81: Father, I will kill someone and make a river of blood flow for you to see!

Xuanwu Gate Plaza was dead silent.

Time froze at this moment, and the air was filled with a thick, unyielding scent of blood.

The severed head that rolled to the ground had wide-open eyes, its face still frozen in the terror and disbelief of its last moments.

The headless corpse gushed blood, staining the cold bluestone slabs a shocking dark red.

All the Civil and Military Officials, whether battle-hardened generals or civil servants who prided themselves on remaining unfazed even if Mount Tai collapsed before them, were now ashen-faced and stiff-bodied, like clay figures and wooden carvings under a petrifying spell.

Their gazes shifted back and forth between Li Jingliang's head, Li Chengqian's dripping longsword, and the Emperor, who was trembling with rage.

Shock!

Unparalleled shock!

This Crown Prince was insane!

He was truly insane!

Not only did he dare to kill in public, but he also killed a direct descendant of the Longxi Li Clan!

He even dared to respond to the Emperor's roar with such a decisive method, right in front of His Majesty!

“Imperial Father! I killed him! What now?”

This light, rhetorical question, however, was like an invisible heavy hammer, striking hard at everyone's heart.

Li Shimin's chest heaved violently, his fists clenched, knuckles white from the force.

He stared intently at the figure standing with a sword below him, that face, seven-tenths similar to his own, now bore a coldness and defiance he had never seen before.

That was his son, and the Crown Prince he had personally appointed.

But now, this son had transformed into a beast that had broken free from all shackles, announcing his existence to him, and to the entire Great Tang, in the most primal and bloody way!

Li Taixu let out a mournful wail that sounded inhuman, and he instantly aged ten years.

He stumbled and lunged towards Li Jingliang's still-twitching corpse, his cloudy old tears gushing out like a broken dam.

“My son... my son!”

He reached out a trembling hand, wanting to touch the head that died with eyes wide open, but then abruptly pulled it back mid-air.

The clan leader who had earlier clamored in the court to expel Li Chengqian from the Five Surnames and Seven Clans and to have him cut into a thousand pieces, was now just a pitiful old man who had lost his beloved son.

Li Chengqian didn't even glance at the corpse; he unhurriedly wiped the blood from his sword with his sleeve.

He raised his eyes, looked at Li Taixu, who was crying his heart out, and a cruel smile suddenly appeared at the corner of his mouth.

“Li Taixu, why are you crying?”

His voice was not loud, but it clearly spread throughout the entire plaza, like steel needles dipped in ice, piercing everyone's ears.

“This is just the first one killed; save your tears for later.”

What?

Alarm bells rang in everyone's hearts!

Li Taixu's crying stopped abruptly; he suddenly looked up, his bloodshot eyes staring at Li Chengqian in disbelief.

Then Li Chengqian called out loudly: “Men!”

The Great Snow Dragon Riders, standing on both sides of the plaza, armor clanking, responded in unison.

“Yes!”

Their voices thundered like thunder, Killing Intent soaring to the sky!

The longsword in Li Chengqian's hand pointed at Li Taixu, its tip slightly trembling, like the soul-hooking brush in the hand of a Hell judge.

“Bring up Li Taixu's second son, third son, fourth son, and also his eldest grandson, great-grandson, everyone who is in Chang'an, bring them all to me!”

Upon hearing this, gasps of cold air swept through the crowd.

This... this was an attempt to exterminate an entire clan!

Li Taixu went limp and completely collapsed to the ground.

He disregarded all decorum and dignity, scrambling on all fours, desperately crawling towards Li Chengqian, his forehead banging against the hard bluestone slabs, blood instantly staining his forehead.

“Your Highness, spare me! Your Highness, spare me!”

“This old subject was wrong! This old subject deserves ten thousand deaths! I beg Your Highness, for the sake of our shared Bloodline, spare them! They are innocent!”

He spoke incoherently, his voice shrill, every word laced with blood and tears.

Li Chengqian looked down at him from above, his smile growing wider, but the mirth didn't reach his eyes, making it chillingly cold.

“Spare you?”

He chuckled softly, bent down, and spoke in a voice only the two of them could hear.

“Why should I spare you? Old man, just now in the court, when you pointed your finger at me and demanded His Majesty execute me, did you ever consider giving me a way out?”

