Even the Emperor had his hands tied in the face of this onslaught by Jun Wu Xie, who else could stand up to her?

Jun Wu Xie didn’t even flinch when she executed Wu Wang and even the Emperor’s father-in-law.

They were court officials who stood above all, beholden only to one. And now, their lifeless bodies lay in the dust.

Mo Xuan Fei, eyes rimmed with tears, surveyed the ground, sword held in his trembling hand.

Why did things turn out like this?

Why?

The lone person who stood before the gates, who pushed him to the brink of sanity tonight, was the same lass whom he spurned and dumped?

Jun Wu Xie shifted her gaze from Mo Xuan Fei, whose face was gradually twisting up in further agony, to fall upon the Emperor.

She was waiting for the Emperor to order the release of Jun Xian!

“Jun Wu Xie, you claimed Wu Wang plotted to assassinate the Second Prince, which could still be possible. But how will his grandfather do anything to hurt the second prince, his own grandson?” The Emperor struggled to maintain his composure, as he gripped his hands raw behind his back tightly.

A young girl like this, however merciless, would tend to overlook things and leave weaknesses to exploit in her schemes. How would any grandparent be capable of hurting their own grandchildren?

The Emperor was confident, with this, he had a strong card in hand.

Jun Wu Xie saw the Emperor’s struggle to hide his uneasiness with rage, and raised her hand.

“Long Qi.”

“Here!” Long Qi ran forward and knelt before her.

Jun Wu Xie drew two scrolls from a bag atop the black beast and threw them to Long Qi.

“Read.”

Long Qi stood up, unrolled a scroll, and read in a loud voice:

“Wei Qun Hua, Kai Yuan year twenty third, secondth month, in Dong Yue City forcefully acquired thirty two residences, killed a total of seventy six farmers. Kai Yuan year twenty third, fifth month, accepted gold taels of one hundred thirty thousand from…..”

Long Qi’s resounding voice reverberated strongly, every word hammered strongly in the hearts of the commoners. “Recorded to this date, Wei Qun Hua is guilty of crimes including arson, murder, looting, persecution of citizens, acceptance of bribes, and more, in a total of three hundred and sixty seven instances. Total number of persons dead in relation to his crimes amount to five hundred and eighty three, and total bribes received amount to gold taels seven million two hundred and seventy thousand…..”

As the crimes were read out one by one, a murmur spread through the crowd below the wall and they all stared with hatred at the body of the father-in-law of the Emperor as it laid in the dust.

Wei Qun Hua had abused his power and favour from the Emperor and threw his weight around, mired deep in evil deeds. With his high rank and authority, many were afraid to speak up in fear of backlash. But now, all his misdeeds were made known to all.

No one in that crowd felt any pity or sympathy. They were only too glad the world was ridden of yet another villain.

The Emperor’s expression darkened. He had known of the evil deeds committed, and had done nothing to stop it. With all the crimes fully exposed to the people in such a manner, Wei Qun Hua’s execution will be welcomed by the people regardless of complicity in the attack on Mo Xuan Fei!

The Emperor was still lost in his thoughts on the passing of his lackey before he realised Long Qi was already on the second scroll reading out aloud in detail of Wu Wang’s various crimes!

The two officials the Rui Lin Army executed, had more than enough reason to die.

Not one among the citizens lamented their passing of Wu Wang and Wei Qun Hua, and they even cheered for the Rui Lin Army!

For many among the people of Qi, if it was not for the Rui Lin Army, they would never have seen the day their suppressors go under the executioner’s blade!

The Emperor trembled in fear as he stared at Jun Wu Xie. He realised that when Jun Wu Xie kills, she was merciless, and she fully justified it, leaving no room for dispute!

As the cheers from the people grew louder and louder, and the crowd grew into a frenzy, the pedestal the Rui Lin Army were placed upon in their hearts soared higher and higher.

They were more astounded by the previously widely criticised Jun Wu Xie, she had become such a confident and domineering young lady. The negative rumours that circulated previously were all quashed tonight.

A descendant of the Jun Family indeed, an imposing figure at a young tender age!

The pale moonlight cast on Jun Wu Xie, made her glow with a soft subtle radiance, a ravishing beauty. The people who saw her can’t help but think what a moron Mo Xuan Fei was, to have spurned a young lady as mesmerizing as this.

Jun Wu Xie observed them quietly, her eyes surveying their reactions.

