Chapter 714
Chapter 714
The Crown Prince of Chu felt a surge of warmth. Thankfully, he had put on a perfect performance at the crucial moment. In yesterday's battle, he had essentially been defeated and even became Ying Ji's prisoner. But the image he projected had won everyone's hearts—he would rather die by his own sword than become a captive and tarnish the dignity of Chu.
Crucially, Ying Ji had cooperated beautifully. The prince was released within hours, making it seem less like he was a prisoner and more like he was a wounded man rescued out of humanitarian concern. Ying Ji had even entered the Chu encampment alone, which only highlighted the crown prince's charismatic personality. The performance staged by these two men was nothing short of flawless.
Instead of offering polite refusals, the Crown Prince of Chu knelt beside the King of Chu's body and wept aloud. He did not sit on the throne. Instead, he placed the king's body on a table and sat on the floor, leaning his back against it.
"We pay our respects to Your Majesty!"
"We pay our respects to Your Majesty!"
The Crown Prince's Grand Tutor, Li Xianqi, personally placed the royal seal in his hand and crowned him.
"We pay our respects to Your Majesty!"
"Ying Ji pays his respects to the King of Chu!"
And so, sitting beneath the remains of the late king, the Crown Prince of Chu ascended the throne. In its time of crisis, the State of Chu welcomed a brilliant and wise new king.
* * *
Inside the capital of Chu.
Shen Lang sighed involuntarily after hearing the detailed report. It was true what they said: man proposes, but heaven disposes. The best-case scenario he had envisioned had not come to pass. Shen Lang had originally planned to use the King of Chu to destroy the Zhong Clan and then arrange for the king's sudden death, but he had been too late.
The Crown Prince of Chu was formidable. He never knew the man was so skilled in the art of manipulation, and Ying Ji was even more impressive. After the King of Chu's sudden death, the crown prince had put on a flawless display, and Ying Ji's performance had been nothing short of divine. In particular, Ying Ji entering the Chu encampment alone, entrusting his life to them to prove his innocence, was a masterstroke. Not only would it improve his image in the eyes of the people of Yue, but it would also make him seem remarkable to the people of Chu.
Moreover, judging by the current situation, it seemed Ying Ji and the new King of Chu had already formed an alliance. The new king was wiser than his predecessor. The late king had been overly greedy, but the new one was more skilled in intrigue, knew when to advance and when to retreat, and understood how to control the larger picture. Likewise, Ying Ji had proven himself far more capable than Ning Yuanxian. He truly hadn't realized how outstanding Ying Ji was before.
In fact, it wasn't just that others failed to see Ying Ji's brilliance; Ying Ji himself probably hadn't known either. Adversity is the ultimate test of a person's character. Crown Prince Ying Yi had always appeared exceptional, but he crumbled the moment hardship struck. In contrast, while Ying Ji had shown promise, he was considered merely on par with the crown prince. Unexpectedly, when faced with adversity, he repeatedly surpassed his own limits and created miracles.
Gou Duhuan asked.
"Young Master, won't the Third Prince try to pin the assassination of the King of Chu on you?"
That was Gou Duhuan's greatest worry. Shen Lang looked at Ying Zheng and asked.
"What do you think, Your Highness?"
Ying Zheng shook his head.
"He won't."
"Correct. He won't. There are many suspects in the King of Chu's death. Consort An, myself, and Mount Budao are all potential culprits. But when you get down to it, there is ultimately only one true perpetrator behind the king's death: His Majesty, the supreme Emperor of the Great Yan Dynasty. Before he died, the King of Chu cried out that Mount Budao was trying to assassinate him, which implicitly linked His Majesty the Emperor to the matter. If the Emperor wasn't involved, Ying Ji would have pinned the blame on us without hesitation. But since the Emperor is implicated, he will do nothing and quietly await His Majesty's decision.
"At a time like this, any move he makes—even framing me for the king's death—would be seen as a struggle against the Emperor, a refusal to take the fall for him. In the end, Ying Ji is taking a gamble, betting that the Emperor of the Great Yan Dynasty is a brilliant ruler who won't mind his own reputation being sullied. If the Emperor saves Ying Ji, those who do his dirty work can rest easy. However, the rulers of the world will tremble in fear and grow wary of the Emperor. If the Great Yan Emperor does not save Ying Ji, it means he cares deeply about how the world's rulers perceive him. Sacrificing Ying Ji to appease them would chill the hearts of his loyal subjects. This is a choice the Emperor must make."
"Then what should we do now?"
Shen Lang replied to Gou Duhuan's question.
"First, we must create a rumor that it wasn't Ying Ji who assassinated the King of Chu, but Shen Lang! The rumor must seem credible, with every detail included. We have to make many people believe that I, Shen Lang, conspired with Mount Budao to assassinate the King of Chu."
Hearing this, everyone was bewildered.
*'W-why on earth?'*
Shen Lang said.
"First, we can't silence everyone regarding the King of Chu's death. The blame will eventually fall on us anyway, so it's better if we spread it ourselves. Second, Ying Ji will act utterly compliant, so we must struggle on his behalf, showing that he is unwilling to take the fall for His Majesty the Emperor."
Gou Duhuan asked.
"Does that mean Ying Ji doesn't want to frame you, but you're going to force the blame onto yourself?"
