The Prince Can Do Divination-Chapter 48 - 44: A Heaven-Shaking Diabolical Plot, the Emperor of Great Yan Returns

Chapter 48: Chapter 44: A Heaven-Shaking Diabolical Plot, the Emperor of Great Yan Returns

Qingzhu Hall.

"I, Qi Muxue, greet Your Highness."

"You may dispense with the formalities. Please, have a seat."

Lu Mingyuan invited Qi Muxue into his small dwelling and poured her a cup of tea.

Qi Muxue was very beautiful. Her moon-blue ruqun accentuated her slender, graceful figure, and she carried a scholarly air. Her unadorned, melon-seed-shaped face was as flawless as a piece of fine jade. Her eyes and brows were picturesque, and her thin lips were as ruddy as cherries.

Her hair was tied in a simple knot with a pink silk ribbon, the rest falling over her shoulders. Tucked among her locks was a crabapple blossom hairpin. She sat primly on the chair, exceptionally elegant, and a faint, sweet fragrance wafted from her.

As the sweet scent reached him, Lu Mingyuan found himself momentarily lost in a daze.

She held the steaming teacup in her fair hands, her glistening eyes fixed quietly on Lu Mingyuan, full of questions.

"Your Highness, why were you dressed like that outside the Cold Palace?"

Her gentle, magnetic voice sounded, as melodious as a Yellow Oriole’s song.

Her voice snapped Lu Mingyuan back to his senses.

Of course, he wasn’t about to say he was trying to break out of the palace. He had already prepared his story. With a wry smile, he said, "I’m sure Miss Qi has seen how chaotic the Imperial Palace is right now. My dear elder brother, in his lust for power, has committed such a treasonous act. After the Third Prince provoked him, he ordered the arrest of all the princes."

"To protect myself, I had no choice but to disguise myself as a member of the Imperial Guard and blend in with them."

"I see. So Your Highness is also being hunted."

Qi Muxue nodded slightly.

The Sixth Prince, it turned out, was just like her, hiding from the Imperial Guard.

Lu Mingyuan knew what he said wasn’t a lie.

The Eldest Prince was indeed hunting down all the princes in the Imperial City, all because the Third Prince and Eighth Prince had joined forces to humiliate and enrage him.

However, from the looks of it, the Eldest Prince still had the upper hand. He held the command token for the Three Academy Cultivators, and the Third Prince’s elite forces were simply no match for them.

A brief silence soon fell over the room.

The two were not well acquainted, having only met once before.

As a result, the atmosphere was a little awkward.

In the end, it was the more talkative Qi Muxue who broke the silence. "Your Highness, how did you recognize me just now? I don’t recall ever telling you my identity. Other than that night during the Lantern Festival, we’ve never met before."

When she brought it up, Lu Mingyuan smiled and lied, "Miss Qi, your literary talent and poetry are unparalleled, famed throughout the Imperial Capital. Who doesn’t know the verses you’ve written? After our brief meeting that night, I asked my mother about you."

A faint smile touched Qi Muxue’s lips as she responded, "Then could Your Highness name some of the poems I’ve written?"

Her words caught Lu Mingyuan off guard, and he laughed in embarrassment.

"Miss Qi, you know me. I’ve never been one for literary pursuits, let alone memorizing a poem."

An unsurprised look appeared on Qi Muxue’s face, and her gaze dimmed slightly.

But she quickly composed herself, her beautiful eyes shimmering as she asked another question, "That day, during the Lantern Festival, why did you avoid me?"

Ever since that day, she had thought about it a great deal. She always felt that the Sixth Prince wasn’t as contemptible as the rumors claimed. At least, the clarity in his eyes that night didn’t seem to match his reputation.

’Did he really let the Demoness of the Demon Kingdom go?’

"Miss Qi, you are not my type."

Lu Mingyuan said seriously.

This time, it was Qi Muxue’s turn to be speechless.

In all her life, she had never heard anyone say that to her.

"I’m just a blunt person. I hope Miss Qi can forgive my frankness."

Qi Muxue didn’t show any displeasure. Instead, with a peculiar expression, she asked, "So, you like the type like the Demoness of the Demon Kingdom?"

Lu Mingyuan had only been trying to fob her off with a random excuse. He hadn’t expected her to bring that up again.

But now that she mentioned it, he realized he did have some impression of the Demoness of the Demon Kingdom.

A long, scarlet blood-red dress, long legs, a slender waist, and shackled, bare jade-like feet.

Demonic green pupils glowing in the darkness, a huadian made of seven-colored agate pendants obscuring half her face.

Beyond that, he didn’t have many other impressions, just a few hazy fragments of memory.

"How much longer do we have to stay here?"

Qi Muxue stopped pressing him, instead looking around and carefully observing the various furnishings in the hall.

