Chapter 131: A Single Sword in Cloth Toward the Son of Heaven (V)

Numerous eunuchs and palace maids poured in from all sides of the ruined garden like a magic trick, and all kinds of dishes and fruit plates and steamers were sent into the pavilion at a running price. His Majesty the Emperor and Fan Xian, the two of them, were downstairs eating and chatting with smiles and laughter. And that woman, that woman who straddled the history of Qing, who straddled between the Emperor and Fan Xian, was quietly looking at all this on the piece of drawing paper in the room on the second floor.

What should have been the beginning of a killing spree had turned into the last supper between father and son. Fan Xian knew this well and accepted it. A war between two people could always not be fought by one person, and since it had already been agonizing for so long before he made such a brave and even ruthless decision, what difference would it make to have one more night? More crucially, as His Majesty the Emperor had said earlier when he had easily broken his momentum and left, since this was a war between two men, there was always some time left for the Emperor to do those that he had already tacitly promised Fan Xian.

Would one night be enough time?

“Your Majesty, Miss Ruoruo has come to bid farewell to Your Majesty.” Eunuch Yao stood on the lower side of the small table, bowing his head, and said respectfully and incomparably.

“Let her come in.” The emperor smiled faintly and glanced at Fan Xian, meaning that I will naturally do what I promised you.

A slightly chilly wind rolled the snowflakes into the building, and an ice-like woman entered with the wind, her pace steady, her face calm and unchanged. Making a shallow bow in front of His Majesty, it was none other than Fan Ruoruo.

After bidding farewell to His Majesty the Emperor, this girl, who had been under house arrest in the palace for several months, slowly turned around and quietly looked at her elder brother, gradually a faint wetness grew in her eyes.

Fan Xian stood up, smiled and shook his head, saying, “No crying.”

So Fan Ruo Ruo didn’t cry, bit her lower lip strongly, and said with a forced smile, “Brother, it’s been a long time.”

It’s been a long time, since Fan Xian went to Dong Yi again, the two of them have not seen each other again, Fan Xian returned to the capital and only saw that early fall rain, Fan Ruo Ruo had been put under house arrest in the palace, as a hostage to hold him.

Fan Xian walked forward, gently wrapped his sister’s somewhat thin shoulders in a hug, and whispered in her ear, “Behave yourself in the future, and show more filial piety to your father and mother.” When he said these words, Fan Xian always felt that time was being reversed, and this ice-like woman in front of him seemed to be the same yellow-haired little girl who couldn’t even speak clearly in Tanyu Port many years ago.

Fan Ruo Ruo gave a hmmm and then retreated, she knew why his majesty had let herself into the palace today, it must be that some sort of agreement had been reached between her elder brother and his majesty, and she had been the most convinced of her elder brother’s teachings and arrangements in her life, and could not give birth to any questioning at all, she just accepted it all calmly and silently.

The small building repeated quiet. However, it was not quiet for too long, as Eunuch Yao reported with a somewhat embarrassed expression, “The Third Hall is here, right outside the building, and I can’t stop him.”

The Emperor and Fan Xian were stunned at the same time, seemingly not expecting that the Third Prince would actually appear at this place at this moment in time, and even more so, not expecting that Shufang Palace would actually fail to stop this teenager.

The Third Prince walked into the building, bowed to the Emperor and then to Fan Xian, and said in a muffled voice, “Greetings Father, greetings Sir …….”

Wonderfully, the third prince turned around and left after saying this, actually not caring about any rules of etiquette, leaving behind the emperor and Fan Xian, who had fallen into silence. This two people naturally will Lao San earlier expression to see clearly, all saw Lao San this child’s eyes have red, think outside the building has first cried a.

The emperor looked at the empty ground, after a moment of silence, suddenly smiled with a very complex expression, there is a hint of faint loss, there is a hint of appreciation that can not be concealed. Today, Li Chengping came to this small building, naturally to see Fan Xian off, naturally to see Fan Xian off, this kind of sentiment, this kind of boldness, very much in line with the Emperor’s temperament.

“Not bad, right?” Fan Xian asked.

“You taught me well, and this is one of the things I’ve always appreciated most about you, and I’ve never seen how well you treat them, but whether it’s the ministers in the court, or your subordinates, or even a few of my sons, it seems like they’re all willing to come over to your side.” The emperor said.

Fan Xian was silent for a moment before responding, “That’s probably because I’ve never treated them very equally.”

Eunuch Yao walked into the small building for the third time and calmly said, “Someone from outside the palace has delivered the manuscript and …… a sword that young Lord Fan needs.”

