Great Yue Dynasty, Hall of Supreme Harmony.
Dead silence.
The ground, paved with golden bricks, was as cold as iron. The high, distant dome, supported by nine massive Dragon pillars, was like a giant overturned coffin, enveloping all living beings within the Hall.
This place, which should have been the most vibrant pulse of the Empire, now lacked even a trace of living breath.
In the censer at the corner of the Hall, precious Dragon-borne incense, worth a fortune, slowly ascended.
Yet, its rich fragrance could not mask another scent in the air.
A rusty smell, a mixture of despair and conspiracy, named “Fear.”
The entire imperial court, in their python robes and jade belts, with their feathered caps gleaming.
At this moment, they all bowed their heads deeply, wishing they could bury their faces in their chests, their breathing even suspended.
They were like a group of well-trained actors, awaiting the final curtain.
They were waiting.
Waiting for the silent, dying behemoth, perched on the Dragon Throne, to take its last breath.
The behemoth was the current Son of Heaven, He Sui.
A warm, sweet stream of blood broke through the suppression of his throat, reaching the base of his tongue.
The burning sensation was like oil cooking over a fierce fire.
It had come.
The potent poison ‘Qianji Yin’ in his body was acting up more viciously than ever before.
He Sui’s eyelids were lowered, his long, thick eyelashes casting a deathly gray shadow on his pale face.
He could clearly feel his life being frantically drained away, as if the blood in his limbs and bones was congealing inch by inch, turning into powerless ice shards.
Three days!
He had Transmigrated into this body, bearing the same name, for three whole days!
The potent poison ‘Qianji Yin’ in his stomach was like a red-hot branding iron, constantly reminding him that this was not an absurd dream.
Fragments of memory, like poisoned glass, each piece scratching at his nerves—
Powerful officials were in power, treating him as nothing;
The Empress’s sleeve concealed a deadly poison;
The entire imperial court looked at him as if he were a dead dog!
And today was the day this dead dog would die!
What a classic opening to a death trap, truly Hellish difficulty.
What a pity.
He Sui sneered in his heart, “Your script is good, but now… it’s my turn.”
Just as this boundless despair enveloped him, a cold, emotionless mechanical voice exploded in his mind!
【Ding!】
【National Destiny Edict System activated…】
【Detecting host’s life hanging by a thread, Da Yue Dynasty’s National Destiny on the verge of collapse…】
【Detecting abnormal world-line, multiple “Children of Destiny” stealing National Destiny, causing Heavenly Dao to become chaotic…】
【Destiny Balance Mission initiated!】
Buzz—!
He Sui’s scattered consciousness suddenly jolted, as if struck by a Nine Heavens thunderbolt!
Immediately after, a translucent, faint golden panel, visible only to him, appeared before his eyes.
【Host: He Sui】
【Personal Status: Severely poisoned (Qianji Yin), Remaining Lifespan: One stick of incense】
【National Destiny Status: Precarious, Dragon Vein depleted (Daily -10)】
【Dragon Qi Held: 10 points (Initial Grant)】
【Core Function: Calamity Edict!】
【Consume Dragon Qi to issue an Edict of Calamity to a specified target, causing them to encounter a completely negative minor disaster. This Edict ignores physical distance; it takes effect upon targeting!】
One stick of incense… A cold, imperceptible curve appeared on He Sui’s lips.
Use Dragon Qi to detoxify?
No! Utterly foolish!
Even if he stood up now, full of life, he would still just be a living Puppet!
This death trap orchestrated by the wolves of the imperial court was already set; simply being alive wouldn't change anything!
To break the situation, there was only one way… to pull the rug out from under them!
Flip this table, smash this game, and make everyone who thinks they are players become my chess pieces!
Just then, a female voice, clear and cold as ice, pierced through the solidified silence.
“Your Majesty.”
Thump.
Just two words, yet they made the hearts of many officials in the Hall fiercely clench.
She had arrived.
The heroine of this grand drama had made her entrance.
Everyone looked in her direction, their gazes filled with awe and fanaticism.
Consort Gu, the Empress, in a magnificent vermilion Phoenix robe, slowly stepped out from the head of the civil official ranks.
She wore a Nine Dragon Four Phoenix crown, her face veiled by a pearl curtain. The twelve jade beads of her crown swayed gently with her steps, yet they could not conceal the sharp, cold eyes behind the curtain.
She walked step by step to the center of the grand Hall, her demeanor dignified, yet her Aura was like a drawn sword, its sharpness fully revealed.
Every step she took seemed to tread on the hearts of the officials.
He Sui observed her with interest, the memories of his original body surging in his mind.
This Empress was a “Child of Destiny” who had been Reborn with memories of her previous life.
