As time passed, quite a few ministers gradually collapsed to the floor.
Prince An frowned. “Did Imperial Brother put poison in the incense as well?”
“Better safe than sorry.”
“…”
Prince An was silent for a long while before saying, “You certainly are cautious.”
His entire body was weak, so he simply swept aside his robe and sat down on the steps. The corners of his eyes were flushed scarlet, and a trace of excitement gleamed in them as fire seemed to leap within his gaze.
The Crown Prince glanced at him. “My younger brother seems rather excited.”
“Is it that obvious?”
“With a blade pressed to your throat, and you’re still not afraid?”
“I’m not afraid, but I admit I am a little excited.” A smile played at the corners of Xiao Yi’s lips.
With the throne changing hands and corpses piling up like mountains, how could any man not feel excited?
The Crown Prince gave a cold laugh. “If I wanted to kill you before the battle outside was decided, my younger brother, what would you do?”
Prince An shot to his feet.
Shen Xiabai glanced at the two brothers but said nothing.
Prince An said, “Are you in such a hurry?”
“The Emperor has only you and me as his sons. If you die and I lose, the empire of Great Liang can only be handed over to someone else. That would be fine, too. With no victor, no one gets to claim it.”
“…”
“Imperial Brother has certainly thought things through.”
“I always have. It’s only that, in Father’s eyes, I am far less ruthless than you.”
“Father, I shall be ruthless for once and let you see for yourself, so you’ll know that I am not some indecisive coward.”
The Emperor said, “Chen’er, you bear the surname Xiao, after all.”
“Once we are dead, none of this will matter. The loser may not even be left with a complete corpse. Why should I care whether the empire is ruled by someone surnamed Xiao?”
The Crown Prince’s expression turned cold and grim. “Ever since we were children, you have favored him. If I had not been the eldest and born of the Empress, you would have had difficulty explaining yourself to the ministers. Otherwise, I fear you would have given the Crown Prince’s position to him long ago.”
Prince An said, “Imperial Brother, don’t make reckless accusations. I refuse to acknowledge that.”
The Emperor had never favored him. When he married Yunfeng, he had used him without the slightest consideration for their bond as father and son.
What the Crown Prince considered favoritism was not partiality at all. It was simply that the Emperor had few sons left, while Prince An was a madman. As long as no one touched his taboos, he would not hold trivial offenses against him.
To put it plainly, the easygoing were bullied, while madmen were feared.
The Emperor’s face darkened. “So, according to you, I have been a complete failure as a father.”
The Crown Prince’s voice sharpened. “Do not sully the word ‘father’—”
It was the Emperor’s constant pressure that had driven him onto this path. Bringing up fatherly affection now only made him sick.
Prince An actually nodded in agreement.
The Emperor nearly choked on his breath.
The Crown Prince said, “Regardless of who wins or loses, my younger brother cannot leave here alive today. But for the sake of our brotherhood, I can guarantee that Princess An and her child will remain healthy and live out the rest of their lives in peace.”
“You’ve successfully reduced my desire to kill you by half, Imperial Brother.”
The Crown Prince smiled. He took a long sword from one of the monks nearby and walked toward Prince An.
Then he suddenly turned to Shen Xiabai. “Lord Shen, how about I grant you the merit of supporting the future emperor?”
Shen Xiabai, who had been watching the spectacle, fell silent.
“Your Highness must be joking. I’ve only just married, and I value my life dearly. What if my merit in supporting the future emperor turns into the crime of treason? Wouldn’t that be a miserable way to die?”
Prince An laughed without the slightest restraint.
Aside from the Crown Prince and the Emperor, the other two men were unnervingly calm for people who might lose their lives at any moment.
The Crown Prince said, “Lord Shen, you certainly have courage. At a time like this, you can still be so unyielding. You hardly look like someone afraid of death.”
“Your Highness is mistaken. I truly am afraid of dying.”
Clang—
The Crown Prince threw the sword in his hand directly at Shen Xiabai’s feet. “Lord Shen, you have no choice.”
The smile on Shen Xiabai’s face slowly froze. In the depths of his eyes lay an abyss of darkness stretching as far as the horizon.
“Rest assured. So long as you kill him, once I ascend the throne, I can grant you the title of prince with a different surname. You will stand below only one person and above all others. In time, the Crown Princess—and even the Empress—can come from your Shen family.”
Shen Xiabai’s expression was dark and unreadable. He said nothing.
The Crown Prince continued, “With such generous terms, I’m sure Cousin Yun Chu would be delighted.”
The mother of the future Empress—what honor or glory could she possibly lack? She would not merely receive a noble title.
