Chapter 21 Twenty-One: A Deep Sorrow and Hidden Resentment Arise

Xu Heng forgot all the prepared remarks and wording he had prepared. He felt his blood rushing upwards, his throat tasted salty and metallic, and he couldn't help but vomit several streams of blood.

He watched as drops of blood splattered in front of him, his eyes filled with crimson.

Perhaps due to the sudden loss of blood, his vision blurred and he felt dizzy. For a moment, Xu Heng felt he was about to faint. He tried to open his eyes wide, even swallowing meat and biting his tongue to force himself to stay awake—he couldn't die yet.

He wanted to kill Wang Yuying first, so that she would die before him.

Suddenly, a strange tension and palpitations surged in Xu Heng's chest. He instinctively looked up and, sure enough, met Wang Yuying's gaze—she was stealing glances at him, but she turned her head away as soon as their eyes met and looked at Jing Ye instead.

Jing Ye met Wang Yuying's gaze, his brows furrowing. Caught off guard, he couldn't hide the doubt in his eyes in time.

Jing Ye pondered for a moment, then stood in front of Wang Yuying to block Xu Heng for her. Wang Yuying, however, gently pushed Jing Ye away. Jing Ye turned to look at Wang Yuying, stepped aside, and stood beside her, shoulder to shoulder.

The series of actions were very brief. Xu Heng watched coldly. Jing Ye seemed to have no idea what Wang Yuying meant at all. But after only a moment of eye contact, he guessed what Wang Yuying wanted to do. She was relying on the fact that she and Jing Ye were both good at fighting. She was weighing the number of people he brought. If they could fight them, they would take advantage of the chaos to escape!

Good, good, she's really something! How dare she be disloyal and unjust, defying imperial orders and deceiving Heaven!

Does she realize that this is compounding her crime?

Xu Heng gritted his teeth silently. He couldn't wait any longer; he had to kill the two men in front of him immediately.

"All land under heaven belongs to the emperor. Where do you think you can escape to?" Xu Heng coldly glared at Wang Yuying, reminding the smug and foolish woman before him, "Don't forget, disobeying the imperial decree is a capital offense punishable by the extermination of nine generations of your family and even your followers."

Although the Wang family is gone, she could still roughly estimate how many of General Zhengxi's disciples, subordinates, and friends were still alive, and how many of their families were still alive.

"Xu Heng!" Wang Yuying's angry shout made Xu Heng's heart skip a beat.

She held her head high, her neck stiff, and her voice was so loud it sounded like she was arguing with him: "I take responsibility for my own actions. If you want to kill or torture me, come at me alone!"

She never expected that it would implicate her father's old subordinates; she hadn't been in contact with them for many years!

Most of them spent their entire lives guarding the border, risking their lives on the line. Afraid of hindering others, they never married. Later, when they could no longer wield swords, they retired to their fields. Now they are all elderly, unarmed civilians! If Xu Heng were to use them as pawns, countless innocent souls would be lost. How could she face her ancestors in the afterlife?!

Xu Heng saw that Wang Yuying finally showed signs of agitation; her face was no longer calm and composed, and her fist, hidden under her sleeve, trembled slightly.

“It has nothing to do with Yingniang or anyone else, come at me!” Jingye shouted as well.

Xu Heng's hidden fist trembled even more violently.

He stared intently at Wang Yuying, speaking only to her: "Don't worry, I will grant your wish—" He closed his lips, his gaze sweeping over Wang Yuying's Taoist robe, which was not yet fully fastened, her loose black hair, and her legs, which could be seen with the slightest movement. He couldn't help but frown even more deeply, and his temples throbbed.

"Put my clothes on first." Xu Heng spoke slowly, as if afraid of biting his tongue. After a moment, he gave another order, this time in an even harsher tone, "Take off your earrings."

Wang Yuying frowned and glanced at Xu Heng.

Xu Heng stared intently at her. Jing Ye also began to put on his arrow sleeves. Xu Heng took a deep breath and glanced at him, then turned his gaze back to Wang Yuying, his eyes fixed intently.

Wang Yuying turned her head away, straightened her clothes, and then walked to the dressing table, taking off her pomegranate earrings in front of the mirror. She was worried about her uncles and elders, and it would be a lie to say that she wasn't afraid at all, but she tried her best to remain calm and not let Xu Heng see through her.

Seeing her own pale face in the mirror, afraid of revealing her weakness, she quickly applied some rouge.

Xu Heng stared intently, his gaze dark and menacing, like a black cloud pressing down on the city, or as if he wanted to devour her.

