Thoroughly Spicy

“So you admit it? Muxue, you have truly disappointed me.”

Ling Ze’s voice was terrifyingly low.

He turned his cold gaze to the commander of the imperial guards standing by his side and said, “Take her away. According to the rules, abolish Ling Muxue’s cultivation, strip her of her royal title, expel her from the royal city, and forbid her from ever entering again!”

This decree, akin to a death sentence, was like a huge rock thrown into a calm lake.

Instantly, it detonated all the court officials who supported the faction of the Eldest Princess.

Abolishing her cultivation and expelling her from the royal city was not only casting Ling Muxue into the abyss but also completely severing the future hopes of these followers.

It was tantamount to burying them all with her.

“Your Majesty, quell your anger!”

At this moment, an old man with a head full of white hair rushed out of the ranks like an arrow leaving the bow. His voice was hoarse, and veins bulged on his forehead: “Your Majesty, this old subject, Cang Feng, boldly risks death to admonish.”

With a “thump,” he knelt heavily on the ground, his forehead pressed tightly against the cold floor tiles.

“Your Majesty, Her Highness the Eldest Princess has always been dignified, virtuous, and pure in character. There may be hidden circumstances behind such a rebellious act. I beg Your Majesty to investigate clearly!”

“Hmph, do you mean I am speaking nonsense? Fabricating charges to frame my own flesh and blood?”

Ling Ze snorted coldly, and the pressure around him rose again with a boom like a tangible tsunami.

“This old subject would not dare, even if I died ten thousand deaths…”

Cang Feng pressed his head firmly against the ground, his voice trembling uncontrollably. Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at Ling Muxue, then immediately shifted his gaze to Mufeng, whose eyes were flickering beside her.

A trace of ruthlessness flashed in Cang Feng’s cloudy eyes.

He suddenly raised his head: “Your Majesty, gentlemen, this old subject believes the truth is already clear. It must be this demon of unknown origin who used some evil, heretical method to bewitch Her Highness the Eldest Princess’s mind and trick her into assisting him in the theft.

“All sins originated from this demon; all evil consequences should be borne by him alone.”

Under a reasonable and conventional deduction, all the blame was pushed onto Mufeng by this official.

Mufeng’s already extremely ugly face instantly turned from white to green, then from green to black.

“Your Majesty, as long as this villain is executed and the tumor contaminating Her Highness is removed, the Eldest Princess will surely come to her senses and turn over a new leaf.”

Cang Feng struck while the iron was hot, knocking his head on the ground again, his voice filled with a tearful indignation: “I implore Your Majesty to bestow death upon the demon, to correct the public view, and restore clarity to our Wolf Clan!”

A group of officials attached to the Eldest Princess knelt down in unison as if rehearsed, their voices uniform and resounding through the hall: “Please, Your Majesty, bestow death upon the demon!”

The other officials either looked at their noses and hearts like meditating old monks, or had imperceptible sneers at the corners of their mouths, watching coldly from the sidelines. These shrewd people naturally knew what was going on in the minds of those who jumped out.

What was difficult to glimpse was what the true eye of the storm, Ling Ze sitting on the dragon throne, was thinking.

“Are you forcing me to submit?!”

Ling Ze’s voice suddenly suppressed everyone, and many people in the hall showed fearful expressions.

Those kneeling officials felt as if their backbones had been removed, their bodies trembling like sieves, pressing their heads firmly against the ground.

Just as the air suddenly froze—

“However…” Ling Ze suddenly changed the subject: “What Minister Cang says is not unreasonable.”

“The reason Muxue had such thoughts is ultimately because she befriended someone she shouldn’t have.”

Speaking of this, Ling Ze paused, his gaze falling on Mufeng, who had been appearing uneasy from the beginning until now.

The air in the entire hall seemed to solidify with Ling Ze’s gaze.

Countless sights focused on Mufeng in unison, pinning him to the spot.

“Drag down this demon who bewitched the princess and stole the sacred object, and execute him with extreme punishment until death!”

