Chapter 558: Luck |
Ji Lin was fuming and pacing in the grand bed chamber. He was close to succeeding, but something had gone wrong.
After some time, he waved his large sleeves and exclaimed, “Everyone gets out! I don’t care what you do but find Princess Anping's head for me!”
“Yes, my Lord!”
“My Lord, please calm down. This won’t take long. Anyone with eyes would know that luck is on your side. It would be bad if you got sick due to the stress.”
Ji Lin calmed down a little after hearing that. “Wait, what about Er Jiu from the Ao Jing Sect? Any news from him?”
“The guards saw him entering the city, but we cannot find him anywhere no matter what kind of divination we did.”
“Hmph! He’s too unpredictable to use. Nevermind then. I will just give him an official title without any real job in consideration of his contributions in the past.”
Ji Lin then got ready for the morning meeting. While he was changing, he suddenly had a different idea. Rather than the hall, he walked towards the imperial temple.
This time he was alone. He entered the place and approached the coffin once more. With the sound of rumbling stones, the coffin lid slowly opened.
“Hahaha! Good! You are indeed my son!” The old emperor laughed as the golden chains binding him rattled.
“My mother had decided to support the eldest prince, so I killed her!” Ji Lin’ roared, interrupting the laughing emperor.
“The princes and princesses wanted to betray me, so I killed them, too. Father, you told me that I have to kill even my own family to become someone great!”
The old emperor in the coffin shuddered before speaking again. “Ruthless. I knew I was right.”
However, this wasn't what Ji Lin wanted to hear. He kicked the tributes in front of the coffin and exclaimed, “WHY! I’m going to be the emperor soon, so I want to know why! Why am I killing all of my siblings?! I’ve told you that once I become the emperor, I will not tolerate my children killing each other! I will be emperor soon, so I want to know why I should tell them not to kill each other!”
“Hohoho.” The old emperor laughed. “Lin’er, why do you think all of the officials and ministers are obeying us? Do you really think that they obey us because we are grand?”
“It’s because we are the emperor!” Ji Lin replied.
“You really think so? Do you think that we can obtain absolute loyalty from those preaching Confucianism or from the military just by using our name? They control everything here, including the palace guards! Do you know why they did not revolt and become emperors themselves?”
Ji Lin didn’t know what to answer. He had never thought of that before.
“Because they don't dare to do so! They dared not let their own people kill each other, but we—the Ji family—dare to do so! When the Qi Kingdom fell and the emperor's seat became empty, we—the Ji family—killed each other until only one of us remained. We were not a noble family, but there were still thousands of us. In order to become the emperor, we’ve killed our own mothers, grandchildren, grandparents, siblings, and even our own fathers! The sole remaining survivor from that bloodbath became the first emperor of the Liang Kingdom. Our family spanned thousands of generations, but we will always only have a single branch in our family tree. The cowards are only going to serve us!”
Ji Lin stepped back from shock. He was visibly shaken by the answer he obtained.
“But why?! Why us?! Why must the Ji family kill each other?”
“Because the heavens have selected us! We're the dragon's chosen ones! Only then can we shoulder the Great Liang's luck!”
The old emperor roared. The dragon roar shook the coffin, and Ji Lin’s scale surfaced momentarily before fading.
After some time, the dragon’s roar stopped, and the old emperor’s tired voice could be heard. “Since you will be ascending soon, let me tell you this: the world is not as peaceful as you think. In the past, humans were raised by the ‘Witch’ clan. We lived just like how pigs are raised; we were fed nothing but feces. However, some of our ancestors refused to continue living as livestock and escaped. Unfortunately, escaping wasn’t enough because they'd soon be caught. We needed to find a safe place to live. Luck was needed to sustain it. The Witch Clan was relentless. They will do everything they can to enter our space and capture us so that they can rear us like pigs again. Our ancestors came up with a plan. They robbed part of the luck in the Witch clan and used it to sustain our own safe lands. That ancestor was the first emperor.”
Ji Lin stood still and was confused by what he was hearing.
“It’s fine even if you don’t understand me. Just think about it upon your ascension. You have to remember that what I told you just now is the truth. If someone were to tell you something like Simings or Immortal Heaven, those are fake. They're used to fool people.”
Ji Lin walked out of the place, stumbling as he walked up the stairs. He was lost in his own thoughts. The skies turned dark and became bright again, but he was still lost in his own thoughts.
If his father did not lie to him, that meant his descendants must do the same thing. They need to kill each other just like how he did.
His family had to put up so much just to shoulder the ‘luck’ of the Liang Kingdom.
He didn’t want to do it. He even thought about letting others do so.
But he had sacrificed so much. He had killed so much just to earn the right to ascend to the throne.
He paid his price. He killed everyone until he was the sole remaining survivor out of the nine siblings. He was this close to becoming the emperor. He would never let others take it just because his descendants had to kill each other next time too.
Ji Lin only snapped out of it once the old eunuch draped the dragon robe on his body. “My Lord, let’s go back and rest. You will only tire yourself out like this.”
Ji Lin nodded and turned to his bed chamber while recalling what his father looked like. If even the dead can be brought back to life, does that mean my father is immortal?
Ji Lin sprawled out on his bed and started pondering over his next move.
Just then, footsteps echoed from the door.
“What is it?” Ji Lin asked with his eyes closed.
“My Lord! We've found traces of Princess Anping on the outskirts of the city! And she's with Er Jiu!”
“What?!” Ji Lin's eyes sprung wide open as he glared at the informant.
It’s him! I treated him so well, but to think that he still ended up betraying me just because of one, single girl!
“Pass down my orders! Capture Er Jiu and his entire family! Once you've captured him, skin him alive and feed his flesh to the dogs!”