The sword was the Great Wei Son of Heaven Sword, which was quietly placed on the table in front of Fan Xian, and the book manuscript was the He Pai’s guilty plea that was written by the old department of the Supervisory Academy today for His Majesty to use in declaring his decree later.

Eunuch Yao stood in front of the Emperor, quietly stating some of today’s commotion outside the palace, the inner court naturally had quite a few eyes and ears in Kyoto, and the uproar caused by today’s turmoil in Kyoto did not even need to be deliberately inquired about to be known.

The Imperial Historians of the Metropolitan Inspectorate were kneeling in the snow outside the palace at this time, crying and wailing, demanding that His Majesty severely punish Fan Xian, the unforgivable murderer. Fan Xian was not a murderous fiend, and the lives that perished in Kyoto today were all stalwarts of the He faction; as for those imperial historians who only knew pedantry, they were still alive and well.

In addition to these royal historians, the civil officials of the various ministries and temples in Kyoto had also begun to communicate secretly, preparing to put pressure on the palace. All of this was because the imperial court system had been shaken by the massacre that had occurred today, and felt endless fear, so they had to come forward.

Fan Xian had entered the palace from the middle minister under the door, so the many court ministers waited outside the imperial city, they had to wait for his majesty’s decree, however, one day had passed, it was nightfall, the palace was still quiet, the ministers began to get angry and scared, could it be that Fan Xian had done so many heinous and bloody things, and his majesty was thinking of the righteousness of a father and son, instead of punishing him?

It was because of the calmness of the palace and the fears of the ministers that the Imperial Historians were once again kowtowing outside the Imperial City.

The storm is coming and the pressure is extreme. The mountain wants to topple and the lake wants to give birth to waves.

Eunuch Yao’s report did not cause the slightest change in the atmosphere in the small building, neither the Emperor nor Fan Xian would take the pressure of the courtiers in their eyes, not to mention that after tonight, one of these father and son would always give some sort of account to the world.

The emperor smiled, picked up a cup of wine and slowly drank it, speaking of a topic that the two had never touched upon: ”If you die, will you still be able to control the group of lunatics under your hand if you stay? If not, why should I promise to let them live?”

“Because you have to bet that my words can control them, or else the world will be in chaos, which is always not a scene you want to see.”

The emperor’s fingers gently twirled the wine glass, his eyes narrowing slightly as he said, “Then aren’t you worried that if I kill you, I won’t do those things I promised you?”

Fan Xian bowed his head slightly, and after a moment of silence calmly said, “A word from the Son of Heaven is a promise.”

“A team of …… horses is not a horse.” The emperor smiled and said, “It’s four horses. This odd word was said by your mother back then, so I remembered it, I just didn’t think that you knew it too.”

The emperor then sighed, “In today’s world, if I were to face not you, but your mother …… I would not be able to give her a fair fight no matter what.”

Fan Xian said sarcastically, “It is true that you did not give her any fairness to speak of back then.”

The emperor shook his head and said indifferently, “Not to give her this kind of qualification, because I know that she will definitely not use this heaven to threaten me, because to use the world as a bargaining chip is to throw all the people of the world on top of the casino, and she can’t afford to …… me, but I can afford to do so.”

“I can’t afford to threaten you with the life and death of all the people in the world.” Fan Xian calmly responded, “This would have been the difference previously stated.”

The emperor shook his head again and said, “So I still don’t understand how you can use this to threaten me since you love this kingdom and cherish all the people of the world.”

“Because I first have to love the people around me first, the other thing is, I was originally a shameless and fearful of death, really if I am forced to a dead end, of course, this dead end does not only refer to me …… I don’t mind dragging the whole world as well as your majesty’s ambitions to be buried with me. ” Fan Xian bowed his head and said, “Actually, I’ve been waiting for someone, only that person always doesn’t come back, so there’s no other way, I have to fight for my life myself.”

The word “desperation” was said in such a mournful and helpless manner, yet His Majesty’s eyes gradually brightened, as he knew exactly who Fan Xian was waiting for. In the Emperor’s opinion, in today’s world, only that person could threaten his life and rule, and since the bloodshed in Taiping courtyard many years ago, he had always been vaguely fearful of that person’s existence, and had even gone so far as to send the last emissary sent out by the temple to the alleyway next to the Fan Mansion.

Yet even then, Five Bamboos was still not dead.

“He won’t be coming back.” The bright light in the Emperor’s eyes faded, and he said slowly, “It’s been three years, and the only way for him to find out who he is is to go to the temple, and if he did go back to the temple, how could he possibly come out again?”

