The Terminally Ill Young Master of the Baek Clan

The Emperor was also known as the Son of Heaven.

This meant that he was the son of the Emperor of Heaven.

Since the distant past, starting with Emperor Qin, who declared himself the heaven’s son, the Son of Heaven was considered almost divine.

Thus, only the Emperor could conduct the Fengshan rituals to communicate with heaven.

Although the surname of the Son of Heaven changed to Zhu during the Great Ming era, he was clearly the son of heaven.

The center of the Central Plains was where the Emperor resided, and since the Yongle Emperor moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing, that place has been the center of the world.

The Forbidden City. In other words, the vast imperial palace where the Emperor resided was the center and essence of the world.

As vast as it was, many people came and went for work.

Yet, it’s characteristic of the Forbidden City that it’s a forbidden area where not even an ant could be found.

Places where the imperial family lived or important items were stored in the imperial treasury. Among the forbidden areas was the Archive Hall.

The Archive Hall was where various chronicles and records were kept. Located inside the Xihua Gate, the roof tiles were carved with a dragon, symbolizing the Emperor.

The dragon was holding a flag, and it meant that those who were unauthorized should not even approach where the flag was visible.

The fact that the flag was red, the color of the Emperor, indicated the strict security.

And now, the scholar there seemed very perplexed.

“Ah, that… be gentle with it.”

“Where, where is it!”

A lady dressed in fancy silk clothes was recklessly pulling out and searching through books. It was quite haphazard.

Worried that the old books might tear, the scholar was in a difficult position. As the librarian here, he would be responsible if anything happened to the books.

“You need to tell me what you’re looking for… Eek!”

The lady’s appearance was exceptionally beautiful.

However, she was frowning, possibly due to worry or anxiety.

Under normal circumstances, the cranky scholar might have scolded her, but he couldn’t do that.

She had the privilege to enter and access the records in this Archive Hall as she pleased.

“…I’m looking for the records of the Song dynasty.”

“If you had told me earlier… Please follow me.”

To prevent the lady from causing further disturbance, the scholar quickly guided her.

Even if it was the records of the Song dynasty, the amount was vast.

“Can you specify which period exactly?”

“The royal annals, during the reign of Emperor Jing.”

“If it’s that period… Here it is!”

It was a long time ago when the Song was conquered by the Khans, and Hongwu Emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang, founded the Great Ming era.

Why was she so urgently searching for these musty old records from the Song period?

But the scholar dared not ask.

“From here to that bookshelf, these are all the records from that period.”

“Good.”

The lady recklessly pulled out the royal annals to read them.

Royal annals were records written by court historians who stayed by the Son of Heaven’s side.

Being detailed and extensive, even the brief reign of Emperor Jing had a massive amount of records.

However, the lady seemed to know exactly what she was looking for.

Soon, the lady speed-reading the annals suddenly snapped the book shut.

“There are missing records.”

“…Pardon?”

“There are records missing.”

The scholar was dumbfounded.

He didn’t memorize the annals by heart, how could she claim that records were missing after just skimming through them once?

“I am ignorant of such insights, I cannot even guess…”

“Don’t be insolent, scholar.”

“…”

“There is a day missing in the records of Emperor Jing’s court sessions.”

“Though they are called annals, the process of editing and compilation is common. It’s not unusual for records to be deleted.”

Although the scholar was as scrawny as a donkey eaten away by mange, his pride was stronger than that of an official.

The lady smirked when the scholar became defensive.

“Bring the daily records of the same date. Comparing them will make it clear.”

“…”

The daily records, like the royal annals, were documented by court historians but, unlike the annals, were not edited and contained all the details. Comparing them would reveal what was omitted from the annals.

The scholar, clearly taken aback, quietly retrieved the documents.

The lady quickly speed-read through them, raising questions about whether she had properly read them at all.

“Heh heh…”

“…Have you found something?”

As the lady chuckled, the scholar couldn’t help but become curious.

However, those who reigned did not readily reveal their thoughts to their inferiors.

“Among the items stored here, there might be some that aren’t official histories?”