The reputation of the Lin Palace was built by Jun Xian single handedly. And her grandfather, her father, and uncle had devoted their lives to uphold the prestige of Lin Palace.

She would never allow the reputation of Lin Palace to be smeared!

Even if she were to force an abdication, she would do it under the banner of justice, and add it to the crowning glory of the Lin Palace.

Jun Wu Xie wanted the Emperor to see his lackeys executed before him, and be helpless to stop her, while bringing the name and prestige of the Lin Palace to the top throughout the lands! Any who oppose the Lin Palace, will be killed!

Killing someone did not necessarily bring criticism, as long as it was justified, it could bring glory.

“Father, are you going to allow Jun Wu Xie to continue with this atrocity?” Mo Xuan Fei was red with rage. Besides being made to watch his grandfather executed, his crimes was made known to all!

The Emperor was pale, he had not expected a young lass to be so meticulous in her plans, taking every small details into account. From the moment she appeared in front of the gates, every move she made was carefully calculated and well linked, forcing him to swallow his anger with her every step. What really frustrated him was, he still cannot come up with any plausible reason to rebutt her!

Jun Wu Xie justified her killings of Wu Wang and Wei Qun Hua with strong reasons. Firstly, the Lin Palace was under orders from the Emperor himself. Secondly, she detailed the crimes committed by them and exposed them for all to know.

These two high walls were impossible to scale and were two very strong shields for Jun Wu Xie.

Although the Emperor would like nothing better than to skin her alive there and then, there was nothing he could do without earning the wrath of the people.

He had never suffered such a setback ever since he ascended to the throne. The suppression of his rivals and the Lin Palace had been upended by the appearance of Jun Wu Xie!

The Emperor racked his brains for a way to diffuse the situation, he knew, Jun Wu Xie will not stop here.

“Instruct the men to kill off Jun Xian.” The Emperor, through gritted teeth, ordered the senior eunuch standing by his side, and the eunuch shuffled off.

With Jun Xian dead, Jun Wu Xie would have nothing to fight for after tonight!

Come the morning, with news of Jun Xian’s death announced, the Lin Palace shall perish!

I just have to pull through tonight, I will have Jun Wu Xie in a thousand pieces!

The Emperor was blinded with rage, while Jun Wu Xie was just beginning her show!

More and more officials were being dragged in by the Rui Lin Army. They were tightly bound, and knelt in a row in front of the gates.

 

The officials kneeling in front of the gates peered up the wall and upon seeing the Emperor, started shouting, confident the Emperor will save them.

But when they spotted the bodies that lay in the dust and recognised them to be who they were, their hearts sank into utter despair!

The officials grew quiet, even Wu Wang and Wei Qun Hua did not escape the knife, who were they to hope otherwise?

For the first time in their lives, the high ranked officials felt the sinking feeling of impending doom.

“Jun Wu Xie, why have you brought them here?” The Emperor asked in a trembling voice. He had thought witnessing the executions of Wu Wang and his father-in-law had been all he could take. Seeing the officials kneeling in front of the gates made him sick, as he struggled to remain standing.

He surveyed the officials’ faces. All with none the exception, were enemies of the Lin Palace who have smeared their names or tried to bring them into disrepute in one way or another.

She missed no one, nor wrongfully captured any.

The Rui Lin Army had apprehended all the officials within the Imperial City who plotted against the Jun Family, in one stroke!

The cold claws of fear crept into the heart of the Emperor, and as he looked into the cold and merciless eyes of Jun Wu Xie, he felt the claws tightening its grip.

This lunatic was capable of anything!

“Let them read.” Jun Wu Xie threw the bag onto the ground in front of the officials, and the scrolls clattered as they fell out.

Long Qi ordered the Rui Lin Army to hand out the scrolls to the officials, and have them open them up to read its contents.

Their faces paled and they started to shake, overcome in fear.

“Read!” Jun Wu Xie intoned, her voice dripped with malice.

Long Qi’s sword snaked out of its sheath and pressed against the neck of the rightmost official. The man almost cried and in a quivering voice, he read: “Liu Pu….. Kai…Kai Yuan year thir…..thirteen, s…..snatched a woman, k…..killed the family…..”

The voice, though quivering, was made loud enough by the blade pressed against his neck, and heard by everyone present.

He was sweating profusely in the chill night as he read out the scroll to the end, and collapsed in a heap, exhausted.

