CH 1

On the third Lunar New Year’s Eve of Jihe, the capital city was filled with heavy snow that was hard to come by in a hundred years. It broke the roof beam of Emperor Kaiyuan’s Buddhist Temple of the Bei An State County, causing the ancient Buddha in the main hall to shed two lines of blood and tear. 

This year will inevitably be a turbulent year. 

After the Lunar New Year, the riots of the eight Kings began. Kings from all vassal states started to rebel. In just a few months, flames of war evolved everywhere, making the people struggle to survive. In less than three years, the rebels broke through the capital, and the Bei An dynasty that had existed for hundreds of years, came to an end.

The massacre was almost over, the setting sun was like blood pouring down the inconspicuous palace. 

The palace door was kicked open, debris and dust fluttered wildly reflecting the scarlet sunlight. The atmosphere reeked of blood. 

On the main palace hall’s ceiling, there hung a figure dressed in bright yellow attire, swaying about. The figure had their hair draped down over their shoulders and was barefooted. They hung dripping with fresh blood. 

The two rebel soldiers were ecstatic: “We found the Emperor!”

But then there was a piercing sound from the scabbard being drawn, then the hanging figure fell down, coiled in a heap on the ground. He looked like a bloody rag. Very quickly, the blood overflowed on the ground, becoming dark red. 

“Already dead.”

A soldier use the front of his feet to kick the body and stepped on the dead corpse. A fantastic feeling filled his heart. Who would have imagined that three years ago, he was one of the poor people that the State didn’t protect who could only live precariously in hunger. But, now, he can even trample on the Emperor’s dead body as he wished.

The Emperor under his foot had no life. Long hair covered his face. The soldier gazed at the corpse a few times, then remembered the savory rumors he heard at the street stall. His face couldn’t help but show a somewhat obscene expression. 

“I heard that this Dynasty’s Yuan Emperor’s appearance is extraordinary. Although he’s the Emperor, in reality, he got backing due to being Minister Sima’s beautiful pampered wife. Otherwise, relying only on his status as the son of a concubine, how could he have ascended the throne. Hehe, Laozi actually is quite curious now.”

He seized his sword and lifted the corpse’s hair with it. Without a cold look, how could the tiger’s roar make him jump. But, he saw that his face was ruined with blade wounds that went deep down to bone. Heavily mutilated, it was truly terrifying. 

“A dog Emperor would still be filthy in his death!”

The soldier spat, and hurriedly put his sword away. Getting angrier and angrier, he cursed and kicked out. 

The dead body rolled, twisted to the side. 

The other soldier was also taken aback, but he saw the blood-stained clothes on the dead body loosen, exposing the white lotus-like skin on the neck and chest. It resembled a radiant jade color. He gasped, then used the tip of his blade to lift the belt tie.

The two people watched for quite a while. One of them gave a hollow laugh: “This dog Emperor is quite white…”

They followed the Red Tiger Army to fight in the north and south, bathed in swords and spears. During these past few years, their heads were always tied to the waistband (doing dangerous activities), so how could they have ever touched a woman? Their eyes had only followed their overlord to subdue the country. The suffocating feeling inside their hearts grew. 

The soldier eyes gleamed. He murmured: “I heard that the Emperor is an intersex person, not sure if it’s true…”

The two swallowed their saliva and looked at each other. Both of them saw the contempt in each other’s heart. 

“This place is desolated…” one of them seem to have made up his mind: “Qu, this dog Emperor is both muddleheaded and brutal, toying with poor people’s lives throughout the kingdom. Today, Laozi will get justice for the Heavens. In any case, we commoners being able to do the Emperor is worthwhile even just to talk about it. (Ciacia: ffffffffff, they are so freaking ew, gross, ahhhhhh, i wanna kill them. U don’t know how many times I had wanted to kill these 2 sh*theads throughout this whole chapter like ahdfhdgjfdasdga) 

Finished speaking, their courage gave rise to ruthlessness. Cutting a piece of bloody yellow clothing to cover the mutilated face, before he could take off the Emperor’s pants, there were cursing voices from outside. The deputy commander of the Red Tiger Army, Cao Gang led a troop of people and rushed forward. The two soldiers hurriedly stood up with a pale complexion. 

After a dozen soldiers surrounded the palace, the sunlight shone through the palace’s door and grew dim. The tall Commander wearing black armor advanced slowly. 

The person who came was the commander in chief of the Red Tiger Army, Ni Lie. He had a high nose and a set of deep eyes. His gaze ferociously appeared like those of the Raksasha. There was a deep scar spread from his brow down to his chin and his face was covered in a large dried chunk of blood that made his face even more sinister and terrifying. 

