10: Eunuch Rumors

Chapter 10 Castration Rumors

The outside world was surging with undercurrents, but unfortunately, it had nothing to do with Zheng Yi.

On the very night the assassination ended, he was escorted all the way into the imperial palace by the Imperial Guards.

Then, a few little eunuchs escorted him back to his residence, where he was immediately placed under guard.

Zheng Yi also recognized those little eunuchs; they were the loyal retainers cultivated by Wang Zhongyi.

Each of them looked frail, but their strikes were more ruthless than the last, veritable killing machines.

"This world is too dangerous, how on earth should I handle this?"

When sleeping, Zheng Yi kept thinking about this problem.

In his mind, the Yin Yang Treasure Mirror was still floating quietly.

"White Lotus Reincarnation Divine Skill"!

Right now, he could only rely on this.

But... Dual Cultivation was required!

And... until now, there was only Bi He, and she was still a little palace maid.

Even though she possessed the "White Lotus Reincarnation Divine Skill", she couldn't possibly reveal it.

Over the next few days, Zheng Yi continued to bitterly practice the "Five Spirits Body Tempering Technique" and the "Evergreen Skill".

Then, he discovered a strange matter.

The Gold-badge Protector Zhao Wuji, who had previously instructed him, was nowhere to be found, and in his place was another Silver-badge Protector named Tang Jing.

Unlike Zhao Wuji, this Tang Jing was about thirty years old and very talkative.

When asked about Zhao Wuji, Tang Jing shook his head and said, "What a pity. Yesterday, Your Majesty was targeted by assassins, and Lord Zhao bravely led the charge, but unfortunately died in battle."

Hearing this, Zheng Yi was also stunned.

That Zhao Wuji, who looked every bit like a Grandmaster, had actually died?

Just a few days ago, he was still alive and teaching him martial arts!

Thinking of this, Zheng Yi's determination to lay low grew even firmer.

After all, dual cultivating with every woman could increase his lifespan; wasn't this just like longevity?

With longevity in his hands, he could no longer take risks!

However... would his identity allow him to continue laying low?

For the following days, Zheng Yi practiced martial arts under Tang Jing's instruction.

Under his deliberate cultivation of relations, he also probed quite a bit of intelligence from Tang Jing's mouth.

For example, the Hall of Offerings was an organization established even before the founding of the Great Yu Dynasty.

Every year, it spent a lot of money to win over Jianghu figures and various Schools, dispatching experts from within their sects to serve in the imperial court.

Their tasks were very simple: either protect the royalty, or teach martial arts to imperial relatives and descendants of major clans.

On the surface it was like this, but in the Martial Forest, the Hall of Offerings was called the court's running dogs, and its reputation was not very good.

Besides, the Hall of Offerings was divided into three types of Protectors: Bronze-badge, Silver-badge, and Gold-badge.

Those who newly entered the Hall of Offerings were Bronze-badge Protectors, and their martial arts cultivation was at least around a Third-grade expert.

As for Silver-badge Protectors, based on completed missions, strength, and other evaluations, most were around Second-grade experts.

Take Tang Jing, for instance; he originated from the Tang Clan of Shuzhou and was also a Second-grade expert.

As for Gold-badge Protectors, their martial arts cultivation was at least a First-grade expert.

Grandmaster...

According to Tang Jing, there were currently only two Grandmaster experts in the Hall of Offerings holding jade plaques!

Within the entire imperial court, these two only obeyed Your Majesty's commands!

In addition, there were some imperial court gossip, bizarre anecdotes, and so on, which greatly broadened Zheng Yi's horizons.

For instance, the Royal City Division investigated and found that the assassination a few days ago was done by the Bin Province border army.

This infuriated Emperor Zhengyong so much that he flew into a rage during the court assembly, dismissing thirteen high-ranking officials above the Third Grade, including the Mayor of the Imperial Capital and the Commander of the Imperial Guards, in one go!

He even recalled a portion of the Longxiang Army to reinforce Bin Province.

The Longxiang Army was the emperor's personal army and the most elite force of the Great Yu Dynasty.

Thirty years ago, expanding territory and occupying Nanyue County in a single battle was accomplished by the Longxiang Army.

The Grand Commander of the Longxiang Army, Xu Mujun, became famous in a single battle and was now suppressing Nanyue County, making the remnants of Nanyue County dare not make a move.

Now, in order to suppress the mutiny of the Bin Province border army, Emperor Zhengyong had to recall Xu Mujun.

"Xu Mujun is the number one military god of our Great Yu; his strength was already that of a First-grade expert twenty years ago, and by now he's probably about to step into the Grandmaster Realm!"