Wang Yuying ignored him, took off her earrings, tied her hair, and stood up with her hands at her sides after getting dressed. Xu Heng suddenly raised his hand and pointed at her head with a cold expression. Wang Yuying thought for a moment and looked back in the mirror. It turned out that her crown was not on properly and was slightly off-center—just a few millimeters. People two steps away wouldn't notice it, but only people who were very close, face to face, would feel that it was improper.

To nitpick!

She cursed Xu Heng in her heart, defiantly scanning him up and down—he was dressed in a straw raincoat with messy hair, looking incredibly slovenly, how dare he criticize her?

Xu Heng clearly understood her sarcasm, and his face grew even more ashen.

In Wang Yuying's eyes, his face was uglier than if his parents had died—no, even uglier than if the imperial concubine had died.

Xu Heng turned to look out the window. The rain had stopped sometime earlier, and his voice, though still carrying a hint of ice, commanded, "Come in."

Those who practice martial arts have far superior hearing compared to ordinary people. In fact, not long after the rain stopped, the guards could tell that there were three people breathing in the courtyard. However, the three people spoke in the rain and remained silent after the rain stopped, so the guards all thought that the third person was the deposed empress's maid.

At the emperor's summons, the six guards, carrying gifts, scaled the wall and entered the emperor's chamber, only to be dumbfounded. One of the guards, unable to react in time, knelt on one knee before Xu Heng, holding a treasure chest.

Xu Heng recognized that the box contained the jewelry he had carefully selected, and his lips twitched involuntarily.

He angrily flicked his sleeve: "Bring the Jade Capital Wonderful Serenity Immortal Master and the Martial Might General Jing Ye back to the capital and imprison them in the secret dungeon of the Imperial Prison!"

The guards were horrified. The dark dungeons in the imperial prison were where death row inmates were held, and no one had ever come out alive. Wang Yuying's heart skipped a beat when she heard this, but she quickly regained her composure—knowing she could not escape death, she was willing to die as long as Xu Heng promised not to implicate others.

She raised her chin, thinking that Xu Heng could just imprison them if he wanted, and that saying a simple hurdle would suffice. There was no need to recite so many names and explain them separately; it was all unnecessary!

The guards felt a heavy pressure from the emperor's unusually cold and fierce demeanor, and even found it hard to breathe.

The emperor, who seemed like family at night, now displayed an inviolable imperial authority, making them realize once again that the emperor's heart is unpredictable.

One of the guards, who had spoken to Jing Ye twice and shared a meal with him once, didn't dare utter a single "I apologize to General Jing" now. Instead, he decisively carried out the emperor's order, grabbing Jing Ye's wrists and twisting them behind his back like a pretzel, while simultaneously pressing his head down. This series of actions was not only extremely painful but also deeply humiliating. Jing Ye looked at Wang Yuying with concern, and sure enough, the guards treated him just as roughly. Jing Ye immediately struggled violently, but before he could even shout, "Don't treat her like this!", he heard Wang Yuying curse first: "You blind, utterly useless servant!"

She grabbed the guard's wrists behind his back, twisted them to loosen the bindings, and then slapped him across the face: "Who gave you the audacity to touch me?!"

She had already acquiesced to being bound, but now she wouldn't allow it: "Don't touch me, I can walk by myself!"

The guard's face burned. He thought to himself that this deposed empress was truly courting death. She had slapped the emperor before, and now she was slapping him again in front of him. Wasn't this just reopening old wounds and adding fuel to the fire? And she thought she could walk by herself? She probably wouldn't even make it out of this dilapidated house before the emperor executed her on the spot!

The beaten guard looked at the emperor first, only to find that the emperor had his eyes downcast, his chin slightly lowered, and he was silent. The guard was taken aback.

The other guards also looked at the emperor, and were equally taken aback.

In the end, the guards only bound Jing Ye, while the other two followed behind Wang Yuying, one on each side at half a body length's distance, not like escorts, but more like attendants.

As Wang Yuying passed by Xu Heng, she turned her head to look at him, hoping that the current emperor would keep his word and never take his anger out on innocent people.

Xu Heng's eyes were cold, his face as sharp as a blade: "Not a single word of what happened today must be leaked to outsiders, or you will be killed without mercy."

The guards hesitated for a moment, then realized that the words were directed at them, and immediately agreed, even swearing an oath.

Xu Heng didn't speak again. After all, she had been the empress, and her decree forbidding the spread of the news was entirely to protect the dignity of the state.

He was about to walk with Wang Yuying and Jing Ye when he unconsciously turned to look in the mirror and discovered that a blue vein had appeared on his forehead.

He gritted his teeth, determined to kill her. Even if it weren't for the sake of the imperial family's reputation, she had to die. What man could endure such humiliation? An ordinary man, upon discovering his wife's infidelity, would drown her in a pig cage; how much more so would he, the supreme ruler, have to decide his fate?

