Chapter 274: The Empress's Dilemma

Chapter 274: The Empress's Dilemma

Haa—

Exhaling a long, turbid breath, Qin Xuan opened his slightly closed eyes, and golden light flashed.

He clenched his fists, feeling the power of thunder rolling within his body like an endless sea of lightning; the sensation was profound and unprecedented.

Powerful!

This power is too powerful!

Having broken through from the Late Stage of the Quasi-Saint Realm to the Middle Stage of the Saint Realm, even King Weiwu in his prime could be blasted apart by a single punch from him!

Furthermore, this increase in power had a concrete manifestation.

Previously, when he mobilized all his strength to throw a punch, it was barely five thousand units of Dragon-Elephant Strength.

But now, a single punch from him started at fifty thousand units of Dragon-Elephant Strength, more than a tenfold increase.

The increase in power was by no means a simple arithmetic problem, but a true exponential surge!

Even someone at the Late Stage of the Quasi-Emperor Realm was not invincible in his eyes.

Holding the heavenly desolation halberd and the ancient prison-suppressing tower, he dared to fight even someone as strong as the Double-Pupil Woman and the powerhouse of the Celestial God Clan from before.

As for whether he could win?

Qin Xuan was not sure, but he could be certain that he would absolutely not be killed by either of these two.

Swish!

Qin Xuan raised his hand and summoned the heavenly desolation halberd into his palm.

Looking at the quasi-emperor artifact before him, Qin Xuan couldn't help but sigh with emotion, "Old friend, it depends on your future Opportunity. If you have no hope of advancing, from now on, you can only stay in my ancient prison-suppressing tower and gather dust."

Buzz, buzz, buzz—

Seemingly able to sense Qin Xuan's emotions, the heavenly desolation halberd let out a mournful cry, filled with reluctance, and even more so, a striving sense of resistance.

"Are you crazy? You, a Middle Stage Saint Realm cultivator, are looking down on even a quasi-emperor artifact?"

"Do you think Emperor Weapons are Chinese cabbages at the market?"

From within the ancient prison-suppressing tower, Leng Li spoke up with a resentful and annoyed tone.

Qin Xuan did not retort; he simply turned around, looked at Ning Waner, and shrugged helplessly, "Sorry, in a fit of rage, I killed a few too many people."

Ning Waner opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but the words stopped abruptly on the tip of her tongue.

This is called killing a few too many?

The rebellious Aristocratic Families and the royal clansmen had all been exterminated by Qin Xuan.

Not even a single descendant was left.

However, arguing about it now was of no use.

She shook her head and said, "Perhaps I also misjudged Her Majesty the Empress's intentions in this matter."

If Her Majesty the Empress really wanted to spare the lives of King Weiwu and the others, why didn't she secretly intervene when Qin Xuan began his slaughter?

With Her Majesty's strength, as long as she interfered slightly, Qin Xuan would not have been able to achieve the total slaughter he did now.

"The rebels have all been put to death; I need to go to the Imperial Palace to report the details to Her Majesty."

Before leaving, Ning Waner looked meaningfully at Wu Bingqing and cautioned Qin Xuan, "Remember to take good care of your third sister. The current Mingyue Imperial City is already overwhelmed; you must not let her cause any more slaughter."

Ning Waner had seen more than once the bloody storm that the Soul-Devouring Body could stir up.

If not for King Zhou Wu breaking his seal, the vast Wu Clan would have been slaughtered to the last person by Wu Bingqing single-handedly.

The current Mingyue Imperial City was waiting to be rebuilt, and the common people had just recovered from their terror. If there were any more slaughter, the consequences would be unimaginable!

After speaking, Ning Waner soared into the air, feeling very curious about how Her Majesty the Empress would handle the matter of Prince Zijing failing to guard the border and the annihilation of nearly half of the Aristocratic Families and the royal clansmen.

— —

"Waner, have you gone mad, or have I?"

"I didn't take action myself precisely to keep some powerful members of the royal clan. Although King Weiwu is a traitor, he is still a royal clansman. With Prince Zijing dead, letting him guard the border would prevent him from colluding with the Ziyang Empire, and secondly, he would recruit troops and horses to secretly strengthen himself, ensuring the border does not spiral out of control. Furthermore, he only recently broke through to the Middle Stage of the Quasi-Emperor Realm and was completely under my control. Qin Xuan killed him just like that; didn't you know to stop him?"