Li Taixu's body trembled violently; he opened his mouth but couldn't utter a single word.

Yes, he had never considered it.

In his and the Five Surnames and Seven Clans' eyes, this Crown Prince was merely a pawn they could manipulate at will, a stepping stone for them to maintain their clan's interests.

How could they have ever thought that this pawn would turn around and overturn the entire chessboard!

“Didn't you want to execute me?”

Li Chengqian straightened up, his voice once again becoming loud, “Now, I am merely fulfilling your wish, letting you see what true execution means!”

A moment later, cries and struggles came from a distance.

A team of Great Snow Dragon Riders, fierce as wolves and tigers, escorted a group of men, richly dressed but now pale-faced and disheveled, who walked up.

They were Li Taixu's descendants.

They were roughly shoved, lined up on the plaza outside the main hall, and forced to kneel.

The first few, seeing Li Jingliang's corpse not far away, were already so scared their Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering, their crotches wet and warm, a foul, fishy smell permeating the air.

Li Taixu watched his sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons kneeling there like livestock awaiting slaughter, his heart felt as if it were tightly squeezed by an invisible hand, making it impossible to breathe from the pain.

Regret!

Endless regret, like a tide, engulfed him!

He finally understood.

Li Chengqian, himself, was from the most noble Bloodline of the Five Surnames and Seven Clans.

If they hadn't been blinded by greed, hadn't done such foolish things to suppress imperial power, hadn't expelled him from the clan... with Li Chengqian's pride, he might have used thunderous methods against them, but he would never have been like this, killing people without the slightest hesitation or mercy!

It was they who had personally severed the last ties of Bloodline affection!

It was they who had personally transformed a tiger that could have been restrained into a bloodthirsty Dragon!

Li Taixu seemed to grasp at a last straw; he looked up, his voice hoarse with pleading: “Crown Prince... Your Highness... these people, they... they are all your clan members!”

“Oh?”

Li Chengqian raised an eyebrow, as if he had heard something new.

He paced to stand before the kneeling Li clan members, using the blood-stained sword tip to lift each of their chins, scrutinizing their faces twisted by fear.

“Clan members?”

He turned around, looking back at Li Taixu, the mockery in his eyes almost overflowing.

“Li Taixu, you didn't say that just now!”

“You, in front of all the Civil and Military Officials, in front of my Imperial Father, personally said that I, Li Chengqian, was unworthy of my position, behaved improperly, and was unfit to be a descendant of the Li Clan!”

“Have you forgotten?”

Li Chengqian's voice grew colder with each sentence, heavier with each sentence!

“You said you wanted to expel me from the Longxi Li Clan, to completely remove my name from the family register!”

“What? Now that I'm killing people, these people suddenly become my clan members again?”

He laughed uproariously, his laughter filled with glee and madness.

“Hahaha... where in the world is there such a convenient good thing!”

The laughter abruptly stopped, and Li Chengqian's face instantly turned icy, a surging Killing Intent, centered on him, erupted with a roar!

That Killing Intent was no longer the simple coldness from before, but a mixture of Evil Qi from mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and the majesty of one who rules the world!

The temperature in the plaza suddenly dropped by more than ten degrees.

Under the shroud of this monstrous Killing Intent, the Civil and Military Officials felt only difficulty breathing, their hearts and guts shattering, many of them weak in the knees, almost unable to stand.

Li Shimin also felt a chill from the bottom of his heart.

This was not his son who had grown up in the deep palace!

This aura clearly belonged to a peerless fiend who had slaughtered millions of lives, an iron-blooded emperor who held the power of life and death!

Li Chengqian slowly raised his longsword.

The sunlight shone on the blade, reflecting a dazzling cold light that made people unable to open their eyes.

“Imperial Father, didn't you want to see rivers of blood?!”

“I will make rivers of blood for you to see!”

His gaze swept over the kneeling Li clan members, over the Civil and Military Officials who were silent as cicadas in winter, and finally, it fell upon Li Taixu's ashen face.

“Today, I will make you, and all the noble clans and families in the world, see clearly!”

“The consequences of betraying me!”

“The price of being my enemy!”

As his words fell, the sword rose!

...Brothers, is anyone still reading?

It's so quiet.

Are there any friends reading?

Say something.

I'm getting no response here.