Ling Ze spoke words that were expected by the vast majority of people present.

Then his gaze swept over the pale-faced Ling Muxue and continued to announce: “As for Muxue, although bewitched by the demon, her rebellious act is irrefutable and unforgivable. I sentence her to have her cultivation sealed and to sweep snow in front of the Great Spirit Venerable Temple for a hundred years as a punishment.”

After the sentencing, the hall fell into a strange calm.

The Prime Minister stroked his long beard calmly, his cloudy eyes meeting those of the Grand Eunuch of the Palm Print standing nearby.

A tacit glimmer flashed in their eyes.

Clearly, they had long known things would evolve this way.

Thunder and rain are all the grace of the monarch; lifting high but putting down gently, punishing openly but protecting in reality.

Sweeping snow in front of the temple, nominally a punishment, was actually protection.

After all, Ling Muxue was Ling Ze’s flesh and blood. This punishment was merely a decent show to stop the mouths of the public, for the face of the royal family, and to warn the officials.

The big stone hanging in the hearts of everyone in the hall seemed to finally land.

The tense atmosphere was about to quietly relax.

“Wait!”

Ling Muxue suddenly raised her head, her voice carrying a sharpness like burning one’s boats, instantly tearing apart the false calm.

“I wasn’t bewitched by Mufeng. Stealing the Frost Moon Wheel was my idea.

“Father Emperor, haven’t the things already been recovered by you? Aren’t those people killed in the secret realm all alive and kicking? What did Mufeng do wrong?”

Ling Muxue became more agitated as she spoke, even taking a step forward: “Moreover, I have already fallen in love with Mufeng. Father Emperor, if you want to kill him, then kill me first!”

Deathly silence.

Absolute, suffocating silence.

All the officials felt as if an invisible giant hand were choking their throats.

Their eyes widened into circles, and they even forgot to breathe.

Lu Qiancha, who had quietly entered the hall to watch, couldn’t help but glance at Ling Muxue with the eyes of someone looking at a fool. The words those old foxes racked their brains to say to exonerate her couldn’t compare to this idiot’s expression of true feelings.

Beside her, Xun Xue, whose face had been frosty due to the light sentence, now had a bone-chilling curve at the corner of her mouth.

She knew that this pair of mandarin ducks who didn’t know death were going to be finished together.

“Bang!”

The armrest of the black ice dragon throne exploded into powder under Ling Ze’s angry palm.

The pressure around him solidified, and under the full operation of the surrounding formations, space was even slowly distorted.

Ling Ze’s face was as dark as ink, squeezing angry words through his teeth: “Ling Muxue! Do you know what you are saying?!”

The current situation, for Ling Ze, was like walking down the steps step by step, but this rebellious daughter suddenly smashed the subsequent steps to pieces with a hammer!

Of course, Ling Ze didn’t care about any steps now. What made him angrier was that his daughter would actually say such unforgivable words on such an occasion.

“Father Emperor, Mufeng didn’t do anything wrong. You can’t kill him.”

Ling Muxue seemed to have thrown caution to the wind, her voice instead carrying a trace of resolute stubbornness.

Lu Qiancha couldn’t eat this melon anymore. She looked at Ling Muxue with a face full of disgust; her allergy to stupidity was acting up.

Ling Ze didn’t continue to look at his daughter who was missing a string in her brain. He focused his dangerous gaze on Mufeng: “Human, do you have any last words?”

Mufeng was finally no longer silent.

He raised his head, actually looking directly into the emperor’s eyes, without a trace of fear on his face.

Instead, he carried an annoying righteousness: “I wanted to steal the Frost Moon Wheel. As for killing people?”

He pulled out a cold sneer at the corner of his mouth:

“Aren’t those people all living well? At most, it counts as attempted murder. Why should I pay with my life?”

Hearing this, Lu Qiancha couldn’t help but look at Mufeng again. Scum matched with a fool; truly a match made in heaven.