“So you admit it? Mu Xue, you have truly disappointed Us.”
Ling Ze’s voice was terrifyingly low.
His icy gaze turned to the Imperial Guard Commander standing by his side.
“Take her away. According to the rules, abolish Ling Muxue’s cultivation, revoke her Jade Register, expel her from the royal city, and banish her for all eternity—she is never to set foot here again!”
This decree, like a death sentence, struck the hall as if a massive stone had been cast into a tranquil lake.
In an instant, it ignited a storm among all the courtiers supporting the Eldest Princess’s faction.
To abolish her cultivation and cast her out from the royal city—this was not merely casting Ling Muxue into the abyss, but also severing all hope for those who relied upon her.
It was no different from forcing them to be buried alive alongside her.
“Your Majesty, please quell your anger!”
At that moment, an elderly man with a head of white hair shot out from the ranks like an arrow loosed from its string.
His voice was hoarse, and veins bulged at his temples as he cried, “Your Majesty, your old minister Cang Feng begs to offer his death-defying counsel.”
With a heavy thud, he knelt to the ground, his forehead pressed tightly against the cold floor tiles.
“Your Majesty, Her Highness the Eldest Princess has always been upright and virtuous, of noble character and pure heart. For her to commit such a rebellious act—there must be a hidden truth behind it! Please, Your Majesty, see with clear eyes!”
“Hmph, are you implying that I am speaking nonsense? That I would fabricate charges against My own daughter?”
Ling Ze snorted coldly, his presence crashing down like a tidal wave made real, surging even higher.
“Your old minister would never dare such a thing, even if it cost me a thousand lives…”
Cang Feng kept his head pressed firmly to the ground, his voice trembling uncontrollably.
Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at Ling Shuang Xue, then shifted his gaze to Mu Feng, who stood beside Ling Muxue, his eyes flickering with uncertainty.
A glint of ruthless determination flashed in Cang Feng’s clouded eyes.
Suddenly, he lifted his head.
“Your Majesty, lords, in this minister’s opinion, the truth is already clear. It must be this mysterious fiend—who knows what demonic arts he used to bewitch Her Highness the Eldest Princess’s mind and lure her into theft!”
“All sins originate with this fiend; all consequences should be borne by him alone.”
With this reasonable and typical deduction, the minister deftly shifted all blame onto Mu Feng.
Mu Feng’s already unsightly face turned from pale to blue, then blue to black in a heartbeat.
“Your Majesty, so long as we execute this wretch and remove the tumor corrupting the Princess, Her Highness will surely awaken and repent.”
Cang Feng seized the moment, banging his head once more against the floor, his voice now tinged with grief and indignation.
“I beg Your Majesty to grant death to this fiend, restore order, and give our Wolf Clan a world of clarity!”
As if well-rehearsed, all the courtiers supporting the Eldest Princess fell to their knees in unison, their voices ringing out together, echoing throughout the great hall: “We beg Your Majesty to grant death to this fiend!”
The other officials either watched their noses and noses watched their hearts, as still as old monks in meditation, or else had faint, mocking smiles playing at their lips.
They all coldly observed, knowing well what those jumping up to speak truly thought.
What was truly inscrutable was the eye of the storm: Ling Ze, seated upon the Dragon Throne, and what was going through his mind.
“So—you are all forcing Us to comply?!”
Ling Ze’s voice suddenly dropped to a dangerous low. Many within the hall displayed expressions of fear.
Those kneeling courtiers seemed to lose their spines, trembling uncontrollably, pressing their foreheads into the ground.
Just as the air froze—
“But…” Ling Ze suddenly changed course, “What Lord Cang says is not without merit.”
“Mu Xue acted as she did because she befriended those she ought never to have known.”
Here, Ling Ze paused, his gaze landing on Mu Feng, who from the start to now had appeared nervous and uneasy.
The very air within the great hall seemed to freeze beneath Ling Ze’s gaze.
Countless eyes locked onto Mu Feng, pinning him to the spot.