"And those Aristocratic Families and royal clansmen—picking a few to kill as a warning to the others would have been fine. But now that they have all been slaughtered, half of the powerful officials in the great imperial court have died, and even the Six Ministries are missing most of their officials. Do you want to just stand by and watch the power apparatus of the Mingyue Imperial City fall into paralysis?"

Inside Wutong Palace, Empress Mingyue was furious, her proud bosom trembling slightly.

So many Aristocratic Families and royal clansmen, who were just before her eyes, were now all dead at the hands of Qin Xuan.

The court and the public were in turmoil, and every joint in the operation of the entire Mingyue Dynasty was about to fall into a semi-paralyzed state.

Too many people were killed, and they were all officials connected to the deeply entrenched powerful ministers.

As a result, the court of the Mingyue Dynasty would fall into semi-paralysis.

Ning Waner felt that she might have misjudged the Empress's intentions, and wanting to clear the blame from Qin Xuan, her savior, she explained, "Your Majesty, you did not stop Qin... Prince Qin from executing the rebels earlier, so I assumed you had tacitly approved."

Empress Mingyue clenched her fists under the desk in annoyance.

She would have liked to stop him.

But what if, when she tried to stop him, Qin Xuan rebelled and went against her?

He first executed Prince Zijing, then killed King Zhou Wu with a flick of his finger, and finally traded a blow with Great Emperor Ziyang, making Great Emperor Ziyang vomit blood and retreat.

Did he really think she was completely fine?

If she were truly that formidable, wouldn't the Mingyue Dynasty have long since devoured the Ziyang Empire?

Why would she need to wait until now?

She was the only one who knew her own physical condition.

She dared not reveal it to anyone, not even her confidante, Ning Waner.

The rumor in the past that using her power would cause a backlash was by no means a rumor; it was true. It had been spread by an Old Ancestor of the royal clan, whom she had executed afterward.

The rumors had intensified and could no longer be corrected.

She could only go with the flow and set up a grand scheme.

With an absolutely strong stance, she regained the throne of the Empress and won the hearts of the people.

While suppressing those fence-sitters, she also repelled the covetous intentions of the Ziyang Empire.

But she did not expect that Qin Xuan, that guy with a complicated mind, would actually fail to grasp her intentions.

No, that's not right! It wasn't that Qin Xuan couldn't grasp them; even Ning Waner had guessed it, so Qin Xuan must have known clearly that he was deliberately disobeying.

He did it to use the blood energy of those Aristocratic Families and royal clansmen to supply himself and break through to the Middle Stage of the Saint Realm!

"Qin Xuan possesses the swallowing heaven blood pill. This kind of Emperor Pill can only be refined by one person in the entire continent, the Alchemist Emperor!"

"He deceived me by saying the Alchemist Emperor had died, but in reality, he has been keeping him imprisoned by his side!?"

"To supply him with endless Medicinal Pills to Cultivate!"

Empress Mingyue clenched her small fists, gnashing her teeth in indignation, "Traitorous ministers and thieves, all of them are traitorous ministers and thieves!"

"Your Majesty." Ning Waner prostrated in fear and quickly said, "Master Qin, the tutor of the Ming King, has been diligent and conscientious. Under his guidance, His Highness the Ming King has reached the high stage of the Heavenly Human Realm in less than a month. To say it is a rapid Breakthrough would be no exaggeration. His Highness the Ming King's admiration for Master Qin is overflowing. Furthermore, Your Majesty just enfeoffed Qin Xuan as Prince Qin; if you punish him now, I fear it will invite criticism."

Empress Mingyue narrowed her phoenix eyes, swept a glance at Ning Waner kneeling on the ground, and sighed, "Previously, everything you said in my ear was about Qin Xuan's faults, yet now, you are impatient to plead for him?"

Ning Waner prostrated, not daring to lift her head, "This subject would not dare."

"Between you and me, even the rites of monarch and subject are being called upon; very well." Empress Mingyue waved her hand, "Go to the Double-Pupil Palace and ask the Double-Pupil Senior to go to the border and guard it for some time."

"The matter of disaster relief was originally led by you. Now that you have pleaded for him, you should take on a little more responsibility."

Joy was revealed in Ning Waner's voice, "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

After Ning Waner retreated, Empress Mingyue slowly lifted her black dragon robe. She leaned down and looked at the Nether Qi that had already spread to above her calf. Her gaze became increasingly dim, and she sighed helplessly, "Qin Xuan, I exhausted all my strength to save you from the hands of Great Emperor Ziyang, not just for you to serve as Master Qin. This Nether Qi is about to penetrate deep into my bone marrow; you must not disappoint me..."