Chapter 180: Hiding his identity and name

At the other end of this miniature heaven and earth, in the capital city of this world.

Night had fallen, yet within the imperial palace,

the vermillion roofs glowed even redder under the last rays of the setting sun, as if real flames were burning, or like dazzling fresh blood flowing down.

The imperial palace was a marvel of architecture, with gold and jade gleaming, purple doors and yellow pavilions, jade steps and carved railings, and cinnabar-red platforms.

But, it was very cold.

The daytime heat quickly receded, and the night wind, carrying a hint of chill, grew stronger, making people’s limbs stiff.

Palace servants scurried about, cautious and numerous, yet each one was careful and hurried, rushing to complete tasks assigned by their masters, daring not to utter a single word besides.

Cold, rigid, and with a suffocating oppressiveness, this was the atmosphere of the imperial palace.

Tall, burly guards patrolled everywhere, and under their watchful eyes, every palace servant was as silent as a cicada in winter.

However, in a hidden spot, two palace servants carrying hot water whispered to each other below.

“Have you heard? General Yang is dead.”

“Ah? What happened? Didn't he just pacify the northern barbarians and return victorious? How could he be dead?”

“It seems His Majesty ordered him to commit suicide, and he killed himself in the hall.”

“Ah? Suicide? What did he do wrong? And I remember the General fought that Barahan for three hours; weren't both his hands crippled? How could he commit suicide?”

“I heard His Majesty ordered him to hold a sword in his mouth and ram into a pillar until he died.”

After speaking, the two palace servants fell silent together, then quietly walked through the brightly lit imperial palace.

But, after only two steps, they saw a tall guard approaching from ahead, who immediately kicked over one of the palace servants.

The kick was extremely heavy; the kicked palace servant spat out a mouthful of blood and fainted without even making a sound.

“Sir, Sir, what is the meaning of this?” The remaining palace servant was terrified, falling to the ground, trembling like a sieve.

“What meaning? Discussing His Majesty without permission is a death sentence,” the guard said expressionlessly, then drew his waist-saber and swiftly ended both of them.

Then, he gave a look, and soon someone came to carry away the bodies.

This scene seemed to have occurred many times, so the other palace servants nearby simply lowered their heads further, otherwise continuing to diligently perform their duties.

Only, the atmosphere throughout the entire palace became even more oppressive.

But among these countless palace servants, one who witnessed this incident had hands trembling so much he could barely hold the tray.

He was a pale, beardless young man, appearing about twenty years old, with no color in his face and lips that were somewhat bluish-purple, standing among a group of palace servants, appearing inconspicuous.

The old eunuch beside him, seeing this, said in a sharp voice, displeased, “Why are you trembling? Hold it steady, all of you!”

“You young ones, do you understand the rules of the palace? That tray in your hands is not holding a handkerchief, but your heads!”

“If the tray drops, your heads drop too! So no matter what happens to others, as long as you mind your own business, keep your heart steady and your hands still, other matters have nothing to do with you.”

“Control your mouth, control your hands, and in this palace, you’ll stand firm, understood?”

The old eunuch held his head high, imperiously speaking to a group of trembling palace servants.

These approximately ten palace servants each held a red wooden tray, all filled with toiletries.

There was soap, hot water, towels, floral water, and so on.

However, the quantity was surprisingly large.

Just speaking of towels, there were four stacks, each stack with twenty-five towels, a total of one hundred towels, all embroidered with yellow silk thread, featuring a yellow Dragon playing with a pearl, each Dragon in a different posture.

Some had their heads raised, some spouted water, some stirred clouds, some traversed mountains; each one was exquisitely made and valuable, yet there were a hundred of them here.

After the old eunuch finished speaking, he saw these palace servants straighten up and hold their trays steady, then nodded with satisfaction.

Then, he continued, “Remember, when wiping His Majesty, each towel can only be used once. Those soiled must be immediately handed to the person behind who collects towels. The four of you are responsible for wiping the limbs; remember to do it slowly, making sure to open up the pores, understood?”

“Understood!” The four palace servants responsible for wiping the limbs immediately replied respectfully.

“Then you, have you remembered the signal? When the signal is given in the room, you must come in to change and add water to the bathtub. The water cools quickly at night, so remember to be light and swift when adding hot water.”

The palace servants responsible for adding water also immediately responded.

The old eunuch was very satisfied, checking one after another, giving instructions such as “The water in the bathtub must be clean,” “The basin must be carried on the head,” and “No matter how exquisite the socks are, they are only worn once and never a second time.”

