[Imperial Palace · Taiji Hall · 5-7 AM]
"This minister demands to impeach the Duke of Zhenguo, Yin Lie!"
Zhou Yanling's voice exploded through Taiji Hall. Every official's expression changed.
Yin Wuwang stood among the military officials, one eyebrow raised slightly.
Here it comes. He sneered internally. The old bastard finally couldn't hold back.
He had been expecting this. After the failed assassination at the Ministry of Justice, after Xie Qingyan's counterattack, the Prime Minister would need to do something drastic to regain the upper hand. Attacking the Duke of Zhenguo—the Regent's supposed enemy—was a logical move. It would test whether they were truly adversaries, and potentially remove a military threat at the same time.
Predictable. But annoying.
The young Emperor was startled: "Im-impeach the Duke of Zhenguo? Why?"
"Your Majesty, this old minister has obtained irrefutable evidence!" Zhou Yanling produced a letter from his sleeve and held it high. "Vice General Zhao Meng, under the Duke of Zhenguo's command, has been colluding with foreign tribes, trading military secrets for foreign treasures!"
The hall erupted into chaos.
"That's not all!" Zhou Yanling produced a jade pendant and a document. "This is the token Zhao Meng left behind when trading with the foreigners, along with a transit permit bearing his own signature! The evidence is overwhelming—the Duke of Zhenguo cannot deny it!"
Yin Wuwang looked at the so-called "evidence" and found it laughable.
Colluding with foreign tribes?
What a joke. Back when I commanded a million demon soldiers, I could have anything I wanted. Why would I need to trade defense maps for a few pathetic birds?
This frame-up is so amateurish it's insulting to my intelligence.
He surveyed his surroundings, watching those officials who normally couldn't even meet his eyes now standing up one by one to accuse him with righteous indignation.
"The Duke of Zhenguo failed to control his subordinates—he cannot escape responsibility!"
"We request the Duke of Zhenguo surrender his military tally to prove his innocence!"
"This minister seconds the motion!"
"This minister also seconds!"
Yin Wuwang could only laugh internally.
A bunch of jumping clowns.
In the cultivation world, anyone who dared speak to me like this would have grass three zhang tall growing on their graves by now.
I, the mighty Demon Sovereign, surrounded by these insects buzzing at me? This garbage script is making me physically ill.
A flash of violent red light flickered in the depths of his eyes. His fingers twitched—the instinctive urge to draw his blade.
In the demon realm, he would have already painted these walls red. One wave of his hand and every single one of these bleating sheep would be dead. Their souls would feed his cultivation. Their bones would decorate his throne room. No one—no one—spoke to the Demon Sovereign this way and lived.
Little Deer Assistant 9527's voice shrieked frantically in his mind: "Warning! The Duke of Zhenguo is a falsely accused loyal minister! He can only argue his case—he cannot attack! Absolutely cannot kill the Prime Minister! OOC risk rising sharply!"
Yin Wuwang forced himself to stop mid-motion, his teeth grinding with fury.
Endure? I've never suffered such humiliation in my entire existence!
A bunch of mortal ants think they can make me endure?!
When this garbage mission is over, the first thing I'm doing is tearing this broken system apart!
But even as he raged internally, a small part of him remembered: Fuguang is here. Fuguang is watching. I can't ruin this for him.
He drew a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the violence in his heart, and put on the expression of a "wrongly accused loyal minister." He stepped forward from the ranks: "Your Majesty! There must be something suspicious about this! Zhao Meng has followed this minister for years—he would never do such a thing!"
"Why is the Duke so eager to distance himself?" Zhou Yanling smiled, his expression not quite reaching his eyes. "Zhao Meng is the Duke's vice general. When something like this happens, the Duke cannot escape responsibility. This old minister requests an imperial decree to temporarily confiscate the Duke's military tally until the case is resolved."
"Confiscate my military tally?!" Yin Wuwang's eyes went wide with rage, his performance complete with reddened eyes and choked emotion. "What audacity, Prime Minister!"
The military officers around him began to stir. Some were angry, some doubtful, some kept their heads down and said nothing.
Yin Wuwang swept his gaze over them, a flash of mockery in his eyes.
