"What?!"
"The Zhu clan pardoned, the princes' character is poor, the engagement is dissolved… Zhu clan fiefdom?!"
"A fiefdom of a hundred li around Dragon Rising City?!"
"A fiefdom is a privilege only kings receive!"
When Dai Chengfeng read out the contents of the imperial decree, he was greatly shocked, and the entire Zhu clan, from top to bottom, stared dumbfounded at the young woman who had suddenly appeared.
The courtyard fell into stunned silence.
Moments ago, despair had gripped every heart. Now, disbelief replaced it. The sharp reversal was so abrupt that no one could immediately process what they had just heard. A pardon alone would have been miraculous—but a royal fiefdom? That was an honor reserved for the highest echelon of the empire.
All eyes turned toward Zhu Zhuqing.
Only a noblewoman next to Zhu Yuan stumbled and crawled to the young woman's side:
"Zhuqing, you are my Zhuqing!"
"Zhuqing, are you hurt?"
Her voice trembled as she reached out, hands shaking uncontrollably. Tears streamed down her face—not of sorrow this time, but of overwhelming relief and maternal concern.
"Hmm, just a little injury."
Zhu Zhuqing nodded slightly, looking indifferently at everyone in the Zhu family, and merely said coldly:
"Take all the valuables you can, and abandon what you must. I can only do this much. You either quickly disperse to Dragon Rising City, or you must seek your own fortune. Otherwise, I cannot protect you."
Her tone was calm, but the urgency beneath it was unmistakable.
There was no joy in her eyes, no sense of triumph. Only clarity.
This was not salvation—it was a narrow path carved out by force.
This time, her surprise attack on the imperial palace, threatening the Emperor to protect her family, and castrating the princes to vent her anger, was actually taking an enormous risk and was already something the Royal Family could not tolerate.
Even now, the consequences had not fully arrived.
She understood the empire's nature better than anyone present. Power ruled above all else, and humiliation—especially of the royal bloodline—would never be forgotten. What she had done was not merely defiance; it was a direct challenge to imperial authority.
And Dragon Rising City is on the border of the Star Luo Empire, less than two hundred li from the Heaven Dou Empire, and not far from Spirit City.
The location was no coincidence.
It was a calculated escape route.
Once the Star Luo Emperor returned to the palace and realized what had happened, if he summoned a large army to encircle and suppress the Zhu family, even with her Soul Bursting Sky Piercer, she wouldn't be able to protect the entire family.
Her strength had limits.
Against a single opponent—or even a handful—she could dominate. But against an empire's full military force, even she would be overwhelmed.
But at the Empire's border, the clansmen could either enjoy the fiefdom or retreat into the Heaven Dou Empire and Spirit City for safety.
Survival—that was all she could guarantee.
The so-called imperial power connection, glory, wealth, and influence that the Zhu clan desired, she couldn't protect, nor did she want to. The only thing she could do was leave them a glimmer of hope.
Whether they seized it or squandered it was no longer her concern.
...
Meanwhile, in the imperial palace, in the White Tiger Hall, blood covered the ground, with more than ten bodies of generals lying scattered, including even two great generals at the Spirit Douluo rank. Their bones and flesh were shattered by a single shot, leaving a huge hole in their bodies.
The once-majestic hall had become a scene of carnage.
The scent of blood hung thick in the air, mingling with the faint echoes of chaos that had only just subsided. Broken armor and shattered weapons littered the marble floor, silent witnesses to the overwhelming force that had swept through moments earlier.
"Zhuqing, no, no!"
Dai Weisi and Dai Mubai also lay half-dead on the tiger steps, but just remembering the terrifying scene from moments ago, they couldn't help but shriek in surprise.
Their voices were hoarse, filled with lingering terror.
Their lower bodies were covered in blood!
Only two trembling young eunuchs, holding knives, knelt beside them, sobbing.
The blades in their hands were still stained red, their bodies shaking uncontrollably. They did not dare to look up, as if doing so would summon the nightmare back into reality.
In their minds, there was only the terrifying figure of Zhu Zhuqing, alone, fighting her way into the White Tiger Hall to break off the engagement, instantly blasting the eighty-eighth-ranked Imperial Defender General to death with a single shot, forcing the eunuchs to castrate the princes, and then holding the Star Luo Emperor hostage as she left the palace:
The memory replayed again and again, etched into their consciousness.
A single figure.
Unstoppable.
Untouchable.
"What kind of divine artifact is that object in her hand?!"
"Zhu Zhuqing, you are truly too terrifying!"
"If I can't marry you, I'll marry your younger sister—do you have to interfere with that too?!"
"Ah~ My brother, you've ruined me!"
Their cries echoed through the bloodstained hall—pitiful, furious, and filled with regret.
But there was no one left to answer them.
Only silence remained… and the lingering shadow of the woman who had overturned everything.