The Crown Prince was forcing Shen Xiabai to choose a side.
Prince An said, “Lord Shen, you and I are brothers-in-law, bound together even if our bones are broken. Are you really going to listen to him?”
“Whatever he can give you, I can give you as well—and more.”
The Crown Prince said, “You are a prisoner now. Your promises are nothing but empty words. Lord Shen, as long as you act, we will certainly be the last ones standing.”
The Emperor thought: Had every one of them truly taken him for a dead man?
Shen Xiabai said, “At present, every life in this hall is in the Crown Prince’s hands. He can kill Prince An and His Majesty directly. Why insist that I do it?”
The Crown Prince’s face darkened, and he said nothing.
Killing them would certainly be simple. But unless absolutely necessary, the Crown Prince still did not want to bear the crime of patricide and fratricide.
Moreover, the court was currently divided into three factions. If he killed both men outright and took the throne, the ministers would refuse to submit, leaving him surrounded on all sides. Other members of the imperial family might even seize the opportunity to make their move.
Prince An could die.
The Emperor, however, could not—at least not yet.
The Crown Prince strode forward, bent down, and picked up the long sword from the floor. With a twist of his wrist, he thrust it toward Prince An’s chest, the blade slicing through the air with a howl and a flash of cold light.
The ease on Prince An’s face vanished.
At the critical moment, he abruptly arched backward and evaded the Crown Prince’s strike. His right leg shot up and slammed into the Crown Prince’s arm, and he swiftly regained his footing.
The Crown Prince’s pupils contracted. “You weren’t poisoned?”
“I was. I just neutralized it.” Prince An smiled. “Imperial Brother, you and I were both born in the imperial palace. If we didn’t have a few tricks up our sleeves, how could either of us have survived until today?”
The Crown Prince had relied mostly on the Empress’s protection. With a mother as careless and indifferent as his, Prince An had been forced to rely entirely on himself.
“That’s true.”
The Crown Prince thrust his sword again, and the two began fighting in the middle of the great hall.
The sounds of battle outside gradually faded from fierce clashes into silence.
The Crown Prince and Prince An had trained in martial arts together since childhood under the same master, and each knew the other’s techniques by heart. Yet a person’s temperament easily influenced the way they fought.
The Crown Prince’s style was measured and fluid, while Prince An struck directly at vital points. Before long, the Crown Prince was slashed across the shoulder and kicked to the ground by Prince An.
The sword fell from his hand with a clang, and the Crown Prince clutched his shoulder as he crashed onto the steps.
“My younger brother did warn you not to rush,” Prince An said as he landed, his words dripping with sarcasm.
If he hadn’t insisted on fighting, he could have simply waited peacefully for the outcome. Wouldn’t that have been better?
The monks in the hall immediately formed a protective circle around the Crown Prince, their blades pointed at Prince An, ready to fight to the death.
The atmosphere in the hall grew taut with tension. The moment the Crown Prince gave the order, a bloody battle would erupt.
Xiao Yi narrowed his peach-shaped eyes slightly, their depths filled with icy mockery.
Shen Xiabai stood to one side and suddenly spoke. “Since Prince An has something that can neutralize the poison, why keep it to yourself?”
Prince An glanced at him, noting his limp and weakened appearance, and tightened his grip on the sword in his hand.
He did not believe that Shen Xiabai, a fox as cunning as he was, would have made no preparations at all. Most likely, he was simply trying to remain uninvolved—to stand in the middle and support neither side.
They sat on the mountain watching the tigers fight, only to kneel and pay their respects to the new Emperor in the end.
The husband and wife were each more skilled at putting on an act than the other.
The Emperor’s men had been stopped outside, and so had Xiao Yi’s. No matter how formidable his martial skills were, there was an old saying: two fists could not contend with four hands. Alone, facing more than a dozen highly skilled monks, even he found it extremely difficult.
“Prince An, surely what matters most to Our Imperial Brother right now is defeating Father first? You and I are brothers—we can fight to the death, but there’s no need to rush.”
The Crown Prince let out a cold laugh and lowered a finger. Aside from the men restraining the Emperor, nearly everyone in the hall charged at Prince An.
Prince An was no omnipotent deity. After the time it took for an incense stick to burn, he was gradually beginning to struggle.
“Shen Xiabai, I’m your brother-in-law, at the very least. Are you really going to just sit there and watch?”
“This subject has been struck by a deadly poison. I truly wish I could help, but I am powerless. I hope Your Highness will understand.”
Prince An spared a moment to glare at Shen Xiabai, who was sitting on the steps with his head tilted up, watching them fight.
“Your Highness, watch out. There’s a sword coming from behind.”
“.”
