Chapter 900

Thud. Thud-thud.

The earth trembled. Blazing torches roused the night.

A thousand Embroidered Uniform Guards marched in formation beneath fluttering imperial banners. Behind them came countless eunuchs and palace maids.

At the center of the procession was an enormous, magnificent imperial carriage built for one person alone.

Boom!

At last, the thousand Embroidered Uniform Guards entered the Grand Banquet Hall and stamped their feet in unison.

The powerful wave of qi they unleashed shook the air and washed over everyone’s skin.

“At last…”

Those who heard the voice slip from someone’s lips suddenly wondered:

Who had said that?

Which side were they on, and what outcome were they waiting for?

But there was no time to think of an answer.

From the enormous procession that had come to a halt, someone slowly rode forward on a fine steed and let out a thunderous cry.

“The sovereign of the Great Nation, master of Heaven and Earth and all things beneath them, has deigned to appear in person! All civil and military officials, great and small, kneel and pay your respects to His Majesty the Emperor!”

Whoosh!

Not even the golden armor encasing his body or the helmet pulled low over his head could hide his truly overwhelming presence.

At the shout, infused with internal energy, from Baek Yeon—the Emperor’s right hand in name and deed, and Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard—everyone in the Grand Banquet Hall rose and knelt.

Clatter.

There were hundreds of civil and military officials, and thousands of soldiers already standing guard all around them.

They moved as one, bowing their heads to the ruler of this vast continent.

Even if, for some of them, it was nothing more than an empty show of respect, the fuse that would bring this banquet to an end had not yet burned all the way down.

“Long live His Majesty the Emperor.”

At Ma Sanbao’s quiet murmur, everyone joined in.

“Long live His Majesty the Emperor! Long live! Long, long live!”

At the very end of that resounding cheer, the Emperor stepped down from his sedan chair and walked slowly through the human curtain of guards.

Step. Step.

His footsteps rang out with unusual clarity.

But with their heads bowed, they couldn’t see the Emperor as he passed. Only after he had taken his place on the throne atop the lofty stairs could they straighten up and face him.

The ruler of all under Heaven, who had shut himself away in Qianqing Palace for years on end while attending to the affairs of state.

The Great Nation’s fourth prince turned rebel, then rebel turned Emperor: a notorious unfilial wretch and butcher who had finally seized the throne.

And a man of tempestuous fortune, standing at the highest place beneath Heaven.

They were stunned.

“…!”

“…!”

In an instant, shock and disquiet swept across the Grand Banquet Hall like an invisible wave.

There was no trace of the Emperor’s once-youthful, handsome appearance in the man who had emerged after his long seclusion.

But the Emperor paid it no mind.

He looked down haughtily at the countless gazes fixed on him.

Though he had aged beyond recognition, his eyes shone brighter than anyone else’s in the hall as he surveyed the gathered officials, great and small, one by one.

The pillars that held up this vast empire. Its very heart.

Among them were generals who commanded armies, and old scholars whose backs were bent but whose eyes remained unbowed.

Ma Sanbao, the East Depot’s de facto leader and the Emperor’s greatest adversary, was there as well.

But the last place the Emperor’s gaze fell was far off at the end of the hall, where a young man watched him in silence.

Jin Taekyung.

Their eyes met across the hall.

The Emperor looked at Jin Taekyung. Jin Taekyung looked at the Emperor.

They stared at each other for a while without saying a word. At last, the Emperor’s firmly closed lips parted.

“Begin.”

Perhaps it wasn’t just a few people who imagined it.

Boom. Boom. Bwoom!

The drums heralding the start of the grand banquet sounded like war drums announcing the opening of a battle.

The atmosphere, frozen like a glacier, began to thaw little by little when musicians and dancers entered with an astonishing spread of delicacies and began to perform.

The melody stirred the heart, and sleeves fluttered in time with the music.

On top of that, the imperial chefs had displayed all their skill, and the finest wines were served without limit.

Perhaps it was only natural that those who’d had a drink to settle their nerves began to relax a little.

“Whew. I can finally breathe.”

“Indeed. I really thought something was about to happen…”

“Shut your mouth. You want to say the wrong thing and invite needless suspicion?”

“M-My apologies, sir.”

“If I hear you say something that disrespectful again, I won’t let it pass.”

The middle-aged man reprimanded the young official beside him in a carefully lowered voice, then swept a sharp gaze around them.

He seemed worried someone might have overheard.

I casually picked up a bite of food from the appetizer in front of me.

The next moment, I felt the middle-aged man across from me fixing me with an unusually persistent stare.

The young official’s voice reached my ears, too.

“S-Sir. I did misspeak, but no one could’ve heard me. The Embroidered Uniform Guards are far away, too.”

He wasn’t wrong.

The hall being used for today’s grand banquet was large enough to train thousands of soldiers at once. The officials, seated at regular intervals, were quite far apart.

And though every Embroidered Uniform Guard was an exceptional master, only a few, including their commander, Baek Yeon, remained by the Emperor’s side.

The rest were far away, holding their assigned positions.

But even after hearing the young official, the middle-aged man kept watching me closely for a while before asking,

“Do you know anything about that man?”

“Pardon? W-Well, I’ve heard in passing that he’s a ruffian from the martial world.”