The two soldiers had long heard of the brutality in running the armed forces of the Red Tiger Army. They breathed sluggishly, trembling in fear from head to toe. Even though the Red Tiger Army was known to be rebels and traitors from the outsiders mouth, their military discipline was strict. They absolutely won’t tolerate their previous action.

The two were about to beg for mercy, but it was already too late. With a flash of white light, both of them widened their eyes in that split second before falling to the ground. Blood sprayed from their necks and splashed all over the ground. (Ciacia: yayyyyy, finally these 2 fkers died. Uwu. time to celebrate) 

There was no sound inside the palace. Everyone held their breath, not daring to talk. But the Red Tiger King only dragged the heavy sword dripped with blood slowly for a few steps. He indifferently said: 

“Drag them away.”

“Yes!”

Cao Gang lowered his head and sighed silently. He was long aware of their commander’s cruelty and viciousness. The situation is certainly not forgivable, but he was born as a scholar and his heart still had some sympathy left. Although he knew that these two men could not escape the military’s law, their crime was not heavy enough to die for. He had wanted to ask for forgiveness for these two soldiers, however, Ni Lie unexpectedly made such a cruel decision. 

He respected and feared Ni Lie as a hard to come by brave warrior. Ni Lie was brave and unparalleled, killing people like killing flies. Even before arriving at the enemy’s camp, the cry of “Human Slaughterer” already frightened the opponents. Ever since the rebellion of the eight vassal kings intensified, the Red Tiger Army in the northern border took the Imperial edict and travelled all the way to put down the revolt. After the war subsided, the Red Tiger Army soldiers deployed around the capital city to protect the Emperor had rebelled. Commander Ni Lie, who was deployed to pacify the rebellion, led his troops to break through the capital defense under the title of eliminating all the evil ministers by the Emperor’s side.

Ni, a fierce beast, surnamed from a lowly slave in Yeyou court; who could have imagined that in just a few short years, the State of Bei An would be overturned by this palace slave. 

Cao Gang swallowed his saliva. He ordered the accompanying soldiers to lift the two dead bodies away. He then stepped forward to examine the corpse on the ground. Shortly afterwards, he stood up and paid respect to the commander and said: “General, the person is dead.”

“Is it Emperor Chaoyuan?”

“He is indeed wearing the Emperor’s attire, however, his face is ruined. I’m afraid it could be fake.”

Ni Lie walked a few steps, then said: “Bring Sima Yu here.”

Very quickly, Sima Yu was brought inside. His appearance was miserable, long since lost the dignified aura of a noble.

Sima Yu had long seen the dead body on the ground. His face color completely faded. He stretched out his trembling hand. Frightened and unconvinced, he pushed aside the messy black hair stained with blood. 

After seeing that person’s face clearly, his eyes became red, full of disbelief. He once again searched through the dead body’s distinctive features, and when the extraordinarily colored birthmark on his chest met his eyes, he sobbed even more. Sitting on the ground, he seemed to have become paralyzed of any strength. 

“Reporting to the Red Tiger King, it is Emperor Chaoyuan.”

He trembled uncontrollably, “Emperor Chaoyuan has an intersexual body, with an extraordinary birthmark on his chest. If the Red Tiger King doesn’t believe it, you can find His Majesty’s personal attendants to testify.”

Soon afterwards, the soldiers brought the inner palace servants, one after another to identify the body. 

Ni Lie put his sword in its sheath. For him, it didn’t matter if this corpse was Emperor Chaoyuan or not. If he had escaped, then his reputation would be ruined. This kind of mediocre and stupid Emperor was also unlikely to make any splash. The entire capital was under his control. With the Sima clan in front of him, the armed rebellion could be terminated using the title of clearing the corrupted ministers as good justification.

He looked down distantly at the disheveled dead body of the Emperor, raising a corner of his mouth in mockery. 

During the time when Emperor Mingde reigned the throne, Sima Yu’s father, Zhenbei King Sima Ji, had respectfully presented a beautiful concubine to enter the palace. This beautiful concubine was extraordinarily beautiful and no one in the Bei An State could have beat her. The bodies between the bedsheets had a rare fragrance which was suitable for an extraordinarily beautiful woman, thus Emperor Mingde doted on her in every possible way. He was always reluctant to leave her every day. Unexpectedly she got pregnant, and gave birth to a monster that wasn’t a man nor a woman. The beautiful concubine then died of losing too much blood. 

The monster survived, calamity befallen on the imperial court, heaven’s in upheaval, this is certainly displaying an astonishing prediction. 

