Chapter 244: All Who Bear The Surname Shall Be Slain

Since ancient times, the Central Plains have governed the world with “filial piety.” He himself had committed patricide and fratricide, and now, in such a dire moment, he was forcing the imperial mother and son to turn against each other! The moral principles of the world were utterly trampled beneath his feet!

Some conservative ministers were flushed with rage.

Cries of condemnation rang out incessantly.

Yet Xie Wei stood unmoved, as if deaf to it all.

He always did what he wished, without needing to explain himself to anyone or requiring others to understand his reasons.

Even if the entire world saw him as a demon.

From the crowd, Jiang Xuening watched him from afar, a faint pang of pain stirring in her heart.

Xie Wei looked at them and merely urged softly, “Can’t choose?”

Those unaware of the past called him deranged; but those with some knowledge or suspicion vaguely realized that behind his actions lay secrets from years ago!

Could it be that, over twenty years ago, a similar choice had been placed before Xie Wei?

No one could be certain.

Dowager Empress Xiao, ever since being dragged to this place, had been subjected to continuous shocks.

Hearing these words, she finally reacted.

She didn’t think Xie Wei resembled Xiao Yuan or the Yan Min of old, but recalling the location of the secret chamber—known to no one—and the familiar dilemma before her, a terrifying suspicion she dared not believe surfaced in her mind.

Dowager Empress Xiao’s eyes widened in fury.

As if seeing a ghost, she pointed at him tremblingly, her voice tearing with ferocity: “It’s you! It was you all along!!!”

But her emotions were too intense, her focus entirely on Xie Wei, so she failed to notice Shen Lang, disheveled and with a sinister gaze, picking up the knife Xie Wei had earlier thrown to the ground, just five steps away.

A trace of mocking pity flashed in Xie Wei’s eyes.

From behind, Xiao Shu let out a cry of alarm.

The knife, gripped tightly in a hand, pierced effortlessly through Dowager Empress Xiao’s body, the blade emerging from her chest. When she looked down, she could even see her own bewildered face reflected on the bloodied blade.

The ministers, previously shouting condemnations, fell silent as if slapped, not a sound escaping them!

On the Taiji Hall, only the sound of the blade slowly being withdrawn from flesh could be heard.

Dowager Empress Xiao staggered two steps.

Blood gushed from her chest and back, unstoppable like a fountain. She finally turned and saw who stood behind her—

A face so familiar.

Her eldest son, raised by her own hands, for whom she had fought countless favored consorts, forced the seven-year-old Prince Dingfei to die in his place, and even agreed to marry her daughter far away to the Tartars…

“Lang’er…”

Dowager Empress Xiao saw him holding the knife, standing silently, unable to believe what had just happened. Yet the pain in her body was so clear, she could not convince herself it was merely a nightmare.

A flicker of reluctance passed through Shen Lang’s eyes, but it quickly turned to the cold, ruthless detachment unique to an emperor. To him, all people in the world were no more than grass and trees!

Even his own mother!

Holding the knife, he declared sternly, “The state is in peril, and this time, I must wrong you, Mother. But the events of that year had nothing to do with me. It was you who acted on your own, using the Yan clan’s lives as leverage to force the young Prince Dingfei to take my place! I was ignorant back then, but over the years, I’ve been haunted by guilt, constantly reflecting on my faults! Now that he has returned, it is time for you to repent!”

Xie Wei said nothing, but Shen Lang and a few others, through their exchanges, gradually revealed the events of that year.

The ministers could now piece together the truth from over twenty years ago—

There was never any loyal sacrifice for the emperor. The young Prince Dingfei hadn’t gone willingly but was coerced by Dowager Empress Xiao, using the safety of the Yan clan, to take Shen Lang’s place and die in the rebel camp!

But to Shen Jie, these words were a fog.

He had no idea what Shen Lang was talking about.

When he saw Shen Lang’s knife pierce Dowager Empress Xiao’s body, his mind buzzed, unable to believe what had happened.

Shen Jie had always known he was different from his imperial brother and mother. But he believed that blood ties would prevent them from turning on each other!

Even when Xie Wei spoke those words earlier, he didn’t think they would come to pass.

But now…

His imperial brother before him seemed a bloodthirsty beast, igniting the rare courage in Shen Jie’s chest. He rushed forward, pushing him away: “What are you doing?!”

Dowager Empress Xiao was on the brink of death.

Shen Lang’s grandiose words struck her as the height of irony!

Shen Jie knelt halfway, cradling her in his arms, calling out, “Mother, Mother!”

Tears streamed from Dowager Empress Xiao’s eyes.

In her final moments, she let out a wretched laugh, whether at the absurd heavens, the so-called familial bonds of royalty, or her own pitiful self: “Hahaha, retribution, retribution, no one escapes! No one escapes—”

Her voice, at its sharpest and most piercing, cut off abruptly.

Warm blood gurgled from her mouth. She struggled weakly twice before collapsing limply.

Shen Jie cried out, “Mother, Mother—”

But he was a frail man.

He lacked the courage to confront his mother-slaying brother or seek vengeance on Xie Wei, the instigator. He could only hold Dowager Empress Xiao’s body, weeping bitterly.

Who could have imagined that in less than a moment, Shen Lang had made his choice!

The ministers felt a chill in their hearts.