Tang Jing said while drinking the imperial wine Zheng Yi had secretly hidden away, his tone extremely excited: "Perhaps, he is already an Innate expert!"

Zheng Yi also chimed in from the side: "An Innate expert... Just how many Innate experts does our Great Yu have?"

"Hmm... As far as I know, that sect master of the Taiyi Sect should be one, and the Jianghu's largest organization, Fuyou House, should also have one, otherwise it wouldn't be able to remain unscathed under the encirclement and suppression of several countries."

"Fuyou House?"

Hearing this organization's name for the first time, Zheng Yi couldn't help asking: "What kind of organization is that?"

"Hehehe..."

Tang Jing laughed and said: "Fuyou House? As long as you have money, Fuyou House can get you anything!"

"You can treat it as an intelligence organization, view it as a chamber of commerce, or even regard it as an assassin organization!"

Speaking of this, Tang Jing couldn't help shutting his mouth, blinked, and said: "As far as I know, that Angry-Eyed Skanda Wei Yijin who assassinated Your Majesty a few days ago is a Protector of Fuyou House!"

"Hiss... So that's how it is..."

Zheng Yi couldn't help sipping the imperial wine, "This Fuyou House is truly strange."

In the third year of zhengyong, on the third day of the eighth month.

Xu Mujun personally led the Longxiang Army into Bin Province.

In the first battle, he beheaded the rebel leader of Bin Province, Huangfu Zhi, and buried seventy thousand border soldiers alive, shocking the imperial court and the public.

For a time, memorial petitions impeaching Xu Mujun flew into the Great Yu Dynasty like snowflakes.

But Emperor Zhengyong acted as if he couldn't see them, showing no reaction to the protests of all the civil and military officials, and continued to send troops and grain to support Xu Mujun.

He even appointed Xu Mujun as the Military Commissioner of the three provinces of Bin, Liang, and Ji, taking charge of all military power in the three provinces.

For a time, Xu Mujun's momentum was unmatched, drawing the attention of the world.

In a mere half-month, Xu Mujun swept away the rebel army of Bin Province like autumn leaves sweeping away fallen leaves, and confronted the Third Prince of Wu Country's army at Tianbai Mountain.

A few days later, the battle report came in.

Xu Mujun heavily defeated the Wu Country's grand army, beheaded three First-grade experts of Wu Country in formation, and severely injured the Wu Country Grandmaster, Lord Mo Qingshan of Yinshan Mountain!

Afterwards, Xu Mujun personally led his army to retake the twelve cities of Bin Province and invaded the territory of Wu Country.

When the news spread, the whole country celebrated, and the court and the public were shocked.

Emperor Zhengyong was also excitedly laughing continuously in the imperial court, his eyes fanatical, issuing several imperial decrees in succession.

Just at this time, news that shocked the world and made countless officials side-eye spread out from within the imperial palace.

The current Son of Heaven, Emperor Zhengyong Zheng Yuanluo, who had ascended the throne for three years, was a congenital eunuch and unable to have children!

The source of this news was extremely secretive, but it still spread across the entire capital at a very fast speed.

In just a few days, it spread to the surrounding prefectures and counties, and even several surrounding countries already knew about it.

"His Majesty is actually a congenital eunuch? Really or fake?"

"Of course it's true! His Majesty is almost thirty years old, and up until now he doesn't have a single son or daughter..."

"I heard that those imperial consorts in the harem are still virgins."

"How come I heard that the current Son of Heaven likes men? Otherwise, why are there so many eunuchs in the palace?"

"Hehehehe..."

Rumors swept across the entire Great Yu like a storm.

Above the court and the public, within the imperial temple, and in the Jianghu Martial Forest, everywhere people were discussing this matter.

Imperial relatives, high officials and wealthy merchants, peddlers and commoners—almost everyone was either worried, excited, or mysterious.

And just as this rumor intensified, the interior of the imperial palace remained peaceful.

"Bastard!"

"Dammit!"

"You all deserve to die!!!"

In Jiaotai Hall, Emperor Zhengyong suddenly pushed all the memorial petitions on the table to the ground, saying viciously: "Investigate! Investigate for Us!"

"Find out where the rumor spread from, do not let anyone off!"

"Arrest them all! Arrest them all...!"

"Y-Yes, Your Majesty! This subordinate will go handle it right away, right away!"

Below the main hall, Royal City Division Commander Ma Jinwu wiped his sweat while hurriedly backing out.

For so many years, he had never seen His Majesty so furious.

Could it be...

That matter was true?

After Ma Jinwu left, Emperor Zhengyong collapsed limply to the ground like a deflated ball.

"Big Companion, you say... Who on earth spread this matter?"