Emperor said coldly and proudly, “This emperor only wishes to wipe out the rebelling Zhong Family, only wishes to take down those layers of curtains in front of this emperor’s face, to sweep away all of the shadows, this emperor doesn’t actually wish to force you all to the grave. This emperor believes that all of you are at least loyal to the empire, so this emperor can ensure that at the very least, as long as you all are like Huang Family and Wenren Family, this emperor can ensure that your heirs will properly continue living in Yunqin.”

“You are still mistaken.” Hu Chenfu said with mockery. “I wouldn’t place the lives of my friends and my loved ones in the hands of someone who has gone crazy. Let alone… what are you going to use to pull this massive empire? Could it be that you are going to rely on Wen Xuanshu?”

“This emperor already won’t trust anyone.” Yunqin Emperor understood Hu Chenfu’s intentions, instead calmly saying, “This emperor naturally won’t trust him either.”

Hu Chenfu gave Yunqin Emperor a deep look. Only a moment later did he say seriously, “I really cannot understand where all of your confidence comes from… You clearly know that regardless of what kind of decision we make today, your decision today is precisely pushing all of us completely against you. You want to deal with us, yet Wen Xuanshu might also very well take a bite out of you, so just where do you get such great confidence from?”

“This emperor is confident, because this emperor is from Changsun Clan.” The corners of Yunqin Emperor’s lips produced a malevolent smile, coldly saying, “Many of you have overlooked this point, but you all should also understand that regardless of what this emperor does, this emperor is still the emperor of all of Yunqin, the emperor of all of those common people! They will let every last drop of their blood bleed out of their bodies for the sake of this emperor! Regardless of how much contributions you all have, this emperor is the son of heaven they believe in! This is something not even Principal Zhang has ever been able to change!”

Hu Chenfu became quiet.

“That is why regardless of how your opinions differs with this emperor, now, it is merely a question of choice.” Yunqin Emperor instead looked at him, continuing, “You cannot kill me, and there is no way you can leave this emperor’s Imperial Palace. This emperor has already thought things out for you, what you can do are only two choices. The first is to try to assassinate this emperor, and then die in this Imperial Palace, and then at the same time, this emperor will begin to deal with your Hu Family. This way, regardless of whether your backlash is like Jiang Family’s, bringing this emperor a lot of harm, there is no way most of your Hu Family in Central Continent City can survive. The second choice is precisely to wait for one day. Once you leave, everyone in your Hu Family will withdraw from Central Continent City, and then make this emperor your enemy. This emperor doesn’t wish for both sides to suffer like this, so this emperor will give you this amount of time.”

The wrinkles of Chen Zhaoli’s face increased by a few more.

From the initial anger, pain and disappointment to now, even the tip of his nose seemed to be trembling from numbness.

He knew that in the many dynasties of the past, there were countless foolish rulers.

Just like Tangcang’s Emperor Hui Guang, he had never held a morning imperial court session in his life, normally only carving wooden fish and listening to all types of so-called omens. There were ministers who carved white lotus on the imperial court’s walls, and they all wrote to him that this was an omen from the heavens, and in the end he would believe it. Instead, it was the upright and straight subjects who were suppressed and crowded out. For example, Nanmo Country’s last emperor was precisely extremely stupid and rejoiced in grandiose deeds, not caring about government affairs, only wishing to build up all types of generals, and then leading a great army to war. In the end, when he was returning from a great defeat, in a situation where his forces didn’t have the advantage, he still wanted to personally challenge the rebel army, in the end dying from an accident.

However, Chen Zhaoli never thought that this emperor who was previously a brilliant master in his eyes, a monarch who was willing to endure suffering, actually walked step by step to this type of state!

“He really has gone mad.” Right now, in his mind, he only numbly and continuously repeated this line.

“I want to know your choice.”

Hu Chenfu instead turned around to look at him, calmly saying, “You should understand that right now, apart from him, we are the ones with the greatest forces in Central Continent City, the ones who have the highest chances of changing the situation.”

The emperor knew what Hu Chenfu was thinking right now, but he instead didn’t say anything, only calmly and coldly looking at Hu Chenfu and Chen Zhaoli.

Chen Zhaoli seemed to have aged a bit.

“I have never let down the Changsun Clan… I will choose to retire in old age.” He remained quiet for a long time, and then said this bitterly.

Pah!

Hu Chenfu fiercely spat out a clump of spittle, spitting towards Chen Zhaoli  in disdain .

Chen Zhaoli could naturally easily blast this spit away, but because of his surging mood, he instead didn’t react at all. This clump of spittle landed on the front piece of his jacket.

He didn’t produce any exaggerated reactions towards Hu Chenfu, only turning around, and then sitting down with an ash-colored complexion.

The emperor didn’t say anything more, turning around to leave.

Sometimes, unless one truly faced the most difficult choice, one will never know just what kind of choice will be made. However, right now, Chen Family already made the choice he wanted.

Some people felt like burning indiscriminately was better, some felt like when there wasn’t enough strength, then one should leave, just peacefully spend up their later years.

He understood extremely clearly that among these elders, every single of them thought differently.

Right now, since Chen Family made this type of choice, Hu Chenfu could only accept his condition and stay here. It was because Hu Chenfu had the background of a cool-headed commander, he would understand extremely clearly that without Chen Family’s support, Hu Family’s retaliation wouldn't possibly serve any decisive use. Someone like him would choose to hold the battle off until later.

“Fighting against these people… is much more fun than sifting through the reports of corrupt officials as expected.”

The emperor walked in the midsummer Imperial Palace in a relaxed manner, smiling as he said this to himself. However, in his heart, he didn’t feel any happiness. It was because his heart was empty. The instant Yun Fei died, his heart lacked the joy ordinary people felt, it was now only filled with doubt, ambition and continuously surging desire.

…

A silver-armored officer quickly appeared in his line of sight. When he was fifty steps from him, he knelt down, saying with a slightly trembling voice, “Grand Secretary Wen ordered me to pass on the news that Justice Sector Substitute Imperial Censor Ye Ziqin has led more than twenty officials from the various sectors to stop the army, stating they wish to meet with the emperor.”

“Execute them!”

The emperor revealed a cold smile. “At this type of time, the more fierce we act, the less people will die instead. Pass down my verbal order: All those who stop the Central Continent Guards from carrying out their tasks are assisting Zhong Family in their rebellion! If they stand before the army, they are all to be executed!”

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