The Human Emperor c1-2382

by Huangfu Qi (皇甫奇)

  But the First Prince had been so delighted to see Wang Chong in his trap and so focused on seizing Wang Chong that he had failed to notice that Wang Chong had already obliterated his assassination clothes and put on a leisure robe.

  He was truly taken aback, but if Wang Chong thought that destroying those clothes was enough to get him past this, he was far too naive.

  “Come; seize him!” the First Prince coldly ordered. “You can save whatever you have to say for the prison cell!”

  The guards lunged at Wang Chong without hesitation.

  Wang Chong was on the verge of being taken by the Imperial Army and thrown into prison. At dawn, this incident would trigger a storm that would sweep over the capital and all of the Great Tang.

  But at this moment, a completely unexpected voice spoke up.

  “First Imperial Brother, wait!”

  There was a flurry of footsteps accompanying this clear cry, both of which the First Prince disregarded. But a moment later, when he saw the person leading the group, he paled.

  Li Heng!

  The First Prince had never imagined that Li Heng would come. Li Heng’s palace was located very far from here, and it was impossible for him to have arrived so quickly. The First Prince sensed that something was wrong, and his eyebrows began to twitch.

  Fifth Prince Li Heng was definitely the last on the list of people the First Prince had expected to appear.

  Zhu Tong’en and all the other Eastern Palace advisors, including that man standing right behind the First Prince, also grimaced.

  “Li Heng, it’s late. Why are you here instead of in your palace?”

  The First Prince’s expression chilled as he rudely berated the approaching Li Heng.

  It was said that an older brother should be treated as a father, and this was the same amongst the common folk as in the Imperial Palace. As the elder brother, the First Prince had far more authority and status than Li Heng, and this wasn’t even considering that he was the regent.

  Li Heng walked up and lightly said, “Imperial Brother, Li Heng pays his respects!” In the past, Li Heng would have backed away in the face of such tough words from the First Prince, but he had changed. His expression was neither humble nor proud, and he appeared completely unmoved by the First Prince’s reprimands.

  “Hearing that there was an incident at Tianxin Palace, Li Heng came for the sake of the King of Foreign Lands.”

  Li Heng stood with his back straight, getting straight to the point.

  “After hearing that the King of Foreign Lands was involved, your imperial brother worried that there might be some misunderstanding. The King of Foreign Lands appeared at the palace entirely on the invitation of your imperial brother. But the two of us were so engrossed in our conversation that we lost track of time and missed the chance to leave the palace. Thus, your imperial brother made up a plan and decided to have the King of Foreign Lands stay the night in Tianxin Palace!”

  Buzz!

  The mood instantly changed. The First Prince’s men all grimaced, and the figure standing behind the First Prince suddenly lost his initial composure.

  It was surprising for the Fifth Prince to make such a timely appearance in the middle of the night, and even more surprising was the Fifth Prince’s claim that this had all been his idea.

  Supposedly, the Fifth Prince had decided to let Wang Chong stay the night in the palace. This was completely different from Wang Chong breaking the law and infiltrating the palace in the middle of the night.

  Chapter 1650 - An Argument Between Princes!

  Chapter 1650: An Argument Between Princes!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  “Bastard!”

  The First Prince’s expression turned cold, and the hands hidden in his sleeves clenched, the veins bulging. If looks could kill, Li Heng would have been a dead man.

  “Li Heng, do you know what you’re saying?”

  The First Prince spoke between clenched teeth, each word seeming to force itself through the cracks.

  The First Prince had always remembered the Fifth Prince to be cowardly and shrinking, always falling back and running whenever he ran into a problem. He had even disguised himself and entered Kunwu Training Camp, mixing in with the common folk. His personality had somewhat changed later on, and he had learned how to counterattack, even pushing Third Prince Li Ju into prison.

  But in the end, he would usually simply grin and bear it as he was beaten down.