“Kill” Jun Wu Xie ordered softly

“Mercy! I did not …..” The official Liu Pu who knelt in the middle started to plead before he was interrupted by the Rui Lin Army soldier standing behind him with a swift slash of his sword.

The bloody head rolled, and a bright red trail formed.

The officials all cringed in terror as they witnessed the sight right before their eyes, the horror of the scrolls that laid before them intensified with the knowledge that they listed past crimes of officials in detail, and whether the next one read out will be theirs.

Death hung over their heads, over every single one of those kneeling before the Palace Gates. Jun Wu Xie will spare not a single one among them!

When the scroll listing their crimes was read out, those were the last words they ever heard.

“Your Majesty! Save us!”

“Your Majesty!”

They cried, they begged, the high ranking officials beseeched the Emperor to interfere and to bestow His benevolence as they knelt upon the cold hard ground.

“Jun Wu Xie! For these crimes, investigations will be conducted and punishments meted by the authorities! Who are you to take this upon yourself!?” Mo Xuan Fei screamed, unable to contain himself further, jumping in rage, pointing his finger at Jun Wu Xie.

Jun Wu Xie raised her eyes and replied plainly: “I am only carrying out orders.”

“Nonsense! Whose orders!?”

“The Son of Heaven, the Emperor.”

“Lies!” Mo Xuan Fei yearned to tear Jun Wu Xie apart.

Jun Wu Xie replied calmly: “These people played a part in the attack on you, the Second Prince, and the Emperor had given full authority to the Lin Palace to resolve.”

Hence, she was only killing under those orders.

Right?

Mo Xuan Fei had seen despicable, but never one as despicable as Jun Wu Xie!

She was blatantly pinning the past crimes of the officials onto the unrelated charge of the attack on him! And to the topmost ranked court officials!

What audacity!

At this moment, even Mo Qian Yuan who had been observing in the background, started to suspect that Jun Wu Xie was not born of the Jun Family. Although the Jun Family was mighty, people of the Jun Family were religiously upright. They were incapable of action through despicable means. What made it more strange was Jun Wu Xie’s grave solemnity through it all, it was not a disposition of one as young as she!

Where did she get these evidence for the crimes of those high ranking officials?

She had them all prepared and had them with her all this time! What was scary was the meticulous detailed planning that all these required!

To attack someone using a borrowed knife!

This plan really ran deep!

Jun Wu Xie simply took these evidence which Jun Xian painstakingly prepared. These evidence were all prepared by Jun Xian personally however he never had the chance to use it, although Lin Palace was suppressed by them from all sides. He had them placed in his study, never would he have thought these would be used by Jun Wu Xie in such a manner!

Jun Xian knew that even if all these were made known to the Emperor, he might not do anything and may even increase the pressure on Lin Palace instead.

However, Jun Wu Xie simply used these as a pretext as she slays the named officials one by one under ‘the Emperor’s order’, using them to perfectly justify the executions.

Using the voice of the people was the most formidable weapon.

Jun Wu Xie had made use of every single factor and taken in every account as she contrived this plan.

Whatever Jun Xian and Jun Qing could not do, let her bear it all, all she wanted was for her grandfather to be well and alive. She did not care what happened to her, all she want now is to flush out all of Lin Palace’s enemies and force the Emperor to surrender Jun Xian!

One by one the officials fell to the sword brandished by the Rui Lin Army, the front gates were slowly soaked with red blood, an eerie deep ruby red carpet seemed to have formed as the air became thick and heavy with the stench of death.

But this was not over yet.

As long as the Emperor does not surrender Jun Xian, she would slay his lackeys one by one!

No matter what it is, Jun Wu Xie would not lose to anyone!

The Emperor’s body was on the verge of collapse, as his lips paled and his veins popped up. He gritted his teeth as he seethed with anger.

His Imperial dignity was being trampled on by this girl non stop! Every minute Jun Wu Xie was doing things that were akin to slapping his face!

However under the coercion of one hundred thousand Rui Lin Army, he could not resist!

Jun Xian was very loyal to the country but he faced the persecution of the Emperor. On the other hand, Jun Wu Xie completely disregarded the Emperor and trampled all over his dignity and dismissed his authority. The Emperor had a vey bad feeling…

Since the good are always bullied, Jun Wu Xie swore to never be a good person!

