Chapter 232: Must Die Today!

Xiao Lan’s martial arts were getting better and better. Killing someone should have been an easy task for him.

Xiao Mo knew some martial arts, but he was injured. Thirty strokes from a cane had nearly crippled him, and on top of that, he’d been shot. The wound had never properly healed. Even a master of martial arts couldn’t possibly defeat Xiao Lan in such a state.

Yet, dragging his broken body, he somehow managed to dodge Xiao Lan’s killing blows one after another.

With Xu Xingchen, Rong Yin, and the others blocking his path, Xiao Mo couldn’t escape. His only option was to circle a pillar to stay alive. Twice, he burst out in a desperate attempt to fight back, and he almost managed to turn the tables and kill Xiao Lan.

At the critical moment, Rong Yin intervened, using the beads from his sleeve as a projectile weapon to save Xiao Lan.

Xiao Lan had never imagined he would look so pathetic trying to kill an injured man, even coming close to failing himself. A rare flicker of anger rose within him, and his attacks grew even sharper. Just as he was about to kill Xiao Mo, Ji Feifei rushed forward and was run through the heart by Xiao Lan’s sword.

"Feifei!"

Watching Xiao Lan withdraw his sword in a spray of fresh blood, Xiao Mo’s eyes widened in fury as hatred boiled within him.

"Xiao Yang, you..."

Xiao Mo wanted to curse the Emperor, but Xiao Lan gave him no chance. Without so much as a blink after drawing his sword back, he lunged toward Xiao Mo again.

His target had always been Xiao Mo. Ji Feifei had courted death herself; that was her own fate.

Hacked at relentlessly, Xiao Mo was sent scrambling and crawling on the floor, his body quickly accumulating new wounds.

Finally, at the brink of death, he seemed to accept reality. He suddenly ran toward Xiao Yang and dropped to his knees. "This humble subject knows his wrongs! I beg Your Majesty’s forgiveness!"

Before Xiao Yang could speak, Xiao Lan, his eyes now bloodshot with killing intent, brought his sword down.

There was no way Xiao Mo could dodge the blow.

But just as the blade was about to find its mark...

CLANG!

Nanny Yang, holding a bronze oil lamp, had somehow blocked Xiao Lan’s fatal blow.

Xiao Lan was knocked back. Nanny Yang now stood protectively behind Xiao Mo, preventing Xiao Lan from striking again.

"Ha?"

"Hahahaha!"

Xiao Yang burst into uncontrollable laughter at the absurd scene.

’A Child of Fortune... how interesting.’

"Hahahaha!"

Xiao Yang collapsed back into her chair, laughing without any regard for her imperial image.

As everyone stared, she finally laughed her fill and asked, "Nanny Yang, aren’t you going to explain this to Us?"

Nanny Yang looked back. She seemed to know she had overstepped, her expression conflicted, but she remained standing firmly in a protective stance behind Xiao Mo and gave a slight bow.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me. Xiao Mo is the only male heir of the late Emperor’s line. This servant cannot stand by and watch him die."

Xiao Yang found this endlessly amusing. "He can’t die, so you defy Us?"

’The only male heir... She really has some nerve. What does that make me, the Emperor?’

Nanny Yang knelt and kowtowed. "This servant is willing to atone with my life. I beg Your Majesty to spare him."

Xiao Yang’s gaze grew colder, her expression more distant.

’How wonderful. Yang Xiu is at my side, always proper, so low-key she’s practically invisible.’

’And now, for a man who only appeared a few days ago, she’s willing to throw her life away.’

’It has nothing to do with affection, nor is it about loyalty. It’s simply because Xiao Mo is a man.’

’How... utterly revolting.’

"You want to die? That’s easy enough." Xiao Yang raised her gaze, her eyes chillingly sinister, overflowing with a palpable, dark aura. "We will grant your wish!"

Xiao Lan raised his sword once more.

Nanny Yang didn’t resist. She accepted the blow.

As she fell, she didn’t forget to plead with Xiao Yang one last time. "I beg Your Majesty... spare him... He is... your only brother..."

BANG!

Xiao Yang raised her hand and fired a single shot into Nanny Yang’s forehead, ending her life instantly.

Blood splattered across Xiao Mo’s face, leaving him utterly stunned.

Xiao Yang rose and walked slowly toward Xiao Mo.

Xiao Mo stared blankly at Nanny Yang’s body. She was the second person to die for him today.

Xiao Yang bent down, grabbed Xiao Mo by the collar, and stared at him with a chilling, upturned smile. Her voice was as demonic as it was malevolent. "We’re going to play a game today. You can guess how many people will come to save you... and guess whether We’ll be able to kill you or not."