  However, this time was different. He actually dared to conflict with him in front of so many people.

  “Imperial Brother, Li Heng is only explaining the matter. Was anything I said inappropriate?”

  Li Heng raised his head and looked at the First Prince.

  “Good! You were very good! Nothing was inappropriate at all!” the First Prince viciously spat. “Let me ask you this. You said that you summoned the King of Foreign Lands into the palace, but one of you is the King of Foreign Lands while the other is a Prince. Imperial Father has strictly forbidden the Princes of the palace from colluding with important officials of the court and forming factions. Do you not know of this rule? There are many people here, Fifth Brother, so you’d best think very carefully about your answer.”

  “Ah, First Imperial Brother, haven’t there recently been a lot of assassins in the palace? The Jinyang Palace that I live in has come under many attacks, but these scoundrels are somewhat lacking, so they’ve never succeeded,” the Fifth Prince replied, staring profoundly at the First Prince.

  “Li Heng recalled that the King of Foreign Lands had peerless martial arts, and had a desire to learn a few skills to protect himself, so I invited the King of Foreign Lands to the palace to teach me martial arts. First Imperial Brother, there should be nothing excessive about this, right?”

  Li Heng was neither meek nor proud in his reply. In front of the First Prince, he showed neither fear nor submission. On the contrary, he seemed to have an edge in his voice.

  The surrounding crowd had long ago paled at the Fifth Prince’s words. The Fifth Prince was clearly referring to the assassination incident from before, but the Eastern Palace had also paid a price. Almost all its assassins had been wiped out.

  The Fifth Prince’s argument was flawless. If it was really as he said, it would be nigh impossible to deal with Wang Chong in the future.

  “First Imperial Brother, this matter with the King of Foreign Lands was because of me. Li Heng knows he was wrong, so please, Imperial Brother, punish me!”

  Li Heng slowly gave a deep bow and said no more.

  All was quiet. No one dared to speak at this time. Who would rashly speak up when two Princes were arguing with each other?

  The First Prince stared uncertainly at Li Heng.

  Li Heng had changed!

  This was completely different from the Li Heng he remembered. In the past, Li Heng would have never said anything like ‘please punish me’. If Li Heng hadn’t said these words, the First Prince could have used this chance to give Li Heng a harsh lesson, but in asking for punishment, Li Heng had prevented the First Prince from going all-out.

  The King of Foreign Lands needed to be dealt with, but Li Heng now seemed like an unprecedented threat!

  “Good! Very good!”

  The First Prince took in a deep breath and finally calmed down, but the rage in his heart was building.

  “All of you are dismissed!” the First Prince suddenly ordered, his tone brooking no objection. This sudden order took everyone aback, but no one dared to defy it.

  “Yes!”

  A moment later, the vast crowd and the torches began to recede like a tide.

  “Fifth Brother, you were asking about your punishment? Follow me!”

  With a dour look on his face, the First Prince stomped into Tianxin Palace, not even glancing at Li Heng.

  Li Heng’s eyes gleamed, but he showed no signs of backing down. After a moment of thought, he followed the First Prince into
Tianxin Palace.

  Bang!

  The doors closed and Tianxin Palace seemed to go dark and silent, like it was in another world. Even though no one knew what the two Princes were saying or doing, all of them felt a sense of tension.

  Meanwhile, all the soldiers and Eastern Palace advisors were returning to their posts, following the First Prince’s orders.

  A stalwart figure had turned and was preparing to leave when Wang Chong called out, confidently striding forward with a smile on his face.

  “Senior, since you’re here, why are you in such a rush to leave? Why not stay a while? We can have a little chat.”

  The stalwart figure paused, and then he slowly turned around. This man had white hair, but his body was like a tenacious pine tree growing from the cliffside. Who else could it be but the Ghost King?

  “All of you, withdraw!” the Ghost King suddenly ordered.

  He smiled slightly at Wang Chong.

  “King of Foreign Lands, it truly is time that we had a good chat.”