Even after her death, she would let hell know that she was not to be trifled with! She was not to be provoked! If anyone touches her, she would prove to be the demon of their nightmares!

As long as Jun Xian does not appear, she would not stop.

Even if she turned the whole palace into a burial ground, she must find her Grandfather!

The Emperor and Mo Xuan Fei hatred towards Jun Wu Xie had turned into fear. They were afraid of the method she had, how cold and heartless was she? This was not the style of the Lin Palace as they could feel themselves being ensnared.

At that moment the Emperor was very sorry and full of regret. Why did they have to provoke the Jun Family? If he had known that their family’s young miss was such a dangerous variable, he would never had attempted to touch them!

“Quickly! Quick send someone to stop them! We CANNOT kill Jun Xian! If he is killed, that insane girl will definitely come after our heads!” The Emperor suddenly awakened. Such reckless behaviour, what did it all lead to? What did all these killings represent?

Jun Wu Xie was determined to fight with the Emperor to the end, since she had blew matters up to this extent, there was nothing to fear.

She was already prepared to continue the massacre and cut down anything that stood in her path!

The Emperor was sweating profusely, he had really underestimated this girl! To think he was originally so naive and thought that if they had somehow managed to drag on and made it through the night, Jun Wu Xie would have given up. However looking at the situation now, if Jun Wu Xie did not find Jun Xian tonight, she would really kill everyone that she’s dragged in and fill the whole Palace with dead officials instead.

Things were critical to the point that even if the Emperor had calculated everything, they were all still useless.

He had never met such a reckless person who completely disregarded consequences in his life and Jun Wu Xie was also the most vicious and merciless opponent he has ever met.

The Eunuch who had received the new orders from the Emperor quickly rushed to stop them from harming Jun Xian while Mo Xuan Fei who had overheard everything looked at his father wide eyed, never had he imagined that his father had actually took a step back!

The Dignified Emperor was actually pushed to such a point by such a young girl, it was simply inconceivable!

“Imperial Father, how can you…..?”

“Shut up! Do you mean you still can’t see it? If before sunrise, Jun Wu Xie doesn’t see Jun Xian, she would order the whole Rui Lin Army to storm into the Palace! At that time not only you, even I, the Emperor, would be slain without any hesitation!” Just thinking about it made his scalp go numb. His robes were already soaked through with cold sweat, the brutality of this girl really made him feel fear for the first time.

Mo Xuan Fei stared at the Emperor, dumbfounded. “How could it be? She wouldn’t dare to start a massacre.”

The Emperor frowned deeply. “What do you think she’s doing now? She is warning me that she can blatantly kill so many officials in front of me, in front of a large crowd means that she does not fear anything. If she does not get what she wants, she does not mind a struggle to the death. If we kill Jun Xian, she would definitely storm into the Palace with the Rui Lin Army!

Just thinking of Jun Wu Xie’s cold stare made the Emperor shudder and chills tingled down his spine.

“Just relying on the Palace Guards and the Yu Lin Army, how are we going to withstand the torrential onslaught of the Rui Lin Army? Rui Lin Army only listens to the Jun Family, and the way she is handling it, even though she had pushed things to the extreme, but in the eyes of the common people, she has become a hero!”

“Killing people is not the scary thing but her quick thinking is, because no matter how many she kills, she is standing on the side of justice. Don’t you think that with her abilities, inciting the Rui Lin Army to cause a massacre is not possible? Don’t underestimate her just because she does not speak much, her mind and methods are nothing you can compare to even if you have decades of experience!” The Emperor was really affected by the courage and terror Jun Wu Xie had shown him.

A girl who could think of such a grand plan, a girl who used just a few words to rouse the common people hearts, a girl who just needed to give a single command to have the Rui Lin Army do her bidding…

How was he going to fight against her?

The alleged Imperial power was just a fart in her eyes.

For her to kill the Emperor was as if killing a pig, there was no difference!

The things that were restraining Lin Palace previously meant absolutely nothing to her.

The Emperor was now very worried, a devil had appeared in the Jun Family, touching them in the future was only a dream.

Thinking back, he really wanted to strangle Mo Xuan Fei alive! He and Jun Wu Xie had so much contact previously, how could he not know that she could be so dangerous!

If he had known, he wouldn’t have opened pandora’s box and would have let her into the Royal Family when she was still smitten with Mo Xuan Fei.

It was now all too late!