Lu Mingyuan glanced at the sky outside, which was gradually brightening with the approach of Dawn, and replied, "Let’s wait for daybreak. Everything should be over by then."

...

「Dawn was about to break.」

But the gloomy, damp dungeons of the Imperial Capital remained pitch-black, so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.

Behind an iron door, a handsome man sat cross-legged on a wooden plank bed, his eyes closed in quiet rest. He seemed to be waiting for something, not at all anxious.

This was the Second Prince, Lu Guangjing, who was imprisoned here.

CREAK... The sound echoed through the gloomy Great Prison.

A Cyan-robed Scholar holding a Feather Fan approached the cell door, stroked his goatee, and smiled.

"Your Highness, it’s time to close the net."

Lu Guangjing finally opened his calm, profound eyes and spoke softly,

"Gongyang Hu, you’ve done well this time."

Gongyang Hu shook his head, his face full of admiration. "It is mainly because Your Highness’s plan was flawless."

"The four-step plan... every step has proceeded with exceptional smoothness."

"Step one, the Sowing Discord Stratagem. Knowing that Qi Xingyan felt guilty, you had your distant relative, the scholar Chen Ke, approach him. As expected, Qi Xingyan took him in as a disciple, creating a rift between the Eldest Prince and Qi Xingyan, his subject."

"Step two, the Deceive the Heavens to Cross the Sea Stratagem. The Secretary of the Secretariat who accompanied the Holy Emperor on his expedition was actually our Yin Yang Family’s Longchuan Master, who has been lying in wait for a long time. He altered the Holy Decree, adding the line, ’The Eldest Prince shall act as regent; the Cabinet is to be at his beck and call, serving by his side.’ This was guaranteed to make the Eldest Prince lose his sense of proportion."

"Step three, the Feign Weakness Stratagem. You had me, your subordinate, feign defection to the Eldest Prince and leak a fatal piece of leverage you supposedly had over Your Highness. This made him completely trust my words and also caused the Cui and Xie Families to lower their guard."

"Step four, waiting. Let the Eldest Prince’s ego inflate, let him believe his Momentum was established and alienate himself from Qi Xingyan, all while awaiting Father Emperor’s return."

Lu Guangjing’s face, however, showed no pride. He said flatly, "For this four-step plan to succeed, there were two key points. First, making Lu Changfeng completely cut ties with Qi Xingyan. Second, my own imprisonment."

Gongyang Hu nodded in deep agreement. "Indeed. If Your Highness had not been imprisoned, using yourself as bait, I’m afraid the Eldest Prince would not have necessarily believed me, nor would he have completely lowered his guard."

Lu Guangjing stood up and rubbed his wrists. "I can only say that I know Lu Changfeng’s character all too well. Against anyone else, he might have won the struggle for succession. Unfortunately for him, he ran into me. This plan also had an unexpected benefit—I never thought the Third Prince would actually fight him, nor that he would truly dare to throw all the princes into the Imperial Prison."

"Once the Eldest Legitimate Son falls, everything that follows will be much easier."

"However, one final interlude is needed for the plan to be truly complete."

"And Father Emperor... should be returning to the Capital City soon."

Lu Guangjing walked out of the Great Prison to greet the Dawn, a rare, meaningful smile touching his lips.

"The reckoning is about to begin."

...

The sky began to brighten. A fish-belly white emerged in the east as dawn pulled back its curtain. Daybreak was coming to the Imperial Capital.

CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!

TRAMP! TRAMP! TRAMP!

Squad after squad of Black-armored Soldiers, perfectly synchronized and holding Long Halberds, ran toward the Capital City’s gates. The sound of horses and carriages was incessant, and the Generals all looked travel-worn.

One Qi Cultivator after another rode their swords through the air, crossing the sky like a swarm of locusts.

The man beneath the golden, glazed canopy was none other than Emperor Yong’an, dressed in a Red Gold Nine Dragon Emperor Robe.

Beside him was a one-armed, middle-aged Sword Cultivator with a scruffy beard, resting with his eyes closed. He exuded a Transcendent air, as if set apart from the world.

When Emperor Yong’an arrived at the city gates, he found that the Capital City’s gates were not open. There was a curfew in effect.

He subconsciously narrowed his eyes.

The Nine Dragon Jade Carriage, the Emperor himself arriving in person... An incense stick’s time ago, the commanding general of the city guard had seen the dark, overwhelming mass of several hundred thousand troops outside the city. The terrifying sight had made him turn pale with fright, never imagining that it was the Holy Emperor returning to the capital.

He had long since thrown the city gates wide open. A trailing Imperial Eunuch shouted in a nasally, grating voice,

"The Holy Emperor—has returned to the Capital City!"

...