Prince Rong ordered his men to spread the news of the whereabouts of the key to unlocking the secret realm of the imperial seal, which shocked the world.
A battle ensues over the Xie family's quest for the key.
Fortunately, the Xie family fell into the hands of Prince Rong and were placed under house arrest for many years. Few powerful families knew the inside story, which allowed the Xie family to avoid the main battlefield.
Otherwise, cultivators across the land would have wiped out the Xie clan immediately.
Even so, the entire Xie clan was terrified at the mere mention of it. While hiding away to save their own lives, they gathered together to pressure Xie Baochai, forcing her to marry into Prince Rong's mansion in order to gain Prince Rong's protection.
During this time, the Xie clan elders inevitably pressed Xie Qianshi for the key to unlock the secret realm of the seal.
This led Zheng Ya to follow Xie Baochai to the secluded island manor where the Xie family lived in seclusion. He was very interested, as it seemed that the secret realm of the seal was about to open.
Meanwhile, Jian Twenty-Three, under the orders of Prince Rong, led a team to an isolated island in the Qiantang River in Jiangnan, following closely behind an elite detachment sent by Emperor Chengping. While monitoring them, he secretly released a carrier pigeon towards the northern border: "Flutter."
A carrier pigeon flew out of a residential house in eastern Kyoto with a "flutter".
The person who released the carrier pigeon was none other than Fu She, who had disappeared long ago. Disguised as an ordinary person and hiding in a house, he secretly commanded an elite force. Looking up at the carrier pigeon flying towards the northern border, he whispered, "Have the other families begun to move?"
"My lord, the Wang family, the Qian family, and the Dai family have all taken action!" the man in brocade robes reported in a low voice from the shadows in the corner.
Because they were in Kyoto, they were likely being monitored by the Emperor Chengping using the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams Demon-Suppressing Array, so their exchanges were brief and cryptic.
However, Kyoto covers an area of several hundred miles, and Emperor Chengping could not monitor everyone in the city at all times.
Fu She's apparent submission to Xie Ming served to dispel Emperor Chengping's suspicions. Furthermore, since only Xie Ming himself knew his true identity, Emperor Chengping could not possibly know that Fu She had disguised himself as a commoner and was able to live a carefree life.
Fu She, filled with indignation, snorted coldly, "Damn clan leader, he's inherently wicked. Let's see how he breaks this trap."
"My lord, the one who has been biding his time and enduring hardship to ascend to the throne may be in mortal danger. Should we take rescue action?" The man in brocade robes worriedly changed the subject.
In reality, the man in brocade robes understood Fu She's feelings; he hated heaven, earth, and the world for its injustice.
Back then, Fu She was involved in the Crown Prince's coup attempt without any prior knowledge.
At that time, Fu She was ordered by his father to lead troops to rescue the crown prince. He became the scapegoat for his father's efforts to force the crown prince to abdicate, and in the end, he was stripped of his title and confined to his home as a half-crippled person.
This outcome was still thanks to the oath made by the founding emperor not to exterminate all the sons and heirs of the four kings and six princes.
Furthermore, the Crown Prince's attempt to force the emperor to abdicate was purely a farce orchestrated by certain individuals.
The argument that Emperor Chengping orchestrated the coup by the crown prince simply to ascend the throne is not entirely accurate.
The mastermind behind this is to seize the key to unlock the secret realm of the seal.
At that time, the key had only been in the hands of the Fu clan chief for a few days, but due to the leak of the news, it attracted the attention of many forces, who sent people to intercept and rob it.
After the war, Chen Ci, the former patriarch of the Fu clan, was ambushed by assassins from an unknown force. To prevent the key from falling into the hands of the assassins, he sent his eldest son, Fu She, to escape the encirclement with the key. However, he did not reveal the key, but only instructed Fu She to secretly deliver a black box to the Crown Prince.
At that time, Fu She knew nothing about the seal and the key. He escaped the encirclement of assassins with the box containing the key, but was ambushed again by assassins after several twists and turns.
Clearly, the assassins came from different powerful families, and it was impossible to tell who was who.
Even though the retired emperor repeatedly sent troops to provide assistance, he still lost the black box containing the secret key.
