Ying Qingye grabbed a handful of Xu Fu’s collar and glared at him fiercely.
“Qingye, show some respect!”
Ying Zheng hastily stepped in with a scolding reprimand.
“Imperial Father, this old codger is deceiving you! There is no such thing as an immortal island out there.”
“Your Majesty, the Fifth Prince is showing open contempt for the immortal islands! He will surely bring down the wrath of the heavens!”
“Enough!”
Ying Zheng let out a thunderous roar. Every single person in the room—aside from Ying Qingye—dropped to the floor in absolute terror, pressing themselves flat against the ground.
“Qingye, you claim that it isn’t an island of immortals. Do you have proof?”
Ying Zheng turned a dark, brooding gaze toward his son.
“Imperial Father, over all these years, the so-called elixirs Xu Fu has been refined for you have yielded zero results.”
“Terrified that you would eventually hold him accountable, he fabricated the tale of an immortal island in the Eastern Sea. In truth, this is merely his scheme to shed his shell like a cicada and make a getaway.”
“Absolute nonsense! That is a vicious, baseless slander!”
“Without a shred of evidence, Fifth Prince—I have never wronged you in the past, nor harbor any enmity toward you today. Why are you trying to ruin me?”
Xu Fu stared daggers at Ying Qingye, looking as though he wanted to swallow him whole.
At the same time, a cold wave of panic washed over him. He was completely baffled as to how Ying Qingye could possibly have uncovered his secret plan.
That scheme was something he had only ever discussed with a handful of trusted disciples—followers who had spent over a decade by his side. There was simply no way they would betray him!
How on earth did Ying Qingye find out?
“Ruin you?”
“Whether what this prince speaks is true or false, you know that better than anyone else.”
“Imperial Father, I have a method that can prove my words are entirely factual.”
“What method?”
Ying Zheng looked at him with half-convinced skepticism.
“I beg the Imperial Father to have a few newly hatched chicks and ducklings brought to me.”
“Zhao Gao!”
“Understood!”
Though puzzled, Ying Zheng still instructed Zhao Gao to carry out the task.
After what felt like a short while, Zhao Gao returned carrying a few tiny ducklings, their fluffy coats making them look utterly adorable.
“Qingye, the ducklings have been brought to you. Proceed!”
Ying Zheng said indifferently.
Without a trace of rush, Ying Qingye stepped leisurely up to Xu Fu’s side.
“Xu Fu, you must be carrying some of your precious elixirs on you right now, aren’t you?”
“I… I have none on me!”
Xu Fu shook his head frantically.
“If you don’t have them on you, that’s no problem at all!”
“The Commandant of Justice is right outside; we can simply have him retrieve them from your quarters!”
Ying Qingye offered a faint, relaxed smile.
Ying Zheng glanced toward Zhao Gao, who caught the unspoken cue instantly and turned to stride out of the room.
Before long, Meng Yi arrived bearing the elixirs to request an audience!
“This minister Meng Yi pays respects to Your Majesty!”
“Rise!”
“Thank you, Your Majesty!”
“Your Majesty, these are the pills retrieved from Xu Fu’s residence!”
Meng Yi held up a small wooden box with both hands.
“Give it to Qingye!”
“My Lord!”
Ying Qingye took the box and motioned for a few attendants to pry open the beaks of the young ducklings.
Ying Qingye flipped open the lid. Inside lay a dark, spherical medicinal pill.
The moment the container was unsealed, a heavy, pungent wave of herbal stench wafted through the air. He couldn’t fathom why Ying Zheng was so completely obsessed with this bizarre concoction.
Ying Qingye crumbled a tiny piece of the pill, fed it directly into the beaks of the small birds, and signaled the attendants to let them go.
At first, the little creatures seemed fine, but within moments, they began foaming profusely at the beak. After struggling forward a mere couple of paces, they flopped down flat onto the floor.
Following a few final, weak twitches, they went completely still.
Everyone stared in utter shock at the scene unfolding before them. Beads of sweat the size of soybeans streamed continuously down Xu Fu’s pale cheeks.
It’s over!
Everything is completely over now!
Ying Zheng’s expression darkened to the absolute limit of fury!
Bang—!
“Xu Fu, how do you explain this?!”
Ying Zheng hurled his cup straight at Xu Fu’s head with crushing force.
“Y-Y-Your Majesty!”
“I have been wronged!”
“They conspired together to frame me! If those pills were truly poisonous, wouldn’t Your Majesty have suffered toxic reactions long ago?”
“How could Your Majesty possibly still be…”
Xu Fu didn’t dare finish the rest of his sentence.
