Chapter 59: Act a Little More Realistically
A large group of eunuchs and Palace Maids flooded into the hall, separating Consort Chen and Xia Wuyang.
Wang Zhong strode forward and bowed respectfully to Consort Chen. "Your Highness, please calm your anger. Your Majesty has issued a decree ordering you to return to your palace immediately."
Consort Chen snorted coldly and sheathed her sword. She shot one last glance at Xia Wuyang, her expression complex and unreadable, but the suspicion in her eyes was gone.
"Don’t let me find anything, or I’ll be sure to take your life."
With that vicious threat, Consort Chen turned and strode away, her red robes billowing like blood.
Once Consort Chen had left, Xia Wuyang seemed to snap out of his daze. He collapsed to the ground, his face a mask of lingering terror.
"Th-this... I must report this to Father Emperor! Auntie Chen tried to kill me! She was really trying to kill me just now!"
"If I hadn’t dodged in time, some of those thrusts wouldn’t have just wounded me—they would have been fatal!"
"Quickly... take me to see Father Emperor! I want him to send masters to protect me!"
...
Seeing Xia Wuyang’s panicked state, Wang Zhong stepped forward to help him up. As he did, his fingertips brushed almost imperceptibly over Xia Wuyang’s wrist, probing his physical condition.
However, in the face of Xia Wuyang’s immense Spiritual Power and his Dragon Storage Skill, even a First Grade Grandmaster like Wang Zhong detected nothing out of the ordinary.
"You’ve had a fright, Your Highness. Your Majesty will surely give you a satisfactory resolution. Please, try to be patient," Wang Zhong soothed, his own doubts about Xia Wuyang now completely gone.
But Xia Wuyang’s face remained a mask of terror. "No! I want Consort Chen to pay the price now! At the very least, she must be forbidden from ever coming near the Eastern Palace again! And I want more men assigned here. No outsiders are to set foot inside, not one! I’m never going out again! I’ll just hide in Wenhua Hall forever!"
"Yes, yes, of course. Rest assured, Your Highness. I will report to His Majesty immediately. We’ll assign more men to protect the Eastern Palace and Wenhua Hall. I’ll make sure nothing like this ever happens again," Wang Zhong said, placating Xia Wuyang as if he were a small child.
Only after Xia Wuyang had calmed down somewhat did Wang Zhong finally leave the Eastern Palace.
After Wang Zhong departed, Xia Wuyang made a show of timidly returning to his Sleeping Palace. He had a group of Qiuci Dancers embrace and comfort him, yet he continued to shiver uncontrollably, acting as if he had been frightened to death.
Little did they know, it was all an act.
With Xia Wuyang’s Defense, it would have been impossible for Consort Chen to pierce his vital points with her sword, even if she had wanted to.
Protected by his Mental Force Field, he could have used his Soul Capturing Technique at any moment. If Consort Chen had shown the slightest hint of true killing intent, Xia Wuyang would have taken her head in an instant and fled the Imperial Palace.
Consort Chen had feigned madness to test Xia Wuyang, and Wang Zhong had used the opportunity to observe and confirm his condition.
The surrounding Palace Maids, Guards, and eunuchs were also watching in secret, trying to find anything suspicious and gather more intelligence.
Everyone was an actor in this play, and everyone had their own agenda.
Fortunately, his performance had been a success. In everyone’s eyes, he was still the same dying elder Crown Prince, completely incapable of defending himself.
A mere consort from the Lower Three Grades like Consort Chen had nearly taken his life, and he hadn’t even had the strength to fight back.
The elder Crown Prince was no threat. The elder Crown Prince was no concern. All they had to do was wait patiently for him to die.
’But I’ll remember this,’ Xia Wuyang thought. ’When the time is right, I’ll have to send Consort Chen on her way too. It’s only right to let their family be reunited. That way, she won’t have to be so sad, running around looking for the person who killed her two sons.’
