23: Chapter 23 Iron-Blooded Purge

Golden Throne Hall.

The air was heavy and oppressive.

The civil and military officials bowed their heads, deliberately softening even their breathing.

Everyone was stealing glances at two places out of the corners of their eyes.

The figure on the Dragon throne.

And, standing at the very front of the officials, the livid Prime Minister Wei Yong.

Today's morning court session felt strange.

The Emperor on the Dragon throne, Li Zhan, was a completely different person from before.

That sickly, shifty-eyed Puppet was gone.

Sitting there now was a monarch with a straight back, wearing a black Dragon robe.

Just by sitting there, he exuded an aura of authority.

What made people least dare to look directly at him was his gaze.

That gaze carried undisguised Killing Intent, sweeping sharply across the face of every official.

Those swept by his gaze stiffened, burying their heads even lower.

Was this really that useless Emperor who could be easily manipulated by them?

Wei Yong stood at the very front, his sense of unease growing heavier.

He looked at Li Zhan on the Dragon throne, and at the golden object in Li Zhan's hand.

His eyelids twitched wildly.

Something was wrong, very wrong.

Just then, Li Zhan spoke.

His voice was no longer weak, but cold and heavy.

"Ministers, rise."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

The officials shouted in unison.

Li Zhan did not waste a single word; he raised the golden silk in his hand, his eyes cold.

"Since I ascended the throne, I dare not say I have exhausted my efforts, but I have done my best for the Great Xia empire and its people. Yet, there are always some parasites of the state who, while eating the imperial court's salary, do not think of serving the country, but instead form cliques and engage in corruption and lawlessness!"

He paused, then said word by word.

"Even colluding with foreign enemies with the intent to rebel."

These eight words sent a shock through everyone.

The entire court of civil and military officials erupted in chaos on the spot.

Everyone was stunned by the Emperor's words.

Intent to rebel?

This was a crime punishable by the confiscation of property and extermination of the clan.

Wei Yong's heart sank.

He had a premonition.

The Emperor was coming for him today.

"Come here!"

Li Zhan slapped the armrest of the Dragon throne, producing a muffled sound that made everyone shudder.

"Take down the Vice Minister of Revenue, Wu Qian!"

A large group of Golden-Armored Imperial Guards, who had been waiting outside the hall, surged in, their bodies radiating the Evil Qi found only on the battlefield.

Among the officials, a fat man who was usually all smiles turned deathly pale.

It was none other than the Vice Minister of Revenue, Wu Qian.

"Your, Your Majesty!"

Wu Qian's legs went weak, and he knelt directly on the ground, trembling all over.

"Your servant is loyal to Great Xia, what crime have I committed! Your Majesty, please investigate clearly!"

Li Zhan sneered and suddenly unfurled the golden silk in his hand.

"Wu Qian! You colluded with Wei Yong to embezzle the disaster relief funds allocated by the imperial court for the three Hexi prefectures, totaling three million taels of silver! You caused the three Hexi prefectures to be littered with the starving! Do you dare say you didn't know about this?"

Wu Qian shook violently, completely dumbfounded.

How did the Emperor know about such a confidential matter?

He looked at Wei Yong for help.

Wei Yong's heart also surged with waves, but he kept his face straight.

He stepped forward, his voice deep.

"Your Majesty! Vice Minister Wu is an important official of the imperial court and has always been diligent. For you to convict him based solely on an item of unknown origin will likely not convince the masses. I implore Your Majesty to reconsider, lest you fall for the treacherous schemes of villains and chill the hearts of loyal officials."

This was well-spoken, both exculpating Wu Qian and warning Li Zhan not to act rashly.

"Loyal official?"

Li Zhan looked as if he had heard a huge joke; he walked down from the Dragon throne, step by step, until he was in front of Wei Yong, staring at him intensely.

"Prime Minister, are you teaching me how to do things?"

Pressed by that pressure, Wei Yong actually took half a step back.

He steadied his mind and said firmly.

"Your servant would not dare! It is just that this matter concerns the face of the imperial court and cannot be treated as a game!"

"What a 'cannot be treated as a game'!"

Li Zhan turned around abruptly and shouted sternly.

"Deputy Commander of the Imperial Guards, Zhao Sihai!"

A burly general in armor stepped out and knelt on one knee.

"This general is here!"

"Take him down!"

There was not a trace of warmth in Li Zhan's voice.

Zhao Sihai looked up abruptly, his face full of disbelief.

"Your Majesty? You..."

"Zhao Sihai!"

Li Zhan's voice was cold.

"You accepted bribes from Wei Yong and mobilized troops without authorization to monitor the imperial palace. What are you trying to do! Have I wronged you?"

Once these words were spoken, the entire court was shocked.

If taking down Wu Qian was just an appetizer, then taking down Zhao Sihai was directly flipping the table.

Zhao Sihai was Wei Yong's most important person in the army.

"Slander!"

Zhao Sihai's expression changed; he jumped up from the ground, and the sword at his waist was half-drawn with a "clang."

"This general is loyal to Your Majesty and has absolutely no second thoughts! I think it is you, Your Majesty, who has been blinded by villains and are destroying your own Great Wall!"

