Feng Ying and Feng Jiu froze, but they still didn't dodge.
Feng Yin was forbidden from interfering in royal wars, including the struggle for succession.
Xue Wenjie sneered, "Since you won't move, I won't be polite."
"Move aside..." Xue Zining said coldly.
Feng Ying and Feng Jiu froze, looking at the young girl behind them.
Xue Wenjie attacked suddenly. Feng Ying and Feng Jiu had no time to dodge and were hit hard by a palm strike. The force sent them staggering back several steps.
Xue Zining said coldly, "Step down."
Feng Ying stood up, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and stepped forward to block her, saying, "Your Majesty, you are no match for him."
"How will you know if you don't try?"
"Your Majesty..."
"Feng Yin is forbidden from interfering in royal disputes. Have you all forgotten?" Xue Zining said coldly.
Feng Ying froze and was about to step forward again, but Feng Jiu pulled him back, whispering, "It's useless for us to go up. If all else fails, we'll use all our strength to get His Majesty away."
Feng Ying knew Feng Jiu was right, but he looked up at the slender, frail figure about to receive Xue Wenjie's palm strike, and a feeling he couldn't describe overwhelmed him.
Seeing Feng Yin retreat, Xue Wenjie's expression was tinged with mockery. "Xue Zining, do you have any helpers this time?"
He saw the clear, pure gaze in the young girl's delicate, beautiful face, devoid of any impurities.
She looked so alike.
He remembered how she had looked at him then, and he had asked her if she was willing to continue as Empress.
However, she had only left him with a sentence before taking her own life.
"Why?" Xue Wenjie couldn't help but ask.
"Xue Wenjie, you harmed Father Emperor and Mother Empress. I will make you pay blood with blood," Xue Zining said word by word.
Xue Wenjie sneered, "You? What can you do? Kill me?"
"How do you know I cannot?" The girl looked up, her gaze cold and alluring, with a hint of chill.
"Then come, let me see what you have done these past few years," Xue Wenjie said as he moved towards her.
The girl dodged.
Xue Wenjie was stunned. This skill couldn't have been acquired overnight.
When had she trained like this?
When Yan Zhao pushed open the door, he saw a slender figure standing there.
Her water-and-sky colored long gown was stained with blood. Looking at her delicate, beautiful face, the coldness was so profound it could drip water.
When that face turned to him, her clear eyes were as cold as extreme ice.
Like ice that had not melted for a thousand years.
"Yan Zhao, you're here. Good. Join forces with me to capture the Empress. I will ascend the throne, and you shall be my Grand Tutor..." Xue Wenjie laughed heartily, his laughter relaxed and joyful.
Grand Tutor? Xue Zining remembered her past life. She looked up at the face that had been the same in her past life, and her heart ached.
In her past life, until her death, she had seen him bow to Xue Zixuan.
"Ah..." Xue Zining spat out a mouthful of blood and walked towards him step by step.
Yan Zhao saw the young girl in blood-soaked clothes walking towards him, her beautiful face now replaced by hatred in her eyes.
She hated him.
Hated him to the extreme.
"Your Majesty..."
"Why? Why did you betray me?"
Yan Zhao trembled. These were the words she had spoken in her dreams. "I..."
Suddenly, he saw Xue Wenjie thrusting a long sword towards her.
He stepped forward, turned, and embraced her. The sword entered his body with a *puchi* sound.
Xue Zining froze, her gaze gradually clearing. She saw Xue Wenjie and was also stunned, not expecting Yan Zhao to suddenly block the sword for her.
"Yan Zhao, you betray me?" Xue Wenjie asked, his voice chilling, word by word.
Yan Zhao looked up at the shock in the girl's eyes. He gave a wry smile. He didn't know why he did it; it was instinct.
Suddenly, footsteps sounded from outside the door.
Xue Zining turned to see Xue Yunlan arriving with a group of imperial guards.
"Surround this place, my princess. From now on, no one is allowed to leave," Xue Yunlan said coldly.
Xue Zining saw that Yang Yuanying was not present, indicating that Xue Yunlan had control of the imperial guards.
She walked in, looked at the young girl standing there in her blood-stained gown, and the corner of her lips slowly curved into a smile, a smile of mockery and certainty of victory. "Imperial Sister, you have lost."
"Xue Yunlan, I underestimated you," Xue Zining said coldly.
Xue Yunlan chuckled softly, raised her head, her face contorted. "Wasn't it you who forced me? You turned me from an innocent girl into a scheming woman. Xue Zining, you forced me into this."
The last sentence was shouted.
Xue Zining pushed Yan Zhao away and said calmly, "What did I force you to do? Force you to offer yourself to Feng Yin? Or force you to learn to scheme? Xue Yunlan, I never forced you. You forced yourself."
Xue Yunlan sneered, "As things stand, I have won, and you have lost. It was all worth it."
"Yunlan, you are my good daughter," Xue Wenjie said, stepping forward and patting Xue Yunlan's shoulder.
Xue Yunlan said, "Father, the fifty thousand troops at Xiling Pass have already stationed themselves outside the capital. With a single command, they can control the city."
"Good," Xue Wenjie laughed. He looked at the young girl, who was still stunned, and said, "Xue Zining, abdicate! I will spare your life, seeing as you are your imperial brother's only blood descendant."
The girl's gaze turned cold, and the blood flowing within her gave her a blood-red, alluring beauty.
"Xue Wenjie, are you saying I am Father Emperor's only blood descendant?"
Xue Wenjie laughed, his face showing smugness. "Now that it has come to this, I don't need to hide it anymore. Xue Zixuan, your most beloved imperial brother, is my child."
At this moment, everyone present was shocked, except for the young girl, who remained calm and composed. She let out a low laugh, raised her head, licked the blood from her lips, and smiled like a beautiful flower from hell. "As for me, I knew long ago that he wasn't Father Emperor's blood descendant."
Xue Wenjie froze, frowning. "How did you know?"
The girl smiled, her smile growing colder and more alluring. "Because I saw you and Noble Consort Chao engaged in illicit acts, while Father Emperor lay on his sickbed." Da Feng Novel Network
Xue Wenjie's gaze faltered, and he sneered, "So what? You won't get out of here today. No one will ever know these secrets."
The girl raised her head and suddenly tore down a hanging curtain. Then, curtains fell all around. Everyone looked around and finally saw a pair of ancestral tablets on the main seat.
They clearly read: Emperor Taizu Xiaoyi and Empress Xiaozhen.
They were the tablets of the former Emperor and Empress.
"They knew," the girl said, pointing at the ancestral tablets of the former Emperor and Empress, word by word.
Xue Wenjie took a step back. He first let out a low laugh, then burst into laughter. "So what? They are all dead, killed by my sword."
"Blood debt must be paid with blood," Xue Zining said, gritting her teeth, word by word.
Xue Wenjie looked at her and sneered, "Are you sure you can kill me?"