This matter concerns the imperial seal, the path to immortality, the destruction of the world, and the rise and fall of the Zheng imperial power. Compared to the minor incident of the crown prince forcing the emperor to abdicate, it is infinitely more serious.
Therefore, the Fu family committed an unforgivable crime, which angered the retired emperor so much that he almost ordered the extermination of the entire Fu family!
Even so, the retired emperor still ordered the head of the Fu clan and the two dukes to commit suicide, revoked their military power, and issued a proclamation to the world to quell the incident.
They secretly ordered people to search for the whereabouts of the key.
Since opening the secret realm of the imperial seal requires not only a key but also the blood essence of Emperor Zheng, the retired emperor remained calm and adopted a strategy of entrapment to investigate the key both openly and secretly.
Clearly, the Fu clan was divided into the Yong and Dai prefectures, with the title being inherited by the direct descendants of the Duke of Yong, who also served as the clan head.
However, after the incident involving the key and the coup, the retired emperor no longer trusted the clan head of the Yongguo Duke's descendants. He directly appointed Fu She, the eldest son of the Daiguo Duke, and placed him under house arrest to monitor the clan head and secretly investigate the whereabouts of the key.
After all, the retired emperor suspected that the Duke of Yong had stolen the dragon and switched the phoenix, deliberately arranged for the key to be stolen by assassins, and secretly plotted to obtain the seal for immortality.
Emperor Chengping was completely unaware of the implications involved.
Comparatively speaking, Fu She was confined at home and not valued. Even his biological stepmother, Madam Fu Qian, didn't like him. She would accuse him of everything dirty and smelly, while spoiling his second wife.
Not to mention the secrets about the seal and key, which Fu Qian would never tell Fu She even a little bit about.
Originally, in order to avoid missing any clues about the seal, emperors of all dynasties required the couple in charge of searching for the seal to know the inside story. The heads of the Yongzheng and Daifu households and their mistresses were both in the know, which facilitated cooperation between the inside and outside to search for the seal.
And fearing that something might happen to the head of the family, they preserved the information about the seal and their mission responsibilities so as not to delay things and passed it down from generation to generation.
This is about confidentiality.
The team members are all loyal warriors, the elite who are devoted to the emperor.
Even with such tight control, the Crown Prince's coup and the theft of the key still occurred, leading the retired emperor to suspect that there was a traitor among the five major families.
Therefore, the only option is to sow discord within the organization, causing it to lose its composure and expose its secrets.
As time went by, the retired emperor had already placed his confidants in various powerful families and factions, waiting for the right moment to act.
Unfortunately, despite his meticulous planning, the retired emperor overlooked the betrayal of Emperor Chengping, who is now in the clutches of Wu Zetian, his fate uncertain.
Fu said calmly, "Some people crave the lifeblood of those in power, and they will not harm the life of those in power unless absolutely necessary."
To avoid alerting the enemy, the operation to rescue the leader should be postponed...
"Does Your Excellency mean that when Wu Wei gets involved in the struggle for the key, that will be our chance to rescue him and take the throne?" The man in brocade robes was on the front lines rescuing the retired emperor and didn't care who got the key.
This infuriated Fu She: "You'd better not make any rash moves and ruin the important matter of taking the throne."
If you truly cannot suppress your urge to help your superior, I advise you to consult them and act accordingly!
"Hmph, you eager-to-make-merits guys will definitely use this as an excuse to devise a plan to turn the tide at the last minute, kill the enemy and pick up the scraps."
Little did they know that this was forcing the traitors to use the blood of the superior to open the secret realm. This monastic family will never allow you to risk the superior's life..." The man in brocade robes shouted sternly, his voice filled with murderous intent.
Fu She sneered, "Tch, if you have the guts to get angry with me, deal with Prince Rong's faction first before you try to lecture me."
"That's your business. We don't think Prince Rong is the one who's stalking the cicada, but you're the ones who're fishing for the fish."
"It's you pawns who should be worried..." The man in brocade robes didn't hold back his sarcasm, determined not to let Fu She have an easy time.
Fu Sheqi trembled coldly: "Shut up, you damned eunuch! The situation is unclear. We'll wait for the right moment. Get out..."
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