In her previous life, her family was destroyed, and she died tragically in the Cold Palace from a cup of poison wine.
In this life, she returned with endless resentment and hatred, no longer supporting any Prince.
She decided to personally enter the fray.
To take his place.
How… familiar a web novel trope.
“Your Subject (I), have a memorial to present.”
There was no warmth in her voice; it was not as if she were speaking to her husband, but rather like she was passing judgment on a death row inmate unrelated to her.
He Sui did not even lift an eyelid, too lazy to look at this woman.
He knew what she was going to do, nothing more than the script already written.
Before He Sui could speak, an old and majestic voice followed closely.
“Your Subject, second the motion.”
The Grand Secretary, the Emperor’s father-in-law, Gu Bingqian.
This white-haired, gaunt old man slowly stepped out, standing shoulder to shoulder with his daughter.
Father and daughter, one civil and one Empress, one internal and one external.
Like a vast net already woven, they enveloped the Emperor on the Dragon Throne, along with the entire Da Yue Dynasty, within its meshes.
The show had begun.
He Sui finally slowly raised his eyes, his gaze sweeping past the ambitious father and daughter, and then over the silent officials below.
He saw those eyes.
Dodging, fear, pity.
And, hidden in the deepest part, almost undisguised schadenfreude.
Consort Gu ignored He Sui’s gaze, as if the man she had personally stifled on the Dragon Throne was nothing but air.
She slightly raised her chin, her voice suddenly rising, echoing throughout the entire Hall of Supreme Harmony!
“Your Subject (I) tearfully implore! The current Emperor He Sui is unfit for his position, has defiled the imperial harem, acted perversely, incurred the wrath of Heaven and man, and shaken the foundations of the state!”
“Firstly! Your Majesty indulged in lust, summoning palace women on the late Emperor’s death anniversary, this is unfilial!”
“Secondly! Your Majesty abused the people’s labor, building the Western Garden, exhausting the people and wasting wealth, this is inhumane!”
“Thirdly! Your Majesty favored sycophants and alienated loyal officials, leading to the corruption of the imperial court and the decay of governance, this is unwise!”
Every word was like a knife, every sentence drawing blood.
Each statement was like a heavy hammer, fiercely striking the title of “Emperor.”
He Sui listened, his heart utterly unmoved, even feeling a slight urge to laugh.
To pin these crimes on a Puppet was surely overestimating him.
Even if the original owner had the intention, where would he get the power and courage?
This was merely a script written long ago.
The goal was to stage a coup before he succumbed to the poison, firmly grasping the moral high ground of “clearing the Emperor’s side and rectifying the court.”
As Consort Gu’s accusations mounted, officials of the Gu Family faction, as if on cue, stepped forward one after another, like a well-rehearsed play.
“Appalling! How could Your Majesty commit such beastly acts!”
“You have failed the late Emperor’s trust! Your Subject (I) am ashamed before the late Emperor!”
“When a Dynasty is about to perish, there must be a Prodigy! Please, Your Majesty, abdicate and yield to a worthy successor, to save the Da Yue Dynasty!”
The wave of condemnation, rising higher and higher, turned into a raging storm, threatening to completely shatter and engulf He Sui on the Dragon Throne.
Consort Gu’s lips could not help but curl slightly, revealing a victor’s cold smile.
Everything was settled.
She had even planned that once this Puppet died from the poison, she, as Empress, would, with the righteousness of “clearing the Emperor’s side,” rule from behind a curtain and reign over the world!
This perfect script, this pleasure of looking down upon all beings, was exactly the same as her trajectory to the Peak of power in her previous life’s memory.
Looking at the woman who thought victory was in her grasp, He Sui slowly raised his eyes.
His gaze pierced through the pearl curtain, locking onto her.
It’s you.
“System.”
In his mind, He Sui issued his first, cold, and last command in this world.
“Consume all 10 points of Dragon Qi, and activate the 【Calamity Edict】 on Empress Consort Gu!”
“Edict effect—”
He Sui’s lips curved into a cold and cruel arc.
“Lose control of her mind, speak her true thoughts!”
【Command received.】
【Consuming 10 points of Dragon Qi…】
【Calamity Edict generating…】
【Target locked: Consort Gu.】
【Edict… issued!】
...At the same time.
Consort Gu was about to utter the final statement, long prepared, to force the Emperor to abdicate.
However—
In that very instant!
Thump!!!
A sudden, intensely violent palpitation, like an invisible, icy claw, fiercely gripped her heart and then twisted it hard!
The golden bricks and coiled Dragons before her eyes instantly distorted, and a sharp buzzing rang in her ears.