“Traditionally, the Archive Hall classifies those as miscellaneous books and stores them in a separate bookshelf.”

The scholar pointed to a corner bookshelf covered in a thick layer of dust.

Ordinarily, one might avoid it for fear of dust, but the lady’s eyes sparkled as if pleased.

Then, forgetting her dignity, she crouched down and began inspecting the bookshelf of miscellaneous books.

Unable to contain his curiosity, the scholar peered over, stealthily as if giving a secretive command.

“Step back.”

“Excuse me?”

“I mean, step back while I examine the records.”

“That can’t be….”

It was a rule that a librarian must oversee the reading of the books.

Just as the scholar was about to add something, the lady’s icy gaze struck him.

Cold sweat ran down his spine, and he felt a sudden heaviness in his stomach.

Was it murderous intent or just anger?

It was something different from the invisible aura that warriors showed their enemies, pressing down on the scholar.

If he pushed further, a low-ranked, unsupported scholar like him could end up dead in a corner of the Archive Hall, unnoticed.

The scholar nodded and quietly stepped back.

The lady thoroughly searched the bookshelf.

This time, it took longer than when she had speed-read the annals. Even with her exceptional intellect, a result of being born with the Three Yin Meridian Blockage, it wasn’t easy to sift through so many records.

Yet, she pieced together clues and realized an important fact.

“They’re all dead…”

On a certain day in the Year of the Metal Horse.

There was an omission in the royal annals about the content of the Son of Heaven’s court session that day.

Royal annals were often edited for various reasons. However, daily records were different. They recorded everything and were not edited.

Yet, content from the same period was missing.

Furthermore, all the court historians who had been with the Son of Heaven during that period had been replaced.

It seemed they might have been expelled or executed for overhearing some secret, but that wasn’t the case.

The court historians had all died during a court session on that very day. Four of them.

The lady, Seong Ji-an had discovered this.

Moreover, besides the four dead court historians, there was another who had survived by losing his legs and going mad.

After spending ten years in madness, he regained his sanity and left records in the form of a diary.

She was able to uncover the events of that day, which were too disgraceful to be recorded.

The empire of Song.

The day when the Son of Heaven, said to be a divine being, was toyed with by a mere commoner.

The records smelled of blood and fear, of the feces shed in terror, and the vomit of a terrified person.

The story of the day when the Heavenly Demon invaded the imperial palace alone was written in the diary of a mad court historian.

---

“Stop that man!”

A bureaucrat with a finely groomed beard shouted angrily.

Getting up and pointing in front of the Emperor was certainly rude, but it was not the situation to worry about manners.

The bureaucrat’s eyes were bloodshot, and his raised fingertips were trembling.

Only the royal guards, not forgetting their duty, were running towards the entrance of the Grand Hall.

Had anyone ever dared to wield a weapon here?

“Treason! It’s treason!”

“What are the royal guards doing!”

For a coup to succeed, the authority of the Son of Heaven must fall to the ground.

It’s only possible if a member of the same imperial family was put forward, and arrangements must be made to prevent the royal guards from intervening.

Moreover, it would take at least hundreds of people to dare to put a knife to the Emperor’s neck.

“Is it not just one person!”

But the one committing indiscriminate slaughter here was just a single monstrous individual.

A middle-aged man appeared, clad in a black robe.

His clothes were not flashy, but he had more dignity than the Emperor sitting on the throne, trembling.

One reason was the surreal aura emanating from the man.

There was no wind, yet his smooth black robe fluttered softly.

He seemed like a divine general descended from heaven, yet also like a demon risen from hell.

The royal guards overcame their fear and attacked him.

Considering that this man alone had smashed through the powerful imperial guard, it was like throwing eggs against a rock.

The response of the Heavenly Demon was a simple movement that could hardly be called an attack.

He grabbed the flying crescent blade with his bare hands.

It was not even a sophisticated technique like ‘entering the blade with bare hands.’

With destructive grip strength, he crushed the blade in his hand.

Crack—

The blade shattered in all directions.

The royal guard holding the crescent blade died as shards were embedded in his face and neck.

This brief moment gave another royal guard an opportunity.