Finally, after he finished his instructions, he waved his hand: “All of you, go in. Remember, if there’s any mistake, you’ll be beaten to death, no questions asked!”

The palace servants quickly assented, then lined up and left to bathe His Majesty.

Just for the task of bathing, over twenty people had to line up, each carrying a pile of exquisite items, all of which were single-use.

Such extravagance, such brutality.

This line of palace servants walked at a leisurely pace, their shoe soles brushing the ground without making a sound, every movement perfectly measured, neither rushed nor agitated. The old eunuch leading the way finally nodded with satisfaction, no longer chattering.

It was evident that this was the result of long-term training; countless palace servants must have died before these elites were chosen, those capable of ‘personally serving’ that His Majesty.

The palace servant with bluish-purple lips was among them, carefully walking into the palace hall.

Inside.

Everything proceeded systematically.

First, four palace servants stood at the four sides, all dressed identically, groomed identically.

Led by the supervising old eunuch, they knelt to pay respects.

After kneeling, the trays were taken by other palace servants, and then oilcloth was spread on the floor, the bathtub was carried in, warm water was added, and then the emperor was invited to undress.

That His Majesty seemed somewhat fatigued, remaining motionless, allowing the palace servants and maids to undress him.

Then came the tedious rules: which basin to use, which cloth to use, all strictly regulated, with every palace servant meticulously remembering their duties.

Only the emperor seemed relaxed and natural; he used his servants as naturally as modern people use home appliances.

As for what the palace servants, treated as smart appliances, thought, who cared?

If they couldn't do it, they would die.

In the year since the establishment of this Great New Dynasty, too many palace servants had died for this reason.

Under such pressure, every action of these servants was rigorously trained. In the process of being domesticated as tools, some even developed a sense of pride, much like the old eunuch, who meticulously monitored those palace servants who had not yet developed pride, worried that they were not qualified as tools.

When it was the turn of the palace servant with bluish-purple lips, he slowly walked forward, holding a tray in his hands, on which was a stack of twenty-five towels.

The first fifty towels had already been used; he was the third round, to hand towels to the palace servants wiping and to carry out the dirty water.

He walked all the way to the very front.

Then, he suddenly dropped the tray.

The perpetually chattering old eunuch's expression immediately turned to terror.

It's over, heads will roll.

The old eunuch thought so.

But before he could continue his panic, he realized that when the tray was dropped, hidden among the stack of towels was a thin blade.

The palace servant with bluish-purple lips, in a split second, grabbed the blade and threw it.

There was a buzzing sound all around, the water in the bathtub instantly rippled with countless waves, and a piercing sound erupted, directly shattering the surrounding glazed windows.

The original palace servants covered their ears, and the previously orderly room immediately descended into chaos.

But the palace servant with bluish-purple lips paid no mind; in his eyes, there was only the emperor.

And in the room, only the emperor reacted.

The emperor grabbed a tray and flipped it over, sending a dozen towels flying, swirling into a ball in the air.

The blade was extremely sharp, but it was still a mortal object. After piercing through a dozen towels, much of its rotational force had been dissipated, and its speed had slowed considerably. By this time, the emperor had already left the bathtub.

No sooner said than done, all of this happened in but a breath.

The old eunuch only reacted when the emperor got up, shouting in a sharp voice, “Assassin—!”

But the rest of his words were not uttered. The palace servant had already sharply swung his sleeves twice; his sleeves were full of wooden splinters that scattered, killing all the surrounding palace servants, and some of the splinters flew directly towards the emperor.

The emperor, however, was unhurried, continuing to wave a towel, batting down all the wooden splinters.

The palace servant took three steps in two, striking again, shaking two thin blades from his clothes, and launching another attack.

But the emperor was prepared. This time, it was his turn to wave his hand.

The emperor flicked two glazed beads from the bathtub in his hand; they cut through the air with a rush of wind, then with a “clink,” sparks flew, and the two blades in the palace servant’s hand broke into two pieces.

He frowned slightly, giving up on throwing.

If the flying knives were broken, their speed would be greatly reduced, and they wouldn't be able to kill this person.

So he decisively gave up, and instead changed his move again. A blade resembling a soft sword sprang from his waistband, and he wielded it, slashing towards the emperor.

However, the emperor shook his head: “This skill, it must be Xiao Ming, the Wind-Hearing Blade. I never thought a first-rate Jianghu侠客 would come to assassinate me. What a pity, your martial arts are not refined enough; today, I fear your grand plan will not succeed.”