"Protect Your Majesty!"

The Imperial Guard Commander beside Li Zhan reacted extremely quickly; with a roar, dozens of Golden-Armored Imperial Guards instantly formed a formation, their bright sword tips all aimed at Zhao Sihai.

In the Golden Throne Hall, Killing Intent filled the air.

Wei Yong's face changed completely.

He finally understood.

This was not a warning at all.

This was a life-and-death purge that had been planned long ago.

"The Emperor is mad! He wants to kill us all! Everyone, attack together, clear the ruler's side, and execute the evil spirits!"

In the crowd, someone shouted.

Those officials who had been named or had guilty consciences were overcome by the instinct to survive.

"Right! Clear the ruler's side!"

"Prime Minister! Say something!"

The entire Golden Throne Hall descended into chaos.

Several of Wei Yong's die-hard followers even pulled daggers from their court robes and lunged viciously at the nearby Imperial Guards.

"Hahaha... Hahahaha!"

Li Zhan watched this chaotic scene and laughed out loud.

The laughter echoed through the great hall.

"Good! What a fine group of pillars of the state! What a 'clear the ruler's side'!"

His laughter stopped, his eyes ferocious.

"Today, I want to see how you rebellious traitors will 'clear' my, the ruler's side!"

"Kill... for me!"

"Leave none alive!"

With Li Zhan's order, the Imperial Guards who were still hesitating had no more reservations; inside the great hall, blades flashed and shadows danced, and the sounds of killing rose everywhere.

Screams, the clash of weapons, roars, and pleas for mercy all blended together.

Wei Yong panicked completely.

He did not expect Li Zhan to be so ruthless, killing right inside the Golden Throne Hall just like that.

He also did not expect that the Imperial Guards, whom he thought he had hollowed out, would still listen to the Emperor at the critical moment.

He had lost.

He lost everything.

Watching his own men fall one by one in pools of blood, and seeing the Imperial Guards' encirclement closing in, nothing but resentment and madness remained in Wei Yong's eyes.

He had schemed his whole life, planned for decades, and just as he was about to sit on that throne, he was not resigned!

"Li Zhan! You forced me! It was all you who forced me!"

Wei Yong let out a roar, and strange blood-red patterns appeared on his face.

"Since you won't give me a way to live, then let us all die together!"

He bit the tip of his tongue sharply, spat out a mouthful of blood, and his hands quickly formed a strange Dharma seal.

"With my broken body, I sacrifice to the Devil God! With my soul, I respectfully welcome the Old Ancestor!"

"Blood Devil Old Ancestor! Your most loyal servant summons your arrival!"

Following his voice, Wei Yong's body rapidly shriveled up.

His head of black hair turned completely white in an instant, and his sturdy body shrank into a ball in the blink of an eye.

His skin quickly dried up, and his entire essence and spirit seemed to be drained in an instant.

A thick, inseparable bloody mist exploded from his body, instantly filling the entire Golden Throne Hall.

The blood mist carried a foul odor, and when it touched the Golden-Armored Imperial Guards, it made a "sizzling" corrosive sound.

Their armor was corroded through, and the exposed skin instantly festered, eliciting shrill screams.

The ministers who were still alive, regardless of whose side they were on, were terrified.

"Devil... Devil Head! Wei Yong is a Devil Head!"

"Run quickly!"

Who could have thought that the Prime Minister of Great Xia, who held power over the court, was actually a Devil Head who practiced evil arts.

Wei Yong, who had turned into a mummified corpse, let out a sinister, wild laugh.

The ball of blood mist shot into the sky, directly crashing through the roof of the Golden Throne Hall and hovering above the imperial palace.

The sky over the entire imperial capital changed.

It had just been broad daylight, but in an instant, it was enveloped by boundless blood clouds.

The sky turned the color of blood.

A sound like ripping silk tore through the sky.

A massive crack was forcibly ripped open in the middle of the blood clouds.

Behind the crack was an endless sea of blood, filled with an aura of slaughter and despair.

Waves of terrifying pressure seeped out from the crack, suppressing the entire imperial capital.

Under this pressure, not to mention ordinary Martial Artists, even experts in the Divine Treasury Realm felt as if they were carrying a mountain, their legs went weak, and they all knelt down.

They couldn't even breathe.

Even the newly changed Emperor Li Zhan was deathly pale at this moment.

He felt that his Imperial Dragon Qi was as fragile as a touch before this power.

Then, everyone watched in despair as a giant demonic claw slowly reached out from that blood-colored crack.

The claw was covered in blood-red scales, its nails pitch black, as if it could tear through space.

This claw alone was as big as half the Golden Throne Hall.

It just hung there in the sky.

The aura it emitted caused the surrounding space to distort.

From the blood mist came the triumphant laughter of Wei Yong's remnant soul:

"Hahahaha! Li Zhan! Do you see! This is my trump card! This is the supreme Divine Might of the Blood Devil Old Ancestor!"

"You are doomed! You will all die! The entire Great Xia will become the Old Ancestor's blood food!"

That giant blood-colored demonic claw moved.

Carrying the force of ten thousand jun, it pressed down towards the Golden Throne Hall, towards Li Zhan in front of the Dragon throne.