Bringing advanced martial arts techniques to a low-level martial arts world

Chapter 11 Royal Secrets

The next day, just as dawn was breaking, Fang Weihan rushed to the Sheng family home, his previous kidnapping experience leaving him with no psychological trauma whatsoever.

"Brother Sheng! Brother Sheng!"

He rushed into the courtyard, only to see a dashing woman in green wielding a spear.

"Brother Sheng, who is this?"

Sheng Wansong was drinking tea and ignored his question, "Why are you here so early in the morning instead of going to the academy?"

"I'm just here to let you know that the academy is closed today," Fang Weihan hurriedly explained. "I heard that Teacher Fang was too happy last night and drank too much, and he couldn't get out of bed this morning."

"Is that so? I understand. You can leave now."

Fang Weihan's face fell. "You're not even going to ask me what happened yesterday? How did I escape alive?"

"You were kidnapped, and then the Beggars' Sect rescued you."

"So you knew?" Fang Weihan was taken aback, then sighed and said, "I originally wanted to ask the old man for a few tips, but he said I was too old and too simple-minded to be in the martial arts world, and told me to go back and study."

He leaned closer. "Brother Sheng, look at me. Is there still a chance for me?"

"There's no hope, give up."

Sheng Wansong didn't even turn his head. "Since even the veterans of the Beggars' Sect say you have no chance, then you have no chance."

"Remember to close the door before you leave, otherwise someone will definitely bother me today."

"Brother Sheng, don't be so heartless."

Fang Weihan smiled and said, "When I was kidnapped yesterday, I overheard the kidnappers chatting. They are from the Tianlong Gang and never intended to let me live from the beginning, so I heard a lot of interesting secrets."

Tell me about it.

Seeing this, Fang actually kept everyone in suspense: "Do you know why Emperor Ying has not had a single prince born in the thirty years since he ascended the throne?"

"Even when the Empress was distributing grain to relieve disaster, a physiognomist discerned that she was still a virgin!"

"Who knows?"

Sheng Wansong, of course, knew nothing about this, but that didn't stop him from harboring malice towards the old emperor: "Rumors circulate that he was ruined by an old palace maid when he was young and is now impotent; some say he practiced evil arts and is unable to lose his virginity; still others say he has homosexual tendencies and is averse to women."

"You're all wrong!"

Even An'an and Ye Yinping were drawn over by the gossip, their faces full of curiosity.

"Actually, Emperor Ying was a woman!"

These words immediately made Sheng Wansong laugh. "Isn't that just hearsay too?"

"Brother Sheng, think about it. The royal family controls all the resources in the world. Whether they are unable to have children or are abstinent from women, they can still use the power of immortality to obtain sperm and have children. Only if he is a woman can he not achieve yin-yang harmony and conceive offspring."

Sheng Wansong retorted directly, "If the Emperor were a woman, wouldn't it be easier to just take male concubines?"

Fang Weihan panicked, "This is illegal and unethical!"

"Was it legal for him to exterminate the entire Lin family? Was it legal for him to appoint a heretic as the national advisor? Was it legal for him to use infants to refine longevity elixirs?"

"This, this is different," Fang Weihan stammered, her face flushed with anxiety. "These things were all done in secret. Although everyone knows who did it, without concrete evidence, they didn't do it."

"Even if we take a step back and assume she really is a woman, she could use the magical method you mentioned to have a child through sperm donation, so why doesn't she have any offspring?"

"Let's go, let's go."

Sheng Wansong raised his hand to shoo the person away, "Disrespecting the royal family is punishable by death."

——————————————————————————————

Inside the secret chamber of the imperial palace, the air was thick with the fragrance of elixirs, and wisps of red smoke drifted from above the alchemy furnace, swirling in the mist.

The person sitting in front of the alchemy furnace was not an alchemist, but Emperor Ying himself, dressed in a dragon robe.

"open!"

With a single slap, Emperor Ying pushed open the heavy furnace lid, revealing a crystal-clear, crimson elixir that emitted an alluring fragrance.

The emperor took out the precious elixir, sniffed it, and immediately felt refreshed.

"After swallowing the Infant Blood Elixir, I eked out another ten years of living a wretched life."

As soon as the elixir entered his stomach, the wrinkles on the old emperor's forehead smoothed out instantly, and the white hair at his temples returned to its black color. However, there was not much joy on his face. Instead, he sighed and said, "Where is the path to immortality? Where is the path?"

Unbeknownst to him, the palace maid behind him, her eyes bloodshot and teeth clenched, quietly picked up a ceramic vase.

