"Whoosh—"
High in the sky, fierce winds howled endlessly! A giant sword traversed the firmament like a massive warship. Evading the detection of ultra-high-altitude soul tools, it sailed toward the Evil Soul Great Forest.
"A bit unexpected, but it makes sense." Chen Junting sat cross-legged on the tip of the Seven Kill Sword and slowly opened his eyes.
"What is it?"
Seeing him wake, Ning Tian leaned in closer.
"It's news from Mingdu."
Since Ning Tian was already in the know, Chen Junting didn't keep it from her. Keeping it brief, he informed her of Meng Hongchen's situation.
"She plans to rebel!?"
Hearing this news, a hint of shock appeared in Ning Tian's eyes. "For her unborn child!?"
"What do you think?"
Chen Junting didn't answer directly, but asked a rhetorical question instead.
This question seemed to stump Ning Tian. After a brief moment of thought, she gave a slightly hesitant answer, "Probably... yes."
"After all, once she truly becomes a mother, she will naturally think about her child. If Meng Hongchen intends to go this far, it's actually not that surprising." The more she spoke, the more confident she sounded. It was as if she was constantly making excuses for Meng Hongchen, patching up any logical holes. At least in Chen Junting's eyes, Ning Tian was just pitying Meng Hongchen's plight.
"Xiao Tian, you're thinking too beautifully."
However, he ruthlessly shattered this beautiful illusion of "maternal love." "Xu Tianran is sterile. That means her child will be the only Crown Prince. He could have smoothly inherited the throne, so why rebel?"
If Xu Tianran had many princes, then Meng Hongchen rebelling to secure her son's throne could be defended. But Xu Tianran was a eunuch. Borrowing a seed was an incredibly secretive matter; how could they do it repeatedly? So, after Xu Tianran died, that child's throne would be as stable as Mount Tai.
Who, then, was Meng Hongchen rebelling for?
It went without saying.
"...She is also a pitiful person."
After a moment of silence, Ning Tian slowly uttered this sentence.
Was she pitiful? On this point, Chen Junting had to admit it was true.
But at the same time, Meng Hongchen was also ambitious.
Think about it: how much time would Xu Tianran give Meng Hongchen? A year? Two years? At most, it would be until the child turned six and awakened their martial soul. This meant Meng Hongchen had to succeed in her rebellion within six years. If she failed, that was one thing. But what if she succeeded?
The child would be, at most, six years old!
What could a six-year-old child do? Even if he became the Emperor, the child would merely be a puppet. And the hand controlling the puppet would be Meng Hongchen—or rather, the Hongchen family, which would reap massive political benefits after a successful rebellion.
But even so, what did it matter?
It just so happened that this was exactly what the original three Douluo Empires and the various major powers wanted to see. A dead Sun Moon Empire, or a Sun Moon Empire severely drained of its vitality, was a good Sun Moon Empire.
Thinking of this, Chen Junting's mind began to race.
Perhaps this matter could be used to their advantage.
It was an unspoken mutual understanding between both sides, anyway. Otherwise, Meng Hongchen wouldn't have said those words to Yang Yuan. There had to be a military defeat capable of shaking the Sun Moon Empire—a defeat that would destabilize Xu Tianran's rule and cause him to lose popular support—to secure even a sliver of an opportunity for Meng Hongchen.
In other words, a certain someone could become their inside accomplice.
Well... temporarily.
(I'm talking about you—Jing Hongchen!)
However, Meng Hongchen had no idea that Chen Junting was already preparing to launch a surprise attack on Mingdu, and the primary target of this strike was to kill Xu Tianran.
If Meng Hongchen knew this, she definitely wouldn't be doing what she was doing now; she would just choose to lie flat and win by doing nothing.
Unfortunately, the information was in Chen Junting's hands.
The plan for the surprise attack remained unchanged. But he had to make good use of this opportunity. If he didn't, it would be a waste.
If he could use it, it would absolutely deal a greater blow to the Sun Moon Empire than his previous plans. Even if it didn't dismantle them in one fell swoop, it could at least reduce the Sun Moon Empire to a sliver of health.
"Interesting..."
It seemed he already had an idea in mind, causing the corners of Chen Junting's mouth to curl up slightly. This immediately aroused Ning Tian's curiosity.
But since Chen Junting didn't say anything, she didn't ask.
"Xiao Tian."
"Hmm?"
"Perhaps I need to have Old Gu run another errand."
Chen Junting paused, saying this with a hint of guilt. "He needs to detour through the sea to the Star Luo Empire, and then make a trip to the Star Luo main camp stationed at the Mingdou Mountain Range to deliver a message. Mm... the distance might be a bit far. But there's no other choice; crossing the Mingdou Mountain Range from the Sun Moon Empire's side is simply too dangerous. Although the first route is longer, it will still be in time if he moves fast enough."
Huh?
Ning Tian tilted her head slightly, a flash of surprise in her eyes.
Listen to him—is that even something a human would say!?
Meeting Ning Tian's dumbfounded gaze, Chen Junting looked away, directing his attention toward Gu Tianchen, who was currently sitting with Wu Feng. After a brief moment of hesitation, he ultimately discarded that sliver of guilt and conscience in his heart. Wearing a smile, he called out, "Old Gu."
...
One day later.
Mingdu, Common Alliance.
After rushing back from the Sun Moon main camp at the Mingdou Mountain Range, Yang Yuan handled some important matters in Mingdu. Instead of returning to the Holy Spirit Cult's headquarters, he came directly to Qili Garden to see Shangguan Wei'er.
Seeing the visitor, Shangguan Wei'er's tone carried a hint of flattery. "My Lord, you've come?"
Yang Yuan nodded slightly, looking straight ahead. His tone was exceptionally flat as he directly reached out his hand for the goods: "Where is the 'corpse'?"
"This..."
Shangguan Wei'er hesitated for a moment before finally gritting her teeth and saying, "My Lord, the 'corpse' is gone."
The moment those last two words were spoken, a burst of murderous intent erupted from Yang Yuan's eyes, followed by the imposing aura of a Super Douluo!
"What do you mean by this!?"
Shangguan Wei'er's delicate body trembled, but she quickly regained her composure. "It's not our fault." With a wave of her hand, an urn appeared in front of Yang Yuan.
Yang Yuan focused his gaze and instantly recognized the object. "An urn?"
Yang Yuan seemed to realize something, and his expression changed slightly. "Did you succeed in making contact?"
"No."
Shangguan Wei'er tapped the desktop. "We dug this out of a mausoleum. As for the meeting you mentioned, we never met anyone."
As expected!
Yang Yuan muttered inwardly. Meng Hongchen had backed out of the deal.
He looked at the urn, pondering secretly. Were these ashes really Xu Tianhe's? Was he truly dead, or was it a faked death?
Thinking it over, Yang Yuan couldn't come up with an answer. He picked up the urn, stored it away, turned to Shangguan Wei'er, and said, "You don't need to worry about this matter anymore. I will handle it personally."
Saying this, his figure flashed, and he left the place.
He planned to make a trip to the imperial palace to see Meng Hongchen. He wanted to see what kind of medicine this Empress was really selling in her gourd. At the same time, he needed to inform his master of this matter.
However...
"Hmm?"
Yang Yuan frowned. "I can't reach him?"
He had to remember that given his situation, there were only two possibilities for failing to make contact. The first possibility was that his master was dead. The second possibility was that his master had blocked all forms of communication to avoid being disturbed by the outside world.
------------------------------------------------------
40+ Chapters Ahead: patreon.com/EphemeralShadow
There's something for free patrons too! Free Patrons receive 1 chapter in advance :)