  ……

  Within Tianxian Palace, the candles softly burned, but the air remained taut. Now that the doors were closed and no one was present, the veil between the two was torn away, and they got along like fire and water. Never again would there be any warmth in this relationship.

  Silence!

  This sort of silence brought with it an indescribable oppressiveness.

  “Fifth Brother, you’ve truly grown up. You’re now able to vie for the throne with your brother!”

  The First Prince squinted at Li Heng as he icily spoke.

  “Li Heng does not know what Imperial Brother is talking about,” Li Heng indifferently replied, but his eyes showed no submission.

  “Hmph, no need to pretend! There are no outsiders here, just the two us. You still want to act the fool in front of your brother?” the First Prince derisively jeered.

  “Heh, Imperial Brother, the throne has always depended on the efforts and skill of the individual Princes. If the throne is empty and Imperial Brother can fight for it, Li Heng… can fight for it as well! If the throne belongs to Imperial Brother, then Imperial Father would have made Imperial Brother the Crown Prince long ago, right?”

  Li Heng chuckled.

  “Such audacity!”

  The First Prince’s face turned to ice as rage welled up.

  “Heh, didn’t Imperial Brother make me say this?”

  Li Heng raised his head, his eyes fearless.

  “I don’t want to fight for the throne, and I never did. Alas, you kept constantly forcing me! The rest of you think that a Prince is always a hidden challenger or threat to the throne, so you kept forcing me, trying to assassinate me. Even when I hid in Kunwu Training Camp, those assassins continued to doggedly pursue me.

  “Although outsiders say those assassins were sent by Third Imperial Brother, the one who actually sent them was you. From start to finish, you have always been the one who wanted to kill me. Isn’t that right, First Imperial Brother?” Li Heng slowly said.

  The First Prince’s face shifted and contorted, and he seemed to grow much quieter.

  It was obvious that he had never imagined that Li Heng would say such things right in front of him.

  “Who told you?” the First Prince suddenly asked.

  “Hmph, I’ve always known. I’ve just never talked about it. Imperial Brother, a momentary retreat doesn’t mean I’ll retreat for the rest of my life. You really shouldn’t have killed Jade Consort Xiao!” Li Heng coldly replied.

  If Wang Chong were here, he would have been stunned. Li Heng had changed, truly changed. The harem incident, his time in prison, and the death of a consort had let him truly understand what was going on. It had been a baptism, a metamorphosis.

  Retreating would never achieve peace!

  The moment Li Heng emerged from the Imperial Clan Court, he understood that if he wanted to escape this destiny of the hunted, if he wanted respect, he would have to take it for himself.

  “Hmph, it seems like I truly underestimated you!” the First Prince coldly replied.

  Li Heng’s words had only hardened several of his beliefs. In an imperial family, any Prince was a potential threat, and the enlightened Li Heng only stimulated his killing intent.

  “Since you already know, I don’t need to hide anything. I really did send those men, but let me make clear to you that if you oppose me, your brother fears that despite your young age, you won’t live past next year!”

  The First Prince’s eyes burned with killing intent. With no one around, the two Princes were allowed to fully reveal their murderous intent.

  ……

  Outside Tianxin Palace, a youth and an elder were in a standoff. Wang Chong inspected the Ghost King and the Ghost King inspected Wang Chong. The two had exchanged several blows, but it was only now that they truly met.

  The first to break the silence was surprisingly the Ghost King.

  “So, the Fifth Prince called you, hm? You saw through everything from the start?”

  “Yes!”

  Wang Chong smiled.

  “If I didn’t do that, how could I have lured out Senior and made you reveal yourself?”

  “Although this plan was just a minor trifle, this old man doesn’t believe that there were many flaws. When did you notice that something was wrong?”

  A breeze ruffled the Ghost King’s hair as he gazed at the young man standing before him.

  “Heh! I never believed it from the start.”

