Chapter 50 - War Council

My whole way to the palace was a blur, I was escorted from prefecture to prefecture through Yu with the utmost haste possible, arriving at record time only a week after I encountered that first guard.

I crossed the Meridian gates of the forbidden city atop my horse and galloped all the way to the Gate of heavenly purity where I dismounted and continued on foot to the Palace.

“His majesty, the Fourth Prince Shen Long Mu!” a guard announced me to the inhabitants of the palace when he spied me on the distance, and I fell to one knee as soon as I cleared the entrance.

“This servant has responded to your summons, oh Emperor!” I made a wushu salute and rose when the man himself called my name.

In the couple of months that my absence lasted, the Emperor had seemingly aged a couple of years, his long beard with quite a few gray hairs, but the smile he had for me was just as resplendent as the one he gave me when I left.

“Join us, Shen Long, we are in need of your brilliance.”

I nodded and approached the throne, Heng Li sat at his left, and at his right was the first Prince Heng Shuo. His aristocratic features were marred by the sneer he sent my way.

In all of the two times we had seen each other, we had built a disgust for one another. The man was five years older than me and thought that everyone was beneath him, especially me because of my adoption into the Imperial family.

As for me... it was hard liking somebody who despised your very existence.

I bowed again as I neared the throne. “This Prince greets older brother Shuo and younger brother Li.”

The first prince nodded and looked away, while Li returned the gesture and greeting with a smile.

“Approach, Shen Long” the emperor ordered, a hand motioning to the low table and the map above it. There were many officials and generals sitting around the square table. I took my place among them, studying the map of the nine provinces and the wooden figures placed on top of it.

If I was reading the display correctly, the provinces of Ji and Yong were busy fighting the invaders, while a scouting party clashed with my father’s forces in Yan. This corresponded to the letter I received from my family, saying that my father had been hurt during a skirmish.

“The northern borders reported minor skirmishes during the past months,” General Fei Hong explained. He was a man eight to ten years my senior from a long line of warriors. I met him for the first time during one of the numerous meetings with the Emperor, and he struck to me as an honorable man with much fighting experience “then they appeared en-masse overnight.” He shook his head in frustration “either our scouts have been slacking, or these barbarians have learned tactics”.

I nodded “I encountered a group of assassins led by a couple of foreigners during my travel over Ji. They made it as far as the Ji river, so it would seem that your first assessment is right.”

The group of older men stared at me with wide eyes.

“Assassins from the north? Why did you not report this?” one of the counselors demanded and I shrugged.

“I eliminated them but was wounded in the fight. I was taken to a healer by my companions and spent the next weeks recuperating.” The room fell silent. I did not say anything about the troops targeting me, since I knew they would think they came for the Emperor. I did not disabuse them of that notion in case the person that sent them after me was stupid enough to make themselves known. Trying to play it down.

“That would explain the curious report we received about an event in the southern border” mused Captain Cao, he was the youngest son of the General from the Yong province. Apparently, he had been sent to the capital while his father defended the border. One of the generals asked for clarification and the young man (he seemed to be two or three years older than me) continued “A portion of the marsh surrounding the Ji river disappeared.”

“Come again?” another man interrupted, “What do you mean ‘disappeared’?”

“Precisely that. It is barren now.” He sent a guarded look my way “May I inquire as to how that happened, your highness?”

I shrugged “Yes. I erased it.”

A tense silence filled the room. I finally looked up from the map to find every eye on me.

“Could you please elaborate, Shen Long?” the Emperor asked and I nodded.

“To answer his excellency: I am a cultivator. I used chi magic to kill every single person in that place, I did not want to risk them escaping and making their way to the palace.”

The room fell silent again and the comment I had been waiting for finally arrived but from an unexpected source.

“S-surely you jest” the First Prince stuttered, his countenance pale.

I sent him an amused smile to hide my own surprise. “Ask the captain to describe what was left of the place.”

At a gesture from the emperor, the captain described what his men had seen. His description was spot on: a barren wasteland where nothing could have survived.

Everyone turned to watch me again, most of them with fear in their eyes.

It was time for one last test to see who was involved.

“That is how serious I am about defending the Empire. None who endanger the Emperor or the country shall live.”

One could have heard a pin drop in the room. My eyes analyzed everyone’s reactions and only two appeared truly appalled: The representative from Ji and the First Prince.

It seemed that I had finally figured out who was behind the attempted assassination.