Book 16: Chapter 15: This Year’s End

The setting sun was about to slumber beneath the mountains, the year approaching its end. Most merchants already closed down for the day, even Central Continent City’s most lively streets and alleys who, without all those lanterns and banners, appeared a bit desolate.

Zhang Ping didn’t look at the departing Xu Zhenyan, he only looked at the sky with a bit of mockery. He inwardly thought that even the Changsun Clan in True Dragon Mountain was already like this setting sun’s last glimmer.

Under the quickly approaching darkness, Zhen Kuai knelt down by a street corner. He pulled on his shoes, but in reality, he used his hand to touch some powder on the ground.

After his meeting with that past Purgatory Mountain spy leader, Zhen Kuai who had long left the world of cultivators made a final difficult choice.

His calm and blissful life was worth cherishing, but this life and this type of lifestyle were both granted to him by Zhantai Qiantang and Lin Xi. That was why before this year end, he still left his wife and children, following this middle-aged merchant’s traces to enter Central Continent City.

He stood up as if nothing happened, returning to a small residence he borrowed from a fellow villager. Then, with the fastest speed possible, he lit a candle, placing his powder covered finger before his eyes.

The fine powder was a strange pink color, finer than Central Continent City’s finest rouge.

Zhen Kuai’s brows furrowed.

He subconsciously picked up a bowl of fresh water. However, before placing any of this fine powder into the water, with just a slight movement of his fingers, he saw this extremely fine pink powder produce a flame-like crystalline brilliance.

In this instant, Zhen Kuai immediately entered a great state of shock. He directly placed his hand into the water. Then, just as he had suspected, this fine powder was heavier than water and didn’t dissolve. When it touched the bottom of the water, it erupted with fiery radiance that was just like that of countless pink crystals.

This was Purgatory Mountain’s special Meltflame Crystal!

This strange crystal stone that could only be produced in Purgatory Mountain’s mines only had one known use, which was that it could change the melting point of many ores and metals, used to smelt weapons.

The higher the grade, the more sturdy the metal, the harder it was to melt and forge. There were some metals that wouldn’t even melt after being burned by Purgatory Mountain’s most powerful flames, making them impossible to cast, impossible to carve runes on or embed other vital energy objects into to make soul weapons.

The powder of Meltflame Crystals could produce a unique reaction with many ores and metals, able to make these ores and metals easy to melt, for example, melting these ores and metals under this Meltflame Crystal’s liquid form. Moreover, when Meltflame Crystals were merged into these metals, Purgatory Mountain had some special methods that could remove the final impurities that were still left in the metals.

Meltflame Crystals were extremely precious, and they were only used when refining some extremely formidable soul weapons.

However, during these past few days, Zhen Kuai was certain that this middle-aged merchant’s mission was precisely to deliver many things wrapped in Meltflame Crystals into Central Continent City.

Moreover, he was certain that the amount of Meltflame Crystals this middle-aged merchant transported was extremely shocking.

Right now, everyone knew that Lin Xi already arrived at Central Continent City. Zhen Kuai also knew that Lin Xi already gave Yunqin Emperor a final choice. He didn’t believe that this was something the openly exposed Lin Xi would do, instead feeling more and more like there was some great conspiracy involved within all of this.

…

Central Continent City’s late night was extremely cold.

However, the warm charcoal fire in the Imperial Palace made even some of the snow accumulated on the roof melt, the eaves releasing the sounds of water droplets from time to time.

Yunqin Emperor who was facing his final trial was surprisingly not as violent as usual.

Perhaps for him, those days of waiting peacefully were the true suffering.

“Abdicate? He wants this Emperor to abdicate?”

Yunqin Emperor had already repeated these words many times, which was why the many officials kneeling before him already grew numb.

“Alright. This Emperor will just meet him tomorrow in this Imperial City. This Emperor will ask him to his face what right he has to make this Emperor abdicate.”

However, a fresh and cold sentence suddenly sounded, making all of these officials instantly feel chills running through their bodies, all of them shivering subconsciously.

Their bodies were surrounded by chilliness as they raised their heads, looking at the seated Yunqin Emperor.

“Have him come before the Imperial City tomorrow. Also, send news to let everyone in Central Continent City know to not prevent the arrival of Central Continent City’s commoners. This Emperor wants to see if he still dares do any disgraceful things before the faces of all of Central Continent City’s common people.”

Wang Buping hung his head powerlessly.

Many scenes instantly flashed through his head, the clearest one the tears of blood his teacher shed before meeting his end. He was originally a righteous and hot-blooded youngster. He obeyed his teacher’s instructions, doing everything he could for this imperial court, using his life to serve his sovereign.

However, Lin Xi’s revenge, Liu Xueqing’s decision… The many things that happened made him feel more and more powerless. He wanted to remain loyal to this emperor, yet when he heard these words spoken by Yunqin Emperor at this time, for some reason, he was full of disappointment and despair.

…

The sky gradually brightened. What surrounded Central Continent City was no longer the past joy, but rather tremendous alarm.

Everyone knew that Lin Xi wanted Yunqin Emperor to abdicate from the throne.

These Central Continent City ordinary people didn’t know what kind of changes Lin Xi’s demands would have on Yunqin Emperor. During this type of peaceful time, this news seemed especially abrupt.

A burst of dazzling golden radiance, also with an exceptionally abrupt stance, appeared in Central Contient City’s clear skies, descending upon the Imperial City.

Many people’s eyes rapidly contracted. Lin Xi’s method of appearance was even faster and more direct than what they had imagined.

The now even larger Yunqin Phoenix landed outside the palace gates, landing on the plaza no one was permitted to be in apart from court officials.

The Imperial Palace’s palace gates were opened.

There were no court councilors waiting in front of the palace gates. It was because all of the court councilors were within the Imperial Palace since last night, never leaving this place.

Countless Central Continent City common people gathered in every street with view of the Imperial City, surrounding this plaza, forming new walls one after another.

The entire Central Continent City even seemed to have become empty, only the space in front of the Imperial Palace was crammed.

The golden Yunqin Phoenix flew into the air again. It was now only Lin Xi alone that calmly stood in front of the Imperial Palace’s wide plaza with a longsword on his back.

A trace of bright yellow color drifted out from the Imperial Palace, behind it was a wave of Yunqin officials dressed in uniforms of all different colors.

When he walked out from the Imperial Palace, Yunqin Emperor’s eyes already only carried an unchanging calmness, only an emperor’s awe remaining. However, when he saw Lin Xi alone, his eyes still flickered with expressions of shock.

The moment he was about to cross the palace gates, he hesitated a bit. However, he still made a hand gesture to those behind him, having all of these court councilors stop. Then, he slowly walked out of the palace gates alone.

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