Fan Xian nodded, somewhat sadly accepting the fact that if Uncle Wu Zhu was still lingering on this continent, how could he have been so passive in front of His Majesty the Emperor, even to the point of making a jade-like threat.

“How exactly did you get the temple to stand behind you back then?” Fan Xian frowned as he looked at the Emperor, this being one of the few major questions in his mind.

“I have never been to the temple, but having spent a lot of time with your mother, I naturally know that the temple is actually just a place that has gradually declined and become desolate. It is true that the temple has always ignored the world.” The corners of the emperor’s lips spread a sneer, “However, the temple has been quietly influencing this continent, but unfortunately, I am a man of the world, they can’t do anything to me, but your mother and Old Five are people of the temple …… Just this little difference will be enough, and I naturally know how to utilize this. ”

Fan Xian sighed and shook his head, he had to admire the Emperor’s old man for the strength of his mind, the temple that all the people in the world had always worshipped, in His Majesty’s view, it turned out to be nothing more than a sharper knife after all.

“When the Northern Expedition, my body meridians are broken, a finger can not move, eyes can not see, ears can not hear, nose can not smell, straight as a dead man, while the soul is hidden in that broken shell, not to escape, not to be relieved.” The Emperor suddenly began to indifferently recount the events of that year, “As in the endless darkness, enduring the torment of loneliness, this pain has made me firm in a resolve.”

As His Majesty the Emperor recounted, the lights in the entire small building dimmed, as if it was about to sink into a sea of darkness that would never be relieved.

“It turns out that nothing is real except yourself, and the loneliness you can experience.” The Emperor said, “I no longer trust anyone but myself. In order to achieve my goals, I do not need family, friends.”

“When I woke up from the darkness, the first thing I saw was Chen Pingping and Ning’er.” The emperor narrowed his eyes slightly and said, “That’s why I trust them the most. You don’t need to worry about Ning’er’s safety.”

“However, I did not expect that Chen Pingping would betray …… me.” The emperor’s eyes narrowed even more, a cold light penetrated from his eyes, his tone was vaguely angry and sad as he scoffed, “I trusted the wrong person, and it became today’s pattern.”

“You haven’t experienced that pain of being awake in the dark, so you don’t understand what I’m talking about.”

“I have had that experience.” Fan Xian shook his head, naturally not going to explain that it was still a long, long time ago when he himself suffered a change in that world, “However, I didn’t turn out to be the likes of you, character determines destiny only.”

He suddenly narrowed his eyes and said, “If …… there was no Ye Qingmei in this world, Your Majesty, what would it be like now? Would it be a bit more beautiful?”

The emperor’s eyes gradually icy cold, staring at Fan Xian’s face, a touch of anger appeared to be hidden, said indifferently, “And do not mention that there is no your mother, nowadays, what would be the Qing Dynasty look like, you only need to remember, when the Wei Dynasty rotten to the apex, not to mention and not on the Qing Dynasty under the rule of me, that is, compared to today’s North Qi, is also a hundred thousand eighty thousand miles.”

“The Wei dynasty rotten although rotten, but still a huge thing. Your mother came to this world, at least raw will that big mountain broken …… why today’s former Wei survivors do not have a nostalgia for the former dynasty? Why is it that there has never been a heart for the homeland on these thousands of miles of rivers and mountains that I have fought and rebelled?” The emperor laughed coldly, “Think about it yourself.”

Fan Xian laughed and said, “Too lazy to think about it, having parents who are both amazing people is not something very honorable for me as a son.”

The emperor finally laughed out loud, and the two of them continued to eat their food, continue to drink, and continue to chat. This father, son, ruler and minister were in fact extremely similar, both cold and heartless in their roots and bones, they just had different opinions about the world, about the past, about the present, about anything and everything, however, this did not affect the fact that the two of them had bestowed trust and reverence on each other throughout the years, and firmly occupied the pinnacle of the human world.

It was the last supper, the last long talk in a small building listening to the wind and snow all night.

Late at night, the two will be in the light of the lamp, sitting on two chairs began to meditate, began to rest, bias is their body flowing true qi breath actually are so harmonious, domineering, each has a kind of tearing down all the power, together in a place is actually so harmonious.

Unconsciously, the day dawned, the sunrise came out, outside the snow stopped, the wind stopped, a thick layer of woolen blanket like snow on the ground, reflecting the clear light in the sky, will the northwest corner of the palace this large area of the abandoned garden shines exceptionally bright.

Fan Xian woke up, sighed in his heart, stood up, picked up the Great Wei Heavenly Sword on the table with his right hand, walked to the door of the small building, then turned back around and quietly looked at His Majesty the Emperor in his chair.

