Fire? How could Han Ziqi be this crazy? At present, there were many concubines, princes and princesses in the tent. If he wanted to take his life, why was he doing so many things? Qi Mingyue was puzzled by his behaviour.
Noticing that Qi Xutian's expression remained unchanged, except for the initial surprise upon hearing the explosion, there wasn't even the slightest hint of worry. Qi Mingyue turned to look at An Ruolan in the cell and said lightly, "You knew he was going to do something, but you didn't stop him and even let him go. I wonder what exactly is your plan and where I come in the grand scheme of things? Could it be that I am not qualified enough to know your thoughts?"
Qi Xutian lowered him onto the ground, subsequently, both of them looked at each other.
After a long period of silence, Qi Xutian sighed, "I did know that he was going to break into the dungeon and I also knew that if he failed, he would surely endanger the lives of the princes in the tent. I just let him go without any hindrance."
Letting him go was as good as sacrificing the lives of the concubines and royal princes, and also quite possibly making the courtiers in the tent lose their lives. Qi Mingyue gazed at the indifference in his father's eyes and the cruel smile on his lips and found that as long as he wasn't hurt, his father didn't care at all about what would happen to the rest of the people.
Could it be that Father Emperor actually intended to use Han Ziqi to remove the harem?
Even Qi Mingyue was stunned by this speculation. Qi Xutian saw the look in his eyes and showed an expression of approval, "You really resemble me the most. You have guessed it, haven't you?"
"Why did you do this?" He didn't understand. Although the concubines of the harem often made father unhappy, frequently did needless things and caused trouble, it wasn't enough for him to have the intent to remove them.
Qi Xutian looked at Han Ji, who was imprisoned next to An Ruolan’s cell, with a contemptuous sneer in his eyes. “Some people think that by murdering you, they will be able to control the harem and let their imperial prince attain the position of Crown Prince. Since that's the case, I will let her see clearly what happens to those who plot for things they don't deserve."
"Han Ji is colluding with An Yang, could it be that there is someone from An Yang in the harem?" If so, it wasn't difficult to imagine why Han Ji, who had never left Cang He, would obey An Yang's orders.
"Concubine Xiao is a person from An Yang, she thinks no one knows about it. She has always handled things cautiously in the harem, however, unfortunately for her, I knew her identity as early as when she entered the palace, that's why I wanted to use her son as bait to lure Jing Huang to show up. If he ended up losing his life in the process, I would have had the right to remove her; wouldn't that be killing two birds with one stone?"
It was only later that Father Emperor shifted his attention to him due to his speciality; this was why they were like this today. Qi Mingyue listened to him speak and found no trace of reluctance or compassion in his words, he seemed to have no tenderness for his own flesh and blood. He understood that even if more concubines died, or the princes and princesses lost their lives in the tent outside, Father would not feel moved.
It seemed that until today, Han Ziqi still hadn't realized that he had unknowingly become a pawn to be manipulated at his Father's mercy. He still thought he was acting according to his own will.
"Father Emperor is truly good at this." Qi Mingyue finally revealed a smile. He didn't think there was anything wrong with Qi Xutian's approach. Naturally, one couldn't be soft-hearted when dealing with the enemy. It didn't matter whether it was a friend or foe, what mattered was to make the best use of what was available.
Perhaps others would be scared and disgusted when they see Father employ such ruthless and cruel way of doing things, however, for him, there was no right or wrong in this world, no good or evil, all that mattered was the heart.
As long as Father Emperor had him in his heart, he didn't care what others thought of it.
Discerning the meaning in each other's eyes, the two smiled at each other and waited quietly; waited for the prey to come forward on his own.
When Han Ziqi's carefully concealed figure stepped into the dungeon, he unexpectedly discovered that standing in front of him was Qi Mingyue, who was looking at him with a smile, and Qi Xutian, whose posture was leisurely.
He didn't expect that even after such a violent explosion and raging fire, Qi Xutian didn't rush to deal with it, instead, he was waiting for him so leisurely without even a hint of tension on his face.
Now that his cover had already been blown, he simply removed the cloth mask covering his face, "I didn't expect that Your Majesty would be so cruel as to ignore the fire in the tent, it seems that even if the princes and princesses accidentally get buried, Your Majesty would not feel upset."
Even though he came masked and while concealing his appearance, Han Ziqi was still dressed in white and despite the fact that he was surrounded, he didn't appear the least bit flustered.
Qi Mingyue was a little appreciative of his courage. Hearing the sarcasm in his words, his gaze swept towards the spot where Han Ji was held, "Your father is in jail, not far from you, but from the moment you stepped inside, you haven't even looked at him. I wonder how much of a heart you have, Childe Ziqi, compared to my Father Emperor?"
His words made Han Ziqi's face a little colder, it was no longer as calm as before. At this time, his expression was frosty and his eyes were filled with murderous intent. His snow-white attire exhibited a bit of frigid hostility as he drew the long sword on his waist with the intent to fight.