Zhao Meng is my subordinate in this instance. Attacking my subordinate is slapping my face.
You useless lot can't even see something this obvious?
The civil official faction had already begun piling on, chanting in unison: "We request the Duke of Zhenguo consider the greater good and surrender his military tally!"
Yin Wuwang stood in the center of the hall, surrounded and attacked by a swarm of insects. What he felt wasn't loneliness—it was absolute absurdity and irritation.
I could kill every single one of you with a flick of my finger.
Yet I'm bound by these garbage rules, forced to stand here and listen to you spew nonsense.
This frustration of having power but nowhere to use it was driving him nearly mad.
Just then, an ice-cold voice rang out—
"The Prime Minister makes a valid point."
Yin Wuwang's head whipped around. Xie Qingyan stepped forward from among the civil officials, his expression blank.
"Colluding with foreign tribes is a grave offense that cannot be overlooked." Xie Qingyan said mildly. "This minister seconds the Prime Minister's request to temporarily confiscate the Duke of Zhenguo's military tally until the case is resolved."
Yin Wuwang's head snapped up, meeting Xie Qingyan's ice-cold eyes.
Those eyes were cold and distant, without a trace of warmth—as if he truly were the Regent who wanted the Duke dead.
For one terrible heartbeat, doubt flickered through Yin Wuwang's mind. Did I read him wrong? Did those moments of connection mean nothing? Is he actually—
But in that instant, Yin Wuwang read the calm calculation hidden deep within those eyes.
There—barely visible, deliberately concealed—was a message meant only for him. Trust me.
Fuguang is telling me to... sacrifice the rook to save the king?
The momentary rage in his heart subsided.
Yes. The Prime Minister had come prepared with complete evidence. If he clung stubbornly to the military tally, it would only confirm the charges of "hoarding military power with intent to rebel." He would lose any chance of turning the tables.
Surrendering the tally was meant to make the Prime Minister lower his guard.
Showing weakness was preparation for a killing blow.
Fine. You want me to hand it over? I'll hand it over.
This play—I'll act it out to the very end.
A flash of resolve crossed Yin Wuwang's eyes. He ripped the tiger tally from his waist and hurled it to the ground with a resounding clang.
The sound echoed through the silent hall like a thunderclap.
"Take it!" He roared, his eyes red-rimmed, looking every bit the picture of a man suffering tremendous injustice. "Since all of you believe that traitor, this Duke wants nothing more to do with this military tally! This Duke quits being Duke of Zhenguo!"
His voice cracked with perfectly performed grief and rage. Internally, he was rather proud of his acting skills. Three thousand years of dealing with scheming demon lords had taught him something about deception after all.
Besides, he thought with dark amusement, the tiger tally only controls the imperial army—the thirty thousand troops that officially belong to "the Duke of Zhenguo." My personal guard and shadow guards are private retainers, not bound by any tally. The Prime Minister thinks he's crippled me, but I've merely handed over the leash to a dog I was never going to use anyway.
Three hundred elite warriors, loyal only to me. That's all I need.
With that, he flung his sleeves and strode out of Taiji Hall.
The hall fell silent.
Officials exchanged glances. The military officers looked stunned. Even the young Emperor seemed unsure whether to call him back or let him go.
Zhou Yanling stood stunned for a moment, then picked up the military tally from the ground. A satisfied smile crept onto his face.
He glanced at Xie Qingyan, thinking to himself: It seems the Duke of Zhenguo and the Regent really are mortal enemies. I was worried for nothing.
Xie Qingyan stood expressionless in place, as if nothing had happened.
Only he knew that in the instant Yin Wuwang threw down the tally, what he had seen in those eyes wasn't anger—it was understanding.
He understood.
He trusted me.
The thought stirred something unexpected in Xie Qingyan's chest. Three thousand years of enmity, and Yin Wuwang had chosen to trust him in front of the entire court, based on nothing but a single look.
When did we become... this?
Xie Qingyan lowered his gaze slightly.
This game of chess has only just begun.
[Duke of Zhenguo's Residence · Study · Noon]
Yin Wuwang sat alone in his study, drowning his frustrations in wine.