The Emperor slowly opened his eyes, his pupils were unusually clear and bright, unusually calm and cold, and there was no longer a trace of the emotions that should be present in a mortal. The words that needed to be said had all been said, and from this moment on, there was not a trace of kinship between the two of them.

Fan Xian raised his right arm, from his shoulder to his elbow to his wrist, and then to the hilt of the sword that he held steadily in his right hand, so that the tip of the sword, which did not tremble at all and was terrifyingly stable, was pointed straight at the emperor’s face.

The sword was still in its sheath, but it began to emit the sound of a dragon’s roar, roaring and buzzing, like a silk pipe playing in a Chen garden, and the thick, overbearing true qi passed along Fan Xian’s tiger’s mouth and into the body of the sword, which looked like it wanted to make the sword come to life, and a touch of light that was vaguely visible to the naked eye began to diffuse through the cracks in the sheath.

Yin Yin Yin Yin Yin …… The sword struggled desperately in the sheath, wanting to break out of the sheath, but could not find its way out, and its hardship and pain made one’s heart palpitate!

Fan Xian didn’t know how much true qi he had poured into it, but he had actually constructed such a shocking scene. The Emperor’s pupils shrunk slightly, his hands still propped up on the chair, not getting up, however, this world’s only remaining great master, realized that his favorite son, turned out to be more powerful than he expected.

A bead of sweat dripped down from the tip of Fan Xian’s brow on the cold winter day, and a heavy, resolute color was all over his clean-cut face. He had been building up his momentum for a long time, and then Emperor Qing did not make a move; he could not wait forever, and the sword he held in his hand was on the verge of becoming uncontrollable. He took a step backward, stepping heavily on top of the threshold, and the sword that he had stabbed out with his right hand in the Prairie Sky style finally erupted!

The white light in the cracks of the scabbard in his hand suddenly converged and disappeared, and the small building became devoid of sound, while the scabbard could no longer withstand the wrath of the Son of Heaven’s Sword within its sheath, and struggled, clashed, and noiselessly and strangely, like an arrow, stabbed the Son of Heaven in the face!

The first sword that Fan Xian struck was the scabbard!

Attached to the scabbard was his seven days of hard thinking, the buildup of a long night’s talk, and his thick, overbearing true qi, which bounced out in a flash. The extreme speed allowed the scabbard to easily tear through the air like Yan Xiaoyi’s arrows back then, transcending the limitations of time, and in just an instant, a blink of an eye, it arrived before His Majesty the Emperor’s eyes.

However, at this time there was an extra hand in the air, a hand that was incredibly stable, a hand that had once surprised the wind and broken the rain on the Great Eastern Mountain, and had a layer of calluses at its middle finger from pinching the Zhu Zhu imperial brush for too long.

This hand caught the scabbard, just like catching a firefly in the floating light, catching the grain of dust in a thousand snowflakes. This hand is too fast, fast enough to catch the light, fast enough to catch the shadow, and how can it not catch the tangible and qualitative scabbard?

The small building’s calmness was broken, and the sound of the scabbard’s dragon’s roar was heard again, but it came to an abrupt end.

Fan Xian’s scabbard, which had been building up its momentum for a long time, was like a dragon that had been strangled by the throat and stopped breathing, drooping its head in disarray and dying in His Majesty’s palm.

His Majesty slowly stood up, his face unusually calm, yet he had to admit that Fan Xian’s realm today had exceeded his judgment, and this sword that swept in like a flying dragon out of the sky even vaguely had the feeling of being out of space.

The doorway of the small building was empty, the emperor indifferently looked at the place, the seat behind him rustled and crushed, into powder into powder into nothing, sprinkled all over the place. Fan Xian used his whole body strength to stimulate that sword sheath, it seems to have been a desperate move, there was no audience around the small building, so no one expected, did not expect, after that moment, but his body was with a faster speed floating up, swept up, flew up.

His body was like a big bird, no, lighter and faster than a bird, like a snowflake swept up by the howling wind, with a speed absolutely impossible for human beings to achieve, swiftly drifting out from the doorway of the small building for a distance of fifteen feet.

At that very moment the sky began to sprinkle snowflakes again.

In the process of drifting, Fan Xian almost stopped breathing, only relying on the Dharma Decree that Bitter Lotus had left behind before his death, feeling the coldness around him in the flow of the air, following the trend and drifting away.

In the process of drifting, he had time to think, from the emperor’s seat to the small building outside, there is a distance of four feet, and the emperor to catch his own sword, to think, think out will not be too fast.