Without waiting for the shadow guards to appear, Liu Yi's figure flickered slightly and halted in front of him. Without saying a word, he took an offensive stance.
Although Qi Mingyue didn't know how powerful he was, he certainly wouldn't be able to take more than a few moves under Chief Liu's offensive.
Sure enough, Han Ziqi couldn't handle it after a short while, nevertheless, he didn't give up and ended up getting hit by a few palm strikes and acquired severe internal injuries. He gritted his teeth to hold back the blood in his mouth, disregarded the danger to his life and banished a long black chain with force.
Qi Xutian didn't move but pulled Qi Mingyue behind himself and extended his palm, only to discover that the chain stopped approaching, instead, it retracted midair.
The black chain immediately accelerated in speed but Liu Yi dodged it skillfully, however, no matter how fast Han Ziqi reacted, the chain impacted him heavily.
The chain directly plunged into his body and a large amount of blood burst out. Several splotches of blood stained his chest red and his white clothes were dyed crimson.
"The Percussion Blood Chain is also an item from An Yang, it seems that someone in An Yang has indeed been plotting against Cang He for a long time. It's a pity that he chose to mess with the wrong person, thinking that I don't know the identity of Concubine Xiao and of your father's involvement." Qi Xutian was unmoved by his blood-stained appearance, the look of regret on his face was an obvious mockery towards Han Ziqi.
Using his sword to support his body that was about to fall, the hatred in Han Ziqi's eyes became stronger and stronger. With a glanced at An Ruolan lying on the ground, his pensive and complex eyes again focused on the pair of father and son in front of him.
Stunned by the complex look in his eyes, Qi Mingyue's thoughts turned and suddenly, he realised that the reason why Han Ziqi was so adamant about killing them perhaps wasn't just because of Han Ji's orders.
"Even without Han Ji's orders, you would have still tried to kill Father and I." Qi Mingyue said with absolute certainty.
Han Ziqi leaned against the wall with blood dribbling from his mouth, the black chain had sunk into his flesh and hadn't moved, only after all of his blood had run out and tormented him enough would he die. He looked at the large, crimson stain on his chest and abdomen, and with an almost inaudible chuckle, he looked up and said, "Yes, I will kill you first, and then I will do everything possible to kill Qi Xutian."
"Do you hate Father?" He didn't believe that it was just for the sake of his Consort Mother. If Consort Mother still had feelings for him, it wouldn't be comparable to the riches and glory of the Imperial Palace, and Han Ziqi only liked his Consort Mother at most, nothing could be said about his adoration towards her for it didn't exist.
Hearing his question, the complexity in Han Ziqi's eyes became entangled again, and what emerged was complete hatred. He looked at Qi Xutian, clenched his teeth and said, "That's right, Qi Xutian, I want you to lose everything!"
"Unfortunately, MingEr is unharmed. As for those outside, no matter how many you kill, I will not feel any heartache. Han Ziqi, I'm afraid you miscalculated this time." Qi Xutian shook his head quite regretfully. Although he didn't know why Han Ziqi hated him so much, he didn't really care. To him, trouble was just trouble, it was better to remove it.
Just as he was about to signal Liu Yi to take action, Qi Mingyue asked Han Ziqi, "Why do you have such a deep hatred for Father Emperor?" Han Ziqi remained silent. After a long while, the emotions in his eyes calmed down and only after they appeared the same as in the past, did he speak with an indifferent expression, "I can't escape death today, so why bother asking such nonsense?"
Seeing him calm down, Qi Mingyue increasingly felt that Han Ziqi had profound and indecipherable feelings in his heart. He had always been exceptionally sensitive to people's feelings. From him, he could detect cold murderous intent as well as anger; Han Ziqi really did hate his father but was also something else present.
Watching Han Ziqi as his usually snow-white clothes gradually got stained scarlet due to heavy blood loss, Qi Xutian only had a cold smile in his eyes, "At that time, I knew that you recommended yourself to the palace on Han Ji's behest, but I didn't expect you to be so obedient. I have to say that your subtlety of mind is not bad at all, you were able to endure being a male concubine with your temperament, but you are not acting in front of me. I was really looking forward to it and wanted to see what you would do."
Qi Xutian really did appreciate his intellect. Before he found MingEr, he was an interesting pastime which made him a favoured male concubine. "You were quite insightful in using An Roulan. She would actually be so cruel as to harm her own son, you won that round, however, unfortunately, you still won't be able to escape death." He had thought that MingEr would be immune to all poisons after taking the bead but still, he didn't want to be careless, and yet, MingEr suffered a lot.
Perceiving the change in Han Ziqi upon hearing these words, Qi Mingyue looked at his struggling figure that was barely able to support itself and was still unwilling to fall down, and finally understood, "I'm afraid the hatred you harbour towards Father and your disregard for Han Ji is all for one reason."
Previous | Project Page | Next
Comments