Wang Yuying cannot be allowed to stay.

Xu Heng walked out of the house with his hands behind his back. He glanced again at the reclining chair and the round stool next to it in the courtyard, as well as the wine and dishes on the table. This time he understood that it was an auspicious day with fine wine and delicacies. They really used the backyard as a bridge for magpies!

"Your Majesty, what should we do with these?" the guard asked boldly, referring to the gifts that were originally intended for the deposed empress.

"Move back to the palace first," Xu Heng ordered, then strode away angrily. The guards had already unlocked the gates, and the group went out from the back courtyard, up a hundred steps, through the vegetarian hall and the Lüzu Hall. Behind the pine trees, in front of the ordination hall, a Daoist nun's head suddenly peeked out before retreating back inside.

Xu Heng and his guards both had excellent eyesight and noticed the woman's furtive behavior. The guards dared not speak without their master's permission, but Xu Heng had already made up his mind that everyone at the Jade Purity Observatory should also keep quiet, no matter the cost.

In Xu Heng's eyes, the Taoist nun was already half dead.

He passed by the pine tree without looking to the side, but the Taoist nun no longer hid and darted out from behind the tree; "Your Majesty, please wait!"

This Taoist nun was none other than Fu Yi.

After taking her leave last night, she and Bao Yi immediately began discussing and speculating about the reason for the emperor's nighttime visit to Yuqing Temple.

The two men deeply resented Wang Yuying and instinctively thought the worst: the emperor disliked and deposed the empress, and expelling her from the Taoist temple was not enough to appease his anger; he wanted to change the sentence to exile three thousand miles away.

Fu Yi came to do his morning lessons, but after searching high and low, he bumped into a group of people in the backyard. Wang Yuying was walking among the guards, with a man being escorted beside her. The emperor was walking behind them, and even from a distance, one could feel the cold aura emanating from him, like the coldest days of winter. Yet, his eyes, fixed on Wang Yuying, seemed to spit fire.

Fu Yi was both surprised and delighted: their guesses had come true, Wang Yuying was indeed going to be exiled!

When her enemy suffered misfortune, she wanted to celebrate with firecrackers, but after enduring so many beatings, she was determined to kick him while he was down and retaliate tenfold.

Therefore, he pressed on and caught up with Xu Heng, kowtowing and saying, "Your Majesty, the Immortal Master has committed numerous evil deeds, and this humble Taoist must denounce him!"

Wang Yuying reacted even faster than Xu Heng, turning around to glare at him. Because he had been beaten so many times, Fu Yi instinctively shrank his shoulders and backed away.

Xu Heng stamped his foot, and the guards escorting Wang Jing and the other man immediately dared not move.

Xu Heng turned around and looked down at Fu Yi, a smile playing on his lips: "Don't be afraid, I will take care of it for you."

Fu Yi dared to peek at the emperor's face and saw that the emperor's expression was gloomy. He became even more certain that the emperor loathed the deposed empress: "Your Majesty must do justice for me. This immortal master is truly wicked."

After she finished speaking, her heart skipped a beat. The emperor she had seen during the day was just as stunning as the one she had seen the night before. She had never known that there was such a handsome man in the world. Thinking of the emperor’s words earlier that he would take charge of her life, she couldn’t stop her heart from pounding and suddenly felt a surge of desire.

Xu Heng turned back and instructed the guards in front: "You all return to the capital first."

"Yes, sir!" Four of the six escorted Wang Yuying and Jing Ye, while the other two stayed behind to protect the emperor. Xu Heng turned back and coldly looked back at the backyard. The guards immediately understood and urged Fu Yi: "His Majesty orders you to come into the courtyard to speak."

The four returned to the courtyard one after the other.

The third time he saw the recliner next to the round stool, Xu Heng imagined the Qixi Festival banquet she and someone else had abruptly ended by the torrential rain, and suddenly felt a tightness in his chest and shortness of breath. He thought he must be acting this way because he was in a fit of anger.

His gaze swept back and forth between the recliner and the stool, and he chose to sit down on the recliner, slightly parting his legs, taking off his straw hat and placing it on the side table.

He thought, "Perfect timing. I was planning to interrogate the Taoist priests anyway to find out when Wang Yuying and Jing Ye started their affair."

The mere thought of the word "mere survival" feels like being pricked by needles.

He must hate her, hate her so much, he'll skin Wang Yuying alive sooner or later to vent his anger!

Xu Heng emphasized this in his mind, but looked down at Fu Yi, who was kneeling again, and said in a deep voice, "What evil deeds? Tell me in detail."