The surrounding officials couldn’t help thinking there was some logic to his words. If the pills were genuinely laced with poison, surely His Majesty would have perished long ago instead of remaining alive and well to fly into a rage here today.
“Your Majesty, this minister harbors no such malicious intent. I beg Your Majesty to thoroughly investigate the truth!”
Meng Yi dropped instantly to his knees.
“Your Majesty, my Meng family has devoted ourselves entirely to serving Great Qin, and our actions have always been completely upright.”
“Meng Yi would never commit such an act!”
Meng Wu also hurried to his knees to plead on his son’s behalf.
“Imperial Father, this kind of elixir has a mild toxicity; consuming just a tiny bit doesn’t immediately kill, but taking it over a long period causes the body to steadily deteriorate.”
“The reason these chicks and ducklings died of poisoning is simply because they were far too small to withstand even that level of toxin.”
“As for Imperial Father, your physical constitution is far stronger than theirs, which is why you survived!”
“But have you not noticed that ever since you began taking these pills, your health has grown progressively worse?”
Hearing this, Ying Zheng’s gaze grew increasingly sharp, filled with a boundless, chilling intent to kill.
“Drag him out and boil him in a cauldron!”
Suppressing his surging fury, Ying Zheng spat out those grim words!
Meng Yi quickly motioned for several guards, who hauled Xu Fu away.
“Your Majesty, spare my life!”
“Your Majesty!”
“…”
No matter how frantically Xu Fu screamed, Ying Zheng remained completely indifferent, and not a single person stepped forward to intercede for him.
The crime of deceiving the emperor carried the penalty of death!
“Meng Yi!”
“Present!”
Meng Yi quickly cupped his hands.
“Xu Fu has deceived the sovereign; execute his entire clan down to the third degree!”
“All of his disciples are to be banished to the northern frontier to labor on the Great Wall!”
“Understood!”
“Wait!”
Just as Meng Yi was about to turn away to carry out the order, Ying Qingye called out to stop him.
Ying Zheng looked at him in perplexity.
“Do you have something else to say?”
“Imperial Father, Xu Fu deceived you for so long and harmed you to such a miserable degree.”
“And you’re only executing three degrees?”
????????
Oh goodness!
Execution of three degrees isn’t enough?!
What else does he want?
The looks the officials directed at Ying Qingye shifted instantly from confusion to sheer terror.
“If you have something to say, spit it out!”
“Imperial Father, his crime is one of deceiving the Son of Heaven—it warrants the extermination of nine familial generations!”
Hearing this, Li Si and the others gasped collectively, drawing in sharp breaths of cold air.
Good grief!
They always said Ying Zheng was a tyrant who treated human life like dirt.
This young prince right here is even more ruthless!
“Very well!”
“Exterminate nine generations!”
“Meng Yi, wipe out all nine of Xu Fu’s generations!”
“Understood!”
Meng Yi cupped his hands once more and hurried away to execute the command.
“You may all withdraw!”
Aside from this ordeal, Ying Zheng needed time to collect his thoughts, and the ministers bowed and retreated one by one.
“Qingye, stay behind!”
Just as Ying Qingye turned to leave, Ying Zheng called him back.
“How on earth did you know there was something wrong with Xu Fu?”
“Even the Black Ice Terrace failed to detect anything!”
Ying Zheng stared intently at Ying Qingye.
Since even the premier intelligence network hadn’t caught wind of it, yet Ying Qingye knew, he couldn’t help but feel deeply suspicious.
“Imperial Father, you surely don’t suspect that your son is secretly cultivating his own faction behind the scenes, do you?”
Ying Qingye acutely sensed Ying Zheng’s underlying anxiety—the fear that his own son might one day stage a coup against him.
That was certainly not something Ying Zheng wished to see!
“Did you not?”
“Then how do you explain the situation with Xu Fu?”
“Or would you claim that you alone possess more insight than my entire Black Ice Terrace?”
Since the cards were already on the table, it was time to lay everything out in the open.
“Imperial Father, naturally this son cannot compare to the Black Ice Terrace!”
“The only reason I discovered it was purely by coincidence.”
“Coincidence?”
Ying Zheng furrowed his brow slightly.
“Yes! Pure coincidence!”
Ying Qingye nodded straight at Ying Zheng.
The two of them simply stared silently into each other’s eyes!
…
“Well? Are you going to speak?”
“What coincidence?”
Ying Zheng finally snapped with mild annoyance.
He had remained silent, expecting his son to elaborate, only for this silly boy to stand there staring blankly right back at him.