87: Chapter 87 After "confronting" the Emperor, the Prince of Zhenbei wants to use a honey trap to win me over?

"The women I set my eyes on, whether it be the Palace Master of Liqing or the Empress of the previous dynasty, as long as she is willing to be with me, she is my, Ye Xiu's, woman!"

"As for Xiuer..."

Mentioning Ling Yuxiu, a rare softness flashed through Ye Xiu's wild eyes: "She is my woman, and I will naturally protect her for a lifetime. Since she could call me 'husband' in front of everyone in the world today, I can guarantee that no one in this world will be able to touch a single hair on her head!"

"But I, Ye Xiu, am the Heavenly Demon Sect Leader, the Wine Sword Immortal who rids the world of demons!"

"I am not a canary kept in a cage by your royal family, nor am I a chess piece for you to balance the imperial court!"

"If Your Majesty feels that I, as the consort, have caused you to lose face, you may issue an imperial decree to annul the marriage right now. I, Ye Xiu, will have no complaints, and I will immediately take Xiuer and my women and leave this foul-smelling capital!"

"You... you are insolent!"

Emperor Yankang was trembling with rage at Ye Xiu's treasonous words, but his finger, pointing at Ye Xiu, could not bring itself to fall.

Annul the marriage? Kill Ye Xiu? Are you kidding me!

Not to mention Ye Xiu's unfathomable, terrifying martial prowess that could even cripple a Divine Bridge Realm expert.

Let alone the forces behind him right now. The Heavenly Demon Sect Leader, the immense debt of gratitude for saving the Imperial Preceptor, and that Qin Mu, who was just accepted as a "student of the Son of Heaven" and possesses unparalleled medical skills!

If Ye Xiu were to defect from the capital now, the grand situation of the Yankang Kingdom's reforms, which had been stabilized with such difficulty, would instantly fall apart!

This bastard clearly knew that he couldn't afford to lose him right now!

"Ahem..." At this moment, with swords drawn and the monarch and subject completely deadlocked, the Imperial Preceptor Jiang Baigui, who had been watching coldly from the sidelines, finally coughed twice and stood up to mediate.

"Your Majesty, please calm your anger. Cult Leader Ye, please say a little less."

Jiang Baigui walked between the two, his face, which was usually as calm as water, now wearing an extremely complicated bitter smile:

"Your Majesty, although Cult Leader Ye is unrestrained by nature and acts wildly, he has made decisive contributions when it truly matters. If he hadn't arrived in time, I fear I would have already turned into a handful of dirt at Tianyin Pass by now."

"As for affairs of the heart..." Jiang Baigui glanced at Ye Xiu, his tone carrying a hint of helplessness:

"Cult Leader Ye is a hero of this generation; naturally, the extraordinary women of this world will flock to him like moths to a flame. Although Her Highness the Seventh Princess has a strong personality, I can see that she is deeply in love with Cult Leader Ye. Why must Your Majesty damage the harmony between father-in-law and son-in-law over some worldly formalities?"

Jiang Baigui was truly the core of the Yankang reforms; these words both gave the Emperor a way to step down and cleverly dissolved Ye Xiu's hostility.

Emperor Yankang took a few deep breaths, forcing himself to suppress the raging fire in his heart. He was an extremely rational monarch and naturally knew that now was not the time to fall out with Ye Xiu.

"Good! A truly arrogant Wine Sword Immortal!" Emperor Yankang violently waved his sleeve, sat back on the dragon throne, and stared coldly at Ye Xiu:

"I will not hold your romantic affairs against you for now! But you mentioned the Empress Dowager's 'Thousand Machine Poison' earlier..."

At this point, Emperor Yankang's eyes instantly became incomparably cold, and an extremely terrifying killing intent permeated the Imperial Study.

"That little brother of yours, Qin Mu, said that this poison is the Thousand Machine Poison from the Southern Border. I ask you, who exactly administered this poison?!"

Facing Emperor Yankang's interrogation, Ye Xiu did not retreat; instead, he walked extremely casually to the chair where Jiang Baigui had just been sitting. He picked up the cup of cold, leftover tea and gently splashed it onto the floor.

