Emperor Xia had initially intended to reveal his identity and berate the Ministry of Justice bailiffs, but the words reached his lips and refused to come out.
It was the first time he had ever heard of executing nine generations of kin for an imperial prince's rebellion. No wonder the bailiffs had tried to drive Lu Yang away—they weren't being unreasonable in the slightest.
The Fourth Prince glared fixedly at Lu Yang, trying to find any hint that this was a joke.
Yet the Immortal Fairy showed no reaction whatsoever; what she had just said was genuinely what she thought.
The Fourth Prince was so enraged he laughed. "Lu Yang, let me tell you, don't try to get clever with me! Back when we were discussing it in the courtyard, you were the first one to propose rebelling! If you report me, you won't get off scot-free either!"
The Immortal Fairy found this utterly bizarre, unable to fathom how the Fourth Prince's mind worked. "How was I the first to propose rebelling? Didn't you gather all those rebels together beforehand? That proves you were already preparing to rebel—I was merely following your train of thought!"
The Fourth Prince carefully recalled the events in the courtyard and suddenly realized that from start to finish, Lu Yang had not substantively participated in any rebellion plans!
This was neither being an accomplice nor instigation—he was completely innocent!
No, there was still a way out.
"That is nothing more than your one-sided claim! You have no evidence!"
Indeed, for a matter as grave as rebellion, one could never secure a conviction on verbal claims alone—let alone when Lu Yang was the only one saying he was rebelling.
The brothers plotting great deeds in the courtyard all shared life-and-death bonds with the Fourth Prince and were deeply principled; they would never confess and sell him out!
"Huh? Don't you have an image-recording orb? I saw you recording from the moment I set foot in your manor. Weren't you doing that so you could use it as evidence now?"
In the Immortal Fairy's eyes, the Fourth Prince's thoughts aligned perfectly with her own: to eliminate his three elder brothers, the Fourth Prince intended to rebel, thereby bringing about the execution of nine generations so everyone perished together.
He had likely lacked the resolve to turn himself in, which was why he sought her help by inviting her over as a guest, openly discussing rebellion right before her eyes, and preserving the evidence with an image-recording orb.
And just as the Fourth Prince desired, she had come to the Ministry of Justice to report it.
The only two snags were that the Ministry of Justice seemed reluctant to get involved, and the Fourth Prince had suddenly tried to renege on the spot.
How vexing.
The Fourth Prince's gaze toward Lu Yang shifted once more, turning into terror, dread, and a cold shudder.
In just the span of a casual visit, Lu Yang had calculated every single move to perfection! From the moment he entered, he had been putting on an act, pretending to pour out his heart and form a partnership just to force the Fourth Prince to reveal his trump cards. He had even predicted that the Fourth Prince would use an image-recording orb for blackmail, turning the tables entirely to transform the blackmail orb into concrete evidence of rebellion!
This level of scheming was even more terrifying than what had been displayed at Second Brother's manor!
How ridiculous that he had actually hoped to tie Lu Yang to his ship. As if he were fit to scheme against Lu Yang! Right now, his only concern was surviving the crisis before him!
Seeing that things had gone south, the Fourth Prince spun around to flee. But how could the Immortal Fairy possibly let him escape?
Before the Immortal Fairy, the Fourth Prince's Soul Formation stage cultivation was no different from a mortal's. Controlling Lu Yang's body, she clamped onto the Fourth Prince's wrist and hurled him into the ground. The impact left the Fourth Prince seeing stars, completely dazed and bruised, while the ground caved into a massive crater.
The Immortal Fairy took the opportunity to snatch the Fourth Prince's storage ring, inside of which lay the image-recording orb.
The one-sided commotion between the Immortal Fairy and the Fourth Prince was massive, drawing the attention of the Vice Minister of Justice, who hurried over to investigate.
Who dared cause a brawl at the entrance of the Ministry of Justice? Did they take the Ministry of Justice for a pushover?
"Oh? Has someone in charge arrived?"
Lu Yang informed her that, judging by the newcomer's official robes, this was the Vice Minister of Justice, a standard fourth-rank official.
A standard fourth rank was considered a high official; even the Minister of Justice was merely a standard third rank.
"You're just in time! I just caught someone intending to rebel and came to file a report. The image-recording orb is inside his storage ring, but your men refused to accept the case."
The bailiffs might not recognize the Fourth Prince, but could the Vice Minister of Justice fail to do so? The moment he saw the Fourth Prince pinned to the ground by Lu Yang, a violent shudder ran through his entire body.