The demolished previous dynasty had said that Emperor Mingde was so furious that he ordered the palace maid to drop the baby in a well and kill him. But the monster was fortunate that when he was about to be thrown into the well, he was seen by a Buddhist monk of the Emperor Kaiyuan Buddhist Temple. Master Kong Yuan who entered the palace for a ritual immediately stopped it. After that, the holy Buddhist verses were chanted several times. Bei An State country was a Buddhist country, thus, the Emperor also submitted. Because of this opportunity, the monster was banished to the cold palace near Emperor Kaiyuan’s Buddhist Temple. With the offer of being fed and provided, he devoted himself to the practice with Master Kong Yuan. 

Nevertheless, after a few years passed, that monster recovered his position as the crown prince. It was recorded that Empress Sima was childless. Later on, the two genders’ prince took the title of the Emperor and became the infamous Emperor Chaoyuan. Amidst that, the scheming of the Sima family was indispensable, and their scheme could not be any clearer. Otherwise, all these vassal states’ kings wouldn’t have the chance to rebel under the banner of eliminating corrupt officials. 

Thinking back a few days ago when he surrounded the city, the corner of Li Nie’s mouth curved up even further. 

When the Red Tiger Army pressured down on the capital, Sima Yu hurriedly carried an Imperial edict to their big camp. The Imperial edict said that Emperor Chaoyuan wished to use his intersexual body to get married to the Red Tiger King and have him become the Emperor’s husband. The future imperial child would become the future ruler of the whole country. Ni Lie actually didn’t expect Emperor Chaoyuan to go so far as to be this ridiculous. He laughed wildly on the spot before shattering the Imperial Edict to pieces, and ordered to besiege the city. 

The hidden pampered wife of Sima’s family, how can he (the Emperor)  share this beloved country with him (Ni Lie)!

The country was in chaos. In the end, the Red Tiger became the Emperor. 

The humiliation from his youth has been scattered by the wind, and this country finally belonged to him. 

Ni Lie stepped out of the palace hall. Heaven and earth was soaked in the setting sun’s red color, presenting a different scenery in the scorching heat. Ni Lie closed his eyes, and suddenly turned around: 

“Cao Gang, find someone for me.”

***

The soldiers didn’t understand the reason their Commander was still looking for a palace maid, but Cao Gang understood. After Ni Lie was the son of a criminal general, his father was killed. He was less than three years old when he was detained in a secluded place, and became a slave, receiving countless cruel treatments in the imperial palace. Hearsay, he only survived because of the little palace lady that had taken care of him. 

Therefore, this time around when taking over the city, the cold, harsh, and bloodthirsty, merciless Red Tiger Army issued three military orders. It instructed the Red Tiger Army’s soldiers and officers to never lay their hands on women, otherwise they would be killed without consideration. 

Cao Gang didn’t dare to neglect this instruction and passed down the orders. 

Emperor Chaoyuan’s corpse had been moved to a thin coffin. When the situation quietened down, the Sima family’s crime of killing the king would be announced to the whole country. Because of the eight Kings rebellion, the imperial family bloodline became scarce and this country will really have to change its ruler. 

Cao Gang looked at the bloodstained Emperor inside the coffin with sorrow in his heart. 

He had taught this Emperor before. His impression of Emperor Chaoyuan was that because of his ominous sexuality, the previous Emperor loathed him and many princes often humiliated him. During the internal strife in the imperial court, he always sat in a docile manner at the innermost corner of the Imperial School, even his breathing was light. 

Cao Gang didn’t have much contact with him, but his impression towards him was somewhat compassionate. 

However, things in the world are not constant. The scholar of the Imperial School wasn’t put into a high position, thus soured by the loss of one’s hope seeked refuge in the army camp instead. Now, he followed the overlord to overturn the country. And that child who was cowering at the corner of the Imperial School at that time was pushed by the flattering court officials into the Emperor position. In the end, he died and his reputation was lost. 

Thinking of this, Cao Gang couldn’t help but give a few sorrowful sighs. Fate really likes to make fun of humans. 

Emperor Chaoyuan lay down quietly inside the coffin. His Emperor’s attire had been changed. His unrecognizable face was covered with a piece of jade, giving him the last dignity of his life. The conflict in the world no longer involved him. His preposterous brutal life had long been engraved with shame. This led many generations to write negatively about him, and spurn him as a disgusting person in history books.

But he couldn’t care less. His life from the start had never been peaceful. However, fortunately for him, the moment of his death was finally obtained. 

Even if this peacefulness was given upon death, he would still gladly endure it.