"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle..." The seemingly ordinary tea landed on the floor tiles, and a faint, almost imperceptible wisp of blue smoke actually rose up!

"This?!" Emperor Yankang and Jiang Baigui's expressions changed drastically at the same time!

"Your Majesty, instead of accounting for my romantic debts here, you would be better off cleaning up your deep palace and courtyards."

Ye Xiu sneered, his gaze sweeping across every dark corner of the Imperial Study like a sharp sword:

"The Thousand Machine Poison is the unique, secret technique of the Southern Border's Little Poison King, Fu Yuanqing. And as far as I know, this Little Poison King secretly defected to a certain big shot in the capital half a year ago."

...

Just as Ye Xiu was "talking back" to the Emperor, the news had already leaked out. Half an hour later. The capital, Prince of Zhenbeis Manor.

The grandeur of this mansion even faintly threatened to exceed royal regulations. Inside the main hall, it was brightly lit.

A middle-aged man wearing a four-clawed python robe, with a sinister and majestic face, was crushing a jade thumb ring in his hand, his face livid. This person was none other than Emperor Yankang's own younger brother, and the mastermind behind this ambush on the Imperial Preceptor and the poisoning of the Empress Dowager—Prince Zhenbei, Ling Yinfeng!

"Reporting to Your Highness! Top-secret intelligence has come from the palace!" The secret guard reported quickly:

"Just a moment ago, Ye Xiu had a fierce argument with the Emperor in the Imperial Study! Relying on his powerful strength, Ye Xiu talked back to the Emperor to his face, and even threatened that if the Emperor was dissatisfied with him having many confidantes, he would immediately annul the engagement with the Seventh Princess and lead his people to defect from the capital! The Emperor was furious, but because he feared Ye Xiu's strength, he didn't dare to make a move!"

"Oh?!" Hearing this news, Prince Zhenbei, who had been burning with rage, saw his pupils shrink violently. The anger on his face instantly froze, replaced by an extremely strange ecstasy.

"Is this true? Did he really fall out with the Emperor?"

"It is absolutely true! Our hidden agents outside the Imperial Study heard with their own ears Ye Xiu scolding the Emperor for treating him like a 'canary in a cage' and a 'chess piece to balance the imperial court'!" The secret guard answered with certainty.

"Hahaha! Good! What an arrogant Wine Sword Immortal!" Prince Zhenbei suddenly looked up and laughed, his laughter filled with calculation and greed.

"Your Highness, this Ye Xiu has ruined so many of our good deeds. Now that there is a rift between him and the Emperor, should we take the opportunity to..." The strategist made a throat-slitting gesture.

"Stupid!" Prince Zhenbei kicked the strategist to the ground, his eyes flashing with ambitious light:

"Kill him? The Poor Scholar and Perfected Lord Tian, those three Divine Bridge Realm experts couldn't kill him, so what would you use to kill him?!"

"This Ye Xiu is the Heavenly Demon Sect Leader; the Demonic Path acts by hating the court's formalities and imperial control the most! That conceited fellow, the Emperor, trying to use the Seventh Princess and the status of a consort to tie down a true Dragon is simply a pipe dream!"

Prince Zhenbei paced back and forth in the main hall, getting more excited the more he thought about it:

"The enemy of an enemy is a friend! Since Ye Xiu is dissatisfied with the Emperor's behavior, this is a god-given opportunity!"

"If I can win over such a peerless fierce man who is capable of swaying the situation of the world... What is Jiang Baigui? What is the Emperor? This Yankang empire will be mine sooner or later!"

Thinking of this, Prince Zhenbei waved his hand violently and shouted:

"Someone! Go to the treasury immediately and bring that 'Immortal Slaying Sword' passed down from ancient times. Also, bring the pair of stunningly beautiful twin Hu Girls I just plundered from the Western Regions!"

"I will send the invitation myself! I am going to meet this world-renowned Wine Sword Immortal!"