“Drag this fiend who bewitched the imperial princess and stole sacred relics away! He is to suffer the most severe punishment—death and nothing less!”
Ling Ze voiced what the majority in the hall had anticipated.
His gaze then swept over the ashen-faced Ling Muxue, and he continued to announce:
“As for Mu Xue—though she was bewitched by a fiend, her rebellion is proven beyond doubt, an unforgivable crime. She is to have her cultivation sealed and will sweep snow before the Grand Spirit Venerable’s Temple for a hundred years as punishment.”
With the verdict delivered, the great hall fell into a strange silence.
The Prime Minister stroked his long beard in a composed manner, his murky eyes briefly meeting those of the chief eunuch standing by.
A faint, tacit gleam flashed between them.
Clearly, they had long foreseen the outcome.
Thunder and rain, favor and punishment alike—heavy or light, all at the emperor’s whim.
To sweep snow before the temple, named as punishment, was in truth a form of protection.
After all, Ling Muxue was also Ling Ze’s flesh and blood. This sentence was nothing but a show, meant to appease the restless mouths, preserve royal dignity, and serve as a warning to the courtiers.
In the hearts of those present, the weight pressing down seemed to finally lift.
The tense atmosphere was about to loosen—
“Wait!”
Ling Muxue suddenly raised her head, her voice sharp with the desperation of one burning her bridges, instantly tearing through the false calm.
“I wasn’t bewitched by Mu Feng. Stealing the Frost Moon Wheel was my idea!”
“Father Emperor, didn’t you already recover everything? Didn’t everyone killed in the secret realm return safe and sound? What has Mu Feng done wrong?”
Ling Muxue grew more and more agitated, even taking a step forward: “Besides, I already like Mu Feng now. If you want to kill him, Father Emperor, you’ll have to kill me first!”
Deathly silence.
Absolute, suffocating silence.
All the courtiers seemed to have invisible hands wrapped around their throats.
Their eyes widened, forgetting even to breathe.
Lu Qiancha, who had quietly slipped into the hall to observe, couldn’t help but glance at Ling Muxue with the look one might give an idiot.
All the old foxes’ efforts to exonerate her with clever words—defeated by one honest outburst from this fool.
At the side, Xunxue, whose face had been frosted over with displeasure at the lenient verdict, now let a cold, piercing smile curl her lips.
She knew—these two reckless lovebirds were both doomed now.
“Bang!”
The armrest of the Profound Ice Dragon Throne shattered under Ling Ze’s furious palm, crumbling to dust.
The pressure around him grew so dense it seemed to become tangible, the array formations at full power causing the very air to twist and distort.
Ling Ze’s face was as dark as ink as he forced out words through gritted teeth: “Ling Muxue! Do you even understand what you’re saying?!”
For Ling Ze, it was as if he had been descending the steps one by one, only for his rebellious daughter to smash the stairs out from beneath him in a single blow!
Of course, at this point Ling Ze no longer cared about dignity. What truly infuriated him was that his daughter would dare say such unforgivable things in such a setting.
“Father Emperor, Mu Feng has done nothing wrong. You can’t kill him.”
Yet Ling Muxue seemed determined to see things through, her voice now filled with a stubborn finality.
This drama was a bit too much even for Lu Qiancha, who eyed Ling Muxue with open disdain, her patience for fools running out.
Ling Ze no longer looked at his muddleheaded daughter, but instead fixed his dangerous gaze on Mu Feng. “Human, do you have any last words?”
At last, Mu Feng broke his silence.
He lifted his head, meeting the emperor’s gaze directly, not a trace of fear upon his face.
Instead, there was even a maddening note of righteousness: “The Frost Moon Wheel—I was the one who tried to steal it. As for killing people—?”
A cold smile tugged at his lips.
“Didn’t all those people survive just fine? At most, you could call it attempted murder. Why should I have to die for it?”
Hearing this, Lu Qiancha couldn’t help but cast her gaze on Mu Feng as well. Scum paired with fool—truly a match made in heaven.