As he spoke, the emperor even had the leisure to parry while putting on his clothes.

Xiao Ming, the Wind-Hearing Blade, struck three times consecutively, all of which were deftly evaded, and the emperor even used this time to put on his Dragon robe.

The fourth strike descended from the sky.

Xiao Ming's veins bulged; this was the fastest strike he had ever made in his life.

Before, his blade always made a sound.

This strike, made no sound.

Or rather—the sound couldn't catch up with the blade.

Even the emperor, who had been at ease before, was surprised.

He was unable to dodge in time, and his Dragon robe was cut open.

But this also angered the emperor.

He formed his hand into a Dragon claw, and a suction force appeared out of thin air in his palm. Xiao Ming was directly sucked into his palm, and then struck out with a single palm strike!

His ribs instantly shattered, Xiao Ming spat out a large mouthful of blood, and his entire body flew three zhang (about 10 meters) away, crashing into the wall.

The once formidable assassin had now lost all combat capability.

The emperor, however, calmly straightened his clothes: “Weak, is this the strength of a first-rate Jianghu master? Truly too weak.”

The emperor shook his head, saying somewhat uninterestingly, “I even had some expectations for you. Alas, in this world, besides Barahan, is there really no one who is my opponent? Oh, there was also General Yang, but he also died. In this world, no one is my opponent.”

“What a pity, looking at you, you were trying to assassinate me, and you actually became a eunuch?”

“Self-castration, then entering the palace, enduring for a year just to finally get the chance to be near me, but you never expected that you are no match for me. How about it, aren't you very angry?” The emperor asked with a smile.

Xiao Ming spat out a mouthful of bloody foam: “Bah! Tyrant.”

“You call me a tyrant? But I unified the realm.” The emperor was not in a hurry to kill him, but rather chatted with him with interest.

“You unified the realm, but the people of the realm only hate you. If you kill Xiao Ming today, there will be another Xiao Ming tomorrow. Unless you kill everyone in the world, you will never finish killing them.” Xiao Ming's breath was weak, clearly not going to live, but he still looked at the emperor with hatred in the end.

“Hatred is useless. I don't need to kill everyone in the world. As long as I kill your generation, the children who come after will all enter my schools to study. Your children will all become my loyal servants.”

“By the way, seeing that you’re about to die, I’ll tell you a secret. You Martial Forest people have always wanted to know where my peerless cultivation method came from, haven't you?”

“I, I came from another world. An accident sent me here to you, and I only then discovered that your world is too weak.”

“You have no methods, and your cultivation methods are poor, which is why I was able to unify the empire in just over a year.”

“Your world, its martial arts are too poor. I accidentally came here, yet I dominated this world. Truly, heaven helps me.”

“Alright, having heard all this, you should go and die now. From now on, this world will be my family's domain, and everything will be mine.”

“You castrated yourself and entered the palace to assassinate me. I will find your son, castrate him, and let both you and your son serve me. It will be quite a story.”

“Thank you, really. I’ve held this secret in my heart for too long. Now that I’ve said it, I feel much better.”

The emperor finished his rambling, his expression much more relaxed.

Then, he stood up, preparing to kill the assassin, but at this moment, the assassin named Xiao Ming, couldn't even hold on for this. After hearing all this, he died from his severe injuries.

Unable to personally finish off this person, the emperor's expression seemed to hold some regret.

However, at this very moment, a golden thread suddenly descended from the sky.

The emperor, who had just been incredibly arrogant, his head directly fell off.

Dead beyond dead.

Later historical records, “Biography of Emperor Li,” recorded:

“Emperor Li of the New Dynasty, violated rites and teachings, harmed civilization and abused people, disemboweled fetuses and chopped off shins; compared to him, there was no greater cruelty. All the bamboo in the mountains would not be enough to record his faults, and all the rabbits in the mountains and marshes could not write down his crimes. Since ancient times, among the tyrannical and corrupt emperors recorded in historical documents, none have been as extreme as he.”

“With both human and divine principles lacking a master, and the ancestral altars in peril, the realm was in turmoil, the common people displaced. The populace trembled with fear, as if their horns were about to collapse, and the living beings yearned, with nowhere to set foot. However, there was the righteous warrior Xiao Ming, who, responding to heaven and following human will, executed heavenly punishment. He castrated himself and infiltrated the palace, sacrificing his life to assassinate Emperor Li, saving the people of the world from dire straits.”