Even the Heavenly Sect rebels, who had killed their way here, found the scene unbearable.

Wan Xiuzi was stunned for a long while, then clapped and laughed wildly, ignoring the wound in his abdomen. Pointing at the pool of blood before the Taiji Hall, he exclaimed, “See that? The noble blood of the imperial line! This is the exalted imperial line sitting high in the Forbidden City! Even street rats wouldn’t commit such a depraved act! Noble blood? Bah, worse than pigs and dogs! Hahaha…”

He spat on the ground in disdain.

Only Xie Wei sighed softly, almost regretfully: “She died too easily…”

After a moment of silence, murmurs began to rise.

All eyes were on Shen Lang.

He still held the bloodied knife, likely guessing what the crowd was whispering about. But the nature of his former tutor had been laid bare moments ago!

If he didn’t make a choice, both would die!

So, he gave Dowager Empress Xiao a swift end.

Shen Lang looked at Xie Wei: “You knew what happened back then—it was all Mother’s doing. You were my study companion, yet I never knew. Why hide it from me? If you had told me sooner, I would have issued an edict of self-blame to the world, giving you justice.”

Such an emperor.

Xie Wei looked at him, a faint smile on his lips, but gave no answer. He merely raised a hand and pointed: “And her?”

Where his finger pointed, all hearts trembled.

But most were relieved.

That slender finger ultimately pointed to Xiao Shu, dressed in splendid palace attire, her face pale as death!

Her father, brother, and aunt already lay dead on the ground…

Now, it was her turn!

No words were needed; everyone understood: Xie Wei intended to exterminate the Xiao clan, leaving no one alive! All who bore the surname would die!

Unlike Dowager Empress Xiao, the emperor’s mother, Xiao Shu was merely his favored consort.

To Shen Lang, she was a tool for desire and political schemes.

She knew that if Xie Wei wanted her dead today, she wouldn’t survive past tomorrow…

But her entire life had been about refusing to be controlled.

Why, after climbing step by step, fighting for power, did it come to this—her life no longer her own?

As Shen Lang approached with the knife, tears welled in Xiao Shu’s eyes. Yet she lifted her head, looking neither at Shen Lang nor Xie Wei, but at Jiang Xuening, gazing at her from afar!

The absurd sense of being toyed with by fate had never been stronger.

For the first nineteen years of her short life, she had been nearly perfect, scarcely making a single grave mistake. But everything changed when she became a companion at Yangzhi Zhai. Fearing Jiang Xuening, she framed her in the jade ruyi case, but failed, sowing the seeds of enmity.

Now, Jiang Xuening was Xie Wei’s beloved, while she, though the emperor’s favored consort, was less than a prisoner!

One wrong step led to countless others.

That was all.

When the blade pierced her body, Xiao Shu felt an endless chill. But she finally turned her gaze to the ruthless emperor before her, no longer submissive, and with a near-curse, said: “You think you can escape?”

Shen Lang cared little for this woman’s life or death.

Hearing her venomous words, rage surged within him. He pulled the knife out and slit her throat, silencing her forever as she collapsed.

Thus, the most important members of the Xiao clan were nearly all dead.

Jiang Xuening remembered it was much the same in her previous life, though the methods of death differed, the outcome was largely unchanged.

She and Xiao Shu had fought for so many years.

But neither had truly won.

Xiao Shu died first under the rebels’ blades, her clan slaughtered by Xie Wei; and Jiang Xuening, lingering briefly, took her own life in Kunning Palace…

But in this life, she had given up her ambitions, while Xiao Shu walked an even darker path than before…

Watching Xiao Shu fall, Jiang Xuening couldn’t name the feeling in her heart.

It seemed there was no wrong in it.

Cause and effect, retribution—none could escape.

At this moment, the demon before them was no longer just Xie Wei, but the emperor, once seated high on the golden throne, who now seemed even more demonic!

Shen Lang declared, “I can order the Xiao clan razed, with no mercy!”

Xie Wei merely smiled, hands clasped behind him: “No need for such false courtesies. Shall we see if the people you’re waiting for arrive? The time is near, isn’t it?”

Shen Lang had suspected Xie Wei knew something, and now, hearing him state it so clearly, his heart sank further.

Killing Dowager Empress Xiao and Xiao Shu meant nothing to him.

As long as Xie Wei didn’t act against him immediately, he might still have a chance to turn the tide. So he swallowed his pride, speaking words of conciliation, but Xie Wei saw through his intentions!

For a moment, Shen Lang thought Xie Wei would strike.

But at that very moment—

The sound heard earlier when the Xinzhou army arrived echoed again from the palace’s distance, approaching the Taiji Hall from the northeast Shunzheng Gate.

No banners, no clear allegiance.

Soldier after soldier wore only black armor, their ranks disciplined, moving swiftly. Over ten thousand were visible, with who knew how many more outside the palace!

At the center of this army, surrounded by them, was a woman.

She wore deep purple palace robes, her face unadorned, a scar at the corner of her eye immediately catching everyone’s attention.

Jiang Xuening froze.

She called out, “Your Highness!”

But as she stepped forward, a hand gripped her firmly from the side.

Jiang Xuening turned to see Yan Lin.

He held her back, a shadow flickering in his eyes, and asked softly, “Do you remember what I told you before?”

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