Rebellion

"So if you want to rebel, what preparations have you made?" the Immortal Fairy asked. Looking at the Fourth Prince and his associates, it did not seem like an impulse; they had to have prepared something. "Naturally, we have," the Fourth Prince laughed heartily. With Lu Yang's help—or rather, once Lu Yang was involved, the Dao Seeking Sect could hardly stay out of it—dragging the Dao Seeking Sect into the fray gave him a ninety percent chance of usurping the throne successfully! "Brother Lu, look here. This is my brother Gongsun Jiu. He possesses divine speed techniques second to none under heaven, capable of bursting with speed rivaling the Tribulation Transcendence stage for a short time. Under the guise of presenting a treasure, he can approach Eldest Brother and strike in an instant, leaving him without even the chance to react!" The man named Gongsun Jiu grinned broadly. "His Highness has treated me with great favor and recognition. This is precisely my chance to repay His Highness's kindness." Assassinating the Eldest Prince was a suicide mission; Gongsun Jiu had already resolved to sacrifice his life for the Fourth Prince. "This is my brother Tang Feng, whose assassination arts are nothing short of supernatural. If Brother Gongsun's strike fails, he will carry out a second assassination. No one would ever anticipate that the gap between two assassinations could be so short." Tang Feng had an ordinary appearance, blending seamlessly into a crowd without attracting the slightest notice. "His Highness rescued me from dire straits. This life of mine belongs to His Highness!" "And this brother is a master of poison crafting, capable of making someone die silently and without a trace—once they fall asleep, they never wake again!" "This brother oversees our intelligence network. Not a single matter, big or small, in the Imperial City escapes his informants." "And him—he is actually one of Second Brother's retainers, and has long since figured out Second Brother's dietary habits and daily routine." "There's also..." Assassins, intelligence gatherers, planted informants, talented actors, scholars who had failed the imperial examinations... The Fourth Prince introduced them one by one. All those present at this banquet were his trusted confidants, absolutely loyal to him, and each possessed remarkable skills. Hidden among all walks of life, if they were to display their true capabilities, they could make great names for themselves in the jianghu. The Fourth Prince had long plotted against his three elder brothers, but he still couldn't fathom their hidden trump cards. With Lu Yang joining, however, nothing was an issue anymore. No matter how great their trump cards were, could they possibly outmatch the Dao Seeking Sect? "Originally, I even planned to make a move against Imperial Father. After all, every day he lives longer, the power of those younger brothers of mine grows by another fraction, undermining my standing. Unfortunately, the old man is protected by the national destiny, making him difficult to harm. But I can approach it from other angles, such as destroying anything that might extend Imperial Father's lifespan!" "Oh, you people are quite well-prepared then," the Immortal Fairy nodded, offering a lukewarm evaluation. "Brother Lu, that still isn't enough. We still need your help!" The Fourth Prince looked at Lu Yang with burning eyes, his gaze brimming with sincerity. "Can't make up your mind?" The Immortal Fairy thought it over. Since that was the case, she might as well help the fourth boy of the Jiang family this once. "All right, I'll help." A scheming grin spread across the Fourth Prince's face. From the moment he first made contact with Lu Yang until now, he had recorded everything with an image-recording orb, so he wasn't afraid of Lu Yang simply walking away. Now Lu Yang was a grasshopper tied to the same string as him! The Immortal Fairy stood up. She was the type to act on whatever crossed her mind. "Then let's take a trip. Relying only on this crowd to deal with your three elder brothers will be tough; we need outside help." The Fourth Prince rejoiced inwardly. *She's going to take me to the Dao Seeking Sect to get reinforcements!* "Wait a moment, let me prepare some meeting gifts." "No need." ... After leaving the Imperial Palace, Emperor Xia disguised himself as a callow youth, an appearance vastly different from his usual bearing. He had heard from his eldest son that if you wanted people to look down on you, you had to disguise yourself as a fledgling cultivator just starting out, giving off an impression of complete inexperience. That way, conflicts would easily arise. This was all wisdom born of Jiang Qun's personal experience. Suddenly, Emperor Xia spotted two familiar figures: Yun Zhi's junior brother, and his own fourth son. *What are those two doing here?* What puzzled Emperor Xia even more was that Lu Yang was arguing with bailiffs at the entrance of the Ministry of Justice, and the argument seemed quite heated. "Why shouldn't it be allowed? Are you being reasonable at all?" The Immortal Fairy was rather annoyed. How could her perfectly good plan suffer a setback right from the start? "Out, out! This isn't a place for you to fool around!" the bailiffs barked, impatiently shooing the Immortal Fairy away. Emperor Xia strode forward quickly and scolded the bailiffs in a sharp voice. "Silence! As officers of the Ministry of Justice, how can you treat people with such insolence?!" The bailiffs glanced at Emperor Xia and ignored him completely. Emperor Xia was delighted inwardly. *Hasn't my chance to grandstand arrived just like that?* In a situation like this, Lu Yang must have run into some injustice and come to the Ministry of Justice to lodge a complaint, only for the ministry to act corruptly and refuse to handle the case, resulting in this argument. Now was his cue to step up and uphold justice. Once he was slighted and ignored by these Ministry of Justice officials—or better yet, if he uncovered some sordid dirt inside the ministry and they tried to silence him—he would reveal his identity as Emperor Xia right before their shocked eyes! He turned toward Lu Yang, pretending not to recognize him, and cupped his fists. "Fellow Daoist, might I ask what brought you to report to the Ministry of Justice, only to receive such unreasonable treatment?" The Immortal Fairy looked Emperor Xia up and down. For some reason, Emperor Xia suddenly felt an inexplicable prick of unease. *Could Lu Yang have seen through my disguise?* *That shouldn't be. The jade pendant I'm wearing is a national-treasure-grade artifact. How could someone in the Nascent Soul stage possibly see through it?* The Immortal Fairy stamped her foot in indignation, pointing at the Fourth Prince as she vented her grievances, "Isn't it because I came to report him for plotting rebellion, but the Ministry of Justice refused to accept the case and even claimed I was lying?! What outrageous nonsense!" Emperor Xia: "..." *Wait, what did you just say?* The Fourth Prince's reaction was even more flabbergasted than Emperor Xia's. His eyes went wide with utter disbelief as he stared blankly at Lu Yang, his voice breaking. "Is this what you meant by helping me?!" Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine that after agreeing so readily to help him rebel and offering to bring him to find outside help, Lu Yang would turn right around and march him straight to the Ministry of Justice to report him for treason! The Immortal Fairy looked at the Fourth Prince with utter bewilderment, not understanding why he was reacting so dramatically. "Yeah, is there a problem?" "Didn't you say you wanted to get rid of your three elder brothers so you could ascend to the throne smoothly? I figured that as long as you rebelled, everything would be solved!" "I heard Great Xia's law states that anyone who rebels has nine generations of their kin executed. That way, your three elder brothers are definitely going to die." "See? I brought you here to find outside help." "Then what about me?!" The Fourth Prince glared fiercely at the Immortal Fairy. Whether his three brothers would die remained to be seen, but he would definitely be done for! "But you only said you wanted to eliminate your three elder brothers back then. You never said you needed to stay alive, did you?" The Immortal Fairy's logic was simple: if all nine generations of the Fourth Prince's kin were wiped out, there would be no one left of the Jiang family, and it would be her turn to ascend the throne! What a magnificent opportunity delivered straight to her doorstep!