The military tally was gone. His "symbol of status" in this broken world had been snatched away by a swarm of insects.
Ridiculous. He sneered internally. I, the mighty Demon Sovereign, reduced to watching a bunch of mortals' faces.
This garbage script is absolutely disgusting.
He hadn't felt this powerless since... well, ever. Even at his lowest point in the cultivation world, he had always had options. Always had power. Here, he was trapped in a mortal body, bound by rules he didn't write, watching enemies destroy evidence with impunity.
While he was stewing in irritation, a guard came to report: "My lord, someone from the Regent's residence says they have an urgent matter!"
Yin Wuwang started, then stood: "Let them in."
Moments later, a man in shadow guard attire entered the study and produced a slip of paper from his robes: "His Highness asked me to deliver this to the Duke."
Yin Wuwang took the paper and unfolded it. Written on it—
"The letter was forged. I've already sent people to investigate. Results within three days. Stay calm."
Looking at that familiar handwriting, his frustrated mood finally eased somewhat.
Fuguang is already investigating.
Fine. I'll wait three days.
He tucked the paper away and took another gulp of wine.
[Duke of Zhenguo's Residence · Back Courtyard · 9-11 PM]
That night, Xie Qingyan came in person.
He arrived through the back gate, dressed in plain robes without any insignia of his rank—a precaution against prying eyes. Even so, the simple clothing couldn't diminish his presence. He moved like moonlight itself, cold and elegant.
The two spoke privately in the study for an hour, dividing up the investigation work and planning their response. Maps were spread across the desk. Names were circled. Timelines were reconstructed.
"The forger will be the key," Xie Qingyan said, pointing to a location on the map. "If we can find who created the fake documents, we can trace it back to the Prime Minister."
"And if we can't?" Yin Wuwang asked.
Xie Qingyan's eyes were calm. "Then we find another way."
As he was leaving, Xie Qingyan said only one thing: "Within three days, I'll give you an answer."
Yin Wuwang walked him to the back gate, watching that figure disappear into the night. The corner of his mouth curved slightly.
Fuguang, oh Fuguang. You owe me a favor now.
And I intend to collect.
[Duke of Zhenguo's Residence · Study · Two Days Later]
Over the next two days, Yin Wuwang deployed all his personal guards to investigate the source of the forged letter.
But the more he uncovered, the more alarmed he became.
"My lord," the guard knelt in the study, cold sweat beading on his forehead, "the craftsman who forged the handwriting... is dead."
"Dead?" Yin Wuwang raised an eyebrow. "How?"
"Sudden illness. He was fine last night—this morning he was gone. The coroner said it was heart failure."
Yin Wuwang let out a cold laugh. "How convenient."
"That's not all," the guard continued, his voice trembling. "When I went to trace the paper used for the letter... the paper shop had a fire three days ago. All the records were burned."
Yin Wuwang's smile deepened, but his eyes turned cold.
"What else?"
"The merchant who handled the jade pendant fell into the water two days ago. They only fished out the body this morning..."
The guard trailed off, not daring to continue.
Yin Wuwang slowly rose and walked to the window, gazing at the overcast sky outside.
The craftsman dead of sudden illness. The records destroyed by fire. The merchant drowned.
Three leads. Three dead ends.
That old fox... moves fast.
He recalled Xie Qingyan's words: "Within three days, I'll give you an answer."
But clearly they were in a race against time. Every day that passed, the evidence diminished and another witness died. By the third day, there might be nothing left to find.
Yin Wuwang clenched his fist, his knuckles turning white.
This is what the plot of this broken world is like. So sickening. Even knowing it's a frame-up, even knowing the truth—I'm bound hand and foot by the rules, watching helplessly as the enemy eliminates every trace.
He drew a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the violence churning in his chest.
One more day.
If even Fuguang can't find anything, then don't blame me for flipping the table.
Rules be damned. I refuse to let this garbage plot win.
[End of Chapter 21]
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Three days. Three dead witnesses. Every path blocked.
When the rules of the world conspire against you, there's only one option left: break the rules entirely.
Even if it means the Regent has to "die."
Chapter 22: This Garbage Plot Wants to Drive Me Insane? Then the Regent Will Have to Die!