With that, she began dragging him out by his collar.

Xiao Yang was a woman, but she knew martial arts. Dragging Xiao Mo’s frail, injured body was effortless for her.

Stepping over Nanny Yang’s corpse, then Ji Feifei’s, Xiao Yang dragged him all the way out the door.

Rong Yin and Xu Xingchen exchanged a glance. Rong Yin made a swift decision. "Gather all the guards! Follow Her Majesty! And send someone to get Li Wei. Tell him to enter the palace immediately to protect the Emperor!"

Xu Xingchen’s expression was grim. "There’s no time for that! Fire a signal flare now! Summon the Black Dragon Guards! General Li will come at once when he sees it. I’ll go get Prince Jing, Chief of Staff Mu, and the others... and my grandfather."

’Her Majesty has clearly been driven mad with rage. She wants to kill Xiao Mo, but she also wants to fish.’

’She’s fishing for more traitors like Nanny Yang—the kind who would support Xiao Mo simply because he’s a man.’

’Wherever Her Majesty goes now, a bloodbath is sure to follow. We have to go on highest alert and make sure that the people closest to her are those who would protect her with their lives, no questions asked.’

Rong Yin and Xu Xingchen had probably never imagined they would ever be in such perfect sync.

Rong Yin and Xiao Lan took their men and hurried after Xiao Yang, while Xu Xingchen immediately began contacting reinforcements.

Li Wei and Mu Yunlian were the first to arrive. They brought their trusted men and rushed toward the Emperor without a moment’s hesitation.

Prince Jing and Xiao Lv arrived a moment later. Xu Xingchen told them, "The two of you must hold back the courtiers and maintain control of the court. Don’t let any officials rush into the palace."

Xiao Ziling, Xiao Cheng, and Ye Shao arrived in succession. Xu Xingchen looked at them and said, "If you set foot past here, it must be only to protect Her Majesty. If any of you have ulterior motives, the Xu Family will mobilize all its power to hunt you down to the ends of the earth!"

Having said his piece, he cleared the path.

Xiao Ziling vanished in a flash. Xiao Cheng hurried after her. Ye Shao, a step behind, shot back a reply to Xu Xingchen: "We won’t give the Xu Family that chance."

They followed. The path leading from the Imperial Study Room was already lined with corpses.

The moment Xiao Yang dragged Xiao Mo outside, attackers appeared out of nowhere. They launched suicidal assassination attempts, trying to rescue Xiao Mo from her grasp.

One by one, they fell to the blades of Rong Yin and his men. But even as the path became littered with bodies, more attackers kept coming, wave after wave.

Xiao Yang dragged Xiao Mo with one hand, the Emperor’s Sword held in the other.

Yet she didn’t kill a single one. Her guards intercepted all the assassins. Especially after Li Wei and Mu Yunlian arrived, no one could even get close to her.

Xiao Yang continued to drag Xiao Mo, heading purposefully in a specific direction.

Xiao Mo tried to resist, but Xiao Yang dislocated both of his arms. As she dragged him along, the old wound on his waist reopened, and the pain felt as if his bones were breaking. He was completely helpless.

He regretted it. ’I never should have provoked Xiao Yang.’

"Your Majesty, I was wrong... I truly know I was wrong..."

"I shouldn’t have framed you... I shouldn’t have been so insolent..."

"I was disrespectful to Your Majesty... I beg Your Majesty’s forgiveness..."

Did he not know what he had done wrong? No, he knew perfectly well.

An Emperor’s authority is inviolable, yet time and again, he had tried to rebuke her.

No matter how righteous he acted, deep down, he despised her simply for being a woman.

He was a man, the eldest son, while Xiao Yang was a woman.

The late Emperor had only one son. The throne should have been his.

Even if he hadn’t thought of it before, with so many people whispering in his ear, his ambition had grown. After being punished by the Emperor, these thoughts became irrepressible.

He didn’t have the power to defy the Emperor, but his pride wouldn’t let him bow his head. So he tried to gain superiority through words, using his false self-righteousness and his status as her brother to put her down.

But the Emperor wasn’t buying it. The courtiers might have acknowledged him, but even they didn’t dare defy the Emperor.

And now, he had well and truly provoked her. To save his own life, he had no choice but to beg.

But unfortunately for him, whether he was begging for mercy out of a newfound sense of reality or simply submitting with a heart full of resentment, it no longer mattered to Xiao Yang.

There was only a single, crazed thought in her eyes: ’I don’t care if he’s some Child of Fortune. Today, he dies!’

’And anyone who tries to save him can die with him!’