The four great masters, already transcendent, but in the end, they are not immortals, they have their own different weaknesses. Master Bitter Lotus’s weakest link lay in his pale physical body, Ye Liuyun’s strongest lay in his flowing-cloud like stance, if the great master in the small building at this moment was Ye Liuyun, Fan Xian would definitely not have the luxury of being able to keep the other party in the building.

However, at this moment in the building is his majesty, a body of true qi cultivation champion of the world, abundant to the top, but with the true qi and walking, the physical body will always have limitations, in a small area of the move to avoid when there are ghosts and gods of the skill, just as when the Ye Liuyun face the rain of crossbows in the sky in general, and his majesty does not see that can be in such a short period of time, forcibly skimmed out of the small building, and then ushered in, there is no gap in the attack.

Both feet in the snow sliding two feet, showing two snow ditch, Fan Xian figure fell into the snow surface, a flash of sword light, across the face before the door, front knee half crouch, is a desperate parry stance.

At the same time when the cold sword illuminated his clean face, a sudden, roaring, swiftly burning fire instantly engulfed the entire small building, a sea of fire appeared in the snowy cold palace.

With a few muffled sounds, countless tongues of fire shot up into the sky, enveloping the entire small building in it, and the red, blazing light instantly illuminated the cold sword straddling Fan Xian’s face as it warmed up and reddened.

A fire that was so large and so quickly ignited was definitely not made by natural combustion, and it was unknown what Fan Xian had prepared in the small building.

However, to Fan Xian’s slight disappointment, a breath flowed through the sea of fire, and a silhouette, a brilliant silhouette standing before the sea of fire, looking at himself indifferently, stood in the middle of the snow, leaving that sea of fire behind.

The dragon robe on His Majesty’s body was charred in some places, his hair was burned and messed up a bit, and his face was slightly pale, yet he was still standing as impenetrably as he was, looking indifferently at Fan Xian.

“The gunpowder from the three locations, when did you move it into the palace.” The emperor’s eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at Fan Xian.

Fan Xian cracked a smile, gripping the hilt of his sword tightly as he responded, “Three years ago, when Kyoto rebelled and I was the Supervisor, it wasn’t really difficult to transport as much gunpowder into the palace as I wanted to.”

The emperor slowly walked into Fan Xian, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he said in a chilling voice, “So for today, you actually prepared for …… three whole years!”

Fan Xian squinted his eyes like the Emperor so as not to be affected by the bright sea of fire, pursed his lips and said, “I just think that if my mother’s portrait is placed in this building again, I’m sure that she will feel angry, and since that’s the case, it would be better to burn it down with a fire.”

Yes, if His Majesty the Emperor hadn’t summoned Fan Xian in front of the small building yesterday, and if His Majesty the Emperor hadn’t done it right away but instead had a long talk with Fan Xian in the small building, Fan Xian wouldn’t have been able to find any chance to activate the mechanism and ignite the gunpowder.

However, up until the moment Fan Xian stepped on the threshold, Fan Xian had been fully confident that the Emperor would definitely choose the final battlefield, the small building in the ruined garden.

Because there was a portrait of Ye Light Eyebrows on the top of the building, the emperor would definitely choose in front of this woman’s portrait to completely end his decades-long feud with her.

Fan Xian could confirm this because he had more control over His Majesty’s mind than anyone else in the world, and he knew what kind of person the emperor was. The emperor was a cold and ruthless but hypocritical person who thought he was kind and generous, Fan Xian was also very hypocritical, if you use the words of that world, father and son both like to put on a little Bourgeois mood, this scene is a big scene, the small building is undoubtedly the best stage for the two of them.

The moment the fire started, Fan Xian’s heart moved slightly, the reason why he chose the gunpowder that had been buried for three years as his own weapon was because Chen Pingping’s wheelchair in the imperial study gave him confidence, facing the attack from all sides, there was no room to dodge, even the great masters, it was also impossible to create something out of nothing, to find a way to dodge.

The gun in the wheelchair shot out iron sand and steel beads like this, I think the fire raging around must also be like this.

It was just a pity that His Majesty the Emperor was still standing well in the snow, although his face was a bit pale at that earlier moment, thinking that he must have vanished from the sea of fire and greatly depleted his vital energy, however, this prairie fire did not cause any irreversible injuries to him after all.

“The fire is too slow.” The emperor looked at Fan Xian coldly, without a trace of emotion and said.

“Try the sword.” Fan Xian held the Great Wei Heavenly Son Sword and said with a quick, toothy grin.