  Wang Chong couldn’t help but chuckle.

  “There were too many flaws in the plan. I was searching for news on Eunuch Gao for so long, but then so many clues appeared at once. Although it seemed like my people were going through great effort to dig up these clues, there were the maids, the Imperial Army soldiers, the craftsmen! With so many openings, did you not think that the traces you were leaving behind were too deliberate? In Senior’s view, just how much of a fool does someone have to be to not see such obvious holes?”

  If Yang Zhao, Li Jingzhong, Bian Lingcheng, and Zhao Fengchen were here, they would have been flabbergasted. They had believed that those clues had been found through great effort on their part, but if Wang Chong was correct, they had been used by the Ghost King.

  Those clues they had gone to such great lengths to find had all been intentionally left behind by this man.

  If Wang Chong hadn’t seen through it early, he truly would have fallen into the First Prince’s trap.

  “Heh, how surprising. After one hundred years, I didn’t think that someone like you would appear in the younger generation of the Great Tang. This old man must admit that he underestimated you. But as a mighty King of esteemed status, why did you risk yourself even though you already knew? Would it not be better to remove yourself while there was still time?”

  The Ghost King smirked at Wang Chong. Such conduct was extremely unwise for a strategist!

  Chapter 1651 - Wang Chong and the Ghost King!

  Chapter 1651: Wang Chong and the Ghost King!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  “Heh, if I did that, how could I lure you out?” Wang Chong indifferently said.

  Wang Chong had sensed that something was wrong long ago. The First Prince was acting completely differently from usual, as if he had an additional advisor at his side. The Great Buddhist Temple incident had only made him more certain.

  Not only that, now that he thought about it, although he was outside the capital when the Rebellion of the Three Princes took place and didn’t know many of the details, he remembered that there was apparently one other important advisor of the First Prince other than the Eastern Palace advisors who had been executed.

  But there was never any information about this individual.

  Many events had changed with his reincarnations, but it seemed that the archcriminal who had appeared at the First Prince’s side in that life, and led the Rebellion of the Three Princes that resulted in the massa
cre of so many officials, had also appeared in this life.

  One must enter the tiger’s den to get the tiger’s cub!

  Judging by the last few operations, his adversary was extremely cautious and would not recklessly reveal himself. By knowing oneself and knowing one’s enemies, one could win one hundred out of one hundred battles. If he wanted to stop his foe, he needed to know who his opponent was.

  Given how cautious this man was, only Wang Chong’s personal appearance would lure him out, so Wang Chong had no other choice than to risk himself.

  From the moment he emerged from Tianxin Palace, Wang Chong had not been focused on the First Prince. He had been focused entirely on the elder standing right behind him.

  Other than a few white hairs on his temples, the elder still had many strands of pitch-black hair. Moreover, his eyes were sharp and energetic, and he seemed completely different from an ordinary elder.

  His movements exuded refinement and grace, and he naturally radiated the demeanor of a noble, perhaps even nobler than the nobles of the capital. While those nobles only showed such grace in their movements, this man’s nobility had seeped into his bones.

  Wang Chong had seen many things in his lives, but he had never encountered such an individual. Not even the most eminent of Kings of the Great Tang, King Song, was able to compare.

  Such an individual could not possibly be a complete unknown, but even though Wang Chong racked his memories, he couldn’t find anyone who matched this elder’s description.

  Just where did this person come from? He can’t have just come out of nowhere. I should know who this person is!

  Wang Chong’s mind was in turmoil, but his face showed nothing.

  On the other side, the Ghost King had no idea of all the thoughts that were going through Wang Chong’s mind.

  There had been a faint smile on his face, but when he heard Wang Chong’s reply, his eyelids slightly drooped and his smile utterly vanished.

  To his surprise, Wang Chong had done all this not for Eunuch Gao, but to lure him out!

  “It seems like I underestimated you!”

  The Ghost King changed the tone in his voice.