roccoschili Chapter 1596: 4 On the Road
Chapter 1596: 4 On the Road
Chapter 1596: Chapter 4 On the RoadJiang Wuqi’s life was brief.
From that winter night in the thirty-eighth year of Yuan Feng, to this morning in the fifty-fifth year.
Dragging his sick body, he lived for seventeen years.
Emperor Qi invited renowned physicians from all over the world, offering great rewards, and no one believed Jiang Wuqi could live past ten.
Yet this year, he was already seventeen.
The extra seven years, he fought alone against death, reclaiming them day by day,
The cold poison entered his life from the womb, the higher the cultivation, the fiercer the cold poison.
Cultivation was a path to death. Not cultivating was merely waiting for it.
Jiang Wuqi knew early on that fate did not offer him more choices.
Both paths ahead and behind were dead ends.
Every day, every moment of his life, he endured immense pain. Every bowl of medicine he drank was bitter beyond words, and every treatment he received was a form of punishment.
Yet he stubbornly lived on.
Physician Wen said the Inner Mansion was his limit; one more step and the cold poison would erupt, leading to his death.
He only asked, what if I take one step to God Arrives?
Physician Wen said going to the Outer Building would also lead to death, as would reaching God Arrives; only Dongzhen could sever and remove the life’s cold poison, but one step to Dongzhen was almost impossible.
He simply said, then I will take one step to Dongzhen.
He dragged his cold poison-ridden body to create infinite possibilities.
He bore pain every moment to forge a legend belonging to Jiang Wuqi.
How simple a desire it is for one to want to live.
Yet, for Jiang Wuqi, it was such a difficult wish.
Sadly, his footsteps forever halted in the autumn of Yuan Feng’s fifty-fifth year.
He became an ice sculpture in the majestic Purple Pole Hall, at the power center of the Great Qi Empire.
How should he be evaluated?
Like the lonely question he asked in the Long Life Palace—
“Who am I, this solitary person?”
The Great Qi Emperor was silent.
He raised his hand slightly, seeming to want to touch Jiang Wuqi’s cheek, but it stopped in mid-air, remaining still for a long time.
The prestigious and elegant Mian Fu of the Son of Heaven faced the snow-white fox fur that had turned into ice in silence.
And the hand capable of changing the heavens and earth with a flip finally lowered in solitude.
From now on, it can no longer touch.
Earlier, Jiang Wuqi, naked and holding a jade in his mouth, knelt before the Purple Pole Hall waiting for judgment; the Son of Heaven took away the jade from his mouth, forgiving but also alienating him.
And today, Jiang Wuqi finally asked for the return of that piece of white jade, signifying his own innocence, which he found for himself.
The grandeur and elegance of the Son of Heaven’s Mian Fu naturally commanded the highest respect, and the tassels of the Flat Sky Crown profoundly contained time, hiding the emotions of the Supreme of the Eastern Region.
The Son of Heaven must have doubts.
The heart of the Son of Heaven cannot be fathomed clearly by anyone.
The mercy of the heavens is like the sea, the awe of the heavens is unfathomable.
There is no doubt Jiang Shu was a qualified Son of Heaven.
But Jiang Wuqi finally called himself… son.
How should he respond to his son?
The supreme ruler of the Great Qi Empire stood there in the Purple Pole Hall for a long time; no one knew what he was thinking.
Until Han Ling, suppressing his grief, spoke softly: “Your Majesty, those two captured by the Eleventh Prince… how should they be dealt with?”
Only then did Emperor Qi seem to awaken.
He turned and walked up the Cinnabar Steps.
The path of the tassel in the air seemed like a final farewell.
And his voice, as if falling from the Nine Heavens, so indifferent, so distant—
“Flay them.”
This powerful ruler, who dominated the Eastern Region and awed the world, finally showed a bit of emotion at this moment.
No need for trials, no need for intelligence, no need for negotiations, no need to pursue clues.
They just need to die in the most wretched way possible.
This is a father’s offering to his son.
The high Cinnabar Steps finally reached their end, the Qi Son of Heaven turned around and sat on the incomparably precious Dragon Throne.
The light of the scarlet sun could not penetrate the tassels, casting a shadow on the face of the Son of Heaven.
This Purple Pole Hall was too grand, too spacious, also making the people inside appear too lonely.
…
…
Jiang Wang received the news on his way back to Qi—
The Eleventh Prince of the Great Qi, Longevity Palace Master Jiang Wuqi, was claimed by the cold poison, passing away in the Purple Pole Hall at the age of seventeen.
Along with this news came the revelation that Jiang Wuqi used his own body as bait to eliminate all the Equality Country spies within Qi Country.
From the Imperial City Patrol Inspection Bureau to the Imperial Guard, and then to the Rain-slicing Army on duty in the capital region…
A total of twenty-three spies from the Equality Country were captured!
One should know that the last time the Summer Country tightly bound the high-level leaders of the God Descending Realm from the Equality Country and sent them to Qi Country, they couldn’t uncover any important roles.
Yet this time, the twenty-three had woven a vast dark web in Qi Country. They didn’t know each other, acting only when necessary, for the same target.
Among them were high-ranking officials. There was a Minister of Rites responsible for ceremonies, a Qing brand catcher of the third rank from a prominent Green Badge Aristocracy, Li Youjue… and even Zhan Yu Army Commander Yan Tu!
That the Nine Soldier Commander level turned out to be a high official of the Equality Country!
This is something almost impossible in other Overlord Countries.
Only in Qi Country, as the “youngest” among the six great powers of the world, did it rise too quickly and expand too hastily, laying many hidden dangers in the process.
The iron hooves of Qi Country trampled across the Eastern Region, waging war on countless countries, absorbing countless talents, and in its rapid expansion, also sowing too much hatred and too much pain.
This is an experience every Overlord Country has undergone, needing ample historical depth to digest it.
The current Qi Country was clearly still too “young.”
For someone like Yan Tu, who was already campaigning for Qi Country when Jiang Shu was Crown Prince, had he not shown a flaw this time, who could have discerned his heart?