Who? The Fourth Prince rebelling?!
He had worked in the Ministry of Justice for centuries, and this was the first time he had ever heard of someone coming to the Ministry of Justice to report an imperial prince for rebellion!
Was this something their Ministry of Justice had the authority to handle?
"Oh, so you don't handle rebellions?" the Immortal Fairy asked, causing cold sweat to drench the Vice Minister.
"Don't talk nonsense! What do you mean the Ministry of Justice doesn't handle rebellions? If word gets out, people might think our Ministry of Justice wants to rebel too!"
"Since you cannot make the decision, have someone who can come out," Emperor Xia reminded him from the side, seeing the Vice Minister hesitating.
No one knew his son's character better than he did. His precious son was likely truly planning to rebel, and this matter had to reach a conclusion!
The Vice Minister had been torn with indecision, but Emperor Xia's reminder cleared his head like a flash of insight. *Right! What am I stressing over? It's not like I don't have superiors above me!*
With that in mind, he immediately turned and headed inside to find Minister of Justice Xu Xin.
At this moment, Xu Xin had just finished a brief period of secluded cultivation and emerged to refresh his mood.
Before he could relax, however, he heard his subordinate's report.
"Lu Yang came to our ministry to report the Fourth Prince for rebellion?!"
Even when undergoing an inner demon tribulation, he wouldn't have dared conjure up such utter nonsense!
Yet the problem was that this wasn't an inner demon tribulation—it was happening right before his eyes!
Xu Xin clutched his head in agony. Was it the junior disciple's turn after Daoist Buyu had finished tormenting him?
This junior disciple's knack for causing trouble far surpassed Daoist Buyu back in his day!
"Accept it. He's already come straight to our doors to make an accusation; turning him away would be inappropriate."
Based on what he knew of Lu Yang, although the boy was a terror at stirring up trouble, he didn't seem to tell lies.
In a rare move, the Ministry of Justice prepared to convene court to handle the case.
The Vice Minister returned to the entrance and respectfully ushered the Immortal Fairy inside, terrified that this little ancestor might stir up something else—like reporting that the Second Prince was rebelling too.
"You come in as well. You heard the conversation between Jiang's fourth boy and me just now, so you count as a witness." The Immortal Fairy pulled Emperor Xia along with her.
"By the way, what was your name again?"
Emperor Xia had settled on an alias before leaving the palace. Whenever the Jiang family fabricated aliases for the outside world, they invariably liked to use "Xia" as the surname. And given his noble status as the Son of Heaven, the given name was self-evident.
"Xia Tian."
He had fabricated a complete false identity, leaving him with no fear of the Ministry of Justice verifying his background.
The Ministry of Justice opened court.
Out of trust in Lu Yang, Xu Xin personally unraveled the restriction on the Fourth Prince's storage ring and retrieved the image-recording orb kept inside.
Within the projection, the Fourth Prince high-spiritedly introduced how extraordinary the skills of his sworn brothers were and described in detail how he would eliminate his three elder brothers one by one. The display left Emperor Xia, who stood to the side giving testimony, ashen-faced with rage.
The evidence was conclusive.
Xu Xin let out a breath. It was truly just as Lu Yang had described—the Fourth Prince intended to rebel. This was a grave crime.
"Guards! Escort the Fourth Prince to the grand prison!"
"Xu Xin, how dare you!" The Fourth Prince's eyes went wild with panic. If he were thrown into the grand prison, all chance of turning the tables would be lost!
How could Xu Xin possibly care about the Fourth Prince's clamoring? Back when he had become an official, the prince's father hadn't even been born yet—what did this boy count for? He waved his hand in irritation and ordered his men to drag the Fourth Prince away.
"Lu Yang, rest assured. An imperial prince who breaks the law shares the same guilt as a commoner; this matter will certainly receive a fair trial," Xu Xin said amiably to Lu Yang, subtly hinting for him to stop stirring up trouble—their Ministry of Justice was a small place and couldn't endure such turmoil.
"Can we execute the nine generations?" That was what the Immortal Fairy cared about most.
Xu Xin: "..."
Seeing that Xu Xin did not answer, the Immortal Fairy turned to ask Emperor Xia.
"Do you think we can execute the nine generations? If that's no good, wiping out three generations works too."
Emperor Xia: "..."
*Back in the Imperial Palace, you tried to beat me up and failed. Now you just want to straight up kill me, don't you?!*
Chapter 927