He swung an axe through a blind spot, aiming precisely at the Heavenly Demon’s exposed side.

However, the axe didn’t even touch the hem of the Heavenly Demon’s clothes.

The axe cut only an afterimage. It was clearly a complete form of blink shift movement.

The Heavenly Demon’s hand was suddenly holding a head.

It was the head of the royal guard who had swung the axe.

“Are you saying the royal guards can’t handle even one man!”

“Be quiet.”

The Heavenly Demon threw the head at the bureaucrat who was pointing and shouting angrily.

Bang!

The bureaucrat headbutted the dead royal guard’s head. The impact was enough to shatter his old and frail skull.

No one else pointed fingers or shouted angrily at the Heavenly Demon.

The Heavenly Demon laughed mockingly.

At that moment, the Guardian, tasked with secretly protecting the Emperor, made his move.

He was a figure who could easily rank among the Ten Grandmasters in the martial world.

Such a man had been hiding in a beam and dropped down on the Heavenly Demon.

The sharp dagger he wielded was distinctly imbued with a grey Aura Qi.

“Even the imperial palace has its rats.”

However, inexplicably, the Guardian’s strike only cut through the afterimage of the Heavenly Demon.

It was the moment he tried to quickly retreat.

The Heavenly Demon took a step forward.

Grunting—

His single step seemed to cause an earthquake.

The lamps and night pearls that splendidly lit the Grand Hall fell, scattering light and starting fires.

And the Guardian, who had leapt up, crashed down spewing blood.

“Cough!”

It was clear his insides were in turmoil.

The Heavenly Demon took another step forward.

Kwoong—

This time, it was clear what the Heavenly Demon had done.

It was a demonic martial art that could not be simply contained within the small category of step techniques.

It was said that the Heavenly Demon’s step, known as the Heavenly Demon’s Reigning Step, could not be blocked.

With just his footsteps, he had left the Guardian in a near-death state.

The Heavenly Demon did not kill the Guardian outright.

His hand moved like lightning, striking the full body’s vital points in a complex sequence.

Tatatatak—

The Guardian was not just subjected to ordinary acupoint sealing.

He staggered to his feet and then calmly looked at the Heavenly Demon.

The Heavenly Demon quietly laughed and said, “Your master was foolish to mistake himself for a god. That’s your first sin.”

It was unthinkable for the Emperor’s Guardian to agree to such disgraceful words.

Yet, he nodded his head in an exceedingly unnatural movement.

“A toad in a well may think itself a god, but your second sin was daring to invade my domain.”

Another nod.

The hall was frozen in terror.

“Furthermore, pointing fingers and brandishing a blade at me, who came to punish these sins, is your third sin. Do you understand?”

A nod.

“Go and convey my intentions to your master.”

The Guardian staggered as he turned around.

There, the Emperor was trembling, surrounded by the leaders of the royal guards.

The Guardian walked steadily toward the Emperor.

His eyes were clearly spinning wildly, a sign he was not in his right mind.

Emperor Jing screamed in a fit.

“G-Guardian, stand down! Stand down!”

“…”

“The Guardian has gone mad! Royal guards, stop him!”

One of the leaders tried to stop the Guardian, but the Heavenly Demon released a finger technique.

The royal guard warrior tried to deflect with his sword, but he was quickly pierced through the chest and died with a popping sound.

Meanwhile, the Guardian finally approached the Emperor, just three steps away.

“Aaaaagh!”

“Gurgle, choke.”

In front of the screaming Emperor, a strange noise erupted…

“Aaaaaah!”

“Gurk—”

The Guardian’s neck spun around completely and then burst open.

The Emperor, drenched in bright red blood and brain matter, screamed wildly.

The royal guards too were frozen by the horrifying scene.

And then, emerging through the spray of blood, the Heavenly Demon grabbed the Emperor’s neck.

“Zhao Mengqi.”

That was Emperor Jing’s name before he ascended the throne.

Reduced from the Son of Heaven to merely human, Emperor Jing’s neck was in the grip of the Heavenly Demon.

“Remember you are human.”

The Heavenly Demon’s strong fingers pried open Emperor Jing’s mouth.

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