"Precisely!"
* * *
The death of the King of Chu sent ripples through the world like a giant boulder thrown into a lake. Over twenty years ago, the sudden death of Emperor Jiang Li had struck fear into the hearts of the world's rulers. In response, the Great Yan Dynasty immediately declared that Jiang Li's death was not an assassination but a result of his own bloodline modification experiments. To appease the rulers of the world, the Emperor had set a rule: no matter how fierce the battles on the field, vassal states were never to assassinate the monarch of another nation. Transcendent powers, in particular, were to rein in their abilities, refrain from interfering excessively in secular affairs, and maintain a distance from royal authority. As a result, the Eastern dynasties found a degree of stability, and for over two decades, not a single monarch was assassinated. But now, that taboo had been broken.
The King of Chu being openly assassinated was one thing, but the biggest problem was that he had publicly cried out that Mount Budao was harming him. Mount Budao was a transcendent power, but they largely obeyed the will of His Majesty the Emperor. Without a nod from the Emperor of the Great Yan Dynasty, Mount Budao would never have dared to assassinate the King of Chu. So what did Mount Budao's actions mean now? Had His Majesty the Emperor broken his own rule?
In an instant, the vassal states of the world became skittish, and their rulers trembled with fear. Some kings even launched internal purges, eliminating all eunuchs and consorts suspected of ties to transcendent powers like Mount Budao. More extreme rulers had them killed on the spot. Afterward, the monarchs kept a close watch on the reaction from Yanjing. How would the supreme Emperor handle this matter? Would he pin the assassination of the King of Chu on Ying Ji and have him executed? Doing so would signal that the Emperor was willing to compromise, sacrificing Ying Ji to appease the world's rulers. But the opposite would mean His Majesty was declaring a shift from benevolent rule to tyranny. The situation was far more serious than imagined, and the entire Eastern world fell into a strange atmosphere.
Ying Ji had foreseen this, which was why he had quietly entered the Chu encampment and entrusted his fate to them. He offered no excuses, no resistance. This was a time when a single misstep could affect the whole picture. Any reaction from him could influence the Emperor's decision, and if it had even the slightest negative impact on the Emperor, he would have to prove his loyalty by dying ten thousand deaths. In that case, it was better to wait silently for the Emperor's verdict; that was his only path to survival. To stand on the same side as the Emperor and take the fall for him was, in a way, an honor.
Seeing Ying Ji's response, the world's rulers held their breath, quietly awaiting the Emperor's decree. But then, several rumors suddenly erupted and spread like wildfire.
"Did you hear? It wasn't Ying Ji who harmed the King of Chu; Shen Lang assassinated him."
"Shen Lang is a master of poison. He supposedly forced the Queen of Chu to write a secret letter and had it delivered by the King of Chu's seventh son, Chu Ren. But the letter was laced with poison, so the king died instantly after receiving it."
The rumor was detailed and specific, even mentioning Chu Ren. But another rumor was also circulating. It claimed the real assassin of the King of Chu was the Crown Prince of Chu himself. He was having an affair with Consort An and had long resented the king's suppression of him. Thus, he conspired with Mount Budao in advance to hasten the king's death and ascend the throne.
Many who heard this said the Crown Prince of Chu (the new King of Chu—author's note) wasn't a fool; he wouldn't have assassinated the king in such a place. It was the site of a major battle, after all. The person who spread the rumor would reply with a mysterious smile. They'd say that the prince's affair with Consort An had been exposed, leading to her suicide, and that Chu Ren had traveled thousands of miles to deliver a letter exposing it. Therefore, the prince had no choice but to strike first and assassinate the king. This rumor, too, mentioned the late king's seventh son.
The two rumors spread with increasing intensity, drowning out the notion that Ying Ji had assassinated the king. As a result, Ying Ji suddenly appeared to have been exonerated. If he wasn't innocent, why would he have walked into the Chu encampment and placed his life in the hands of his enemies? Wasn't it because he had a clear conscience? Ying Ji hadn't defended himself, but Shen Lang had done it for him, slinging mud on himself—and the new King of Chu—in the process. And both rumors sounded incredibly plausible.
* * *
Inside the new King of Chu's encampment.
Ying Ji was trembling all over, his face pale.
*'Damn it, damn it all! Shen Lang, you despicable bastard! Tearing you to shreds a thousand times over wouldn't be enough! Did you think it was easy for me to get out of that predicament? Did you think it was easy for me to crawl out of that abyss? And yet you kick me right back in? You pretty boy, you are truly vicious. I didn't frame you, so you frame yourself instead.'*
Moreover, both rumors desperately tried to clear Ying Ji's name.
*'Shen Lang, you son of a bitch. I don't need you to clear my name. If you do this, how will His Majesty the Emperor see me? Won't he think I'm two-faced, unwilling to take the fall for him? He'll even think I'm shifting the blame, putting it right back on his head.'*
What was more frustrating was that Ying Ji couldn't defend himself against Shen Lang's malicious move. He couldn't just run out and declare, "Yes, I assassinated the King of Chu." In a political struggle like this, once you've decided to remain silent, you must stick to that course absolutely. So what now? Wait. He could only wait. He could only wait for His Majesty the Emperor to make the decision that would determine his fate.