’Consort Chen isn’t a Prince or Princess, and she’s been acting erratically lately. Killing her probably wouldn’t have any major repercussions.’
However, to make his act more convincing—to make the role of the "Dying Crown Prince" more believable—Xia Wuyang wrote an urgent memorial that very day and had it delivered to Emperor Xia’s desk.
In the memorial, Xia Wuyang wrote in a shaky script, "Father Emperor, your son nearly met a tragic end today. Auntie Chen stormed into my Sleeping Palace with a sword, intending to take my life. If not for a stroke of great luck, I would already be in the Yellow Springs. As it is, I was wounded in several vital areas and came dangerously close to death."
"I implore you, Father Emperor, to assign more Guards, punish the assailant severely, and uphold the integrity of the palace regulations. Otherwise, I fear I am not long for this world."
The letter was filled with terror and fear. The writing was crooked and slanted in many places, and there even seemed to be tear stains on the paper, making Emperor Xia frown as he read.
He was already perfectly aware of what had happened in the Eastern Palace. Given Consort Chen’s Power, if she had truly wanted to kill Xia Wuyang, she would never have allowed him to evade her for so long. It was obvious she was merely trying to frighten him.
He hadn’t expected his aging son to actually take the matter seriously, to be so muddled that he couldn’t distinguish a test from a genuine attempt on his life.
Staring at the incoherent sentences in the memorial, he could almost picture the decrepit Crown Prince trembling before his desk as he wrote.
Remembering the high-spirited and dashing Crown Prince of years past, Emperor Xia couldn’t help but sigh. If not for that incident all those years ago, how could the Crown Prince have ended up like this?
But then, who could possibly resist the temptation of a Top-Level Spirit Treasure?
After a moment’s hesitation, Emperor Xia’s brow furrowed. "Issue my decree. For her improper conduct, Consort Chen is to be confined to her quarters for three months. Increase the number of Guards at the Eastern Palace by five hundred. In addition, bestow upon the Crown Prince a Soul Reviving Pill, a thousand-year-old ginseng, and a Thousand-year-old Reishi... and order Consort Chen to compensate him as well."
News of the incident quickly spread throughout the Imperial Palace, drawing even greater ridicule from the other Princes and Princesses.
"A mere consort from the Lower Three Grades was enough to scare the elder Crown Prince into a crying mess. And he even ran to Father Emperor for help. It’s utterly pathetic."
"The older he gets, the more cowardly he becomes. He obviously doesn’t have much time left, yet he’s still so afraid of dying."
"It’s precisely because he’s about to die that our dear ’elder brother’ is so terrified."
...
Ignoring the rumors swirling outside, the very day he received the decree, Xia Wuyang ordered Wenhua Hall to be sealed off, as if he had truly been scared witless.
"Effective immediately, no one is to enter or exit the Eastern Palace at will, especially Wenhua Hall! All Guards are to surround Wenhua Hall. Don’t let so much as a fly get inside!"
Xia Wuyang repeated the command, his face a mask of pure terror. It was a sight so pathetic that many of the Palace Maids, Guards, and eunuchs could hardly bear to watch, let alone the Crown Prince’s own concubines.
The Palace Attendants were inwardly contemptuous but could only obey. In their view, the elder Crown Prince had clearly been scared out of his wits by Consort Chen.
Soon, Wenhua Hall was under lockdown, surrounded by several hundred Guards. The perimeter was so tight that no one could hope to get in easily.
Because of the incident, Xia Wuyang even cut back on his usual revelries, often hiding away in his sealed Practice Room as if it were the only place he felt safe.
The moment the specially made stone door of the Practice Room closed behind him, the panic and fear on Xia Wuyang’s face vanished without a trace, replaced by a faint smile.
’This is the perfect opportunity to buy myself more time for Cultivation. Beauties are wonderful, but how can they compare to a pair of iron fists? With enough Power, what kind of peerless beauty could possibly be out of my reach?’