Chapter 205 - 204: Towering Rage

Chapter 205: Chapter 204: Towering Rage

As Zheng Zhicang’s words fell, the study suddenly grew quiet. Only the sound of the flickering candlelight and a bone-chilling cold that permeated the air remained.

Zheng Zhicang trembled, a vague understanding dawning on him. He looked at Xia Wuyang in horror.

"Continue," Xia Wuyang’s voice was ice-cold, as if squeezed through his teeth.

Zheng Zhicang suppressed his discomfort and said with a hint of fear, "After the Former Empress was killed, Emperor Xia announced to the public that she had died suddenly from a severe illness. The funeral was quite grand, but inside the coffin... there were only a few of Her Majesty’s regular clothes. Her real body was secretly cremated."

The teacup on the nearby desk crashed to the floor, sending shards of porcelain flying.

Xia Wuyang stood up and walked to the window. With his back to Zheng Zhicang, he gazed in the direction of Qianqing Palace.

After a long time, Xia Wuyang finally spoke, his voice terribly hoarse. "The Luo River Secret Realm... who holds it now?"

"It is in Emperor Xia’s hands, of course. Although it has been thoroughly plundered by various factions, the Spiritual Qi within is still abundant. It ultimately fell into Emperor Xia’s hands—or to be precise, into the hands of the Great Xia Royal Family," Zheng Zhicang said in a low voice.

Xia Wuyang suddenly began to laugh. "Good. Truly, very good. Xia Shengming has been selfish his entire life. In his eyes, the value of a medicinal garden is greater than that of Empress Luo who helped him through countless hardships, and greater than their son."

The laughter was particularly unsettling in the study. His face was devoid of expression, but his eyes were terrifyingly cold.

"These debts... I will settle them one by one. I won’t let a single one slide."

Xia Wuyang no longer concealed his intentions, his voice cold as he stared toward Qianqing Palace.

Behind him, Zheng Zhicang’s expression changed drastically. Speculation was one thing, but hearing an admission from the man himself was another entirely. He stared in disbelief at the cloaked Xia Wuyang before him, hardly able to believe what he was seeing and hearing.

’This peerless expert, an Overlord among Celestial Humans who had enslaved him with ease... Is he really that decrepit elder Crown Prince, so muddled by age that all he knows is to seek pleasure?’

’But if not him, who else would do something like this?’

’With his current strength, he’s likely not much weaker than Emperor Xia. And he’s a full several decades younger than the Emperor. If he were given a few more decades, what level of Cultivation could he reach?’

Zheng Zhicang suddenly dropped to his knees. "Your Highness, this subordinate is willing to serve you to the death."

Xia Wuyang remained silent. He knew a small part of what happened back then, but most of it he didn’t know, or what he knew had been obscured and twisted by others. The real truth was known only to a select few.

Of the others who knew, some were already dead, and some had disappeared.

Over the years, Xia Wuyang had taken control of many high-ranking nobles, such as the Grand General of the Imperial Guard, Tantai Zhan, and the Minister of War, Jiang Mingyuan. None of them knew the truth of what happened back then, let alone him, the Crown Prince who had been deliberately kept in the dark.

Although there had been much speculation at the time, no one had suspected Emperor Xia. At most, the blame fell on his so-called maternal grandfather, grandmother, and uncles, or on the various powers and other Princes and Princesses who coveted the Luo River Secret Realm.

It wasn’t until decades later that he gradually realized something was wrong and began to suspect Emperor Xia. Even then, he never thought the Emperor was the main culprit, only that he had participated or was hiding something.

To think that Emperor Xia had orchestrated it all. He had already taken the best resources and treasures from the Luo River Secret Realm, yet he remained insatiably greedy.

His maternal grandfather, grandmother, and uncles were detestable, but they had already paid with their lives. Even the Luo Clan, with its thousand-year heritage, was destroyed in a single stroke.

But what about Emperor Xia, the true culprit? He remained scot-free, practically feasting on his mother’s corpse, devouring everything she left behind. His own mother, killed by Emperor Xia’s hand.

Sucking blood and eating flesh, gnawing bones and sucking marrow, leaving not even the corpse behind—that was Emperor Xia.

Compared to the mother who bore and raised him, what was Emperor Xia?

In all these years, what the Emperor had done for Xia Wuyang wasn’t even one-ten-thousandth of what Empress Mother Luo Jin had done. And what Xia Wuyang had done to repay him had long since far exceeded any debt.

He had also repaid his debt to his Empress Mother Luo Jin, many times over.

Now, between him and Emperor Xia, there was only hatred, no longer any shred of gratitude.

With his last doubts resolved, all of Xia Wuyang’s remaining scruples were swept away.

He had previously considered that Emperor Xia might have been involved, and many events from decades ago supported his suspicions.

But Xia Wuyang had still never imagined the truth would be this cruel—that Emperor Xia was the mastermind behind it all.

The candlelight cast flickering shadows within the study. Xia Wuyang was silent for a long time.

He walked to the window, gazing at the brightly lit Qianqing Palace. "Chief Censor Zheng, Emperor Xia... what is Xia Shengming’s current Cultivation?"

"Xia Shengming is a Celestial Human at Super Grade Perfection," Zheng Zhicang answered with his head bowed. "He has not yet encountered the opportunity to condense a True Qi Seed and step into the Extraordinary True Monarch Realm. He has been stuck at this stage for decades."

Xia Wuyang’s eyebrows twitched slightly. "In that case, the Sensing Fruit and various Spirit Level Miracle Treasures he stole from my mother decades ago... he hasn’t used them yet?"

"That is correct. One cannot use those treasures without attempting to break through to the True Monarch Realm, much less being a True Monarch. They are all currently hidden in Qianqing Palace and are Emperor Xia’s most important treasures," Zheng Zhicang nodded.

A cold sneer touched Xia Wuyang’s lips. "Good. That means I still have a chance to take those treasures back. But to not encounter an opportunity for decades... is it really that hard to find? Doesn’t he have the Sensing Fruit?"

Zheng Zhicang gave a bitter smile. "If the opportunity were so easy to find, there wouldn’t be so many Celestial Humans stuck at the Super Grade Realm, unable to become True Monarchs. Most Celestial Humans go their entire lives without ever encountering the opportunity to advance. Even if the opportunity does arrive, one might fail to ascend if they don’t grasp it properly, or if there is something wrong with their body at the time. That is why they need the aid of a Breakthrough Miracle Treasure like the Sensing Fruit."

The types of Miracle Treasures have been mentioned before. They are divided into three kinds: Ordinary Miracle Treasures, Breakthrough Miracle Treasures, and Special Miracle Treasures. Ordinary Miracle Treasures can be used to significantly raise one’s Cultivation Realm and are divided into four levels: Low Level, Middle Level, High Level, and Top Level.

However, Breakthrough Miracle Treasures and Special Miracle Treasures have only one level: Top Level. Breakthrough Miracle Treasures can be used to help break through the major barriers between stages, while Special Miracle Treasures can be used for Purifying the Marrow to improve one’s Talent and Qualification.

The Sensing Fruit is a Breakthrough Miracle Treasure—specifically, a Spirit Level Breakthrough Miracle Treasure, which could also be called a Top Level Breaking-Through Spirit Treasure. It can help a cultivator break through the shackles of the Body Refining Stage and enter the Qi Refining Stage. Among Spirit Level Miracle Treasures, its value is at the absolute peak. Even a Spirit Level Special Miracle Treasure cannot compare in value.

As for Ordinary Miracle Treasures, they are far inferior to both Breakthrough Miracle Treasures and Special Miracle Treasures.