“Is that all?”

“I’m not sure what you mean…”

“Tsk. You really don’t think, do you? Be grateful that your father and I have a connection. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have made it this far.”

The middle-aged man clicked his tongue and continued in the same low whisper.

“How could some ruffian attend a banquet like this? He’s Prince Shangshan’s bodyguard and guest, brought here by His Highness. He’s also the third son of the Jin Family of Taiyuan, whose influence has recently spread all the way south of the Yangtze.”

“The Jin Family of Taiyuan. The Jin Family of Taiyuan… Do you mean the family that runs the Jin Family Trading Company and the Jin Family Escort Bureau?”

“That’s right. And that Jin Family of Taiyuan is based in Shanxi, Prince Shangshan’s fief.”

“Ah.”

The young official let out a faint exclamation.

“A family of that standing must wield considerable influence in Shanxi Province.”

“With Prince Shangshan’s protection, how could it be otherwise? Martial artists who defy the Great Nation’s solemn laws have no business wielding that kind of power… but apparently they rule as de facto overlords across Shanxi Province.”

“Is that why you’re paying attention to him, sir? Because he’s the son of a martial arts family?”

“It’s more than that.”

“Then…”

“Blazing Flame Divine Dragon. That’s his sobriquet. A tremendous master, barely in his twenties, who’s already accomplished countless feats of arms. There’s no one in the martial world who hasn’t heard of him.”

“You’ve done your homework.”

“There was no need to look into it in detail. Even among the people of the Imperial Capital, there are countless who know of Blazing Flame Divine Dragon Jin Taekyung…”

The middle-aged man, who hadn’t taken his eyes off me as he spoke, suddenly frowned.

“Did you just speak casually to me?”

But the young official didn’t answer.

Normally, he would’ve scrambled to make excuses. Now his face had gone white as he stared at someone standing behind him and the middle-aged man.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three.

After a silence in which the world seemed to stop, the middle-aged man slowly turned to follow the young official’s gaze.

Then he froze like a statue.

“Y-Your Majesty…!”

It wasn’t just my imagination: the words, forced from deep in his lungs, sounded like a scream.

The Emperor.

The absolute ruler called the Son of Heaven, a descendant of Heaven, looked down at the two men without a word.

As if considering how to kill them.

Perhaps he seemed all the more likely to do just that because Baek Yeon stood tall behind him—the very man who had led the purge of tens of thousands of “traitors” more than a decade ago.

“Y-Your Majesty. Please…”

Flap.

The Emperor made a small gesture, and the man’s voice cut off.

That was right. This arrogant and cruel absolute ruler still hadn’t spoken.

And he would allow no one to speak before him.

By now, the Grand Banquet Hall had fallen into deathly silence. The Emperor abruptly turned his head and looked at me.

“Jin Taekyung of the Jin Family of Taiyuan.”

“…!”

“…!”

I could feel it.

The air trembling.

Countless gazes piercing me from head to toe.

The Emperor had spoken first to me, the only outsider among the high officials who supported the empire and the gathered civil and military officials.

And he’d walked all the way to my lowly seat at the far end of the hall, well away from his throne, to do it.

“I ask you: what should I do with these people?”

If this had happened a few days ago, I would’ve been shocked.

Why the fuck is this crazy bastard pulling this shit out of nowhere? I probably would’ve thought something like that—and started to feel like I needed to piss.

But not today.

Yeah. No.

I’d already stepped into a gamble where everyone had staked their lives.

Perhaps all of this had been inevitable from the moment I entered the tiger’s den that was the imperial palace.

The time had come.

The die had been cast. Now it was time to see how it landed.

“Well, before I answer, would it be all right if I had a drink?”

Whoosh.

The air trembled again.

No, trembled might not be quite the word.

If the earlier disturbance had been a ripple from a stone dropped into a lake, this was a triangular wave—a disaster.

Everyone in the Grand Banquet Hall gaped as that wave swept over them in an instant. I looked at the Emperor, who gave a small nod, and spoke.

“Then I’ll take that as permission.”

Glug.

Instead of answering, I tossed back the wine already poured into my cup. Cries of shock and angry shouts erupted from every direction.

The wave that hadn’t seemed real even when they’d seen and heard it for themselves had finally hit them.

“What a lunatic!”

“H-How dare that man…!”

“How can there be such a lawless man in this world?”

“Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, what are you doing? Why haven’t you cut down that high traitor yet?”

“Your Majesty! Punish that outrageous ruffian at once for insulting Your Majesty and the imperial household!”

“Please punish him!”

Listen to that decibel level.

They say the more people curse you, the longer you live. If this raucous enthusiasm had lasted another fifteen minutes, my sobriquet might’ve become Three Thousand Jiazi¹ instead of Blazing Flame Divine Dragon.

Beheading was the basic option, and they kept piling on extras: cut off my balls, torture me slowly, then tear me limb from limb by quartering.

…No, I mean, the balls are a bit much.

Was that guy from the Sichuan Tang Clan or something?

I took a good look at the face of the man who’d proposed castrating me, then put down my cup.

Then I looked at the Emperor and spoke.

“Kill them if you want, or spare them if you want. Isn’t that what Your Majesty does best?”

Well.

I was starting to feel like I needed to piss.