An uncontrollable surge of violent and frenzied thoughts broke through the dam of her prideful reason, like a bursting flood, rushing to her throat and tongue!
No!
Something was wrong!
Consort Gu’s pupils suddenly contracted to pinpricks!
She wanted to forcefully suppress this bizarre impulse; she wanted to maintain the calm and elegance of a Reborn individual!
But she couldn’t!
Her mouth, her tongue, seemed to have become the most disloyal traitors, completely escaping her control!
That most vicious and most true voice, lurking deep within her Soul, thus transformed into sharp, piercing notes, tearing through the dead silence of the Hall of Supreme Harmony—
“So what if I kill this good-for-nothing?!”
Resentment!
Ambition!
Completely undisguised!
“A Puppet at everyone’s mercy! A good-for-nothing who’s about to die! Does he even deserve to sit on this Dragon Throne?”
“This Dynasty! This world!”
“It should have been mine!!!”
Boom—!!!
If the previous condemnations were raging waves.
Then Consort Gu’s words at this moment were a volcano that erupted in everyone’s minds!
The entire Hall of Supreme Harmony was instantly enveloped in a deathly silence that swallowed all light and sound.
Everyone was petrified.
The entire imperial court, Imperial Clan Princes, palace attendants… one by one, they were dumbfounded, their eyes wide as if they would burst from their sockets.
What had they heard?
The Empress… said this Dynasty… should be hers?!
This… this was treason!
A capital crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of one’s family!
“Zhao… Zhao’er?!”
The blood drained from Grand Secretary Gu Bingqian’s face with a “whoosh,” and he staggered back half a step, as if struck by lightning, his mind a blank.
He simply couldn’t believe his ears!
He knew his daughter was immensely ambitious, but he had never imagined she would be so foolish as to scream such damning words in this setting, in front of The entire imperial court!
It was over!
The grand scheme, the perfect plan, instantly… crumbled!
He wanted to salvage the situation, to scold her, to say the Empress was overcome with grief and spoke without thinking… But it was too late.
Those Imperial Clan Princes who had been suffocated by the Gu Family’s power, daring not to speak their anger, now like hungry wolves smelling blood, their eyes erupted with terrifying brilliance!
“Rebellious!”
An old Prince, whose hair and beard were white, was the first to rush out of the ranks, pointing at Consort Gu, trembling with rage.
“Gu Shi! You poisonous woman! How dare you utter such rebellious words! Do you still have the late Emperor in your eyes! Do you still have His Majesty?!”
“Rebellious officials and traitors! Rebellious officials and traitors!”
Another old official of the royalist faction even fell to his knees with a “thump,” tears streaming down his face, kowtowing heavily towards the Dragon Throne.
“Your Majesty! The Empress openly plotted usurpation, her wolfish ambition clearly revealed! Her heart deserves to be punished! Her crime deserves to be punished!”
“Please, Your Majesty, issue an Edict to severely punish the national traitor!”
“Please, Your Majesty, issue an Edict!”
“Please, Your Majesty, issue an Edict!!!”
For a time, emotions ran high!
When a wall falls, everyone pushes.
When a drum is broken, everyone beats it!
The Gu Family’s cronies, at this moment, all turned ashen, silent as cicadas in winter, wishing they could shrink their heads into their official robes, not daring to breathe loudly.
Refute?
The Empress’s rebellious words still echoed in their ears like a demonic sound!
How could they refute?!
With what could they refute?!
“Good.”
On the Dragon Throne, He Sui slowly uttered a single word.
He felt that the deadly poison seemed to be temporarily suppressed by a faint but warm Qi flow.
Although his body was still as weak as a leaf in the wind, at least he could breathe, and his vision had cleared.
Slowly, he gathered all his strength, struggling to stand up from the Dragon Throne.
His movements were slow, even a little shaky.
But in the eyes of the officials below the Hall, the Emperor at this moment seemed to have suddenly broken free from some shackles, becoming incomparably tall.
He Sui’s cold gaze slowly swept across the entire Hall, over the shocked, bewildered, and fearful faces, finally resting on Consort Gu, whose face was as pale as a ghost.
“Empress Gu Shi, is unfit for her position, perverse in conduct, harbors malicious intent, and plots rebellion!”
His voice was not loud, but it carried the unique majesty of the Son of Heaven, clearly reaching everyone’s ears.
“The witness is here! Her intentions are clear!”
He Sui’s hand pointed at Consort Gu, who had now awakened from her Chaos, her face full of terror and disbelief.
“I, today—”
He spoke each word distinctly, his voice suddenly rising, transforming into thunder, sternly proclaiming:
“Depose—the—Empress—Gu Shi!”
“Strip her of her Phoenix seal! Banish her to the Cold Palace!”