Bang!

"You dog emperor, give me back my brother's life!"

Emperor Ying collapsed instantly, blood gushing from the back of his head.

The palace maid was still not satisfied. She plopped down on the emperor's back, pulled out her belt and strangled the emperor's neck, pulling back with all her might, as if she wanted to strangle the tyrant's neck completely.

But, but.

The emperor's neck was as slippery as an eel, and the ribbon kept sliding down, making it impossible to exert any force.

The palace maid was exhausted and covered in sweat, but the emperor's sobs continued, "Ugh. Ugh."

"Why, why can't I kill him?!"

"You lowly wench, you dare to try and kill a true dragon!"

A deafening roar erupted overhead.

The palace maid looked up in alarm and was shocked to see that the old emperor's neck had become thin and long, with its twisting neck reaching all the way to the ceiling before bending downwards, like a constantly writhing long snake, with his head hanging from the tip of his neck in front of her.

"Demon! Monster! The emperor is a monster!"

The emperor opened his mouth wide, and it grew longer and longer, becoming thin and long, like a bird's beak, before snipping down and taking the palace maid's head in his mouth.

boo~

With a gentle pull, as easily as a rooster pecking at a grain of rice, he took the palace maid's head into his mouth and spat it onto the ground.

"A monster! The emperor is a monster!"

The palace maid was unaware that she was dead. She struggled with her hands and screamed and wailed repeatedly.

The desperate screams only stopped when the head rolled to the ground and the person saw their headless body.

At this moment, scalding blood gushed from the severed neck.

Amidst the rain of blood, pairs of green eyes emerged, and countless infant spirits continuously appeared on the beams, the ground, the alchemy furnace, and the ceiling, filling the vast alchemy room.

These infant spirits shrieked as they drank the blood rain, then pounced on the palace maid's corpse, devouring her flesh and blood in the blink of an eye, leaving only the white bones beneath her palace robes, covered with tiny bite marks.

The palace maids' souls were also torn apart and devoured by them.

The nourished infant spirits turned their gaze toward the emperor, their eyes filled with endless resentment and greed.

however.

"roar!"

A deafening dragon roar suddenly resounded throughout the universe. The imperial dragon aura surrounding the emperor transformed into a gaunt, blood-red demonic dragon. The blood dragon roared angrily to the sky, frightening all the infant spirits in the room into scattering and fleeing back into the shadows.

"Congratulations, Your Majesty! Congratulations!"

The door opened, and a slender, tall man dressed in gray cloth entered, bowing to the emperor in congratulations.

"Having cultivated a physique resembling that of a crane, Your Majesty is now one step closer to immortality."

The emperor's neck was so long that the middle section was constantly rubbing against the ceiling, and his gaze was slightly dazed. "Master Zhou, how much longer will it take for me to achieve immortality?"

"Your Majesty, these babies are just ordinary babies. Eating them will only prolong their lives, not grant them immortality."

"To achieve immortality, one must refine elixirs with the blood of a true dragon?"

"The blood of the true dragon..." The emperor was taken aback, his face showing regret. "But, the only son of the Lin family has already been killed by me."

"Your Majesty need not worry. Although people with the destiny of becoming emperor are extremely rare, they are not the only ones. However, only you are capable of ascending the throne."

Master Zhou paused for a moment, then continued, "Of the eight princes who once vied with you for the throne, four were destined to be emperors, yet they all fell to you. The dragon's energy has thus contributed to Your Majesty's imperial might."

Upon hearing this, the emperor sighed deeply, "It's a pity I didn't spare their lives back then. I've been cultivating my essence and locking in my vital energy for thirty years now, and I can't afford any loss, so no dragon son has been born."

When the emperor was in trouble, the Imperial Advisor immediately stepped forward and spoke eloquently, "Your Majesty! If you trust me, simply hand over command of the Six Doors and the Imperial Observatory to me, and I guarantee that your wish will be fulfilled!"

"this..."

Emperor Ying paced back and forth, his neck rapidly shortening until he returned to his normal appearance.

"The Imperial Observatory is overseen by old men from the Imperial Clan Court, making it difficult for me to completely control them."

Emperor Ying pondered for a moment, then took a gilded token from his waist and threw it on the ground. "This is my personal imperial decree. Whoever sees this decree is as if seeing me. If any member of the Six Doors or any civil or military official of the court disobeys Commander Zhou's orders, it is tantamount to disobeying the imperial decree! Commander Zhou may kill them on the spot!"

"Thank you for your imperial grace!"