Chapter 516
Chapter 516
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 516
>Chapter Title: Assignment
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Red blood and various organs danced through the air. Even the heart flung high into the sky was still beating, as if at this moment, Dong Zhongshou—split clean in two—was still alive.
The headless Peng Longteng tilted her body upward, using her heavy armor to catch the things raining down from above.
She gripped the jawbone, still clad in its skin, in her hand. Those broad hands slowly clenched tight and began to grind it to dust, until it crumbled into bone powder within her grasp.
Peng Longteng's body trembled uncontrollably. Slaughter—she craved it so badly. She yearned to kill living people one by one with her own hands.
Heaven only knew how long she had dreamed of this moment. Today, she had finally gotten her fix.
“Bang!” A spiked meteor hammer slammed heavily into Peng Longteng’s heavy armor, producing a muffled thud. Instead of anger, delight surged through her. She charged excitedly at those rushing to kill her.
These seemed to be Dong family retainers, out for revenge on their master. But in Peng Longteng’s eyes right now, they were nothing more than playthings for her slaughter.
The outcome seemed predetermined. A Military School cultivator without a death acupoint was nearly impossible to defeat.
The others had originally seemed ready to send their own retainers to help. But once Li Huowang joined the fight and they witnessed his power, everyone instantly went silent.
After the time it took one stick of incense to burn, aside from the extra corpses littering the ground, the noisy courtyard fell quiet once more.
Li Huowang slowly approached the towering shadow cast by Peng Longteng. He gazed down at everyone below—these so-called direct bloodline heirs of Ji Lin.
They now huddled behind layers of their guards’ protection. Faces filled with terror and suspicion, they stared at the red-robed Daoist before them. Many had clustered together, while others had slipped away unnoticed.
“Before I came here, someone wanted me dead. So I used a few little tricks to pry some info out of them.” Li Huowang spoke as he patted the torture kit hanging at his waist.
“Guess what I learned? All this time, only small fry have died. Not a single one of those nine fighting over the dragon throne is gone. You’re all thinking wrong—both you and them. And you’re wrong in the worst possible way!”
“This isn’t some ordinary shift in power. Put away your old games. We don’t need political trades here. No backroom deals! No scheming alliances! What we need is killing! Refining gu! Everyone except the one on the throne—dead! Not a single one spared!”
There was one more line Li Huowang kept bottled up inside: This was the ironclad rule set by the late emperor in the imperial ancestral temple. No amendments allowed.
“So when someone threatens His Majesty’s life, what do you think His Majesty wants us to do? He’s not wondering who his allies are. He doesn’t care about relationships. Our job is to kill them all!!”
Li Huowang lifted one foot high, then slammed it down hard, shattering the half-head beside him into scattered shards.
After a brief, suffocating interval—the time to brew one cup of tea—that beardless strategist stood pale as a ghost. His finger trembled as he pointed it at Li Huowang.
“My senior brother earned great merits for His Majesty! He’s an indispensable pillar of the court. You dare kill him? His Majesty won’t let you get away with it!”
“No. His Majesty won’t bother with me over something this trivial. What he wants are people who sweep away his obstacles and pave his path to the throne. If your senior brother couldn’t take down even one enemy, then he was worthless to His Majesty.”
Peng Longteng had vanished from behind Li Huowang like a puff of smoke. He strode back toward his seat.
He snatched up the roasted goose from the table and spoke as if musing aloud.
“Your Majesty, if you keep dragging your feet like this, that spirit spawn you devoured might as well have been for nothing. Time to get serious.”
“To you, I’m a sword. A very sharp one. Don’t let its gleam go to waste.”
Under the gaze of everyone present, Li Huowang left the mansion outright. He didn’t know if any of Ji Lin’s spies lurked in the courtyard. But he was certain his words would reach Ji Lin’s ears.
Sure enough, the next morning, an old eunuch delivered an oral imperial decree to Li Huowang.
The decree held nothing special—just one piece of information. The following afternoon, the Empress Dowager would leave the city to pay respects to Buddha at Pu Tan Temple. Princess Changning would accompany her.
“So His Majesty wants me to kill Princess Changning right under the Empress Dowager’s nose?” Li Huowang asked the old eunuch standing before him.
The old eunuch shook his head, expression unchanging, and launched into a casual little tale.
“Even ordinary families struggle to treat their children equally. How much more so the imperial house? The Empress Dowager bore three sons and one daughter. Yet she dotes solely on the Fourth Prince. Her affection for His Majesty has always been scant, from childhood on.”
“As a boy, before the late emperor took the throne—in Prince Heng’s mansion—His Majesty always received less coal money than the others each winter. That’s why he’s hated winter from a young age.”
Li Huowang nodded at that. He got the message. Ji Lin’s spirit spawn hadn’t been eaten for nothing. This was his order to take out both elder sister and mother in one stroke.
The Empress Dowager wouldn’t vie for the throne herself. So she must have decided Ji Lin had no shot and placed her hopes on another son.
The old eunuch finished and turned a knowing smile on Li Huowang. He tapped him lightly with the golden whisk in his hand.
“Princess Changning’s guardians include some real experts. Since you call yourself a sword that slices iron like mud, this servant is eager to see just how swift that blade of yours truly is.”
“Eunuch, a well-honed sword cuts fast by nature. But I seek neither fame nor fortune. Trouble just keeps finding me. All I hope is that, should trouble arise later, friends who owe me favors might lend a hand.”
“Oh dear, the job’s not even done, and you’re already haggling? Finish it first, then we’ll talk.”
Li Huowang watched the old eunuch walk out of his courtyard—only for him to vanish without a trace.
“Looks like Ji Lin’s got more than just trash on his side,” Li Huowang murmured thoughtfully.
There were indeed plenty of formidable figures among the palace eunuchs. How could he leverage them—turn them into his weapon against the dice?
“Dad, why can’t I understand what you’re saying?” Li Age asked from the side, gnawing on a roasted goose.
“You don’t need to. Is the goose tasty?”
“Tasty.”
“Good. Once you’re done, dump the water from the cistern. Fill it with dirt and haul it to the bedroom for me.”
Li Huowang rummaged through the carriage for a moment before carefully retrieving an iron box. It was sealed airtight, every tiny seam packed with wax—as if whatever was inside might try to escape.
(End of chapter)